travel ramblings
20 Years and some Disney Magic
This year was our 20-year anniversary. Now this is a significant date for me for a couple of reasons. First, I’m one of the only family members (that married) that hasn’t been divorced. Second, we spent the first 17 years of our marriage in student ministry. That means that while everyone else was on vacation or break, we weren’t. Summers and Winters are prime camp and retreat times.
Our first 17 anniversaries were spent with students at conferences or camps. To Amy’s credit – she never complained about that. So I absolutely wanted this 20-year marker be something very special. Since we honeymooned at Disney World, what better place to celebrate the anniversary?
We stayed at the Port Orleans: French Quarter Resort on the Disney property. I also got us reservations for dinner at the California Grill on top of the Contemporary Hotel – so I thought. You can see Magic Kingdom from there and the plan was to eat dessert, see the fireworks, have the romantic music playing…you get the picture.
As I’m getting ready to leave for Florida, I realize that I never got a confirmation email from Disney about the dinner reservation. I call and it’s not there. They don’t have any record of it at all. We’ve got the room at Port Orleans, just no dinner at the California Grill.
The lady was very nice – gave me a couple of other locations to see the fireworks – but I was pretty upset at myself.
We get off the plane in Orlando and I have a voicemail. It’s Guest Services at Disney. The lady that was helping me was calling me back but we missed each other. Her voicemail said she’d be out of the office until next week sometime.
Next day we get to Port Orleans and it is gorgeous. We got a touch of Mickey in the room and it felt like we were in New Orleans. The streets, the look and the beignets! Oh yeah.
I finally get dinner reservations at another restaurant. It wasn’t California Grill but it was still nice and we could head over to the Polynesian for the fireworks afterward. That’s when the craziness started. I get a phone call from Jennifer at the California Grill. She saw it was our anniversary and while she didn’t have a 9pm spot, she had an 8pm, would I be interested. I said – yes but it’s already 5ish now and we’ve got reservations that I’m not sure I can get out of this late. I really appreciate the effort and the thought. So I hang up.
My phone rings 10 minutes later. It’s Jennifer from the California Grill again. “Mr. English, this is your 20 year anniversary, right? I mean, you really need to have this dinner at the California Grill. So I’ve taken care of those other reservations for you. We are covering the fee for them. See you at 8, okay?”
Needless to say, I was floored. What kind of incredible service is that?
So what do you do to kill time at Disney before 8pm dinner reservations? You check out the other hotels on the monorail. Here are some pics…
We check in on the 2nd floor of the Contemporary Hotel for the California Grill. At check in, we’re told that they are running about 15 to 20 minutes behind on their reservations but to go on upstairs and enjoy the view and the lounge. We are escorted on the express elevator to the 15th floor. At the main reception desk upstairs, I notice the manager, his name is Gary. I asked him about Jennifer, she got off earlier in the night but I made sure he knew about what she did for us. He smiled and said — oh, that’s not all she arranged for you.
Instead of being 15 minutes behind, right at 8pm we were taken to our table. Not just any table but a small table for two located in a cozy corner with an incredible view of Cinderella’s Castle and all of Magic Kingdom. Our table was sprinkled with Mickey Confetti as well.
Bill would be our waiter for the evening. By the way – every staff that we ran into wished us a Happy Anniversary. Very nice touch. The view and the service were outstanding, the food was even better. Bill walked us through the menu. We did a Sushi starter platter. I ordered the Beef Filet, Amy took on the Pork Tenderloin.
I wouldn’t order the sushi platter again. The shrimp, tuna, and salmon were outstanding. So was the white nut shrimp roll. There was another fish on it that was good but the other rolls and mackerel were not to our liking. But it sure did look pretty.
The entrees were the best. The steak was probably the best I’ve ever eaten. All of the food was incredible.
We were really taking our time with the meal. We thought if we were slow enough, we could be finishing up dessert right as the fireworks started. The waiter had already cleared a couple of other tables in his section. We really shouldn’t have worried about it.
As he cleared our plates, he said ‘Alright guys, want you to take a little break. I’ll be back here in about 10 minutes with dessert menus that way you guys will be eating dessert while watching the fireworks! And only order one dessert. I’ve got something special for you.”
Here’s what he ended up bringing us along with free glasses of champagne to celebrate our anniversary. That is peppermint ice cream with a chocolate cake with a hot fudge cream middle. Bill also brought us a piece of chocolate mousse cake. Complete with the “Happy Anniversary” chocolate placards.
And the fireworks were incredible with the soundtrack from Magic Kingdom being piped into the restaurant. Overall, the BEST anniversary ever. What a great experience and I’m blown away by how the Disney staff just took care of us and once again used a little magic to make it happen!
Here are some more pics!
Open Letter To Our Mission Trip Takers
Once again we have a solid group of students – both high school and college who have already committed to doing a mission project in the summer of 2012. This is such a huge highlight for me because I know these are life-changing opportunities for both the students as well as the place they go. The big one for Western Hills is of course our partnership with Word of Life in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
This is the letter I wrote the team this week…
An open letter to our students going on a mission trip this summer,
From your favorite pastor. (Okay – I’m your only one. Just humor me for a moment.)I don’t want to sound over-dramatic but there two things that I think the Lord is pressing on me to say to you.
First – thank you. For the last 4 years, the only international mission trips that Western Hills has been a part of has been with students. It should NOT be this way – we grown ups should be modeling for you what the Great Commission and Great Commandment look like. But it is. You are showing us.
You are showing us to be obedient to the command of Jesus – to go into ALL the world to tell ALL people about Jesus. We need this. I need this. Without this model – we’ll never grow into the church we need to be. You are the church of the NOW.
Second – hang in there and get wet.
What the heck is that supposed to mean?
Here’s what it means – Joshua 3 – God has given this ridiculous sized mission to a young leader named Joshua who has never led before. The mission was to occupy the land that God had been promising Israel for hundred of years. It would be a mission of incredible importance and supreme danger.
The biggest obstacle? The first 50 feet in front of them. The Jordan River. In flood stage.
In order to get to the land, they had to cross the river and it just looked insurmountable. Joshua was thinking about giving up before they ever got started.
Look at how many times God says to Joshua “Do not be afraid, have courage” in the first 3 chapters. It’s ridiculous. It’s beyond ridiculous. It makes you wonder if Joshua was really just a big baby and God was having to babysit him. Why does God take so much time at the start to “talk Joshua up?”
Because the biggest obstacle to completing the mission of God will always be the first 50 steps. ALWAYS!
The enemy knows that if he can get you to quit early, it’s done. People who have seen God work and have a taste of God coming through at the last minute – they don’t quit. They know better. So the pressure to quit is ALWAYS at the start, near the beginning.
And again at the very end.
Back to Joshua 3 – get wet. God is going to give Joshua a glimpse of what He can do if he will just obey. A glimpse enough to get him moving and obeying. God tells Joshua and the leaders to go stand in the Jordan river as if they are going to cross it.
When they do this — the river stops flowing. It becomes a dry river bed. Easy to cross. And they cross it. And hence a pattern is started for God’s people. You start the journey, you be obedient, you get wet. Then I’ll show up. But you are going to have to get wet first.
So my friends, here is what I’m telling you…
GET WET, PEOPLE!!!!!!
