Daily Text Covers

Who knew the daily text covers would be such a big hit? I wish I had more with me to give to out brothers and sisters. I started by giving everyone on our bus each one. By the next day, half our bus was using theirs. Through the whole trip, they all came up to me thanking me for such a thoughtful gift. I told them Alison majorly helped with them. They all wanted me to thank Alison for them.

At the convention I handed out the rest of the covers. People gathered all around trying to get one. I even had random people just stick their arms over the people asking for one. Even brothers desperately wanted one. Needless to say, they went quickly.

I figure I should start now to make more covers. Then maybe I'll be prepared for the next International Convention. :)

It's a Small World After All

We all know it is a small world in Jehovah's organization, but it still amazes me! Every where we went, Ben and I ran into people we know or friends of friends. We met some from Fountain Valley (the Kelleys which are in an earlier post and the Shanes). We met a sister from the Long Beach Vietnamese group. I ran into Sharon Gamble! A sister on my bus is the mother of a friend I had as a teenager. The sister's name is Ana and her daughter is Fernanda Sanducci. We met the best friends of our new C.O. One sister on our bus is in the ASL congregation that currently meets at the Hazard hall. I met a brother and sister from the Garden Grove East congregation but I forget their names. Ben met a relative of his uncle (by marriage). We also saw a sister from his old congregation in Cloquet, MN. Such a testimony to our brotherhood!

Need I say more?

international convention!

Guess where we are!

A Roman holiday

Our Roman holiday has been an adventure. We've been taking public transportation every where. We've seen the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, and lots more. We went to napoli and pompei. Today we're touring the inside of the colosseum. We'll try to Blog more details if we have a chance. Oh, we also met the best friends of our new c.o.

We're in Rome!

We'll be tied in with 3 other locations in Italy for an expected attendance of 300,000!

Met the Kelley's

TGIF!!!

What a great day we had! It was a full day with lots of walking, stair climbing, and lots of smiling for pictures. We started off the day with a tour of the Acropolis which included the Parthenon (as pictured in the last post), Mars Hill, and the Propylaea. Much renovation is being done there. The walkways are mostly marble which makes for a slippery walk. It is so amazing to think that people walked those same routes back in the days of Jesus. At Mars Hill, we saw a few sisters reading from the Bible what Paul spoke there. By the end of our touring that area, our shoes were super dirty with a white dust. Again, it reminded us of when the Bible refers to washing feet after a walk.

We continued our walk into Plaka where we saw more ruins. Then we ate lunch at Restaurant Hermion. There were probably a couple hundred Witnesses there eating under the large canopy. Our meal came in 5 courses. Everything was super delicious. I tried a couple types of olives and didn't care for them. I figured I had to try them since I am in Greece.

Then finally we walked to our bus. From there, we went for a tour of the Greece Bethel. It is a small facility. No printing is done there. There are 66 members of the Bethel family.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Vissilli's. Everyone eats there. It is quite the hang out. I had delicious chicken gyro. Ben had the sis-kabobs. Interestingly, his meal was not served on skewers.

We are making good friends. Our bus group (#65) is fun and cooperative. Ben is being a good bus captain. We've inherited 3 more on out bus for Friday and Saturday because their bus group is having travelling problems and therefore not set to arrive here in Greece until today. One bus group's luggage arrived 2 days after they did. :( One sister had her purse stolen here at the hotel. A man came up and distracted her while his partner went behind and took her purse.

Blog ya later!

The parthenon

Violated in Germany

On our flight to Greece, we had a layover in Germany. We had to go through security when changing planes. They decided to frisk me. This what not the frisking I was used to at American airports. This woman was exceptionally thorough. I'm sure I turned red out of embarrassment. I thought only Roger was frisked this much.

Where's the Windex?

We've been in Greece for a few hours now. So far, not one spotting of Windex. I've watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" a few times and I know Greeks use Windex for everything!

So we haven't seen much of Greece so far. After checking into our hotel, Ben had to go to a bus captain's meeting. Leaving me to fend for myself, I took a nap. Since then, we've checked out the hotel. Not too exciting but relaxing. I sipped my mocha cappuccino while we sat in the little cafe of our hotel. So perfect! And our waiter's name was Kostas! (That's the name of the cute Greek guy in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.)

Tomorrow we're doing a morning tour of Athens. Should be fun and probably tiring. Then we get to tour the Branch! Lots of excitement!

Ben has run into 2 couples he knew up in MN. I met a sister that is in the ASL congregation at the Hazard hall. I'm sure we'll be meeting more people we know! We'll keep you posted!

New York! New York!

We are in the bustling city of New York! Quite a difference from Childress. It's been fun but ever so hot here. We've done lots of walking around Central Park. We got to see the new exhibit of snow leopards. I want one!

On our flight from AMA to DFW, William and Shauna Pierce were on our flight. They used to live in Shamrock, TX but went to Gilead in 2007 and now reside in Costa Rica. It was nice spending some time with them.

Well, we're off to see Mary Poppins (the play, not the woman). Next blog will be from Europe!

Ben and Kristen at AMA

Waiting (and waiting) to board flight to Dallas.

Europe Here We Come!

So after what seems like a lifetime of planning, we are about to head to Europe, more specifically Athens and Rome, for the International Convention. We are thrilled and overwhelmed. There is so much to do before we leave! But that's a whole other story.

You'll see pictures of the gifts we'll be giving to our brothers and sisters at the I.C. With much help from Alison, we have 157 daily text covers. With the help of Bob and Liz, we also have tons of magnets to hand out. We have a few designs of those as you'll see in the pictures.

Hopefully, once abroad, we'll have easy access to a computer so we can blog and keep you updated on our exciting journey! I'm sure we'll have lots of stories and experiences to share!