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! :)

The Alpes

Yesterday we had a brillant hike all over the Swiss alpes... what a dream! It was so beautiful. This is Craig by the way. I just started on my fourth book. I read a church history book, N.T. Wrights New perspective on Paul, out of the silent planet and I just started the second book in C.S. Lewis's space trilogy. I have probably learned more from Lewis's space Trilogy then Wrights book . Lewis is a magician with words.

I started Lewis because I was tired of all of the academic philsophy and needed a break into a fantasy land. That is the one thing that I don't quite get about L'Abri yet. It sometimes focuses too much on philosphy and fails to breath. On any given day there can be so many discusions about nothing, in reality, and it can make your mind go numb! So I am enjoying my artistic break with good literature.

I was planning on writing more but I can't concentrate because there is a deep conversation about something going on behind me and it won't allow me to concentrate and focus on writing. Maybee you, my reader, will be more lucky next time. Also I just want my dedicated audience to know that I am not worried about my lack of spelling or grammer because it is one of my rules to never reread what I write. There you go derek. until next time

Shalom
craig

ramblings on Feb 9

Thought we should update our blog today! I'm sitting here while there are several people waiting so I can't think of something very inspiring to write as I have only a few minutes but I will think of something.

There are several discussions here and formal lunches where we address questions that people raise and alot of the discussions and teaching is based around Christian philosophy. Now... I've never really studies philosophy and philosophy is different from theology. I LOVE theology, however I do not really like philosophy. However, I recognize the importance of addressing certain questions and thinking about possible answers because we do need to engage these topics in our culture to be able to engage with our society and dialogue about God with those in our communities. But I also stand on the conviction that some of these questions are useless and empty and can cause doubts, confusion and questions. There is a philosopher who talks about "orientation, disorientation, and reorientation" in our relationships with God. Times when we are oriented to Him where things seem connected, on course and moving forward with God. Other times, we experience disorientation which can include times of disappointment with God, or maybe stress, or anything that causes confusion and an unsettling. But this cycle then moves to reorientation when God directs our hearts and minds back to Him and we move forward again... or something!??? i think I got that right. Anyways, this cycle happens to us as humans and in our relationship with God. That was one thing that hit me this week.

Another cool thing I'd like to mention is that I got this song in my head today as I was standing in line for dinner:
"Before the throne of God above, I have a strong a perfect plea, a great High Priest whose name is Love who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is written on His heart, (can't remember the words) la la la... and I am glad that song was in my head.

Oh yah! Yesterday was really fun. We went to Vevey on the train and finally found knitting needles and yarn and went to Mcdonalds for lunch, had some wine at a nearby restaurant and it was a really fun and relaxing day with us and a couple friends. In the evening, Craig played some songs on the guitar and we had an old-fashioned hymn sing! It was great. I was knitting away and thinking in my head, "I love Craig!" :)

Okay, bye! Love you all!

I love the SwISs

The Swiss RoCK
I barely had a chance to get my thumb in the air before a couple of Swiss Ski duded pulled over and drove us 20 mins. to the train station. It was pretty sweet. We hung out at Lake Geneve today. what an amazing piece of water. We would like to go into Geneve at some point to check out some of our protestant reformer calvin history. WE are only an hour and a bit train ride from there.

OUr living situation is pretty nice too. We have bunk beds! I get the top... of the bunk bed;) it works out well though because Jen still can't sleep well next to me so it helps us sleep through the night!

Last night me and adam went out with some of the guys to play pool and stuff in the nearby ski town called Villar. There are a lot of amazing people here that have been fun getting to know. Everyone has a different story to tell. LAst semester Wayne Grudem's son was here! crazy eh? also Tim Keller has spoken here and they have his lectures on tapes. they have lots of lectures on tape which is a nice break from the books. Right now I am into N.T Wright's book on Paul and a book on church history and G.K Chestertons Orthodoxy.

Anyway adios till later

Craig

update!!!

we have now changed the settings so anyone can leave comments! feel free to send us a message to say hi.

My wonderful husband...

...gave up his day off to go on a hunt to find knitting needles and yarn for his wife (me)! Yes, i accidentally forgot the knitting needles at home so they are sitting safely in my dresser drawer at home. so i have to find some needles and yarn here. L'Abri is a knitting nation! Everyone here knits! Guys and girls... all are knitting! So eventually I, too, will join the knitting nation!

The food here is amazing. Everything is made from scratch! The bread, the soups, the desserts, sauces, etc. Its inspiring me to be a home-maker when I come back to Canada! In fact, that's one of the things I've decided to learn more about here. I'm planning on reading a book by Edith Schaeffer on Home-Making and hospitality. Many of my friends are very good at that and I want to blossom in that area.

Today we went to Montreux for our day off! We went hitch hiking but Craig will tell you about that! We took the train and found a mall where they sold scarves (everyone wears scarves in europe) and found a couple cheap ones. We went for lunch at a cute little french swiss restaurant down a small alley way. I ordered some kind of pizza but you never really know what it will turn out to be here so what I actually ordered was a pizza with salad on it, cheese, and beef fillet... in other words a thin slice of raw cow meat! i only realized what it was fully until after the second piece and then proceeded to remove the cow from my pizza... i thought of becoming a vegetarian today. hee hee :)

And then Craig bought us some Lindor chocolat. Its made here in switzerland so its pretty cheap. we made our way back to the school and now are relaxing for the rest of the day...

Our bunkbed is working out fine but Craig will tell you more about that! :)

The Journey

What an amazing experience so far. Everyplace has gone beyond expectations. I am exited to see what we will learn here at L'Abri. It was kind of a cultural shock to go from a very Eruopean place with multipal languages to L'Abri where everyone speaks enlgish and is from North America! it is fun! I think I will study Church History and Theology. Why not. I love that stuff so I thought it would be good. I have already had some very interesting conversations but my time is limited now. Perhaps I will right more later.

