In 1994-95, my family lived in Germany, in a little town called Kandern. From there, the family visited many European countries, including Great Britain, France, Itlay, Austria and Switzerland. In 1997, I got to go back as part of a choir that would tour France. Some Canadian friends stayed with me with some American friends in their German home on the edge of town. This is us on a hike to a ruined castle near Sitzenkirch -- the next town over.

In 2016, I finally made good on an almost-20-year-old promise to take Nic to visit my old home town in Germany.

We had spaghetti eis, swam at schwimmbad, hiked up to the castle, and ate pommes. The school was closed for rennovations, but we had fun exploring this beautiful little part of the world.

Also in 2016, and since we were in Europe anyway, we visited Paris. Like many tourists before us, we walked until our feet almost fell off, saw the Louvre and Notre Dame (before the fire!) and climbed the Eiffel Tower. On this trip, we drove a tiny little Reneult with a manual transmission -- Paris traffic is exhilirating!

Although we had assumed after our 2016 trip, we weren't going to be back any time soon, in 2017 I was offered a work trip to Switzerland -- so of course, Nicole came along. This time we got to see the Alps, and explore some cute little Swiss towns.

Next time, we're bringing the kids -- and some skiis!

We'd planned to take the kids to Europe in 2020, but a global pandemic put a wrench in those (and other) plans! We finally made it over in 2022, and saw as much as we could with the kids in tow. We visited the grandparent's in England, and did a walking tour of London (and more than a few hours sitting in the Harry Potter play). We stayed in Paris, and did the town, stayed in Germany near where I used to live, and did one-day road trip to the Swiss Alps and back!

In 1985-1986, my family lived in Bangladesh. That's little Jon in the center with the red shirt on.

We lived in a little compound called Malumghat, built around a Missionary Hospital. My worked there as a nurse, while my dad, behind me in the middle, taught at the missionary school. The story of Malumghat is told in the book Daktar: Diplomat in Bangladesh, and is worth reading!

In 2004 a Tsunami hit the small country of Thailand, so in 2005 we got in our minds to see if we could help and learn about the people there. Some missionary friends lived in the nearby country of Malaysia, so they helped us arrange a trip. Here's Nicole after working on moving bricks into place for a home being rebuilt. We weren't really there long enough to make an impact on the people there, but they certainly made an impact on us.

It wasn't all work and priority-establishing. We had a little fun too. This resort in Penang was open to the public for a small fee, so we got to spend a day on a beach. I went paragliding and jet skiing, while Nicole relaxed in the sun. We determined we would need to come back to Asia again soon.

In 2010 we got a chance to go back to Asia. In the iterim, my parents had moved to Malaysia to do ministry there, so we had hoped for an excuse to go visit. A young friend from our church who had a heart for medical missions had been saving up for a "vision trip" and we got the privilege of escorting her there.

Among other amazing spots, we got the explore the ruin at Siem Reap, and climb one of the pyramids there to watch the sunset. After Cambodia, we headed to Malaysia and Hong Kong.

I got to go on a work trip to China, where my contact there graciously offered to show me around. We visited the temple in Beijing, and the Great Wall of China!

Another work trip provided an opportunity to go to Australia -- a desination that has long been on our wish list. Nicole couldn't resist coming along for the trip, and although we didn't get to see much of Australia, we got to cover a lot of Sydney, and even made it out to a national park to see wild kangaroos!