Odyssey of my Suitcase

Flying British Air from the States via London, I arrived in Budapest, Hungary on March 8, 2008. My suitcase arrived . . .


April 24, 2008


48 days later my suitcase arrived at my home.

Where has it been?

My wife checked with customer service and we learned that San Jose, California was listed as part of my schedule. I have never been in San Jose in my life! Did my luggage go there?

British Air opened Terminal 5 and have a chaotic start. But, my flight was on March 7 and 8 and Terminal 5 opened March 30 or so. More than 30,000 pieces of luggage piled up at Heathrow Airport and British Air shipped all of this luggage to Milan, Italy for sorting.

British Air turned to the Italians for organizational help? What? The Italians? Uh, no comment. Did my bag go to Milan? Who knows?

But, my suitcase arrived on April 24! Certain items were very important to me such as computer programs for my new laptop and a spare laptop battery . . . my toothbrush, my razor, you know, the essentials. 48 days!!

I was so excited when it arrived at my home. In my excitement I did not open to see if everything was still in my suitcase. Later, my wife asked me about my new shoes. Oh no, gone! What else is missing? I can't remember everything that was in my luggage. Hey, I slept since I packed it 49 days ago!

Thankful, yes, I am thankful that the essential computer programs arrived. If my new laptop crashes, I have the programs ready to re-load.

I look at my suitcase and I wonder just where it has been . . . quite an odyssey!

Eric

New Photo Gallery on the Website

www.lifeimpactforeternity.org

Check it out! Click on Photo Gallery to see our "new look". Once again, my young friend, Laco, helped us with our website. There are a couple of things still to tweak, but the new look is exciting. Yes, I am happy with this! :)

Laszlo Gaal Jr. play the french horn in our music group, The Hungarian Brass. He is a computer whiz! Thanks Laco!

Eric

Couldn't Believe My Eyes!!

Lynne and I arrived back in Hungary today returning from her MS treatment. When we crossed the Austrian/Hungarian border we just stared in awe! Couldn't believe my eyes!

No passport control!

No border guards!

No LONG LINES!

Just dropped down to 60 KM per hour and crossed the border.

I couldn't believe my eyes! I think my jaw dropped and I was stunned!

Hey, we remember entering Hungary in 1989 with unpleasant border guards with machine guns. We were ordered out of the car and to open our suitcases as customs officials pawed through our things. It was in the days of communism.

We remember leaving Hungary driving across "No Man's Land" from Hungary into Austria weaving back and forth as the road followed a serpentine path with concrete barriers on either side. We remember noticing concrete barriers that were spring loaded ready to shoot up from the pavement to stop a car that may have tried to go past the border guards or be suspicious for some reason. Imagine driving along and have something made from steel and concrete suddenly come up in front of you to stop you or to make sure that you crashed into it. There was no way to escape this because of the concrete barriers on both sides of the road. Talk about having a weird feeling as we drove through "No Man's Land". Creepy! Better yet, scary!

Even after Hungary became "free" the border guards were obnoxious at best. The guns remained in the open and a continual show of force was always present. The lines were so, so long. Many people pushed their cars forward to save on fuel. The process could take one or two hours, maybe longer. Slowly, ever so slowly, these conditions began to improve.

But, this improvement was a stunner! I couldn't believe my eyes!

What happened? Hungary is a provisional member of the European Union. The borders within the EU have been removed. At least, the frustrating border crossings have been stopped. Now, Hungary has this privilege. Can you imagine how the Hungarians must feel? They can freely travel to the West? Wow!

I was so happy for the Hungarians today . . . and, I was happy for us! No long lines! No border guards hassling us.

Couldn't believe my eyes!!

Eric

Lynne Received Her Treatment

Lynne just finished her latest MS treatment at a center in Edenkoben, Germany. The doctor is absolutely fantastic! He is very personable, caring and gives top notch service. Lynne is tired after the treatment and really does not feel her best right now. But, hopefully, good things are happening inside of her because of this treatment. If you want more info feel free to email me at ericwmurphy@gmail.com or ericmurphy_life@hotmail.com or ericwmurphy@hotmail.com and I will be happy to update you.

Thank you for your prayers in behalf of Lynne. Keep in mind that it takes about eight weeks for us to see how well she responds to each of these treatments. The next one is set for September 25, 2008.

Eric

Quite a Blessing!

This past Sunday I received quite a blessing! A young lady in her twenties came up to me after the church meeting and shared her story with me. She told how her sister came to our youth camp years ago. Her sister had been invited by some ladies from a local church telling about a youth camp where she could learn English, play sports and meet some nice Americans. So, her sister accepted the camp scholarship and came to us. This young teenager accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior.

She returned home after camp and told her sister about all of her experiences. Finally, she told her sister that she now had a personal relationship with Christ and that her sister just HAD to make this same decision. [Note, I remember asking the young people to return to their homes to tell their brothers and sister or their parents about their decision to receive Christ].

Well, this young lady who was talking with me said, "I thought you would like to hear this story because I made the same decision that my sister who had come to your youth camp had made. I am so thankful that I made that decision. And, thank you, Eric Murphy, for coming to Hungary to start a youth camp and to have this possibility for my sister and me. Also, you might like to know that my mother has also made this decision. It happened about two years ago. It tooks us several years for my sister and me to talk to her about doing this. Finally, she made this decision. My father has not done this yet, but, it is good news that three of us in our family are now believers."

Wow! I was thrilled beyond measure! Quite a blessing for me!

That just makes you want to continue, to not give up, to keep sharing, to keep telling . . . YES!

Eric