Seniorenessen

This week held many adventures!

On tuesday nights bible class (which is in all german mind you) I was able to follow along with most of the lesson! It wasn't perfect, but I was able to piece together enough I think! I am already rather ADD, so sitting still for an hour is hard for me, but add a language that I cant really understand on top of that and things get interesting!!!

I had an interesting reading with Silke this past week, she is the one that could be my mom. We talked about if God takes care of the birds, surely he will take care of us so dont worry. I was curious how this lesson would go, seeing as I am much younger, and light heartedness tends to bless the young, I was interested to see if she found this foolish and imprudent or intriguing. The first was more correct, she found that for some this worked, but the idea for all was not possible, that we must worry about the little things because the little things effect the big things in life. It was an interesting discussion!

German class was really slow this week. This is my last class, Tiffanys also, it has just become to expensive and time consuming at this point. We will both continue to learn, but not in a classroom setting.

Wednesday was team meeting and I met with Conny for our reading. That was a little stressful. She is about at the point I am at in German, where I can read things just fine, but I don't have a clue what they mean... which means she is able to read the text, but not comprehend it. So I think im going to get a german Bible this week and we will read the story out of the german bible and the english bible and then discuss in english.

Thursday night we had our first grill of the season, and afterwards we went to the Rhodes and watched Napoleon Dynamite. Roy made some comment about loving technology during our team meeting wednesday and of course that instantly took me back to the movie and Kip's song at the wedding, so we all watched it the next night!

Friday I went to Dresden with Ceili, we hung out downtown for a little bit and watched the mormons stand in the square and yell the message at unsuspecting pedestrians. After that, Ceili hopped a train back to Chemnitz to spend the evening with her family, and I hopped a tram to go to the Dresden church. They are doing a monthly english discussion group using the Nooma videos. It was a great discussion group about why we do what we do and why we care what others think.

Saturday was Seniorenessen! It went really well, we had a great turn out! Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Have a wonderful week! Be good and do good!

Sarah B

Your love is peace to the broken, faith for the widow, hope for the orphan, strength for the weak. Your love is the anthem of nations, rings out through the ages. And your always enough for me. ~ Casting Crowns

Long May You Run

Olesnitz, the small "village" about 20 minutes from Chemnitz hosted the monthly singing yesterday. It was a little different though, if you remember around thanksgiving-ish I posted some pictures and talked about going to help with the floor. Well the floor is now complete and they are able to hold worship in their main building again, so singing was more of a celebration of a completed undertaking. It went really well. I had serious German overload and had a hard time paying attention after a while, but, it was nice to see people and have fellowship with them.

The first half of the afternoon started with a dedication to the church, there were preachers or someone from a lot of the main congregations from around here that got up and gave short lessons about building on a firm foundation. The Chemnitz A Cappella singers sang a few songs, well the ones who are well sang! The second half consisted of a slideshow of renovations and then small performances. The kids sang a cute little german song for us and then two brothers from Olesnitz got up and sang and played their guitars. They sang Long May You Run. Instant flashback to my childhood hearing that. My moms side of the family is very musical, it skipped my gene, anyways, my mom and uncle would always pull out their guitars and sing together, I knew a lot of Neil Diamond, James Taylor and The Eagles as a young child :).

Yesterday was also ladies breakfast. It went really well, we had 16 ladies there, from 10 to 81. It was a nice time of fellowship for us.

This week consists of readers and planning. I am hoping to start of something similar to a mothers day out here. One Saturday a month offer to watch children from a few months old to about 10 (which is old to have a babysitter here, kids are much more independent at a young age). The idea is to give them a free day, so we would "open" at around 9 and stay open til around 4. Please keep this in your prayers, we are hoping it will be a good outreach to families!

All that said, this is my last german class at DazTietz (a community school/Vo-Tech). Now that our schedules are filling up,class is becoming a hassle, not to mention they are costing an arm and a leg. So as an alternative, I am going to meet with native speakers a few times a week and continue to work through the same workbooks I was doing in class. We will see how this goes...

Alright I better start getting ready for church! I am helping in the kids class today for the first time! Should be fun!