And let the rest of us watch God work in you and through you.
It’s my honor to be your pastor and friend.
Topeka Eats: Flying Monkey
Location: corner of 17th & Washburn Road.
Kind of Food: coffees and light lunch – salad, sandwiches, quiche (maybe)
Date visited: Tuesday, December 6 at lunch
Here is the review from Food & Flicks. I had a very different experience.
First, it’s a cool looking, modern-minimalist place. No clutter, just a place that you would expect to have in a metropolitan area like Denver or the Plaza even. So – kudos for that.
Staff was friendly and engaging.
Food:
I ordered the quiche…and they didn’t have it. I then ordered their salad with hummus. And they didn’t have that. So I’ll go with the Turkey Club and they didn’t have that.
I quote my conversation with the cashier at this point.
Me: Okay…so why don’t you tell me what you do have on this menu.
Guy: Pretty much anything you see on the menu.
Me: I’m 0 for 3 ordering off the menu. Help me out a bit.
Guy: We have a soup.
Me: Great, what is it?
Guy: It’s the Soup de Jour.
Me: LONG PAUSE. So you’re telling me that the soup of the day is the soup of the day?
(To be fair, he could have trying to be funny and it just didn’t work. I couldn’t really tell.)
The other guy finally tells me it is a Cheese Ale soup. I order it. My buddy (who invited me to the place) ordered a Cranberry Chicken Salad Sandwich. We both ordered the Ecuadorian coffee. It was the best thing of the whole experience. The coffee was outstanding…a bit expensive…but outstanding.
The soup was good but tiny. Very tiny. Think small coffee cup size. My friend said his sandwich tasted great as well. But…
Price:
There is no way around this – it’s expensive. 7 to 9 dollars for a salad or a sandwiches that are medium to small portion sizes, with no chips or side or drink is a bit much. It’s like tourist prices….but without the view or travel.
What made it all the more disappointing was just yards away stood my favorite place to eat – The Burger Stand – where I could have gotten a huge hamburger, whole side of fries and a drink for the same price as my cup of coffee and cup of soup.
Overall Experience:
It’s a nice place. It is a quiet, comfortable place to meet and talk over coffee.
But don’t go there hungry. While the food quality is outstanding, the portion sizes versus pricing is considerably out of kilter.
UPDATE: Just learned that today was the first day they were serving food. A ‘soft open’ I believe is what they call it in the Biz. That may explain not having the full menu available.
KC-135 Stratotanker Refueling Mission
Chris Gnagi invited me on a “Civic Leader” flight out at Forbes Field today. (Why he thinks I’m a civic leader is a whole other discussion.) Got to the gate at 7:30, inside the auditorium by 7:45. At 8 am, the briefing started. After some time on the history of the National Guard, the actual flight crew walked us through the mission.
We were going to fly down to Springfield then over to Oklahoma City then back to refuel and do training runs with a B-52 out of Barksdale AFB (LA). The KC-135 that we were using today was built in 1957 and can fly halfway around the world before needing to refuel. They can refuel anything military and NATO. No helicopters and no commercial airlines.
Chris got me in the cockpit for takeoff. Lots of communication between pilots, cargo crew, ground crew, and tower. Lots of knob twisting and checklists. Found out there is triple redundancy on the engines and power generators. That’s good to know.
Each engine has to be spun by air pressure first. As they gain speed, fuel is pumped to them and is ignited. Each engine does this independently. I feel the plane pop a bit with each engine coming up to speed. Those quick take-offs in the movies that let the good guy get away? I don’t think that is happening with this plane.
Pilot is getting last minute instructions as to what runaway to use for takeoff, what elevation and climb he needs to take. Then he has to report who is on board. “18 souls onboard.” 14 passengers, 4 crew but they still say – “souls” when reporting how many people. I like that.
Wylie 31 Heavy is our call sign. Rogue 07 (Zero-Seven) is the B-52 we are refueling. As we taxi to takeoff we got confirmation that Rogue 07 is airborne.
The first overwhelming feeling is takeoff. 4 huge engines just lifting this beast off the ground. All the while there is constant conversation on the radio – altitude, tower control, bearing information. It’s multitasking on steroids. It feels much like a commercial airline take off except for one major difference – the noise. It’s loud and I’m thankful for the headset.
About 10 seconds after lifting off there is a glitch. The landing gear. There was the big bright light on the lever that indicated that not all the wheels were up. Pilot calls back to cargo for visual inspection. Cargo tells us that he can see the wheels and that they are in retracted but we have no confirmation that the they are locked in place.
During this whole time, the tower is giving instructions as to heading and altitude and speed and climb rate. There is quite a bit of chatter. We are told the nearest plane to us is a Cessna about 6 miles away at 6500 feet.
We get to 4,000 ft and the pilot goes “around the horn” on recycling the landing gear. This means every crew member says yes/no on whether to re-engage the landing gear then pulling it back up. All say yes. The pilot tells tower what is going on. The landing gear lever is dropped and I can feel the plane start dragging. It’s like someone has hit the brakes. The wait a few seconds then pop the lever back up. All lights go dark. In this case that is a good thing because that means the gear is up and locked in place. All good, off to refuel.
We are at 6k ft and are clear to go to 23,000. It’s pretty foggy. Heavy cloud cover. Can’t see anything. Until we get to 23,000. Then the sun pokes thru and you can literally feel it warm the plane.
On radar we can see these white dots with numbers on it. +7 means that plane is 7, 000 feet higher than we are. -4 means 4,000 feet lower.
We get a call – Rogue 07 is inbound, 1 mile away. They will be coming up on our right wing. Gnagi gives me a nod to head back to the boom. I drop my headset off and am immediately overwhelmed by the noise. It is loud. The only way to really communicate with one another is screaming.
I make my way down the cargo bay, grab an airmask to wear in case the cabin loses air pressure and some much needed ear plugs. You can see here that they come with simple instructions. This mask comes with 5 minutes of oxygen. (That’s what the label says.) I guess that means if the pressure goes, they’ve got 5 minutes to get to a lower altitude.
I can see the B-52 off our wing and it doesn’t look that big. In the galley pics below, if you look closely it’s just underneath the wing. Of course…that is one mile away. He’s about to get a lot closer.
The boom operator lays down on this couch and has both feet and hand controls over the boom. There is an extension that comes out and actually connects with the plane. There is also some play with the boom – up/down and right/left.
There is close to 80,000 lbs of fuel in this bird. (I think that is the number…it was pretty loud in the plane so don’t quote me on that.) It’s located in the wings and under the fuselage where most aircraft put luggage. Gravity does most of the work moving the fuel around. Less mechanical dependency, less mechanical failure. Chris tells me that it’s possible to send fuel from the receiver plane to the KC-135 but not preferred. In fact, he said only in extreme emergencies would they even attempt it.
It’s hard to describe the feeling laying down watching a B-52 fly right up underneath you. So I shot some footage with my iPhone instead. What a ride!!!
NOTE: The footage is in HD and looks incredible but is taking a ridiculous long time to upload. So I’m working on a faster process but the video is coming. And it’s pretty incredible. I’ll update it again on Twitter when it’s finished. In the meantime, enjoy the pics.
