A Student’s Life in Canada
by Claudia Wintoch
taken from News
from Vienna 14 (Dec 1996)
It was my first overseas-flight and
I enjoyed it very much. Like the whole week before my departure, Jesus was
incredibly near to me in a very special way. During the flight I thought I was
still dreaming like all those months before. I was so excited and it seemed
even more unreal when I landed in Vancouver and got off the plane. It had
always been one of those “unachievable“ dreams to go to North-America, and here
I was, after 7 months of dreaming about Canada! I was totally overwhelmed at
the goodness of God, how He had made everything possible! My Austrian friend
Stefan, who studies at Vancouver, picked me up and took me to his home.
Everything was totally unreal and like a dream to me. It actually took me over
a week to grasp that I was really
there and not just dreaming like all those months before.
Vancouver
From Tuesday (Sep 10) to Sunday I
stayed in Vancouver. I took in as much as possible of all the new things I saw,
the new culture, surrounding, etc., every detail. I also went to lectures at
Regent’s College with my friend, which I enjoyed very much. But all the time I
was like on needles, hardly being able to await getting to Kelowna. Before
that, Stefan invited me to their college-retreat that very weekend and so I
have also been to the States now ! We went to Warm Beach, Washington,
unfortunately only over night, so I have been to the USA for 24 hours. I was a
really nice day though.
Kelowna
Finally Sunday came and I took the
Greyhound to Kelowna. I was totally excited and looking forward to everything,
no nervosity at all. When I arrived, I felt like dreaming again as I was picked
up and taken to the camp. I had been day-dreaming about this moment for so many
months!
The School
We were about 50 students who stayed
for the whole ten weeks. Then we had some more coming for the last five weeks
and others just coming for one week or more. The maximum was 130 students when
the Sandfords were teaching. Most students stayed in families; we were up to 30
on campus. The majority of the students came from Canada, with quite a few from
the USA. The fist five weeks, there were only two British students and I from
Europe, the last five weeks we also had one guy from Norway and one from
Holland. We also had a few Asian women and Australia was represented shortly.
Those on campus all lived on the
third floor of one building. The maximum was four people a room and I was in a
room with two Canadian girls and one who comes from South Africa and lives in
England. Thank you so much for praying for the right roommates! God has
incredibly answered this prayer! It was absolutely perfect and I never had the
least problem or didn’t even feel uncomfortable!
The Teaching
Every week we had a different
teacher and topic which brought a real variety in styles and teaching. The
weeks were actually really different in their character and God had perfectly
arranged the sequence to use them each in the best way possible.
We had teaching every morning from 9
to 12, including a feedback-time on Fridays. We also had teaching Mon and Thu
afternoon. Tue afternoon we split into small groups, Wed afternoon was free
before the ministry-night and Fri afternoon we cleaned up the camp.
We were also supposed to do 2 hours
of ministry-outlet a week and I signed up for Set Free, which is a 40-hour counseling-program for one person.
Unfortunately it never worked out for me. So, what I did regularly was going to
the intercession-meeting on Tuesdays and I also went to the Life-house a few times, where they
provide meals for the poor and opportunity to play games and chat. I also did a
kind of jazz-dance course in the dancing studio in the church.
Saturdays were free and on Sundays
we had two services in
The Church
which is called New Life Vineyard Christian Fellowship. The biggest surprise for me
coming to Canada was to find out that Wesley Campbell is the senior pastor of
this church (which organized the school). I had been to two conferences with
him before and had always really been blessed and set on fire through him. The
church also has 8 more pastors, one of which was teaching us the first week as
he is the pastor of counseling & prayer and organized the school.
I really love this church! It has
great worship, great teaching, a multitude of ministries, all the gifts of the
Spirit operating, up-to-date teaching and vision, is active in world-missions
and training leaders, and it’s a real safe place to receive healing, to build
friendships, to grow in your walk with God, and to step out in the
learning-process with the freedom to fail. The church has been in renewal (like
in Toronto) since 1987 and many lives have been transformed since then and the
church experienced explosive growth in numbers and ministries. I have never
seen a church like this one before. Being back in Austria, I really miss it a
lot, the preaching, the worship and the opportunity to grow by having examples
and moving out.
The Staff
The staff of the school was pretty
big. We had four of them stay with us on campus and they gave their everything
for us. We also had quite a few leading the small-groups that met on a weekly
basis.
