We’re not in Minnesota anymore…
Sept 4, 2025
Your prayers and God’s grace carried us through a very long day. Tuesday night we melted into bed full of amazement and gratitude…and a little bit of “Wow—we’re really here!”
The backstory: My new hobby for the past several weeks has been politely hounding insurance representatives, insulin pump suppliers, pharmacists and clinic staff to accumulate enough medications and supplies to keep Cal and I healthy for the entire trip, since I was told we couldn’t just have family ship it to us later. The last boxes arrived at home 3 days before we left, and our expensive collection of boxes and bottles and vials completely filled up an extra carry-on bag (which we were allowed). My next hobby then became worrying about how some strict Swiss customs agent might make us unpack and account for the exact quantity of every item and potentially confiscate these hard-fought treasures! Not sure why I so struggled to trust God with this step, but since it was totally out of my control, I kind of had to. We carried the medical bag through Minneapolis TSA security with minimal issues (they opened it and double-checked the CPAP water bottle). At our layover in Amsterdam, we carried it through passport control with no questions, and at our final destination in Geneva they just waved us through customs with no checks at all. Our ride to pick up the leased car was on the way, and just as I started to breath easier we discovered we were waiting on the Swiss side of the pickup area while our ride was looking for us on the French side of the same airport. To get over to him, we had to re-enter the airport, show our boarding passes, and go through French customs—who also simply waved us through! (I think God whispered “do you trust me now??”)
Cal wisely scheduled us four days to rest and acclimate between the chaos of packing, travel and jet lag and our introductions to ministry contacts in Germany. We booked a “gite” on a dairy farm in the French Alps. (A gite is an economical French version of an Airbnb rental mostly used by locals.) Ours is a lovely little apartment in an alpine chalet: one large three-level building with two rental units, the owners’ living space, and the dairy barn complete with cowbells and cow smells (takes us back to our rural roots!). From the bedroom we have the most stunning view of snowcapped Mount Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe! We’re taking short day trips, then shopping in French grocery stores and building dinner each night from whatever looked tasty and affordable. Given you can count our French vocabulary on one hand, meals are part of the adventure—but that is truly what we love about travel.
We’re in France two more nights, then off to settle into an apartment in Freiburg, Germany. We are trying to pay attention and have meaningful conversations as we walk this journey—God is definitely continuing to connect the dots. We are grateful for the travel mercies as we begin facing into the heart of the mission. First impressions are indelible, so please pray we can be walking in tune with the Spirit in the upcoming days and introductory meetings!