Trinidad and Tobago

We are heading down to Miami around tomorrow and will fly out Tuesday morning!  Looking forward to yet another amazing opportunity.  I will likely be writing posts while I am there and then come back and posts them when I get back home...

Off to Augusta

The Lord has provided me with the opportunity to go with the youth of Grace Community Church here in Statesboro to Augusta for a mission trip.  We'll be going into the inner city promoting a sport camp, while working at a food bank in the evening.  I'm really looking forward to be able to connect with some of these high schoolers and serve along side of them.  Be back Friday!

Still awake...

Well I am currently on the plane ride back from Zurich to Atlanta stretched out over an entire middle row of 3 seats!  Our couple days in Zurich weren’t too eventful as we caught some stormy weather.  On Saturday, Dan set us up an appointment SportClinic Zurich where we received a tour and had a Q&A with one of their staff members.  SportClinic Zurich is sponsored by Swiss Olympic and consists of a sport medicine/rehab facility, biomechanics, and an exercise-testing lab.  Theresa, the lady showing us around, told us how the facility sees a mixture of both Swiss athletes and everyday people coming in for services.  Starting my Masters in the fall at USC in Applied Physiology (Exercise Science), it was really cool to see a view of the field internationally.  Upon leaving SportClinic Zurich, we went and saw Terminator Salvation, which I thought was much better than T3.  That essentially concluded our stay in Zurich, as we are now flying back to Atlanta and then to Savannah.

Below I just want to expand/comment/share on what this trip has meant to me personally, whether it be academically or spiritually…

Academically, I have been so fortunate to have such an opportunity.  With aspirations to teach, being around professionals like Dr. Dan Czech has provided me with an ideal way to enhance learning…make it FUN!  Again, the energy and attitude he brings into the teaching setting weather in a classroom or out on a baseball field in France has provided me with a wonderful illustration/model.  Do I want to develop my own “style”?  Yes, but I also want students leaving with the “fired up” mentality to learn more about the subject or even themselves like Dr. Czech does.  I’m looking forward to experiencing this in the Fall as a GA.

Spiritually, I don’t know where really to start.  Not always being one much of words, it’s hard to say (God’s grace in itself).  As I type, I am cautious not to try to write what sounds good or “deep”, but rather the feelings I’ve honestly experienced. As I mentioned in previous posts, and I won’t go into detail again, the Lord has opened my eyes to the ways he wanted to work in me on this trip.  He has romanced/wooed me revealing a greater love. It’s been a feeling of “Wow!  Look how minute and small I am”; yet He still wants a relationship with me.  Driving to/from Barcelona seeing the countryside, running in foreign countries, looking down from 6,500 feet above, seeing Dan’s heart ache from being absent from his wife/kids, being vulnerable with one another, Patty/Boris’ willingness to provide/help us; it’s these things that God has used to show me what his love is like.  It’s beautiful, it yearns, and above all else it’s sacrificial.  Lord, teach me to love.

Coming off this trip, I’ve begun to wrestle with a new outlook on living my life, at least for the time being.  I definitely feel as though if it’s the stage of “Cowboy” alive in me, but I have grown to have such an increased desire for adventure.  It’s a desire for more than college football on the weekends or just sitting around watching television.  (Disclaimer: I’m not giving up on going to USC football games and being a fan.  I enjoy that fellowship with good friends/family.)  It may be missing a game or two to partake in something greater…a greater adventure…a different adventure.  And you know what, maybe I’ll just bring others along.  Actually, I wouldn’t want it any other way but to be with others.  It’s been interesting.  Maybe since around the beginning of the spring semester, my interest/taste in music has expanded and grown so much.  I remember thinking back in the fall that my playlists needed something new, a different sound.  I believe it was the chance to attend a few small gigs in the Carolinas that sparked this new growth.  Growing up, sports were my thing.  It’s what I did.  I had a couple tries at guitar, but sports reigned.  Again, I’m still passionate about sports, teams, etc.  However over the past 6 months, concerts/gigs, some aspects of art, and the wilderness has surpassed with a more appealing beauty.  Being here in Europe, I was able to see/hear the differing cultures of such things.  Whether it was the American cover band in the packed out Irish pub, decorative yet sometime obscene street art/graffiti along bridges or train ways, or the snow capped Alps, I experienced a new high much like that of painting up at a nationally televised USC football game.  I realized that our God has created an amazing world for us, and I want to experience more of it.  To give a better illustration, I want to take mine and Joe’s Young Life guys camping, on road trips, to soup kitchens, volunteering.  I want them to EXPERIENCE God’s love and grace, not simply hear about it a few times a week from us.  I want to go to more concerts, especially small, non-mainstream bands that I’ve hardly heard of.  It will be interesting how this plays out.  I already feel like I’ll be in need of some sort of adventure these next 3 weeks between returning from Europe and leaving for Trinidad and Tobago.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to fill that void…

