Being a missionary warps the brain
Krista and I like to have date lunches as we don’t have readily available child watchers here being so far from family so we use the school as a babysitter. After all my trips recently we decided to have a big date and go to Subway. Might not sound like much to those of you that live in the US but this is one of the treats we like to have. The closest Subway is about 20 minutes away in a town called Loerrach where we park in a parking deck and then walk through a pedestrian area filled with shops to go to the restaurant. Our time at Subway was wonderful as we ate our subs and talked about life. I love these times. Anyways, we decided to get going back to our car and as we were walking along I looked down to see what I thought was a piece of paper. Several people in front of us walked past it and one even almost stepped on it. As we got closer I realized that it wasn’t a piece of paper but was 50 Euros. I was in shock. I picked it up and showed it to Krista who couldn’t believe it. We stood there looking around waiting to see the hidden camera and find out that this was some kind of joke but we didn’t see anything. I was literally holding it up at head level showing it in different directions to see if anyone would pop out saying they were looking for it. We didn’t know what to do. We weren’t in a store where we could turn it in but instead were out in the middle of the walk way. We waited there looking around for anyone that looked to be searching for something. Nobody around was looking for anything other than how to get out of the rain.
So the thought came through our heads – “God must have wanted us to have 50 Euros!”
Then we both thought – “Great but what’s going to happen to us that we are going to NEED 50 Euros!” I’ve been paranoid ever since putting it in my pocket.
Yep, warped.
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PS – Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!!
Joke of the day – a Language Funny
A Swiss guy, visiting the U.S., pulled up at a bus stop where two locals were waiting.
“Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen?” he asked.
The two Yanks just stared at him.
“Excusez-moi, parlez vous Francais?” he tried. The two continued to stare.
“Parlare Italiano?”
Other than a glance at each other, there was still no response.
“Hablan ustedes Espanol?”
Still nothing.
The Swiss guy gave up and drove off. The first Yank turned to the second and said, “Y’know, maybe we should learn a foreign language.”
“Why?” the other replied. “That guy knew four languages, and it didn’t do him any good.”
[Note: Provided by Mike at www.mikeysFunnies.com Also, I just have to say, I haven't met a Swiss person who didn't speak some English.]
Videos & Scooters
Ok, someone made a comment that they hoped that my recent blogs of making videos and riding on scooters wouldn’t get combined. Something about fear for my personal safety or something. I’m not sure they know me well enough to know that that’s just asking me to do something. So, Kris, for your viewing pleasure – here’s my RIDE home video (on a scooter) - Please don’t watch if you are my mother or you get motion-sickness or both!
Scooter Craziness – Part 2
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been driving around town on a friend’s scooter. It’s been really nice. Well, on Sunday I went to church and passed another friend of mine named Thad. As I pulled into church, the parking area was full of motorcycles. I mean really nice motorcycles – BMW’s and other nice bikes. Now I had to figure out where to park as every place was taken. Eventually, I figured I’d park in the motorcycle line up and worked on backing myself in which was not easy. Thad observed and stated that he had seen air-craft carriers parallel park faster and easier than me parking the scooter. I guess it was a funny site.
Well, it turned out that a biker group was joining us for Sunday worship and here I had put my little scooter in their line up. Part of my worship time was praying that I had parked my scooter right and that it wouldn’t fall over doing that comical “knocking all the other bikes over” thing. Anyway, after worship I waited as by now some more bikers had shown up and my scooter was in the middle of it all. Now the bikers were having a good time talking and so there was no outlasting them. Finally, I made my way out and got on the scooter. I tried to sneak out but the little “putt-putt” of the scooter gave me away. I do think I heard some snickering going on as I drove away.
I hoped that was the end of it but God has a sense of humor. So I went to fill up my scooter with gas – this was my first time filling it up and I wasn’t sure what I was doing. The gas station is usually really dead on Sundays so when I pulled in, nobody was there. I was so relieved as I could try and figure out where to fill up and all without any pressures. Not true! As soon as I pulled in, all the bikers showed up as they were filling up before going on their Sunday afternoon ride and yet again, I was the little scooter in the middle of all the bikes. It took me a little bit to figure everything out but as soon as I could, I filled up and got out of there.
I think God might be working on a pride thing with me.
Scooter Craziness
A friend of mine is out of town for a few months and since I’m trying to get rid of tendinitis in my foot, he’s letting me borrow his scooter to putt around town with. So far I have had some adventures.
The first time I rode the scooter was at my friend’s place before he left. I got on thinking that this would be like riding a bike or the three-wheelers I used to drive as a kid. This is not the case. As I tried to pull into the street, I figured out three things: 1) don’t try to do a Fred Flintstone by stopping a vehicle with your feet, 2) even if you have full clamped down on the brake, it’s hard to stop if you don’t back off on the gas and 3) the curb can help you stop! Once I got stopped, I looked back and realized that I had done a nice “S” shaped drive down the road and ended up on the wrong side of the road. It must have been quite a sight as a German lady who had been walking by was now screaming (roughly translated) – “oh my, oh my – you’re going to get killed!” I was so thankful no one had a video camera on me. That was when my friend suggested that I go and get a feel for the scooter by driving around a parking lot next door. So I spent a little bit of time getting a feel for it before making my way home.
Now my friend hadn’t stayed outside (I don’t think he wanted to watch me get killed or demolish his scooter) so after I had gotten home, we received a phone call. Krista answered and it was my friend asking if I was there. Krista was quick on her feet and and said “No, I thought he was working late with you?” My friend was stunned. His mind quickly raced to thinking that I was laid out on some road having had some accident or something. So as to not alarm Krista, he told her that he had left me working and had to go immediately. That’s when Krista figured he’d had enough and told him I was there. He was so relieved (and yes, his first thoughts were for my safety before the condition of his scooter). I have since gotten better driving around town. Soon I hope to be able to drive further than our town. Maybe I’ll just go for a drive in the Black Forest today!
17th Wedding Anniversary
Today was our 17th Wedding Anniversary and we got to spend it in the Czech Republic at our mission’s annual conference (which coincidentally is celebrating it’s 60th Anniversary).
Just wanted to share a quick dinner discussion: The question was asked – What do you like most about the last 17 years?
Courtney – "I just really like the fact you (Krista) has always and will always be there by me. And its not that there’s some special characteristics or that you do something special – its that its just you!!"
Krista – "I like that you make me laugh almost to the point of peeing in my pants!"
(This post was NOT approved by Krista!)