Five Months

I have been back in the States now for almost as long as I was in Dresden… that is quite a strange feeling to me. Five months that forever changed my life, that forever reshaped me, that forever made me a better person, are now five months that are five months farther behind me. Honestly, it feels like it was just yesterday that I got back from debriefing in Paris. Yet when I was living over there I felt like I had been gone for years. I still miss Dresden everyday, I miss what God was teaching me, and even though we didn’t see numbers of people come to Christ while I was over there, I miss seeing God move like I saw him move while I was over there.

A lot of things have changed, and then changed again since I have been back. To be quite honest the past five months have been really tough on me. A lot of things have happened that I do not understand and am still trying to figure it out and what God could have had in mind when he placed that person or that event in my life. And going through all of this everyday I still ache because I feel like I left part of me over in Germany that I yearn to have back.

Generally, I am a person that tends to get confused quite a lot. But these past five months I have been more confused about all sorts of things than I have been in my life. I’m not passionate about school so it’s been hard to be back in this environment, instead of living in a place God gave me a passion for years ago.

However I have been blessed since I have been back to spend some good time with family. And even though I get frustrated with classes more than the average person, and can’t wait for the day I forever put school behind me, I also am really fond of MSU…. well most parts of it. I have pondered transferring several times in the past several months, but I have a life here in Starkville that I am blessed with. So some days I just need to stop and breathe and realize that even though everything is going so crazy at times, God is here helping me through it.

I’ll leave you with one last thing, even though I doubt anyone reads this anymore, a friend told me this quote recently and it has just been really encouraging during the times when I forget. “Sometimes God calms the storms around us, but sometimes he allows the storms to rage and He calms his child.”

scatteredness

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and forgot to post it... it is kind of scattered and not put together well, but it seems like I either don't want to put enough thought into a more put together one or I'm just really busy. So I figure this is good enough for now.
Nearly every day that goes by I wonder what kind of update I am supposed to give to let people know how I am doing or what I am up to. Clearly you can probably see that I don’t really know what to say. I haven’t known for a couple of months now. All I know is that I have been back in the States from Germany for over three months now. I crave to be back like nothing I’ve ever craved before. God has let me in on something since I’ve been back… I am so not patient.
In some ways I feel like I have lost myself. Or perhaps God is breaking me in new ways so that he can help me put the pieces of myself back together in a different way, a better way, than I was before. Already I am completely different than I was a year ago. I’m changed in so many good ways because of Germany. Because I saw myself become passionate in ways I had never seen myself be before. Because God taught me so much. He is still teaching me stuff, but it’s harder now because I’m so busy, I realize I’m running away from some of the things he’s trying to teach me, and other things he is trying to teach me I am not patient enough about.
Since I’ve been back I’ve felt emotionless about quite a lot of things. I ponder a lot about what I am doing in my life for the next year and I just seem to come up with less answers and more confusion. I know I’m not patient enough, I come to conclusions too fast, and I don’t give time for God to prove that he has everything taken care of. I just need to chill out and wait. And pray. And know that God will reveal to me what I need to know. So I’m taking some time currently to try and refocus my life, refocus it on God. To know that if I’m supposed to move, God will show me that. To know that God is going to take care of my mom, even though I haven’t been patient enough to give him time to work on it. To know the relationships I have, that if they are important enough, God will help keep them strong.
So that’s me in a nutshell lately. A mess some days, craving other days, trusting a few days, but always trying to figure out what God has up next for me. Ooh he is always so amazing, even when my faith seems so small.

Less thought

Because I know it's time to write a real blog entry but I don't feel like putting thought into one. So here is this. Thanks Day for the inspiration.

