Rachel is sleeping on the floor next to me as we sit waiting during our 7 hour lay over in Dubai. We landed about 3am and are leaving at 1015. Then it's a 8 hour trip and we are home. I can't wait.
This Airport is more like a mall than an airport, but that doesn't make 7 hours shorter. I think I am going to pull up some rug next to Ray and catch a few zzzz's before our flight. A guy that looks just like Borat walked by a few seconds ago. Oh well. Cheers.
Chris
This will be my last blog from Europe. Rachel and I are leaving tomorrow to go home and will arrive in Jo'burg Thursday afternoon. Please pray we have safe travels and things go smoothly at the airport. This has been a great mission trip and I am so glad we were asked to be a part. Cheers.
Chris
Friday night was our last show. The crowd received it well and I think the team did a great job with the pioneer tour into Europe. Rach and I have a few days off before we fly home, we can't wait to see Guinness. If you have any questions about the tour please feel free to email me. Thanks again for all who financially and prayerfully supported us on this mission trip. Cheers.
Chris
One of the really difficult things about working with C-Kruis is that we are so far away from friends and family and it's especially hard around Christmas. I was thinking today that a couple of months ago Rach and I were trying to get home this year for Christmas. It was a really hard decision to not go to the States, but there was just no money for a trip now. It's tough. For me it's been a year and 3 months since I left and it would be nice to see family and friends, but soon enough.
Rach and I are planning on going home in June. Rachel's sister is getting married and it happens to be in my hometown, so it seemed wise to wait for then to go visit because all our family will be in one place at the same time. Please pray for Rach and I to get that extra money for the trip. It will be about $3000 just for the plane tickets. I really would love if someone knew someone that gets discounted tickets or works for an airline because I would love to go home more than once every year and a half. England is making me homesick a little too. Most everything here is how it is in the States and the things that are different are similar to South Africa. So, I am feeling a little homesick for both. Hope you have a great holiday season. Cheers.
Chris
One observation that I have made about Europe is that there is hardly ever a sunrise. The only thing that makes waking up when it is dark ok, is when you get to see the sun come up. On this tour and especially in Brussels I woke up while the sun was still down and what I noticed was, because of the cloud cover, it just gets light, as if there is a dimmer switch somewhere and over the span of a half an hour someone turns the knob slowly and there you have it, its day time.
I love sunrises. A few years ago Traveling Mercies spent a summer in Arizona and I would get up early to go mountain biking. Well, when I stepped out of the door of my house I could always see the first light of day peaking up over the horizon. It was beautiful.
Another thing I secretly love is getting up really early to go on a trip. I like to leave before the sun comes up so that you can enjoy the sunrise with a nice cup of coffee driving down the highway. I mean come on, thats great.
Oh well, sunrise of no, this tour so far has been great and we have seen some cool places and met some cool people. Even though it seems like there is a giant lamp shade of cloud cover over europe, its been amazing. Cheers.
Chris
We left Brussels yesterday for the journey back to London. We made it through customs fairly smoothly and after a long day we finally made it. Brussels was exhausting so we are taking today just to relax. It's raining outside, which I think is nice for a relax day, and Ray and I are about to get get some lunch. Hope you all have a great day. Cheers.
Chris
This week we have done a ton of work. From School shows during the day where we are up at 4am to night shows where we don't come home until 11 or 12. It has been a great week though and Brussels is a beautiful city.
Being in a city where I can't speak easily with people is tough. Many understand and can speak a little english, however most are french and can't speak english well. So one day after I got stuck trying to ask the man if there was jelly inside the pasty or if it was cream (turns out there was nothing inside, just bread) I started thinking about the language we speak as christians. We have a whole vocabulary that many people wouldn't really understand. We throw around words like worship, praise, psalm, trinity, blessed, holy, scripture, propitiation etc... and there are many people who understand as well as I understand french or they may recognize words like I do with Dutch, but can't full grasp what is being said.
I finished my work week here in Brussels by helping lead worship at a small new church that meets in a bar/cafe. It was a little weird because there were about 15 people who knew that church was going on and about 12 people who were trying to enjoy a drink, but didn't know that they were at church. (It felt a lot like FUEL's Red White and Brew fiasco). While we where sitting there and the leader guy with a trucker/bike mustache was talking about Psalm something something and Worship being a spiritual connection with God and I was wondering that if any of the people were listening at the tables would they understand what was being said. So I tried an experiment. When Thapelo (a girl from C-Kruis) and I got up to sing I tried to treat it like a concert because some of the people that didn't know they were at church turned to watch the "act". So I was talking about art and music and how every person is made with different needs and abilities like need for love and the ability to create. It would have been easier to say that we are created in the image of God, but I was trying not use Christianese. I have to say it was difficult and I failed, I reverted to some church words because I have never really thought out some of the concepts outside of the church vocabulary.
