Christmas in Germany

So what is Christmas like here. Definitely a bit different. There is nowhere near the craziness here. I am not really sure what German families do for gifts, but there aren't the huge malls for anyone to crowd during the holidays. Houses aren't all lit up on the outside. That is different too. They have trees and lights up inside though.

People seem to enjoy Christmas here, but it seems to be a lot more about family and friends and simply getting together. They have these cool things here called kinder-eggs which are hollow chocolate eggs with a toy in the middle that you can put together.

Overall, it was weird experiencing Christmas in another country. I personally don't even feel like I really experienced Christmas. It is a really odd feeling. That being said, I really miss you all.

But we ARE in Europe

Not sure how a bus can be heading to Europe while in Europe, but that is what it says.

Anyway, I hope that everything is going well for everyone. The guys have all gone home for the break and it leaves us with a bit of a break from the busyness. It is well timed relaxation. Especially for one like me who had a not-well-timed bout of sickness decide to nail me. Oh well, I shall conquer eventually.

The Home Stretch

It is almost here. The first half is almost done. On Friday, classes are done for the 3 week Christmas break. Between now and then, there are all kinds of exams and dorm cleaning. The guys will be traveling anywhere and everywhere this weekend.

And there is the fair share of sickness going around. Please pray that all of this goes smoothly and all of us staff hold ourselves together.

Christmas Markets

Europe has these things called Christmas markets. In the center places of towns they set up all these little booths and lights and you just walk around eating food and looking. I have had the pleasure of going to 2 in the past week.

The first one was in Colmar, France. What a quaint little town. It is pretty old and the shops were set up in about 5 or so different places. It was nice and relaxed and some really old churches that I got to see.

The second one was in Heidelberg, Germany. I had the privilege of spending the last weekend there with 12 fellow RAs. Their Christmas market was much bigger. There were lots of people too. It was all down one main street in the different squares. It was quite nice and relaxing. Oh, and to boot, there was a Roman castle above it. Pretty cool.

As for the dorm, we are coming down the homestretch. The guys leave in a week and a couple of days. They are coming into exams and life is just crazy right now. All we have to do is make it 2 weeks. Please pray for the guys.

Something to know

Hey all,

I just wanted to ask for your prayers. Two of the people that I work with are married and expecting a baby. They found out last week that the baby has a heart condition where the right side of the heart is not developing. There is nothing that can really be done before the baby is born and then the baby will have to have surgeries to help correct the problem.

Here is a link with more information.

Matt

Herbstmesse

Here are some pics that were taken at Herbstmesse. It is a big fair thing that was in the end of October into the beginning of November and the whole school goes on October 31. The rides were in the open areas of Basel. These pictures were taken by BFA people. Here is a link to the BFA photo gallery with lots of neat pictures. Here is a link to the specific photo gallery for Herbstmesse.




Here is Basel. That is the ferris wheel that I rode. It was really high, but I survived. It was an awesome view of the city



Here are two of my boys on the bumper cars. The guy on the left is Tim and he is the student body president. The guy on the right is John. He is one of 4 brothers in our dorm. BFA has a time when everyone gathers at the bumper cars to ride. Over 500 tickets were sold to BFA. There was no set direction to drive for these bumper cars.



Here is a picture of staff. The guy on the left is Jeff and he is an RA with me at Sonne. The 3rd from the right is Sarah. She is pregnant and also RAs at Sonne along with her husband Matt. I don't know who the guy all the way on the right is.



This is a pic of more RAs. The Rhein river is beautiful, especially going through Basel.



This is the view from the top of the ferris wheel. It was pretty.

Have a great day. Now that we have faster internet I hope to post more pictures.

Picture

Here are my boys.

More pics coming

Thanks to the one...

This past Thursday, BFA celebrated Thanksgiving. We cooked up all the fixins as well as 6 turkeys and 4 hams. We had 43 people all together around one big long table. It was loud and the food was good. Then we watched some good ole American football afterwards to polish the Thanksgiving feel off.

It was nice to have a little feel of North America here in Germany. I think that the guys really enjoyed it too. After the meal, we all went around and said something that we were thankful for. Some really good things came out. There are many neat things that people are thankful.

Tonight I go into Basel, CH with some guys for an outreach thing. It should be fine. Basel is a great city.

Eclecticism

It sleeted last night. That is right, snow is just around the corner. I like snow but everyone here tells me that I will eventually be sick of it when it gets to be April and maybe May. We shall see.

Today the guy RAs walked up to the World War memorial in Kandern. It was nice and has a nice view. It is weird to think that I am in Germany who had a pretty significant role in both World Wars. Ah, history. I like it.

Not a sermon, just a thought

Some may say that this RA position here at BFA is a pretty thankless job. I have thought it at times. The guys don't notice what you do and your fellow staff members expect you to hold up your end of the work. In the end it ends up being pretty thankless.

