I am alive

I just don't have much to say. :)

But a thank you.

And a hello!

And a how are you?

Wednesday July 1

We'd spent the day playing on street corners in Pilivorosvar. Call it self-marketing. The point was to advertise for the concert that night. After lunch we made our way over to the venue...a concrete basketball court outside the local school. A stage awaited us in the hot sun. I was thankful to avoid the heat by making set lists for the concert and watching the dancers rehearse for the evening.

Eva came and sat with us. I'd met her earlier that day during our 'marketing.' She and I had discussed spiritual things. She was pretty depressed...had a pretty horrible life. When a translator finally arrived, she and I talked more.

Later in the afternoon, after things were almost completely set up, the sky began to rumble. At other gigs, we'd dealt with rain...and almost felt threatened by it. This time felt different...not like the rain was an 'attack' but maybe a 'now what?' The rain plummeted from the sky...and we raced to make sure instruments were covered or put away. Bags & food were moved inside, people raced for cover. After 15 minutes of downpour, it was gone...but left it's wake was lots of rain-soaked equipment. Equipment that if it was plugged in, would cause major electric shock therapy!

Discussions began over where the concert could happen. The decison was made to have it on the steps of the school. Fortuitously, the church we were working with had two speakers. We had an unused, dry electric guitar amp and a small cube of a sound system. With the combination of these items we had enough for two microphones, two guitars and a keyboard. Hurray for the loudness of djembes. :)

I stepped on stage that night and immediately felt deep peace. In the distance I could see mountains. It reminded me of singing in Azerbaijan. The sky had cleared by that time and the rain had brought cooler temperatures. We proceeded with our 'acoustic' rendition of the concert. It might have been the best one of the trip.

Tatabanya

Wow...

When I heard we were going to a skate park I thought for sure that was crazy. What did we have to offer kids at a skate park? We have dance...some hip-hop... but more modern ballet-esque stuff. All I play is hymns and other random 'not cool' songs (or so I thought) and well...there's only one musician who could actually be cool enough.

Dang, I need to quit listening to those kinds of thoughts.

Anyhow - the plan was to go, play a bit in the park and then do a 'program-esque' thing for the kids.

I wish I could capture the beauty of what took place. A lot of the kids in this skate park are really broken. They come from broken homes; they're into all sorts of stuff...drugs, alcohol, etc...but they were beautiful and so much fun. There's a guy, Matt, that goes to the park every week to hang out and love on these kids and tell them about Jesus. He's been going for a couple of years now and has gained a ton of respect. One guy I talked to called him a 'good man'. It was amazing to watch him play guitar for them, talk with them, give them a hard time, call them out when they were out of line.

We started our program and I remember seeing this one guy listen to the music. He'd been wandering around with a beer bottle. But as he listened to the music and then to Bill Drake share his story, he looked as if he'd been punched in the gut. It was obvious that what he heard touched him deeply. It seemed to me the Holy Spirit was working on his heart and the kid was becoming more aware of his need for Christ. Afterward I saw him talking with Matt and Bill. And when we left, found out that he'd met Jesus...it was amazing. Amazing.

yes, i know

I was hoping to blog everyday for this trip. Unfortunately, we've been crazy busy. And I've had a big project to work on...getting the translation of the lyrics of the songs into powerpoint. A long project...made even longer by the fact that the Hungarian letters didn't copy and paste into powerpoint. Yes, I know, I could have used a different font...too late now though.

Instead of trying to say everything in one blog, I thought I'd tell a story.

In the last blog I mentioned a singing/dancing cathedral story. I've been to so many cathedrals. Especially last April in Germany/Italy/Finland. One thing I've noticed is the lack of 'life' in them. The other thing I notice is the acoustics...buildings made to carry sound without electronic amplification. I think if I could sing in those buildings all the time and not disturb anyone, I would. Usually I walk in and just hum a few notes just to hear them echo.

Anyhow - so those thoughts were in my head. I'd even hummed a little bit...but then Bill makes mention that I should sing "Amazing Grace." After some persuading and the suggestion to Linda that she dance at the same time...I started singing...nervous...but amazing...and at the end I opened my eyes to see Linda with her arms stretched out....kneeling at the altar...

The atmosphere and reverence we felt...beautiful. And the building felt so free....so different than when we'd walked in.

We are having such a good time...really good. And we're seeing God move. It's good.

Sending love from Turkey...

day 4

Hmmm...it's REALLY late. And everyone else is in bed. And I need to go there too. Hmm...what to write to sum up this day?

Ah...I guess I'll go with highlights:

1. Visiting a cathedral. Singing. Dancing. Story to come.

2. Slovakia - playing the street with not-so-great sound system, drum solo, dancing galore

3. Losing photos on my memory card AGAIN! Not sure what's up with that. Happened in Germany too. But thankfully know how to get most of them back.

