I just ordered a new book, The Unexpected Adventure, by Lee Strobel. I'm excited to read it, its about sharing your faith in evangelism. Note, I said I was excited to read it... thats important because I ordered 3 books before Christmas and have barely made it through half of the first one.... I'm not much of a reader! I enjoy learning, but I would much rather listen to an audio book than sit and read for hours. So hopefully I will be able to finish this one soon!
Sunday afternoon we went over to Simon's house. Simon is one of Karen's readers, she met him through a mutual friend, he needed to learn some more english for work so it was a good match. Simon's house was great! His wife was amazing, they have 3 kids, 2 older girls, teenagers around 16 and 13 and a little boy, 5. They were absolutely amazing. Their nephew, who was also around 13 was there too. We had coffee and then the older daughter read her english report for us, well, it was passed around and everyone read a line out-loud (karen and I had a bit of an advantage). Then the middle daughter played the keyboard for us for a little while. After that we went in and played on the play station, something along the lines of singing rock band... you sing against each other and it ranks you. We rocked out to some Cotton Eye Joe, Dusty Roads, and High School Musical! Great times :). After that we had stinky cheese! I have found an amazing new piece of kitchen equipment, a Rocklett! I dont know if I am spelling that right or not. They are amazing! We have had pizza on it with Pam, and Tiff and I took it to class for pizza with our class party, but we had true rocklett sunday! It is like a skillit on top and then a broiler underneath. You cook your meat and veggis on the top and melt your cheese under the broiler then mix them together on your plate! It was pretty cool!
This week and next are winter break for us. Our class is out (awww shucks!) I have readers every day this week, but I want to take a short day trip at some point next week. We (Roy Tiff and myself) have been trying to pick places. There is a castle I have been wanting to go see, Burg Eltze, google it! It looks pretty cool! Everything is covered in snow right now though, so i'm not sure if not would be the best time to go. I would just kinda like to ride and look at things, I love the train!
I have been trying to find time to make it down near Munich. Lisa, my best friend from home, asked me to try and find a chapel for her. Her grandparents were married over here during the war. Right before her grandpa left, he left a ticket for her grandma and said if she wanted to marry him to come over, and she did and they got married in a little chapel on a military base just outside of Munich. Anyways, Lisa has their wedding photo, and asked me, since I was over here, to try and find it and take a picture for her so the least I can do it try :). I think I will try that next week... which also means it would be my first trip to travel on my own.... AHHHH and YAY!!!!
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
A man cannot discover new oceans until he has courage enough to lose sight of the shore. ~Andre Gide
February 16, 2010
February 14, 2010
Lack of Passion
When I became a Christian, I promised myself that I would not just be an everyday Christian. That wasn't what I had intended and that surely wasn't what God intended. Right?
I went to Del City through most of college, I started going my sophomore year and was hooked and never looked back. I loved it. I loved the idea of the church. Of the body of believers coming together to worship. One of the things that really drew me to Del (other than the amazing people) was the singing. I had visited a lot of churches. I church hopped all of my freshman year, and had been to almost every church at least three or four times, but the singing was never exactly what I was expecting. Side note, that was how I officially decided on OC too, I visited and people actually smiled and talked to me on the tour which was a huge plus, but then I went to View 63 that night and loved the singing. People were singing with their hearts, not just their mouths, and yes, you can tell the difference! Anyways, when I visited Del I found the same thing!
Being here has made me miss singing. Not that we don't sing here a lot, we do, I just don't understand any of it. The people sing with passion as well, it is not a lack by any means! However I do not feel like I am singing from my heart and therefor I feel like I am cheating on myself. I had a hard time when I was here on LST with that too. Not being able to truly sing. Its not that I can't sing the words on the page, I can, I just don't have a clue what they are. My heart isn't in it. This makes me unbelievably sad because I always felt like I tried really hard to keep sincerity in worship, and it feels like it has slipped away.