Small Group
One of our two leaders was living on
campus with us. They were both great! They had put all the single young girls
in one group and so we were 10 people which was quite a lot. In the first
meeting I didn’t feel too comfortable already as I struggle with being with
people of my age. I have always been drawn to older people. I was really
surprised though, how much I struggled with the small-group. During all ten
weeks, I had a really hard time opening up and felt rejected when I did. Very
soon I was already fearing Tuesday afternoon as I was always down afterwards,
even when I was up before.
The Most Difficult Thing
The most difficult thing was to find
time and especially a quiet place to be with God. Most of the weeks there were
empty rooms on our floor where I went (if they weren’t occupied), at other
times I locked myself into the toilet - the only place to be alone.
Week 1
Counseling & Healing in the Kingdom of God
Speaker: Gord Whyte (pastor of the church)
The very first day was an
introductory day so that I still didn’t get any teaching what I was looking
forward to so much. But the second day finally came. We had a week of getting
the basics of counseling which was really good.
The first few days in Kelowna I was
totally high! I was singing in my heart all the time and enjoying every single
minute in the school. By the end of the week it started going downhill as hurt
came up and I was confronted with truth about myself.
My Eyes
On the second day of the school I
went to my first intercession-meeting in the church. God really touched me and
the result was, that my “eye-problems“ started again. Remember that it had been
70% healed at the conference in February but it had got a bit worse again. Now
my eyes were totally squinting again and I was so embarrassed because nobody
knew about it. Finally they realized and one guy prayed for the healing of my
eyes. Normally the only “cure“ was going to bed, the next morning it was gone.
But that night, a few minutes after the prayer, my eyes were totally restored again!
I had never experienced that before!
Over the weeks, I had this problem
several times. And several times I was healed as I was prayed for; once when it
was really bad, no prayer helped. Even the last night, after our last
prayer-time, it was there again. I received my last prayer against it and was
healed again after a few minutes.
I have no problems now with
half-hour worship-times but time will show how far it’s healed now. I didn’t
even have problems at the prayer-night a few weeks ago. I have been wondering a
lot about this strange eye-weakness. According to the doctor, there is no
remedy for it and I have to accept it. Praise God for His healing power!
Austria
That night at the
intercession-meeting, God had broken my heart for Austria again like many times
during my stay in Canada. I have been interceding a lot for Austria, Vienna and
my church and I was actually known for my passion for my country in the school.
My heart was burning as I saw and experienced all those wonderful things God
are doing there in Canada and I was longing for God’s move in Austria as well.
The First Weekend
The feedback-time on Friday turned
into a ministry-time and brought more pain and hurt onto the surface. As a
result I was really down but I was invited by a couple from the school to spend
the weekend with them, one hour away from Kelowna. I gladly accepted, looking
forward to see more of Canada. That weekend then was a bit lonely and I
struggled on with my pain.
Week 2
The Divine Plumbline
Speaker: Jeff Littleton
Jeff was speaking about how our life
has swung away from God’s plumbline by wounds, sins and events in the
childhood. After his teaching the first part of the week, he was ministering
the other part of the week. Every person was sitting in front of the whole
class, confessing sins, forgiving people and bringing everything to the light.
After having prayed ourselves, Jeff would minister to us.
Now, I was quite down this week and
intended to clear up my whole life. Unfortunately I made a big mistake by
wanting to pray through my whole life. I had pages of notes of what I wanted to
pray. I had misunderstood the purpose somehow.
Now my turn came Thursday night.
Everybody had cried during the ministry and I made the vow not to cry when it
was my turn. That was a big mistake. I went forward and started praying out,
but soon turned to recite from the paper instead of praying. While I was
reading, I was totally detached from everything. It was as if I was reading
somebody else’s life. It also felt totally unreal and I was scared about my own
non-existent feelings. Finally Jeff interrupted me and brought it to an end -
just with a prayer and without ministry.
As I walked back to the room, I was
wondering what had happened. Suddenly I realized how I had been deceived to do
everything the wrong way. That night, when everybody was already sleeping, I
had a panic-attack and was too afraid to go to bed. Finally I did.
The next morning, the breakthrough
came the very moment my cell-group in Vienna prayed for me. As Jeff ministered
to somebody else, I just broke into tears. Jeff finally came and ministered to
me. As I was crying, I went back to be a 5-year-old girl who doesn’t want her
father to leave (that’s when he did). For the first time in my life I was
grieving my father’s loss.