This got me thinking. How often is God in a thankless 'job'. If things are going well, we just expect them to. If things are going bad, we may blame God. How much do we thank Him? How much do I thank Him? Not much.

I got to work on that. I have been told before that it is a good thing to thank God for something or 5 every day. I think it would be a good practice.

A Wonderful Thing

Two Sundays ago, I had a wonderful privilege. I got to lead some worship at church. There is a church that has services on Sundays in the auditorium of the school. It is an English speaking church that many of the people that serve at BFA go to.

As many of you know, I love worship through music. I love music so that helps. It was a great opportunity that God gave me to do it. Many times God gives us gifts beyond what we can do to serve Him. This whole position at BFA is like that. The worship was just another example. I am so thankful for that opportunity.

I'm sorry

I want to do a mass apology to everyone who has emailed me. I have been horrible at getting back within a reasonable time. Sorry about that. I could make some excuses but that won't help anyway. I just need to work on it.

In other news, I thought that I would give you some information about the dorm. The house's first part was built in 1820. And the second part was built in 1899. It is an old building with a really homey feel. It used to be a guesthouse so it transformed well into be a place for 28 guys to stay. We have a soccer field near us and the Blauen dorm is across the road. I should try to get some pics up for you. Oh, I wish I had a digital camera. Oh well.

Peace all.

A New Experience

Granted I am in a completely different culture so new experiences are probably the norm. But today I did something I haven't done before. I took a guy to the German doctor. Doctors here are pretty different. First off, the waiting room was actually a room with a door. And then it was quick. Within 20 minutes of walking in the door, we were walking out.

Another interesting thing about German doctors is that they don't tell you what is wrong. They just tell you what to do to fix it. It doesn't seem to matter to them what it is and they could care less about telling you. This observation is based on more than just one experience. So I have no idea what is wrong with my guy, but we got medicine to make him better. Yippee.

One of these days I will eventually tell you about the Alps, but not now.

Also, I miss live music. I didn't realize how much I went to.

Over the river...Almost

Recently I had a birthday and it involved a certain watery tradition of the dorm. I have been wanting to get pictures up for you so you could see some of it. It took me a while, but here it is.

This is me giving my birthday speech. It was a grand thankful speech and way too long for the impatient guys. They were really eager to creek me. Notice the water on my shirt as a foreshadowing to the event.

This is half way down to the creek. They started singing, 'Nah, nah, nah, nah...nah, nah, nah, nah...Hey, hey, hey...Goodbye!" and didn't stop until I went in.

And this is me going in. They had great joy in doing it and after I went in, I was sure to give giant hugs to whomever I met on the way back to the house. That is why they are running.

Well, enjoy and have a good laugh at this.

It's been so long...

Wow, there has been lots to do recently. Many things are happening right now. The guys are getting a lot busier with extra-curricular activities and I get to take them to such places. Laundry finally went smoothly today. Hopefully I will continue to smooth everything out as I get used to it.

Football is something that I thought I wouldn't get to watch, but there is this wonderful channel called NASN(North American Sports Network) and I got to see two games this past Sunday. A little taste of home.

Nothing of great significance has happened recently, but I seemed to be reminded often that I am not in my comfy North American environment.

Please pray for me that I will respond well to the students and also work well with my fellow staff members.

Other prayer requests are a bit more personal. Probably my hardest adjustments since being here have been losing my independence and also leaving my support structure back in the states.

God bless

A weekend of Germany

This is where I, with a couple of my guys, hike to on Saturday afternoon. Round trip it was about 6-7 miles. It was pretty neat. The castle started sometime in the 1200s. I could give you more information if I knew some German, but oh well. We were able to climb up to the top of the turret and look around. Pretty cool.

On Sunday, we went into town to a festival called Budenfest. There were all kinds of food stands there were you could get pretty much anything. They also had a polka band that I got to hear. It was pretty interesting to be submerged into complete German culture for a bit. I got myself a nice and juicy bratwurst to celebrate the day. A neat experience to be sure.

A website for y'all to search. It is all in German so I apologize for that, but it is the website for the town that I live in. On the left you can click on something called 'Fotos". There are some nice pictures there.

Weekend Update

Okay, so it isn't really the weekend, but it is close enough. It has been crazy busy this week. So much has been going on. We are definitely in the middle of the school year already. Running people everywhere. Trying to keep up with everything. Nothing like doing 10-15 loads of laundry on one day.

I am slowly starting to get into a rhythm which will be nice. Crazy stuff is happening though. The ceiling in our dorm parents apartment fell in on this past Monday. A headache that wasn't really needed. I got my first day off since I got here this week. It was nice to just sleep in and do what I wanted to.

