Carlo’s in Europe
This is what the true God, Jehovah says, the Creator of the heaven and the Grand One who stretched them out. The One who spread out the earth and produce, The One who gives breath to the people on it and the spirit to those who walk on it.
Isaiah 42:5
Tuesday July 16
Well as if the day before wasn’t amazing enough, our week continued with an early morning trip to the branch office. Once again we were greeted with cheering, clapping, singing and lots of hugs. The brothers again went all out with displays and activities to help us appreciate all the work done at the branch office. We also were served custom local food.
We used the rest of the day to physically and emotionally recharge!
Part II
Well now that the week and all the fun is over, I can try to begin to explain how amazing and unforgettable everything was.
***PLEASE NOTE: I have no problem if you share the blog with other Witnesses. I just ask that you do not share or copy any pictures of our brothers and sisters on any social media sites. Thank you!
The last post told of our field ministry day with the congregation. Here are some pics:
Evening Gathering
Words can not begin to express the love we were shown on this most special occasion. As the bus arrived we were greeted by thousands of our brothers and sisters. I truly felt unworthy and humbled.
After we made it through the line and dried our eyes from the waterfall of tears, we enjoyed all the festivities the brothers prepared. I would liken this to a music festival with beer and wine, hot dogs, hamburgers and entertainment around every corner. The difference though between Jehovah’s people and the world is that there was no smoking, drunkenness, foul language, aggressive behavior… you get the picture. It was so relaxing and peaceful. Below the auditorium, the brothers set-up different booths with places they were from. There was Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Denmark and other Scandinavian countries.
The show at the evening gathering was a fantastic display of how the truth was brought to Denmark in the late 1800’s all the way up to our day. We have some very talented friends! The evening finished with dessert and coffee and hearts full of gratitude and joy.
Part I
Monday July 15 & Tuesday July 16
Sorry to say not many if any pictures will be posted for the remainder of this week.
Field Service:
The bus set sail to our hosting Field service congregation of Sonderso. Little did we know the day that was in store for us. The bus dropped us off on the street of the Kingdom Hall. I was one of the last ones off and I could hear from a distance singing. Yes, the 80 or so publishers were lined in the parking lot singing “We are Jehovah’s Army” to us. After several minutes and 80 hugs we sat with our group for the service meeting. We had 3 car groups meet in the “district” and my field service partners name was Dennis. We did a few streets and left a few invitations but the real joy came from getting to know each better.
Interesting Fact: As of 2 months ago, the European high courts ordered that for the privacy of people that Jehovah’s Witnesses can not in any way take notes on houses. This would include, not-at-home records or even notes on interest that is found -RV’s. This has proved to be a real challenge for the brothers here, but with Jehovah’s help they will do their best to remember.
At 1130 the entire congregation and the 30 or so of us delegates were taken to a community center where a beautiful feast awaited. The local congregation prepared gift bags for the delegates and played beautiful music as we ate. After 4 hours, lots of tears and even more hugs, the bus took us back to our hotel for a few minutes…
As I reflect on this amazing day with some of our brothers in one congregation of the thousands of congregations worldwide, I can not help to think about how well Jehovah through his son is preparing and unifying his people for what lies ahead. As delegates it is amazing to get to know our brothers from all over the world. But as hosts, our brothers are becoming so unified locally. We have heard many comments from the friends here that they are working with local brothers and sisters that they would never otherwise would have met. What a beautiful father we all have!
Evening Gathering:
The bus came back to pick us up at 5 PM. Sadly that is all I can say at this time… For the benefit of our brothers who have not attended yet I will have to keep this file stored in my mind for another week. What I can say is that this was one of the best evenings of my life!
July 16
Branch visit:
The bus arrived at 830 for the one hour ride to Bethel. Again that’s all we get for now 🙂 I hope I can remember everything 
July 13 – WE HAVE ARRIVED!
