An Aweful Experience with Air B&B in Dublin, Ireland

After leaving Germany, we flew to Ireland. Unfortunately, we had a frustrating and frightening experience with the Air B & B which we had booked online a few days ago prior to our arrival. We boarded our flight from Berlin and arrived in Dublin around 11:30pm on a Saturday night.

After we landed in Dublin, we took a taxi- K1579, and arrived at the AirB&B place as per the address confirmed by an email sent to us by the company. Standing outside the apartment building, we pressed the button for Apartment 24. After a few rings, someone answered our call. After he heard that we were looking for an Air B&B, he answered abruptly informing us that his apartment was Apartment #24 but it was not an AB&B. We then told him that that was the information we had received showing that Apt. 24 as an ABNB, then he hung up on us. We were confused fearing that this could be a fraud - someone took our AB&B fees but did not provide us with a place to stay. The time was then past midnight. We could not gain access to the inside of the building. Standing outside the apartment without any shelter and shivering in the cold, we were cold, exhausted, anxious and helpless in a foreign country. To add to this stress of having no place to sleep for the night, my husband just lost his cell phone during our travel. I had my cell phone but landing late in the airport, we were unable to purchase a local SIM card . Therefore, we had no data nor could we use my cell phone to call anywhere. It was a frightening experience for us being alone in the middle of the night in a secluded area where no one could hear our cries for help should some nutcase come, rob or attack us.

Without a cell phone, we were unable to call a cab or Uber, we were nervous as we were not sure what to do next without a tool for finding a hotel for the night as it was almost 1 a.m. Fortunately, a lady resident of the apartment building happened to be going into the building and she was kind enough to let us go inside, out of the cold. She even went with us to Apt. 24 and knocked on the door for about 10 minutes. There was no response. No one answered the door bell. We believed that the resident inside must be sick of our attempts to enter his unit. We thought we had been scammed by someone using the AB&B APP. This kind lady took pity on us, an elderly couple from Canada. Using her own cell phone, she made numerous calls trying to find a hotel for us. The hotels were quite full and the only room she could find was the Gibson Hotel which cost 300 Euros (Can.$ 450.00 )that night. We had no choice but accepted it. She also called a cab to take us there. Because of the kindness of a stranger, we didn’t have to spend our first night on the street of Dublin. We were totally exhausted from this ordeal.

The next morning, we did try to message the host from AirB&B's page, but we kept getting an OOPS message. Since our phone was a Canadian phone, we were unable to contact with the host. Finally, We used the local phone from the hotel and made a call to the AirB&B host. It was then we found out that the apartment number should be 6 instead of 24! Finally we knew what the problem was. Had we been unable to connect with the host, we would have called the Dublin police to report this as a fraud case.

Our Germany Mission Trip Came to an End!

We spent our last evening in Berlin at an apprecaition dinner thanking you our host and her family for looking after us and accommating our team in her son's apartment while we were in Berlin. We enjoyed a nice meal at a typical German restaurant and shared a good time together.

Sometimes we would ask ourselves this question - Is it really worth to spend the time and our own money going on mission trips when there seems to be little immediate results from these trips. Looking back, I feel that we often can gain a lot of experience and learn much from these trips. Though I was in Germany before, for our German mission trip this time, there were still many first for me in Germany, namely:

1. Teaming up with Rev. Jonathan, our senior minister from our Toronto church 2. A Mission trip to a European country

3. A Mission trip stay in an Air B&Bs 4. A Mission trip to a Mandarin speaking congregation 5. Flying with Aerlingus

Travelling with a team and sharing living space with four different people required some getting used to and adjustment. We all have our quirky habits but when we shared sleeping quarter with another person for about two weeks, it could put our patience and tolerance to the test.

With God’s grace, we were able to work things out and grow spiritually with our teammates. Meeting new people, sharing genuine fellowship and serving with the local brothers and sisters to spread God’s word were the best part of our German mission trip! I pray and hope that the little bit we did at the church in Berlin and the groups in the other small towns have helped and encouraged our brothers and sisters in their walk in the Lord. I truly thank God for the opportunities to serve Him and His people in Germany! RT, Berlin, Germany 062024

Visiting the Must See Places in Prague in A Day and Half

Since we were in Berlin, it was not difficult at all for us to visit Prague. The distance is about 350 KM from Berlin to Prague, about five hours by train. Since three members of our team never visited Prague, we decided to go there for a couple of days. We were initially upset by the loss of my husband's wallet but we were greatly relieved after making all these phone calls to prevent any frauds or anything being stolen from potentail thieves.

We could still enjoy ourselves in Prague - the capital city of the Czech Republic. Since we only had a day and half in Prague, we acted as tour guides for our friends and made accommodation booking for them as well. We were in Prague for about a week in the summer of 2018 and we had a great time travelling with our son. There were a number of places where we enjoyed visiting. Charles Bridge, the Palace, Prague Castle, the Town Square were a must see for us. Therefore, we took our friends there and they had a blast as this was their first time visiting Prague.

