This was a great day. We got to visit the Victory Center and do a blessing there. These people are dedicated to providing a wide range of support services to people going through cancer treatment. Everyone we met there was clearly passionate about their own personal commitment to truly help meet the needs of their clients. After the blessing they provided lunch and we got to spent some quality time with them. Once again, the precious Tina funded this special event. Thank you so much Tina for all your help.

This being our last night, the organizers came over for a final farewell.  We would like to thank them for all their, time, energy, kindness, and generosity.  Thank you so much Paula, Tina, Michael, Robert, Ben, Rhonda, and Matty for helping make our visit to Toldeo so successful in raising funds for our monastery.

September 14th – We had a nice break today went up to Robert’s house for a bar-b-que. He, his wife Stephanie, and their children (Nicholas and Maya), live out in the country. They have a great house built by Stephanie’s grandfather right on Otter Creek in Michigan. We meet many new friends, had great food, did a house blessing, then we were off to Tobie and Bob’s. By now it was pouring rain as we found our way to Tobie and Bob’s. Once there we found a warm and wonderful home filled with great people to greet us. We did a house blessing, had a great meal, and spent a couple of hours telling stories and playing with the children. The time flew by before we knew it as we had such a great time.

September 13th – Today we are at the Mercy Cancer Center at St. Anne’s creating a one day sand mandala of the Medicine Buddha to bless this new center.

We are in today’s newspaper, click on this link – Monk’s on the road for peace.

September 12, 2008 – After a day of personal healings, the group headed over to the Integration Yoga Center to conduct a Chenrezig Empowerment. Jenn McCullough was kind enough to open up her studio to us and the place was quickly packed. It turned out to be just the right size to fit everyone.

September 11, 2008 – Once again we find ourselves in a wonderful home experiencing the kindness of strangers. This time our new friend Ben and his son Matty were kind enough to open up their home to us. His friend Rhonda has also come to the rescue to help make sure all are happy and comfortable. Ben has an amazing home in Maumee right on the Maumee river. The backyard leads through a little forrest and then to the river. Every morning and evening we are able to see deer wandering through the yard. They are very tame and will even let you get within 5 feet.

Last night Ben and Rhonda hosted a dinner with the monks and we met quite a few new friends. Venerable Lobsang held court in the living room with all gathered around as he entertained them with numerous stories that lasted into the night. Ben also had a bonfire in the backyard where we toasted marshmellows.

Today we visited to colleges – Owens Community College and University of Toledo. At both schools we did cultural presentations and answers questions from the students. All were very engaged and asked great questions.

Tonight we did a lecture on world peace and the unity of all religions. This is an excellent topic on the anniversary of September 11. Geshe Norbu and Venerable Lobsang gave a great talk and we had an impressive turnout. I was so happy to see so many people coming out to share in a discussion about world peace and unity. Some even brought their children. We also had visitors all the way from Norman, Oklahoma – our dear friends Wiley and Marial. They flew up to spend some time with us and take part in our schedule of events.

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After Yachats, we headed off to Aspen, Colorado. There was a buzz in town because His Holiness the Dalai Lama was coming to give some talks at the Aspen Institute. The energy was electric and we had a great time. The tour has been visiting Aspen since the early days and our long-time friend and organizer Dennis had a busy, thoughtful schedule ready the moment we touched down. Since His Holiness was coming we created a Chenrezig sand mandala. This was hosted by the kind people at the Elliot Yeary Gallery where we were surrounded by some amazing art. Dennis put together a schedule of teachings and empowerments to fill the week for so many that were unable to attend His Holiness teachings. This worked out wonderfully as we were there to help fill the void and people were still able to receive teachings and many blessings. Our kind friend Adam put us up in his wonderful home. Both Dennis and Adam have been helping us for almost 20 years and we cannot thank them enough for their generosity.

Our amazing friends Ri and Renee from Oregon traveled with us from Yachats and, like brave troopers,  helped us throughout our stay in Aspen. They are also shooting film of our tour/adventures with the thought of putting together a film one day. Also joining us in Aspen were long-time friends and organizers Peggy from Grand Junction, Bob and Candi, from Crawford, and new organizers Hannah from Gunnison, and Louise from Durango, as well as our old friend Charlie. So our time was filled with blessings, teachings, friends, and lots of fun.  We even had the blessing of attending the public talk given by His Holiness on Saturday.

In addition to the sand mandala, Venerable Geshe Norbu gave a teaching on the Four Seals of Buddhism, conducted a Vajravidaran Healing, and a Dukar Empowerment.  As always there were many business and house blessings along with personal healings to fill out the day.  One great event was blessing the County Fair. So many people came after that to thank the monks saying that the energy totally changed and from that point everything was wonderful. As usual we met so many wonderful people it is impossible to fit them in. Please feel free to add any comments you might have.

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