Time flies out the window

Well, sorry I haven't written in a while! I was trying to limit my computer usage this week because last week was pretty hard emotionally. I didn't know why, but I just needed to spend more time investing in life and people here. It was good! I have been connecting more with people- God has put people in my path asking me questions or opening up to me about deep stuff even if we haven't really bonded before then. I had three favorite parts of Bible School this week. The first was on Wednesday when we went to Gabi and Peter Reid's house (our principal's house) to knit. I love knitting there! We listened to Norah Jones and ate amazing scones that my friend Alyssa made. It was chilly but sunny outside- a perfect fall day. On Friday night the girls from our co-ed small group went to our leader's house and we had tea and she made us some cinnamon sugar toast because she heard it was American and asked us to tell her if she made it wrong. It was so good! The room was lighted with candles and we just chatted for a while! It was so nice to be in a house and a smaller group of girls. The third awesome thing was last night we had an event called the Crossing! It's one of our school's biggest outreaches where people from all over Germany (mostly southern Germany) come to a church service of sorts that we put on. Two small groups plan the first 40 minutes based off the sermon notes they get from whoever is speaking. This time the theme was when you're wondering where God is, why you feel empty, why no one cares ect. and how God speaks to us through those times. There was a GREAT drama and a great video! Then the people stay after for tea and cookies and we bible school students go and talk to people. Our small group's job for this crossing was to pray during the whole service. It was so cool! I'd never prayed over an event while it was happening. We had speakers on in the other room so we knew what was going on, we knew when our friend Emi was going to give her testimony and other things like that. The last few days have been warmer and sunny! It's been marvelous! And today is rainy and we have nothing to do- it's actually nice for us to just have a slow day. At the end of this week, I'll be 1/4 over with my time at Bodenseehof! CRAZY! I'll be home for Christmas in 7 weeks. Whoa! It is a good reminder to live EVERY DAY to it's fullest. "Time just FLIES out the window!"

If you want some pictures, look me up on Facebook- I've got pictures from the hike in the alps, trip to the castle and some of my trips into town or the countryside! Well, I don't really have extraordinary news for you- after almost a month here in Germany, I feel like I'm finally settling in. I feel like I have friends and finally finished our first book- now to write the paper. I still miss home a lot, but this is starting to feel like home. Today we started the day with room prayer, where you and your room mates spend an hour sharing and praying for each other and whatever is on our hearts. It was great. Then we had some lectures and I read a lot- just before dinner I went on a walk with Rachel and Alicia. We walked somewhere I've never walked before, took lots of pictures and just had a good time. It was VERY COLD though! It was about 40 degrees. That's not that bad, but I'm used to Wisconsin where it would be 40 one day and 60 the next. I hear it won't get warm again. So the book I finished today is called "The Papa Prayer". It was okay. The ideas were great, but he was VERY repetitive. The main thing I've been holding onto was the first P in Papa. Present yourself to God. Basically he referred to it as "relational prayer". Just be real with God. Tell Him how you're doing. Work through your thoughts and emotions with Him. Grow close to Him. The outline he suggests is P- present yourself to God A- attend to how you think of God (think of how you view God and compare it to truth from the Bible) P- purge yourself of anything that hinders you from coming to God (what sins are blocking you from being one with Christ. Most of the time it's relational sin- like being self centered.) A- approach God (come to God. Ask Him for what you want. Hopefully through presenting, attending and purging, your greatest desire will be to know God.) It's a decent book. Now to write my first paper for Bible school!

Colossians

Hey friends! Sorry I haven't written in so long! But thats a good thing. It means I'm having more fun and getting more done! Well, this last week our principal Peter Reid spoke again. He is great. He spoke on the book of Colossians. It was a letter that he wrote from prison in Rome and is full of great stuff. The verse that we focused on is Colossians 2:6 "Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus our Lord, so walk in Him." We are told to walk IN Him, not live FOR Him. Ever think the Christian life is hard? It's not- it's impossible! So instead of tiring yourself out by trying to live for Him, simply say "Thank you Lord for living in me." To further illustrate this point, Peter pointed out that we are called human BEINGS not human DOINGS. word. This week a man named Ken Needham is lecturing on the book of Hebrews. He knows Stuart and Jill and is about their age. The other day I ate breakfast with him, and as he told us about his home in Ireland, he said he lived on the mountainside overlooking the ocean, and that he has no neighbors. He said, "You know what Stuart Brisco would say? 'That way I don't have to love anybody.'" Ha Ha! Oh yea. I went to a castle this weekend. The one Walt Disney modeled the Disney castles after. And on the way there some girls were deciding which Disney princess fit their personalities. When they saw me they immediately said, "Mulan!" Ha ha.