Have a great weekend and stay warm! I heard OK got hit with another round of snow!

Be good and do good!

Sarah B

We are masters of the unsaid word, and slaves to the ones we let slip. ~Winston Churchill

Classes

Today was defiantly an exciting adventure! A few weeks ago we went to Pam's class of english teachers, a few of them were interested in having us come to their english classes, so today I visited 3 elementary level english classes. The students were between 8 and 12.

All of the classes were great, I was a little worried after the first class. Most of the questions consisted of "My name is, I am -- years old, I like----" and so on. Anyways, the first group got through those questions and then had some of their own they wanted to ask us, and the first one was, "who is your favorite star?" I just kind of looked at the kid for a minute trying to figure out what he was asking me, as I rapidly tried to recall my days of astronomy in highschool. I asked her to repeat the question, to buy myself some more time, and then she said "superstar, who is your favorite superstar?" I was even more dumbfounded than before. I dont know anyones name, and I defiantly don't have a favorite... So i told this bright eyed 10 year old girl I didn't really have a favorite superstar, smirking to myself of course. She looked a bit confused, and then I asked who her favorite was.

Go ahead, think to yourself, what would a 10 year old german girl say? What would a 10 year old american girl say? What would a 10 year old from anywhere say?

You ready?


Michael Jackson, and drum roll please................ Lady Gaga.


Enough said. As I went around the group and asked each student, everyone answered, either one or both of the above. I just shook my head not even sure how to respond to that.

So I thought, "Ok, well maybe they all said that because the first little girl said that and they just copied, ill ask the next group and see what happens..." Same thing. Seriously, the same thing.

Okay, all that aside, it was a great day! I loved talking with the kids! I was really surprised at how well they could all speak english. I think it surprised them (and me) when they would say something in german and then look to their neighbor and say I don't know how to say that in english, and I would gently smile and say it for them. I understood more than I thought I would. It was easier talking to the kids than to the highschool and young adult classes!

Most importantly though, I really liked the teachers daughter! She is a university student in Dresden who spent a year in Connecticut as an Au Pair. She is studying english and wants to practice. We got her contact info and told her we would send her a message with some of the english activities the church has in Dresden (aka hoping she will do LST with Kenda and Joel next year!!!!) She also said she would email us with activities around Saxony that we should go to or try! It was nice to meet someone our age who isn't a member of the church, but wasn't scared off because we are members of the church!

Saying I am here with the church people have the reaction as if I said I was mormon in the states. Sad, but true. Something to think about.

I had another great lesson with Klause today, hopefully he will be able to make it to English Bible Study friday!

Thats a long post, sorry! Just so much to tell! I ordered 2 more book that were recommended from The Unexpected Adventure, one was Becoming a Contagious Christian, and the other was Faith Paths. The first talks about learning to tell your story to people in a timely and effective manor that fits your personality best to optimize receptivity. The second talks about the 6 paths people take to decided their faith, what ever that may be, and how to effectively reach people on their paths according to their personalities.

Have a great week! Be good and do good!

Sarah B

Quote: Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around. ~Henry David Thoreau

Blessed Beyond Words

I was reading in Acts today, about Paul, when he goes before King Agrippa and gives his testimony. At the end, Paul asks the king, "you believe in the prophets dont you? I know you do!" I thought this was interesting because for one, this is a bold move on Paul's part (but then again what does Paul do that isn't bold?) and secondly, he is actively trying to win over the King for the Lord.

Normally, I wouldn't have caught that. However the book ive been reading, The Unexpected Adventure by Lee Strobel and Mark Mittleberg, recently brought it to my attention. They pointed out how sometimes our passions open the gateway to the conversation about Christ, and Pauls, without hesitation or worry, pushed the door open every time.

With that said, I am not one who likes fund raising. Not for me anyways. I love people, they are my passion, not money. However to live abroad and continue work, I must indeed fundraise. In my last news letter and even on here, I mentioned my funds were diminishing quickly. I took a huge step coming without full funds, but I was and am trusting that the Lord will provide. Anyways, I mentioned in my last newsletter that I was about to run out, and when I checked the account today, there was an overwhelming amount of donations that brought me to tears. Including many anonymous donations.