I have some contact info for y'all. If you want to mail something you can send it to one of two places. Either the dorm or the school.

The dorm address is:
Kanderstrasse 8
79429 Malsburg-Marzell
Germany

The school address is:
Postfach 1109
79396 Kandern
Germany

And my phone number is: 00 (49) 7626.8504

No Room in the Inn

Well, they are all here. We have have 26 students living in the dorm. This is a good thing and has made it a lively place. We wished them off to school today. At the opening ceremony today we had kids stand up who are from or live in 52 different countries. It was really neat to see.

These kids have so much more international experience than me. I hope that they accept me in spite of that. There are so really neat people here. It will be great getting to know them.

Please pray for a family from here. They just found out that their son who is a freshman in college has cancer. He is in Canada right now and they are going back to Canada to be with him. He is having surgery on Wednesday.

It's the day

Today, it started. 15 of the students staying in our dorm came. I met people who live in Italy, the Czech Republic, Turkey, and many other countries. Very cool. Four brothers came, all living in our dorm. Very cool.

Tomorrow the rest of the 26 students arrive. It is great to start meeting the people that I will be spending the next year with. Right now the computer room is full here. Us RAs are just chilling a bit after a long day of welcoming kids and parents. I met many different varieties of many different people.

Please pray for safe travel.

Sperrmüll

This is the German 'large trash' day. Basically what happens is that 3 or so times a year the German people put out all their big items that they want to throw away. The night before, they put the stuff on the side of the road. Some of it is nice stuff that they don't need or want anymore. There will be couches, chairs, tables, skis, and pretty much anything else that you can imagine.

Here is the kicker. The night before, you can drive around and hunt for things that you can use or like. If you decide that you want it, you pick it up, put it in your vehicle and take it home. There are some very interesting things that you can get. It is a great way to bargain shop, especially since it is free.

Laugh your head off!

That's right 2 posts in 2 days. I had something too good not to share.

Tonight I was in a German pizza place. I was necessarily in the mood for pizza so I decided to order something different. I thought that I would go the pasta route. I looked through the menu and found something that I thought looked very delicious. This whole time I was enjoying the fact that I seemed to be figuring out what was on the menu even though it was in German. I ordered my meal and then waited.

When the food arrived at the table, everyone's food looked right except for mine. Why? Because what I ordered was not what I thought I had ordered. Instead of a nice plate of pasta, I got a plate of rice and cheese. That's right. Think of macaroni and cheese and instead of the macaroni, substitute a large plate of rice. Rice and cheese. What a great dinner. I laughed quite well for a while over my fumble. I hope that you enjoy laughing at it too.

Maybe tomorrow I will talk about Sperrmüll.

Where am I going?

This is where I am headed. On Tuesday I found out that they choose me to be an RA in Sonne. This is a house with 28 guys and I will be on the first floor. It is up in the hills of the Black Forest and very beautiful. There are new dorm parents for Sonne and me and another RA are also new. There are 3 returning RAs. Please pray for me as we try to come together as a team to best minister to and serve the kids.

We talked this week about 'Whose home is it anyway?' We have 28 guys coming to live here. We also have dorm parents who are creating there home here and are in charge. Add on top of that, 5 RAs that want to create a feeling of home for themselves and have been living in their own homes for the past years. This is an interesting situation and really requires us to treat each other with love, grace and respect.

One week until the students come. This last week we will do projects around the house and go to an all staff conference. Hopefully I will get some pictures up soon of where I live.

1 week down...or so

Well, I just finished my first week. Guess what I am doing today? Shopping! Oh yeah, how I love shopping. No, seriously, there are a few things that I need to get and this will be very helpful.

This week has been very eventful. I have had the pleasure of having German every morning. I have learned some to make me a little dangerous and stick my foot in my mouth, but not enough to have a conversation.

The residence life staff has taken us through training in the afternoon. That has been helpful but a bit of information overload. After dinner, I have had some driving practice. It has been useful since I will be taking 8 high school kids in van when school starts.

I have headed into a couple of small cities and done some enjoyable little things.

Please pray that I develop good relationships with the other residence staff and that I take information in and not just in one ear and out the other.

Quick one

With what has happened today with airports, many problems have been created. Many teachers and returning people are arriving from the States and Canada over the next few days. Their travels will be turned into nightmares. Please pray for all of this, especially the ease of travel. At least as much ease as possible right now.

What a place!

Okay, I finally got these pictures to work. First off, these are not pictures that I took, but they are pictures of a place I was to on Wednesday. All this week we have had driver's training. The group of people I am in all know standard show driving has been a pleasant experience. So pleasant that our trainer for the day decided to give us a more advanced route. He decided to take up a mountain. The name of it is Hochblauen. It is 1165 meters tall which is about 3800 feet.

