And all the nations will glorify Him

On Friday three Hungarians, two Poles, and an American came together and studied God's word in the only common language they had, German.

How crazy cool is that? Just think how God is the God of the whole WORLD. He is here in Germany, he is Virginia, he is Africa, he in China, and he unites. He unites cultures and languages and people. He is beautiful and so very good at loving me.

I think sometimes I get so wrapped up in missing the community I left behind that I forget about the community he put me in. When we first started talking about having a Bible study, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Agape and Discount were two of the hardest things for me to leave behind and I don't think I realized how much I missed having a small group until Friday when I had my first one.

I just love how Christ overcomes all other barriers. There are very few reasons and ways outside of love for Him that should connect such a different group of women, but we did connect. It was an open space where we talked and prayed and cried. It was instant bonding. It was a reminder that I have family here. It was a reminder that I have Him here. I am so excited to see what Heaven looks like.

His kingdom come.

Scotland stole my breath away

What do you do when you are disappointed in your program and your entire family is meeting in Colorado for Easter? You plan a trip to see Addie Domske in Scotland of course.

I can bore you with the touristy little details which I will do in a minute, but let me tell you what was really great about the trip. Addie and I have really only spent maybe 12 full weeks with each other and talk once every couple of months, but for some reason that doesn't matter. Maybe because we met each other at camp which gives you best, life long friends in a matter of weeks? or maybe it is because we are kindred spirits? or maybe it is because we are both bonded in our love for Christ? I don't know what it is, but Addie and I never once went to bed before 4 am and we didn't even begin to cover everything that needed talked about.

I cannot begin to explain how rejuvenating it was to talk with someone who gets me so well (and in English) about this experience and how it is transforming our lives. Ah, Jesus, you are so good at loving me!

Okay, now for the touristy things.

If  you ever get the chance to go to Scotland, DO IT. It is a beautiful country. We went and saw Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle (built in 500 something AD, destroyed and taken over more than 4 times), rode the train around the countryside, attended church for Easter, saw the Wallace Monument, and the bridge that Wallace held from the English and where Braveheart was filmed.

On the train back from Loch Ness, as the sun came out and consumed the pastures filled with highland cattle, sheep, the new born lambs, and beauty unlike what I have seen before, I felt peaceful. It is amazing what creation does to one's heart.

This is by far the best experience of my life, but not because of I am having so much fun or this is a blast, but more so because I am learning so much, growing a ton, being challenged like nothing before, and will come out of it more the person who God has intended for me to be... and I am okay with that and feel utterly in love with what God governs.

The Gospel has been preached

Happy Easter. This is the story the Scottish minister ended her sermon with today.


"There was a young new student in seminary whose task for the week was to write a sermon and present it to his class. The entire week he fretted and worried about it.

Class came and he got up and said, "Do you know what I am going to say to you?"

The class responded no and he said, "neither do I! That is all I have this morning, go in peace."

The professor was upset and told him he better be ready for next week. The week went on and the poor student continued to worry and stress about what to say.

When it was time for him to speak, he stood in front of the class and said, "Do you know what I am going to say to you?"

They responded yes and the lad (because the minister was Scottish and that is how she spoke) said "Good, then I don't need to repeat it. That is all I have, go in peace."

The professor was irate and said that he better come prepared next week or he would not be welcome anymore.

Next week came and the lad stood in front of the class and once more said, "Do you know what I am going to say to you?"

Half of the class responded yes, while the other half said no. The lad looked at them and said, "Good, now those that know, go and tell those who do not. That is all I have, go in peace."

The professor looked at the lad and started clapping. He rose and said "Today, the Gospel has been preached."

"He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and tell the others..." Mark 16

The one drenched in Proverbs 31...

A beautiful friend sent this to me a couple of weeks ago and I still love listening to it...


When you speak, I will be reminded of Solomon's wisdom
Your ability to lead will remind me of Moses
Your faith will remind me of Abraham
Your confidence in God's word will remind me of Daniel
Your inspiration will remind me of Paul
Your heart for God will remind me of David
Your attention for detail will remind me of Noah
Your integrity will remind me of Joseph 
and your ability to abandon your own will will remind me of the disciples
but your ability to love selflessly and unconditionally will remind me of Christ


You know me and find me where the boldness of Esther meets the warm closeness of Ruth, where the hospitality of Lydia is aligned with the submission of Mary which is engulfed in the tears of a praying Hannah, I will be the one drenched in Proverbs 31, waiting for you. 


http://theresurgence.com/2011/04/06/a-poem-for-all-single-people-pass-it-on

Outside my window

Outside my student dormitory window stands a tree. When I first got here the tree had barely any green to it. It was just beginning to bud, but it was beginning to bud in that sense that unless you took the time to look at it, you missed it.

I find it odd that in only 14 days my tree is covered in green. I almost wonder when that happened, but at the same noticed the difference every day.

This tree is one of those things that I have a really hard time explaining. It is a beautiful reminder that Spring is here and with Spring comes renewal, revival, and life. Simultaneously it is a mirror. I look at it and I see me. Just as the Lord has loved and renewed this earth and my tree, so He is loving and renewing my soul. Just like my tree I have been awakened from a slumber. I have never been so alive. I feel every disappointment, hurt, joy, success, rejection so intensely. My soul is lying naked, unprotected in front of this world for the first time. Everything cuts through me and steals my breath away. I am an open book. I am a glass sheet. I am as transparent as a ghost.