That Sunday God opened my eyes to
the deception that week and gave me joy and peace.
Week 3
The Father Heart of God
Speaker: Lee Bennett
This week was like healing balm and
holiday after the previous week. I enjoyed the “light“ teaching very much and
was totally in love with Jesus again, committing myself completely to Him and
interceding for Austria. It was a great, joyful week.
Week 4
Ingredients of Healing the Heart
Speaker: Charles F. Finck III
This was my favorite week. It was
the first week where we got real tools for counseling into our hands. The
teaching was fabulous and very helpful. I also loved the teacher very much. He
is part of Elijah House which is the
counseling & teaching ministry John & Paula Sandford founded. God
actually put Charlie & his family that much on my heart that I’m supporting
them in prayer now. I also feel that Elijah
House is the direction I might go. The next step would be to do their
three-week-basic school (which is very intensive), then the two-week-advanced
school and then they also have internships. I don’t know of any suitable school
in Europe at the moment and it also costs a lot of money.
This week was for me a week of
repentance. I came out of denial in many areas of my life and was convicted
about the smallest sin in my life. I would have loved to write a letter to
every single person I had sinned against. One significant moment was when I got
a letter from a cell-group-co-leader which was full of accusations. Although he
is very hurting himself, I took complete responsibility for everything, even if
only a very small part was true. I also wrote a nice card to my mother, asking
her forgiveness for not honoring her and telling her that I wanted to be able
to talk to her about everything.
It was a really good week. The
ministry-night on Wednesday was also significant as I received more healing.
Weekend In The Rockies
Everybody who wanted could be linked
up with somebody from the church. After three weeks I also got a “buddy“:
Carol. She is married and has a one-year-old daughter. They were all such an
incredible blessing to me!!! I spent many Friday nights at their house,
watching videos and sleeping in on Saturdays. That meant so much to me that I
was even surprised! Getting away from the school and everybody for that short
time was so refreshing as if I had been on a holiday for a week! They are such
a wonderful couple and I was totally in love with the baby.
Carol invited me to come with them
to the house of her parents in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, to celebrate
Thanksgiving on the long weekend. It was such a marvelous weekend! The house is
in a beautiful area and I enjoyed the nature very much. We also had a wonderful
time celebrating Thanksgiving, having fun and watching TV.
Coming back to Kelowna, it was as if
I had been on a very long holiday and I was ready for more.
Week 5
A Christian Understanding of Feelings
Speaker: Mel & Sara Hanna
During week 5 and 6 I fasted by
leaving out dinner which was a real blessing. The first half of week 5 I was
totally high and in love with Jesus. The teaching seemed not to be so
“attractive“ but it was good.
Butterflies
The ministry-night on Wednesday was
very quiet. I enjoyed God’s presence and asked Him for what I should go to be
prayed for. He answered: the fear of butterflies I have had all my life. I felt
a bit awkward but went. The person praying understood it as a symbol and prayed
for freedom to fly, that I would get out of the cocoon. I was surprised about
that but had a picture while lying on the floor: I saw myself in a cocoon where
I had quite a lot of space because I had been working hard to get out. As a
result the cocoon had become thinner and thinner and more and more light came
in. I knew outside was freedom, colors, dancing and Jesus was standing right in
front of me outside. I longed to get out. The person praying had said before
that little time-bombs had been put inside of me that would go off in the
future and I knew that that would be the way out.
Fear
That same night, the following day
and especially on Friday I experienced a lot of fear. Somehow all fear inside
of me came to the surface, quite strongly at times. I was trembling of fear all
the time. Especially Friday was an usual day: We had feedback-time which turned
into a ministry-time and I regressed to be three years old again. I was totally
afraid and clung to one of the students who had the love of the Father shining
forth from him. As a three-year-old I cried and asked my Father not to leave me
and to say that it wasn’t my fault he left. He answered representing my Father
and then prayed for me. We then went for lunch but the fear and trembling
stayed. I could hardly walk and was quite weak. We then went upstairs and sat
down. I still was this little girl and needed desperately to be held. As I was
lying in “my Father’s“ arm, totally quiet and peaceful, I regressed further to
be a baby again. After a while, every loud word suddenly triggered fear and
pain. Then the guy left and I stayed on my own. I just wanted some rest but
people started vacuuming and the noise was so loud that I trembled and
whimpered of fear. I sensed being back in my Mother’s womb and asked God for
understanding. Something must have happened during my Mother’s pregnancy or
delivery connected to a loud noise. I then suddenly could hardly breathe or
move any more. I thought of how I was born, that they had had to pull me out
because I got stuck on the way out. I longed for someone who could help me with
prayer or so but I was alone. Then all the cleaning was over and everything was
quiet. Some time later I finally was able to get up again, after about 6 hours
of ministry by the Spirit of God!