Its been a tough couple of months. But the sun is out today and the weather is supposed to get above freezing this week so hopefully some snow will melt!
I think im going to take a quick nap before our coffee and dinner this afternoon. One of Karen's readers has invited us over to meet with his family for coffee and dinner so that should be an exciting evening!
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: "When you have come to the edge Of all light that you know And are about to drop off into the darkness Of the unknown, Faith is knowing One of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or You will be taught to fly." ~Patrick Overton
I went to Del City through most of college, I started going my sophomore year and was hooked and never looked back. I loved it. I loved the idea of the church. Of the body of believers coming together to worship. One of the things that really drew me to Del (other than the amazing people) was the singing. I had visited a lot of churches. I church hopped all of my freshman year, and had been to almost every church at least three or four times, but the singing was never exactly what I was expecting. Side note, that was how I officially decided on OC too, I visited and people actually smiled and talked to me on the tour which was a huge plus, but then I went to View 63 that night and loved the singing. People were singing with their hearts, not just their mouths, and yes, you can tell the difference! Anyways, when I visited Del I found the same thing!
Being here has made me miss singing. Not that we don't sing here a lot, we do, I just don't understand any of it. The people sing with passion as well, it is not a lack by any means! However I do not feel like I am singing from my heart and therefor I feel like I am cheating on myself. I had a hard time when I was here on LST with that too. Not being able to truly sing. Its not that I can't sing the words on the page, I can, I just don't have a clue what they are. My heart isn't in it. This makes me unbelievably sad because I always felt like I tried really hard to keep sincerity in worship, and it feels like it has slipped away.
Its been a tough couple of months. But the sun is out today and the weather is supposed to get above freezing this week so hopefully some snow will melt!
I think im going to take a quick nap before our coffee and dinner this afternoon. One of Karen's readers has invited us over to meet with his family for coffee and dinner so that should be an exciting evening!
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: "When you have come to the edge Of all light that you know And are about to drop off into the darkness Of the unknown, Faith is knowing One of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or You will be taught to fly." ~Patrick Overton
February 9, 2010
German Coffee....Literally
We have three older ladies in the church, we call them the Omi's which means grandmas in english. I have been to have coffee with one of them many times and two of the three are really good friends, so she is usually there. Well, usually I go with Karen or Pam.
I have been looking for more things to do, since readers and class don't fill my daily schedule (talk about a wake up call, going from working full time and being a full time student to not working full time and not being a full time student is a huge adjustment!) as much as I would like. Anyways, we asked the older ladies if there was anything I could do to help, do some shopping or help clean or anything. Well, one of them said for me just to stop by for coffee so I said okay I would, and we set up a date for Friday. I had to cancel because I had a meeting with a new LST contact on Friday at the same time, but we rescheduled for today.
I speak very little German. Enough to get by. They, the two that are good friends, speak no english. I went alone. Flowers in hand (it is customary to bring a gift when going to someone's house), I ashamedly arrived 15 minutes late because I got off at the wrong stop. Being late isn't common here either... people are pretty punctual, which usually as am I, however I get lost a lot.... Anyways, I made it! While I was walking up the way, I see two lovely old ladies peak over the balcony 7 stories up in a DDR apartment building and wave like crazy at me, i laugh and wave back!
The coffee went very well! It wasn't to hard to understand, and they both worked really hard to use simple words, which are the ones I know. There was a little pantomiming, and I had to pull out my dictionary a couple times, but over all it was a good time. I'm hoping in a few weeks to have them over for lunch.
Side note: I saw lots of pictures, one of which was a large photo of a trip they took to Jerusalem in 96. Keep in mind these ladies were around 70 then. They pointed out where they were in this group of around 100-150 people. The very back, everyone one was smiling and looking up at the camera. They were in the back striking poses such as the one above!
haha perfect! I hope im that cool when I'm their age!
