Today, Friday, is Debbie and my 28th wedding anniversary.  I am really looking forward to getting home to see her.  I will be home in time for our anniversary but only by a few minutes.  This is the first time in 28 years that we have not spent the day together.  She has been an incredible support and blessing over the years in the ministry.  She often gives our time together for the needs and requirements of the ministry.  I am a blessed man.  It is just one of many ways I know she is my soul mate.

There were several of us sitting around the lobby of the hotel hanging out waiting on Dan the helper to pick us up for the trip to the airport.  He and Lori, his wife, went home about midnight for a nap.  They were a little later than expected and I got a little nervous.  I DID NOT want to miss our flight or be late enough that it would delay our processing out of the country.  Just as we were making cell calls to make sure they were not asleep at home they drove up.  We loaded up and were off to the airport in Minsk.

It had just gotten dark between 11:00 and midnight.  Now it is a little after 3:00 AM and as we were driving out of the city the sun was coming up.  During the summer they only have about 4 hours of darkness.  They enjoy it because during other times of the year they have only a few hours of daylight and more darkness.

We arrived at the airport, grabbed our bags, said our final goodbyes to Dan and Lori and began the process to leave the country.  We had an easy time checking the bags through customs and there were no problems going through passport control.  We found ourselves at the gate waiting on the 5:30 flight.

The trip home was long and grueling especially since we had not been to bed.  We did sleep on the place some but it was difficult to get comfortable enough to sack out.  I napped in and out.  It was good to be on the way home.  I had missed Debbie terribly and I couldn’t get home fast enough.  

Once we got back to Chicago we learned that bad weather had delayed several flights.  The delay had held up an early flight to XNA.  There were several available seats on that flight so we ran through the airport to get to the gate before it left.  We checked in at the gate to fly standby on this flight so we could get home early.  Yeah!!!  The only hitch in the plan was our luggage.  Our luggage had already been checked through on our original flight, which would not get to XNA until a couple of hours after we would.

We came up with a plan to get our luggage on Saturday and we were on our way home, early.  We arrived at XNA and while we waited to talk to a United airline rep. about our luggage our luggage showed up going round and round at the baggage claim.  We are not sure how that happened but we believed God had smiled on us making that happen.  It was all there except 1 of Stuart and Sarah’s.  

So, with that, we loaded up and headed down the “hill” on the way to Lavaca.  Yes, we were exhausted.  It had now been almost 48 hours since we got up Thursday morning and about 26 hours since we left Minsk.  But that was all ok as we were almost home.
Thinking back over the week I am sure I was blessed more than I was a blessing and I definitely learned more than I taught.  That is the way it usually works for me.  It is really funny how we prepared to be used and we prayed and hoped that we would be able to teach the Belarusian people some things about ministry and the things of God.  You know, we are form America, the blessed land with the favor and hand of God upon her.  I was reminded we are fat with excess and in need of nothing.  I am afraid sometimes to the point of hindering our dependence on God.  Are we wrong for having plenty…absolutely not, God has truly blessed our country and us.  I am very grateful for that!  But we must be careful to not let it get in the way of our relationship and walk with God.  The Belarusian believers are amazingly committed and dedicated people.  They live and serve under incredible personal difficulties but yet have such joy.  They have one focus and major priority and that is serving God.
I want to also take a moment to thank everyone who prayed for us each day while we were gone.  

Following breakfast we finished packing and then we all gathered in the living room to exchange gifts, hugs and take some pictures.  It was hard to say goodbye to this awesome family.  We have so enjoyed our time with them and the people of the church.  None the less it was time to head home so we gathered outside by the van for one more picture, one more round of hugs and we were on our way to the Planeta hotel in Minsk.  

We arrived at the hotel about 3 hours later.  We unloaded, checked into the hotel and waited for dinner.  We had a nice meal together with all 3 teams from both churches.  Olya and Masha stayed around to eat dinner with us.  Following dinner we were asked to share some highlights of the week.  Bro. Danny was our team’s spokesperson.  We were then asked to share a couple of funny things that happened during the week.  The final question was for everyone.  Every person was asked to answer the question, “I am glad I came to Belarus because…  It was an emotional time as each person shared about what God had done in their lives during the week.

