Whew!

Getting ready for the mission is a lot of work. There are the medical requirements, the packing list, the housing arrangements, the final goodbyes, and the last minute training from the MTC. I thought once I stepped on the plane I could rest a bit, but I was in for a rude awakening in Paris.

In Salt Lake City, Delta refused to check our bags through to Cyprus. At first, we didn’t register all the ramifications of this policy. It became clear to us in Paris when we had to pick up our 4 massive pieces of luggage, go through French customs, hoof it to another terminal to re-check all our luggage, get new boarding passes, go through security again and finally make it to our gate with only minutes to spare!

Of course we did all that at 12:00-4:00 AM our time. It was a blur!

In Larnaca we were met by Steve’s sister and her husband, Coreen and Leslie Easter. They had traveled an hour to greet us, get us our car, and send us on our way. Our way was another hour of driving to our new town of Limassol. We didn’t have SIM cards in our phones so we had to rely on an old fashioned map. Strange town, driving on the left-side, late at night – no problem!

Are you noticing the miracles?! We sure did!

Coreen and Leslie live in the town of Nicosia, an hour away from where we are in Limassol. Two days after we flew in, they invited us to drive up to Nicosia and tour the Green Zone, a UN Buffer Zone, that keeps the peace between Turkish soldiers and Cypriots.

The famous Ledra Palace Hotel along with all the homes and businesses in the Green Zone were abandoned. The ghost houses and towns stand as monuments to the people’s suffering and loss.

We met this special couple as we toured the Green Zone. Patriarch Schutze comes down to Cyprus whenever he is requested to give blessings. He speaks fluently English, Russian and German, but prefers to give blessings only in Russian and German. As we spoke with him, we were amazed at his experience. He is a spry 86 year old who has lived the history of the church in East Germany!