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing! The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles! Ralph Waldo Emmerson
February 6, 2010
Parties Galore
Today was a busy day! The morning started with Pancakes at the Sullivans. We don't always get to do this, but we try at least once a month to do pancakes with everyone. Pancakes were delicious, we all had a great time together!
After breakfast I came back to the house where Karen was getting ready for Miriams baby shower that afternoon. I hopped in the shower while I had the chance before Larry got to work on the bathroom. Once I was done Larry was working in bathroom getting the shower installed (he has been remolding a second bathroom for me)! It wont be long before its fully functional! Im going to try and paint the ceiling some time this week! Anyways, Karen finished decorating the cake and then at 1 Stefi and Jessie came over to start decorating and get ready for the shower.
A bit of cultural information here, pregnant women dont tell what they are having to people so it is still a surprise! They know, and a close select few know, but thats it! So Miriam had her baby before Christmas and we just had the baby shower for her!
The shower went well, there was a nice turn out and Miriam and Tabita had a good time. There was a lot of german today thats for sure! It was cool to interact though, I was able to understand more than I thought I would.
Immediately following the shower we had a birthday party to be at at 6 pm. So literally people walked out the door, we put our shoes on and walked out the door to the next party! It was nice to spend some time with the young adults from the church. We went to this guys house, which is just around the corner from us, and had supper with him and then just shot the breeze for a little bit.
Another cultural tid-bit, you throw your own birthday partys here. You are expected to have a cake and coffee on your birthday for people to come over, then you throw yourself a party! So that was what we went to tonight!
This particular guy is in a band and has a lot of guitars and what nots in his house, he pulled one down and showed me how to play an F I think... maybe that was an E. I dont remember. Anyways, then we passed around the guitar and everyone played a little bit, even the ones who couldn't play (ahemm me). Then he played some for us. That was pretty neat! I really enjoyed it.
Tomorrow is church in the morning and sport at 5! Thats all folks!
Have a great Sunday! Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: The Bible is a pretty good book to get some inspiration from so here is todays: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7
After breakfast I came back to the house where Karen was getting ready for Miriams baby shower that afternoon. I hopped in the shower while I had the chance before Larry got to work on the bathroom. Once I was done Larry was working in bathroom getting the shower installed (he has been remolding a second bathroom for me)! It wont be long before its fully functional! Im going to try and paint the ceiling some time this week! Anyways, Karen finished decorating the cake and then at 1 Stefi and Jessie came over to start decorating and get ready for the shower.
A bit of cultural information here, pregnant women dont tell what they are having to people so it is still a surprise! They know, and a close select few know, but thats it! So Miriam had her baby before Christmas and we just had the baby shower for her!
The shower went well, there was a nice turn out and Miriam and Tabita had a good time. There was a lot of german today thats for sure! It was cool to interact though, I was able to understand more than I thought I would.
Immediately following the shower we had a birthday party to be at at 6 pm. So literally people walked out the door, we put our shoes on and walked out the door to the next party! It was nice to spend some time with the young adults from the church. We went to this guys house, which is just around the corner from us, and had supper with him and then just shot the breeze for a little bit.
Another cultural tid-bit, you throw your own birthday partys here. You are expected to have a cake and coffee on your birthday for people to come over, then you throw yourself a party! So that was what we went to tonight!
This particular guy is in a band and has a lot of guitars and what nots in his house, he pulled one down and showed me how to play an F I think... maybe that was an E. I dont remember. Anyways, then we passed around the guitar and everyone played a little bit, even the ones who couldn't play (ahemm me). Then he played some for us. That was pretty neat! I really enjoyed it.
Tomorrow is church in the morning and sport at 5! Thats all folks!
Have a great Sunday! Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: The Bible is a pretty good book to get some inspiration from so here is todays: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7
February 5, 2010
Untitled
EBS (English Bible Study) went really well tonight! We had an amazing turn out, every seat was taken and we had to keep adding chairs as people came in!