I was glad for 3 reasons.  1) I enjoyed preparing, traveling and doing the work with this incredible team God had put together from our church.  2) I needed to be reminded of the world view of God.  Working inside the local church, it is easy to get tunnel vision.  3) I was blessed to have worked with Katie and Emily.  It was a huge joy to watch God use them during the week.  

Following dinner we walked to a local grocery store for an ice cream bar.  I don’t know what the wrapper said or who made it but it was good.  We walked down the road to another WWII memorial.  As I said before, the memorials are everywhere.  It was getting dark when we got there so pictured didn’t turn out that well.  But it was a fairly large round hole or deep impression in the ground where the Nazi’s took several thousand Belarusians, men, women and children, and marched them down in this pit.  The soldiers stood up on the rim of the pit and opened fire, shooting into the hemmed up crowd until they were all dead.  The sculpture shows scared, naked people huddled together as they descended to their death.  

We walked around the area for a while doing some sight seeing.  I have decided to not go to bed tonight because our plans are to leave the hotel at 3:00 AM on Friday to catch our 5:30 flight.  I figure I have a better chance of sleeping on the plane if I don’t sleep now.  

It was almost midnight as we made a large loop around the area on our way back to the hotel.  There were people; young people, everywhere and they were all standing around in small groups hanging out together…drinking.  Alcohol is a huge problem in young adults in Belarus.

It is late or early depending on how you look at it.  I am going to go take a shower.

Today was much like the other days.  We slept in a bit, got up, had our quiet times, ate breakfast and showered.  It was a quiet morning as we waited for time to go to Baran.  There is a new church building in progress and we went over to see it and pray over it.  We met the 2 brothers who have been building this facility.  They have been working on it for over a year, all by hand and mostly with their own money.

We went inside to look around and then gathered in what will be the worship room.  We formed a circle for a time of prayer and then sand a hymn together.  It was cool to have had the first worship time in the building even though it was still block and mortar.  We then broke up and did a prayer walk.  We prayed in each room and around the building.  

The church is set in a beautiful location on top of a hill that overlooks the city of Baran.  We each took a time facing the city, praying for the salvation of Baran.  It was a very moving and special time.  After some conversation about the other church start ideas we said goodbye and headed back to Orsha.

The plans for the evening were 2 fold.  
1) Go hang out with the youth group again for more games and singing
2) Banya (not sure about spelling)

Hanging out with the kids is self-explanatory and I had no problems with that.  But I had dreaded Banya all week because I didn’t really know what it was all about.  All I knew was it is like going to the sauna.  The fact that we were told we could wear swimsuits “if we wanted to” was enough to make me really nervous.  I think the European tradition involves a different outfit...or the lack thereof.  :-) 

It was the coolest experience ever!  I loved it and can’t wait until the next opportunity to go do Banya.  It involved cold showers, a cool water swimming pool and a very hot steam room.  You simply alternate going from one to the other.  We took a break after the first hour to drink tea and eat fresh fruit and of course, cookies.  

Sergei gave Mark, Bro. Danny and me the full treatment before our 2 hours were up.  The tradition is to take branches with leaves (kind of like our oak leaf branches), soak them in water in the steam room and then whip and beat each other with them.  That sounds really comical but that is what they do.  Sometimes they would take them and hit their own legs ad chest as they sat in the steam room.

Sergei had as lay on our stomachs on the upper level of the steam room, which was the hottest spot, and he then did his magic.  By the time we were through we needed someone to come get us because we were so relaxed.  It was amazing.  We began our walk back home and it was almost 10:00.  The sun was still up and it looked to be late afternoon rather than late in the evening.

When we got back home we found Natasha preparing more food.  Tonight we had Belarusian pizza and it was awesome.  Late night food and late night conversation.  Good times.

Today our group had to go to an official office to register our stay in Orsha. It is kind of like registering at a hotel.  In fact, if we had stayed and registered at a hotel we would not have had to register in town.  So we all went with passport in hand to register.  Natasha and Sergei went with us.  After standing outside for a while we were all asked to go and meet the person who would register us.  

Inside we all stepped up when our name was called so she (the official lady in the official uniform) could compare our passport picture with the person standing before her and verify that it was the same person.  She had a lot of questions about our Visas.  We got Humanitarian Visas with the Stepahanos Organization to be in the country.  Stephanos is located in another city and she could not be satisfied as to why we were in Orsha if Stephanos invited us.  Registration was denied.  

