Amazing People

I am so blessed in the people I know. This includes the German campers, and their families! Our campers come from a variety of backgrounds and situations, but I have met some truly amazing, godly families.

On Sunday, my coworker Norm (who is a retired lawyer from California and oversees follow-up for our English Camps) and I went to a town about 20 minutes away to go to church with and have lunch with a family who had two teens at English Camp this summer. Mandes and Malindi were both a joy to have as campers this summer.

Their dad is the pastor of their church. Normally, the church meets in a large room in their house. However, in August a fire damaged that room, as well as the children's bedrooms. Just this weekend, the four children were able to move back into their bedrooms (which they were very thankful to be able to do:). The church meeting room is still being repaired.

I was so impressed with this family! The parents met while serving as missionaries in Kenya. The family's love for God and for each other was clearly evident. I was encouraged by my afternoon with them, and I hope it is not the last I spend with them!

Some of you might be thinking "Kari, these campers are only 20 minutes away - why haven't you visited them before?" Because I don't have a car. And the bus and train connections between here and there are tricky/not frequent/indirect/etc. BUT GOOD NEWS! My co-worker Katherine leaves in December for a year-long HMA (Home Ministry Assignment = furlough) and is so graciously and generously giving me her car! Words cannot adequately express how thankful I am to her and for her (and not just because she is giving me her car.:) So now I will be able to be able to get outside of Kandern easier and more frequently, and do things such as visit these campers. YAY!

Grace. Faith. Weariness.

The past few months have been intense. A busy summer of English Camp was followed by much processing. God has been stirring up a lot of things in my life in a lot of different areas. I guess you could say that He has been showing me more of who I am and who He created me to be and how He wants to use me. Then throw in four intense weeks of language study, with everything that that experience entailed. Plus I am starting to make some decisions regarding the future.

To be completely honest, all of this leaves me feeling weary at times. But I realize that there is only One who can give true rest and joy and peace.

I am contemplating what grace truly is and how truly believing in it affects how I life my life. Which has then also gotten me thinking about faith. Here are some verses that have challenged and encouraged me and ignited some more thinking:

"Meine Gnade ist alles, was du brauchst." 2 Corinthians 12:9 I like this in German because it is so simple and straightforward: "My grace is all that you need."

"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." Galatians 2:21

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

a mangled myriad of thoughts on my mind

My mind and heart are full. In ways that are hard to put into words. But God is slowly beginning to focus the picture. Through the fuzziness and confusion, He is beginning to point, lead, and guide. In ways that make His fingerprints over my entire life evident. How good He is! How sweet it is to see and rest in His goodness in the midst of uncertainty. May I continue to do the hard work of seeking Him. How easy it is to say that I will surrender all of me, but how difficult it is to actually do.

Reformation Day

Today - October 31st - is Reformationstag (Reformation Day). On this day in 1517, Martin Luther hung the 95 Theses on the church in Wittenberg. I didn't realize this holiday existed until I moved to Germany. I think it is a day worth remembering. To thank the Lord for how he used Martin Luther to shape the history of the Church and our faith. To translate the Bible into German (which I believe had something to do with the Bible then being translated into English, but I'm not sure, so don't quote me on that:).

However, tomorrow - Allerheiligen (All Saints' Day) - is the holiday that the Germans observe. All of the stores are closed. That, coupled with the fact that stores are always closed on Sunday, meant that I had to go grocery shopping this afternoon to make sure I eat all weekend. (Yes, folks, the stores are closed for 2 entire days. Welcome to the land of not 24-hour stores. Where rest is observed.) So did everyone else. And the lines were long. And no one complained. Imagine that.

Back Home

I use the word "home" to describe many places, but in this case, I mean Kandern home. After quite the adventurous travel day on Saturday, I made it safely back to Kandern. I'm enjoying being back in this community with so many amazing people that I am blessed to know. I'm currently trying to process what I learned and experienced during my time in Dresden, as well as trying to step back into life here. Today my brain and body are feeling the intensity of the last four weeks. I am realizing that our minds and bodies don't always make these transitions as quickly as we think they should. I need to remind myself that I am not superwoman. :) I need to allow myself grace. Thankfully, I have people in my life to remind me of this. :)

For those of you who care to hear the story of my latest travel adventure, please continue reading. :)

Some of you know that I have a history of interesting travel adventures within the US, but thankfully my experiences outside the US have been much smoother. I find the European travel systems to be very efficient and dependable. I love German trains. Very rarely do you have any problems, delays, etc. with the trains.