Wow, it was beautiful. It looks over the Rhine river valley into to France, Switzerland and also into the other bits of the Black Forest in Germany. On a very clear day, one can see the Alps. Yesterday was not that clear. We got there a bit before sunset. Wow, God's creation is amazing. I wish that I had had a camera.

Am I actually here?

Well, I am here. After 15 hours of traveling, I arrived in Germany. God has been good and everything has arrived safely. I am tired from virtually no sleep, but that's okay. I'll get some over the next couple of days.

It doesn't feel real at all. It just feels like I am visiting a different part of the US. I wonder when it will hit me?

I'M THERE!!

I am going. It is just a matter of time. I need to be at 80% of more of my support raised to be able to go to BFA. As of last night, I am at 90%. Thank you for all you have done.

God is great and is blessing me incredibly throughout all of this. In 10 days, I will be in Germany. Please be praying for my safe travels.

Blessings

As this process has continued I am constantly reminded of God's blessings. It is amazing how He works things. He has continued to work many things out for Germany. Right now, I am getting ready to go. I still have to do something with my car.

I know it was a while ago, but here are some pictures from my orientation. These are some of the people that I will be working with at BFA.

Right Now I'll be in Germany

That's right. 4 weeks from today, I will be in Germany. I have reserved my plane ticket for August 2. It is getting closer and closer. I am currently at 73% of my support raised. I still need more, but only need to get to the 80% level to be able to go. It is very exciting.

Thank you to all who have supported me.

The Next Step

Hey y'all,

It's so much more real now. I spent a week up in Canada participating in orientation for Germany. It was put on by Janz Team Ministries which is the missions organization that I am going through to get to Germany. It was really nice to meet another 15 people that are also going to BFA. We all have such a heart to minister to these kids.

We learned so much about cultural differences and the term "Third Culture Kids." These are missionary kids whose parents are from one country, yet they are growing up in another country. Neither country is their culture, so they are somewhere in the middle. They deal with different things from regular kids. I hope to show them the love of God.

So with getting to meet a bunch of great people and learning more about what I will be doing and how to do it better, I had a great time.

Please pray for me as I continue to raise support. I currently have 35-40% of my support raised. I need to have 80% before I can go over and I have around 6 weeks left before I am supposed to go. Also pray for my fellow peeps that I met in Canada that they will also be able to raise their support.

God bless.

TEAM

Things are slow here because I am not in Germany yet, but they will pick up when I get over there. Anyway...

Team, such a simple word but a word that means so much. It especially means much in this situation. The reason is that this is what needs to be created for me to go to Germany. It is about a group of people caring about reaching to missionary kids in Europe. These kids are away from home in a strange country and if I can live with them and support them, it will serve them.

I am nothing special. I am amazed at how God wants to use such an imperfect person as myself. I am just able and willing to go. Many people can't go. That doesn't mean that they can't join together to accomplish a ministry goal.

That is what I want to create. A team of people gathering together doing different things to accomplish one goal. I am only one person and at most I am just the hand, but I can't do anything without the body contributing. So in prayer and finances, or many other ways, I ask you to team with me. This isn't about me going somewhere. This is about serving God and doing His work.

New Stuff Added!!

To make the process a bit easier, both my support letter and support pledge form are now on this site. On the side menu under 'Support documents' you will see links for both.

If you are looking for another copy of the pledge form or support letter, just click on the subsequent link and a .PDF form will open up for you.

Ministry

I have been blessed to have the ministry opportunity come along. This is just another example of the local church reaching out and touching the world for God. I would not be here without my church which has helped me to grow and has given me ministry opportunities to flourish in. I don't view this as any different. This chance just happens to be somewhere else.

It still is no different that any other opportunity that comes up in the local church. It is just blessing different people. It is no more or less important that the things that are done in your church every Sunday. I just happen to have the ability to go elsewhere to assist in ministry needs there.

Who? What? Where? When? Why?

So why am I starting this blog? I have been given a unique opportunity to minister to high school students that don't necessarily feel like they have a place to call home. I have been accepted by the Black Forest Academy to be a resident student in their housing for missionary kids. These kids are sent by their parents(missionaries) to this school to get a strong education while keeping Christ as the root of their learning. I have a great love for students and bringing them closer to their Christ who saved them while preparing them for their adult lives.

The Black Forest Academy is in the southwest corner of Germany in a small town called Kandern. It is located about 1/2 hour north of Switzerland.

I am leaving for Germany at the very beginning of August and will be there for two years. For this I am not paid a salary. This allows the Black Forest Academy to keep their costs to the students down. I therefore will have to raise my own support and go through a mission organization. The one I am going through is Janz Team Ministries. I need to raise around $1500 a month and also some first time startup costs. Hopefully in the next little while, I will have my support letter and pledge form on this blog so that you can download it and read and use it if you feel called.