We went to many bridges in different cities, and Charles Bridge was one my favourites. There are many statues mounted on both sides of the bridge. To be exact, there are thirty of them and each one tells a different story of a saint or special person. Besides busy looking at these statues, we were also looking at all the vendors selling arts, hand made jewellery, artwork and enjoying street musicians playing their music on the bridge. It definitely was a lively and vibrant place!

The Town Square is only a short walk away from the Charles Bridge. The last time we were there, we saw many young people sitting in groups on the floor chatting away, discussing arts, politics and other topics. I was captivated by the energy and enthusiam in the square at the time. But this time, we didn't see any of that. It could be we were there at a different time?

From our hotel, it was about a 15 - 20 minute leisure walk to the Prague Castle - the historical seat of the Czech kings, and the current seat of the President of the Czech Republic . It was worth the visit with many interesting and grand buildings to visit.

One of the things we did was climbing to the top of the south tower at the st. Vitus Catedral and catching a bird's eye view of the entire castle complex. Amazing view and an excellent exercise climbing the 287 steps! Love learning about the history and the legends about the Czech Castle! RT, Prague, Czech Republic 062024

What to do After Losing Your Cell Phone While Travelling in a Foreign Country?

We have been travelling in Germany for the past week. We travelled from Berlin to Prague via the fast train. As soon we got off the train and walked into the Prague station, I saw the panic and fear in my husband's eyes as he realized that he lost his cell. He was in a panic mode as he had so much infomration on his phone and we were in a non English speaking country.

The following was what we did and I hope that this will help our readers in the future should he/she lose a cell phone while travelling. 1. Go and report to the Lost and Found office close by - My husband and Ken went to report it to the Prague train station's Lost and Found office. But it was around lunch time, the office was closed. We thought we would go back when it reopened later.

. 2. Find a quiet place to figure out what are the most important calls you will need to make and important things you need to do. Since we were at the Prague station, there were thousands of travellers passing by each day and it was extremely busy and noisy.

We found a quiet spot, calmed ourselves down and figured out we needed to make some important calls to stop potential thieves from stealing money and important data from our cell phone.

3. Call your banking institutions - Roaming is expensive while travelling. Often when we do make calls from overseas on our cells, we will be put on hold for a long time. Therefore you need to figure out which calls are the most important to call first.

The first thing we did was calling our banks in Canada and reporting the loss to them. The bank personnel informed us that they would block the bank app so that no one could access our bank accounts from the app. registered on our cell phone. That was a big relief once when we were sure that no one could access our bank accounts even if they picked up our cell phone.

4. Call your credit card company - Since S. has been using a number of apps connected with payments from his credit card on his phone, the next call was to the credit card company. After calling the credit card company, we were put on hold for a long time. But this call must be done so that whoever picked up our phone could not order anything or make any purchases from our cell phone apps. The Credit Card personnel informed us that they would lock our card number so that it could not be used any further. We didn't want to report the card as stolen as a new card would be sent to us. Since we were travelling and didn't want the new card to arrive at our house in our absence, locking the credit card number was a good option for us.

5. Stop someone from stealing information from your cell phone – My husband uses a few social media apps to communicate with family, friends, relatives . In these exchanges, there might be some important personal info, therefore, we requested that these apps and info be deleted from the lost cell phone. Our service provider assured us that they would lock our phone and prevent anyone accessing any information in it.

After we made these calls, we were relieved knowing that our banking, credit card and personal info would be secured and not to be fallen into the hands of any stranger happened to have found our cell phone.

We were also blessed as we were travelling with our friends and one of whom with a cell phone plan called Roam Like Home. This plan allowed him to call anywhere in the world as if he were calling from home in Canada. We borrowed his phone and were able to make all these calls quickly without costing us an arm and leg paying for roaming charges. Again, we saw God’s grace in an unpleasant situation where He still looked after us. RT Prague, Czech Republic 06062024

Wartburg Castle, Germany - Martin Luther's Hiding Place Where He Translated the Bible

We stayed at an Air B&Bfor two nights. Our team of five took turn turn sharing a devotional passage each morning on this trip. Today was Yans turn to share. After his sharing, we had breakfast at around 830a.m., at another neighbourhiod cafe. On our second day visiting the Erfurt/ Eisenach area, we visited the Wartburg Castle - the second most visited tourist attraction in the state of Thuringia after Weimar. From Eisenach, it didn't take us too long by train and a bus to reach the Wartburg Castle.

Wartburg Castle is situated on a steep hill. After getting off the bus, we needed to climb a few stairs to reach the castle. While the rest of our teammates were able to climb up the stairs without any problem, Ken and I felt the strain half way up and we had to stop and rest in order to catch our breath. If a senior is visiting Wartbury Castle, he/she will need to pace themselves for the stairs here as we found it a bit challenging for us.

The Castle, orginially built in the Middle Ages in the 12th century, is an excellent monument of the feudal period in central Europe. Because of its beautiful medieval architecture, historical and religious significance, the Wartburg Castle was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999.

