THANK-YOU!!!

First of all, thank-you SO MUCH to those of you who prayed for us- as a Wiebe family as we travelled through Sierra Leone, and as a couple travelling through Europe. It has been evident on our blog that your prayers were answered a number of times in a variety of ways! As a family, we often commented to each other during the trip about how it must be the prayer support that was getting us through various situations!

Thank-you to all of you- we have no idea how many of you there are- that followed us on this blog! We enjoyed going through our days, saying “this is blog-worthy” and sharing with you about our experiences. Since you’ve already heard about them, this blog may have cut down on the number of stories we can actually talk about now that we’re home. But maybe you would prefer reading them at your own pace rather than listening to us, anyway!

We want to keep this blog address for future “blog-worthy” events, but we can’t see any of this kind of event in the near future. We’ll let you know if (when?) we start posting again!

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57

Richard & Stephanie Wiebe

Home At Last!

November 15

Today we said good-bye to Richard’s parents and hopped on a plane to start a trip that would take us back home. On the plane, we sat next to a mother with two small children, who were certainly a source of entertainment! When they weren’t playing contently in their seats, and shaking the TV in the headrest in front of them (to “make it work”), they were sleeping.

We finally arrived in Winnipeg at 8pm, but our bodies were closer to 2am. We quickly regained our energy, though, after seeing that my whole family had come to pick us up! It was so good to see them again- I had really missed them!

Richard and I returned to our home, which is perfectly clean thanks to the girl who was house-sitting for us! A pile of mail is waiting for us, along with a number of suitcase’s filled with dirty laundry and souvenirs. That will all wait until tomorrow, though. The clock say’s 11pm, and our bodies say 5am, so we are going to bed- in our own bed! Hopefully Richard will wake up in time for work tomorrow...

S.W.

From Venice to London

November 14

Image 1- The view from the plane flying from Venice to London

With the alarm clock ringing, Saturday started for us at 3am in Venice. We caught our 6am flight to London Gatwick Airport and then from there took the train to my parents’ place in Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon. After hugs Mom made breakfast for us and then we spent much of the rest of the day visiting. We stopped only to have an hour and a half nap, around midday, and to enjoy a meal of curry that I had purchased. The evening ended with dad and mom treating us to a delicious meal at a local Turkish restaurant.

It was with sadness that I went to bed knowing that in the morning we would be heading to the airport and saying our final goodbyes before departing for Canada. In my mind I kept thinking to myself that just a week earlier our entire family had been together in Sierra Leone goofing off and reconnecting and now it was over. I am all too aware that it is unlikely that we will ever all be together in Sierra Leone again. It was a once in a lifetime trip!

R.W.

Celebrating 5 Years In Venice

November 13

Image 1- Stephanie bundled up for a gondula ride through Venice

Image 2- Richard posing at San Marco's Square in Venice

Our Europe trip will end where it began, and we are back in Venice, Italy. Today we are celebrating 5 years since we stood in front of family & friends and made lifelong commitments to each other.

The day started with us leaving Salzburg, Austria and driving through the Alps towards our anniversary destination. We are staying at a hotel right by the airport as we have a VERY early flight to catch tomorrow morning.

We found our way to San Marco’s Square, and after touring around the place, decided to rent a gondola to take us around the city. The ride was memorable, even though our gondola sailor didn’t sing like they do in the movies.

We found a fancy restaurant to have a romantic dinner together. Richard gave me a yellow gold bracelet that had white gold hearts with diamonds in each heart (sigh). We had a wonderful time! We ended the evening by finding a small shop and grabbing some gelati for dessert. You know you’ve gone to an expensive restaurant when your meal covers about ¼ of your plate, and you leave just a little bit hungry!

S.W.

Autobahn & "The Sound of Music" Tour

Image 1 - Pleased as punch on a narrow ledge outside our hotel window in Munich


Image 2 - Standing in front of the gazebo from "The Sound of Music"

Image 3 - Posing in front of beautiful Austrian landscape during Sound of Music tour

We took our time getting going this morning, since our next destination, Salzburg, Austria, was less than a two hour drive away and we felt no need to hurry. Our hotel, as Stephanie had mentioned, had a river rushing by just below our window, for which I was absolutely delighted. Instead of sleeping on the side of the bed closest to the door, this time I slept on the side of the bed, next to the wall, that Stephanie feared might have it’s foundation compromised by erosion.

