Wow!  What a start!  We arrived in Rome on Saturday, and joined our tour group on Sunday evening.  There are 44 of us, young and old, single, married, and several families, from all over the US and several from Canada.

We started with a day in Rome at the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel (where we couldn’t take pictures, of course), the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Coliseum.  What a whirlwind day!

Margaret met this guy outside the Pantheon.  I think he said he was from Prineville, but he had a pretty heavy accent so I’m not quite sure…

Then it was back to the hotel, and an early start up to Venice, stopping as Assisi for a wonderful visit.  It was pretty much all day on the bus for 328 miles, except for a few stops here and there.

Wednesday in Venice was totally amazing!  Over-the-top awesome!  And an afternoon boat ride to the wonderful island of Burano for one of the most amazing lunches we’ve ever had, and shopping for hand-made lace and other items before returning later in the evening.

The next sabbatiblog update will come on Saturday!  The internet wifi in Venice is from the days of the 2400 baud modem speed, so it takes forever!  But we’ll persevere and we hope you enjoy the pictures!

Instead of pictures I made an iMovie of the day in Venice and Burano that you can watch by CLICKING HERE.

We miss you all, but this is the trip of a lifetime and we’re having the time of our lives!

Our sabbatical experience is just around the corner!

Supported and funded by the Lilly Endowment Fund for church leaders, we’ll be leaving for an 8 day Globus tour of Italy’s Great Cities on May 11.

We’ll start in Rome, visiting the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, and the Coliseum.  We’ll then travel to Assisi and Venice Island, and then on to Pisa and the Leaning Tower, and Florence, where we’ll see Giotto’s Bell Tower and Michelangelo’s David.  We’ll then spend some time in Siena for some amazing sites, and then return to Rome to end the first tour.

Then it’s on to Athens for another Globus Tour of the Footsteps of Paul!

We’ll start in Athens and head out to a road excursion of Thessalonica, Philippi, and Kavala, where Paul preached and established churches.  Well go on to Veria and Kalamabaka where Paul and Silas were accused of treason, before returning to Athens for a tour of the many sites there.  We then begin a three day cruise around the Greek Isles and Turkey.  We’ll go to Mykonos with their iconic windmills and whitewashed houses, and visit Ephesus, where Paul preached and established a church.  We’ll go to Heraklion, Crete, and Santorini, before going to Corinth, and finally back to Athens.

We’ll spend an additional couple days in Athens, making sure to take a Greek cooking class (Margaret is Greek, after all…) before Margaret flies home, and Eric goes down to Tanzania.

In Tanzania Eric will visit a dental and medical clinic that Zion will start supporting in the future.  He’ll meet Dr. Alex, a Tanzanian dentist who is piloting a preventative pediatric dental clinic under the auspices of the ELCA’s Global Health Ministry.

From there it’s on to the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, where Eric will begin a 10 day trek to the top of the 19,341 foot mountain!

Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest free standing mountain in the world; it’s called the Roof of Africa.  While Mount Everest (and others) are at a higher elevation, they’re a part of a mountain range; Mount Kilimanjaro is free standing.

It will be an amazing trek for both Margaret and Eric, and we are so thankful for this opportunity for rest, renewal, and refreshment!  Zion is an amazing, wonderful, and healthy congregation who has been so supportive of this time, and we want to give Pastor Charley and Marilou a word of thanks for filling in during this sabbatical time!

Stay tuned for so much more in the coming weeks!