A Roman sprint...

During the Reformation Tour, we travelled more than 5000 kilometres across Europe in three 8-seater vehicles. During our few days in Rome, however, we used the public transport system. The photo above shows our team members waiting at the bus stop that was just outside our accommodation, about a half hour trip from the centre of the city. The buses didn't exactly run according to schedule: we usually didn't have to wait too long to catch the bus into the city in the morning, but we often had a long wait to catch the bus home again in the evening.

One adrenaline-rush moment happened on the Sunday evening. Our group had split into two teams that afternoon, and I was with the group that included many of the younger team members. After eating an ice cream (at a place reputed to sell the best ice cream in Rome) and having a time of worship in front of the Pantheon (you can read more about that in the post above) we decided it was time to head home. Someone checked online and saw that the bus we needed was due to leave in 22 minutes and the next bus would be only two hours later. Our challenge was that the GPS said the bus stop was a 28 minute walk away.

We set off at a brisk pace, the 7 and 8 year olds keeping up admirably, and a 15 year old offering to carry my bag for me (as my damaged lungs don't cope too well with a sustained sprint!!) On the way, we passed several of the locations we had prayed at in the afternoon, and were reminded of the way that God had led us during those times.

Amazingly, we arrived at the bus stop just in time.... only to discover that the bus was late, and then cancelled due to fire engines rushing around the city to put out a blaze. In the end, we waited another hour and a half for our bus, the young people singing, playing games and eating their sandwiches while we waited at the bus stop. 

Everyone was ready for bed when we arrived home at 9. 30 pm, and many of our younger ones were already asleep when the other team (the intercession group, who also had a long wait for their bus) arrived back an hour later. But there was an encouraging sense in both teams that we had heard God's voice and had accomplished the things He had asked of us that day.