Greetings from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

I am on the road again and this time to the beautiful country of Malaysia.  It doesn’t seem too long ago that Peter, Aaron and I jumped on a plane and traveled for hours to Spain; this time we brought Bryan with us.

It is now 7 am here and I have been up for 2 hours – thanks jetlag.  I was too wiped to even crack open my computer last night so I figured since I am up I will update a little here.

We left for the airport in Seattle on Wednesday night about 11 pm and we arrived in KL 11 pm Seattle time (2 pm here on Friday).  It was a long flight!  Our first leg was about 12.5 hours (Seattle to Taipei, Taiwan).  We all barely slept on that flight so it was quite brutal.  Then we had a 5 hour layover in Taipei and we were quite out of it with all the time difference already.

Our adventures started at SeaTac where the airline agents wouldn’t let Peter and Bryan bring their guitars on the plane with us.  It was understandably a full flight but there was room; unfortunately they made them gate check the guitars in their soft cases.  I think what was worse was that they kept telling us that they couldn’t guarantee the integrity of the guitars when placed in the belly of the plane.  Duh!  We are quite aware the scenario and would have rather carried it on.  I am happy to report that the guitars made it in tact to Taipei and we were then allowed to carry it on to our connecting flight to KL.

It’s hot and humid here in KL.  We felt it as soon as we step off the plane.  We were even starting to perspire just from standing in line at the customs check point.  Aaron is loving the humidity though.  We were originally scheduled to attend a prayer meeting in the evening after our arrival but were surprised and thankful to find out that we had the night off.  Our hosts are amazing and have gone far and above to make us welcomed.  We are staying into a really luxurious hotel, The Gardens Hotel, that is also connected to a mega mall called the Mid Valley Mega Mall.  It seems like their version of the Great Mall of America – hence Mega Mall.

My parents drove up to meet and hang with us so that is really exciting.  After we got settled in and we all took a long need shower (brushing our teeth felt so good), we met up with my parents and headed out for dinner.  It was a fun relaxing night for us and then we called it a night pretty early since we were worn out.

Bryan and I are sharing a room and we were both up at 5 this morning.  Bryan decided to go work out while I worked out my typing skills, checking emails and doing some work.  It is time to get ready now for our day ahead.  We are heading to the church to set up and sound check for the Sunday services and also we are participating in the youth service tonight.  It is going to be an exciting day and I am looking forward to it.  So until later, here are some pictures so far…

Trying my hand at photo taking, not so good attempt at the SeaTac airport.

 

Posing at the Hello Kitty kids area at the Taipei International Airport.

OUR TEAM (in the transit lounge)

Aaron Welk

Peter Blue

Bryan Wall

And me

Hello Kitty even has a world map with the time zones on it

Here’s us packed into the van with all our gear

Easing the guys into the local fare….YUM!

Spain

We made it to Spain!  It has been a major traveling day for us and points we wondered if it was going to end.  The phrase “Are We There Yet?” kept coming to mind.  I left my house at about 7:30 am and we arrived in Leon around 8 pm the next day.

Me at SeaTac International Airport.

The beautiful skies of Seattle.

We were hampered by bad weather at every leg of our trip.  We were delayed getting into Philly for our connection because of weather and flying a hold pattern for a while.  The flight was also filled with extended times of turbulence, almost like a roller coaster ride at times.  By the time we got off the plane, it was boarding time for our Spain connection; and of course our connecting gate was at the farthest possible point in the Philly airport!  We had to quickly make our way over and basically were the guys holding up the plane.  The pilot tried to get us up in the air quickly but again we were put in a hold and were 8th in line for the runway.  Flying over the Atlantic was again not a smooth ride.  We again had extended periods of turbulence.  Pat from our team, doesn’t do well on planes and the turbulence didn’t help his fears.

Getting ready for the 6 hour flight to Madrid from Philly.

Madrid from the sky.

We finally arrived in Madrid and were delighted to get out of the airport.  After getting our bags and clearing customs, we were met by Nacho, who was a huge blessing.  We were to catch a train ride to the city of Leon where we would spend the night before heading to the city of Teruel where the worship camp is going to be.  We discovered that we didn’t have our train tickets printed and thankfully we had Nacho there to help us figure it all out.

Outside the Madrid International airport.

I think I over-packed – I had a largest suitcase of the team and the heaviest, granted I took on more weight to help reduce another person’s bag, plus I have quite a bit of gear packed in my bag.  The return trip should be lighter unless I shop.

After waiting about 4 hours we were ready to load on the train for our next 4 hours of travel.

It was 10 degrees Celcius this afternoon, brr…

Views from the train ride.  Our travel so far is very movie like and it quite an experience.  I am soaking it all in!

Pat and I trying to find things to do during our train ride.  You can see Kris (in orange) and Aaron (sleeping) in the background.

Finally after what seemed like traveling forever, we arrived in Leon.