Well, the LST ad has run now, and the calls still continue to come in. They have had to be sifted of course, there were a lot of calls wanting free english lessons from the start, which isn't really what we do, and others have wanted to have nothing to do with religion, and yet still others have been really excited about LST and cant wait to start!
Side note- good news 2 days and no headaches!!! yay!!!!!
Hope everyone is staying warm! Be good and do good!
Sarah B
The quote for this week will be a bit longer- I first heard this in the Kite Runner and i really liked it.
Who are we in the complicated world?
If we come to sleep, we are His drowsy ones.
And if we come to wake, we are in His hands.
If we come to weeping, we are His clouds full of raindrops.
And if we come to laughing, we are His lightning in that moment.
If we come to anger and battle, it is a reflection of His wrath.
And if we come to peace and pardon, it is the reflection of His love.
Who are we in this complicated world?
Melvana Rumi
Well, the LST ad has run now, and the calls still continue to come in. They have had to be sifted of course, there were a lot of calls wanting free english lessons from the start, which isn't really what we do, and others have wanted to have nothing to do with religion, and yet still others have been really excited about LST and cant wait to start!
Side note- good news 2 days and no headaches!!! yay!!!!!
Hope everyone is staying warm! Be good and do good!
Sarah B
The quote for this week will be a bit longer- I first heard this in the Kite Runner and i really liked it.
Who are we in the complicated world?
If we come to sleep, we are His drowsy ones.
And if we come to wake, we are in His hands.
If we come to weeping, we are His clouds full of raindrops.
And if we come to laughing, we are His lightning in that moment.
If we come to anger and battle, it is a reflection of His wrath.
And if we come to peace and pardon, it is the reflection of His love.
Who are we in this complicated world?
Melvana Rumi
February 2, 2010
A Blink in Time
Hey everyone,
Not much has been happening here, lots of snow.... and more snow! Winter is pretty slow around here, people don't particularly want to get out when its cold and icy.
Friday night we had a card night, that went really well! We had a lot of the young adults come which was really nice for all of us to get to hang out and have some fellowship together. We played scrabble and then about 2 hours of intense Uno. Saturday Sussanne came over and we had another scary movie afternoon! That was fun, this time we watched The Decent.... she is on a scary movie kick, not sure exactly why, but its a reason to hang out!
We had English Movie night last night, we watched Remember the Titans. Numbers were down this time, but thats okay. Hopefully we will have more for next months.
The LST ad has produced responses!!! We have 4 people we are meeting with this week about LST so please continue to pray that those meetings will go well and anyone else who is interested will follow up!
Sunday night I was Leipzig for worship. Larry gave the same service from Chemnitz that morning but in english this time, it was nice to hear an english sermon! I would have to say that has been one of the hardest things for me, missing the time of worship. I had a hard time when I was here for 6 weeks with LST with feeling deprived of worship time. I dont really know how to explain it, it is literally like going through the motions but if you dont understand it is really hard to feel like you are worshipping.
On that note- please keep me in your prayers. I have started to develop headaches almost on a daily basis for the past few weeks. I dont like taking medication, so when I absolutely have to I will take a tylenol or advil. I woke up with a migraine today, the 2nd or 3rd since ive been here, which is odd. I usually only get 1-2 migraines a year. So please keep that in your prayers, hopefully they will pass soon. It does not make german class very fun or easy when I'm trying to concentrate and my head is throbbing.
Winter break is coming up, so hopefully we will get to spend some time with some of the college students, Janine and Vanessa while they are home. That also means we (roy tiffany and I) get a 2 week break from german class!!!
Thats all I have folks! Hope you all are staying warm and safe! Be good and do good!
Sarah B
May passion fuel your every action. May you be consumed with an overwhelming desire to serve in love. ~Sarah B
Not much has been happening here, lots of snow.... and more snow! Winter is pretty slow around here, people don't particularly want to get out when its cold and icy.
