So our adventure is over. @ Mon 20 July

We thought we would write a few words about how the trip has changed us.

For one, hitch hiking is a beautiful thing, we live in a world that people are quick to label as 'messed up, evil... etc'. Yet we have managed to cross a vast continent; both rich and poor areas, relying totally on human kindness.

It turn's out everyone has the ability to do good, they just need the opportunity. So often we let fear and paranoia stop us from stepping out and doing a good thing. Some of the people who gave us lifts had never picked up a hitchhiker before, and said they were worried about what might happen; meanwhile our families and friends were worried about what might happen to us. It turns out the answer to both questions is great fun and good ol' human interaction.

Other people who helped us did so because they hitchhiked in their youth and wanted to 'pay it forward'. I remember we were in a random hostel in Germany one night that didn't accept card and we only had 20 euros between us , the cost was double that. We decided we would have to risk the rain and hammock outside when a guy, having a beer at reception, slid 20 euros across the desk and said it was for us. It turns out he had travelled through Europe when he was younger and had been well looked after, he felt a burden to do the same for us.

It's amazing. It's powerful. It changes you.

So often we hear of people who have travelled through Africa and spent weeks with the poor and they say how much it has changed them. We have found that equally we have been changed by the kindness and love of others, by total reliance and vulnerability at the whim of 'dangerous' strangers.

We have been given places to stay, taken back to beautiful flats , given cooked breakfast, looked after by people with much less than ourselves. All we had to do is trust, trust that actually people can and will be good, step out of our cultural bubble and admit our dependency on the people around us. We didn't have much to give but we received lots.

We have seen so much we will never forget, been trapped in lorry cabins with chain smoking truck drivers, tasted a mc flurry in every country, seen hope in peoples eyes when they hear that Jesus is alive and does love them, seen miracles, slept in parks, woods, benches, pine houses, flats, hostels and a monastery.

So thank you to all the people that have been part of this adventure, whether by sponsoring us, a seemingly insignificant act of kindness, a ride in your car, a bit of food, some money, a smile etc. You have changed us.


ben and Chris x

Calais: not beautiful, but necessary. @ 1am

Ok, so we left Amsterdam this morning after breakfast and a chat with Jan, the hostel manager.

After making brilliant progress, we arrived in the post in Calais. We managed to walk right past the ticket office without being stopped, even though it was cars only. We went to the front of the queue of cars, and we're now sat with a bunch of romanian guys going over to dover. It's complicated, but it's awesome!

Red light district + Jesus = Joy @ 17 July

The Christian hostel we are staying at is awesome, the people here are amazing- from all over the world. We've been out on the streets praying for people for 3 nights, which has been nothing short of phenomenal. Here are a few stories:

We prayed for a cool norwegen couple , just asking jesus to bless their relationship. We told them about the previous healing and the guy asked us to pray for his back, we prayed for him and asked him to test it. He kept trying to make it hurt and couldnt, 'just give me one minute'. 5 mins later he had to admit Jesus had healed him and walked away with a huge smile on his face! A german cyclist had his knee healed too. Other people really enjoyed being prayed for and experiencing the presence of God and talking about this awesome jesus guy.

We also got to pray with a guy who tried to sell us cocaine- we declined his offer and offered him something better. After praying he said 'thats better than the stuff iv got, if you carry on blessing people like that you are going to bless the whole f-ing city'.

We also had loads of fun in the city and went boating down the canals of beautiful amsterdam, and enjoyed the company of the brilliant people at the hostel.

Healings, intercession please? @ Thu 16th July

Yesterday we did free buzz in Amsterdam, and Ben called over a Spanish guy on crutches. We laid hands and when asked to test it, said (with some surprise) that it was healed, to his friends. This was confirmed when we bumped into him 15 minutes later and asked him again. We've given him the website address- so Roberto, if you're reading this, drop us a line!

Please intercede for more cool stuff tonight, and thanks for all the recent donations too! People at the hostel are really open and there are also some awesome brothers & sisters here. Pray they get a liberal filling of Jesus.

Love,
Chris & Ben

We're getting so high on amazing grace...

.

Amsterdam!! @ Wed 15th July

We are now in a Christian hostel in Amsterdam, the final non-UK city of our trip. We've hooked up with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) here, and just enjoyed some prayer time with them. Tomorrow we hit the city...

Field Update X: Autobarmy@ Tue 14th July

Just travelled at 230km per hour in a 5 series bmw, thanks to a friendly macdonalds manager who ordered an employee to take us to a better place to hitch from.

We spent a brilliant night in Koln (Cologne?) with Ben's friend Ester, and her wonderful housemates. The cathedral is overrated.

Will update you later,
The Boys.

Field Update IX: Post Lorber Hostel.. @ i'm not sure when

Ok, so just a quick one, but we've now left Julia's house where we stayed for two days. We had an amazing time there in every way- we were very well recieved and looked after!

Today we were dropped off at the most perfect petrol station to hitch from, thanks to Julia's dad. We are now in a hostel having had a meal paid for and our hostel half paid for by a friendly german piano tuner! We have made good progress and are a little north of Frankfurt.

Love,
chris

Field update VIII @ Wed 8th July

We have busted out of the monestry after 4 nights with an en suite room for free, hanging out with the monks was awesome, as was swimming in their private pool - they didnt exactly lead the life of poverty we expected but threw ourselves into roman catholic mass in latin and german everyday at 6 am anyway.

