Welcome!

"Seeing the goodness of God in the land of the living..."

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Photos to go with Story Below...





Stories for Dave...

Hi from Thun, Switzerland.
My (Joseph's) friend Lauro put us in an awesome old house, that has a rich history and great people.
The other day we got to go hear a Chinese man, Brother Yun, known as "The Heavenly Man", speak. (also the name of his book). For those who havent heard of this man, he is a man who is a walking miracle. He has been severly tortured, imprisoned, and suffered immensely, simply because of his faith in Christ. He is known by his friends in China as the Heavenly Man, and he has lived to write a book and to travel and share his incredible stories and hope. He spoke about how much Christ loves us and that when we hear truth from Him, everything changes.
On a different note, we went to a castle last week, and found an area for kids. There was all this dress up stuff, so we got decked out in castle clothes, we were having a ball, and then a lady came storming up and said this was absolutely forbidden. (turns out she had left the dress up closet unlocked on accident...we were just in the right place at the right time. :)
...We got to go to the Alps, it was insanely gorgeous, Joseph got to laughing after we got off the train, and inhaled salad into his nasal passage. So about 5 mintues later, look what came out of his nose!...and then....yep, he ate it again. (We're on a budget, and he's a hungry man).
So, check out the photos above....write us a note. Give yourself a hug.
You rock!
J and C

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Blessings!

Hi beautiful people!

Yesterday, Gea, our Swiss friend got us passes for Switzerland so we got to go see Europes biggest waterfall.
We found out that Josephs dog Lacy died so today were going to have a little remembrance time for her.
There have been some crazy storms here, the basement of the house we live in flooded a bit from the typhoonish weather. so we bailed a bit with buckets. The thunder and lightning was crazy, and the neighbor village had the streets flooded so they were calling it Venice. Everyone is saying this kind of weather is huge rarity here. We are joining in praying for Switzerland.
Tomorrow, we are leaving this village and going either south, or to Italy.

Life on earth is short, May we shine with joy and know the reason why we are here. Christ is truly our refuge and strength in times of trouble. We need Him and His strength...
Love to you.
Joseph and Christy

Monday, June 18, 2007

HEY!

Hi over there...
Yesterday we were at a Swiss Parade with everything your imagination can conjure up that might be specifically Swiss.
Then we went to evening church in an old club that is made to look like a cave and all painted red. A kind lady translated for us about keeping our hearts soft even though theres lots of crazy stuff happening in the world.
Today we got to help at the house were staying at, trimming trees in the sun. That was great. We have been trying to speak some German and Joseph is really good at it. Weve been learning as much as we can about history, language, people.
There are some tough problems here with neo nazis and resistance groups so that is something to send a prayer out for. Healing.
We like you guys tons. We like your notes. We remember the laughter weve shared and the hardships as well. We are glad to have you in our lives.
LOVE and ASSURANCE, Joseph and Christy

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Christy's Beautiful Birthday

Hi Dear ones,
We are stoked to hear from all of you. Thanks for the Birthday wishes. We had a blast in Thun, Switzerland, from weeping to the beauty of a Bohemian style Castle Orchestra, to singing in a 1000 year old church...a lunch picnic under a cherry tree and swimming in water from the Alps, And with gorgeous old Swiss folks with delectable smiles, we are blessed! Joseph got a lovely chocolate truffle cake for me and we had a picnic in a palace park, thunder and lightning and dancing...Great joy and knowing the favor and love of Christ. We are all so special to Him and He wants to show us that daily!
LOTS of photos below of the Birthday.

We are still at the ywam base in the country and going to a few Bible classes, riding bikes and trying to organize swing dancing. We practiced for about an hour last night.
LOVE YOU!
Beauty for Ashes,
Joseph and Christy

Palace and River Flowing from the Alps...We went down a big slide into the river!



Joseph's 1st time in a Castle, Beautiful Orchestra, Lovely view during huge thunder storm.





Gnome tried to blow out the candle, but to no avail! Haha!



Palace Dancing-Baloon-Chasing, Stockhorn Peak, Stormy Alps, Ooohlahlah...





Cherry tree picnic and river in Thun


Saturday, June 9, 2007

Tiny Swiss Village

Hello,
We are staying at a ywam base for the next 2 nights. Teresa, a friend from the Wave USA, has blessed us with a place to stay. We watched the sun setting over the wheat fields and mountains tonight, with the sound of cow bells in the background.

Tomorrow morning we are going to have milk from the cows that are right next door. Sweet.
Lots of Love.
Hope you are having a gorgeous day!

Joseph and Christy

Switzerland, baby!

We are in Basel, staying with Micha and his family. They served us a lovely breakfast with yummy cheese and homemade jam.
We hitched a ride with style to get here and drove through the Black Forest of Germany. It was really pretty. Tomorrow is Christys birthday! A quarter of a century! We will miss being home from friends and family to celebrate with us, but I(joseph) know you will be celebrating her in your hearts and we are happy to be in Switzerland for it. Thank you God! Be blessed, everyone. Love, Joseph and Christy

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Nudist Colonies, Butterflies and Gliding...

Yesterday, we went to a lake not far from here, While having a picnic we noticed some gliders shooting up into the sky in the distance, so we hiked through the fields until we found them. Along the way we saw, deer, frogs the size of your pinkie nail, lizards, butterflies, and dragonflies.

Eventually we sat to observe the gliders taking off...a rope attached to a pully a half mile away spins really fast and you go from 0-150 km in 2 seconds. So, a fella pulled up in a jeep and asked us if we wanted to go. So we did. We had to go in separate planes so we kissed a lot before we took off.

Afterwards, on the hike back to the car, we stumbled upon a bunch of naked people in the woods.
There are photos below of the flight, but we refrained from photographing old mens bottoms.

LOVE,
Joseph and Christy

Parachute in Place, Crazy Pilots and Up we go!




Monday, June 4, 2007

Belgian family and Guitar and Instrument Museum


North Sea Day - Gorgeous and Great Swimming!


We're in Germany...

Hi, sorry its been hard to post in a while!

We were in Belgium for a few days enjoying the culinary
pleasures, and we stayed with a neat family with a 2..month old baby.
Awesome!
were staying with Christy's friend is S. Germany.
We went to the longest wedding ever, and they sang
a folk sing a long p 'Fridialala, Fridialala, Fridialalalala...'
We got to laughing and couldn't stop.

We went to a house circle and no one spoke a word of English
for about 2 hours, so we both fell asleep sitting on the couch. Whoops. :=)
After a while your imagination can fail you when trying to
understand another language.

We're having a great time!
Exploring the green hills of Germany.
Thinking of you, our family and friends every day!
LOVE, J and C