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Thursday, 18 June 2009

  • Germany

    Well, I have now been in Germany for nearly a month.

    The first week of the program was on campus. Our class of eight students had class from about 9 to 5 every day with a break for lunch. During those six days of intense class, we went through 2, 500 years of history and about 1000 years of history on the first day alone. It was incredibly intense as I am not used to sitting in a classroom for that long anymore. :0)

    During that week, I also had two job interviews, so right up until the end everything was going 100 miles a minute.

    We flew to Munich where I got to briefly see my dad and then our professor led us on the "Munich death march" after dropping our bags in our rooms at the YMCA in Munich. Imagine not sleeping at night and then walking all over Munich to see 5 different churches (in one of which I fell asleep), then walking up 350 stairs to have a "view of  Munich" and then getting hailed on at the top of the tower. Finally, we went back to the hostel and I crashed!!!!!! I slept for about three hours and then woke up for an hour to try and reach my parents and to put on my PJs and then just climbed back into bed.

    While in Munich the days were fairly packed. One of the days we were supposed to use to go to the Art museums (at least one of them) in Munich. We decided to go to the Alte Pinakothek. We went to a German church service on Sunday and after that went to Dachau. That was quite the experience. Our prof gave us about three and a half hours to just wander around the camp. What can you say when you visit such an awful place? It made me ask a lot of questions. In my German classes at Wheaton, we have talked about how Germans are never allowed to forget the Holocaust and how generations later still have to carry the weight of what happened. I wondered what it must be like to acutally live in the town of Dachau where everyday hundreds of tourists come to visit this concentration camp...

    My favorite day was the one that we went to Garmisch. Our group took the train to Garmisch-Patenkirchen and there we were met by a large portion of my family. They drove the hour from home to spend the day with us. It was so wonderful to see them! We went hiking in the Partnachklamm, which was really nice and then hiked up to the top of a mountain/peak. Afterwards, I went to dinner with my family while the others had some free time to roam the Fußgängerzone (area with shops).

    On two of the days, I also had the chance to conduct my first two interviews, which was really interesting.

    From Munich, we then took the train to Vienna. Each day, we saw many of the important sights there. We saw a lot of the important and beautiful buildings that the Habsburger built. We went to Schloss Schönbrunn and we saw the Hundertwasserhaus. That was really neat! What cool architecture... so much nature on top of apartment buidings!!! ;0)
    I think I speak for the whole  group, though, when I say that we were all glad to return to Germany after a few days.

    We are in our third week in Bonn, each of us stayng with individual host families. It is wonderful to be in a home and to have home-made meals. I am really blessed with the family that I am with. I spend each of my days here working on my research project, meeting with the rest of the group when we have group events, and spending time getting to know my host family. They have taken me on many wonderful outings and I have especially enjoyed playing board games with my host parents once the kids have gone to bed. My host dad is trying to teach me Filser English, which is basically translating German idyoms or sayings into English. It is absolutely hilarious! I have completely lost it more that once!

    I spent one weekend in Marburg, visiting my older sister! That was such a highlight! She got me hooked on professional tennis. I did not understand why she liked it so much, but now I do! It's a lot more fun watching the games when you actually understand what is happening! :0) Tennis players are just such gentlemen. They are overall good sportsman and they are just as Kristin says, 'all around good guys!' Roger Federer finally won the French Open and so has now won every Grand Slam tournament at least once. We were both just so happy for him... when he finally scored the winning point, he just fell on his knees (on the clay... ouch!!!) and just started sobbing! Poor guy! So much pressure and tension! Finally, he has won, though!
    Kristin and I also spent one day walking around Marburg in the rain, which was fun. We sat in a little cafe, went to a massage place, hair salon, shopping... and then we also cooked together! She's such a good cook. Of course, we also spent some time studying and working on our individual things that we needed to get done. She is such a trooper. She has her state exams coming up in August and they last until the end of October. So, basically, she is just studying, studying, studying... 10 semesters or so worth of material! Crazy!

    But I know that she can do it! She is incredibly capeable!


    I am now in Hannover, after meeting my dad in Cologne for the afternoon. Dad and I first went to see the famous kölner Dom and then to lunch at a restaurant right outside the church. After that, we met up with the rest of his group (a seminar on sports ministry with people from all over Europe) and went to the Olympic museum. After that, Dad bought me an ice cream and we headed back to the train station.