Back on the autobahn, we reached 193 km/h, but usually cruised at about 160, with other cars still racing past as if we were standing still. I was holding tightly onto the wheel with both hands!!! No one had to encourage me to watch the road ahead. If I was going to have to react, I wanted to make sure I did it early and not suddenly. My knuckles were probably white, but I was excited that these speeds were legal and I didn’t have to worry about getting arrested. Also, there don’t seem to be any tolls in Germany, Switzerland or Austria, so I enjoyed the savings. Toll roads were bleeding me white for a while. I found a toll receipt that I had missed for France. I spent about $85 Cdn on toll roads on November 10, not $60 Cdn like I had stated.

Arriving at our destination, Salzburg, we bought tickets to go on the dreaded “Sound of Music” tour! This is one of those things I do out of love for my spouse. Maybe next year Stephanie can repay me by going on a “Rambo” tour, if such exists. Anyways the tour took us past all the Austrian sights that were featured in the movie, including some that were way up in the mountains. I must say that the mountains made me homesick for B.C. and when we passed through fertile farming valleys, with the smell of manure wafting, Stephanie felt homesick for Manitoba.

R.W.

Lest We Forget... Never Again

Today started with a few exciting things. We went through our longest tunnel yet at 6.7km’s long! Being on the Germany Autobahn, we reached our highest speed of 180km/ hour, and Richard finally found his McDonald’s and promptly had 1 Big Mac Meal that cost close to $20 Cdn.

Very suitable for Canadian Remembrance Day, we toured a concentration camp just north of Munich, here in Germany. We watched at very explicit film on the history of the camp, and concentration camps in general.

It was with a sombre mood that we saw the quarter’s where the prisoner’s slept, and the remains of the fence that kept them there. There were many memorials, including one sculpture made by a holocaust survivor which was reminiscent of the skin and bone bodies, piled in heaps, waiting for cremation.

On a brighter note, Richard really loves our hotel room. I am somewhat unnerved. Don’t take me wrong- I love the quaint style of the place and the extra space in our room with the knotty pine furniture. The feature in question is the river that is rushing right past our hotel room windows. I mean RIGHT past- you can’t see any land, whatsoever, even under the water rushing past our foundation. Oh, and I think this is the way it’s always been- the river is not even flooding!

S.W.

Toll Roads and Expensive Dining

This evening we are in Geneva, Switzerland. It is a beautiful city on a lake, but the buildings look much the same as any of the other European cities we have been through.

We started the day with a thoroughly enjoyable drive on the Mediterranean coast of France. To leave the town of Beauieu sur Mer, where we spent the night, Stephanie and I had to drive up steep mountain roads that were often barely wide enough for two vehicles to squeeze past and with hairpin curves that forced you to slow to 20 or 30 km/h. Eventually we got out onto the open highway where we spent most of our driving hours cruising at 140km/h. The VolksWagon Golf Plus, that we were driving, barely noticed the speed. It is a very comfortable and gutsy car. I like it!!!

I must stop for a moment to gripe a bit. While we have been through incredibly beautiful terrain day after day, all the major roads, in Italy and France, seem to be toll roads. Today I paid a total of at least 5 tolls and $60 Cdn. To avoid toll roads would’ve added a further 6 hours to our day. Everything is “EXPENSIVE” out here! A coke at a decent sit down restaurant costs in the neighbourhood of $7 or $8 Cdn. That’s for one glass with no refills. Buying a can at a gas station costs at least $2 Cdn. I sense that the waiters, at the restaurants think I’ve been really cheap if Steph and I have only spent $40 Cdn to eat.

Other things I’ve noticed out here in Europe is that almost everybody speaks a little bit of English. That’s great for me since I’ve basically exhausted all my French after saying “bonjour” and “merci”. Everyone seems to eat off the backs of their forks, so it must be a dead giveaway that I am not from around here. Also wine seems to be the drink of choice with every meal. I feel almost like a hillbilly asking for a coke with my meal. I like very little of what I can understand on the menus. I think Stephanie and I are both starting to crave McDonalds.

R.W.