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.