International Night

Today was our first sleep in saturday! We had brunch anytime from 9 30 to 11- I woke up late so I missed the Crepes.. :( Next time. Last night, our fun friday night was playing mad gab! Ha Ha. No last night was pretty exciting! It was international night- so dinner was awesome- the staff of our school was all dressed up in traditional Bavarian outfits and played traditional Bavarian music themselves- like accordians and everything! Then we ate traditional German food- which was ok. I liked the pretzels the best. Then we had every country that is represented here (11) do a presentation on where they are from. It was fun, lots of pictures from around the world. The girl from Japan did karate and the boy from Argentina sang us a song. It was really fun. Well, even though I still miss my family and friends a lot, being outside reminds me a lot about being at Fort Wilderness. And I go outside to read in the orchard almost everyday! It's cool because we're reading through the old testament- about 6-8 chapters a day, and even though we're just reading Genesis- almost all stories we already know- most of us have been full of questions and there have been many conversations! Well, we have the whole day to do whatever we want..? So we'll just have to see what comes up! I want to go to Friedrishchafen to the coffee shop on the lake. It's also one of the only stores open today because it's the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down!!! HOORAY!

Crazy Things

Last night was amazing. We have these things called "sharing sessions" where there is basically an open mic for people that want to share why they came here or their testimony. So last night was our third, and people kept coming up and coming up. It was great! Then we had communion. But it was very different than I'd ever had communion before. Our dean of students, Steve, talked about how communion is a celebration of Christ! That a covenant is a deal that if broken is punishable by death. It's a huge deal. So God wanted to make a covenant with us, to bless us, and all we had to do was love Him. But He knew we wouldn't be able to keep it, so He sealed the covenant by Himself, and then He actually died because WE broke that covenant. All because He just wants to be with us. We also sang songs and I felt like I was back in Mexico. I just knew Jesus was there. He always is, but something was special. p.s. I woke up at 6 to do Tae Bo!

Rock Band

Well, I'm in a band. Instead of having worship teams, we have bands. The bands go into different churches around Germany and put on a concert for the teenagers, then we hang out with them and go to their schools and get to stay in their houses! I wasn't sure if our band would be great, and we might not be, but we started practicing "He Reigns" by the Newsboys, and it wasn't half bad! When we go on stage, I'll def. wear my pink allstars! We have yet to come up with a name, but I'm sure I'll write a lot about our outreaches! Oh yea. I'm the drummer. Only the coolest thing for a girl who once thought she was a skater chick. Today I have to go up to someone on staff and recite my two memory verses (we have to memorize two a week- one they pick and one we pick). The year verse that we have to memorize first is Acts 3:19 "Therefore, repent and return, so that your sins might be wiped away and times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord." The other verse I'm memorizing is Psalm 68:6, 19 "The Lord builds a house for the lonely... Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears all our burdens, God who is our savior."

Coming soon...

Since I haven't blogged much lately, I'm going to pull some stuff out of my journal and talk about stuff earlier this week, and I'll try to put up some pictures to accompany my stories, but the internet is sketchy here... so wish me luck with that. I haven't been blogging too much because it's been hard to adjust to living with 70 other kids in a foreign country, but now I'm pretty settled in and ready to share! One of the things that was really cool was the other day when I went out to the orchard (yes an orchard in our back yard! It's small, but... an apple orchard nonetheless) for some time alone, I looked down and saw a tiny daisy. I smiled and took another step. Another tiny daisy. There were little daisies covering the ground! It was such a beautiful gift from God, a little kiss on the cheek.

The Hardest Part

Well, to be honest, being in Germany for 6 months is pretty hard. I've never been away from home so long, and I've never been this far away! But it's only/already been a week and we all seem to be adjusting and bonding pretty well! Other people are admitting to homesickness, so we can feel better together! The hardest thing we've done so far has been the hike in the swiss alps! We left at 8 in the morning and got back at 7pm. Obviously hiking in the alps was worth it. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, but I climbed to the top and was so proud! It was super super super foggy today, so you couldn't even see to the top of the mountain we were hiking! It set a cool atmosphere for the hike- especially at near the top, basically hiking along the side of a cliff, we couldn't see too far down so it was less scary. The funniest part was that there was one narrow pathway along the edge of the cliff, and there was a bride and her bridal party in it! She was switching from her hiking shoes to her high heels! So she said, "go ahead, go ahead" so we went... and on the other side people were waiting with cameras, and we walked right into the wedding!!!