Saturday was supposed to be an "easy" trip. Two ICE (fast trains). One connection in Frankfurt. No big deal. However, it ended up being 1 RE (slow) train, 1 IC (medium) train, and 3 ICE (fast) trains.

The details:

When I arrived at the Dresden train station Saturday morning, I noticed "something beachte" (i.e. - German words I didn't understand) next to my train on the schedule board, but I didn't think anything of it. Then, when I got to the platform, I was surprised to see a red RE (slow) train instead of a white ICE (fast) train. But the info on the screen was correct. So I approached the DB (Deutsche Bahn) man standing on the platform and asked him (in English, because I knew I wouldn't understand his train vocab) what was going on. He told me that all of the ICE trains were "in the depot" and that I would need to take this "replacement train" to Leipzig and get on another "replacement train" to Frankfurt.

Now, I know I have a history of sometimes panicking and overreacting at these situations. But I didn't. I calmly got on the train. As the train made it's way to Leipzig I wondered what was really happening. "Are all the fast trains in Germany on strike? Am I going to have to go all the way to Basel on slow trains? Am I going to get there before Sunday night?" and "Who am I going to call if I don't make it to Basel in time to catch the last bus back to Kandern?" I have a cell phone that I use for emergencies and during English Camp, and I realized that I have very few numbers programmed into it. Oops. But I decide to just wait and see what happens - I knew eventually I would figure out more of what was going on.

In Leipzig, we all get off the RE and onto an IC (medium fast) train. The train is PACKED. FULL. Normally, that does not happen. I think they usually kick people off. But under the circumstances, they let us cram on. It took between 3 and 4 hours to get to Frankfurt, and I stood for about half the time.

In Frankfurt, I was thankful to see ICE trains. I thought to myself "Ok, the hard part of this trip is over. I am only about an hour behind schedule. Things should go smoothly from here and work out." I thought I could let my mind relax and not be on overdrive, trying to figure out all the German announcements. I knew that I had to get on one ICE train and then change to another in Mannheim. Which I did. And that was the point where I thought I could truly relax.

Oh no. Of course not. Then they made an announcement (in German) that "Today, this train will be ending in Offenburg." I understood that, and that I would need to get on another train. However, it was not until the same announcement was displayed on the monitor/screen that I understood that I needed to switch trains in Karlsruhe. I was thankful to have caught that important detail the second time around!

While I was waiting on the platform in Karlsruhe, I noticed that the screen had a special announcement about Offenburg. I didn't understand the key German word, and I was afraid that this train would end in Offenburg too, and that I would be stuck. So I approached the friendly DB man standing on the platform. He was hesitant when I asked him if he spoke English. But I asked him if the train was stopping in Offenburg or ending in Offenburg. He hesitated and didn't answer, and I decided that wasn't important anyways. So I asked "I need to get to Basel. Is this train going to Basel?" He said yes. I smiled, said "thank you," and with much relief, got on the train.

I had to switch seats once on this train because I misunderstood the sign and had been sitting in a reserved seat, but it all worked out. I was very thankful to get to Basel only an hour and a half later than originally planned. Which means I made the last bus back to Kandern. And when I got on the bus, some of my fellow North American single gals were also on the bus, so it was fun to catch up with them.

As much as it felt like a crazy day because my senses were on high alert trying to figure out what was going on, it could have been much worse. Evidently the situation was that they were servicing/inspecting/doing something to the ICE fleet of trains over the weekend.

Not to overly spiritualize things, but as I stood on the platform in Karlsruhe, I thought about how that day was a lot like life. (Probably I made this connection in my mind because of everything I have been processing recently.) I just kept listening to what the DB people told me to do, and I took it one step at a time. That's how my life is - I just keep following God one step at a time, as He shows me what that next step is supposed to be. And I shouldn't worry or be stressed because, thankfully, as dependable as DB usually is, God is even more so. He NEVER fails. Praise Him for that!

Random Little Things

So there have been a handful of random moments in the past few days.

Today we went on a field trip to a castle/palace. As we approached the palace, I noticed a big banner hanging above the entrance. It read "Ni Hao" (which means "Hello" in Chinese). I KID YOU NOT! I had a moment of confusion. I asked myself "What country am I in again?" It turns out that the king who built the palace liked the Chinese style, so he had it incorporated. Interesting, eh? Oh the world of multiculturalism! It made me smile and think of my friends in China. I didn't take any pictures cause it was a blurry, grey, rainy day, but for those of you who are interested, here's a link about the palace. The small pink palace is the one that has the Chinese style.