For the weeks following up until Trinidad and Tobago, I’ll be doing some lab work on campus at Georgia Southern.  I’ll likely post at the end to tell about what I’ve been doing.  Hope you enjoyed!

The Ascent

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day in Salzburg.  We got up and enjoyed another great breakfast at the hotel.  I’ve come to enjoy this Nutella spread that is so prevalent here in Europe.  I had seen it and heard about it in the states but had never tried it out.  Past few days at the hotel I’ve been making a turkey, Swiss, egg, and Nutella sandwich.  Yea, it tastes pretty amazing, but I do miss my Jif Reduce Fat Creamy Peanut Butter!  We made a list of various things to see in old town and went to work.  We started off by going to the Mozart Museum and followed it with the catacombs located along the St. Peter’s Church within the mountainside.  Next, we picked up some tickets to go on a speedboat tour along the river at 6.  For lunch, I was not too hungry thanks to a filling breakfast and just hit up the market for some bread, fresh grapes, blackberries, and a peach.

Our entire stay while in Salzburg, I’ve had my eyes glued to this 6,500-foot mountain (Unterberg) that sits in the distance from our hotel, eager to make my way up it.  After getting lunch, we caught the bus out to the mountain where you can take a gondola all the way to the top.  Prior to getting on the gondola, we met Hannah and Amy.  They were both graduates and former tennis players from a small Christian school in California.  Amy worked for World Missions filming various stories around Europe, while her friend Hannah was from Slovakia and is getting her MBA and had met up with her to vacation.  We stuck around one another while around the top of the mountain sharing our adventures thus far, etc.  We got up to the summit where the weather was windy and cold (~35°F) but relatively clear.  We walked out of the coffee shop, and there it was.  We were in the clouds!  We continued the ascent up to a large steel cross that had been constructed at the peak.  

The view from above was unlike any other!  My God, “romancing” me with his beauty!  We continued to trek along the mountaintop taking all kinds of pictures and making fools of ourselves (Trevor and I performed shirtless jumping pictures).  Having time to sit up 6,500 feet above sea level, the Lord was really just putting my heart at peace.  This trip up the mountain and the view from the top completely summed up what this trip has taught/meant to me spiritually.  The beauty from the top was just like God saying to me, “Hey Daniel.  You know all those awesome things that I’ve revealed to you over the past couple weeks…their beauty and how it amazed you?  Well take a look at this!  Let this ‘woo’ you.”

Once returning to the coffee shop where the gondola let out, the six of us grabbed some hot chocolate and then made our way back down.  Hannah and Amy recommended a China buffet place for us to eat for dinner (a place they had only seen, not eaten at) and then an Irish pub to listen to some music afterwards.  Tired from a busy day, we gave them our boat ride tickets and planned to meet up later.  We went back to the hotel for a little bit, and I had every intention of taking a nap.  However with this beautiful weather and scenery, I couldn’t just pass it up.  I had some God time out on the balcony and then went for a run.  The runs have been so good.  As I’ve said previously, there is this underlying motivation running in a foreign country with a 6,500-foot mountain in your view.