Video is done and here it is. Be sure to watch it in HD. Pretty awesome.
Topeka Food: Toucan Express
Image is from Food&Flicks.
Toucan Express
1003 S.E. Quincy
Topeka, KS 66612
(785) 233-5900
Grabbed lunch with my good friend Gary Manford yesterday and we decided to try the Toucan Express – Brazilian Buffet. After 10 years of visiting Brazil, my family has a love for the Brazilian food and culture.
Let me get the most annoying thing about this place out of the way right now. Parking. I realize that really isn’t the Toucan Express’s fault but this location has seen something like 37 dinner restaurants come and go. I think the biggest reason is parking. There is nowhere to park and the 4 places you can park is going to cost you about a $1 an hour – in coins.
START OF MINI-RANT: I wonder if the city of Topeka really wants the downtown area to thrive or not. They seem to do everything in their power to make life difficult for the customer. It’s a shame because I can count 6 places that I think are superior places to eat but are absolutely ridiculous to get to because of parking and parking meters. END OF RANT.
I didn’t have any coins. So I walk in and ask Gary if he’s got any coins and he doesn’t. The waiter reaches in his pocket and pulls out 3 quarters and gives them to me. That has got to be the best service I’ve had in a long time. (And you can bet I rewarded him greatly with my tip after the meal.)
The decor is sparse. I wanted there to be this overwhelming sense of smells and sights that took me back to Brazil. The smells were there. The sights were not. Of course, they are still in their soft opening phase. If you aren’t familiar with what a soft opening is – see Oceans 13.
Toucan Express only serves lunch as of right now and every day is a different menu. Today being Thursday meant we got the Brazilian Roast Beef and Chicken Stroganoff. Of course, there were the usual rice, beans, yuka – potato like root from Brazil (very good), and their cornbread. Two kinds of cornbread – the regular and coconut. I’m not a fan of coconut but Gary is. I lost track of how many pieces he ate. I assume that means he thought it was very, very, good. Rice pudding was also served as a dessert.
The food was very good and hearty…and plenty of it. The beef skewers were outstanding. Thin pieces of beef wrapped and marinated — good night, it was good. I’m not really doing it justice. The cook came out and spent some time talking to us. She asked about our food and the conversation turned to her home in Rio de Janeiro.
Overall: Good place to eat. 10 bucks gets you all-you-can-eat buffet and a drink. Pretty reasonable.
Parking is a nightmare, I hope they can overcome that.
Future Plans: Chef said that the hope is to have a churrascaria on the weekend. That’s the swords full of meat for those of you wondering.
Topeka Eats: The Burger Stand
The Burger Stand is located in the College Hill section of Topeka (16th & Lane, across from Washburn U). I took the fam this past Wednesday night as sort of treat and an apology from me for being absolutely crazy busy since Labor Day.
Loved the atmosphere. With a Fat Tire bicycle over the bar along with the O’Dell posters on the wall, it felt like I’d just been dropped into Fort Collins. I will say that those who have smaller kids – toddler and younger – this could be a pretty overwhelming experience. You order at the bar, the menu is in chalk, there really isn’t a kid menu. So folks with little families – might not be the best experience for you. We had our 3 kiddos with us but they are older.
Here’s what we ordered:
The Classic – white cheddar cheese burger with greens. This was probably the best burger I’ve had in a long, long time. Just a good ole, thick, juicy burger and the white cheddar was perfect. Every one of ours was cooked to perfection.
Corn Dawg – one of the kids ordered this. You know those frozen corn dogs that you get at a fair? This was nothing like it. This was the Cadillac of Corn Dogs. Think of a great big foot-long Nathan’s hotdog dipped in a special beer-batter, fried to perfection.
The Fry menu took a little explaining. They’ve got regular fries, sweet potato, duck fat, truffle, and onion rings. Duck Fat Fries are fried in duck fat, then tossed in some seasoned salt and some chives. I REALLY wanted to try these and one day I will go back and get them. But after dropping all this weight – I just could not bring myself to even say the words Duck Fat, let alone order something and put it in my mouth. But I will…
Truffle Fries – from what I could get gather from the cashier, is basically fries tossed in some truffle oil. I will admit that I am no food snob so I can’t really tell you if this is at all a good thing or not. I know that truffles are expensive and they are this “amazing, wonderful” ingredient that you can only get if you are cooking on some chef elimination tv show like Chopped, Masterchef, or Next Food Network Star.
We ordered:
Regular Fries: Pretty regular. Nothing to write home about.
Onion Rings: The beer-battered rings have a distinct taste. First, you can taste the beer in the batter – which is unusual in most places. Second, it’s not the sweet batter that most use but has a little bitter to it. We had mixed reviews at our table. Some liked them, some hated them. I think I would have liked them but I had ordered something else and after tasting them – nothing else was going to taste good. What was that?
Sweet Potato Fries: Oh. My. Gosh. I have a love/hate relationship with sweet potato fires. There are some places that use so much cinnamon and carmel and sugar that I just can’t eat them. It’s like eating fried sugar. These were cooked perfectly. Not artificially sweet, just fried perfectly with a little salt and let the sweet potato stand on its own. PERFECTION. These were the hit of the night as I had to fight off Amy from eating them.
Sauces: The Burger Stand really stands out as a Gourmet Burger place with their sauces. They don’t just have ketchup or mustard or if your my daughter – mayonnaise. (Why would you put mayo on a burger??? Ughhhh…) Each sauce has a twist to it. The ketchup has some heat to it along with a hint of cherry. Mustard has some heat as well but I didn’t taste it so I can’t really attest to it. It may sound weird, but they all got great reviews from our table. Except from my youngest kid – she wanted normal ketchup for that corn dog. Oh well…she survived.
Other Menu Items:
They’ve got a vegetarian menu (why???) that seems to be pretty good. Sun-dried and truffle and all those other key vegetarian words were used on the menu so I guess that is good.
They also have a variety of “Dawgs” and Brats on the menu. They look pretty amazing but I just have a hard time ordering a hot dog anywhere except at a ballpark. There other burgers are going to be on my menu the next time I go. A Kobe burger, a Black & Blue Burger, Fire, and Smoke are also on the menu.
$$$ - Our bill came in under $50. For a family of 5, that’s not ridiculously expensive but it was a bit more than just fast food. We didn’t order drinks either – waters for everybody. For the quality of food we got – I feel like it was a great price. Amy and I will absolutely come back by ourselves. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been out and wanted just a good ole burger in a local joint without having to go through the ‘sit down, wait, order, get, shove it down because they are waiting on that table’ experience.
In hindsight, we could have saved a few pennies by just ordering a couple of large baskets of fries instead of each of us getting a half basket. We had plenty of fries – except for the sweet potato ones. Every crumb of those were licked up. Neither one of our older kids finished their burgers completely. That’s how big and thick those puppies are. So we probably could have split a burger between them.
Overall Experience:
Outstanding. Folks were friendly, food was great. I have a feeling that this will become one of our favorite ‘splurge’ places to eat.
My Labor Day Weekend
Friday Night – Wedding at Lake Shawnee. Really enjoy this couple. Looking forward to getting to know them better. I prefer Friday night weddings over Saturday afternoon.
