Outreach

As some of you know, my sing team went to a school in Friedrichshafen, to a religion class. The teacher, however, is a christian and knows Heinz (a guy from our school) really well and asked us to come. While we were there we shared testimonies, Heinz shared a devotion with them, and then we didn't have much time for anything else. Today, however, we went back to the same school and the same class and was able to sing a couple songs and then answer some questions that they had had. They started out being simple questions like why are we at Bodenseehof, why did we pick a Bible school in Germany opposed to a Bible elsewhere and then they started asking deeper questions. It was then that we decided to split up into groups. There was one person from Bodenseehof per group of kids. I was talking to a couple of girls and their teacher translated for me. They understood most of what I said, but some of the bigger words the teacher needed to help with. It was really neat. Some of the questions they asked were, "Why does God let us suffer? If you lost everything, would you still love God or would you wonder why all this happened to you? What is the meaning of life? At what age do you have to be to experience God?" It was after that last question that I was able to share my testimony. It was amazing!!! They also wanted to know how we know God really died on the cross and wanted to know how I know all the other religions are right and what does "He is the way, the truth, and the life mean?" It was incredible to be in this kind of situation. I couldn't believe all the questions these kids had and how deep they were!!! The cool thing was, none of the questions were hard for me at all. We had prayed before and asked God to speak through us and give us the words to say to these kids and that He would prepare their hearts. As I was talking to them, I could totally see God at work in their hearts. I wasn't nervous at all and God spoke clearly through me, there were hardly any language barriers at all! It was totally cool.
If ya'll wouldn't mind keeping these kids in your prayers, that would be great! We will get to go back next semester. We also gave them all our email addresses and so hopefully they will keep in touch and ask more questions. If you could just pray that God would continue to give us the words to say to them. Thank ya'll for all your prayers. I really appreciate you praying for me, my team, and my school. God's really been at work and it's sooo awesome to see! :) More updates soon to come.

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

Prayer Requests

If ya'll wouldn't mind praying for a couple of people, that would be great.

Helen- As you may know, there is a married couple on campus here and Helen was about 10 weeks pregnant and a couple of days ago she had a miscarriage. If you could just keep her in your prayers that would be great.

Sonja- That she would continue to grow stronger in the Lord and hold God's hand through life.

My brother Paul- That he would continue to grow in Christ, do well in school, and make new friends at school.

My "lil sis, Leah"- That she would continue to mature and grow into the woman God wants her to be. Also, that school would continue to go well for her.

My Uncle Greg- He's interviewing with the same company my Dad works for and has actually had some really good interviews so far. I guess just pray that he would continue to trust in the Lord to provide for him and his family.

Rachel and Binkers (Binci)--my roommates- They are getting sick again and that's never fun, plus we live in a very small room and sickness spreads quickly.

Me- If ya'll could just pray that I would continue to grow in the love of God and that I would continue to trust in Him. Also, if you could pray that I would get over Bronchitis pretty soon...that would be great too!

My Dad- He's in MN right now working on some presentations for work. Just pray that those would go smoothly.

My Mom- That she would continue to show God's love wherever she goes and that God would use her to speak to other people and show them His love for them.

Jodi and her family- That God would let them know when they can go pick up their daughter from China. They're adopting and patiently awaiting the arrival of their new little girl.



Thank you for reading, if there's anything that I can be praying for you just let me know!

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

The Crossing

So, The Crossing was on Saturday night and it was so much fun! There were a lot of people there including 8 kids from the English Camp I went too for outreach. It was so much fun to see them again. I was actually able to sit with my friend Sonja and her family. Before the whole program started, I asked Sonja if her boyfriend, who had come with her, was a christian. She said no and so throughout the program I prayed for him that God would speak to him through the message, songs, and Taylor's testimony. He seemed pretty quiet and when I asked Sonja what was wrong, she told me that he refused to talk to her because he was too tired. Then after the program was over, I asked her more about her relationship with her boyfriend and how long they were dating and stuff. She told me that they had been dating for 9 months, and the more she talked about her relationship the more I could relate to what she was going through. I prayed a lot before I really got into the conversation that God would give me the right words to say, and that He would speak through me. It was so awesome because the whole time I could tell that she totally understood me, and that God was really speaking through me and everything that I said struck her and made her think and realize things for herself, things I don't think she'd ever thought about. What was really neat was about 2 weeks ago I prayed and asked God for wisdom in answering people's questions, giving advice, and knowing the words to say. God totally proved to me the other night that if we ask, then we shall receive, and also showed me that He can use past experiences and situations for His glory. The whole time I was talking to her I could see the same guilt and pain coming through her eyes that I had too. I asked her about it and her response was, "How did you know?" It was amazing! I helped her with that as well. I told her that God loves her no matter what she's done, who she was, or what choices she's made in her life. I also told her that God uses everything for good and gave her the example of me helping her and she was said, "Wow, you're right!!!" It was so awesome! Also, God took away all the language barriers! She understood everything I was saying and I could see it in her eyes. She looked as if a huge burden had been lifted off her shoulders. It was so exciting to see. Both of us were experiencing God at the same time and I thought that was pretty awesome! I can't even describe to you how cool it was! Then, after that, I talked to her mom for awhile and then we talked about the possibility of her coming and staying at my house for a few weeks in August! I thought that was so cool, then they invited me to go to their house whenever I want, and hang out with them as much as I want. I'm so glad that I can be a good friend to her and be able to help her with things she's going through. She told me that she was so thankful for me because I'm the first person she's able to talk too that actually understands how she's feeling right now. If ya'll wouldn't mind praying for her that would be great. She's not sure if she's supposed to be with him right now or not. Right now she's praying for a miracle that he will accept Jesus because she really loves him and wants to be with him, but doesn't want to marry a non christian. Just pray that God will help her make the right choice and that God would show her what she's supposed to do. She's really excited about the posibility about spending part of her summer with me, and her mom reminded her that her boyfriend will miss her while she's gone and she said, "Ah, no problem." I'm not sure what that means, but it could be the start to what God's trying to show her and tell her through all of this.