Shalom,

Craig

p.s. it feels like I am in a dream...

l'abri in switzerland

We said goodbye to taize yesterday and hello to the Swiss alpes. We are now at L'Abri Fellowship here in the mountain... wayyyyyy up the mountain. We opened the curtains this morning to look at our view and it was absolutely incredibly MAJESTIC! There is no other word to describe the clear blue sky, the jagged mountain and the pure white snow! It is actually a bit warmer here than it was in France. We had our first day here today with work in the morning and study in the afternoon. We each have to pick a subject to study while we are here for 6 weeks. Craig will probably study Church History and I am not sure what I will be studying yet. Maybe a book of the Bible, marriage, biblical womanhood, or possibly systematic theology! There are many books and tapes to choose from. We are now at a place with a good computer so there will be more updates from here! We love you! :)

le semaine a taize

bonjour... j,ai un peu de temps a utilizer l,internet. ah bon, oui. we have had a good and interesting week at taize; it has been fun to meet so many different people; some are catholic, protestant, unbelievers, some are searching and asking many questions. we have learned many things; our group from cbc is great; one thing is funnny when you are surrounded by internationals and there are so many languages that you begin to speak slowly and say the main words in a sentence so it can be understood... your sentences become incomplete and us from canada are beginning to speak with accents, incomplete sentences and using lots of hand motions to explain ourselves that i think we are beginning to seem like cavemen. its quite remarkable... craig and i would like to come back here one day as it is a very special place... i have learned new lessons in how to love and accept people where they are at in their journey towards Christ. We are all on a journey and God is love. my time on the internet is over for now... craig is taking a nap so I will say adios from both of us... au revoir

Taize

Bonjour

We are now at the Taize community in France and it has been a great time so far. There are ,any people from all over the world here it is a,azing to worship with so ,any different people.

the food is interesting. for breakfast we get bread andwater and there are lots of hot dogs and mashed potateoees and pwder coffee and tea.it feels like camp. the services start outwith candles, lights, and the monks enter the room one by one... there are about 50 monks and then we sing songs in french, german, english and other languages. there is lots of quiet time and good discussion groups too... write more later... craig and jen.

hola
i still can't figure out any french i keep wanting to speak spanish. Jen and i had a good time wondering Paris today. We saw most the sight. the Louve is pretty neat and the eifle tour too, but it started to rain so we didn't hang around the eifle tour too much

i have decided that i don't like french food. the bakeries and crepes are good but it is hard to find a nice hearty meal here, i guess that is why most people are skinny. i found an irish pub though right near the notre dame which was a nice surprise Myfirt glass of frenh wine was nice. I think both of us are still trying to get oer the time change but hopefuly today will be better, we are taking the train out to taize today so wwe hae a day of rest while we travel, So see you later paris i liked London better. haha.

Craig and jen

vive le france

Bonjour we are here after a long 12 hour flight! we got to our hostel which is pretty nice and its been fun to try to read things in french and get around the city with the little french i know but its working! saw the notre dame today and it was so crazy to see this huge cathedral and then saw in the distance the eiffel tower... will see more tomorrow... we are going to go play card games now and our new favorite game cribbage. we thought we saw derek furtney and earl fast today in paris... it was funny! we leave for taize in the country side on jan 21 and we are looking forward to staying at the monastary there. okay my time is running out on the computer so gotta run... we love you all... oh yah, i will try to fix the comment posting thing so that people can comment, i didnt realize it was on a different setting... awesome... thanks for the heads up mooselo! much love! au revoir.

Departing from Vancouver... arriving in Paris, France!

Craig in Paris!

Jen in Paris!

The Louvre Museum

The Arch de Triomph

The Eiffel Tower... on a rainy Paris day

         

Leaving Paris by train to travel to Taize

Craig's a good packer!

Yup, he helped me pack up my backpack today. Its fun to think that you'll be living out of a backpack for 3 months, roughin' it, same clothes, no showers, you know like the Bible times! Thanks Lindsey for giving me an awesome haircut! I love it. Cool place where you work too! Special hollar shout out to my old roomie Karen!!! I forgot to hollar shout out at the wedding so i thought I'd shout out hollar right here! Thanks for having us over on Saturday Corrie! It was awesome to hang out with you and visit. I miss you and Angelle already! Thanks for the knitting needles. Oh yah, I have to remember to pack them in my backpack. Thanks Donna for teaching me to knit. Thanks sistas for your lovehugs and parents for taking care of us this week! One more thanks and shout out to our church!!! Thanks for being our church family, supportive and loving... you're amazing and we love you. Thanks for lunch. We will miss you dearly! Jenbug.

Mr. Paris

hello again.

craig here. i have never blogged before so i thought i would try to get into it as soon as i could. we just finished packing(well at least i have) and are almost all ready to go. it is kinda weird leaving everyone behind for three months. three months really isn't that long but i like the people that i am around so it will be bitter sweet for a while. once we get going in our "studies" it will be good i am sure.

well i better go be a good husband and help jenn finish packing. adios (sorry all i know is spanish, and my spanish isn't even that good).

craig

Beginnings...

Hey everyone! Thanks for visiting our blog! We are excited to begin our euro adventure this thursday at 10:05 am as we soar into the air... thanks for all your support and prayers. We will give our first official update on our trip when we arrive in Paris. ooo la la! Je parle un peu de francais... peut-etre c'est bon... je ne sais pas... haha. Parler avec vous bien tot. Au revoir! (The french wa Jen not craig, Craig knows only English).

Shalom,

Craig and Jen