I don't even know how to express the gratefulness that is welling within. I dont know what else to say but God is good. Another testament of Him showing his love not only to me, but to those whom I am able to reach and therein connection the donors to the ones whom I am able to touch through their gifts. God is good. All the time God is good.

Be good and do good!

Sarah B

Quote: Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. ~George Seaton
That is a special quote to me, which I will share the story some time, but not today. You'll have to stay tuned for that!

Encouragement

Last week was kinda tough for me, German class is starting to kick my bu... well, you know what I mean. Its frustrating, of course, but when I am here to communicate with people and the one thing I cant seem to master is communicating that becomes a problem. The people I can communicate with aren't a problem, those relationships are going great, its all the rest. All the people I see and want to talk to but don't because I don't have a clue how in the world to speak to them past, "Hi my name is...its cold outside huh?"

All that said, last week I got a long email from on of my good friends who is still at school. Her and I were prayer partners last year in club, someone I wouldn't have really seen myself becoming close with, but oddly enough we really became good friends. Anyways, getting an email from her defiantly lifted my spirits. It was nice to just know how she was doing and what all was going on in her life. I didn't realize how many people I tried to keep up with until I got here and had to put most of those relationships on the back burner.

Then today, after I got back from another German class I found a nice fat package for me in the mailbox! It was full of encouraging cards from the Cornerstone class at Memorial! Talk about a pick me up!

Alright well im off to attempt my german homework and read some more! Readers are slow this week, everyone is out of town on vacation or a work trip! So goes life.

Be good and do good!

Sarah B

Quote: Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another, "What? You too?" I thought I was the only one! ~C.S. Lewis

Visiting Class

A few weeks ago the three of us went to Pam's class, she teaches English teachers, to visit and give them practice with native speakers. The goal was to hopefully get to visit some of the teachers classrooms and then gain some more contacts from that.

Friday we had our first class visitation! We went to a class of one of the ladies in the church, we met with students anywhere from 15 to 24. It was great! They were classes for painters, wall painters, and carpenters.

Things are done a little differently here, after school you pick a profession and then you study that profession under someone who already knows how to do it. So ultimately this is a school for people to learn the mechanics of what they will be doing. They have class for 2 weeks and then work at their company in an apprentice type position for 4 weeks and then back to class for 2 weeks. Its actually really cool.

I had a great discussion with the carpentry class about how the states have evolved and the difference between here and the states. 2 from the group had lived in the states for a few years and a lot of the others have visited.

Anyways, from all of that, hopefully we will get some new readers! I did get one guys email who loves to play baseball. I told him we play a lot once the weather warms up a bit and he was welcome to come, so we'll see if he comes!

In other news, the bathroom is done!!!!! On that note, I totally just realized I got up an hour early for church. I was just so excited to hear the spring sing results what can I say! Lambda got 3rd by the way, just in case you were wondering and even if you weren't! They also took best lyrics, and drum roll please...... Unity!!!

Back on topic. English Bible Study was friday, we had a decent turn out, about 20 or so. Volleyball is tonight. My schedule for the week is full of readers. We head to the ladies retreat this week!!! I'm excited to go!!!

Be good and do good!

Sarah B

Quote: Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. ~Howard Thurman

We Will Glorify

We will glorify the King of Kings
We will glorify the Lamb
We will glorify the Lord of Lords
Who is the great I Am

Lord Jehovah reigns in majesty
We will bow before his throne
We will worship him in righteousness
We will worship him alone

He is Lord of Heaven, Lord of earth
He is Lord of all who live
He is Lord of all the universe
All our praise to Him we give

Oh hallelujah to the King of Kings
Hallelujah to the Lamb
Hallelujah to the Lord of Lords
Who is the great I am

I was in Leipzig Sunday night for worship and we sang this song. It nearly brought me to tears. It has been so long since I sang it. We had a great worship service, Larry had a great lesson on how short life is and how what we store up here, or what we had planned isn't really important if it doesn't bring us closer to God.

Just thought i would share my thoughts. Be good and do good!

Sarah B

Quote: Praise is like sunlight to the human spirit: we cannot flower and grow without it. ~Jess Lair