Friday night we had a card night, that went really well! We had a lot of the young adults come which was really nice for all of us to get to hang out and have some fellowship together. We played scrabble and then about 2 hours of intense Uno. Saturday Sussanne came over and we had another scary movie afternoon! That was fun, this time we watched The Decent.... she is on a scary movie kick, not sure exactly why, but its a reason to hang out!
We had English Movie night last night, we watched Remember the Titans. Numbers were down this time, but thats okay. Hopefully we will have more for next months.
The LST ad has produced responses!!! We have 4 people we are meeting with this week about LST so please continue to pray that those meetings will go well and anyone else who is interested will follow up!
Sunday night I was Leipzig for worship. Larry gave the same service from Chemnitz that morning but in english this time, it was nice to hear an english sermon! I would have to say that has been one of the hardest things for me, missing the time of worship. I had a hard time when I was here for 6 weeks with LST with feeling deprived of worship time. I dont really know how to explain it, it is literally like going through the motions but if you dont understand it is really hard to feel like you are worshipping.
On that note- please keep me in your prayers. I have started to develop headaches almost on a daily basis for the past few weeks. I dont like taking medication, so when I absolutely have to I will take a tylenol or advil. I woke up with a migraine today, the 2nd or 3rd since ive been here, which is odd. I usually only get 1-2 migraines a year. So please keep that in your prayers, hopefully they will pass soon. It does not make german class very fun or easy when I'm trying to concentrate and my head is throbbing.
Winter break is coming up, so hopefully we will get to spend some time with some of the college students, Janine and Vanessa while they are home. That also means we (roy tiffany and I) get a 2 week break from german class!!!
Thats all I have folks! Hope you all are staying warm and safe! Be good and do good!
Sarah B
May passion fuel your every action. May you be consumed with an overwhelming desire to serve in love. ~Sarah B
January 24, 2010
The Weekend
Hey guys!
Well, the week went well, I had some great readings with folks! With my reader who is a non-believer we talked about the scattering of seeds, how some seeds fall on good soil, some on rocky soil, thorny and by the path. It was interesting to read this story with her because she was giving me classic "this is a church question, so ill give you a church answer". For example, one of my questions was, "who do you think would be considered good soil? What kind of person would that be?" and her response, "Well, you would be good soil because you believe." "Okay... and what kind of soil do you think you are?" "I dont know...."
So, I take another approach. "Okay, later in the story in verse ... it says "honest heart", what does it mean to have an honest heart?" and then the discussion took off! Thats what Im shooting for! I love those discussions! Sometimes I feel like the material can be to "churchy" for people, but if you can talk about the matter at hand and take it out of a religious context I think you can open a whole other avenue to reach people! Its just a matter of finding that avenue over and over again lol.
Anyways... we had a guest in from Pepperdine this weekend, Ruban. He is in Heildelburg on Pepperdines study abroad and met Larry and Pam at the World Missions Workshop last fall and wanted to come visit them. Friday night Pam came over (larry was out of town) and Sussanne came along with Roy and Tiffany and we all had chicken pot pie for supper. Sussanne had never had a chicken pot pie so i told her id make her one since it was an american thing :). She liked it! After that Tiff Sussanne and I watched a scary movie and Ruben, Roy and Pam played a board game.
Saturday morning was Ladies Breakfast at church, we had a great turn out, 17 people! We stayed until around 11:30, it was great to fellowship with everyone! After that, Roy and I took Ruben around downtown and showed him uncle Karl (the giant Karl Marx head downtown) and some of the other sites (which are pretty limited!). We came back and had afternoon coffee with everyone and then a mexican supper.
Sunday we had church, with a really good lesson from Alex about tolerance and how it is a fine line of being tolerant and being unreasonable and uncaring. After church Pam made a delicious pork roast for lunch and Ruban had lunch with us then caught his train back to Hieldelburg. At 3 we had coffee at sport Alex's house and supper. We played some games and had a great time!
