Monday, March 29, 2010

wow!

The artwork for RESTORE just arrived via JPEG. Our friend and incredible artist Luke Flowers captured the essence of the CD/DVD project. Where ever the light of Christ shines in society, life is RESTORED. Thank you Luke!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Sunday

We ceased from our travel labor today and chilled. The trains at the station down below woke us up early so we headed out to HTB (Holy Trinity Brompton) to attend their first service. Wonderful to sit under the worship leadership of Tim Huges and chat with him briefly. It was nice to worship with the English on this very special Palm Sunday. Exciting too when we occasionally saw someone with a palm branch in their hands on London's streets!

British Airways is striking yet again so it will be interesting to see if we have another pilot serving tea. Thank you for your continued prayers. We'll need them since we are serving two local churches in Colorado Springs this Easter weekend - jet lag and all.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Prague photos

Jan Hus Statue in front of St Mikulas Cathedral
Mark & Klara - St Mikulas - Prague
Lamb of God statuette 'front and centre' of the altar in St Mikulas Cathedral


Mark & Carrie - atop Old Town Square - Prague

Easter Eggs are celebrated in a big way in Prague!

Prague Day 2


Until today the focus of this trip has been primarily on logistics but after walking into St. MIkulas Church in Prague it all changed.  It’s a wonderfully magnificent building with amazing art but what gave me chills down to my feet was the small, relatively insignificant figurine that took front and centre of the whole cathedral. It was the high and lifted up Lamb of God.  It was the first thing that really captured our attention among the priceless art and blissful bling filling the interior of the church.  Mark’s new song, Behold the Lamb, was surely written in his spirit, knowing that in Prague (and in heaven) the Lamb will be our focus.
Klara met us early this morning for coffee. She is our violinist for this trip but will also serve as today’s translator. A job that she was a bit nervous about. We went over our list of questions that we would need answered from the Cathedral’s Pani Blazek and she seemed satisfied that she understood them. Concept often triumphs over preciseness in translation and was indeed the case for Klara.
Mark and I sat down for a light lunch on the banks of the Vlatava.  It was then that we started feeling the spiritual weight of such an undertaking.  What was once a walk of faith is now reality. By God’s mercy this project’s train has left the station and there is no turning back.  Over potato soup we had to build our faith back up by reminding one another of the miracles that had gotten us this far.  The team of behind the scenes people, the financial donors, the intercessors, the miracle of permission to film in four Cathedrals – for free, and the list went on and on. By the time the coffee arrived our slightly wobbly knees felt strong again.  It is good to rehearse aloud the goodness of God and the faithfulness and generosity of His people. Fear and doubt slowly fade and faith grows brighter once again.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Photos of Prague - St Mikulas - 'restore' recording venue

Carbon Footprints

Planes, trains, and automobiles were part of our day; as were jets, buses, and even a yellow taxi! We had breakfast in Florence, lunch in Bologna, and dinner in Prague. Today we were on the move and can tell that people are praying for good connections. Not only did everything arrive on time but in fact we were early nearly everywhere - landing in Prague fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.


No meetings were scheduled today since it was a designated travel day. Once we stopped, Mark and I enjoyed an evening stroll across the Charles Bridge and a traditional Czech dinner of dumplings, pork, and boiled cabbage.



The Czech Republic was our home for four years. Thought it felt a little strange to be back in Prague without having to look over our shoulders for two misbehaving boys! Benjamin and Daniel were both under ten years old when we lived here. Still the city if full of wonderful memories for us; a fun family season, incredible relationships within the body of Christ, and a deepened love for Europe.


Tomorrow we meet with our friend (and Czech judge) Klara. She will escort us into the meeting with the Cathedral logistics guy so that we can begin to plan the RESTORE project.

Thanks for your prayers. They are working!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Florence

The phrase ‘less than 24 hours’ should never be used in a sentence that contains ‘Florence’! That’s how long we are to remain here. Actually it’s less than a full day, twenty-two hours to be precise. Alex picked us up from the airport and we went straight to lunch. Marinated eggplant and a thick juicy slice of mozzarella from the south of Italy made up the main ingredients in my sandwich. Mark & Alex shared one parma ham with olive spread. Then it was time to meet our contact at the church, Lucia. She gave us a quick tour of the building. We accessed power capability, lighting needs, and tried to figure out where to place cameras and  musicians. Unlike Lincoln, this is a simple setting. Yet no less weighty in the spiritual sense. We treated ourselves to a gelato and a coffee before heading out to the Ammirabile home. We now sit in the guest bedroom looking west out over the Tuscan hills. The sun is setting and enhancing the gold tones of the landscape. Daffodils and hyacinths bloom in the yard and the birds are singing a lovely sunset song.


Off to bed soon. Tomorrow we train to Bologna then fly to Prague

Monday, March 22, 2010

The British Airways cabin crew strike provided a bit of on board entertainment for us today.  Upon check in, a blue coated agent warned us that there would be no hot food during flight  due to the industrial action. Cold meals were forecasted for the Trans Atlantic crossing and cabin crew were at a minimum. She gave us two $9 food vouchers for ordering a take-away at the Denver airport and said to keep, "your camera handy during the flight". She told us that cockpit crew would serve as cabin crew on some BA flights.

Sure enough we took our seats and once we had leveled off senior officer and Royal Air Force pilot Captain Stacy asked, "what could I get you to drink today?"  The experience was definetly a first in our flying history, to be served by a pilot instead of a steward! He was a bit on the slow side but quite friendly, stopping to have an indepth conversation with each passenger. "My wife's not gonna believe this," he commented while serving Mark a rather pitiful cup of instant coffee. "Now I'll have to help out more at home."  Though we were amused cold food is still cold food no matter who serves it!

Five am is wake up time on Tuesday. Mark & I will drive out of London and pick up our friend Jenny then head up to Lincoln Cathedral.  We're so excited to see the first venue where we'll do the live worship recording.

The RESTORE project begins!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Take Off

Our first miracle has happened and we haven't even lifted off the ground yet! Many of you know that British Airways is striking and flights around the globe are drastically affected. We were wigged out that we'd miss our initial flight and be behind on every pre arranged meeting. Our schedule is crazy tight with very little room for travel woes so the miracle is that BA just called and our specific flight is NOT COMPROMISED! Our friend from London also just texted and said our flight looks good. Hooray! At 6:20pm today and by the Grace of God we should be lifting off in the direction of London.

Mark & I are currently uploading this blog as Pastor Steve preaches away at Mountain Springs Church in Colorado Springs.  Leading worship is what we love to do and its what we've been doing this weekend.  We are in between the 3rd and 4th service back in Daniel's office checking our emails before we fly.  Please pray for strength. We are tired at the start and need the renewing energy of the Holy Spirit.

Looking forward to blogging every day and YOU travelng with us!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Follow the Tedders

Keep up with the prep for the Restore Project and watch as Mark & Carrie do site visits.  Follow them next week (March 21 - 29) when they travel to the UK, Italy and Czech Republic.  Blog will be updated regularly.  We appreciate your prayers!