Also, if ya'll could be praying for me as well. I'm fine from bleeding out of my eye, my headache, dizziness, got my voice back, and my sore throat is healed, but I was up all night coughing for the past 3 nights and haven't been able to sleep well and then last night went on a walk with Rory, Nick, Scott, and Cole and had an asthma attack too. It was horrible. Anyway, I went to the doctor today and he said I have bronchitis. I'm so frustrated. I just want to be completely well and very soon! Thank you for keeping me in your prayers! I really appreciate it! I'm so thankful for all of you.

Love and miss ya'll!
Love in Christ,
Jill<><

Time for an Update?

Well, it's certainly been awhile since the last time I've posted a blog. Sorry about that everyone. I think I will probably make up for it with this one.
As some of you may have heard, on Wednesday morning I got out of the shower and was on the way to my room when I felt something wet on my face. I thought it was just water and then when I got to my room and looked in the mirror, I realized it was blood and it was coming out of my eye! I started panicking and washing my eye out with water and then I looked up, and felt like I was going to faint because I don't handle blood very well and it was all over me by that time, and then I was really grossed out from the fact that blood was coming out of my eye! I really didn't know how to handle it. Have any of you seen Casino Royale? Well, if so, remember the guy that cried blood when he was playing poker? Well that was like what happened to me but there was more blood and it was pouring out faster. Anyway, I so I got a nurse to look at it and she said everything was fine. I went about my day and started getting a painful headache, really dizzy, and my pupil was bigger than the other one. The nurse told me it was time to go to the hospital. Because I had bumped my head really hard a couple of days before and had a really bad headache for a couple days after and was a little dizzy, they were afraid that it could have been from that. When we got to the hospital, they ran a lot of tests, did a MRI, and took a blood test. They said I didn't have a concusion, and they told me everything else was fine as well. The next day, no blood came out of my eye but I had all the same symptoms plus I had a lot of pressure behind my eyes. I told the nurse and she said it would be a good idea to go see an eye doctor. When I went to the eye doctor, they did a whole bunch of tests as well and also said that nothing was wrong. It was pretty weird. Then when I got back from the doctor, I sat and talked with a couple of my friends the whole afternoon, and then took a test in lectures. When I walked out of lectures and opened my mouth to talk to people, I had lost my voice! It was so ridiculous! The next day I couldn't say anything at all, and that night I was able to squeak a little. This morning, I can almost talk normally, but my throat really hurts. Last night I had a cough attack and was up for most of the night with that. It was horrible! Luckily, I was able to sleep in this morning.
On a lighter note, tonight is "The Crossing," an event that the students (us) put on for guests from around town or people we meet on outreach. It's a really cool deal, they sing worship songs, they have a devotional message in German, and then after we'll get to talk to them and get to know them and pray with them if they want. Some of the boys I had in my group at English Camp are here already! They are a few hours early, but it's ok. Andrew, one of the guys I went on outreach with is taking them around the school and (can you believe it???) playing with them in the SNOW!!!!!!!!!! It will be a really cool night. Apparently, a lot of the German students who are attending school with me became christians at one of these events, and one of the girls from English camp who will be coming later on tonight, became a christian at one of the camp's Heinz (a staff member) taught at!!! If ya'll could just be praying over this event, praying for us that God would use us to minister to their hearts, and give us the words to say, and then also for the people that come that God would use this event to speak to their hearts! I would really appreciate it.
I guess that's pretty much all for now. I will try to keep this thing updated more often.
Love and miss ya'll!