Bodenseehof

I'm at the Farm on the Bodensee! Well, Bible school, but thats ok. We live like a 5 minute walk from the most beautiful farm land and a 15 minute bus ride from one of the nicest and sort of big cities in Germany! From my balcony, I can see across Lake Constance and see Switzerland if there is not fog. We're also learning so much! We just started lectures, and are learning about what it looks like to be a Christian. Today we were mostly talking about how the poor are the blessed. Haven't you noticed that the happiest people you meet tend to have less, and the grumpier people have more? I'm sorry I didn't write earlier, it was pretty crazy trying to adjust at first and now I'm trying to make friends, but I'll try to blog more specifics later, and put up pictures! Thank you for all the prayers, they've really helped keep my spirit up while I'm the farthest from home I've ever been! Love.

One Week

AHHH!!! I leave in exactly one week! The funny thing is I cried when I said goodbye to my friends that went to college last year or the year before, so I'm used to not seeing them... But their love and gentleness is what I'll miss most about home. And not knowing when I'll be back for more than a week adds to the abyss. But as I looked out my window, I saw the moon. The same moon they see in Uganda, and the same moon I'll be looking at from Germany, knowing it's the same moon my family will be watching from home in Elm Grove. 

It is exciting though. I was at the Ave last night (Elmbrook's College Age Ministry), and was reminded how lucky I am, that I get to live the ave 24/7. Worship, sharing, friends and learning about the Bible! It was also encouraging to hear from one of our peers who shared about his life. The told us his Bible Study motto, "Grow or Die"- because if we're not Growing closer to Christ, we're dying to Him. Going to Germany will definitely Grow me, thus it is the best place to be. He also shared with us what John The Baptist said when people were asking him how he felt about Jesus taking all his disciples; he said, "He must increase, I must decrease." And as I go, He must increase. And it's my joy to decrease.

Noe!

Today, the Turner family was changed forever. For the first time, the boys outnumber the girls (at least of the Turners living at home). Timmy finally has that older brother he's wanted his whole life! Noe is from Belgium, but is Italian. He has great English and is already learning a lot. He says that it is not much different than his home in Belgium, but I think he'll find more differences in the next few days, and months. He likes the Invisible Children camera gun T that I gave him, I also took my map of Africa and showed him Uganda. He gets it, but he'll learn much more about the war and IC before I leave to go to his side of the pond. 

One Month Til Germany!

I leave for Germany in exactly one month. At this time I'll be on a plane over the atlantic ocean for the first time with Maddie and Jordan, my midwestern friends that I haven't met yet. I'm pretty calm about my life changing today- I'm just listening to Bethany Dillon (one of my favorite artists) and looking at rain jackets to buy for our hiking adventures in the Alps! My room is a mess as I try to get my mind into the packing mode- deciding between which sweat shirts to bring is going to be the hardest thing... One month. Whoa. 

Circles Never End

While I was in Mexico, there was a girl sitting my the side of the empty pool. After a few years of training myself and being coached by others to seek out the lonely, God had changed my heart and mind... So I walked right up to her and said Hola. It was scary to start up a conversation with someone who I knew probably wouldn't speak any English, and I probably couldn't understand with only 3 years of high school spanish. None the less, I talked to her, and I'll never regret it. Her name is Julieta and is 17 years old. I could only understand about half of what she said, but I caught a glimpse of her soul. She seemed to me a flower that is too scared to open. She is beautiful, but almost painfully shy... until you start to talk to her. She is mostly scared of boys I think. When we started talking about another guy on the trip, Drew, I called him over to us and she hid her face and giggled. It was the sweetest thing. She isn't outgoing, but her smile tells you she has a lot of love to share. 

In the blue bracelet video from Invisible Children, Amy bonds with a beautiful and resilient girl, Roseline. As Amy is leaving, she gives Roseline one of her rings, so I did the same. I had her aunt translate for me, "You are Jesus's princess". She replied you too. She told me not to cry because it would make her cry- so I held it in... until I turned to walk away. The flood gates opened and I sobbed for about 10 minutes. She was the culmination of God's beauty. He created such a deep loving relationship between two girls who could barely understand each other. 

Tecate, Mexico

While I was in Tecate, Mexico, I learned that "Home is where the heart is" SERVING. I am only truly joyful when I am working hard to make things right in the world. One of our pastors, Brandon, asked us the question "Where are the workers?" or in spanish, "Donde estan los trabajadores?". We are all created to have a purpose that will have an impact on the world. We are uniquely created with gifts that we are called to use to help others. So if we are all supposed to help others, "Where are the workers?" Lots of people say, "There are 3 billion poor people in the world today, and before you went to Mexico, there were 3 billion poor people. So what difference did it make?" It made a difference to my friend Jackie that we built a house with and for. It made a difference to my friend Julietta who is a very shy and very beautiful girl. It made a difference to me. I learned that I didn't need a trip to Africa to have the best experience of my life. I just need to go where God leads me and to make the most of it by putting others before myself. And that will be what changes my life and the world.