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.

Through Northern Italy to Monaco

We are in Sounthern France, but our most exciting part of the day was touring Monaco- just a few minutes away! Monaco is the second smallest country in the world- only the Vatican is smaller.

We drove around a block (part of the Grand Prix loop in Monaco) about four times before figuring out it would be better to park and walk to our destination in this country that is less then 2km square! Our destination was a tour that lead us past the Casino and the Prince's Palace, as well as other landmarks in the country.

I should mention something about our trip to Monaco this morning! We drove through Northern Italy, and found numerous picture perfect towns nestled in valleys that opened up to the Mediteranean Sea. We drove over many bridges that lead to tunnel's that lead to another bridge and another tunnel... we certainly went THROUGH the mountains today!

Cold Rainy Day in Venice

Image 1 - Wet and cold on the Grand Canal in Venice

Image 2 - The Grand Canal in Venice

We are in Venice, Italy! This morning we caught a train to London Gatwick Airport from my parent’s place and boarded a plane to Venice. The flight was uneventful, but noteworthy due to the fact that the seats actually had descent amount of recline. Amazingly I managed to snooze a bit and catch up on some the sleep I lost on our trip back from Freetown to London.

Arriving in Venice we were rather disappointed that we didn’t actually get a Mini Cooper, like we had reserved, as there were none available. Instead they upgraded us to a VW Golf Plus, which I wouldn’t consider an upgrade from a Cooper. It is, however, fun to drive. I’m still a little bit nervous about driving out here though. I’m worried I might misunderstand road signs, which are all in Italian, and get in an accident, or park illegally and get my car towed.

I was under the impression that Venice was supposed to be a romantic city. Romance wasn’t on my mind as it rained all day long with a temperature of probably no more than 8 degrees celcius. Stephanie and I bought 2 umbrellas and within an hour the wind had turned both inside out often enough that they were useless. The canals were impressive and beautiful but I wasn’t able to thoroughly enjoy them as I was soaked to the bone and cold.

We caught a, public transport, canal boat around the island of Venice and then down “The Grand Canal”. I think we have the transport figured out now. Hopefully this will mean that when we return on Friday, our anniversary, we won’t waste any time figuring things out.

R.W.

Grueling Trip Back to London

November 6 & 7

I never thought that checking in & boarding a flight would be such a trial of faith.

Our trip back to London started at 6pm with us going to a water taxi terminal that will bring us to the airport. The airport in Sierra Leone is on the other side of the bay than Freetown, and it’s much more time efficient to boat across the bay then take a vehicle around.

Once at the terminal on the other side, we took a shuttle to the airport on a VERY bumpy road. We were at the airport at around 7:30pm ready to go through the process for our midnight flight. We had to wait in line over 3 hours, in a building with extreme heat and no air conditioning filled with lots of people.

We arrived at the check-in counter at 11:00pm to find that there were only 15 more seats left on the flight. Looking at the line behind us, it looked like well over 25 people were expecting to be on this flight, and that people travelling alone or in pairs were being checked in at a much faster pace than groups.

This is when your prayers, and ours, were depended on. We waited about 15 minutes in silence, watching the lady type on her computer. Our prayers were answered! We were so happy to have seats on the flight, it was only a minor concern that we were scattered all over the plane.

A number of strangers were sympathetic to our seating arrangement as we boarded, and more prayers were answered as we were able to sit as couple’s on the overnight flight to London.

We didn’t bother with a nap, as the rest of Saturday has been spent together as a family, as smaller groups as well as one big group. Kevin & Toni will be going home early tomorrow morning while Richard and I will go to Venice tomorrow. Shawn & Ang will be heading back to Manitoba on Monday, spending one-on-one time together with mom & dad until then. We wonder when it will be when we are all together again... Good Night!!

S.W.

The Day Before Departure

November 5

Image 1 - Stephanie searching for souvenirs

Image 2 - Richard & Stephanie at the Lighthouse Restaurant


We were pleasantly surprised today when a lady, who used to work for us, showed up and joined us for breakfast. I hadn’t seen her in almost 15 years and she sat down next to me at the breakfast table and pretended not to notice me. After a moment of confusion I recognised her. I knew she was playing a joke on me so I cleared my throat a couple of times, while looking at her, until she broke into a huge smile. We exchanged hugs and then proceeded to reminisce about our memories.

She remembered how I would always go running outside whenever I heard a helicopter flying overhead (it happened all the time). I told her how I remembered how she was always terrified of our pet mongoose.

