Canada!

Hello! Happy Spring! We've been back in Canada now for a couple of weeks and have been living at my parents, enjoying the quiet peacefulness of the woods. We were both blessed with jobs to come back to, both of which we didn't even need interviews for, so that was a huge blessing. We also found a place to rent and are getting back into "regular" life again.
After a great week on the isle of Iona in Scotland, we took a ferry, a bus, another ferry, a train, a bus, a plane, another plane and 11 hours later arrived to meet up with my parents and the elders from church! It was great to see everyone!
Craig and Jen

Iona, Scotland

Greetings from sunny Iona!
This week has been filled with many interesting things and events! The Iona Community has been reflecting on Holy Week and we were able to participate in a dramatic presentation of the passion story. The next morning we participated in the stations of the Cross, another pilgrimage type of thing where we recounted more of the passion story. Today was a pilgrimage across the island, very muddy and fun, reflecting on easter along the way, singing songs, and being sucked into bogs of mud.
Tomorrow is Easter!!! YAY! and then next week we are home!
Happy Easter everyone!
And... we heard someone's getting married! Congrats to Kyle and Andrea!
See ya'll real soon!

Oban Been Good

Here in Oban for a couple nights at a hostel. Oban is a small village where we have been staying. Normally this place is known for its torrential and horizontal rains... but as a local told us today, the next week is supposed be just brilliant (you have to say that in your strongest scottish accent with a wee look of wonder). So tomorrow morning we will take a ferry to the island of Mull, travel across for about 45 minutes and take another wee ferry to the isle of Iona. There we will stay in community for 9 days. We have been reading about Celtic Christian spirituality in a book called [Listening for the heartbeat of God].
We've eaten alot of fish and chips lately... yum. And we took a tour of a scottish whisky distillery today too. twas a good day! oh yah, craig shaved off his beard! he's so cute!!!
Sorry we haven't been able to post photos of our trip on here. We aren't really able to download our photos off our camera onto any of the computers out here. But when we are back, we'll try to upload some of the good ones and then you can check some out until we get them printed.

alright... time is running out... chau!

Glasgow, Scotland

First of all... a huge happy birthday greeting to my Dad who turns 60 tomorrow! Glad you got my birthday letter Dad! And also a happy birthday to Angelle! :)
So the big news... no, we don't owe Derek $20 yet! But I got a job! So I'll start that when we get home!
We hung out with my friend Johanna yesterday in Glasgow so that was fun and so awesome to see a familiar face after 3 months! We will go to her restaurant for dinner tomorrow night with the team. We've had some great authentic scottish food and today i showed everyone around glasgow... well at least the area of glasgow that i know. its been nice to be somewhere familiar as well. so excited to go to Iona in a few days where the team's professor will meet us. We will be home next week. Looking forward to seeing you all and starting my new job and finding a place to live... let us know if you hear of any good basement suites, apartments, or even condos.

Okay, cheers then!

Deutschland ist sehr gut!

Hey there,
we are in Burghausen, Germany for a couple nights. We went up to the castle yesterday and it was really cool. It was from the middle ages. Its the longest castle in europe. we met with the pastor couple from an evangelische kirchen (mb church) and saw their brand new building that they built by hand. all the members have pitched in time and money to build it. we will go to Glasgow Scotland on Monday and hopefully visit my friend Johanna where she lives and studies Dance. We will see you soon!

Gutentog

Hello everyone,
Well we must say Slazburg is deffinatly our favorite stop so far. It is the most beautiful city. We have had plenty of sausages and giant preztels to last us a lifetime! Tomorrow morning we are headed back into Germany to spend some time in Munich.

This has been a great trip but at this point i think we are ready to return home. it is fun to travel like this though. anyway internet is expensive in germany so we must go but we just wanted to say hi really quick!

One More Week at L'Abri

Hello!
Well we have one more week here at L'Abri in Switzerland. Last week, we got back into our studies after a great week in sunny hot Spain. It snowed here the other day and then quickly melted away. We got a lot of reading done this week. Craig reading about postmodernism, the environment, the Puritans, Genesis, and other books. He's been very diligent! I read a bit on St. Athanasius and St Basil, each being from the 4th century. I had an interest in reading some more of the what the early church fathers closer to the time of Christ were writing about and the issues they were facing as Christianity was growing and spreading. Its good to read books that are written nowadays, but also helpful to read from those who led the church in earlier times.
Last night Craig went to an ice hockey game up at a village up the mountain and he was very excited cause he got the puck at the end of the game!
We have one more week at L'Abri and then on Friday morning we leave for Germany where we will be staying at several different hostels in 4 different cities including Austria. We won't have much internet access out there but we'll try to find an internet cafe if there is one around. The Germany trip will be about 2 weeks.
We really miss home and are really looking forward to being back in Canada with family and friends but also look forward to the last 4 weeks here in Europe.
Talk to you soon! We really love you all so much!