Natasha went to argue the decision on our behalf.  The official lady told Natasha, “I know why they are here.  They are here as part of that sect.  And I know you (Natasha) are a part of the sect too because your eyes are so clear.”  I was amazed and shocked at this statement.  It is that evident, the difference between believers and non-believers.  This was a real life example that we had been privileged to see.

Dima, the director of Stephanos, is making a trip to Orsha tomorrow to straighten it all out.  We are told she is wrong and is doing this just because she can.  It is a little unnerving especially since they have our passports.

This afternoon we went back to the park by the river for games and songs with the youth.  Bro. Danny preached and then we ate.  They brought food and spread it out on blankets and we enjoyed a picnic together.  It was cloudy, windy and cold.  It has been the coldest day here so far.  All the other days have been sunny, warm and beautiful.

It was fun hanging out with their teens and young adults.  For the first time they have warmed up, opened up and seem a little more at ease around us.  We were playing a game similar to Duck-Duck Goose when I got somewhat hurt.  I didn’t play anymore.  Everyone seemed to be greatly amused at the fact that I got hurt playing Duck-Duck Goose.  It is kind of comical when you think about it!

You play it in a circle holding hands.  The two that are “it” walk around the outside of the circle and tap hands of another couple.  I happen to be holding the hand of Andre, the pastor’s son, to my left when we got tapped.  We took off running to our right, which put me on the outside as we ran to beat the other team back to the vacated spot.  We were motoring around as Andre is a big guy and very athletic.  We were moving so fast his feet slipped out from under him and he went down.  The bad part of all this is he didn’t let go of the old guy running next to him.  I had not slipped and still had my feet under me.  He pulled me over as he went down and slammed me down to the ground.  The first thing that hit was my right shoulder and my right shoulder blade.  I turned a couple of flips and finally rolled to a stop only to find Emily and Katie standing over me asking if I was ok.  When I finally got my breath back and staggered to my feet I assured them and Andre that I was fine.  No harm done for the most part.  :-)  

We said goodbye for the night and headed home.  By now you know the routine.  We ate cookies, drank hot Chi and talked about ministry until midnight and then called it a day.  I had a hard time going to sleep so I put a DVD in my MacBook, plugged in my earphones and watched Signs.   

We once again woke to sounds of activity in the kitchen.  There was also a jockeying for position in the bathroom for the shower.  There were 9 or 10 people regularly getting ready in 1 bathroom.  It helped that some showered at night but the one bathroom in the house was a very busy and highly sought after space.

After breakfast Pastor Leonid looked at me and said in his broken English, “Terry, my dear brother…one song.”  He then disappeared into the living room and returned with a guitar.  So we sat around the breakfast table and sang a song or two while I fumbled around with the guitar like I knew what I was doing.  I kept telling Pastor Leonid I really didn’t play much but he kept ignoring me and kept bringing me the guitar so we played and sang and had a good time together.

After breakfast we went into Orsha to do a little shopping and looking around.  Linen is a big thing in Orsha.  They produce hand towels, table coverings, runners and various items from linen.  We were told you can purchase it in Orsha for about half of what you can buy it anywhere else in the country.  

After shopping we walked around the town a bit.  We stopped to take a group picture beside this pretty pond and were invited to tour the Catholic Church.  They were in the middle of remodeling but it was very nice and welcoming to have been invited to look around.  We also took a minute to play a game with the children and nuns at the church.  It was really fun interacting with the folks there.

Back at the house we ate lunch and prepared to go to Sino where we would visit an orphanage.  Orphanages are interesting and special to me because my mother spent part of her early life in an orphanage in Detroit.  She has told me stories and shared many memories of her days at the orphanage.

A group from the church did a puppet show and our team sang a couple of songs for the kids.  We also gave out candy, stickers, notebooks and pens.  We also made and gave away balloon animals.  The kids loved the gifts and the candy created a sort of feeding frenzy.  They were all so appreciative and sweet.

Following the time at the orphanage we stopped by Sino church where Pastor Leonid’s brother is pastor.  They had a table spread with sandwiches, cookies and tea.  Once again…we ate!  After a time of eating and fellowshipping around the table we sang.  We sang a lot, everywhere we went.  We took up an offering among the group to help the pastor and his family and their ministry.  It was good to give and be a part of their ministry there.