4. Gelato - but not Italian... :(

Tomorrow we're going back to Budapest in the afternoon to play at a metro station. We'll see what kind of conversations we'll have!

day 3

Lots o' orientation & rehearsal.

Long time of worship and prayer.

Great food.

More skipping rocks.

Magnums...the best ice cream bar in the whole world.

Watched people eat said Magnums...and discover that their lives will never be the same.

Shared with German group staying in same retreat house.

Learned the Hannah Montana Hoedown Throw-down - no kidding.

Saw God move.

Still thankful to be here.

Tomorrow we might go to Slovakia. Yeah, that's what I said - Slovakia.

Missing you all.

day 2

Today I woke to the sound of Linda's alarm clock. It invaded my sleep with a vengeance. I immediately rolled over and went back to sleep for 15 minutes, not willing to fight my body clock. (1:45am Atlanta time, 7:45am Hungary time) Finally, at 8am, Linda woke me and I rolled out of bed. Thankfully, I'd showered the night before, so my getting ready time was shortened significantly.

Currently, I'm listening to a group of new and old friends play Rummikub. Things are heating up and some just shouted, "Kim, what the heck?" She might have won. She's pretty competitive.

Kim is just one of many new friends I've made in the last 24 hours. She's a mom from California. She has one teenager and one middle-schooler. She's so much fun.

How is she with us? Well, this trip is made up of more than just the Bill Drake Band. We have a team of dancers with us from all over the US and Finland and we have a team of people from a church in California. The latter team has been here before, and their leader was the one helping to organize the logistics for this trip.

Back to today, though...it was pretty intense. After breakfast, we met as a big group - 25 of us - and sang a bit and listened to a devotion and then introduced ourselves. It was fun to listen to everybody share their name, where they were from and then one thing they love and one thing they hate.

Down time came until lunch and then it was off to Budapest for a street outreach with YWAM. This was pretty funny for us, because it was the first thing we'd done as a team without much time to prepare at all. We got there and found out we needed to put together a program. For me, that meant picking songs to sing/lead. Yeah, I wasn't prepared for that. I hadn't even mulled it over in my brain.

It took me through the first part of the program to even begin to think I could get involved. I think I just wasn't ready - and was feeling sorry for myself for not being ready. The rest of the team was doing great - getting involved, talking to people. And I eventually got out of the funk and jumped in and sang.

It was interesting to learn that maybe I'm not as flexible as I'd like to think I am.

On the way home, I learned some Hungarian phrases. Important things like "Excuse me" and "Thank you" and "You're welcome" and the numbers 1-10.

Tomorrow is supposed to be more of a down/orientation day. I think we as a band will do a little rehearsal.

I really love the people here. I think it's going to be really good.

For those who pray:

1. Flexibility - personally and for the team
2. Continued unity and joy
3. Safety - we're traveling alot
4. Equipment logistics - don't know much, but know it needs some help!

Thanks.

travel

I am exhausted. Since yesterday I've been on two planes, in one van, watched two movies, skipped rocks on the Danube, waited in three airports for a long time, met a ton of new people, and am now writing this blog. Dang...no wonder I'm so tired. I should mention that I only got like 4 hours of sleep on the plane...and definitely not good sleep.

And yes, I'm in Hungary. In a town called Dömös. It's in the north near the Slovakian border.

I did the math and this makes the 38th country for me.

I've been looking at this trip, and I've gone through various stages of excitement for it. Some days I've had a great attitude - anticipating all the cool things that are going to happen. Some days I've dreaded it - fearing the unknown. The latter emotion has been in my heart today. There are so many factors on this trip that are unknown. New things and new people that can make life interesting. The ministry we'll be doing...that's the hard part. It varies and right now I don't feel I'm in the mindset to process the fact that things might be pretty hard.

But in truth - through the entire process - I've KNOWN that it really is going to be awesome. And I KNOW God is going to do awesome things.

So tonight I'll deal with the fact that I don't feel it. I'll also acknowledge the fact that I'm tired, and I don't process well when I'm tired. And I'll go to bed soon knowing that I'll feel better tomorrow.

Hungary

Yeah, I'm gonna be there June 20 - July 3. Crazy. Should be fun, though!

Another trip with the band. But different than a normal tour. More outreach stuff. More playing in the street and talking to people stuff.

Apparently we're staying right next to the Danube.

I'm hoping for some good personal reflection time too...not sure if it'll happen...but am in need of some.

Would appreciate thoughts and prayers while we're gone.

Perspective

Perspective.

Yeah, it's a good thing to have.

I lose it frequently.

I lost it this week.

Then I played ultimate frisbee last night.

And had a good conversation with a friend.

And then today I had another good conversation with a friend.

The first thing freed me up to gain perspective. I had a great time playing ultimate.

The second - my friend - spoke Truth into my life...and did it by letting me talk out my thoughts instead of 'fixing' everything for me.

The third - the other friend - reminded me of Truth over lunch and coffee and spoke Life into me.

I have a good Love and a good Father.