Picasso

Buenos Dias! We are just on a quick internet stop on our way into the city of Malaga today to go to the Picasso museum. Its another blazing hot day and we are loving it here. I´m especially excited as tomorrow my friends Rite and Stephe are coming to pick up our whole group and take us to their home to have a BBQ so it will be really cool to see them and their new place and catch up. Tomorrow is our last full day in Malaga, Saturday we will check out Madrid, sleep in the airport and travel to Geneva in the morning and then back to lAbri for another 1.5 weeks.

Prayer Requests:
-for a place for Craig and I to live when we return in April
-for a job for Jen when we are back
-for continued safety
-for us to continue to learn what Jesus wants for us to learn in the places we go to

Hola!

Well our adventures continue to Malaga, Spain on the Mediteranian coast. The Sea is great and the weather couldn't be better. It is mid 70's and sunny. It has been a good time to just relax and hang out on the beach. We are in a resort(all six of us) but Jen and I have our own room so it is nice. I haven´t been this relaxed in a while. The only picture that I wish I could share would be a picture of me in my neon green speedo! All of us guys got them the first day we got in and it is all that I wear here. It is nice to be in a country where people enjoy the speedo! Don´t worry though I will be sure to wear it when I get back so everyone can enjoy it!

adios
Buenos dias

Craig

Sunny Days in the Alps!

For the week off here at L'Abri, we all have to leave L'Abri. So our Canadians have decided to go to Spain. We found some cheap airplane tickets and will be staying in Malaga where my friends from Scotland just moved to. So it will be fun to go there for a week and relax on the beaches. We'll be gone probably for a week and a bit and leaving on Thursday to go to Madrid. We'll spend the night in the airport to save money. We're looking forward to our time off.

The weather is pretty warm outside here in the mountains which is surprising. It feels like spring/summer in the alpes. Craig and I were on work crew today so we went down the side of the mountain to hack away at a humongous bush filled with thornbushes and stuff. The bush attacked Craig but he survived and is doing well! I walked a wheelburrow down the mountain... like straight down, it was crazy!

Some people are learning salsa dancing tonight at one of the chalets but I really gotta finish this one book I'm reading called "Chameleon or Tribe" by Richard Keyes. It's great.

Miss you all!
Jen (and Craig)

Cooking With Jen (not Rachel Ray)

Hey! Okay, I really did it this time! I BAKED BREAD after like 3 years of not baking bread and hey... I got my groove back! You shoulda tasted it... it was crazy good and not one piece left. It may seem like I'm bragging about my amazing bread but it is well-deserved. You see, the dilemma was that I wasn't sure it would turn out... we didn't measure the yeast right and then it didn't rise after like an hour. So everyone including myself was doubtful about this bread but I kept saying "I hope it will work... I hope!" And I just kept taking care of this little lump of dough and kept having faith... BIG FAITH... then I put it in the oven... still hoping along with everyone else (they had already pulled out bread from the freezer!). The smell of something good started wafting through the hallways down to the lounge and into the dining room... I kept checking on my little lump of dough and POOF! It baked and turned out WONDERFUL! We were excited and not one bit of the 3 loaves was left over. What a way to start a day!
*** Remember... have faith in the little lumps of dough! ***

Love Jen.

Yo Yo... happy V Day!

Happy V Day!!! Mmmmm.... chocolate! Swiss chocolate!!! Lindt chocolate is really cheap here in Switzerland and mm mmm good. We are doing great! Yesterday I made banana-spice cookies for the group. There are about 35 students here and workers. Today Craig and I did housekeeping duties in the Bellevue Chalet where we live in. All the work here is really easy so we just get things done and then usually they let us leave work early and go study or read. I journaled some excellent recipes the other day. We had a great conversation about prayer and missions on Monday at one of the formal lunches. Also another great formal lunch was when Craig brought up the subject of "art in the church". Everyone really seemed to get into that discussion. We have 4 formal lunches a week where we can address any question... even a question on whether man actually went to the moon!
I've started a new book "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. Also continuing to read my devotional book I picked up at Taize by Brother Roger.
I had tutorial today (each week, we meet for an hour and talk about anything we want to) and I wasn't really sure what to talk about today so I brought up the topic of the "christian music industry" as there is a lot of cynicism amongst almost everyone here about this industry (for good reason). It was a great conversation and quite beneficial.

Another cool thing... she was Rebecca St James' tutor when Rebecca was here at L'Abri a couple years ago! So cool! Anyways, I know that Lisa Hiebert will like that tidbit of info! :)

Cheers and blessings! :)