I got up at 3:30 am today. Well, to be honest, I got up, hit my snooze button, and then got up again at 3:39 am when it went off again. I hate that infernal beeping.

I had all my stuff packed and ready to go in my small camera backpack and in my carry-on bag. It was beautiful. Thanks, onebag.com for helping me to be rational.

One of my co-workers picked me up and we headed to the airport. Josh was already in El Salvador, along with several other team members. On Friday and Saturday we will be holding a giant Richard Roberts Healing Rally in the National Convention Center in San Salvador. Prior to that, there are going to be several medical and humanitarian aid work days, working among the poor in El Salvador. This is my first mission trip in which I am a staff member, so it’s going to be slightly different than anything I’ve done before. I’ve also never been to any of the Healing Rallies before, so another new experience.

We flew on Continental to Houston, and then on to San Salvador, El Salvador. Both flights were fine, no problems.

We headed to our hotel, the Radisson in San Salvador. It’s a very nice looking hotel, and I bet the rooms in the main area are very comfy and nice. Most of us are in the second building, which houses the suites. This is so we have lots of room to meet, store equipment, etc. It’s also nice, but the beds are very hard. I hear that the other beds in the main section are much softer.

We ate at a few places that were close by, both were very good. I especially loved the plantains. Mmm.

Now, I’m off to get some sleep. We’ll see what kind of adventure tomorrow holds.

I took a weekend trip up to see my best friend, Lisa, who is studying at Asbury Theological Seminiary in the heart of the Bluegrass state: Kentucky. It was my first time in Kentucky, other than at the Cincinnati airport. I flew into Lexington, which looked like a nice city, and is only about half an hour drive from Asbury. The little town of Wilmore is for the most part two college campuses. The Theological Seminary, and Asbury College. They both used to be one college, but along the line they split into two separate entities.

Lisa gave me a tour around the campus, which was pretty. You can see that the chapel is pretty and quaint.

Then I got a chance to meet John Wesley, the famous circuit-riding preacher. Honestly, I was very disappointed. He was a very small man. Since he has had such a large influence on Christianity, I thought that he might be large and imposing. Obviously, he was not highly regarded because of his size. He was shorter and skinnier than I am, with a tiny bone structure. I guess it was the Holy Spirit and the power of God that caused his great influence, which is a very good thing.

We went to a park, with another of my college friends, Seth. There we got to experience the changing leaves of Kentucky.

This next photo was also at the park, but I’d like to point out the factory on the horizon. It’s really disappointing, but all along the rivers in Kentucky I saw these huge factories, pouring out smoke. From the air you can really see how many of them there are, and it’s gross. Maybe they don’t pollute too much, maybe they do, but either way, they are ugly and ruin the scenery.

After our jaunt in the woods, we picked up some dinner at one of about 3 restaurants in town. That evening I played Cranium with a group of Lisa’s friends. It was very fun and funny. The interesting thing about Lisa’s friends were how intellectual they all were. We were laughing and joking, and it was a good time. I thought that it was because only intellectuals go to grad school, but Lisa told me that there was no lack of anti-intellectual people at grad school, too. Sigh. My greatest disappointment with higher education.

The next day Lisa, Jaime, Seth, and I were going to go miniature golfing at this Bible-themed course. I was so excited. You get to putt through the parted Red Sea, and up onto the top of Mount Sinai, and so many other fun themed holes…
but it was closed for the season.

Instead, Lisa, Jaime, and I went bowling. Seth headed out to get some homework done.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. I love getting to spend time with Lisa, but it always ends too soon. It’s really difficult to really stay close when we are so far apart. We’ll do our best though, and hopefully this summer we’ll get to spend some time together, too.

I have pictures of Istanbul, but unfortunately, I don’t know what most of the things are. Josh and I had a nice drive though Istanbul from the port to the airport, so my tour guide was my taxi driver, who couldn’t always understand what I was asking, although he was very nice. On a side note, I always feel a little awkward in Muslim countries talking to men because I don’t know if I am supposed to, and I don’t know how to act so that I don’t offend them more than I already do by being a woman and a westerner and a Christian. Turkey was a lot nicer than Egypt though, and I would love to visit there again. It looked like a beautiful and interesting country, with forests and impressive cities and good roads where people follow traffic laws. It’s on my list of places to go again.

Minarets from the many mosques, as seen from our balcony. Our taxi driver explained that there were several famous mosques, I believe that one of the left is - since it has six minarets.

Either this is part of the wall that used to be the edge of the city of Istanbul, or this is an aquaduct. Either way, it’s impressive.

This is part of the wall of the old Istanbul.

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Today we went on an excursion in Jeeps around the island of Corfu. It was beautiful. I drove, since the jeeps were standards, and Josh took photos out the window. We drove up a mountain road that curved up and up, through little villages that were so small. The road at the villages and several other places was so narrow that you couldn’t fit more than one car on it at a time. Thankfully, we were in a big caravan, so we held up any other vehicles until we were all through. It would have been bad to have to back up out of the way on some of the winding roads.

There were so many beautiful trees, olive orchards for miles, with nets under the trees to catch the olives. Corfu is one of the top producers of olive oil in the world, and it’s a very small island.

Our tour guide took us up to a small village, where we stopped and he told us about Corfu. Then we drove on to a restaurant that overlooks the ocean, it was attached to a hotel, and it had the most gorgeous view! You could see all the beaches and resort areas, and the beautiful forests springing out of the ocean. We ate some Greek food, some excellent baklava, and eventually headed back down the mountain and back to the ship.

Mmm… baklava.

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In the morning after our wedding, Josh and I went to the airport and flew to Athens. We spent a day and a half there, looking at the sights, then we got on the Norwegian Jewel and sailed off to explore Greece and the Mediterranean. It’s been really fun on the ship. There’s a lot of restaurants, pools, a spa, fitness center, and shows. We have a balcony which is really nice.

This was the view from our room in the Hilton Athens.

The Olympic Stadium in Athens.

Charlotte in front of the Olympic Stadium.

Josh in front of the Temple of Zeus.

The Temple of Zeus.

Josh is amazed by Athens… or by Charlotte.

The Temple of Zeus.

The Temple of Hephaistos.

The Parthenon - there were so may people here! They are in constant reconstruction, but I guess it takes a long time for them to accurately rebuild the old temples. They have quarries filled with rock segments, labeled as to where they are supposed to go.

The Parthenon.

At the Acropolis. There were about three different temples here.

The Porch of the Caryatid, part of the Erechtheum, at the Acropolis.

The Temple of Hephaistos.

Beautiful sunset from our balcony on the Norwegian Jewel.

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