Finish these sentences...
Maybe I should...be asleep?
My ex is....not the guy for me.
I love...God
People would say that I am.... different
I don't understand...a lot of things in life right now that I wish I could understand.
When I wake up in the morning...I will ponder going back to sleep and then realize in two weeks I might skip this certain class when I go out of town so i should probably not in...6 1/2 hours.
I have lost...some valuable me-God-Bible time that I need more than anything right now. Literally.
Life is full of... unexpected things.
My past has taught me...that life is hard, but God is always here holding me tight.
I get annoyed...when residents talk about me outside my door when I'm actually in the room and can hear everything.
Parties are...not really my cup of tea anymore.
Dogs... are good friends
Cats...like to hide.
Tomorrow is...Friday.
I have a low tolerance for...people who act like they know everything.
If I had a million dollars...I would go to Germany, get some rad treatment for my mom, and give the rest to people who need it.
I am terrified..of roaches.
I've come to realize that my last kiss... will not be as good as my next one.
I am listening to...my fingers on the keyboard as I type and my slightly stuffy nose as I breathe.
I talk... to myself sometimes.
My friends... feel so far away.
My first real kiss... was with a guy I shouldn't have been dating and I don't actually ever think about it anymore. take that.
Love is...God.
Marriage is...something that I hope to be involved in within the next less than 4 years.
Somewhere, someone is thinking.... about laying out and watching the stars.
I'll always... confuse myself
The last time I really cried... I wished I was not in a room by myself.
My cell phone is...purple.
Before I go to bed... I turn the light out.
Right now I am thinking about... everything.
Babies... are precious.
Today I...did homework for about 8 hours... no joke.
I really want to... accomplish a lot of things right now that all conflict with each other.

12 weeks

As of Monday I will have been back in the States for 12 weeks.
How do I feel about that?
Well let's just say I still feel a pain in me that makes me feel like I'm not where I'm supposed to be... or that I could be doing much better things elsewhere.

and that's all I have for you tonight.

Flashback

So I have a myspace... that I haven't been on in about 3 weeks because I've pretty much switched over to facebook. But I got on tonight and read something I posted back in the middle of March and wanted to share that on here.

" 'I pray that your love be strong, that I won't care what goes down.'

There are a lot of things in life I don't understand.
It's interesting to me how we can pray for the ministry here,
and a month later it begins to blossom.
But then I can pray more faithfully than ever before, for the healing of a loved one.
I can read scripture to make sure that I'm not doing anything wrong when I pray.
I can pray how it says to, without any doubt.
But it would appear as if it's not being answered.

Or perhaps it's being answered, but with the answer I don't want.
Maybe I still have so much selfishness that I haven't realized yet,
and I still have to work on ridding myself of it.
I hate how God can see the whole picture, and I can't.
I want to be able to see the whole picture, and how in the end this all will make sense.

But then I realized if I was really giving EVERYTHING over to God, I would be ok.
I would know that it's all going to be ok.
Even if one of my worst fears comes true.

So I still have work to do. To give God literally every single thing.
Because if I don't,
and my world comes crashing down...
I won't know what to do.
I won't know how to pick up the pieces.

But if I do,
and my world comes crashing down...
God will pick up all the pieces of my shattered life.
And make me whole again.

So being here is drastically changing my views on my life, and my future, and what I value in life, and what I want for my future.
I'm even worried that I'll get back and I'll have friends that won't want to be my friends anymore.
I worry that what God wants me to do with my future, will be lonely, and maybe I'll never get married and have kids... even though that's what I've always wanted... maybe it's not God's plan for me.
But the Bible warns us of that. That we have to give up everything here, in order to gain anything with God.

So I have three months left, almost exactly, and I can't even imagine what more changes God has to do in my life. I'm a little nervous, I'm a little worried, and even scared in some ways. But I know God holds my hand through thick and thin, he's gonna help me through it all. "

I miss spending an hour in God's word everyday. It taught me some pretty amazing, life changing things. I need to get back to that.

Time to slow down for a minute

Three weeks ago I moved back to the States. That's crazy to me that time has passed by so quickly. And now I look at my past month and realize I haven't given myself any time to just really truly relax. I have 3 weeks left in Houston before I go back to school, and at first I was dreading being "stuck" here for so long until I could get back to where I live and work most of the year. But now I think it's a good thing. Because when I get back to MSU I'll have school and work and be busy again. I mean really, in the past month I have planned a trip to Scotland, gone for 5 days, got back to Dresden and had to pack up and say bye to the city I love and the friends I had made, got back to the States for 2 weeks and struggled with what I think was some pretty severe reverse culture shock, and then went to Pine Cove (the summer camp I worked at last summer) and volunteered for the week, getting very very little sleep, and then came back to Houston Saturday to wake up Sunday with what I think is probably the flu... or something like it.