Saturday
11 AM – funeral for Robin Sadler. Western Hills was packed. We got a little late start on the funeral to make sure everyone was situated and ready. I don’t think anyone minded at all. Funerals are never fun but this one was good. Good in that – we miss Robin but her life and testimony give such hope and joy. Lots of tears and laughter.
1 PM – get home from funeral to head out to Lake Wabaunsee. We were invited by some friends to spend the weekend but obviously couldn’t. Instead, we came out for Saturday afternoon. Rain came rolling in at the same time we were getting ready to leave. We were tempted to just stay home. I was tired, drained from the funeral/wedding but…we decided to go anyway.
So glad we did. I caught one fish in the middle of the day. Not bad at all considering the conditions. The company and food were outstanding. We looked up and it was already 8 pm. Time flies. Headed home for church.
Sunday
9 & 10.30 AM
It’s Labor Day weekend and I’m learning in Kansas that means days at the lake. Plus our weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous. I know other pastors will never admit this but it’s true – I was preparing for a ‘low’ Sunday. I get it. I understand. I don’t harbor ill-well to those families who take off on a long weekend to spend with their family. It’s just a reality that the church has to deal with.
We were pretty packed on Sunday morning. Never would have guess it was a holiday weekend.
We had a great service as well – dealing with the issue of eternity, heaven and hell. Here are the two big nuggets I hope people walked away with…
I was sold “Heaven” as a kid like a time-share condo. If they had told me that the only way to get to heaven was to do cartwheels with animal crackers in my mouth, I’d have done that. I wanted no part of Hell.
Truth is there is no heaven without Jesus. Where ever Jesus is, Heaven is. The real question of eternity isn’t about heaven and/or hell. It’s about Jesus. Do you love and want to be with Jesus?
1 pm
We leave church and head to Kansas City to drop kids off at Nana’s and Poppy’s house. They will celebrate Cayden’s birthday yet so more. (It felt like birthday week, not birthday day this year…) Amy and I grab a room on the Plaza.
We get a 3 mile walk in before dinner and rent a couple of movies at redbox.
Monday
We get another over 3 mile walk in, then coffee at Starbucks. A visit to the Apple Store then some BBQ for lunch. We wanted Oklahoma Joe’s but they were closed for Labor Day. Rosedale BBQ instead. It was a mixed bag. The sausage and corn fritters were the best ever. The pork and fries were average/below average.
5pm
Head over to some friends house in Topeka for grilling.
8pm
Home and kids in bed but allergies decided to kick me in the face pretty good. I spend the next hour just sneezing and basically miserable.
Ready for the week? Ready or not…
Are your missions projects doing more harm than good?
Robert Terrell, pastor/friend/fellow Tide fan in Wisconsin, dropped this on his blog this weekend. If you’re not reading Robert – you need to be. He doesn’t post as often as I want him to but when he does – it’s good.
He starts with a quote from a friend, here’s an excerpt:
“How do you think kids see their church after one week of playing, eating candies, doing crafts and receiving gifts from americans in a VBS???” … i believe we are supposed to be a part of spreading the joy of CHRIST throughout the world. we need to be involved in sharing the good news of the kingdom of GOD in other countries. we just HAVE to make sure that we do this in a manner that helps the local church rather than hurting it.
His point is that most “American” mission trips are geared so that the Americans showing up are the experts, they do their thing for the week – VBS, program, medical help, etc. – then they leave. There is no way those ‘left behind’ can replicate what was done. Worse case scenario is that the way the mission trip was done – whether intentional or not – undermines the very cause they came for. There is probably no way to continue the work that was done. So it either stops altogether when they leave or they wait until the next year/trip shows up.
This brings up the fundamental question of why do we do mission trips in the first place? I know the churchy answer is because “Jesus said so” but it’s the second answer that I’m more interested in hearing. Do we go because there is a calling, a partnership OR do we go because of what it means to us? If not you’re not sure, here’s a little test. When you return from a trip do you sit down and deal with these questions: How did we improve Kingdom work? How did help the local church be more effective/successful? What will continue after we leave? What did we learn for the next time?
My first few mission trips could not answer any of those questions. Let’s shoot straight – most of my early mission trips were mainly for selfish reasons. Not that what we did was bad. Building houses and helping orphans are good things to do. But they weren’t long term strategic partnerships and what I mostly remember about those trips are what they did to me. Having a life change moment, a holy moment isn’t a bad thing, it’s not a bad benefit to a trip. But it makes for a horrible core reason for doing a mission trip.
So what is the answer? Here’s where I am at…
1. No more pop in, pop out trips. Long-term relationships matter. We want to be able to pay, pray, and play. Support through-out the year financially, pray and dialogue with them through-out the year, be able to go and ‘play’ with them as well. For years at a time. Not a one-time gig. NOTE: Play means visit, to show up, to work alongside. A couple of our partnerships are in closed places that we can’t just show up once a year. I understand that but we are trying to get somebody there when/if we can.
2. We are NOT the experts. We go to places where we can partner with an existing ministry already on the ground. The question then becomes what can we do to help them further advance the work of God that they are already involved in. They tell us what they need – not us telling them. This means once we leave, the work continues. Yes, we may bring something that only we can bring – technology, tools, services – but it’s done in the context of a ministry already going on. It’s connected to a larger body of work, a local ministry – not just the “celebrity Americans.”
3. Does it help make disciples that love God, live connected, and serve all? This of course is our vision/mantra. I want to make sure that who we partner with has this kind of heart and direction, that they too have a Kingdom, long-term vision of ministry. That they have the same heart of seeing people coming to know Jesus and growing up in Jesus. That a they too are serving all – all people, inside and outside the church.
I know it’s not perfect BUT it’s been helpful to keep us focused.
Brazil 2011 – The Epilogue
The Brazil team will be giving their report in church on July 24th. Don’t miss this. It will be awesome.
Day 11
Hardest day of trip. Getting in buses, saying good-bye to missionaries is always very difficult for Amy and I. I have a lot of different thoughts running thru my head.
My first trip to Porto Alegre with WOL was in 2002. For the first 5 years, there was very little fruit to report on when we came home. We would go to schools, talk to students, have retreats, go to churches, work with leaders and basically see no decisions at all. This went on for years. It was work. Lots of relationship building. Lots of conversations.
Around 4 years ago, I noticed it changing a bit. More schools wanted us to come by and visit. A lot more schools. Public, private, and religious. More students were showing up to the retreats.
Then the decisions for Christ started trickling in. This trip alone we’ve seen God reach at least 30 (confirmed) students to Christ, an opportunity to share the Gospel with some teachers at the public school, an opportunity to speak to atheists in a private school, and got into 3 new schools this year. We had 45 students come forward to hear more about Jesus. I got to sit and help with 9 area churches’ youth leaders plus the WOL missionaries and DTC students.
The work has been worth it.
There are a lot of conflicting emotions going on inside me…and I’m guessing the others as well. It feels like home when we come. Home. That’s a powerful word. Not completely home but close. Every now and then I’ll catch myself dreaming of ways to move down here. Sell everything, raise support, live out at the camp on pinhaos and pastels. God interrupts the dream every time. “Is this what I’ve called you to do?” I know the answer is no. At least it’s a “not yet.” Maybe instead of retiring to the beach or mountains or where ever it is people retire, we’ll retire here.
