Photo Shoot- M's Ballet Recital

Shooting a Ballet Recital was a new experience for me and I can honestly say I really enjoyed it! I hope you have fun viewing several of my favorites!!!

 Getting Ready-

 Love this one!

 Yeah! she was pretty amazing!!

Life is Full of- Trusting and Believing

"We do not understand in order to believe, but we believe in order to understand." -Augustine

Day 10- Geneva

Yes! We went shopping today and definitely spent more time hunting out historical sites. It really was a blast! From trying to figure out where Calvin's home was, to the graveyard he was buried in, we most assuredly got our exercise in. Calvin's life and the effects of his life on our world today amaze me. Calvin, the timid school boy with many severe health issues, with his faithful preaching turned the world upside down! I know, I said that yesterday but it's strongly pressing on my mind, so you get to hear it again:) We'll be at the airport tomorrow morning at 6am, so please pray for safe travels. Hope you have been challenged in a small way from my feeble, silly attempts to convey what God has taught us this past week. It sounds so cliche when I read over what I've said about the reformation, but the truth is, it seems to have a new meaning to me in a different way every time I learn more about the Reformers. Our passion for the gospel and for Christ's church and kingdom is so debilitated that we have begun to grow dull to the blessings of God's incredible grace towards us. You and I have been blessed beyond measure, give thanks! So I come away rejoicing... rejoicing in God's goodness to me, to His church, to our country. I come away rejoicing that God gave us such a wonderful man such as John Calvin to pave the way for us. I come away rejoicing that we have the opportunity to follow in his footprints and learn from the history of Christ's Church in the past. I come away rejoicing in God's goodness in allowing me to be able to stand, and see where these historical events took place. I come away rejoicing and celebrating that the victory is ours and He has won!!
"The Lord has done great things for us; therefore we are glad." - Psalm 126:3
Blessings to All of You,
Meghan Murphy

Our incredible view from the hotel-

 The University of Geneva that Calvin started-

Auditoire de Calvin- Knox and Calvin both would have taught here to around 1,000 people.

 The Auditorium and Cathedral-

 Calvin's Home-

 Swatch Watch Shopping-

 They know which graveyard Calvin was buried in but aren't sure which grave. He requested his grave be left unmarked but they think the spot below is his grave.

St. Gervais Church- Calvin preached here

Day 9- Geneva

Geneva is the town of a once reformed city where Calvin faithfully preached and taught. Today Calvin is only a memory and his church a museum in which few ever attend. Although what we find in Geneva may appear hopeless, Calvin's life's effect is seen throughout the world as we reap the benefits of his passion for the five solas of the reformation. Sola Christo, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, and Sola Deo Gloria. Calvin's life was full of great hardship made up of, physical illness, life threats, family deaths, exile, rejection etc. but his continual trust in the God he served has affected Western Civilization in a profound way. Tomorrow is a free day of souvenir shopping and packing up. We will be flying home on Friday. We are greatly missing all of our Europe buddies today!
Meghan

St. Peter's- where Calvin preached

Calvin's Chair-

 Reformer's Monument-

 The Geneva Bible in Calvin's Auditorium-

Day 8- Luzern and Lusanne

We started off the morning with a quick breakfast and headed outside to walk around Luzern. Zwingli preached in Luzern several times but this wasn't a huge reformation scene. We next drove through the beautiful countryside of Switzerland to a town called Lusanne. We stopped at several places in which Calvin preached and another reformer Pierre Viret. Street preaching was Viret's first attempts at reforming the church there, and after years of hard work, Lusanne became a reformed canton and Pierre Viret ended up the pastor at St. Peters Cathedral. A reformed academy was also started in this city by Viret. We ended the day with a meal composed of- french bread(along with the amazing, not to be forgotten European butter), salad, stroganoff, rice and a mango torte. After diner four of the boys (including Mason and Micah), jumped into Lake Geneva which is fed by the surrounding snow-capped mountains. Nine o'clock at night, frigid water and a windy breeze makes a crazy sounding combination to me, but there it is!

Meghan Murphy


 Luzern-

 Lusanne- Viret's Church

 The Academy in Lusanne-

 The Swiss Alps and Lake Geneva-

 The guys swimming in ice water-

Day 6 and 7- Strasbourg, Basel, and Zurich

We are now in Switzerland and are thoroughly enjoying the beautiful snow-capped Alps surrounding our hotel! Here are a bunch of pictures from the last two days!

Meghan

Lasagne- Before

 Lasagne- After

 With the reformer Heinrich Bullinger Statue-

 Macaroons from Spriingli's in Zurich-

 Whooped Shoppers-

 The reformer Ulrich Zwingli's Bible-

 Spriingli Hot Chocolate (This little cup cost six dollars... yeah! everything is expensive here!)-

 Swiss Alps-

 Mom and Mad in Strasbourg-

 Strasbourg (located on the border of France and Germany, the place where Calvin was exiled from Geneva.)-

 Strasbourg-

 Love having Mimi along with us!!!

 Zurich, Switzerland-

 Winston Churchill gave a speech here in 1946 on the balcony-