We then made our way back into town to try out this China buffet, and let’s just say not exactly the best food I’ve ever had.  Different tasting than American Chinese food, but still had that all you can eat buffet taste to it.  We ran into Hannah and Amy again, highly recommending that they find a different restaurant to eat at.  The four of us headed on to the pub to just hangout and listen to some music planning to meet up with Hannah and Amy for the live stuff next door later on.  Meeting Hannah and Amy has really just caused me to reflect back on all the awesome/loving people we’ve met on this trip so far.  Whether it was Boris in Toulouse, Patty in Regensburg, or these girls in Salzburg, it’s been so cool to see how the Lord has allowed us to cross paths with these individuals, share passions/stories, and learn about their faith life.  About week ago, I mentioned how I felt that I was not allowing myself to see how God was revealing himself to me and working in me.  I was expecting it to only come through interactions with other people, but He revealed to me that it was his beauty He wanted to reveal…and believe me He sure has.  Anyways, it was so awesome to look back and see how through realizing that, the Lord continued to provide in my interactions with others like Boris, Patty, Hannah, and Amy.

Well after leaving the pub, we said our goodbyes to our friends to only realize that the bus stopped running at 11.  We made the decision that we would walk back, but this was very short lived after realizing it would be about a 2-hour trek if we were lucky (ended up taking a taxi).  However, for the 30-45 minutes we did walk, we did see a hedgehog.  Yea, that was pretty sweet.

As of now, I am currently on the train as we are making our way from Salzburg back to Zurich (beautiful).  We’ll be in Zurich until Tuesday and then catch our flight back to America!

 

The hotel we are currently staying at does not have free Internet access.  This will likely be my last post until I get back to Statesboro on Tuesday.

I'm There

Good day today.  Got up this morning around 8:30 and took a step out onto the balcony...yes!  The weather today was a little windy, cool (60s), with increments of cloud and sun.  After trying yet again to take it all in (failed), we headed down to get some breakfast.  The breakfasts in Europe have been pretty awesome for us.  They usually consist of breads, cheeses, meats, granola, fresh fruit, and this awesome juice (guessing it's apricot).  After eating, we headed into the old town area.  Our first stop was the Salzburg Cathedral.  

We then walked around looking at all the typical touristy shops and then headed up to the Hohensalzburg Castle, which first started construction in 1077.  This provided some pretty awesome views from both the front (city of Salzburg) and rear (Alps).  Dan headed back to the hotel to get some work done, while we headed back down into the township and got some food at a local market.  I picked up some fresh fruit (grapes, peach, and a plum) along with some bread.  We then made our way over to the Mirabell Palace Gardens.  One of the fountains in these gardens is where the Do-Re-Mi song from "Sound of Music" was sung/filmed
.

The gardens were beautiful.  I have never seen so many roses in my life.  This is also where we caught the candid shot of the fella getting close with his lady friend.  This group of people, likely a family, were taking photos on the steps and Trevor and I were standing to the side waiting for them to finish.  We notice on the first take this guy pinch the girl's butt.  Once seeing this, we figured he had to do it again on the second take, and as you can see he did...and we caught it. We got a huge laugh out of this.  After Trevor and Chad did some modeling in the grass (Chad had me on the grown laughing), we made our way back to the hotel.

When I got back to the hotel, I sat out on the balcony (something I could literally do all day) listening to the most recent Midtown sermon and then realized I was in great need of a nap. 

 After sleeping for about an hour, I got a small workout in and went for a sort of "nature run".  I ran along the road in front of our hotel and then cut up along a small creek that followed along the highway through the woods.  Wow!  It sure does make running a lot easier and so much more enjoyable when you have a nearly 6500 foot mountain in the distance.  After the run, we all went and ate downstairs in the hotel.  Later on in the night we came back down to have hot chocolate on the front porch.  I asked the group when was a time/moment when they thought to themselves "I'm there right now".  Like a feeling of comfort/peace, relaxed and joyful.  We all shared and as Brett Dennen and Ray LaMontagne continued to play on my laptop while I sipped my hot chocolate amongst the chill from the Alps, I thought to myself, "I'm there."