The city of Leon is so far quite lovely.  I love the buildings/architecture and history.  Our host, Tan Molina, who is the director of the camp we are teaching at, picked us up and took us to our hotel – Hotel Corde Luna.

The hotel has a –1 level which is strange and we speculate that it might have been one time a underground dungeon where people were totured; just saying.

After we checked in, Tan took us for a mini tour around the city and worked up our appetite for dinner.  So far, we are learning the Spaniards eat late lunches and late dinner; and we just plain love to eat whenever.

The Cathedral (as it’s known) in the middle of town square is quite a marvel; built in the 11th century and covered with stained glass.

Huge wooden carved door leading into the Cathedral –very inspiring.

After touring the inside of the cathedral (no pictures allowed there), we posed for a picture (L to R – Kris, Pat, Jireh, Peter & Aaron).

The town center of Leon is filled with intricate alleys that are lined with little eateries that are mostly standing room only.  It is like people just go to these places, stand around and snack on some yummy food and drink wine.

The first eatery we stopped at.

Here’s me with my Coke Light at El Gaucho.  It is like happy hour all night long.

Tan ordered us some potato and meat appetizer that was very delicious.

Couldn’t pass up a trinket store selling miniature drums

For my soccer/futbol crazy friends, a sports bar for the soccer fans.

A shop selling everything that’s got to do with the Pig and derivatives of pork products – fascinating.

I was quite pleased to find Casa Jesus (Jesus house) except they sold women’s lingerie – not sure what to think of that.

More cool buildings

This was on one of the walls we walked by – how did they know?  What up Renton!

Our final stop for the night before the hotel – a real Churro stand and this is what I got:

 

Chocolate covered, cream filled Churro – amazing!

It has been a wonderful trip so far!  Spain is a very beautiful place.  I have, however, been challenged today as we roamed the streets and observed people, there are so many people disconnected from Jesus.  They are aware of Him because of traditions and upbringing in the Roman Catholic church but they have not experienced the transformation that can come only from Him.  A missionary who met with us for a few moments today set the tone for us – she told us that last weekend she helped put together a concert at a public venue, in a city of 35,000 people and only 7 Christ followers living there.  People came and some gave their hearts to Jesus.  She told us that music is a key to reaching the people of Spain – they will not come to a church evangelistic meeting but will come to a concert.  We have an huge yet amazing opportunity this week because we get to help equip worship leaders and musicians so they can go back to their cities and carry on the mission of reconnecting people to Jesus through music.  I am very excited and very thankful for the chance to be a part of something like this.

Please do keep us in your prayers.  Until my next update, peace and love.

A Weekend of Birthdays

Tis' the season for birthdays and birthday celebrations!  I was privileged to be invited to 2 birthday parties this past weekend - one for a 30 year old and the other for a 2 year old.

Here are some highlights from Aaron's lakeside celebrations on Saturday:

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Goodwin

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday boy, Aaron, (in orange) playing a little volleyball

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Bella Welk (Aaron's daughter) enjoying her "carrots" (Cheetos)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little camp fire action

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aaron with his birthday strawberry shortcake

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opening up the group present - an 80GB iPod

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mister Ethan Blue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethan - the most smiley kid I know

 

 

 

Good times, great friends...

(L to R - Bryan, me, Jolie & Heather; Monica with her back)

 

 

It was great to get together with good friends to celebrate a milestone birthday with Aaron.

On Sunday evening, we celebrated Abby Hebert's 2nd birthday.  It has been amazing watching her grow up.  I love this kid and I am glad that I can share in her life.  Here are some highlights:

 

 

 

 

 

Abby's learning to use the camera

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josh giving Abby some pointers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elmo cupcake for the birthday girl

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now what? I've blown out the candles...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'll peel off Elmo's face...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's give the frosting a little lick

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe a little nibble...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The jury's still out on this frosting and cupcake...

 

 

 

 

 

 

And yes,  we have decided!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awaiting presents in her pink chair

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's get this party started...

 

 

 

 

 

Opening one of my gifts, her very own pink Hello Kitty watch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checking out the top I got her

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abby & me

 

 

After the indoor festivities, we all proceeded to the park behind the Heberts' apartment.  Sarah, Tanya's co-worker/manager at Starbucks, is a professional, championship winning, freestyle Frisbee artist.  She brought along some frisbee and was going to "educate" us on how to throw and catch a frisbee.

Here's Sarah showing us how it's done:

  

Sarah showed us some nifty throwing and catching techniques.

Here is Josh and Robby trying it out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josh looks like he is fighting the frisbee shadow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back hand throw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah giving Robby some tips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robby practicing his "stance"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching and spinning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More tricks from Robby

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting ready for a little Skeet Shooting, Frisbee style

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And off it goes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday girl Abby with her friend Brayden

 

 

 

 

 

My artistic moment (at least I tried to have one)

 

 

It was fun filled weekend of birthdays and hanging out with friends.  I am blessed.