I was constantly reminded of the generosity of these people.  While we were eating at the church I mentioned the Sergei, the Student Pastor, that I liked the T-shirt’s their puppet team wore.  I also asked if they had extras as I would have loved to have had one.  They told me they didn’t have extras, in fact they only had enough for the team as they went each time.  Everyone did not have one of their own.  They put one on only when they were involved in the puppet ministry as they did that day.

We returned to the church to drop people off and put away the puppet gear.  As we were saying good bye, one of the ladies showed up in the van and tossed me one of their T-shirts.  There was no giving it back or talking them out of it.  They knew I would like to have one so they gave me one.  I was touched at their generosity and selflessness.  I gave Sergei my Outward T-shirt that we wear to the block parties.  I think he liked trading.  He couldn’t speak to me and I couldn’t speak to him but by the smile on his face I knew he understood and was pleased.

Back at the house we ate cookies and drank hot Chi until past midnight.  The fellowship around the table was fun and sweet.  Our discussions always ended in talking about ministry and the things of God.  It was a great day.

We ate and dressed for church.  We all anticipated a special time with the church as we worshipped together but I don’t think any of us were prepared for how special it was.  The Orsha Baptist Church family was welcoming, friendly and genuinely glad we were there.

The service began with much music and a warm welcome to the Americans from Pastor Leonid.  The choir sang and did a fabulous job.  It was very cool and almost overwhelming as we sang songs in worship together, them singing in Russian and us singing in English.  I couldn’t help but think about how amazing God is as He understood not only our worship in 2 languages but at the same moment He heard, listened and understood all the languages and worship of the world!  Dan preached.

The second half of the 2 ½ hour worship service included Communion. I knew it would be different when I saw an elderly lady from the congregation bring in the homemade loaf of bread for the service.  It began with removing the cloths covering the elements.  The table had been prepared with a loaf of bread and 2 large silver goblets with red wine.  The loaf of bread was broken into small pieces and placed on 2 silver serving platters.  Pastor Leonid said a prayer of thanksgiving for the bread representing the body of Jesus and it was passed around.  We took a piece from the platter and ate.  He then took a goblet and gave thanks for the blood of Jesus represented by the wine.  When he had finished praying they took the goblets and passed them down the first row on each side of the sanctuary.  As each one drank they passed it to the person next to them.  At the end of each row, they would wipe the edge of the cup with a rag and begin the next row until all in the room had partaken.  It was quiet, worshipful and very special.

Following the service we returned to our home for the week and enjoyed a large lunch together.  Shortly afterward Pastor Leonid said in broken English, “My dear friends…go…rest…ummm…quickly!”  So we visited in the living room and had a short time of some quiet down time.

We went back to church for the 6:00 PM service.  We were told it would be a special fellowship service.  When we entered the building we saw the chairs had been removed and replaced with 2 long rows of tables and chairs.  The tables were set with sandwiches, cookies and Chi (tea).  Pastor Leonid welcomed us, said a prayer and told us to enjoy the fellowship meal.

As we finished the meal people began to sing.  Sometimes it was a small group and sometimes it was congregational.  Some songs were recognizable, not by the words but by the melody.  Music is the universal language.  And then it was time.  Our group of merry melody makers sang a couple of songs for them.  We were met with smiles and nods of approval from the people.  We had Olya interpret the lyrics before we sang so they would have some sense of what we were singing about.  Some of the songs they knew!

Following a time of worship our team had the opportunity to share a little about ourselves and tell what we did in our church and in ministry.  It was a sweet time.

Following the service we headed home only to eat again even after we had eaten.  They are gracious people and wonderful hosts.  They have gone way over the extra mile to make sure we are well taken care of and feel very welcome.

We ate breakfast, packed and prepared to load the vans.  Some of us were going to Orsha, some to Bobrusk and others to Mogelev.  Stuart, Sarah and Micah were going to do a kid’s camp outside of Mogelev while Bro. Danny, Katie, Emily, Frances, Mark, Christy and I were going to work with the church at Orsha.  The rest from North Carolina were going to Bobrusk to work at a VBS.  

As we loaded the vans we met our interpreters, Olya and Masha, for the week as well as the youth pastor, Sergei, from the church.  I could tell right away that Sergei is a mover and a shaker.  He works hard and quickly and makes things happen.  Olya and Masha are very sweet, soft spoken and kind.  Their English is very good and they are very patient with us as we ask them over and over how to say words or phrases in Russian.  They have a beautiful language.  At least when they speak it!!  Both girls are from Minsk and will be traveling with us the entire time we are here.  They are both believers and I am very grateful for them.

