CATCHING UP!!!

EE07 ended on June 30th, when I escorted the team to the airport and watched as they went though security. I missed you guys immediately. I still do.

Joanna arrive later that busy day and it was great to see her, but of course, true to form, some of her stuff was delayed. It arrived later in the week. We hung out on Sunday and then...

On Monday I boarded a train with a group of students led by my friend Mark. I enjoyed another good week of ministry in Vukovar with AMAZING cool weather which lasted until yesterday in the whole region.

Lots of good conversations about life following Jesus with dear friends.

I helped my friend Mark a little with a group of students he led to expose them to what happened and what is happening in Vukovar. We walked the center and I explained what happened. Later we heard from a doctor from NY who has dedicated his life to these folks.

We came back to Budapest on Thursday at 1903 and I bought tickets to Prague (Praha). Joanna and I left at 1330 Friday arriving to visit our friends, the Stewarts in their new home at 2230.

Praha is cool, beautiful; we walked across Charles Bridge (really old with awesome statuary, saw Hus' church, Kafka's house (didn't see any cockroaches though, didn't turn into one either). But then, as I walked around, I looked deeply into the place and people, I saw the evidence of stronger Soviet influence in the modern stuff, the stores, the folks. As Joanna remarked once, I sometimes feel like I'm in Kyiv and should see street kids.

Ok, I've been to Praha; sorry - but give me Budapest.

We came back yesterday on what turned out to be the Berlin - Bp train. It was PACKED!!!!!! most people seemed to get off in Bratislava for some festival. Then we found a section that the air conditioning worked and had some space. It was a good trip.

BACKTRACKING TO VUKOVAR

Last Wed afternoon, I took some 'I' time, found the Post Office and mailed a letter. I should post about using Eastern European post offices sometime... whoa, think about that sentence and its historical and current words... Reminds me of the "post outside a pub in The Cotswolds where the post is still standing where the coach would grab the "post bag"... I'm on a tangent, come back... So I go through the turmoil of mailing a letter and then go to this cool cafe to finish Blue Like Jazz ('cuz I met a guy who went to Reed College who NEEDS to read this book). So I drank coffee and finished the book. Here is a quote that I have read to a bunch of people that I connected with lately... get this...

"It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never really happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things." (p.217)

But, as I travelled through a light rain then storm, then light rain, then clearing but chilly wind... I noticed some war damage that I had not noticed before... so as I sat at this cafe under a shelter from the sometimes rain, but feeling the wind, the chill, I was looking around and wrote this...

Tapping my foot
to the tecno beat
my toes are cold
because of the rain
yes, I'm wearing flip-flops
in the rain.

Here in Vukovar
I look for signs of war
while those here wish
they did not see the mortar scars
on the road, on the sidewalk

RPG holes in the side of apartments
while in the next flat
flowers in pots on the balcony
tecno beat, wind blows cold
Vokovar cold in July.

Blast holes in walls from tanks
reminds me of scenes from The Pianist
While in the flat above the hole
life goes on as I see curtains blow from
the Vokovar cold in July

Flowers and curtains show me that
survival happens.
Somehow.
We have been surviving
since the fall, surviving in
the Vukovar cold in July

Walking down the street,
I see signs of repair.
A window has a new beam above it
new brick around this new window
shows the shaping of a former
gaping hole,
now repaired but not finished

The wind blows cold
the tenco beat in the cafe drives
my toes that are cold on
this 4th of July in the
Vukovar cold in July

Well, that's it for this morning. I resting in Bp for three days. Heading to Kyiv and Vinnitsya on Thursday.