From now on the posts will be solely on Denmark. It is with much excitement I begin to write. The remaining blogs will no doubt be full of pictures of our amazing earth wide brotherhood. If this is your first time learning of Jehovah’s Witnesses or have heard about us but not sure what we believe, I urge you to search JW.ORG and learn about our loving God Jehovah. You will learn through the bible that God’s Kingdom will soon bring permanent relief to all of mankind’s problems. The next several blogs will show true love and sacrifice between servants of Jehovah who have never met each other.
Upon arrival to the baggage claim we were greeted by a nice Danish couple, Jimmy and Naydia. We chatted with them for about an hour in anticipation of GG Elaine. Little did we know what was in store after we walk out of the security doors…
From a distance and through all the bustling people of a busy airport we saw about 12 brothers and sisters and young ones, clapping and waving. We were overwhelmed by hugs, kisses and tears. I looked at Chelsea and she was weeping bitterly, which made me start weeping. She looked at me and said, “people love us”. This moment of my life will be one I will never forget.
It didn’t end there.
The brothers helped us to buy train tickets and led us to the train. After about 2 minutes of walking, another 12-15 brothers, sisters and young ones started clapping, cheering and hugging and so on and so on. We were handed off and led to the train where another group met us and then escorted on the train by another couple. They rode the train to where we needed to transfer and handed off to another sister who rode the train another 30 minutes with us to our final stop. Upon arrival two brothers made the 10 minute walk to our hotel. Along the way there was two more groups welcoming us including at our hotel.
We met my mom and aunt at the hotel and shared some big hugs and tears to finally all be together. A day to never forget. If you/I ever for a second feel alone in this world, never forget about the millions of brothers and sisters who all share the same father, Jehovah and love each other with all their hearts. What a fitting convention theme we will carry through the week.
“Love Never Fails”
July 14
We spent the day staying close to the hotel and resting up for the week. Throughout the day we made our rounds meeting and chatting with all the brothers in the hotel, welcoming brothers and sisters waiting at the train and on street corners and soaking up the love of Jehovah.
Tomorrow is a big day. Field service and evening gathering!
July 10
After a 12 hour travel day we arrived hungry and tired to our final destination before our main attraction Copenhagen. We were delayed on the train 2 hours because sadly someone decided to end their life on the tracks. This caused us to miss connections, so on and so forth.
But we’re here and we set out for some legit Czech food. Which we found of course. I ordered the pork shoulder and this is what I got
Needless to say it was delicious!
July 11
We set off early today in search of all the tourist destinations. I think we found them. This is a very beautiful city. Beautiful architecture, bridges, roads and unique foods. Of course the main sites are littered with Christendom. But I guess that goes with the territory.
This is the Prague Astronomical clock. It was installed in 1410 and is the 3rd oldest astronomical clock in the world and is still operating.
The other main tourist attraction is the Charles Bridge. The construction started in 1357 and finished around the beginning of the 15th century. It is a cool old bridge, but we didn’t want to take too many pics because of all the nasty statues all over it.
The day ended with a trip to the opera.
July 12
We took it pretty easy today. Found a movie theater and saw the movie Yesterday. After the movie we walked up to the Prague Castle where there was an amazing view of the city. Made our way back to our place and found some amazing ice cream on the way back. It was like a doughnut filled with ice cream. I could eat that all the time! 🙂 Had dinner at another Czech restaurant and went to bed for our early flight to Copenhagen! See you there…
July 6
Today we thought we take a stroll down into Italy. Why? Because we can 😉 What a beautiful drive along a nice river through small towns as we headed downhill for about 75 miles. Along the way we saw some very old castles and enjoyed seeing the vast number of vineyards. We drove up a very steep driveway and found a small family run winery. The owner did not know any English so a kind family translated for us.
We took a short stop in a beautiful old town before cruising back home on the Autobahn. This highway is basically a bridge for miles. Amazing! Little pricey though, 9,5+ euro toll to drive on it.
July 7
Woke up early today and headed to Salzburg, Austria. In hopes of checking out Sound of Music and Mozart stuff, we found ourselves in a torrential downpour all the way there and while we were there. After a trip to the police station and law-breaking (Elizabeth) 🙂 we found a place to park and started our touring. Because of the weather we were not able to see to much. We did see a cool free-style biking competition, ate some great street food, saw Mozart’s birthplace and walked around Mirabell Gardens from the Sound of Music.