And here we are back to Sunday night!
I just got off skype with my dad, everyone is doing well! Please keep my sister and brother in law in your prayers, my brother in law, Chris, was just accepted into officers training so he will be going off to the first leg of training anytime. They sold their house right before Christmas and found a rent house from one of the church members at Central in moore that is letting them rent until he finds out more plans. He will have to do some time abroad to become an officer, and my sister and nephew plan on being with him, so they are just waiting to hear where they are going. Anyways, please pray for them as they are going through all of the transitions!
Our first of 2 LST ads ran saturday. No luck as of yet. Hopefully we will get some responses!!!! I am going back to all the travel agencies i passed out fliers to a few weeks ago and ask if they have any other questions. Please continue to prayer that we can gain some more contacts!!!!
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if its a little thing, do something for others- something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. ~ Albert Schweitzer
Well, the week went well, I had some great readings with folks! With my reader who is a non-believer we talked about the scattering of seeds, how some seeds fall on good soil, some on rocky soil, thorny and by the path. It was interesting to read this story with her because she was giving me classic "this is a church question, so ill give you a church answer". For example, one of my questions was, "who do you think would be considered good soil? What kind of person would that be?" and her response, "Well, you would be good soil because you believe." "Okay... and what kind of soil do you think you are?" "I dont know...."
So, I take another approach. "Okay, later in the story in verse ... it says "honest heart", what does it mean to have an honest heart?" and then the discussion took off! Thats what Im shooting for! I love those discussions! Sometimes I feel like the material can be to "churchy" for people, but if you can talk about the matter at hand and take it out of a religious context I think you can open a whole other avenue to reach people! Its just a matter of finding that avenue over and over again lol.
Anyways... we had a guest in from Pepperdine this weekend, Ruban. He is in Heildelburg on Pepperdines study abroad and met Larry and Pam at the World Missions Workshop last fall and wanted to come visit them. Friday night Pam came over (larry was out of town) and Sussanne came along with Roy and Tiffany and we all had chicken pot pie for supper. Sussanne had never had a chicken pot pie so i told her id make her one since it was an american thing :). She liked it! After that Tiff Sussanne and I watched a scary movie and Ruben, Roy and Pam played a board game.
Saturday morning was Ladies Breakfast at church, we had a great turn out, 17 people! We stayed until around 11:30, it was great to fellowship with everyone! After that, Roy and I took Ruben around downtown and showed him uncle Karl (the giant Karl Marx head downtown) and some of the other sites (which are pretty limited!). We came back and had afternoon coffee with everyone and then a mexican supper.
Sunday we had church, with a really good lesson from Alex about tolerance and how it is a fine line of being tolerant and being unreasonable and uncaring. After church Pam made a delicious pork roast for lunch and Ruban had lunch with us then caught his train back to Hieldelburg. At 3 we had coffee at sport Alex's house and supper. We played some games and had a great time!
And here we are back to Sunday night!
I just got off skype with my dad, everyone is doing well! Please keep my sister and brother in law in your prayers, my brother in law, Chris, was just accepted into officers training so he will be going off to the first leg of training anytime. They sold their house right before Christmas and found a rent house from one of the church members at Central in moore that is letting them rent until he finds out more plans. He will have to do some time abroad to become an officer, and my sister and nephew plan on being with him, so they are just waiting to hear where they are going. Anyways, please pray for them as they are going through all of the transitions!
Our first of 2 LST ads ran saturday. No luck as of yet. Hopefully we will get some responses!!!! I am going back to all the travel agencies i passed out fliers to a few weeks ago and ask if they have any other questions. Please continue to prayer that we can gain some more contacts!!!!
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if its a little thing, do something for others- something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. ~ Albert Schweitzer
January 18, 2010
New Years!
