Our Rags and Riches tour team hit Europe with great enthusiasm. Four young people, including myself, on a mission to conquer Europe with our "end poverty" message with only our book in our hands and no money in our pockets - this was an adventure! Here is a little bit about what that looked like.
We went to Switzerland
Then to Germany
Houses in Luzern.
Lamp post. Maps. Confusion.
Walking through the streets of Luzern with Sarah and David.
It was a twelve hour time difference - literally night and day time change from Hawaii.
It took me a bit to get used to, but in the afternoon one morning, I woke up to this view of the Swiss Alps.
We spoke about how everyone has a part in ending world poverty. This youth group in Luzern was a great audience. Some of them are leaving on a missions trip shortly. Special thanks to Mel and Andy for hosting us!
In between speaking engagements we had a lot of time tour the cities and country side.
The ukulele is my new favourite. Singing on the bus, in the park... Wherever. It's fun.
We heard a man yodelling right before this picture. Yup, they still yodel.
In Burn we screened our documentary "Behind the Curtain" and spoke about human trafficking.
Then we skipped over to GERMANY!!
The World Cup champions.
Sarah's mom's church - they prayed for us in the front after we told stories from our last two years. Thanks to Sarah's mom for hosting at at her home in the Black Forest.
Our book and merchandise table
Sarah's Oma's church.
Sarah translated our presentation from English to German.
She was so good!
Oma is a sweetheart, opening her home to four wandering vagabonds as we trekked through Villingen.
We serenaded the elderly at a luncheon put on by the community.
The classics "You are my Sunshine" & "Amazing Grace"
were our best options for our German crowd.
I still can't believe we squished all of our belongings into Dani's car like this. It was a rockin ride! Thanks to Dani and his family for hosting our team in Nuremburg.
From Germany we traveled to...
AUSTRIA
We rented a car and drove to Vienna.
(Note to travellers: it's cheaper to rent a car and split it between everyone then to buy separate train tickets. It's also more convenient)
We loved Austria so much! We got treated like royalty.
At this speaking engagement, I took off my shoes on stage.
"This evening we want you to experience what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes... And sometimes, those people don't have shoes."
Here Rachel tells the story of Jefry, a man in the slums of Jakarta, Indonesia who used to aide men in finding boys to go home with. After he became a Christian, Jefry now has a mission to help within the transvestitie community, supporting both their spiritual and physical needs. He also organizes an annual retreat for transvestites where many people have chosen to turn their lives around.
Here is a screen shot of the story called "Eddy" from the iBook.
Eddy was a transvestite who became a Christian at the retreat Jefry hosted in 2012.
The profits from our book sales are funding ministries like Jefry's.
Other organizations our book "Rags ans Riches" supports are:
'Amani Orphanage' in Kenya and 'Henri Coanda' community projects in Romania.
After Austria we went to the Czech Republic.
Check out this random border crossing.
We spoke at Teen Challenge outside of Prague.
The roads of the Czech were the most adventurous roads we ventured on.
Sarah, rockin the sticker.
(Note to travellers: if you rent a car and travel between European countries, pick up a Vignette sticker to make your car legal)
Every time we drove through a Villiage called "Slapanice" Rachel would slap David in the back seat. Is that supposed to be a compliment??!
Then they got along and had... Sleepovers?
Prague is amazing. One of my favourite European cities.
Bahunka is an amazing woman! She hosted us at teen Challenge and arranged for us to speak there. It was a different crowd then we were used to speaking to, and we were a bit nervous for it. At the end of the evening, the people in the audience asked so many questions it nearly doubled our presentation time. It was amazing to see that stories of what God is doing around the world can encourage and inspire anyone, from a recovering drug addict to the teenager to the old lady sitting in a church pew.
From the Czech Republic, we headed to Bad Blankenburg, Germany on the autobahn.
It didn't take long.
Oh, where these feet have trod.
This is an old hotel. It is being constructed into a new PhotogenX base.
We helped to build and repair things. We also slept in the dust we created.
I was sick, but the rest of the crew spoke to a small crowd about our book "Rags and Riches" and how we can each do our part to end poverty.
Then we headed off to THE NETHERLANDS.
A few buses later... We were in Amsterdam.
We had two speaking engagements scheduled in Groningen.
One was the "Behind the Curtain" documentary screening, and the other was the "Rags and Riches" presentation. My family attended!
A big thanks to our lovely hosts Gert & Evangeline in Groningen!
I even got a delicious homemade Dutch apple pie for my birthday breakfast.
Also, the team met my Oma and her boyfriend.
The cute gesture of waving goodbye until we can't see eachother anymore is now a team tradition, started by my family.
Good bye Oma & Gerrit... Tot siens!
(Aren't they cute)
And then we were in Amsterdam together again.
Our last night before we all broke apart.
It was a bitter sweet ending after nearly two years of being together.
But also a time of rejoicing in the future.
Thanks for joining us.
Much love to everyone we met on our tour through Europe.
"There is no such thing as an ending. Just a new beginning."
p.s. (a note for fellow travellers)
(be nice, be generous, be open and meet people becuase...)
:: six weeks in europe :: housing total was 44 euros ::
#thatsamazing
#thankyouthankyouverymuch