As hard as I think it is going to be, I think I need to force myself not to make a billion plans at least for a week or so. Get my things in order. Make sure I'm caught up with life. And most importantly use that time to start chilling with God again. Because the past month I definitely haven't gotten to read the bible as much as I would want to be. And with potential big changes coming up I need to be reading and spending time with him. Otherwise I'll turn into a mess. Because when I am consistently reading the word and concentrating on it, I can see that I'm different and I can see that that wisdom I pray for so much comes out way more.
Anyways, I am alive and well (except for the being sick thing), and I do miss Germany a lot, but I am slowly getting use to the States again.

transitioning

I'm back in the States. Well I have been since Monday at about 2pm. I had to wait for my bags for 40 minutes, but I finally got them, and then finally made it out to my whole family who was waiting for me. Which I only thought my mom and dad would make it to the airport to see me so it was quite a lovely surprise to see Stephen, Josh, and Julie too.
Transitioning is hard. I don't just mean jet lag and time zone differences. As the time got closer and closer for me to come back and especially while I was in Paris, I could already tell that coming back to the States from Germany wouldn't be so easy for me. It does make sense though. I had dreamed for half my life of going to Germany someday and I know God wants me to move back after college or whenever it may be. I have lived in 6 different places and Germany was definitely towards the top of the list. So coming back, and looking out my bedroom window and seeing flames from the chemical plants, and having the high temperature each day 20-30 degrees higher, and realizing I actually have to pay attention to what people are saying because they are speaking English, not German which I only halfway understood, is not the easiest thing. I zone out too easily, people have changed, I'm tired of being not busy and having too much time to think, and I'm tired of feeling lazy because I'm not running to catch the tram everyday. I know it hasn't even been a week and it will just take time for me to get used to being back, just like it took some time arriving there and getting use to the things I wasn't used to there yet.

Moved Out.

As of about 3 hours ago, the girls and I are moved out of our Dresden apartment. We lived on no doubt one of the prettiest streets of Dresden. Just a fifteen minute walk from the famous Frauenkirche or Zwinger, just down the street from the Japanese Palace, and right across the street from the Dreikonigskirche. When we told people we lived on that street, we could immediately see in their face a look of, "Wow, these girls must have a lot of money..." But, when they saw our apartment building, then they understood. It's probably the only unrenovated building in our neighborhood. It really looks like it could fall down at any minute. However, we did survive in it for almost 5 months. And for me it was hard leaving Neustadt (the side of town we lived on). Now we sit and wait and maybe get some sleep for our 5:35am flight out of town tomorrow.

I went to the top of the Frauenkirche today, it has a pretty amazing view of the whole city. It was cool to go up and look over the city at the end of my time because I looked over the city and the buildings and actually knew what everything was. Where as a bunch of tourists were at the top with me and we just like, oh cool. I could look and remember the past 5 months, and I ended up getting some pretty good closure up there.

So now, tomorrow, or in just about 6 hours, we head off to the airport and leave for Paris, where we get to see that city tomorrow and then have 3 days of debriefing there before, on Monday, we go back to the States.

I'm going to miss Dresden a lot. I feel it already. I miss my friends and my family, but being back in United States culture is going to be weird. Being back in the weather alone is going to be weird. Today, June 11th, people were actually walking around in jackets. ooh boy.

So here is a picture of me up on top of the Frauenkirche, with Neustadt in the back ground. And I'll throw in a picture also of me at the castle in Edinburgh, Scotland.

an untold side of europe

If I tried to count how many times people gave me strange looks when I told them I was going to do missions in Germany, I would not be able to count even by tally marks. Some people even laughed and asked if I was serious. Others asked, “Why Germany? Why not Africa, India, or China?” And that really is what people would ask when they found out I picked Germany. Most people in the States don’t see a real need to go tell people about Jesus in Europe. Well, especially since I have gotten here, I have realized something that would really shock all of those people.

One girl we have been meeting with the past couple of months told me that she has never touched a Bible before. She told us she has never met a Christian who actually lives it out before.