Hello again!
This week is going to be busy, which I love! Today is/was my slow day, which is why I am taking the opportunity to update on here.
German is back in the swing of things, so my mornings are now dominated by German lessons once again. It is nice to be in a routine though, so I like that! We have some new people in our class, all english speakers so thats nice! We handed out some LST fliers last week and we have an ad running in the paper this weekend and next weekend, so please be praying that we get some responses from that!
Tomorrow I am reading with Ceili, and then Sophia is coming over and we are going to make an apple pie. She had some of the pie I made for German class and liked it, so I sent her the recipe, but I forgot all the ingredients are in US measurements! So we are going to tackle an apple pie before Bible class tomorrow! Wednesday I have a reader and team meeting. Thursday I have a reader in the afternoon and then I am leading ladies Bible class thursday night. This chapter in the book is replacing a doubting attitude with a faithful attitude. I should probably read that pretty soon... I guess Ill be doing that after this! Friday Sussanne and Tiffany are coming over and we are having a girls night and scary movie! Sussanne has never had a pot pie, so im making chicken pot pie for her and we'll all watch a creepy movie together, fun times! Saturday is ladies breakfast at church, im looking forward to that! It has been a while since we have had one! Sunday Karen and I have been invited to Alex's house for supper with his family so we will go spend an evening with him and his family.
So there is a run down of the week. Above are some of the pictures from New Years here that I have been promising!
Oh, on a side note, please keep my uncle Charlie in your prayers (www.unclecharlie.com), he is a children's minister and has recently announced that he will retire from full time children's ministry and focus specifically on not for profit and underprivileged children's groups and camps. This is a huge step of faith for him and his ministry so please keep him and all those that have supported him over the years in your prayers as he makes this transition.
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: “Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others...for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.” Albert Einstein
January 11, 2010
Its Not Wrong, Its Just Different
I have had to tell myself that numerous times when trying something new. Or in most cases, something old in a new way. Who likes change? My point exactly. I would consider myself a pretty adventures person, but new things I still approach with caution not knowing what to expect much less what to compare it to that i could know!
Larrys sermon sunday morning was about when God says no. He used many examples but the one that stuck out the most to me was David wanting to build the temple. God told him no, it was not his plan for David, but rather for his son Solomon. That has really been on my heart lately. When does God say "no" and when does he say "try harder"? Thats a tough question to answer. I have always had it in my mind, i'm not sure why, but God can give a "no" but we can always change his mind.... but that really isnt the case. We cant change the answer we can just readjust ourselves to the answer. Food for thought.
We went to Leipzig for worship last night. ACU is doing a trial study abroad for the next 3 years in Leipzig, anyways the sponsors from ACU (the students aren't here yet) came to worship last night. I had forgotten how nice it was to sing true songs of worship. We have english bible study every 2 weeks, and that is good and all, but they are all "devo" songs. There are some good ones in there. But to sing the classic hymns everyone once in a while is just good for the soul. Larry said they are going to set up an english bible study in leipzig too and they are hoping some of the students will start attending.
German class started back up today. It wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be haha. I enjoy my classmates and teacher so that makes it worth it. It was nice to see everyone again :).
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all." Aristotle
Larrys sermon sunday morning was about when God says no. He used many examples but the one that stuck out the most to me was David wanting to build the temple. God told him no, it was not his plan for David, but rather for his son Solomon. That has really been on my heart lately. When does God say "no" and when does he say "try harder"? Thats a tough question to answer. I have always had it in my mind, i'm not sure why, but God can give a "no" but we can always change his mind.... but that really isnt the case. We cant change the answer we can just readjust ourselves to the answer. Food for thought.