I look over at the students we brought. They are different. We’ve got to talk with them about re-entry. It sucks. I wish there was a nicer word for it. I don’t like that word. But I struggle to find an alternative at this point. There is this explosion of conflicting emotions. You’re glad to be home and in your own bed. You miss the Brazil family. You’re excited about the God stories that you were able to be a part of but you notice the glazed over look people get when you talk about Brazil for the next 25 minutes uninterrupted. You like the creature comforts of your life here but if you’re honest you didn’t really miss any of them over the last 10 days. You wonder if the life you’ve chosen here is as valuable as a life given away in mission work.
There really isn’t an easy solution. For some, this trip will ruin them forever. After college or maybe even during college, they will choose to be a missionary. But in the meantime, the best solution is just to push through it. Keep praying and doing what God tells you to do. He will make the path straight for you. We’ll have a photo party, report to the church. I’ll tell them to journal, write the trip down. Keep praying.
It’s a sobering conversation with the students. They are already feeling it. It’s part of the experience…
It’s Always An Adventure…
Reality hits when we land in Rio. When you enter the country of Brazil, they stamp your passport but they also give you this very flimsy, very easy to lose piece of paper with the same stamp that they put in your passport. It’s called the Entry/Exit Paper for Brazil. Very original, I know. They tell you when you enter the country – keep this paper with you at all times, you will need this paper when you leave the country. In my 9 years of going to Brazil, 7 different trips – I have been given this paper and I return it when I leave. That’s it. It’s almost like it is a test to see if I’m responsible enough to stay in the country.
When we check in at the airport in Porto Alegre to leave, the airline official asks for these papers. We have 5 out of the 6. He is very concerned for us. We look through bags, pockets, everything. No luck. The guy tells us – you will more than likely have to pay a fine, a “large fine” when we get to passport control in Rio.
The person whose paper we can’t find is just distraught. I’m a bit irritated as well but the truth of the matter is this – we can’t do anything about it except push onward. If it’s a fine, it’s a fine. We’ll pay it and get home. But I also remember the great advice of my friend Harry Anderson who always told me – don’t make these a crisis before they really are.
We get to Rio and there is hardly anyone in line at the Passport control desk. Which in this one instance, really isn’t good news. That means they aren’t going to be in a hurry to get us out. It’s time to pull the “we’re clueless Americans on a mission trip.” All 6 of us goes up to the Passport lady at the same time. This is normally a HUGE no-no and will get you pointed at and screamed at faster than you can imagine.
For some reason, this doesn’t happen. The lady behind the glass smiles and awaits my explanation. We’re a mission trip from the States, we’re heading home, great trip, beautiful country, blah, blah… She is still smiling and grabs the stack of papers, our passports, and boarding passes. Starts stamping away in the passports. Never looked at any of the papers.
And there you are…no crisis. Thank you, God.
Now that we are back…
I’m very proud of this group of students. It was one of our smaller groups but it was also one of our best groups. They were a team, liked being around each other. They liked being around the missionaries and DTC students. They each had their own wall in the trip and they tackled it. No complaints. No whining. Just determined to do what God had called us to do.
They are still teenagers so we still had those moments of – “did he/she just say that out loud?” And laughter almost always followed. I have laughed very hard over the last 10 days. It has been medicine for my soul. It’s been medicine for all of their souls. What huge life change moments we’ve witness on this trip in each of them. Amy and I saw it clearly. The trip was something significant for each student. Each one made a huge contribution on the trip. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys — in a good kind of pride.
So who is going with us in 2012?
Brazil, Day 10
Recovery Day
We let the students sleep in. Amy and I grabbed breakfast with the DTC students @ 8. Then I taught a morning session with them at 9 on dating and marriage. It was the first half of what I went through with the missionaries the other night. A good portion of the DTC students know English so that made some things easier.
Three big steps in Genesis 2 to a healthy marriage – LEAVE, Commit, then become one. Each significant and important step. Leave – be your own person, on your own, know you who are. Commit – chose to stay and love someone. Love is wanting the best for the other. Then become one – get intimate and vulnerable. Problem is that our culture is showing and telling us to do the exact opposite. Become one first (physically, emotionally, etc.) then decide to commit then leave. Great Q & A afterwards.
Lunch and zipline in the afternoon. Then we put up 3 poles for the new high ropes course.
Dinner with DuDu and Martina – homemade pizza. Just incredible hosts and a time for us to talk about the last 10 days. Good to hear what God is doing in our own students after seeing a week of what He was doing in others.
Brazil, Day 9
Downtown today. College Baptiste in the morning. Many students don’t believe in God. They chose this school because of the great education. One of the students asked why do we believe in God and Ben gave a great answer. I was messed up and purposeless, Jesus healed me and gave me a purpose. He is still fixing me. Awesome.
Market & shopping in the afternoon. Got coffee and took students thru the fish and meat markets. Let’s just say it was a full sensory experience. The market was where the slave trade started in southern Brasil as well as where Spiritism entered Brasil.
Tonight is the Gaucho churrascaira. For the first time ever we got an American on stage. John was volunteered! The Gaucho that has done the ballo thing for years we find out is a believer! In fact, he is going to work out with Thomas coming to the camp to perform and give his testimony. How cool is that?
Late night…again.
Brazil, Day 8
Last session of retreat.
We don’t have hard numbers of the decisions that have been made. WOL pushes these decisions to be made in the groups with their church leaders. They are trying to train and disciple churches to start dealing with these kinds of decisions themselves. That is such a great philosophy but it makes record keeping a bit crazy. I think that is a good trade off.
But I had one lady tell me that she had brought 17 lost kids and they all accepted Christ. Another guy said all 6 of his lost kids accepted Christ. We then saw another group of 4 make decisions to follow Jesus. We had a couple of students decide to go to the DTC to deepen their discipleship. Every church reported decisions of some sort.
Which put me in an awkward position. I was asked to sign Bibles and give autographs. Our students response was like – but this is JUST GRANT! Ben said that if we started a band here it would have to be ‘Grant & the Americanos.’ What can I say? I am Kobe, they are the Lakers. Ha ha.
Life stopped at 4 to watch national team in Americas Cup. After the first half, I went to bed. God decision as the game ended in a 0-0 tie with Venezula. Not happy time for Brasil.
Night ended with me teaching on marraige with missionaries.
5 messages in 48 hours. Tired but satisfied.
Brazil, Day 7
‘Please tell me that it is not 7.45′
Not exactly the way you want to get up after 5 hours of sleep. We made it to breakfast and then saw 10 students make decisions for Jesus in morninh session. So not a bad start to the day.
We had a breakout session with church leaders. Took them thru Philemon as a model for student ministry. Paul reaches Onesimus then disciples him to go back where ran away from. Then he disciples Philemon as to how to receive him. Relational ministry is best. Wr had a great discussion. Learned alot.
Rained all day. Feels like Seattle. Agnes fixed us thos awesome tea from the leaves of a tree in the yard. Who does that? Just fix tea with leaves from a tree in the yard? Out was incredible.
Then what does a camp do in Brasil when it’s raining and all the other activities are cancelled? Soccer. In the gym. All afternoon. They even got me out there…in goal. I did not embarrass myself which was my biggest goal. My team made it to the semi-final where we played a team that I think coils have beaten our national team. Ridiculous how good they all are.
