Saturday's Blog
Greetings Blog Followers,
You must be keeping me in your prayers as today was another amazing and beautiful day. There were many parts. I will send Mary a bunch of photos. To narrate the photos, the first woman is Jennifer... and I could tell you about her if I have time, but the main best part of today was hiking with the women travelers from Holland. It was about an hour or more hike up to a church. You will see photos of going up, along the way. It is a goat path. Our leader has done this hike 80 times or so.
They were thankful and I was also thankful and thrilled for this meaningful conversation.
OK, so if you must know. I left the cell phone at hotel a few days ago. Today lost the car key. I feel like I need to apologize to someone. I promise you, I am trying to be a slow pilgrim. I have a slight memory of putting the car key down inside the car and looking at it... and then my memory stops, so I can’t wait to see if it is in the car.
Robert and I learned today that someone we both know had open heart surgery at age 50, so losing a car key is really a doable thing. Right? Oh well...
I may also send a few photos of a large boat, that is a photo of the view from this house in Mytilene. It is on the water. The owner said that it is Turkey across the water.
Huh. My geography, and my losing things... these are both not strong suits.
My mantra needs to be, but I am still a beloved child of God. Amen. So, soon, I’ll get to the airport to pick up the girls. This house happens to be only 3K from airport. THAT is a huge blessing.
All for now, Love and prayers,
Nancy
P.S. Oh, Jennifer. Well, this morning... while I must have lost the car keys without knowing it. A new person was at the hotel lobby all by herself. We started talking and she had quite the story. She has been married twice... has two lovely daughters, but knew all along that she was gay. She was an “evangelical Christian” so tried hard to pray the gay away... Finally she heard of a preacher who is very gay friendly and this preacher helped her finally be herself. She is divorced from the second husband but they are now very good friends. She just retired and is starting her 365 day journey in Skala Eresos as she came here last year and loved it. So, wow. She feels very whole about who she is and did the whole work and journey so that she said, she actually did not need to read any more books! She has her own thing as a retired stock broker. She has a blog about the value of money and what is really important in life... and it is not money. However my aside to that is, for those of us who have some discretionary money, it is always MUCH easier to be philosophical about money, When a person has to decide if they use their last dollars to get their prescription filled or feed their children, then that kind of money conversation takes on a whole different feel.
Anyway, I met more great people today. L and M from Holland and Rumania, the young people I hiked with were precious and lovely. What a sweet opportunity for me to get to know them. The 40 year old loved her mother a lot and lost her ten years ago to cancer. She took care of me coming down the mountain on this hike, and I felt cared for like the young kids start to take care of their mothers... so sweet.
All for now, thank you for your prayers. You folks in Washburn and Port Wing, you are surely in my prayers too. Plus, my mom reads this. Bless her. I am so lucky to have such a great mom. She is the best.
You must be keeping me in your prayers as today was another amazing and beautiful day. There were many parts. I will send Mary a bunch of photos. To narrate the photos, the first woman is Jennifer... and I could tell you about her if I have time, but the main best part of today was hiking with the women travelers from Holland. It was about an hour or more hike up to a church. You will see photos of going up, along the way. It is a goat path. Our leader has done this hike 80 times or so.
In case I get interrupted, I will tell you the best part first. Their first language is Dutch, but most all of these women speak English too. Wow. I hiked alongside a variety of the women as we went up and we had nice chit chats. In one case we sang “Ilove to go a wandering.. Valdereee, Valdera, My Knapsack on my back. Right before we got to the top, I sort of started chatting with two of the youngest people in the group (age 29 and 40). I have permission to write about them, but for now I will call them M and L. They are engaged. They met on line. L is from Romania. I talked with her parter first and ended up telling her about my sabbatical. She said that I should talk w her partner. Well we did talk. She said that it is not OK to be gay in Romania. Her father does not know and would be angry if he found out. She was taught so heavily that it is a sin. She said, “I tried and tried to get rid of this within me... but could not. But I still feel somewhat heavy and not quite OK because of what the Bible says.”
At one point she said, “Have you ever felt so low and sad and you don’t know what to do and you pray and then you sense that there is some sort of love/power helping you? I’ve felt that several times.” When I shared with her that I am a pastor and that there are other ways to view the Bible, she was very interested.
Our hike took us to a Greek Orthodox Church and we talked inside the church. I was hoping and praying that there would be a way that I could help her release some of her guilt just by talking with her. These two young ones were a bit faster than the other older hikers and they helped me hike down the hill. We talked the whole time. English is the language they use sometimes, since L had to learn Dutch. By the end of hiking down the hill, we had a beautiful connection. They came by my hotel and I was able to give them a copy of The Divine Spark.
They were thankful and I was also thankful and thrilled for this meaningful conversation.
I got packed up and ready to drive back to Mytilene to pick up Jodi and Lynn tonight. And lo and behold, I somehow must have either lost the car key or locked the car key inside the car. This felt rather panicky. Then, the car rental place was available, they answered my call. They have an extra key. So, it all worked out. I took a taxi back to Mytilene which costs some, but in the long run, I am so thankful that this car rental place is so reliable and responded to me.
OK, so if you must know. I left the cell phone at hotel a few days ago. Today lost the car key. I feel like I need to apologize to someone. I promise you, I am trying to be a slow pilgrim. I have a slight memory of putting the car key down inside the car and looking at it... and then my memory stops, so I can’t wait to see if it is in the car.
Robert and I learned today that someone we both know had open heart surgery at age 50, so losing a car key is really a doable thing. Right? Oh well...
Huh. My geography, and my losing things... these are both not strong suits.
My mantra needs to be, but I am still a beloved child of God. Amen. So, soon, I’ll get to the airport to pick up the girls. This house happens to be only 3K from airport. THAT is a huge blessing.
All for now, Love and prayers,
Nancy
P.S. Oh, Jennifer. Well, this morning... while I must have lost the car keys without knowing it. A new person was at the hotel lobby all by herself. We started talking and she had quite the story. She has been married twice... has two lovely daughters, but knew all along that she was gay. She was an “evangelical Christian” so tried hard to pray the gay away... Finally she heard of a preacher who is very gay friendly and this preacher helped her finally be herself. She is divorced from the second husband but they are now very good friends. She just retired and is starting her 365 day journey in Skala Eresos as she came here last year and loved it. So, wow. She feels very whole about who she is and did the whole work and journey so that she said, she actually did not need to read any more books! She has her own thing as a retired stock broker. She has a blog about the value of money and what is really important in life... and it is not money. However my aside to that is, for those of us who have some discretionary money, it is always MUCH easier to be philosophical about money, When a person has to decide if they use their last dollars to get their prescription filled or feed their children, then that kind of money conversation takes on a whole different feel.
Anyway, I met more great people today. L and M from Holland and Rumania, the young people I hiked with were precious and lovely. What a sweet opportunity for me to get to know them. The 40 year old loved her mother a lot and lost her ten years ago to cancer. She took care of me coming down the mountain on this hike, and I felt cared for like the young kids start to take care of their mothers... so sweet.
All for now, thank you for your prayers. You folks in Washburn and Port Wing, you are surely in my prayers too. Plus, my mom reads this. Bless her. I am so lucky to have such a great mom. She is the best.