    In Hannover, I was picked up by three very wonderful friends. I had told one of my friends that I thought coming back would kind of be like being in a dream... everything would be so familiar, but strange at the same time since my family doesn't live here anymore. So far, everything has seemed really real and I just feel really blessed. I am about to head out and go to a lot of familiiar places and take pictures. I am really looking forward to the next few days and reconnecting with long-time friends.

    Thank you for all of your words of encouragement and prayers!

    I would greatly appreciate prayer for:

    • a job for both Andrew and myself. We are continuing to just trust the Lord that He will provide.
    • Discipline and clarity as I finish my research project. Next week, I am hoping to start with the final paper, after finishing my interviews here in Hannover and finishing the reading.
    • For good health.
    • For safety.

    I hope you are all doing well and I love hearing from you!

Monday, 15 June 2009

Sunday, 14 June 2009

  • A tribute to my EMILY!

    Well, once again a month has passed and I want to thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement. I am about a month into the Wheaton in Germany program and so far it has been a really good experience. A lot of questions have arisen for me as I have returned to the country in which I have lived the majority of my life...some of the questions having to do with 'where is home? Where is the future going to lead?' etc. There's so much to tell, and yet, I want to put that off for another time.

    Right now, I would like to write a little tribute to one of my dearest friends in the world: Emily.

    Emily, my roommate of two years, is leaving for Bolivia tomorrow for six months. She is a part of the Human Needs and Global Resources program, also known as HNGR. Emily is going to be living and working among the Bolivian people; her focus will be on working with and loving on the girls that she meets. Little do those girls know what a treasure they have coming their way. And let me tell you why...

    Emily has one of the greatest abilities to just love people. She lives and breathes relationships. I have never met someone who is as dedicated to relationships as Emily is. When you talk about a friend who lays aside their own problems and things that they need to get done in order to help or just be  with someone else who needs them... that's Emily to the core. The definiton in any dictionary for that kind of a person says Emily.

    Em has the ability to focus in on people and she has the patience and desire to listen to absolutely everything that you have to say. No detail is too small. She asks good questions that make you feel like she's one hundred per cent interested in what you have to say.

    Em also has a very comical side to her. She makes people laugh and even the most focused people crack a smile. Some people when meeting this extroverted passionate girls ask, 'is she for real?' :0) Yes, Em  is, indeed, one of a kind - but only in the best of ways! It has been an absolute joy living with her for the past two years. (well, two and a half since she had her toothbrush in our bathroom freshman year already!... for all of the times that she would sleep over!) I am not saying that we have never had our disagreements because in some ways we function very differently, but over these past few years, Em has just taught me so much. I have appreciated her humility, her care, her kindness, her passion to love and to reach out to those in need... I have enjoyed our late night conversations, which just always seemed to happen despite our being extremely tired and having to get up early the next morning.

    Emily is an inspiration to me. She challenges me daily in my walk with Christ. I have never met anyone my age who is as dedicated as she in setting aside for spending time in direct communion with God. This then benefits all of those around her as Christ's love just shines through her.

    I have also never met anyone who can get as excited for you as Emily can. When Andrew and I got engaged, Emily called as soon as she got the text message of what had happened! Andrew and I had called several of our family members to tell them the good news, but all of the ones we called had already been asleep and so their response was more or less, 'hmm. That's great! Good night!' ;0) We can't blame them.
    But when Em found out and called she made up for pretty much everyone else who had struggled with voicing a lot of enthusiasm, considering the hour that it was. Lots of screaming and shouting and, oh it was just so great! She is such a cheerleader!

    Over the past years as Em has gone through the very lengthy process of first getting into HNGR and then getting ready to go, I have stood in constant amazement. I just could not fathom wanting to go to a Third World Country/The Global South all bymyself without knowing anyone or knowing the language very well and to work there for six months. It is obvious that God has given Emily this passion and the strength for everything that she has accomplished so far. I know that God is going to do amazing things through her and in her while she is there. I admire her for her willingness to go and her trust in the Lord for His provision for her.

