Annemarie comes to visit

Well, I returned from Chad about a week ago, and I haven't forgotten about my promise to post some stories here about our time there. But, for some reason at the moment that task seems daunting, and since I just spent a weekend with my sister, I figure I'll start there and work backwards over the next few days to tell you about Chad.

Annemarie and her friend Becca are part of a study abroad program in Orvieto, Italy, where they are studying art, Italian, and Italian art and history. Part of their program includes 3 day weekends to encourage students to travel a bit and gain from experiences outside their small town in the Umbrian countryside. This past weekend they decided to vist me in Chambery.

The closest airport they could fly into was Geneva, and with a flight arriving late at night, Julie and I decided to get a hotel near the airport so we could spend the night and sight see Geneva with them the next day. I found a great deal at a hotel that was advertised as 3 kilometers from the airport. It wasn't until we got to Geneva and asked at the airport that we discovered, in fact, the hotel is not that far, but it is across the border back in France! Not only that, but public transportation to the hotel was non-existent, and since we were too cheap to pay for a taxi, Julie and I set off walking to find the hotel. A 20 minute bus ride and 40 minutes of walking later (we walked through the border inspection), we finally found it, out in the middle of the French countryside. Thankfully on our way back to town we found a more direct route, shaving 20 minutes off our walking time.

Annemarie, Becca, Julie and I enjoyed a full day of wandering around Geneva on Friday, including a visit to the United Nations buildings. Did you know that each group that goes on a tour of the UN buildings gets a hard plastic visitor ID card, complete with picture? While we were waiting to get my ID card (as representative of our small group), the man in the line next to us fell to the floor in a horrible seizure. Thankfully there were no other visitors in the room at that time, and Julie and I were able to assist the security guards/trained paramedics a little bit until more help came. We had to clear out of the room, but eventually got back inside, got our ID card, and proceded to the guided tour. It was great to come to understand a bit more about the structure of the UN and their role in the international political scene. We got to visit some of the assembly rooms and also learned many pieces of trivia, such as the fact that Switzerland only just joined the United Nations in 2002! Also, all meetings of the UN are translated into the 6 most widely spoken languages in the world. Can you guess what they are?

A highlight of the trip for me was our train ride home. About half-way through the trip, the man across from me asked where we were from. When I answered the United States, he asked me the most unusual questions. He asked: What is an evangelist? I was blown away. I'm not sure if he meant that or evangelical, but either way, I had an open door for sharing the Gospel. He is Bosnian by ethnicity, currently a French citizen, but works in Switzerland. He made it very clear that he is not a Muslim, but an atheist. He was very sociable, and listened patiently and attentively as I did my best to explain the grace of God in French. I don't know where his heart is, but please be praying that the Spirit would be at work drawing him to the Lord. His name is Vayid.

Saturday Annemarie and Becca got to meet my team and many of the others who are here studying French at a BBQ at the McKenzies. The time passed all too quickly and Sunday morning's train to Geneva came before we knew it. We had a great time together though, and I'm glad I can look forward to seeing Annemarie again this summer.

(Place your mouse over the pictures to see the captions)