When we tell people here that we are working with a church, they don’t even understand that. To them, church is a thing that some people go to on Easter and Christmas and then some other people go to on other days… maybe. Yes, there may be big Lutheran or Catholic churches that are famous all over Europe, but that doesn’t mean that a lot of people actually go to them to build their relationship with God.

While I was at training in January for a few days before coming to Dresden, I found out some interesting statistics. Out of all the people who go out to tell other people about God’s love for them and what Jesus did for all of us on the cross, only 1/10 go to the unreached areas of the world. A shocking 8/12 of our world has not even heard that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins so that we could spend eternity with God. People who have heard that news but do not accept it equal 1/12 of the world’s population. Nominal Christians, people who just go by the name of being a Christian and don’t actually live it out, make up 2/12 of the population. And a mere 1/12 of the world’s population is actual Bible following evangelicals. A few other stats: 2/12 are Hindu, 2/12 are Muslim, 1/12 is Buddhist, 2/12 are Chinese, 1/12 is Tribal, and 1/12 is Post-Christian.

A few weeks ago, a friend who had lived and worked in eastern Africa for several years told me that a higher percentage of people there are actual Jesus followers than in Europe. South Korea has a higher percent of people that are Jesus followers than in Europe or in the States even. An organization that sends out people all over the world to tell people about Jesus reports that Western Europe is now the hardest place to do that kind of work in the world. Where as in China, India, the Middle East, and Africa it may be harder to be as open about it, but once people hear it, they are more accepting of it.

Out of all the people who live in Europe only 2% of them are evangelical Christians. A lot of people are really clueless about all of that. So since I've been living in this culture for almost 5 months now I thought I would throw that information out there. Meanwhile, I only have 2 weeks left here, with a 5 day adventure to Scotland coming up this Wednesday. I'm sure quite a few more posts will be coming the next month as I wind down here and move back to the States.

Oops...

I feel really bad because I've gotten terrible at making posts on here and letting you people who read this to make sure I'm still alive and doing well, know that I'm still alive and doing well. I just got on and thought, April 30th was the last time I wrote?? What. Yeah, It's already May 20th... That's really strange for me.

So I am alive... barely I guess. I've been sick for nearly the past two weeks now. Different symptoms and such but I've just been kinda hoping it would go away. Things here have been really busy. Just yesterday seems like it was May 1st.

On Friday, Ingaborg, a German lady we have been meeting with nearly every week for the past few months had a stroke. On Sunday the girls and I went to see her and then again today. She is improving, but we can tell it's upsetting to her that she has lost use in her right arm. Basically prayer for her would be really great. She's 86 and about the sweetest lady I've met since being here.

I think things have been a little tougher lately, all kinds of frustrations pushing together and piling up on each other. Thankfully, God has been keeping me company in the moments when I feel lonely, weak, exhausted, and helpless. How amazing he is, and how great his love is for me. He will always be faithful.

Ice cubes and straws?

Well this past weekend I went to Frankfurt to see my good friend Vicky. She did an exchange program to the States Sr. year, and we had a few classes together and became close friends. I hadn’t seen her in almost two years, and haven’t gotten to hang out with any friends in three months, so it was much needed. Frankfurt is such a cool city, because in downtown there are skyscrapers and such but then also some really older buildings. But then you just go out a few minutes from the city and are in the country. It was absolutely gorgeous. We even went to a castle on Saturday up on a hill and could see miles and miles away. As we were driving out in the country on Friday I also got to see Bavaria! I know I only could see it, but I still thought that was pretty exciting.

While I was there I noticed that Frankfurt is so much different than Dresden. Everywhere we went they gave me ice cubes in my drinks… and straws. It confused me much, because maybe three times since I have been in Dresden I have gotten one or two ice cubes in my drinks, and I was beginning to forget what a straw looked like. So it was just fun for me to see another side of Germany and get to relax and have some fun.