On to Salzburg

Wednesday, we finished up the clinic in Regensburg by heading out and watching the team play an inner-squad scrimmage.  They looked pretty good.  It is clear that Germany produces some bigger dudes than France and can better compete.  Patty cooked for us tonight, and we had some amazing chili dogs!  She is awesome (even did our laundry)!!  She has already offered to drive us to Salzburg, Austria (~3 hr drive Thursday morning).  We finished off the night by continuing to walk around the old town area and plan for Salzburg.  Our stint in Regensburg wrapped up the clinics.  We are now heading to Salzburg, Austria until Sunday and then will be back in Zurich to fly back home on Tuesday.

Patty was right on time in the morning, and we hit the road for Salzburg.  The ride was pretty good.  I was up the majority of the time looking out the window but found myself eager to dose off.  Dan, remembering Patty saying that she doesn't drink alcohol anymore, asked her how she was able to conquer that addiction and resist the temptations.  She went on to say that she didn't think we wanted to know.  It wasn't but maybe 15-20 minutes later that she randomly begins telling her story.  I won't go into details, but it was clear her life had been rescued!  I think one of the best parts of this trip has been the loving people we have met such as Boris and Patty.  We arrived in Salzburg and checked into our hotel.  It's like a bed and breakfast type place, and the four of us were able to fit in one room saving us a bunch of money.  The view off our balcony is phenomenal!  I sat out on it for a while today and just listened to music.  Rather than getting a much needed nap, I decided to just take a walk down the rural road outside the hotel.  It was mostly cloudy today, and you could only see Mt. Untersberg from our porch.  As I was walking, patches of sun appeared and in the distance was the beautiful and still snow capped white Alps.  Hopefully, we will get a really sunny day later in the weekend to catch an even better view.  Whenever I am outside here my eyes are glued to this monstrous mountain in our backyard.  Initially, I just felt this joy thinking, "Hey!  Look what our God did." (similar feeling when in Pisgah).  Now, I look up the sharp cliff with such a cringing desire to hike my way up it.  I believe it's the "Cowboy" in me at play.  I'm hoping we'll make the ascent sometime Saturday.  Tomorrow, we're going to sleep in and hopefully just have some time to relax like when we were in Zurich.

Good Morgin!

Mom and Dad got in Monday night pretty late.  They have been vacationing around other parts of Europe since earlier this week, and Dad helped out today at the clinic.  After an awesome breakfast at the hotel, Martin came and picked us up and we spent most the morning out at the field with the coaches.  We put them through various drills and games, teaching them things that they could implement at practice to get their kids more confident and focused in their game.  After having a tough afternoon at the plate in France, I had Dan throw to me some in the batting cage.  To my relief, the swing quickly returned!

Once getting back to the hotel, we cleaned up and then headed into the old town part of Regensburg.  During the Second World War, the old town section of the city did not get bombed due to the wrong coordinates; therefore, much of that section of town is very historical.  There is even a Roman wall that is still standing.  We walked along the river to this part of town and grabbed a traditional plate of sauerkraut and brats.  Not the best thing I have ever eaten but “when in Germany”.  We then continued to get some gelato and walk around town visiting the large cathedral you see posted and various other landmarks.  We headed back to the hotel, and I took that time to just walk down by the canal, read, and take some pictures.  In so many different places in Europe I have seen various street art and graffiti but have not been where I could take any pictures…finally got to do that.

All six of us then headed back into town to get dinner and just walk around.  We walked up in the steeple of an old church and took some pretty awesome pictures.  Dan pulled the rope of the church bell allowing it to sound two loud “dongs”.  We arrived at the top of the steeple for some guy to tell us that it is a hefty fine to ring the bell.  I believe Dan then made a quick descent back down.  It was awesome up at the top of the church.  Out one side you could see the sunset (something I have yet to see in Europe since it sets so late) and out the other the well-known cathedral.

Hope all is going well back home!