Yesterday while I was waiting at the train station, I noticed two boys probably between ten and twelve years old who were also waiting for the tram. They were eating a jar of Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) as fast as they could. I did a double take when I noticed that the one boy was dipping a bright orange carrot in the Nutella. Again, I kid you not. Now, I have been known to say that Nutella is a good excuse to eat many things, but that is taking it a bit too far. Gives new meaning to the phrase "Eat your veggies."

Speaking of random waiting-for-the-tram-moments...on Sunday I was waiting for a tram and my mind was thinking about things a million miles away (in English of course). All of a sudden, there is an elderly lady talking to me. It took me a minute to figure out what she was saying and that she was trying to hand me some Christian literature (in German of course). I was so caught off guard that all I could do was smile and say "Danke" (Thank you). After she walked away, I was kicking myself because she seemed really sweet and it could have been very interesting to talk to this sister in Christ. If only I could get my brain to not freeze in situations like that and actually put some German words together to form a sentence. I mean, I really should have been able to tell her "Ich bin Christ" (I am Christian). Oh well, little by little I am learning.

Yesterday, as part of my German class, we watched a DVD with a documentary type clip about tourism in a certain German city. Lutz (my teacher) pulled out a German map to show me where this city was. Nearby was the city of Eisenach. When I travelled here to Dresden, one of my train connections was in Eisenach. I distinctly remember standing on the platform while I waited for my train, thinking "I have no idea where I am right now other than I am standing on some random train platform that looks like any other German train platform somewhere in the middle of Germany." But folks, one of the things I love about Europe is that it is so rich in history. You never know what might have happened in a certain place. As it turns out, right near Eisenach is where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German (from Greek). Amazing.

These random moments are what make life...well, life. My life is rich and full. Never a dull moment. I am blessed.

Field Trip: Meissen

Have you ever been someplace where you felt completely out of your league? Like you were a fraud and if they found out, you would immediately be escorted out. That was how I felt today at the first stop on our field trip to Meissen. What was I, a country-bumpkin-farm-girl-from-basically-the-middle-of-nowhere doing in the oldest porcelain manufacturer in Europe? Where the least expensive tea cup I saw was 68 euros (that's around $100, folks!) and many of them were A LOT more. One tea service (for six people) I saw was over 3,000 euros! I saw second quality teacups for over 300 euros each!

Of course, there was another thought swirling through my brain. You must remember that I am not exactly the most coordinated person on earth. I can be clumsy at times (even though I try really hard not to be). There is a memory that, while I no longer have nightmares about it, I will remember it all my life. I was 12. We were on the one and only official family vacation we ever took. To Niagara Falls. I was in a gift shop, standing in front of a shelf of knick knack souvenirs. Next thing I know (to this day I have no idea what I did to cause this), an entire shelf of snow globes were on the floor. Broken. I was mortified. Embarassed. Wanted to melt into the floor. Thankfully, my parents did not have to pay for said broken snowglobes. My parents were nothing but gracious (as they tend to be:). (Another example: you know how Corelle dishes are not supposed to break? Let's just say I've proven that one wrong....multiple times...)

So, needless to say, I have a fear of breaking things in stores. When I am in a store with fragile goods, my senses are on high alert. Thankfully, I think I have acquired at least a bit more grace in the past decade or so. Plus, most of the procelain today was in glass cases. :) It was interesting to see the process by which the porcelain is produced. It is very tedious work, which is done by hand - both the making of the pieces, and then the painting. Everything must be perfect.

I didn't take any pictures - because I was too absorbed in observing all I could (and making sure I didn't break anything:). But here are some pictures of Meissen porcelain that I stole online:






After leaving the porcelain museum and enjoying a nice German meal (I love German food, but it is heavy - not something you want to eat every day!), we went to the Albrechtsburg Castle. The first part of it was built in the 900s (No, I did not forget the 1 in front of that. Yes, it was originally built over one thousand years ago!) We took a tour of the dom (cathedral) - some of the stairs we climbed were 700 years old! We climbed to the top of the tower, where we enjoyed a rainy, but still beautiful view of Meissen. And the connecting schloss (castle/palace) was beautiful! The ceilings were intricately painted. As beautiful as these palaces are, I can't imagine living in one - they must have been so dark and cold!

I will leave you with a few pictures of the Albrechtsburg Castle and overlooking Meissen.

Mom likes to see me, not the buildings. :)

Don't look down, Mom! :)