However, the Castle is known all over the world because of one famous short term resident- Martin Luther who was hiding from religious prosecution and was sheltered by Frederick III of Saxony there from May 1521 to March 1522. It was during this period of exile at the castle where Luther began his German translation of the original Greek New Testament. Hence, the world knows of the Wartburg Castle as the very place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament Bible into German.

Our itinernary was tight and fully packed on this German trip. We wish we had more time at Wartburg Castle allowing us to take the tour inside this famous place. Unfortunately, we only had an hour there. We admired the scenery outside the castle buildings and its surrounding environment imagining what life was like during the 12the century. We were happy that we learned some important church history at Wartburg and visited the place where Martin Luther translated the bible into German! How interesting was that! RT Wartburg Castle, Germany

Meeting University Students at ERFURT, GERMANY

After our visit to the Old Synagoogue in Erfurt, we took the public bus and visited the University of Erfurt. While we were there, we distributed some tracks to help promote the local church. It was a nice sunny day and we sat on one of the benches on campus, took in the sunshine, enjoyed the fine weather and chatted away leisurely.

We were curious to see if there were any Asian students studying there, but we saw very few non- European students coming and going at this campus.

We went for an Italian lunch n enjoyed the beer, Italian food on the patio. Since it was a weekday, I was urprised to see so many people sitting outside enjoying their lunches.

After lunch, we visited the big church n saw the art drawings display inside. Wasn’t sure what the modern drawing were about until Stan read the German explanations on these art pieces. Each piece art work was interpreted in a modern way by the artist about one of the ten commandments, very interesting indeed.

The main reason we were in Erfurt was meeting with the students there. Rev H. arranged a dinner meeting at one of the local churches. We picked up a couple of university students at the train station and went to the church for the small group evening gathering. There was already a gorup of German students preparing for a meeting in the main hall. There was lively music; wonderful aroma of baked good permeated on the main floor of the building and a few young people were busy decorating the place. There was an air of excitment! I was curious and talked to their leader, Teresa, a friendly and warm lady who was in charge and from the organization Students for Christ. I learned that their young people group met every Tuesday to share songs n have refreshments together, followed by sharing of a message and fellowship. It was delightful sharing and exchanging ideas of our respective ministries with the young people.

I did a presentation to Rev H’s group. We had a few technical problems but were able to overcome them. It was a good meeting and sharing with some young people from Erfurt, praise God! RT, Erfurt, Germany 04062024

Saddened to Learn About the Pogrom of Jews in Erfurt at the Old Synagogue Museum - Erfurt, Germany

We made a sidetrip from Berlin and spent our first evening at an AirB&B at Erfurt, Germany. It wasn't easy locating our unit as we had to ask many people for help before locating the apartment we had rented. This was the downside of staying at an AirB&B, not able to check in as easily as with a hotel. By the time we were able to locate the place, we were exhausted and went to bed immediately.

The next day was my turn to share at our morning devotion with the team. I read a passage from Levtitcus regarding the tremendous wisdom in God's commands to the Israelites and had a good discussion. Later, We had breakfast in a neighborhood cafe serving different pastries and desserts. I enjoyed the pastries in Germany and other countries we visited in Europe. I found that the desserts here were tasty but not too sweet, exaclty what I wanted.

After breakfast, we visited a farmers' market close by. I always manage to find something interesting to see at a market. This time we found some cute but sturdy wooden craved benches that were placed in the square for visitors to sit and relax.

Of all the activities we have undertaken on this trip, our visit to the Old Synagogue in Erfurt left an indelible impression on me.The Old Synagogue at Erfurt is a building kind of out of the way in the city. We had to look hard for it. However, this synagogue has not been used for any Jewish religious assemblies since 1349. It was at this Old Synagogue where I read the displayed material and for the very first time, I came across the word Pogrom - a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews.

The Pogrom took place in Erfurt, Germany on 21-22 March 1349. As I asked the museum staff more questions, I learned more about the 1349 Pogrom in Erfurt - During this massacre of the Jewsish residents, many were murdered. It was reported that the number of Jews killed in the massacre could be from 100 and up tp 3000, the suvivors of the Pogrom were either expelled or fled the city. All Jewish properties n business were confiscated. The massacre stopped the Jewish assembly and from then on the synagogue building was turned into other uses. Later on it was bought by a merchant and finally it was turned into a Jewish museum. No pictures were allowed to be taken inside the museum during our visit, therefore I do not have any pictures of the Old Synagogue except for this one which I took after we exited the building.

Having travelled to a fair number of countries in Europe and visited a few synagogues, we came across simliar stories of prosecution of the Jewish people in numerous European cities. I could never understand why there have been so many incidents or pogroms targetting the Jews. It saddened me greatly that the attacks on the Jewish people has occured throughout the ages in Europe and they are still continuing today in various parts of the world. When will there be peace and harmony for us all? RT, The Old Synagogue Erfurt, Germany 04062024