Till this moment, I never knew myself.

Friedrich Schillers Universitaet.

My blog posts from last week were all a bit... depressing? Is that the right word? I got to Jena and, to be quite honest, just did not like it. I still am experiencing frustrations (my housing situation has not been resolved and I really don't like the program I am in) but not all is bad. So here is that blog post dedicated to the good, because I have already gotten one gchat with someone checking in on for fear of my mental and emotional state. Plus no one wants to read a blog that only complains all the time, right?

Dori. My wonderful, incredibily sweet Hungarian roommate.

Dance classes. HA... For those of you studying abroad ever - do something random! My dance class is entirely random. I meet with about 20 other girls (oh and 1 boy) on Monday evenings in the city for modern dance/jazz lessons. Really, just do something for no reason. It will be great.

I have been going to church with some girls in my building and we all made dinner on Sunday after the service. We decided to make it a weekly tradition.

Ireland. A guy and a girl in my dorm that I have been getting to know really well live there. We are looking to buy plane tickets to go home (well their home, not mine) for Daniel's 21st in June. UM YES.

I am going to Scotland to see a wonderful friend (Miss Addie Domske) in 10 days for Easter and spending the night before that with another wonderful friend (Miss Megan Frook) in Berlin.

Those back home who have heard about my frustrations have abundantly poured love on me.

Despite not liking my classes (like really at all) my University was founded before America and their main building is a renovated castle. That's kind of cool?

Spring.

"In all things give thanks." 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

Thank you Sarah Tisdale...

Wait

by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried; 

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied. 

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . . 

And the Master so gently said, "Wait." 

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply. 

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word. 

"My future and all to which I relate 

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait? 

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign, 

Or even a 'no' to which I can resign. 

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe, 

We need but to ask, and we shall receive. 

And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking! I need a reply." 

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate, 

As my Master replied again, "Wait." 

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, 

And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?" 

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . . 

and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign. 

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun. 

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be. 

You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me. 

You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint. 

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love

When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.

And though my answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."

Maybe I am not as couraegous as everyone else...

because I cannot say that being abroad is the coolest experience ever and so much fun and everything is so great and blah blah blah blah. Or maybe I have more courage because I can be vulnerable and honestly say I have never encountered a harder experience in my life? Maybe it is because I am here by myself? Or maybe because of the program I chose? Whatever the reason, all I know is that today was one of those let me count down my days type thing....

Sorry for the overwhelming depressing start to a blog post, but in all honest this week has been a huge challenge for me. There is just a lot going on with my housing and just still being uncomfortable and not knowing people. I have no doubt that it will get better and I will make friends and once I start my classes (Monday) and dance lessons (Monday) everything will fall into place, but I just don't know why people don't say more often how so very hard it is to do this.

Journey number dos... I mean zwei.

So I finished up the most excellent of family vacations with my grandparents on Friday and it was wonderful, really wonderful. Went to Muenchen, Baden-Baden (so good they named it twice), Heidelberg, and then they flew out of Frankfurt last week. We went to a spa, castle, gardens, and just saw so much and had such a wonderful time. (Pictures from the entire trip!)

After leaving them in Frankfurt, I caught a train to go to Jena where I will spend my last three and a half months here. I apologize for the following thoughts. I am still not quite sure where my heart is or how I am feeling about everything yet. I feel like I still can't coherently express what I am thinking so maybe I'll just bullet point my thoughts for you. GET READY!

• Despite my 10 day Deutsche Pause my German is better than ever and I am pleasantly surprised with how much I speak and understand. Oh yeah, I dream now almost every  night in German.
• I am really overwhelmed
• I cried a lot the first weekend
• Not quite sure if I will have friends yet.
• My roommates are Hungarian and Russian
• "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
• I am convinced of God's faithfulness and goodness to me, but I just am super worried about what this experience is going to look like
• I live in the former DDR and yes have seen Stasi cameras on the sides of buildings and my Wohnheim is straight out of socialist 1980s.
• God is still so good at loving me. I was miserable Saturday and all of a sudden get a phone call from Megan Frook (a super good friend from my Bible study at UVA who happens to be in Berlin) and she said "Hi Amy! Can I come see you tomorrow?" The day together was beautiful.
• I don't think I am ever going to get over how much I miss UVA.
• I start classes next week and am doing a program that takes you through Literature classes, speaking classes, Business classes, all as German as a Foreign Language or as someone teaching German as a foreign language (convenient, since I am both of those things)
• Overwhelmed, anxious, lonely. Satisfied with Jesus, aware of His work, seeing His presence. These are the two dichotomies that are pulling at me right now.
• "I am convinced that it is only when you move, when you travel, that you find yourself." - Azouz Begag
• I signed up for dance lessons.

Okay, so maybe that wasn't helpful, but I think that is a pretty accurate description of my head and heart right now, and I would rather not bore my blog readers a plain entry about my life. The only way I know how to describe what is going on is just by the thoughts (aka those above) that run through my head every hour or so.

I am reminded of my first couple weeks in Koenigsfeld and know that once a routine is established and I meet people the time will fly and all will be well. I anxiously await this day and hold fast to His promise and security.