We loaded up and were off for Orsha.  We stopped at a grocery store so Sergei could pick up a few things he needed.  We were wearing our interpreters (I’ll call them the girls) out asking them questions about the area and language.  Bro. Danny is riding shotgun and the rest of us scattered about in the back of the van.  Every now and then we would hear Bro. Danny say, “Amen!...Mmmh” (to himself and under his breath) and then he would hum.  We then saw he was listening to music!  We all laughed hysterically.  I guess it was one of those “had to have been there moments!”  Maybe it was the exhaustion from the long trip.

Sergei and our driver returned and we were off once again.  We drove for a couple of hours and the driver pulled off on the side of the road.  He began backing up as he and Sergei were looking out the window into the woods.  He finally stopped the van, opened the side door and said we were stopping for a break.  It is customary to go into the woods to take a break…if you need to take that kind of break!  They do not have truck stops or convenient stores on every corner to stop at when needed as people travel.  So you do your business in the woods.  

I was told to not pick up money in the woods.  I thought it was a joke until I began thinking about it.  Belarus currency is in Rubles and they have no coins.  It is all paper money.  Some of it is worth as little as half a penny.  Those are the bills scattered through the woods.  And as Forrest Gump would say, “That’s all I am going to say about that!”  :-)

We drove for about 3 hours through the countryside in Belarus.  It is a beautiful country.  There were rolling hills with farm pastures, groves of pine trees and fields of rapeseed.  A bright yellow plant that is much like our cotton.  The rolling fields of rapeseed were beautiful.  The land was not much different that ours at home.  Every now and then I would see road signs marking directions and distances and I was reminded we were not, as Dorothy would say, “Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.”  I saw signs to Moscow along the way, also reminding me we were a long way from home and not that far away from Russia.

We arrived in Orsha and made our first stop at Sergei’ house where Mark, Frances and Christy would be staying.  Masha is staying with them too.  We unloaded them and then went  to Pastor Leonid’s house where Bro. Danny, Katie, Emily and I would be staying.  Olya is staying with us.  Dan arrived this afternoon late and is also staying with us.  

The pastor’s children will be staying most of the week with their grandparents.  Their house just became very crowded.  They are very welcoming and seem very glad we are here.  It wasn’t long before we were on our way to the church to meet with their youth for a youth service.

Their teens stood around, grinned and giggled at us as we tried to get acquainted.  There were 25 or so there.  They sang several songs.  Different ones played guitar and piano as well as several different singers.  I can tell music is a huge part of their lives and culture.  Very cool.  I sang and Bro. Danny preached.  It was a good time.  After the service we went down to the river to play volleyball with the group.  The mosquitoes were monstrous!  And they little monsters loved American blood.  It was as if they recognized the fresh meat in the area.  The locals did not seem to be as attacked as we were or at least they didn’t show it.  We played a while, prayed together and headed back for home.

Natasha had something to eat when we returned home.  We had a small meal with tea and cookies.  She is a great cook and is tireless around the house.  She is a gracious host who is going out of her way to make us comfortable.  We discussed the worship service for tomorrow and planned the order.  I am excited about worshipping with the Belarusians in the morning.  It is late and we are going to bed.

We went through 2 more security checkpoints in Frankfurt.  It seemed every time we turned around we were taking things out of our bags and going through another detector.  Katie got pulled for the wand.  We arrived at the gate for our next flight with some time to kill before we left.

The seats at the gate were very nice…leather, soft and most importantly, no side arms.  There were no people where we were so I stretched out across a section of seats, took my handy travel pillow and got comfortable.  The next think I knew Bro. Danny was waking us all up yelling, “They are calling our flight…they are calling our flight!”  It seemed we had all gotten comfortable and almost slept through the flight to Minsk!  We were all on the transport bus that drove us out to the plane before we were awake and knew what was going on.  If he had not alerted us I would probably still be asleep in the terminal!

We arrived in Minsk and went straight to a counter where we bought insurance.  I think it is more of an entrance tax than anything.  After we filled out some paperwork and paid out $4 we were off to go through passport control.  Passing through this process we went to baggage claim, got our bags and were escorted through the “green lane” right out the front door.  I couldn’t believe we didn’t have to go through customs where an agent went through our bags piece by piece.  We were blessed with a very smooth process.

