Wassenaar

First things first--I've added pictures to the last three posts, so scroll down and check them out. There are a bunch so it might seem extra long, but you at least don't have to reread the words.

God really intended for Barrett Jones to have some friends while he was in Munich. We all went to the train station to catch our night trains, which were leaving around the same time. Upon arriving, Adam realized we had incorrectly remembered our departure time, and we were actually on the same train as Barrett. He would get off somewhere in Germany, and we'd ride all the way to Amsterdam. We were an hour early, so we broke out the Yahtzee. We continued it on the train, and I had my best game ever. I rolled three Yahtzees. I'm sure you're cheering.

Only in Europe would they have a whole car for bicycles, the perfect place for Yahtzee

We all went to sleep in the couchette a little after midnight. For once there were no snorers. Barrett had to get up just after 3 a.m. to make his connection to the airport. I vaguely remember him waking me up so that I could relock the door to our couchette.

We found out later in the morning that we sat at that station for 140 minutes. We'd heard the night before that we'd narrowly missed a German train strike. Not so narrowly, as it turned out--we arrived in Amsterdam four hours late. At that point, we abandoned our plans of going to Brussels and opted instead to hang out at Mark's dad's house just outside the Hague in Wassenaar (where we are staying).

Bus face

We ate lunch at this awesome place in town. We were so hungry. We'd made a pauper's breakfast out of our old groceries on the train while once again sitting at a station forever, but that was about 7 hours earlier. We found a place that served lunch till 4 p.m. We'd made it with 10 minutes to spare. We all ordered sandwiches: Adam, the house specialty; Casey, salmon; me, chicken. Mine was the only one with cooked meat, which was a bit of a shocker to the Hammonds. Casey likes sushi, but this was a huge piece of fish. I'm not huge on sushi, so when I tried hers I almost threw it up. Mine was stinking awesome. I think I could eat it almost every day if it didn't give me terrible onion breath.

Picking up breakfast foods at the store

Ah, Holland

Back at the house, the goal was to get clean. Casey had been wearing the same clothes for four days, ever since she bought the new shirt in Interlaken. We took turns showering and doing laundry, and it felt great. After paying so much for things here in Europe, it's kind of amazing to receive the hospitality of Mark's family. Suddenly we have a place to sleep and eat, do laundry, and use the internet all for free. Free, fast internet is the reason I've posted so many pictures. I'm really thankful.

I'm also thankful for the fellowship I've gotten to have with the Hammonds over here. It's been awesome to sit, journal, read my Bible, and then just talk about whatever we're thinking. We've gotten to discuss Scripture, pray together, and share struggles. Community in the family of God is a necessary blessing, I believe. God has provided in neat ways.

We're going to Amsterdam tomorrow. The Hammonds leave the day after. At this point, I am still going to London. Nick Vu is there now, and I'll hang out with him my first night before he flies home. I've prayed about it and don't feel directed not to go, so I'll take the Eurostar through the chunnel on the 5th.