The highlight of the day was finding a beer place in Germany on the way home and running into some witnesses who had just come from their convention in Salzburg. We translated through google, hugged and told them we’ll see them in paradise.
July 8
Into Germany today in quest for Neuschwanstein Castle (Disney’s castle) Again the weather was poor at best, so it made the view of the castle not so great. We made the best out of it though. We were able to walk through parts of the gigantic place. No pictures were allowed so we will have to dig into the memory banks for this one. Compared to most castles out here, this one is very new. Built in the mid- 1800’s by Ludwig and Ludwig the II. State of the art technology for their day was used.
The way home found us a sweet Alpine coaster in the ski resort town of Imst. Grabbed a beer and some food before heading back to Innsbruck.
July 9 – Today is going to be a rest day, which shall include one more run through Old town Innsbruck, Schnitzel and beer. I have learned that in most places here they carry 4 options: Bier, Radler, Dunkel and Wiezen.
Bier- Typically draft beer much like Coors or Bud.
Radler – Very sweet like mikes hard lemonade mixed with Corona
Dunkel- Dark Beer but not strong
Weizen – Wheat beer
Off to Prague tomorrow…
July 5
What happened to July 4 you ask? Long travel day We arrived to a perfect little condo about 10 minutes out of Innsbruck and had an excellent night sleep. That’s about all for July 4.
July 5 – Was an awesome day! We are in the heart of the mountains and we enjoyed them inside and out today.
The day began with a home made breakfast followed be sweet mine tour. 30 Minutes from Innsbruck is a mining town called Schwaz. Here they mined 85% of the worlds silver back in 15th-18th centuries. The tour takes you by a single track train cart deep into the mountain. I’m not sure how far, I’m sure they said it but I don’t speak German very well, actually at all. It was 7 minutes going probably 10 MPH. You can do the math. We learned a lot about the miners back then and the creativity in mining way back then. All these men/ boys did from the time they 5 years old until they died around 35 years old was mine. The cold, dark caves, not to mention the difficult work, only allowed a short life-span. In one part of the mine was a giant water wheel that they invented to haul water out of the mine. They diverted the water over the mountain and into the cave to pull water out. Not many pics of this adventure because it was very dark.
The next part of the day took us to the very top of Innsbruck. From the city center a Funicular took us to a cable car to the very top of the Mountains. I do believe the elevation was around 10,500′. What amazing views from up here!
The night ended with some amazing authentic Austrian food and beer. 🙂
July 3
Today we took a panoramic train ride from the city of Montreaux to Luzern. Along the way we saw lush green fields and mountains, small little towns and yes, more lakes. We had about 2 hours to tour the beautiful town of Luzern. It is famous for its gorgeous lake and wooden bride. Chelsea and I had the kids paddle us around the lake on a paddle boat while we soaked up the sun for 30 minutes. After getting another flower ice cream and some authentic chocolate, we boarded the 3hr train ride back to Montreaux and 1hr car ride back towards Geneva.
July 2
What in the world did we see today? Words can not describe how amazing our creator is! We drove 3 hours to Grimselwelt . Along the way we saw beautiful mountains and greenish blue lakes. As you will see in the pictures, we took a Funicula to the top of the Mountain to a beautiful lake and damn. They used this “cart” to haul materials to the top of the mountain years ago. The funicular at one point is at a 106 degree angle. While waited to go to the top we crossed a suspension bridge.
On the way back to our place we stopped at the beautiful town of Bern. The river looked amazing! People were floating down the fast paced river with no life jacket, tube or anything. All we could do is put our little feet in.
What an amazing day! Looking forward to tomorrow’s 5 hour scenic train ride through the Swiss Alps!
June 29 & 30
Well back to a big city 😦 When your this close to Paris you must go though. We arrived to the greeting of trillions of people, 95 degrees and the Eiffel Tower.
I think we saw just about every tourist spot. We walked a lot and we scooted a lot. It was a whirlwind 48 hours but very much worth it. Off to Switzerland…
Carlo's in Europe