The night ended well. Thaps and I left right after we finished singing and one of the men (that didn't know he was at church) came and spoke with me to see if we were doing any more "concerts" in Brussels. He said that he liked what we did and his friends would love to hear us play more. It made me sad because if we were staying a few more days he would have a party and have us come play, it would have been a great way to meet some new people and probably get some free food.
I believe in God and that Jesus was God in the flesh and that he died for our sins so that we can believe in him and have eternal life. I want everyone to go to heaven. I hope at the end of life we see that everyone gets to go to heaven or that any one that believes anything (Jesus, Buddha, Yoga, Easter Bunny, Veganism) goes to heaven, but I don't think that will be the case. It makes me sad. It also makes me sad that a lot of people might not go to heaven because they didn't understand me when I say "Jesus died so that we can be washed in the blood" or any other common Christianese phrase and write Jesus off before learning the jive.
I pray the church here (and everywhere else for that matter) can learn to love and use a language of love that all can understand. It would be cool if we all go to heaven. Cheers (that means good bye [and thank you in England]).
Chris
Last night I really thought that I could be an actor in the movies. I was watching Jersey Girl and it's crap. My Noah from Revelatte was far from award winning, however I really think I have the chops to pull something like that. Oh well. Cheers.
Chris
Rach is part of a group that is dancing tonight at a function that I wasn't invited to. So I am at home relaxing and I found a fun website. Check it out. www.linerider.com
We received an email from a teenage girl that saw our Homecoming show in London. The show hits on the issue of pain and our reactions to the pain of life. The main character deals with her pain by cutting herself. Self injury is a growing problem where people of all age groups deal with emotional pain by some physical form (cutting, pulling out hair, scratching, biting, burning with cigarettes....). Well, this girl in London said that she has been cutting for a long time and didn't know that it was a thing that other people did. She said that the way we spoke on the issue really got her thinking and for the first time she isn't cutting and is dealing with her pain. Just wanted to pass that along. Cheers.
Chris
Today we worked with a church called The Well and they are 4 smaller groups that meet in separate places and once a month they have a large gathering for worship and teaching. C-Kruis did the worship and a dance during the gathering. We met on the top floor of a 4 story brewery/restaurant right on the Grande Place (pictured above), it was so really cool.
After the service my friend, Piet and I went out on the square and I played guitar while Piet made up songs in afrikaans and we danced and tried to earn a little extra Euros. Well, we gathered a crowd and started making jokes on people and there was a buzz growing in the crowd. Then the Brussels police showed up and informed us that we were not allowed to do that and we had to quit. So we picked up the shoe, that people threw money in, and everyone cheered, because people like seeing other people get in trouble with the police. We played for only 10 or 15 minutes and received 5 Euros. Not bad. Cheers.
Chris
Belgium is a country that speaks two languages, French and Femish, which is like Dutch, which is where Afrikaans comes from so I can read many of those signs and mildly understand when I hear it. However, Brussels is a French speaking city, so I can't speak to anyone. So here I am an American guy trying my best to speak Afrikaans in hopes that the person I am speaking to doesn't speak French, which they all do, who in turn hates me because I can't speak French like all people should be able to. I bought some waffles too. Cheers.
Chris
We left yesterday afternoon for Brussels from London. We took a bus from London and in Dover took the ferry across the English Channel to France, then we eventually made it to Brussels early this morning. It was a nice trip, 9 hours, but felt pretty quick. We worked all day and haven't seen anything yet, but I can't wait. I did see a prostitute in a window, but not the historic parts yet. We are showing at an arts festival tomorrow. Cheers.
Chris
Rachel and I are hanging out with our friends Flaps and Amanda at their friends house near London Bridge, it is a beautiful area. Rachel cooked us all supper and we are going to be just hang out tonight.
Rach and I moved host families for this week and we are staying in a home that doesn't have internet so I will not be able to blog much. I will try to get updates out when possible. Cheers.
Chris
Tonight's show went well. There were only about 25 people in the crowd, which was a little disheartening, but I think that some people were touched. I pray that they return for tomorrow night's show and bring friends with them. It was a long day and I am spent, the commute each way is about 1 1/2 and its wearing on me. Cheers.
Chris
We had a long day of rehearsals in preparation for our shows this weekend. We are showing Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the CCiL church in Hammersmith, which is in the south east part of London. Its a small venue, but I think it will work great. It's late and I am off to bed. Cheers.
Chris
It's a little cold and rainy today so I think I may do something I have not been able to do yet. I am going to starbucks and I am going to get myself a cup of coffee. I am so excited and I think it will serve it's purpose and make a cold, rainy London day a little better. I hope you all have a great day. Cheers.
Chris