Pizza night is the 2nd most incredible meal we will eat. Dessert pizza is white chocolate with cinnamon sprinkled bananas. It’s an explosion of heaven in your mouth.
Evening session was good. Worship team was good. We saw more kids respond to Christ. I don’t know the number yet. There were quite a bit. We had the church leaders come forward to help. When it was all said and done about 50 kids went forward. Not sure what decisions were made. Will find out from leaders tomorrow.
Had a youth leader from an area church tell me that he brought 6 lost kids and each one made a decision to follow Jesus. He was in tears as he told me this. He’s a young married man working just a normal job, volunteers at his church. Has a huge heart for teens. Been praying for these kids for a year.
Then of course is the insanity called Super Tripp Trapp. It’s part Ninja Warrior, part Wipeout. I’ve added some pictures because I just can’t even begin to describe it. Insane relay games for 150 kids at the same time. Have I mentioned it’s insane? It is.
Another late night – it’s now close to 1AM. Another early morning and 1 more session.
Brazil, Day 6
The day camp cancelled which is just as well. It rained pretty much all day and with the retreat starting tonight, there was quite a bit to do. After breakfast we helped the DTC students clean up camp and move chairs and beds for the retreat.
Johnny had a project that required knowledge of wiring. I asked what he needed help with. Turns out he had 12 par cans with broken lights. He wanted to change the outlet in them to a standard outlet and put plugs on them. I know how to do that.
So we went to the hardware store, or ‘the mans store’ in Johnny speak. Got those done and Johnny was happy.
Tonight our kids are feeling the stretch. 9 churches, 150 teenagers, 25 volunteer staff, all Portugeuse, all the time. Plus we are on ‘Brasil Time.’ Meaning that the schedule is just a rough estimate.
Here was the schedule:
8.30 – Session 1
10.00 – games (outside in dark and rain with lit torches.)
11.30 – Break with pizza and hot drinks
1.00 – rooms
1.30 – lights out.
Guess what time breakfast is? 7.30.
Of course, everything ran late…an hour. I got to bed at 1.30. I think. I don’t really want to know.
But we learn quickly that you just go with it. Exhaustion is temporary. And it’s fun.
This retreat is designed by WOL for area churches to bring lost kids. Lost kids can attend for free but must come with a church. Thomas has his reasons for doing this. He tells me that growing that new believer into a serving disciple is the goal. And while it is wonderful that this ministry is reaching the lost – churches must start making disciples specifically with teenagers and young adults.
I’ll let Thomas explain further:
The church in Brazil is in real danger. Churches don’t have student ministries as you understand it. With no student ministries, churches are dieing. I mean right before our eyes. And what is baffling to me is that these churches refuse to change, they refuse to reach out to teens, to young people in general and not only are our churches drying up and closing – our country is about to be turned over to a generation with no moral compass and no hope for eternity. We must keep reaching teens for Christ and making disciples. Must.’
This drove Thomas to start the Discipleship Training Center. Make disciples who will return to their towns and do this in their churches. Want to see Thomas get fired up? This fires him up.
Back to our students – I am so proud of these guys. Everyone of them has just jumped in and embraced the people and the opportunities. Miss Shy Shelby has just impressed me with her courage to reach out and engage. For an introvert, pretty much every aspect of this trip is terrifying. There is no place to hide. She has just rocked it.
They all have but I just wanted to brag on her a bit.
After the session, I gave students the opportunity to start a relationship with Jesus. I lost count of the faces that looked up at me. Will follow up with leaders in the AM to see how it went. Good response so far.
Brazil, Day 5
Ulbra school outside Gravatai. Ulbra stands for University Lutheran, Brazil. Basically this school is a prep school for the Lutheran University. All grades are here. This school isa trying to be a bi-lingual school. Hard to do as so few people speak English. Our presence is huge for them. They begged Thomas for us to stay the whole day.
The school paused to sing the national anthem together. I think that is cool. Wish most schools still did the pledge of allegiance.
We are picking up some Portugeuse phrases.
Diablo Verde – green devil. Chemical used to unplug toilets. See yesterday’s post. This has become a nickname for one of the team…not me but I can not divulge the identity.
Quaim faz isou – pronounced ‘cane faz esue’ which means ‘who does that?’
Afternoon classes were all elementary schools. The kids were awesome and so interactive! They love getting their picture taken as well. They are very concerned that US kids have to go to school 7 hours a day.
Shelby gave us a little scare tonighti. She started shivering but she wasn’t cold. After a little food and then wrapping her up in a blanket, she still wasn’t feeling right. We get Thays (pronounced tie-ees), the camp nurse, and start praying. Between the prayers and Thays – Shelby was back to normal in 10 minutes.
We went to Johnny and Thays house after dinner. What great hosts. Cake and soccer. The women played dutch-blitz.
Brazil, Day 4
One of the things that people don’t talk about when traveling is the topic of going to the bathroom. While I understand the sensitivity, everybody has to go and if you don’t understand what you are doing, it’s going to be a mess. Both figuratively and literally.
Brazilian toilets – for the most part – were designed by a 90 pound woman. For those who think the 1.5 gallon per flush toilets are weak, that is about 1.25 gallons more than what is here. Plus, the system is not designed to handle toilet paper. There are trash cans next to the toilets for the TP.
So the best advice I can give you about flushing is the same advice given to Chicago voters – flush early and often. Even then, the chances for blockage is great. And yes, it can always get worse so if blockage happens – get help. Yes, it will be embarrassing but less embarrassing than flooding the premises. I think that is enough about that. You can thank me the next time you are in Brazil.
Went back to Morungava this AM. Morning session. Another exercise in how if it’s on tv, it’s truth. Bin laden questions and how the whole country celebrated. Truth was far from it. We had a few but more people celebrated the Miami Heat losing than that. It was a great opportunity to correct some misconceptions.
It’s amazing how welcoming these people are amd how proud they are of their country. As they should be.
Afternoon session: new school in Morungava. It’s crazy how much access WOL is given because of us. For this school, they are investigating the opportunity for WOL to provide physical education, sports for them.
This Close…
Just found out that we – meaning the entire Brazil team – are only $550 short of our goal.
For me – that is a huge praise God. The tickets this year were 30% more expensive than last year. The fees for visas went up. The cost of lodging went up. The exchange rate went down. So each student had to raise about $300 more dollars than we first calculated. For 6 people – that’s another $1800 we had to raise.
Why go if it costs this much? It’s a valid question. International mission trips have never been cheap but the return on the investment is so worth it.
First, Thomas and his organization don’t get access to the public schools in the city if the “Americans” don’t come. That’s a huge ministry door opened to them all year long.
Second, the changed lives of the teens we bring. A student on a mission trip gets ruined for Jesus – that’s 50 plus years of service to the King for the price of one mission trip.
Third, the changed lives of the people we touch. For the missionaries and church workers in the region, we are a huge dose of encouragement for them. Mission work in hard to reach areas is a lonely calling. A week with other believers to worship and laugh with gives them fuel to keep driving on.
So to be just $550 short just a few days before we leave – that’s pretty incredible. Another “Yea, God!” moment.