Also why I was gone I noticed that I’m different. I have changed since I have been here. It should be interesting to see how that affects my life when I get back in June. Maybe most of it has to with how much I am reading my bible while I am over here. I was thinking earlier today and wondered how I managed to make it my whole life with not ever getting so deep into God’s word. Maybe that’s why at some times I didn’t think I would make it. I notice that it has made a huge difference in me and my attitude about things, and how I think and act. And when I go one day, two days, or three days without reading, I notice that things definitely start going a little crazy and I get really irritated, it’s like letting a crack open for satan to sneak his wants into my life. But when I am actively reading the bible I am actively fighting that. So I really have no idea how I made it through life without this. I just finished reading Philippians and it was really good. I started with Matthew at the very end of February and then moved on to John, Acts, Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians and next I’ll read Colossians. It is just such a good encouragement and there are so many interesting stories. I suggest if you haven’t been reading it you should definitely start. I had never read any of those books whole before and I also see now how much knowledge it is giving me and I just really hope I can keep this up once my busy schedule starts again in the fall.

And here is a picture of Vicky and I out by a castle outside of Frankfurt.

Halfway

Sorry for the lack of updating this month. I guess things have just been a lot busier, so I'll give a quick update and then hopefully I'll post something more real by the end of this week. Things are going really well, we spent five days in the "mountain" area about 1 1/2 hours from Dresden a couple weeks ago. It was for a team training thing. I feel like it really helped our team a lot to see why each other is the way we are. This next weekend I'm going to Frankfurt to see my friend Vicky, which I am really excited about! She went to my high school senior year for an exchange program and we became really good friends. I haven't seen her in almost two years, so I think it'll be really good.... however the 5 hour train rides I'm not too much looking forward to.

We have less than 2 months left, which is a really strange feeling. I know it's going to go by really fast, a lot faster than the first half, which is also a strange feeling. I miss people in the States a lot, but it will be hard to say goodbye to Germany. I guess I'll just need to have patience and faith that if this is where I am supposed to come back someday, it'll happen in time.

Something I would really appreciate prayer for would be that God helps me learn quite a bit more German before school starts in August. I've only taken level 1 in college, and they offer 2 in the spring only, and I'm signed up for level 3 for the fall. But in order to get into level 3 I need to learn quite a bit more. Plus if I could actually use that German while I'm here that would be really exciting. I've got the basics down, I've had the basics down. What I'm having problems with is just getting past the little creek on to where I can have conversations. Making my vocabulary turn into actual sentences isn't that easy at all.

A list of things I have learned to eat, and actually enjoy since I've been here... things I would have never ever ate at home.
-Potato soup... Amy makes GREAT potato soup... (and I thought I hated potatoes??)
-Tomatoes... so I've stopped picking them off of hamburgers, sandwiches, and other such things.
-Carrot cake... I had a fresh baked carrot cake today and actually enjoyed it.
-Cooked carrots... I usually avoid them in my soup, that and Peas... well I don't avoid them anymore.
-Peas... Not only in soup, but also in chicken pot pie
-Cucumbers... yeah they are decent now
-Doner/Durum... which can't be found in the States, but if it could I wouldn't eat it. But I'll eat the chicken ones here.

Greater things are still to be done in this city

Growing up in the church, I have heard countless times how as a Christian you are supposed to give everything over to God and let him take care of all your problems. Also countless times, people have told me to just give everything over to God, in a way that sounds like it is as easy to do as eating a Milka chocolate bar. Very rarely will someone be upright honest to a Christian in telling them how hard that actually is. In fact, I think it is probably the hardest thing in life a person could ever do. I personally have been a follower of Jesus Christ since I was very young. Numerous times in my life I am sure if you asked me if I had given everything over to God, I probably would have said “Well, of course I have.” I mean seriously, what kind of question is that? I just donated this item to this fund, or went on this mission trip to a certain location that who even wants to go to? I’m even on the leadership team of this campus ministry! So what left do I have to give to God? Well since last semester, as the time has passed by, especially since I left the States in January, I have realized I have definitely not given everything over to God. I even realized, that I’m not sure I can even do that, I’m not sure I really want to do that! Because giving everything to God means giving every single little and big thing over to him. Everything. Which most people would say, “Well duh Sarah…” But doing that means that you are ready for whatever God’s will is in your life. It means even handing over the huge hurt in your life to God, that whatever he has planned for that, that you are going to be ok with it, even if it is not what you would ever want. It means what you originally ever wanted in your life, you just want what God wants now. It is such a bigger picture than most people describe. However, that doesn’t mean it is going to be easy, God never said following him would be easy, so giving him everything isn’t going to be easy either. It is not a one time thing where one day you say, “Well God, I’m ready for you to take care of my life, not what I want, but let what you want happen,” and then you are done. It is continuous, every day having to remind yourself and let God take over the new things that happen in your life.