A train, a car, a van and another train later we are in munich, staying with the brother of a guy we met on the way here! Also it turns out that agape is the name of a big active german church, so the train conductor took one look at our shirts and said 'I know this church' and we were given the 50 euro train ride for free :). Jesus has fully got us, I love it.

Ben

Field Update VII: Mr Monastic @ Sat 4 July

We caught a 6am train after a brief sleep at the station and headed off, the conductor loved the whole charity hitch hike vibe and let us stay on. We found the most amazing flat oak benches and had a great sleep, woken up by a blazing sun and curious locals at 11. We commenced our hike towards lilienfeld in high spirits, but blisters and broken shoes caused us to catch a sneaky hitchike for the remaining 25km.. A slick young Austrian postman dropped us off at the door of the monastery before he went to his brothers wedding. Before we knew it, we had an en-suite room and a key to the whole monastery. We definately felt God's favour on us.

This will be our last update for a week whilst we experience true monastic life- no electronics!

Peace out, Ben x

Field update VI: It's all good@ 4am...

We were taken out by some random austrians to a bar till about 4am. Now at another train station- getting ready for a 30km hike to a monastery!

Field update V: Oh Dear. @ who knows

Just got thrown off train, no idea where we are- some random Austrian village. Ben's left shoe is broken and we have a long way to walk. Does life get any better? :-)

Field update IV: Viennese Chinese @ Fri 3 July

Having just met a 70 year old Polish man who does 125 press ups a day. We are now sat eating chinese food (Ben's request) which we blagged for half price in the center of vienna . Not sure where we are going to sleep but im confident it will be lovely.

We are in bratislava! @ Thu 2 July

Just stealing some free internet in a hostel that we are not staying at in Bratislava. Brilliant truck ride- more to follow + photos/videos...

Field update III: Singing in the rain @ Wed 1 July

We just hitched to the edge of Maribor and are stood sheltering from a hugeee thunderstorm! Picturesque!

In other news, water hand out was delicious and a couple of Slovenians experienced Jesus when we prayed for them.

p.s. field updates are ones sent directly from Chris's phone :-)

Field update II @ Tue 30 June

This is our second day in Slovenia- in a town called Maribor. A truck driver called marco dropped us off here.

Yesterday we visited Ljubliana with a lovely girl called Spela- her plus a friend picked us up at the local golden arches. We have just spent the morning with a lutheran (female) priests husband- he showed us the church and the church hall- which was a wine cellar with a bar! There is also a crazy music festival here- for those in the know, we are just about to hand out water, Agape style!

We have now slept in hammocks three nights in a row, but do not smell as, much to the surprise of the locals, we showered in their beautiful park water feature.

Love, Chris & Ben x

field update 1 @ Mon 29 Jun

We're just sending a little update from the field to let you know we are still alive and have just entered Slovenia! We we're sequestered by a lovely hungarian family and taken to their vineyard where Josef poured us glasses of 'Pálinka' leaving us rather unstable! We left having been fed and watered, with a bottle of wine and, of course, Palinka.

In other news, ben is still recovering from having his face licked by an over zealous teen in a cheap lake-side resort. Details to follow,
Ciao,
Chris x

The Adventure Begins...@ Sun 28 Jun

Setting waiting for Chris to arrive I got talking to an engineer whose job is to destroy old soviet weaponry; apparently the Cold War was pointless because all the soviet weapons 'were sh*t' - news I'm sure would have been useful a few decades ago. He also showed me a good route we could take through Europe.

Chris arrived and after a brief chat and sporting our red hoodies we got straight to it- asking randomers for a lift to Budapest. The response was initially confusion followed by people telling us they didn't want to give us money.

After 45 minutes and being given one travel card we asked a Hungarian guy called Sebastian who told us to follow him. He typed out hostel into his GPS and off we went. After discovering that the police "are ok" and that both political parties were 'rubbish', we arrived at a huge unmarked door with the number 5 above it. Sebastian waited with us and let us use his phone to call the hostel - which was full. However, as with anything in life, it's often about who you know - and I had just spent the last week with a friend of the owner in Romania. We were welcomed in by Suzie with a smile and 2 cups of tea and promptly given a mattress in the staff room. Suzie is an awesome what-you-see-is-what-you-get owner who has created a hostel with a very close family feel called Carpe Noctum. Their 'house bitch', Ed, was a nice guy who took us to get some Hungarian kebab.

Chris and I went for a walk to catch up and ended up at a large monument without obvious meaning - being lit from above by a huge light. After gormlessly standing at it, a blue eyed Hungarian guy appeared next to it posing the question 'Who dares to piss here??' We got talking to our intelligent drunk (and far right) friend, who invited us to a place where 'girls dance' (a club), to which we replied 'how can we dance when the king of dance (MJ) is dead??' A moment of silence followed with our heads bowed - bizarre yet beautiful.

We have the feeling that God's plan for us this trip is far more centered around anti-traffiking than we originally thought. We are waiting for direction - a whole morning in a huge outdoor thermal spa helped to that end.

That's all for now,
Ben

I'm preparing! @ Fri 26 Jun

Just a note to say i'm about to leave- exciting! Got the hoodies and t-shirts this morning!