The Swiss Alps

This last weekend I went with the ten other guys in my small group to a chalet up in the Swiss Alps! We climbed two mountains in the two days, and saw so many random shacks spread out all over the place. Don't ask me what they were for, most looked impossible to even get to! And of all the things to see in the Swiss Alps, we saw this lady walking a Camel down the road! Anyway, that was a great time, and very beautiful.
Then last night we went to the restaurant of our church and they had a guest Country band! That was only the coolest thing ever, cuz they sang popular cover songs which nobody here even knew, but I loved it. Germans are funny singing country, it seemed more than a little out of place. Everyone was wearing Gangster hats and Fishing hats, and seemed to think that made them cowboys. And apparently this band has won some awards for their music, but we thought that couldn't be too tough to do, because they are probably the only country band in Germany! Anyway this last week has been a lot of fun.

Bird in Your Ear

So I've realized recently that since we've been here, all we've gotten in the mail (with the exception of one imPACt paper from Portage Alliance Church) has been bills, junk flyers, and more bills. Some friends have been asking what they can do for us, beyond specific prayer requests, etc. Well, allow me to announce once and for all that we LOVE mail!! Packages are especially nice, but any reminder that somewhere, someone loves us will do! Danke Schoen!!

Driving

So I have some exciting news! Two things first I got to play in a worship band which was a lot of fun also challenging, because everything happens in German so following along is a little difficult, but fun.
The second piece of news is I went on one of the autobahns a couple days again with a BMW! If you didn't know a lot of the autobahns here in Germany do not have speed limits. Well needless to say I had fun. The BMW was one of the smallest they make, but it will still do 190km/h. Anyway both of those things happened on the same day, so that was a pretty good day!

ohne dich ist alles doof!

(Starting from my left is Ruth, Rachel, Denise & Simone.)







I'm just gonna vent a little bit of excitement for awhile, okay?

So we live in this really great little house, and when we came we only had two suitcases of clothes and our snowboards. Our entire house now has everything we need to live, plus more, and it was all free!! (I mean, we pay rent, but not alot) We are now getting German lessons from the pastor's wife (ha, ha! She's even Swiss!!), who wants us to just help clean their place or babysit their 2 and 4 year old as payment!! Fantastic! Then, because we are also helping in the restaurant of the church, we were told that we could eat there for free! Not that we want to abuse that and eat there all the time, but we're there alot and it helps so much! We were lent/given a car, washer & dryer, vaccuum cleaner, a cell phone, a TV, a DVD player, everything that we need and even don't need! When I stop to add it all up, it is just so amazing how the Lord takes care of you, above and beyond what you ever could have expected! Es ist einfach unglaublich!! Its definately faith-building, not to mention exciting! "Thanks" for those of you who have been praying for us! We are living proof that He's answering!

Perks

So there may be some hard things about living in Germany, but there are some definite benifits. Like driving one hour to Zurich and hanging out there for the day, seeing the sights and having a good time down by the river with all the old buildings and churches.
One of the best parts is that I got to drive through the longest tunnel I have ever been in, it was 4km long, a good time if I do say so myself.
Also I can say "nein danke" (no thank you) without an accent! A Linguistics Master, I am!

Question of the Day:
Have you ever felt like your using your gifts that God has given you, but they are not the gifts you feel called to use?

Difficult Duties

Well we just had a meeting with Phil Peters our mentor and he told us about a very difficult part of our onSite that we will have to do. At the end of February and middle of March there are three different week long camps that the church puts on. We will be going along on these camps to help out and participate in them. This is not the difficult part, the difficult part is that they are ski/snowboard camps, so I have to snowboard for three weeks this winter! I do not know how I will ever handle this! I guess I will just have to bear down and do it!
Other then that news everything else here is going well, we are getting busier with meetings, planning events and such. We have started our German lessons and now people speak to me in German and I still don't understand them. I guess I need more then 3 lessons to become fluent! Who would have thought!

This picture is of an ox on a spit downtown Lorrach. It was pretty cool (Mindy was quite disgusted).

Tonight I head to a small group with some guys from the church. It should be a good way to meet some new people and to perhaps learn more German. With that I leave you one of the words I can say though I don't know if I spell it correctly. Tschus! (pronounced choos)

P.S By the way, incase you didn't know, I am very sarcastic in the first paragraph!