But it is really amazing once you let that happen. Because God’s picture is so much bigger, so much more incredible than what we as humans could ever have planned for our lives. So in finally giving every single thing over to God, there is a peace that comes with that. That, things in my life are going to be ok, because God has the bigger better picture in mind. I don’t have to worry about these certain things anymore, because it really doesn’t even matter. I no longer have to worry or think or be consumed by worldly things, because the things of God are so much more amazing, so much more exciting.

That’s just pretty much what I am learning currently. Life altering stuff… no big deal :] But I can say I definitely would not have gotten to this point if I had decided not to really get into the Word…. which is another thing that is way more amazing than people give it credit for. In the past month I have just read Matthew and I am nearing the end of John, and God is teaching me so much just through those two books. It is so encouraging how he can use the messed up 16 year old who I was 4 years ago to get to experience the things I get to experience here. It just makes me speechless that he all along knew the things he was letting me deal with, and knew that that confused, hurt teenager would get to help with his work someday. It is so hard to fathom how Great his love is for us.

My mom came to Dresden for about three days last week... It was really fun! So here's a couple of pictures

And the little kids just laughed at me...

...along with numerous other people yesterday, and today as I try and work on my pronunciation of German words.
These words such as:
Guten Tag
Wasser
Brot
blau
I think my main problem is the "a". So I try, and have people laugh at me as I try and try and try to get the word right. Which by the way, all of those words I have known since I was in 7th grade...
So it's pretty ridiculous that I can't get it right. It's like when people come to the States and they can't say a word right and they try and try and you think, "Well why can't they just say it right?? It's not that hard!!!" Well... I know how they feel now. I'm sure I'll find it hilarious in some time.

Meanwhile, we're starting some English conversation meetings with Germans this week. We had one on Wednesday. While I am really excited, I also pray that God leads this and that the guy is able to see God in us. I pray that he doesn't have ulterior motives. God is definitely working in amazing ways and I am happy that I am finally able to see that. I am really looking forward to the following months. Please also continue to pray for my mom and that God heals her, because I know my God has and can do that!

and here is a picture of us girls... with a castle behind us. Pretty amazing :)

Rugby

So I had an exciting cultural day yesterday!
First, Amy, the girl that is staying here for 2 years, and I went to IKEA and Hoffner, which is a German store even bigger than IKEA.
That was exciting, but then we went to watch Rugby with a Scottish friend of Amy's at an Irish Pub. I have never seen a Rugby game before in my life, but it was incredible.
WAY better than American Football.
The first game was Scotland who beat Italy, and then came Ireland beating England. It was all really really exciting.
I also had a real hamburger for the first time since I left the States.
So it was all really exciting and gave me a chance to watch some good ole sports, be myself, and experience some different cultures.

Meanwhile this week, we went with Amy's Japanese friend to the Zwinger and took about a million pictures, so here's a couple of them for some enjoyment.
















Just a couple of days ago I started reading Matthew in depth. I'm taking two chapters a day with the study bible my dad lent me and I'm actually trying to understand it all and take good notes. I can already tell the difference that it's making between me and God, and I'm hoping by June I'll have gotten through the whole new testament. But I'm just really excited to dive into the word for the first time in a long time and have a goal with where I'm going with it. Not just picking random parts and then forgetting what I read.

german word (well phrase for today): Lachen ist die beste Medizin. Laughter is the best medicine :)

So it's been a month.

News for the week:

-Our passports have visas in them now!

-I got yelled at [in German] on the tram for the second time. great fun.

-It has snowed everyday the past week… but most of it has not stuck.

-Three days this week we went prayer walking at the windy Dresden university in 20ish degree weather for about 1 ½ hours each day. Ice was on the ground, we couldn’t feel any parts of our body, the wind was everywhere… Talk about unbearable.

