A small view into my future life...

This post is not just an update on my life here.. its an update on my heart and the changes that God is making there as well. He has changed my ambitions, dreams, passions, loves, etc so many times and in such great ways I definitely don't have time to express it all here. However, lately it's something unexpected (not surprising for God though..). The things that I have stopped desiring are now becoming the things that he has put back into my life and allowed me to desire for different reasons. I'll explain through telling the story of the family that I stayed with in Germany.

Werner and Elizabeth Frerr are a beautiful German couple living in the countryside in an old farmhouse built by the grandparents of Werner. He is a carpenter by profession and now teaches this subject at a Christian High School one town over. Before this job, he moved his entire family to Singapore to be a missionary for 8 years where they had the role of caring for the missionary kids of other missionaries. They decided, while in Singapore, that God was calling them home to Germany, so he began to renovate the house in Germany from Singapore. When they got back, the family spent an entire year living in one room of the house, while Werner and others finished building the rest of the house by hand. Most of the furnishings in the house are made out of wood, completely designed and crafted by Werner himself.

Elizabeth, during this entire process, was a stay-at-home mom for her 4 children, where she would try to provide a German environment to grow up in while in Singapore. When they were all settled back into their German home, Werner and Elizabeth began to understand why God blessed them with so much room in their house. God wanted them to become foster parents. They currently have 4 boys living with them temporarily. (that makes 8 children now although 2 are grown and moved out) Elizabeth definitely has to continue being a stay-at-home mother since she needs to care for these young boys every day, which as I saw was exhausting, let alone her own 2 children. But even after all of this, Werner teaches sunday school at church for all the little children and Elizabeth usually helps him out with it as well. They are highly respected individuals in the church who many go to for advice and comfort.

Their oldest daughter is married and having a baby soon. Their second is flying missionary airplanes for MPA. Their third son wants to be a missionary in Hawaii for surfers with YWAM. And their youngest daughter is a very talented musician, who was just baptized the Sunday that we came to the church.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that Werner is remodeling a portion of their house so that his parents can live with them? They are getting too old to live on their own and because of this, they needed a place to stay. And due to the generosity of Werner and Elizabeth, they couldn't think of a better place for his parents to live then under his own roof.

I was completely astounded by the lives that Werner and Elizabeth have led. I also found myself completely drawn into this chaotic, frustrating, painful, difficult life as well. They have lived with more love, generosity, and servitude in a couple years than many people will ever experience in one lifetime. Staying at their house for one weekend impacted me.. I can't imagine those foster children not being affected by living with them for a few months or years. I hope to keep in contact with them and I hope they understand what volumes their lives have spoken.

Weekend getaway.. Destination: GERMANY!!!!

Hello to all!
it's definitely time for me to write here again.. woops.. !! Time flies when you're across the world..

Anyhow, last week went by so fast, I don't even know what I did to be able to tell you!! oh my..

Instead, I will tell you about my amazing weekend in Germany..

We left friday 21:00, on a bus to Riga, Latvia. It arrived at the Riga airport at 2:20 AM. So, Ben, Annie, and I slept on the airport benches until 8, when we checked in to Ryanair. Our plane to Germany left at 10:05, so we had plenty of time to sit, wait, and chat with Gerard and Claire (two other study abroads going to Bremen with us!) We arrived in Bremen at 13:30 (unfortunately, no stamp in my passport!) and Ben, Annie, and I walked around to find our host. (Ben's family is with a mission in Japan and they have connections with a family in Bremen, Germnay. We were hooked up with them. Keep in mind that Ben has never seen them before and they have no idea what we look like.) Ben walked around with a sign that said that man's name on it.. finally we found him with two of his eight children. He took us to his car...speaking perfect english the whole way. (Thank God.. none of us speak any German) He told us that they live an hour outside of Bremen and that on the way back to his house he was going to drop us off in Oldenborg (another beautiful city) so we could look around for a while.

We walked around Oldenborg for 6 hours and it was spectacular.. Valentine's Day.. sunny..lots of people.... shopping..architecture.. WOW..!! We fell in love with the city and the people we were encountering. We took tons of pictures in the parks and in front of many beautiful buildings. We even ate Italian food instead of German food.. woops. But the day was filled with seeing as much as we could in our limited time. Our host, Werner, picked us back up and we headed to his house for a huge family dinner. Did I forget to mention that he has 8 children (4 of his own & 4 foster children)? WOW.. (6 live at home) So we had a huge family meal that his wife prepared for us.. and basically.. we fell in love with their family.

Next day, we went to church with them.. German Baptist church.. wonderful place. Didn't understand any of the sermon, but there were baptisms and a huge celebratory feast after church for the entire congregation. It was so fun to sit and eat with the church.. we felt so welcomed by everyone.. The rest of the day was about the family's children; we played basketball, puzzles, and many other games with them all day. No sight-seeing, but it was a wonderfully relaxing day of course ending with another great meal with the whole family!

Monday, we were taken to the train station and we took the first train to Bremen, where we were meeting Claire and Gerard. We checked into our hostel and headed out to the city to see the sights.. Oh my goodness, I was blown away by the architecture and the beauty of this city. Wow... I hope the pictures do some justice to how amazing the city was. We ate Bratwurst in the big square. looked in the cathedral that is 1000 years old, and wandered the city for hours. Then, we ate doner kebabs for dinner (Turkish style kebabs ALL over the place in germany.. SO good).. and went back to our 10 person, co-ed hostel room and headed to bed. The next day we headed home. Only 1 plane, 7 hours in Riga airport, and 1 bus until I was "home" again.

[I will tell more about the amazing family next time.. STAY TUNED!!]

Goodbye week number 4..

This is definitely late. My deepest apologies..