And it’s also an opportunity for those of you out there to help. Anyone out there wanna give a little to help cover that?
Shoot me an email at office AT whillschurch.org OR leave a comment.
Why I Still Stress Myself Out By Going On Missions Trips
“You’re the lead pastor now…doesn’t that give you a ‘Get Out Of Going On Mission Trips’ Free Card or something like that?”
Ahhhh, the spiritual gift of cynicism. My buddy and I for years had observed that there were very few Senior/Lead Pastors that went on mission trips. I confessed to him that I now understand why. It’s work.
As a youth pastor, I could focus on the trip for months in advance. Details and plans, training the team, coaching the volunteers. Working out with our host ministry the exact details of the trip. Making sure I had my talks just perfect for the cross-cultural experience.
As a lead pastor – I don’t have that luxury of single focus. Or I’m not skilled enough at my job to do that. Point is that teaching, counseling, leading, coaching, and everything else that goes into this job is pretty demanding. I don’t even write as much as I used to. So Monday was a brutally hard day as the reality that my flight to Brazil left in less than 6 days hit me square in the face. I’ve got a growing list of things that need to be done and there is a part of me that just wants to walk on the plane with nothing but the clothes on my back because there it’s fairly overwhelming.
So why still do this?
1. The call to make disciples of all nations was an order, not a suggestion. I’m supposed to be a part of that.
2. While I understand that I can be a part of that by supporting financially other people who do this, I’m the lead pastor of a church that believes in GOING and DOING missions in all kinds of cultures. I MUST BE and DO what I expect others to BE and DO.
3. I love it. Yes, it’s work. Yes, I’m fairly stressed right now but it will pass…the minute I smell Brazil and eat a Pao de Queijo.
4. I need the reminder that God is bigger than Topeka, Kansas, United States.
5. It changes me every year…and I need that. It’s amazing how clear God speaks in a foreign language.
6. I can be a learner, follower. I’m not in charge on these trips. I follow. Want to feel completely out of control and totally reliant upon God with no safety net? Go on an international mission trip where your entire plan of the trip (that took a year to make) can be altered radically within 15 minutes of landing inside the country. It’s completely freeing and terrifying.
I could list about another 14 more reasons but the truth of the matter is this – all that I need to get done by Sunday morning will get done. The stuff that I don’t NEED to get done, won’t. And that will be okay. God will still be God and He will still change everything the minute we land. And that will be okay as well.
To NOT go would be worse. If I have to pick where I think my time is best spent in coaching and mentoring – it’s on a mission trip. It’s not even close to anything else. I’ve seen more life change in a shorter amount of time on mission trips – more so than summer camps, more so than retreats.
So…that’s part of the reason why. I don’t really have time to explain all of the reasons.
Heading To Brazil…Again
Avid readers of this blog know of my love affair with Brazil, Thomas & Agnes Schneider, and Porto Alegre. I’ve taken 7 trips with countless teenagers ministering with Word of Life visiting school campuses, teaching the finer points of American football, teaching English, and even doing some basic construction work. It’s a 10 plus year relationship that we’ve developed. This summer, we are taking a brand new set of students back to Brazil for English camps, more school visitations, and a church retreat to help area churches in their student ministries.
Why do we keep going back?
Word of Life’s mission in Porto Alegre is to reach this generation of students with the gospel of Jesus Christ so they can reach the next one. The southern part of Brazil is called the Missionary Graveyard, highly influenced by the occult and voodoo. Most ministries don’t make it because it takes so long for the locals to trust outsiders. Of course, Thomas and Agnes are insiders – born and raised in this area of the country. Combine that with over 20 plus years of ministry in the same area, they’ve earned the right to be heard. In last 4 years, we’ve seen more Brazilians come to know Jesus than the 15 before it. That’s just one of the many benefits of long-term partnerships in missions.
The other reason is the model of WOL ministry – to build relationships with teens, to introduce them to Jesus, to disciple them so they can go back home and introduce others to Jesus, and to do this while serving the community in Jesus’ name. Sound familiar?
What’s on the docket this year?
The culture and schools are really pushing their kids to learn English. A student that can read and speak English has such a large advantage over everyone else in terms of future jobs. Yet, very few people speak English. When Americans show up, the demand for their time to teach English is so huge that we are often give access to public schools that would be unheard of stateside. We will often visit 2 sometimes 3 schools a day in the Porto Alegre area (3.5 million population) and we’re allowed to talk about pretty much anything.
This give WOL access to the public schools to offer adventure camps, English classes, and sports camps to these schools. WOL is very clear they are an organization that loves Jesus and at every event and camp, the gospel is clearly communicated and the students given an opportunity to respond and ask questions about Jesus.
Because WOL also works and train area churches in how to work with students, any student that makes a decisions, they are able to connect this student to a local church that will further disciple that student. Plus, throughout the year, WOL offers churches youth retreats to help further deepen their relationship.
This trip – we are visiting schools helping WOL build these relationships AND on the weekends we will be helping to run their church retreats.
How To Help
* Pray for these ‘rookie’ students.
Taking mission trips with teenagers is always an adventure. But normally we will have a veteran or two to help “herd the cats.” What would take me 2 or 3 tries to communicate to a student as to what to expect only takes another student once. A veteran student leader is worth about 2 adults on a trip like this. We don’t have any this trip. It’s not a HUGE issue but I do feel like I’m traveling without a security blanket.
* WOL Missionaries
This year has been a huge year of transition for WOL. They have been given more access to more schools, have ministered to more students, have more opportunities with TV with the same amount of staff. They have started an intern program for students between high school and college. It’s a time of great growth but also great change.
* Finances
Amy and I are both going (kids are NOT). Fortunately for us, our home church is sponsoring Amy’s trip since she is the trip leader. That just leaves me to raise my money to go – $2000.
Here are a couple of ways you can contribute:
Send check to Western Hills BC , Brazil in the memo line
c/o Grant English
2900 SW Auburn Road
Topeka, KS 66614
PayPal — leave me a comment and we can work this out.
* God’s Favor
For the first few years of this trip, we saw next to nothing in terms of response to the Gospel. Then IT happened. I have no way to explain over 100 teenagers accepting Christ in one weekend where two languages were being spoken. Acts?
We’ve been seeing the same kind of build up the last couple of years. Lots of relational building with schools and churches, lots of questions and dialog. This trip feels like this same kind of explosion could take place. Am I just being hopeful or really listening to God? Not sure, time will tell.
I do know this, nothing happens of God without the hand of God. We can go and do all the right things, the right way and nothing happen if God isn’t in it. And that’s the prayer of myself and the team as we move forward.
Jazz In Topeka – London Style
Last night was the Friday night art walk and I had a great night planned for Amy & I…plans that never happened due to circumstances which aren’t all that important. BUT the we ended up stumbling upon a great little gem of downtown Topeka – London’s Jazz Cafe. It’s located just off 6th & Kansas, in the old Himer’s Luggage store.
What got me interested was a rumor going around that they served fried chicken and waffles. Now that is southern soul food, right there. And don’t knock them until you’ve tried them.