    Despite all of the wonderful things that God is going to do through her there and the gift that she is going to be to all of those that she meets, I am going to miss her in these next six months - terribly! I am going to miss our midnight conversations, I am going to miss coming home to the apartment and see her sitting there in her orange Wheaton sweatpants and brown Wheaton hoodie. I am going to miss all of her butterscotch creations - brownies and cookies. I am going to miss her smiling face looking up whenever I came in the door, giving me her full attention, no matter what she was doing at the moment. I am going to miss seeing her sitting at the kitchen table reading her Bible and journaling. I am going to miss her hugs and always open ear. I am going to miss our walks. Things are going to be very different in these six months not having her there when we all return to Wheaton. Things just won't be the same without her.

    I have asked Emily how many bridesmaids she is planning on having at her wedding... and I'll watch her start counting... and counting... and then she just smiles and looks at me and says, 'I don't know!'  My theory is that everyone attending her wedding will be in the bridal party... Em just has this amazing ability of being an incredible friend to so many different people! We'll have to go out onto the street and invite people to come and sit in the pews since all of the guests will be standing up front with her and her groom! :0)

    Well, I think I had better come to a close... even though I feel like I have just scraped the surface of who Emily is and the amazing and beautiful woman that God has amde her into whom God is continuing to shape her.

    Em, I love you very much and I am praying for you as you finish your time with friends and family back at homeb before you get on the plane tomorrow.

    This blessing is for you:

    May the light of God shine over you,
    May the Holy Spirit fill you.
    May the blood of Jesus cover you.
    May you sleep in peace.
    May you always know just how much the Lord Jesus loves you!

    I love you and I wish I could be there with you right now to take you to the airport ...


Wednesday, 13 May 2009

  • Persevering in Faith

    Today I had an interview canceled for a job that I was really excited about and I felt like I had a shot at. It was a huge disappointment. It turns out that they are looking for someone to start within the next few weeks and since I will not be available until August, it would not work out.

    Then I remembered something that I had read in my devotional yesterday and I wanted to share it with you. I hope that it comes as an encouragement to you.


    Everything is possible for him who believes. (Mark 9:23)

    "The "everything mentioned here does not always come simply by asking, because God is always seeking to teach you the way of faith. Your training for life of faith requires many areas of learning, including the trial of faith, the discipline of faith, the patience of faith, and the courage of faith. Often you will pass through many stages before you finally realize that result of faith - namely, the victory of faith.
    Genuine moral fiber is developed by enduring the discipline of faith. When you have made your request to God, and the answer still has not come, what are you to do? Keep on believing His Word! Never be swayed from it by what you may see or feel. Then as you stand firm, your power and experience is being developed, strengthened, and deepened. When you remain unswayed from your stance of faith, even in view of supposed contradictions to God's Word, you grow stronger on every front.
    God will often purposely delay in giving you His answer, and in fact the delay is just as much an answer to your prayer as is the fulfillment when it comes. He worked this way in the lives of all the great Bible characters. Abraham, Moses, and Elijah were not great in the beginning but made great through the discipline of their faith. Only through that discipline were they then equipped for the work to which God had called them.
    Think of Joseph, for example, who the Lord was training for the throne of Egypt. Psalm 105:19 The Word of the Lord tried him. It was not the prison life with its hard beds or poor food that "tried him" but "the word of the Lord." The words God spoke into his heart in his early years, concerning that were always before him. He remained alone in prison, in spite of his innocence, and watched others being released who were justly incarcerated. yet he remembered God's words even when every step of his career made fulfillment seem more and more impossible.
    These were the times that tried his soul, but they were also the times of his spiritual growth and development. Then when word of his release from prison finally came, he was found ready and equipped for the delicate task of dealing with his wayward brothers. And he was able to do so with a love and a patience only surpassed by God Himself.
    No amount of persecution will try you as much as experiences like these - ones in which you are required to wait on God. Once He has spoken His promise to work, it is truly hard to wait as you see the days go by with no fulfillment. Yet it is this discipline of faith that will bring you into a knowledge of God that would otherwise be impossible."

                                  ~ Streams in the Desert for Graduates (May 12)

    I cannot help but be disappointed and it would be so easy to just give up and give in. This was a good reminder to me that God is sovereign and that He is the Provider for all of our needs.

    I still covet your prayers for me in the job search.

    Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you were encouraged!

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

FluffyMuffin1223

  • Visit FluffyMuffin1223's Xanga Site
    • Name: Laura
    • Country: Germany
    • Birthday: 12/23/1987
    • Gender: Female
    • Member Since: 7/3/2005

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