Last week was an interesting one that is for sure. I am starting to feel a little more each day that this is home and comfortable. It's hard some days, but others are so full of fun and joy that I can't help but to love everything. The reason that I haven't posted a blog in a long time is because my mind has been so full of thoughts and feelings that I didn't know how to write down. I also wasn't sure how other people would feel when reading them, so I kept most between myself and God. (sometimes Annie) Something that I was struggling with was the idea of leaving. I know it's not even close to time to start thinking this, but it's only because there are so many people I have grown to love deeply. The fact that part of my time here is all about the countdown until I leave is just depressing in so many ways.

It's depressing for the obvious reason of leaving a place that I have grown to love. Not even talking about the people that I have grown to love, who don't even live in Lithuania, but actually live in several countries across Europe. So, the day that I have to say goodbye is something that I am not looking forward to, but what makes it worse is this anxiety I feel about being here at all. Let me explain. I chose to come here and make myself a part of these people's lives. I chose to put myself smack dab in the middle of their normal lives and supposedly they are supposed to just watch me come, love me while I'm here, and then watch me as I leave again. Of course, there is that very small hope that I will come back or at the very least that we will keep in touch via skype. But, let's be honest, how long do people keep in touch after they part from one another? A few weeks? A few months? Maybe a few years every once in a while.... (sorry to have a depressing blog.. just somethings that have been on my mind)

The amazing thing that I'm learning while thinking about my departure is how much love and kindness everyone is showing me. My roommates are trying so hard to bond with me and show me parts of their life that I would never be able to see otherwise. We go out together and talk about our beliefs and how are lives differ. We share food and watch American movies and drink lots and lots of tea followed by talking. If the roles were switched, I would have a really hard time loving someone who is coming into my life with a start and end date. And the previous relationships that I have had with study abroad students are definitely over. I don't want this experience to just be something fun that I look back on. I want it to be something that I can say "This is my friend from Ukraine; she was my roommate at LCC." I don't want to just be a visitor for a time. I want to be a friend. Relationships seem so hollow when you know the exact date that it will be over. In fact, the date that may be the last time i see these people is written in my planner.

(Again, I'm sorry it's a rather depressing blog. These are just thoughts that I have been having lately and things I want to be aware about. God is definitely making me more aware of how to love people. What truly loving someone means and what everlasting love means even when you're far away from each other. Learrning is hard, but growing is worth it.)

happy february!

Well, I guess I have forgotten about this blog for a sufficient amount of time. :( (woops) This week has just flown by. It pretty much seems like this entire adventure has gone by so fast. I have almost been here a month already and I seem to still be figuring out my place here. (Flashback memories to freshman year)

This week was wonderful starting with Sunday, which I posted pictures from. A few girls from my from my floor decided that they wanted to walk with me to the market. Because we are girls, we definitely took a lot of photos. But when we arrived at the market, I was so excited. Fresh fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, eggs, and flowers were everywhere and a ton of people were there as well to buy. These are the experiences that I came for; being involved in the everyday lives of Lithuanians. Then, we came back and the girls made me pig kidney and mashed potatoes with ketchup of course. (They definitely put ketchup on everything, which is fine with me!) It was delicious! Then, we sat with some tea and talked together, while we looked at the pictures we took of course. (There are some things that do not differ from America..) Then, I said goodbye and went back to my room to get ready for church. Church started at 5 and I decided to try out an English-speaking church. The pastor is my Theology professor and the congregation is about 30 members of LCC faculty and staff. It was a fine protestant service with singing from the hymnal and a message on John 3, but definitely not a cultural experience.

Monday, I obviously went to school and attended by cross-cultural class, which is required for all study abroads. We watched The Singing Revolution, which I highly recommend to anyone because it's all about the singing tradition in Estonia and how their singing helped them to reclaim their freedom.

Tuesday, I went to my one class and then came home and slept because I didn't feel well.

Wednesday continued on the very relaxing week with a little bit of homework and a movie after classes. My roommates and I all felt a little under the weather and Friends (the tv show) was the best medicine and definitely bonding time for us all.

Thursday, I slept in and went to my class. Afterwards, I ventured out into the city to go shopping for some new clothes. I discovered that I had holes in a few pairs of pants and that is just unexceptable. So I went to the big shopping mall downtown that looks so much like a normal American mall that it's scary. I bought pants, shirts, and a bag for 120 dollars. Brilliant sales were everywhere! On the way home, I had to take the bus because it was night time and far away, so I got on a bus. I was definitely not sure if it was the right one, but it sounded right so I got on. However, it turned too early and I got off as quickly as possible and walked back to the bus stop to catch a different one. I got on the right one this time and made it home safely. (Definitely not the smartest idea to go by myself at night without knowing the right bus number.. woops.. sorry mom and dad!)

Friday, I went to classes and then came home and cooked with my roommate. We ate together, drank tea, and watched some Friends(funny in every culture). Very relaxing friday and no homework was done!

Saturday, I woke up to something strange.. it was the sun!!! :) oh my goodness, I have been missing it! So I made my roommates get ready and we went on a walk through old town where i took some pictures of the grafitti that i like. I know that sounds wierd, but there is so much of it and it's actually quite beautiful. Then, we had a pot luck saturday night where many people came and brought food from all over the continent! delicious. i brought a jello salad because what pot luck is complete without it? :) After eating, it was followed by dancing. They tried to teach the Americans a traditional Ukrainian folk dance.( so fun!)

Sunday, again, I woke up to a sunny day with no clouds in the sky. I spent my time studying and standing by the window as much as possible. What a beautiful day. Isn't it funny how something as simple as sunlight can change your entire outlook on a day and affect your mood? Thank you God for sun!!