Week 6
Reigning in Life Through Prayer
Speaker: Dean Sherman
The teaching was quite light again,
just listening to talking basically. The first half of the week I still
struggled and was quite down at times, then the Lord lifted me up again. I had
several encouraging pictures at the intercession-meeting and the ministry-night
which was about grace. God gave me a lot of grace to be myself. In one of the
pictures I saw myself as a wonderful bride, clothed in white and standing
upright. I then thought: of course, me,
Claudia the lame (= the meaning of my name). As soon as I had thought that,
God gave me a new name: Rebekah. The
picture then carried on as I saw the Holy Spirit as a dove coming down to rest
on my head. Then I saw one white dove sitting on each of my two outstretched
hands. Jesus stood right in front of me. I asked for understanding and knew
they were doves of peace. The strange thing was that they represented my
parents. I released them towards Jesus and they flew away in opposite
directions.
I looked up the meaning of Rebekah which is a quarrel appeased. I think I understand part of the implication my
new name has but not all of it yet.
At the conference later God then
showed me that my name Claudia = the lame is not a curse, but a
commission to go to the sick.
I could tell you about more pictures
I had but there is not enough space for it here.
Week 7
How to Minister Effectively
Speaker: John & Paula Sandford
They are the founders of Elijah House and pioneers in the area of
inner healing. As a result we had the maximum amount of students which was 130.
The teaching was absolutely excellent again and I could have studied all day
every day! That week my feelings went a bit up and down all the time. At the
intercession-meeting we prayed for the conference. I just found the following
line in my diary which I find really interesting:
“As we prayed
that the conference would be a turning-point
for the participants, I felt God’s touch. If that was prophetic for me ? I hope
so.“
Just read on to find out!
At the ministry-night on Wednesday -
which was basically the first session of the conference - God just bathed me in
His love which was absolutely glorious.
The Conference
Thursday night the conference
started with Frank Sizer speaking who is an ex-catholic priest and now
counselor and who moves in signs and wonders. It was incredible to see God’s
healing power at work in front of my very eyes. John and Paula Sandford also
did a few sessions, which was excellent teaching.
On Friday I received some helpful
prayer and God touched me showing me more pictures to give me understanding.
On Saturday I had my breakthrough.
In the evening we had absolutely glorious worship. Looking to the ceiling, I
could sense the multitudes of angels up there worshiping with us.
FREEDOM !!!
After the teaching, we had a
ministry-time and a few people were praying for me for physical healing. When
they had gone I was still manifesting and heard the word freedom, freedom,.. in my mind all the time. The way I manifested
was unusual for me. I acted like being a butterfly. I thought, great, maybe my time to be free has come, I
have to find someone to pray for me. While I was looking around, I suddenly
saw one of the students. I didn’t even think, I just shouted, stop, I have to pray for you! I went
over and as I started to pray, I suddenly started to prophecy and shout as I
did. We both went to the floor where it went on till it suddenly stopped. I
wondered what had happened. Then God suddenly convicted me deeply. I can
remember the day I received the gift of prophecy and healing and I had always
doubted it and didn’t dare telling anyone. I had only stepped out in small ways
secretly. The (to a certain degree) “hostile“ environment I’m in is not an
excuse for that.
After having repented, I went to
receive prayer for freedom. As a few people prayed for me I suddenly started
shouting freedom from the top of my voice!
Again and again I would shout it, as well as other words like no more, joy, victory, more, Jesus. I had never been able to shout and now I
suddenly did! At the same time I had to hold on to somebody’s hand when I
shouted so I wouldn’t lose my balance. I went on from personal freedom to
freedom for the church with shouting things like revival, Europe, freedom for the church. It just didn’t stop. We
left the church at 1:30 in the morning. One of the directors of the school
actually called this incident one of her two highlights of the school!
The next morning Frank Sizer did the
last session of the conference. Basically the same as the night before happened
to me. I shouted freedom and other
things and got specific things to pray for as I prayed for my friends. The
ministry-time lasted about 2½ hours. We had great fun praying for each
other, being in the powerful presence of God.