Dan, our helper, was there to meet us.  After introductions and greetings we loaded up in vans and headed off for the city of Minsk.  We took a side trip to a very solemn place called Khatyn Memorial.  It is a WWII memorial.  During the war 1 out of every 4 Belarusians was killed.  There were entire villages, like the one where this memorial site is located, wiped out by Nazi soldiers.  There is a granite monument shaped like the roof of a barn on the site of the actual barn.  The soldiers locked all the villagers in the barn, began firing their weapons into the barn and then set the barn on fire.  All were killed except for one man.  He is depicted in the statues of the old man holding the child who has been killed.  There were chimneys everywhere from the homes that once stood.  Each chimney had a plaque with the names and ages of family members that once lived there.

There is another monument erected with names of areas affected.  There are teddy bears, pictures and money placed in window openings in the wall.  These are in remembrance of the children.  The Nazis used the children as blood donors.  When there was no more blood, they would toss their little bodies to their dogs as play toys.  Horrific stories of the torture and abuse they received.
It was a somber place.  There were several groups of people there, families, couples and groups of school children.  There was no running, laughing, joking or loud talking, just people walking through the memorials trying to imagine living under such fear of Hitler and his band of mad men.

Arriving in Minsk, we unloaded the vans and checked into the hotel.  We had dinner at the hotel with both helper families.  It was a fun time of fellowship as we talked about the work and prepared to get the week started.  Following dinner we tried to occupy our time until bedtime.  We didn’t want to go to bed too early.  The time difference would have made it difficult to sleep all night.  So we sat around in the hotel lobby visiting.  Some walked to a local grocery store.  The lobby had a wireless network for guest so I, and a few others, sent some emails.

The hotel was very nice.  President Clinton stayed there a few years ago.  The rooms were tiny with 2 twin size beds in them.  The bath was also very small.  We were so tired it didn’t matter!  Katie and I crashed about 10:30.  

We got off and arrived at XNA without any trouble.  The first stop of the morning was Krispy Kream in Bentonville.  The hot off the press doughnuts were awesome.  A couple of doughnuts and a cup of coffee and we were set for the rest of the morning.  

We unloaded and began checking in at United only to delayed by United network computer crash.  So we waited and waited only to be checked in manually to Chicago.  That meant rather than being checked all the way to Minsk, Belarus we had to go claim our bags in Chicago and re-check them at Lufthansa and go back through security.  It was more of an inconvenience than anything.  Everyone was very flexible and laughed our way through the process again.

After a bite of lunch at Chili’s we moved down to the gate to wait our departure for Frankfurt, Germany.  A few emails, a little shopping and a Starbuck’s Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino (yum) and we were boarding.

Flying from O’Hare we took a north bearing and then over the Great Lakes as we headed east toward the Atlantic.  We just flew over Montreal.  They are serving supper.  Back in a minute.

Dinner, surprisingly, was pretty good.  Chicken, mashed potatoes, rice, green beans and a very hard dinner roll.  Coffee and cake topped it off.  

We have just left the coast of Canada and are now over the Atlantic.  We are at 35,000 ft. flying at 660 mph and it is -65 degrees outside.  I wonder how they keep the plane warm.  Must be some kind of insulation!  We are flying in a 747 model 400.  This is one large bird!

Katie and I are sitting with a very nice young man named Alex from New Zealand.  We have chatted about work, family and faith in between periods of ear-phones and the audio/video channel.  Not much on the in cabin TV yet.  He is Greek Orthodox but told me he has faith in Christ and has asked Jesus to forgive his sins.  Very nice fellow.

Bro. Stuart and Sarah are just in front of us.  They drew they fortunate straw and ended up with an empty seat in their row.  Frances Headley and Micah Gregory are in front of them while Bro. Danny, Mark Headley, Emily, and Christy Williams are all in the middle section sitting together.  At least no one is sitting alone.  I am happy.

It is 6:45 Central time.  They have just asked us to close the widow blinds all over the plane.  They also turned down the in cabin lights.  I think they are trying to make us think it is night.  It is not, it’s almost time for Lost!  But we have to remember it will be 7:00 AM in Frankfurt when we land.  We will feel like it is time for bed and they will be beginning their new day, Friday.  So, I guess I will try and follow their lead and get some sleep.  If I don’t I know I will hate myself tomorrow or Friday or whatever day it will be!