MINOR RABBIT TRAIL: One of the biggest issues of living in the midwest and west is that these people out here don’t know really how to cook to fried chicken. So it’s risky ordering fried chicken. Most places out here have this crispy, golden skin (good) with a bone-dry meat underneath (horrific). OR the breading on the chicken is slimy, not crisp and golden. There are not to many things more disappointing than getting your stomach all set on some good fried chicken and having to eat that junk. And for the record — the best way to fry chicken is in a cast-iron skillet.
BACK TO LONDON’S: You could hear the live music spilling out onto the street. That Blues Band was in a groove…and it was good. Not Bealle Street good but good enough. The owner (Lisa Kirk) met us at the door, gave us a great big friendly welcome and off we went to experience the food.
THE GOOD:
$5 cover charge – more than reasonable. Great musician and good vibe in the room.
$10 Chicken & Waffle Special – you get two big pieces of chicken, a waffle, all the sweet tea you can drink and a dessert the size of a hubcap. The chicken was cooked about to perfection. Very good, very moist.
Dessert – there were 6 or 7 different choices, one of which was a lemon cake that probably weighed 4 lbs. One dessert is plenty big enough to share. Try the brownie/ice cream/cookie tower dessert as well.
Atmosphere – about halfway through the night, I noticed two distinct things. First, there was no alcohol and there was no smoking. Finding good live music on the weekend is a tricky proposition. Most of the time when you find great music, you have to fight the smoke-filled room the first part of the evening. I have ridiculous allergies so not having to sneeze, hack, or cough my way home was a nice treat. The second part of the evening is avoiding the intoxicated people whose lack of dancing ability is no longer an issue for them OR they want to tell you how wonderful of a person you are even though you just met. Again — nice benefit of the night at London’s. Good food. Good music. Good atmosphere.
Needs Some Work:
Sound/Volume – the band sounded great, the guitars and bass, drums and percussion were tight and clean. The vocals were muddy in the mix and it was just a bit to loud for that size room. Especially for jazz and blues. A softer touch on the mix with a bit more emphasis on the vocals will do wonders for an already great experience.
Service – people were friendly but wait staff was not outstanding. It was average. Plus, the cups they served their beverages in were extremely small. So constant refills were needed but wait staff could seldom keep up with the demand. (They should have left a pitcher at the tables…another idea.) On the positive side, we did not have to wait long at all for our food.
Overall – great experience and will return. Highly recommend for our Topeka friends looking for a good night on the town. Check website for schedule.
Time Doesn’t Need A Translation
I wrote this devo for our church website earlier today…
We are back from Budapest…and our bags finally arrived…and jetlag coming home isn’t nearly as disastrous as it was going. Now to answer some questions…
What was the highlight of the trip?
Hard to say just one. It’s always fun to travel and taste new foods and experience new …. experiences (did I really just write that??) but really I think it comes down to two huge moments.
Moment 1: I just had the question pop in my mind – not even a part of what I had planned to say – “How many of you have a hard time hearing God?” When I saw all those faces looking up at me I knew what I had planned to walk through with the students in the next session needed to be punted. And the cool thing was the guys that were running SEW totally agreed and we open to just following where ever God was leading us. We weren’t disappointed.
Moment 2: Friday night’s Upper Room service to cap off the week. We set up 5 interactive stations for the students to encounter at their own pace and time. It was the highlight of the week for almost every student we talked to. Another moment of when we as leaders said “we’ve got this planned but God — what do you want?” Then we just obeyed.
What did you personally get out of the trip?
How precious the currency of time really is. I spoke twice a day, talked with dozens of kids and leaders every day. Every meal was a 2 hour experience and normally that would drive me crazy. I am a closet introvert. I love my alone time to recharge and refocus. BUT time is still the best currency to tell someone you care about them and they matter to you. There will never be another substitute for time. Never.
And the best speaker in the world (which I am not) will never have the impact that a face to face conversation with someone in the presence of Christ does. And that’s why I love this picture. I had no idea Amy was taking it but I’m so glad she did because I think it captures the heart of what kind of ministry is best. The life on life in the presence of Christ kind of ministry.
Time invested in another will never need translation.
Final Thoughts on Budapest Trip
I’m tired. Like a good kind of tired…but tired never the less.
The goal of the week was to speak on the topic of ReFresh to the community of students, staff, and parents of the International Christian School of Budapest. The school mainly serves missionary families based in Budapest as many Christian missionary organizations use the city as a base for all of Eastern Europe. The school also has a smaller population of ‘ex-pat’ kids who are over here because of their parents’ jobs and other students whose parents want their child to learn English in an English speaking environment.
Big nuggets of the week:
God does his best work on altars, not mountaintops. True refreshment will come from altar.
First step in going to an altar is to own your junk.
A lifestyle of refreshment means BEING accountable, not waiting on someone to KEEP you accountable.
Biggest obstacle to this is our desire for happiness more than God’s holiness.
Being holy is more than sin management.
Holiness is not morality, knowledge, insight, or giftedness.
It is understanding I am a part of God’s story, He’s not a part in my story.
Holiness will grow humility, gentleness, patience, unity, and a desire to bear with other people in love inside us.
After 10 talks plus 1 Upper Room service, dozens of offline conversations with students and staff, dozens of “prayer moments,” how ‘effective was the week?
Who knows.
There is a part of me that belittles large group worship experiences and conferences. I’ve been to so many and seen the “return to normal” happen in less than 30 minutes. It’s disheartening and just reinforces my belief that real life change happens on the altar, not mountaintop. In the grind of life on life relationships that push each other to be deeper, more practical, more transparent. And I know how few of us really choose those kinds of relationships because…well, sacrifice is hard. It’s a bloody mess. And who wants to willingly go through that?
On the other hand I’ve seen experiences be a rally point for such altar times. A “marker” that signifies a change that is deeper than the experience itself. But there is no way to know if this week was one or the other on a large group scale. The truth is for some students it was a mountaintop in every sense of the word – great week of teaching and worship experiences, great week of insight and on Monday I have to figure out a way to get that cute girl in my 3rd hour class to talk to me.
For others it may have been a marker of sorts — I know of a few students who are active in some small group bible studies and they already are walking through some of their “altars.”
Personally, I obeyed. I realize how trite that sounds but I’m really trying to simplify my life into that kind of reality – am I obeying the Father when He speaks? When He whispers, nudges? No excuses, no “figuring it out.” Just that simple. It won’t always be that simple. I’ll figure out a way to complicate it.
Now back to the states to fight with the demons that I always seem to deal with when coming home from a trip like this…the kind that says ‘sell all you have, pack up the kids and a suitcase each and go to Russia in His name.” Or Budapest…or Porte Allegre. In my mind, Topeka, Kansas or Denver, Colorado or Little Rock, Arkansas or where ever my stateside address is at the time doesn’t seem as “spiritual” as the places I visit.
That’s a lie. I know it. Topeka has lost people swallowed by their culture that need redeeming as well. And I know God has placed and equipped me to speak to exactly those kinds of people. It’s just not as sexy in my mind at the moment. It will be…because I’ll listen and hear His voice whispering — “you’re right where I want you to be…for now. Just trust me.”
Amy’s Videos
Amy took some videos with her sweet camera. You can tell the obvious quality difference and smooth operation.
Here’s a look at the Upper Room video and Kirby Ann at gymnastics.