For the rest of my time in Canada,
all the three weeks, I was extremely sensitive to the word freedom and every time somebody said it, God touched me powerfully
and I started manifesting.
Interesting note: looking through my
diary I found out that the very first time I had been prayed for on the second
day of the school, this total stranger had prayed for freedom.
Week 8
Healing the Whole Man/Woman
Speaker: Frank Sizer
The Sunday of the conference was my
first day of fasting. I was thankful for the powerful work God had done in my
life at the conference and was hungry for more of Him, for equipping, what week
8 mainly was. So I fasted with juice only till Friday. That was the longest
fast I have ever done - and it was worth it!
Word Of Knowledge
The first day after the conference,
Monday, was a very special day. One of the pastors of the church was teaching
their prayer-model and in the afternoon we had a practical time of ministry.
When the pastor said we would have a time of listening to God for words of
knowledge, the word dyslexia suddenly
popped into my mind. I was surprised. I tried to remember what it was as we had
had teaching on it weeks before. As the pastor prayed and we listened to God, I
could actually see the word dyslexia
written before my closed eyes. Then we were asked what we had received. One
after the other gave his word but I didn’t dare. I thought it’s weird. Then I
even had the impression to see the word written over the head of a woman
sitting between the pastor and me! After a few weird words and God’s Spirit
urging me to speak up, I did. To my surprise, the person concerned actually sat
right where I had seen the word in the air, behind the woman. We then prayed
for him and God touched him powerfully. Unfortunately this is not something
where you can tell immediately whether you are healed. While I was praying for
this guy, God showed me so many things, gave me words, etc., that I was really
amazed. We were all so excited that we prayed for hours and hours for each
other that day. It was wonderful!
Frank Sizer
We had a really wonderful week of
equipping and my heart was set on fire! I was so full of faith like never
before and ready for anything. We had a very special ministry-night and God
challenged me on two things which were not easy to give up:
1. Astronomy
As you know, I’m in my sixth year at
university as I first started studying astronomy and physics. While I finished
the first of two parts of physics and got a certificate, I was always missing
one hour only (!) to get the certificate for astronomy (which means one
semester with one hour a week of computing). I have tried to do this one hour
ever since and have never managed to somehow. So the only reason I’m still
enrolled in astronomy is because I want to hold something in hands for all the
work I’ve done the first years. Now I gave that up because it doesn’t count in
the kingdom of God anyway.
2. My Car
The other thing was that I had to
give up my car. The leasing contract is running out in February and I had
wanted to buy the car for the amount left, by borrowing it from somebody. Now God
was challenging me not to make more debts but to release the car to Him. After
4½ years with my car that wasn’t easy. It has always been His car, being used
for His glory and I had enjoyed it, especially traveling to England and the
like.
Week 9
How to Minister Healing to the Sexually & Relationally
Broken
Speaker: Andy Comiskey & Team
The teaching we received was
absolutely incredible! We mainly heard testimonies which were very encouraging.
It’s important to hear about this area as well which is so much tabooized in
Christian circles and I’m thankful for the teaching I’ve received.
Week 10
The Power to be Set Free From Addiction
Speaker: Don Williams
It was a quiet week to close off the
school. Everybody was already thinking of the departure. Thursday night we had
graduation-night. We all received a certificate and had a time of testimonies
and ministry. It was extremely hard, much harder than I thought. Tears ran down
my cheeks as I listened to my friends giving their testimonies.
The next day was our last. We had
communion together and the big good-bye
time. It was horrible! In the afternoon we then left Kelowna “forever“, driving
to Abbotsford.
John Paul Jackson-Conference
That Friday night was the first
session which was really excellent. J.P. Jackson has a prophetic ministry and
what makes him so unique is that he is a true servant, doing everything in love. I was thankful to finish my time
in Canada with this wonderful conference. We were a significant remnant from
the school there and enjoyed our last days together very much, making the most
of every minute.
Abbotsford is about one hour away
from Vancouver. As the guy driving the car is also from Vancouver, I stayed the
last weekend with Stefan again. Unfortunately I hardly saw him before the last
day as we left early in the morning for the conference and returned late night.
Rodney Howard-Browne
Rodney Howard-Browne, the “laughing
evangelist“, also held a conference at Vancouver during that week and I was
glad to get a chance to go to his last meeting on Saturday morning. I had heard
a lot about him and wanted to see him in person. He was teaching on the
anointing and then prayed for every single person individually (1500 people!).
