The Week at the Castle...

Today is a quiet day in the castle. Everyone left after breakfast this morning except for the leadership team staying an extra day for some meeting time. It’s been a great week in many ways, and a not so great week in other ways. I’ll start off with the not so great.

Just one day into the conference a flu bug began that made its rounds all week… some people dealing with it as they loaded cars or vans today to travel home. Ugh! Fortunately, I had my share of it earlier in the week that wiped me out for a day and a half. I’m bummed that I missed out on opportunities to connect with people, but there just wasn’t much I could do about it. It seems to take its toll in its short duration of 24-hours, so I still feel like I’m gaining back my strength. Hence, the lack of blog posts this week.

Just when I thought I was feeling stronger… last night I ran smack dab into a glass door in the castle. It’s a route I often take as I navigate the maze of stairs, hallways, and doorways in this old castle, and every time the door has been propped open. These solid glass doors are all over the castle, but this time, this one had been closed. I came down the steps, made a sharp turn to the right and planted a big ole’ smudge on the glass door with my nose! For a split second I was stunned and wondered what in the world happened before I came to my senses to realize I had just made contact with a door. Tears flowed as I held my aching nose… but several came to my rescue and after holding a cold ice pack to my nose throughout the evening service, I have no bruises or swelling whatsoever today.

Now, the great… we love our M’s! What a special week to connect with the team in its entirety (except for those on home ministries). We have amazing people filled with God’s Spirit, committed to serve in the cultures in which they live. We look forward to serving them in the months ahead. Other highlights:

• Learning together – each morning we had a choice of various seminars to attend. Great options from marriage to conflict resolution to post-modernism (my favorite) to relationship building skills. Good teaching and good participation.

• Worship & the Word – many of our M’s do not have an established church in their area, so having the opportunity to worship with a larger group of people was a joy and an encouragement to many. Jen Swift from the Heritage Wesleyan team had a gift of leading us into the presence of God in worship. I love her spirit. The times in the Word were both encouraging and challenging.

• Children – We had kids from just 2 months old to 19 years of age. It was fun to have such a range of ages among us. Heritage Wesleyan has been sending a team for several years now that have activities planned for the kids and teens during the morning and evening sessions. They came with great hearts and I know parents were very thankful for their service.

• Fun Night – a tradition that continues. Each team prepares a skit. I would venture to say that it’s a favorite. Lots of fun and laughter. Dennis and I did the “Top 10 Reasons Why We’re Excited about Being Area Director,” and you know with Dennis, we had props for all ten.

• Prayer Night – I missed this due to being sick, but I know this was a significant night in prayer for each of the fields.

• Great conversations – Dennis and I enjoyed meeting with so many… listening, sharing, investing, encouraging. Meeting one-on-one is what I love to do and there was plenty of opportunity for that this week.

And have I mentioned how beautiful it is here? We have had the best week of weather. Sunshine every day. Only one rainstorm that rushed in as fast as it rushed out. Every direction you look is postcard perfect.

Tomorrow we leave early for Munich traveling with some of our team by car. We’ll spend a few days in Munich with our M’s and then we have some days for just us :). A few pics below.

One of the skit presentations was a spoof on
"America's Got Talent," and of course they had to
get some of the home office people and Dennis up for it.
Though a bit dark, here's Dennis lip-singing
to I Could Have Danced All Night.

The kids doing their part at Fun Night.

With a few people leaving early, last night we were
able to move up into the castle. This is the view
of Mittersill from our new room.

And a few more castle pictures. Flowers are everywhere!

The castle from the town of Mittersill.