She described how she had escaped to Malawi to get away from the war and returned to find that her father had been beheaded by rebels and her mother beaten until she was crippled. It is still a struggle for her not to feel sick when she thinks of her father’s brutal killing. Unfortunately thousands of others in this country have similar stories as her.

Around mid-day we did some souvenir shopping and then headed across from our hotel to swim in the ocean. The girls are getting very frustrated with always being seen as a dollar sign. We are forever being approached by people begging for money or wanting to help us in exchange for money.

A little later we were joined by an American friend of ours that we had known from back before 1995. It was great to visit with someone from the same culture as us.

The day ended with a Wiebe family dinner at the Sierra Lighthouse Restaurant. It was a great way to end our last full day in Sierra Leone. Tomorrow evening we depart on our return trip to London.

R.W.

Banana Islands

November 4

Our adventures took us to Banana Islands today! This trip required us travelling to another village and renting another hand-made wooden canoe with a motor- smaller then the one we took a couple days earlier.

This boat ride was a lot rougher with us crashing into the waves and being sprayed with ocean water as we went (the swaying side to side in the canoe later in the day was just as bad if not worse).

Once at Banana Islands, we boated our way around them, stopping at a town for a tour. We watched a man making a canoe from a tree, and were shown the landmarks while saying “Koushay” (Hello, in Krio) to various villagers.

We made our way around the Island by boat, and stopped at the beach where we had dropped off a cook and his supplies earlier. He had a wonderful meal ready for us with flavoured rice, fish, fries (made from cassava root), and chicken for me (which had clucked all the way to the Island with us in the boat!).

The boat ride back was a lot calmer, but we still had to drive home in the dark. Fortunately, Paul, our driver, saw the herd of cows being lead down the road before we hit them… actually, on second thought, they were hard to miss! Just part of being in Africa, I guess!

S.W.

River #2

November 3

After getting off to a late start, which seems to be how every day starts, we headed off to “River Number 2”. This is a stunningly beautiful location where a river flows past a large sandy beach into the Atlantic Ocean. Every time I come here the river has cut a new route through the soft powdery sand. We arrived at low tide and had fun hopping in at the mouth and letting the rising tide sweep us swiftly down the river.

Some of the villagers prepared us a delicious meal of barracuda, lobster, rice and fries, before we headed out for another swim under the light of the gradually setting sun. This is a little bit of a difficult location to get to as the road is absolutely terrible, but it is still very much worth the effort!!!

R.W.

Bunce Island

November 2


Image 1 - Richard and Stephanie in the ruins of the Bunce Island slave fort


Image 2 - Leaving Bunce Island


Today we were off to Bunce Island. We rented a hand-made wooden canoe with a motor hanging off the back and travelled with 5 sailors to the Island from Freetown. We went against the tide, so it took longer then we thought. Thankfully, we had bought some umbrella’s for the sun (They had a Barrak Obama picture stamped on two sides of it… he’s a very popular thing to have on T-shirts, hats, etc. here!)

The Island has ruins of a slave fortress where slaves were kept before being shipped out to America. We saw the fireplace where the slaves were branded and the cave where they were kept for 3 days with no food or water to “weed out” the weak ones- the ones who died.

We saw a cemetery where various slave masters and/or captains of ships were buried. It was interesting noting the feelings and comments made at that cemetery- none of them compassionate towards those buried there. It certainly made you want to live a life where people won’t despise your gravestone when you’re gone.

On the way home, I saw the house Richard grew up in along with a number of neighbour’s who were very excited to see him and his family. Now, at the end of the day, I am exhausted… the short nights, heat, rough travel, and effort needed to meet new people took all my energy out of me. Good-night!

S.W.

Church and Guests

November 1

For Church we headed off to the east end of Freetown. We joined the former head of the Sierra Leone branch of our mission, at his church, to worship God. My dad preached and my mom gave a little lesson. Us Wiebes sang a couple of songs for the church and then Stephanie and I as well as Kevin and Toni were called up onto the stage by a couple of Sierra Leonean pastors. We were asked a number of questions as part of a marriage panel. Our responses garnered considerable laughter and clapping from our audience. It seems women and men are the same in every culture and experience the same marriage issues. The women particularly liked (they stood up, clapped, and cheered) when my sister-in-law Toni talked about how my brother Kevin started to help with house work because he realised the amount of work she was doing.

Back at our hotel we relaxed a bit before we received a couple of guests. Samuel, who used to do house and yard work for us, and Ju Ju, who was like a big brother to me when I was a small child and living in the town of Bo (the whole village would look out for me and make sure I didn’t stray too far from home).

R.W.