It was good teaching and quite unspectacular, besides that people go there
hours earlier to get a seat. We didn’t get a seat but were prayed for by him.
Flagging
That night we were back at Abbotsford
where I used my flag for the first time publicly. One of the very popular
things today is to use flags and banners in worship. From the first moment on I
was totally captured by it and finally got to make my own flag (after a picture
I had had). It’s the Austrian national flag with the purple writing Jesus is King on it.
That night we had a wonderful time
of worship, dancing and praising the Lord. It was great! Besides that, I had
another picture for Austria.
Sunday
That was my last day in Canada and
what a gift the Lord gave me! After the teaching in the morning, I went to the
front of the church and was immediately caught up in the presence of God. When
somebody came to pray for me, I immediately fell to the ground - where I stayed
the following three hours!!! During that time I had one picture, but basically
I was just resting in the presence of God which was glorious. In the end, I had
no strength in my body at all. Two friends came to help me up but I couldn’t
stand or sit or anything else. Additionally I burst into laughter as soon as
they started helping me. I have never experienced that before but I was
laughing and laughing without any real reason. Finally they carried me to the
car because they wanted to go to a restaurant to have lunch. I continued
laughing in the car and even in the restaurant a bit.
The Catholic Church
We still had some time before the
evening meeting and ended up in a catholic service. At first I felt very
uncomfortable but then God touched my heart very deeply and broke it for the
catholic church. I interceded during the whole service and afterwards it was
still obvious to my friends how my heart hurt. One of them said: You have a real heart for freedom in the
catholic church, haven’t you? He shouldn’t have said the freedom-word. I immediately started
manifesting in the middle of the catholic church as I agreed.
By the way, having grown up in a
catholic surrounding, I was very bitter against the catholic church after my
conversion. Meanwhile I have repented of my judgments and received forgiveness
as well as forgiving them. I include them in my prayers for revival in the
churches of Austria.
Our Last Meeting
After that we had our very last
meeting together. We heard another excellent message from J.P. Jackson, had
another wonderful worship-time and then we decided to pray for each other for
the last time. The result was that I spent hours in the presence of God again,
like in the morning, with the same results like in the morning. I was carried
to the car, laughing uncontrollably.
Some of you might have concerns
about the laughing. I can only tell you that I had prayed since meeting Jesus
that He would teach me to laugh as I had never been able to. That day, it
wasn’t only a wonderful time with Him, it also brought a great emotional
release. The result like always: being even more in love with Jesus.
Departure-Time
The next day (Nov 25), the time of
departure had come. Waking up I had a cough and as the day went on, it turned
into a serious flu. I wasn’t surprised at all as I had hardly slept at all
during the whole previous week and especially during the conference. At the
same time I had lived 200% physically and emotionally.
My plane took off at 8 pm. So I had
some time to say good-bye and eat a last supper with my friends (I just
couldn’t eat any more because of the fever). As I was about to get into the
plane, the fever was already very high and I was very weak. I think that made
it easier to leave emotionally as I was distracted. Still, I was extremely hard
to leave my friends behind. In this short time there, we had built such
incredible friendships which will hopefully last a life-time.
Flying “Home“
As soon as the plane took off, a
chapter was somehow finished and I looked forward instead of back.
Unfortunately I couldn’t enjoy the flight although I love flying so much as the
fever had reached about 40°C. My whole body was aching, I had several blankets,
and I was still freezing as well as hot. After a nine-hour-flight I arrived in
London where I had only 45 minutes before flying on to Vienna. In the plane I
then wondered how I would tell my family that I wanted to go straight home. All
I wanted was my bed. Having landed in Vienna, I suddenly heard my name being
called out. When I went to the BA-counter, I was told that my luggage had
stayed in London. We had even prayed that that wouldn’t happen and now I had to
wait four hours for the next plane ! As I got out, my mother and grandparents
already waited.
Finally the plane arrived. Now you
have to know that I bought quite a few things in Canada. Because of lack of
space I had put them all into a big box: about 100 teaching tapes, a few (15) books
and my water-container (for my apartment). As I was only allowed to have two
pieces of luggage, I had tied the box to my bag.
Now I was happy to get my luggage
back and to finally get home, when the customs-officer suddenly stopped me! I
could hardly believe it! He wanted to know everything about the box and asked a
lot of questions. Finally he was distracted by a child and wove me through.