"God is good, all the time, He put this song of praise in this heart of mine."

"I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory"

"He is good, and His mercy is forever"

Psalm 36:5-10

"Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgements are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD. How precious is your steadfast love, O GOD! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, ad you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Oh continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!"

holes and oceans

I absolutely love it here. I'm in Colorado Springs, working in a Castle, living with 30 beautiful college students from 8 different countries, and I'm happy. But whenever someone asks me how I'm doing, I feel my heart throbbing. There is something deeper, it feels a bit like pain or sadness. I didn't think I could explain it even if I wanted to.

But yesterday, I had one on one time with my team leader, Heather, and as I was telling her about this part of my heart. All of a sudden God made it very clear what He is doing in me. He is digging a hole. He's making more room to fill me with more of who He is. He is deepening me- so that my excitement and emotionalism for Him and for others would become the deepest of all Love- everlasting and steadfast. He's digging, He's removing, and it hurts. But I know He's removing my dirt, only to fill up the hole with His living water.

And you know, as I was walking up to the house today, looking up at the clouds and my hair being blown by the wind, "What do I know of Holy" by Addison Road was on my lips. As I sang, God once again made it remarkably clear; I asked for this. I asked for Him to dig this hole. The song says "Where have I even stood, but the shore along Your ocean?" Oswald Chambers had said that we must cut the rope that holds us to the dock in the harbor, and let God take us out into the depths of His ocean by His waves. I prayed that He would take me out by His waves. I want this. And with all my heart, I need it. And praise the LORD, He's doing it.

Best Night of My Life: Apartheid Becomes Real in Colorado

For those of you who don't know, I am on yet another crazy adventure. About three weeks ago I found out that a Navigator's program had room for me this summer. It is called the Global Students Program. There are 30 students from 8 countries here in Colorado Springs at the Navigator's head quarters for two months, to work at the conference center, grow together, and spend time together and alone with God. Here is a glimpse at the astounding plans God had had in store for me "when as yet there was not one of them" (Psalm 139:16).

Today was a beautiful day. A day that I could enjoy an aspect of God's wonderful creation that I had never experienced before; huge red rocks towering over the trees and pointing to the clear blue sky. These images are only things I saw in crazy western films, but I never imagined I would behold them myself. Yesterday I even went hiking among these huge canyon walls to a waterfall. Anyways, in the middle of my "Western Adventure", we stopped to hear from the two South Africans in our program about the Apartheid in South Africa. I thought I knew everything, but I did not. I heard a woman who is now my dear sister, tell about her childhood in apartheid Cape Town, South Africa. When she was playing in the streets with her friends, the police would let dogs out to chase them, and throw tear gas at them. These things broke my heart in a new way. Reading books and watching movies cannot do these atrocities justice. After they both spoke, we watched "Invictus" together. I got to sit next to my South African sister, hear her sing along to the National Anthem, tell me about where she lives and comment on how Matt Damon's accent was perfect.

The title "Invictus" comes from the poem that helped Nelson Mandela get through his time in prison. It says "I am the master of my fate." But as I walked back to our house with my South African sister and my friend from Iowa, in the light of the full moon, I could do nothing but praise God that I am NOT the master of my own fate. He is. Otherwise I would not be who I am, or where I am. "I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being" (Psalm 146:2).

Peace be with you all. Love Laura.

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!