-I’ve taken [way] over 500 pictures since I’ve been here… and it’s only been a month.

-Hey, it’s been a month! The first three weeks in Dresden were rough, to put it lightly, but my team knows the next four months are going to be the best four months.

-So if you’re worried you haven’t heard much good news yet, don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time!

-On Friday the 13^th we went to a memorial service at the Frauenkirche to mark the 64^th anniversary of the Dresden bombings from World War 2 where thousands died. Interesting history on the Frauenkirche, you should for sure look it up.

-The four of us girls are starting to look more like a team, it’s an exciting thing.

-It’s incredibly hard to find a regular German bible here… If that gives you any hint on how dead Christianity is here.

-Earlier this week, we took German lessons from a lady from the church we’re going to here. She’s 86, and for a German to be that old I really can’t imagine all that they have experienced living in Germany, especially if they are from the east side of Germany. Basically from our lessons with her I won’t be learning any German, but her joy that she has really inspires me.

-On Wednesday we went over to Charlotte’s (an older lady we’re doing some ministry with here) and helped celebrate a lady’s birthday. It was the first time in a long time that she’s celebrated her birthday free of drugs. Charlotte gave her a study bible for her birthday and the lady was so excited about that bible it was incredible. People in the states just don’t get that excited about bibles, or treat them with that much respect. Talk about an incredible experience.

Oh and correction about the snow. We actually woke up with a good 1 ½ inches on the ground… but then the rain came and slush is everywhere. So not fun.

Annnd I’m going to start giving out a German word each time I write a blog, which will be randomly selected from the German Dictionary I have.

German word: genau – exact, precise

In addition, here's a picture of the 4 of us prayer walking on the university this week.

Let it snow, let it stick?

Well we’ve gotten some snow, just none of it has stuck yet. My dad came in Monday of this week, on his way back to the States from Russia and left early Wednesday morning. It was really neat for me to be able to show him around the town I’m living in and the really historic sights. It was also cool to see someone I’ve known longer than 3 weeks and made me being here an actual reality where at some points it has still felt like I am dreaming being here.

Something that has been hard for me and I’ve been working on trying to figure out is how I can say something to all my good friends back in DP or at State and they’ll get it and think it’s really funny, but that same thing I can say to other people and they can take it offensively. I guess it is being around personalities that I’m not usually around and trying to figure out how to act around them because they are going to take the things I say and the way I act completely different than the friends I have elsewhere. I’m definitely not saying that their personalities are bad in any way, just different that I’ve surrounded myself with the past years. And maybe that’s even one of the reasons God has brought me here, to break me down and make me be patient with people that are good people but are just different than most of the people I usually spend time with.

So I feel like I'm learning a lot here and catching onto a lot of the culture, which is completely different than the States. I thought I would leave you with some pictures of the snow earlier today... which did not stick at all. But it was pretty falling.

That's the church right across the street from our apartment

Let's move the mountain

So the girls and I are starting to get adjusted to Dresden life, but it has definitely not been without challenges. Yesterday our heat stopped working in our apartment, making it extremely cold. Today, we found out that if you leave a key in the other side of the door and try to unlock it, it won’t work, so we ended up locked out of our apartment with no idea what to do. Thankfully by last night most of our heaters were back on working and we survived the night, and Day and I finally got a space heater to warm up our small room where our heater had not been working since we’ve been here and have been sleeping with numerous layers on.

