Bonjourno! We have now been in Rome three full days. We have posted plenty of pictures and video but I thought I would share some of my thoughts and impressions about what we have seen.
First off, we arrived from Boston very tired with only about 4 hours of sleep. This meant we slept well the first night and were deceived into thinking that we wouldn’t have any jet lag. Wrong!! As I write this, Luke is passed out next to me and its 12:15 in the afternoon (a running theme I guess, I told Luke he is starting to show his age). That first night has been our only restful night and so we often are napping which then creates a cycle which we are having trouble breaking. Good thing we are in Europe for nine more weeks!
I use to travel often when I was younger but mostly on church organized mission trips. So, I did not anticipate the anxiety of planning and executing things ourselves! Thank you to all my pastors I have traveled overseas with, I did not truly realize how big your job was! Due to this naivety, I found myself extremely overwhelmed and anxious the first day. Rome is loud, intense and hot. It felt nearly impossible to navigate with tons of traffic and crowds of people. It didn't help that our first three days were filled to the brim with sightseeing and walking (remember sleeping Luke). However, after 3 days I feel way more settled and excited for the rest of our time in Rome. The constant activity is fun to enjoy for a while each day and then we can seek solace in our quiet hotel room. Which by the way is a great place! It is clean, quiet and safe and the staff is wonderful and helpful. We find it very comforting to start the morning speaking English before heading out into busy Rome where we try and speak basic Italian to communicate. It is an adventure though, so we try to assert ourselves when we can. So far, I have liked the Borghese Gallery the best. The sculptures and paintings there were amazing and I enjoyed seeing history in person. For that reason, I also loved seeing the Sistine Chapel. We saw what Michelangelo worked on personally and that is a very remarkable feeling. I was also curious about how I would feel going in to St. Peter's Basillica as it considered Holy. While it was truly amazing and beautiful to see, being there didn't make feel any closer to the Lord. Which I think is ok since God is not contained in a building.
On a more personal note, Luke and I have been praying for direction, since after this trip we really aren't certain what we are going to be doing. With that in mind, I have really been trying to pray continuously which is not easy. But it makes me think about things from a new perspective. For instance, there are so many paintings of “Madonna con el Bambino", Mary and her son, Jesus. I kept thinking about having my own child when I saw those pictures and how I can't even imagine what God and Mary were thinking when Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. I look forward to the day when having a child helps me to see God's love in a new way!! I also kept thinking how this travel may be one more step towards missions. See we moved to Alaska away from our families and comforts because we needed a change and to get out of debt. It was a great experience and we were blessed by the Lord. But it was still the U.S.A, though sometimes it didn't feel that way, Seattle and family were only a four hour flight away. Being here in Italy for only 4 days has made missions seem more real. Can we really move away from our families and comforts to serve the Lord on another continent? It is a little frightening and overwhelming. At the end of this trip, we go home but that may not always be the case. We both feel called to missions so as we travel I am going to keep in mind that this may be our future, leaving behind our comforts to serve! This trip is one more way God is training and preparing us to be missionaries, wherever that may be.
I hope our pictures and videos are interesting and entertaining! If anyone wants a picture of something specific, let us know. We try to accommodate our audience :). I have to go now though because I am very hungry and also because Luke is still asleep. Poor Luke, he wore himself out with all that walking. The funny thing is he thought I was being a baby because I kept saying that we were doing too much in one day. This just affirms that old adage that behind every man is a very smart woman or something like that!
Chow!!!
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