We went to Leipzig for worship last night. ACU is doing a trial study abroad for the next 3 years in Leipzig, anyways the sponsors from ACU (the students aren't here yet) came to worship last night. I had forgotten how nice it was to sing true songs of worship. We have english bible study every 2 weeks, and that is good and all, but they are all "devo" songs. There are some good ones in there. But to sing the classic hymns everyone once in a while is just good for the soul. Larry said they are going to set up an english bible study in leipzig too and they are hoping some of the students will start attending.
German class started back up today. It wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be haha. I enjoy my classmates and teacher so that makes it worth it. It was nice to see everyone again :).
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all." Aristotle
January 7, 2010
Is it Now? Or Never?
The snow has come.... to stay. Its alright though, im dealing with it :). I went and got some "hot-pants" today. What are "hot-pants" you may be thinking.... ski pants! Tiffany was telling me about some she got, and said they were really hot, so from hence forth, ski pants shall be known as hot-pants!
This has been an interesting week to say the least. The movie night went well, we had a good group! Including some people who usually don't come to church activities so it was great to get them involved with others. This time we watched the movie UP, which is great if you haven't seen it. Even if you aren't one that usually watches cartoons, its worth it!
We have ladies bible class tonight, Tiffany is leading the discussion and this chapter is Doubt. I have the next one and it is Faith. The chapter came at a good time, ive been having a hard time being here lately. Not being here so much, as feeling guilty for being here. Sometimes i just feel like it is a waste of money because it is so expensive to live here, especially since the conversation is at $1.50 US for $1 Euro.
We are launching another LST campaign in hopes to get some more readers. Right now, i currently am reading with 5 people, My two "mom" aged ladies (the ones who could be my mom), and one older gentleman who could be my grandpa! I also have 1 personal study with Ceili going on right now, and Sussanne and I are starting one soon as soon as we figure out what to study lol. Marion, one of the young adults at the church has also asked me about doing study, so hopefully we can get something started soon too.
German class starts back up on Monday. I'm looking forward to being able to speak to people... that'd be nice. All to often I see people and want to talk to them, and would if I could, but i just look back down or give them a smile and keep going. Thats pretty frustrating.
I am going to talk to one of the ladies at church about some volunteering I can do around town. Maybe there is a soup kitchen or something I can do to volunteer. I feel like I need to be doing more, but I haven't a clue what.
Well, thats all for the update. I still haven't uploaded New Years pictures yet... sometime soon....
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: Sometimes questions are more important than answers. Nancy Willard
This has been an interesting week to say the least. The movie night went well, we had a good group! Including some people who usually don't come to church activities so it was great to get them involved with others. This time we watched the movie UP, which is great if you haven't seen it. Even if you aren't one that usually watches cartoons, its worth it!
We have ladies bible class tonight, Tiffany is leading the discussion and this chapter is Doubt. I have the next one and it is Faith. The chapter came at a good time, ive been having a hard time being here lately. Not being here so much, as feeling guilty for being here. Sometimes i just feel like it is a waste of money because it is so expensive to live here, especially since the conversation is at $1.50 US for $1 Euro.
We are launching another LST campaign in hopes to get some more readers. Right now, i currently am reading with 5 people, My two "mom" aged ladies (the ones who could be my mom), and one older gentleman who could be my grandpa! I also have 1 personal study with Ceili going on right now, and Sussanne and I are starting one soon as soon as we figure out what to study lol. Marion, one of the young adults at the church has also asked me about doing study, so hopefully we can get something started soon too.
German class starts back up on Monday. I'm looking forward to being able to speak to people... that'd be nice. All to often I see people and want to talk to them, and would if I could, but i just look back down or give them a smile and keep going. Thats pretty frustrating.
I am going to talk to one of the ladies at church about some volunteering I can do around town. Maybe there is a soup kitchen or something I can do to volunteer. I feel like I need to be doing more, but I haven't a clue what.
Well, thats all for the update. I still haven't uploaded New Years pictures yet... sometime soon....
Be good and do good!
Sarah B
Quote: Sometimes questions are more important than answers. Nancy Willard
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