Euro Trip! 3/23 - 4/4

Hello everyone!! It's so nice to be able to write you about all my experiences!! Well if you havn't read the last couple of entrys.... I'll sum it all up for you! =P

For my two week Spring break. I left (first) with my friends; Trip, his friend Marcus from New York, and Jason. We took a train to Levice, Brataslavia. Where we met up with our friend Andrea. She goes to school with us also, this was her home town. We arrived there Saturday evening. She met us at the train station and her pastor (Mitca)came to pick us up. We dropped our stuff off at Andrea's old room mates home. Which was on the top floor of a "flat" (appartment) building. We had to ride up this crazy most scary elevator i'v ever been in! i called it the "death box" lol. ok so right when the door opened to the elevator it was like a box! so tiny! and it didn't have a door that shut between the walls. Well like six of us got in. We wernt sure if it would even hold. Ahh! that was scary! after that we went to Mitca's house to have dinner! In slovokia we learned that they say AHOY- for Hi! almost like a sailor haha. Mitca's house was very nice. It's very beautiful how they decorate their homes here. Alot of hang made things. Also the food was really good. They had so much!even had real Heinze Ketchup! =0. The wife spoke a little english, but more hungarian, so we got to test out our language skills on her! ;) After that we went to Andrea's church where we went to the "College" group they had. They were all so friendly! Alost of them spoke decent. english. two girls could translate. The speaker that night shared his testimony with us. He shared about "the will of God" and our own will. How no matter what we choose to do in life. If it is for God's glory than He will bless us in it! It was really encouraging to hear that. I felt like it was so awesome to know that God has the peices of the puzzle we just have to choose which one to pick. Than God will take that piece. and fit it perfectly into a beautiful picture! I got to share my testimony with a couple of people there! Later we had to walk back to andrea's flat, it took about 25 min. to get there. We had some good talks! haha we were messing around on the t-ter-toters outside. The guys actaully went back to the Church that night becuase they were staying the night there. than adnrea and i stayed up talkin with her room mate and her crazy cat pretty much kept us awake all night =P. the cat wouldn't stop making loud noises and scratching the door.

EASTER ~*~
We got up earlier than we wanted, but thats ok. The shower experience was interesting.. lets just say.. they do things differently here. haha, but it's all apart of the "going with the flow adventure!." =P. we were a little late for church. so after walking around we found a seat in the front row. talk about NOT making a scene haha. we got head phones for translation. the service was good. Jayson, Marcus and I went to a families house after church. They were so nice. We walked to their house after church. "we do alot of walking here." Matthew who was the taller older son. was amazing at the guitar! his brother jacob was totally different, was more of a sports guy. When we got there. we tryed to talk, but they didn't know english too well either. haha. we looked at photo's and well Jacobs girlfriend came and she was good with english. so we talked alot! she actually reminds me and looks alot like my friend Alisha from my job at Dunhill. We were invited to play volleyball with people from the church after lunch. later we went to a coffee house and hung out with Andrea and her friends. They had a sweet climbing wall outside. and even played movies on the wall outside. They had some really good hot chocolate there also. almost was like pudding it was so thick. Andrea's friends were alot of fun! we took alot of pictures. We ended up being late for dinner. Andrea's youth pastor Mitca invited us over agian. we walked there and as we went. Andrea was saying goodbye to her friends. and Trip put me on the Street sign! haha it was halarious getting the looks from people. i was trying to keep my balance all the way up there. u know me =P. people prolly thought we were crazy! We finally made it for dinner, their little one Lucas sat on my lap, at one point he was drinking his water and chocked. and spit water all over me! and there other child Samual gave me a lil chocolate bunny :) hehe. than we watched some weird Chezh cartoon. more of Andrea's friends came. and we said goodbye to mitco's family. than we fit all of us in Mitco's car. haha it was like a mexican car. for ppl in the front and five in the back! =p HEHE and they drive like crazy here! played around at the church. than walked back to the flat.
MONDAY
We woke up to her stupid cat moaning and scratching at our door =P The guys came in and started throwing water all over us! water got everywhere! we even nocked over a plant! Ok ok.. so it's a tradition in Slovokia, the day after easter each year. the guys in the village will soke the girls with water all day long. and than later spray stinky perfum all over them! and why??!! haha whatever. it was funny! Well we took a train from there to Brataslavia to a Andrea's spiritual familys house! They have 7 kids! It was crazy! right when i walked in, i felt like a celebraty! these kids were soo cute! they were all talking to me at once and wanting to show me all their cool toys, what they made, or what can do! haha. the oldest i think is 12.. than it goes down from there. so What do u think about that!? it was so awesome how Brenda ran her family! each child was so caring and nice to one another! i never saw any of them fighting while i was there. You could even learn alot from these kids! well Andrea and I stayed in Brataslavia for another day or two, while the guys went to Vienna to pick up the car.We stayed with the missionary family, and saw the city.
We finally made it to Vienna and we headed up to germany to see out friends Beni and Whitney! They brought us to Nurnburg where Hitler's community was! It was so beautiful and I got alot of Artisy pictures to prove it! We stayed with them for two days! After that our next adventure... we headed to Prauge in Czeck Republic! walked around for a few hours than headed down windly scary roads getting lost on the way to drop jason off and the WOL camp there in Czeck Republic! Which was a crazy night in it self. haha. finally finding out where to send jason. We headed off that same night to Poland! we were meeting a friend in Poland and staying with her until the next morning. We headed off to auchwitcz ? sp/ that was an experience. its so much more real when u are there. very sad.
We headed off that same day to meet sabina's friends in Krokow, Poland! were we stayed for two days! that was awesome! went to church with them there. stayed in a samll little app. about 7 of us! on the floor. haha.
After that we headed to the tetres mountains to go hicking for two days where we stayed at a hostile!
after that we headed back to Vienna to give back to rental car... where well haha ended up back in czeck republic after going to wrong way for 3 hours. than finally made it to bratislava to stay the night at the same missionaries house. than to vieanna for a night to drop off the car. soo our plan was to take a bus back to Budapest. but ended up being a whirlwind of trials and God leading us in a obsticale course to find a way home. Which was amazing how in any struggles when we don't know why God is letting soemthing happen to us in our life. Just trust and relay on God in every moment and step. we had to prepare for anything that came our way. and on that way home we got to witness to so many people! it was an amazing trip! and was so cool to see how God works and the people he put in our path!
Never miss an expeirence like this is u have a chance in ur life time!
Peace&Love in Christ alone
<3 amanda joy