Ironically, we were blessed through the locked door situation and saw God in a pretty incredible way. Today we went out on our own for our first day of prayer walking and checking out Dresden to find out more about it. Even though honestly I wasn’t looking forward to it, God gave me a peace about it and by the end of it I can say I had a really good day. It was great to be able to pray over the part of the city we went to and see more of the city than we had seen so far. So after we were done, Day and I headed back to our apartment to find out that our landlady had not been able to get our door fixed and we were still locked out of our apartment. We called all of our resources and calculated that the fastest we would end up back in our apartment would be an hour, but probably more like a couple of hours. So we’re sitting in our cold stairway (because only the rooms in our building are heated), talking about how frustrating our time here has been and just trying to keep optimistic in our situations, which I am not a naturally optimistic person, so it has been really hard. So we stand back up and are trying to figure out if there is any other way into our apartment. Finally, I just go to the door and start to just push it because I was so frustrated. Day asks me if I want to try the key again, and I’m like well might as well. So I put the key back in the door and am pretty much slamming my body into the door and jiggling the key, really loudly at that, and then all of the sudden our door just opens!! Day and I start rejoicing out loud and hug, and it was just an INCREDIBLE God moment. I had just shared with our group this Sunday night that I was feeling really discouraged with prayer because I felt like God wasn’t answering any prayers. And here God showed up and said that he still answers prayer, for sure. We just gotta be patient and trust that God will do it in HIS TIME. Which is really hard to be patient, for me anyways. So I’m just feeling much more peace right now about everything.

I also celebrated my birthday yesterday, which was very different, and hard, not being with the people I am really close to back in the States, but I know what I am doing here is more important. And Cheryl made me a chocolate cake, with a big chocolate cake pig on top. It was amazing. Ok, so onto prayer requests! The United Kingdom group got denied entry into Whales and London. I’m not sure we’re they are going to now, but pray that they are able to adjust to that change in their ministry and that they really see God moving and that God uses them in even more amazing ways than they ever could imagine. Also, keep praying for my team and that even though we may not see God moving, He is, and we just need to be patient and have faith that He brought us here for a reason!

Mark 11:22-24: “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

God is good.

Hello from Dresden

29/1/09

Hey guys!
So I’ve been in Dresden since Sunday after spending 5 days of training with 20 other college aged students in Paris. Training was incredible. I definitely learned a lot and was really encouraged by the other students. I was definitely amazed by God and how he united all of us and I sure hope I stay connected with every single one of them.

So after having some problems at the airport, finding out we could only take one bag from Paris to Dresden instead of two we finally made it to Dresden and our apartment. This week will probably be the slowest week out of the whole spring. We’ve just been hanging out and seeing a lot of the area. We’ve seen downtown Dresden and pretty much all the famous sites there are to see here. Then yesterday we went to Meissen which is famous for its porcelain. It’s been super cold here, at least in my opinion, probably staying in the 20’s all day. It hasn’t snowed yet, but there is still a small amount of snow on the ground from a couple weeks ago. But I definitely would like a major snow to come through and then I’m ready for spring! It’s been totally different for me having to put layers and layers of clothes on and then get inside somewhere and take my two jackets off and my scarf, gloves, and such. It’s pretty ridiculous, but maybe once it snows it’ll be all worth it, hah.

Internet access is very limited, but last night we came and checked out one of the McDonalds here hoping they would have internet as they did in Paris. They didn’t… however we were so desperate that I bought us 30 days worth of internet through T-Mobile for 29 Euros. It’s rough though because only 1 of us can be logged in at once and we all have to take turns using it. However, hopefully we’ll be spending enough time here that maybe we’ll meet some people [hopefully]. Plus we need time out of our apartment.

Some huge prayer requests would be that 4 people in the same program that I am in have been denied access to the UK. Two people were supposed to enter on Sunday and then two people going to Wales were suppose to arrive on Tuesday but as of tonight they are still waiting in Paris unsure of what is going to happen. Please pray that God works a way for them to get in so they can start what they came here to do!

Also, for me personally, pray that I would learn a lot of patience through everything going on here. I am also hoping that God would make me a less independent person. Since I went off to school in MS, I have become so proud of my independency and now I’m realizing it is definitely not something to gloat about. Being too independent when you are on a team with 3 other people can turn into a huge problem. If I am too independent it can also make less room for God to work in my life. So please pray that God gives me patience and that he works on my heart to make me rely more on my teammates and not feel like I can get through life on my own. Lastly, continue to pray for my mom. Pray that God gives the doctors wisdom and that they would know how to help her get better and that God would be working in my mom’s body to get the cancer out permanently, because I believe my God is all powerful and He’s the only one that can do amazing things like that.

Oh and also, I did finally get a mailing address so if you want it just email me and I'll send it to you!

Annnd this is my first time to use blogspot so if my page is lame please understand why, hah