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

Travel Weekend

For travel weekend, my friend Kristen and I went to visit my German relatives in Aalen a town near Ulm (still in Germany). It was totally awesome! The whole time we could see God working everything out smoothly. I'm not sure if ya'll have ever experienced traveling in Europe before in an area where they don't speak much English or not, but it's kinda difficult at times...hehe, especially when you're not used to it. Well, Kristen and I had planned everything out to a T, and everything was running smoothly until we didn't see my relatives waiting for us at the train station. Kristen and I both had to go to the bathroom pretty bad, but were afraid that if they weren't there yet, we didn't want to miss them when they got there...but if they didn't know do come pick us up, we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. We were praying, calling my relatives daugther who speaks a little bit more English than she does and couldn't figure out why she wasn't there. I couldn't get a hold of everyone and finally thought to call my mom! She speaks more German than I can and thought maybe if there was a confusion, she straighten things out. As I kept looking around wondering what I was going to do if they never showed up, I saw Irene walking toward me. She hugged me and told me that I was supposed to wait by the track and not leave the station...which I didn't really realized I did. Anyway, long story short, we went back to their house and she made us lunch. She's such a sweetheart! Kristen stayed upstairs in like our own little guest house with everything we could ever need! Irene and her friend Rolf showed us around many places. They took us to see 3 churches, a castle, and to Rothenburg which is one of the main tourist attractions in Germany. It was so great! They totally spoiled us with food, desserts, little gifts, and a whole lot of chocolate! I say we saw God working in our travel weekend because of the whole language barrier. They speak a little English and I speak barely any German. It was practically a miracle we got anywhere and did anything! :) They are so sweet though and very loving! They made us extremely great meals, and treated us like their grandchildren. We also got to spend some time with Irene's daughter, Barbara and her family. It was so awesome, we had a fondu dinner, I got to call my family and talk to them for almost an hour, watch a German gameshow, and eat candy! At the end of our stay, we were really nervous about making it to the train station and actually got on the train with a minute to spare! That right there was a God thing as well, because we didn't have enough money to buy a new ticket.

Love and miss you all!

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

All School Outreach

This last week, my whole school had outreach (which was why I haven't been on the computer for awhile...sorry). There were about four different groups that went different places and stayed there for a week. My group went to Friolsheim which is an English Camp near Stuttgart. It was a lot of fun! I, of course, right away bonded with a lot of the girls and just hung out and talked with them. They were the sweetest little things. The kids that were at the English Camp were aged from 14-18. I think the oldest we had this year though was 17. There were a lot of different kids there. Some group up in Christian homes, others were just there because their friends went, and some were just so rebellious and really didn't want to be there (but I could tell God wanted them for a reason and was going to do something in their lives that week). The guys that were there were extremely flirty and asking all of our Bodenseehof girl's ages. It was pretty weird. All the kids followed us around and took random pictures of us and always asked us questions about America, our school, and our families. It was soooo cute! Also, while we were there we had the chance to help out with different workshops. My workshop was baking and a group of kids would come and make cookies and totally have a blast! That was definitely a lot of fun!
Alright, I mentioned that there were some rebellious kids...well they were actually a group of "too cool for school kids" or "thug life" or as I liked to call them "European Gangsters." It was the funniest thing, they thought they were all thuggish and cool when really they didn't look "gangster" at all! They wore baggy sweatpants, black t-shirt, zip up European style sweatshirt, baseball cap (facing the right way), man bag, and a SCARF! lol...it was absolutely hilarious! The sad thing is, they would constantly sneek out of lectures and Bible studies to go smoke or drink in their rooms, randomly say cuss words (which by the way were never in the right order and never made sense anyway), listened to really bad music in English, and it was really sad....they were like 15 or 16 years old! One of the boys named Lars looked about 12, but was actually 15, snuck back in from smoking and walked right passed me hoping I wouldn't notice. I asked him if he had been smoking and he was like...."no way, man, NO" I asked him a few other times and he kept saying no. I told him he wasn't going to be able to lie to me because I knew what he'd been up too. Right at that second, the teacher walked by and commented on the room smelling like smoke. I told him it was Lars. At that time another guy who was older than Lars named Jonas came in and found out what was happening and gave me the death glare. I told him that there was no fooling me and that it wasn't my fault they got in trouble. Apparently, the guys also had a lot of trouble with them and had to constantly get on them about not getting to bed on time, being too loud, not yelling cuss words, and not playing their music too loud especially at night. Since we were the counselors, we were like their parents almost. We had to lay down the law with them. To a lot of them, we were the parents they never had. The cool thing is, our group always gave testimonies everyday and on the last day, my friend Christine gave her testimony about questioning her faith and making sure she believed because she knew it was true instead of believing because her parents believed. The head of the camp who did the Bible devotions or bible study each day had something planned to talk about and after Christine gave her testimony, he totally changed up his lesson and talked about testing their faith. It was so cool! I could tell that God had a message to give to everyone. During that devotion time, I saw Jonas and Lars paying close attention to everything he said and never once looked away! I was so amazed! I had really been praying for them a lot that week and will continue to pray for them. Even though the devotions were in German, I could still see God speaking through the teacher just looking around the room!
There was also a boy at the camp who was 16 and his name was Sam. He was actually in the English Class I was helping in. He told me that the only reason why he was at the camp was because he forgot to sign is name off the list. I think he was pretty much fluent in English because he was an exchange student in America for 10 months and really there was no reason for him to be there, but God certainly had a message and a plan for that boy and it was really cool to see also, how God was speaking to him as well!
Anyway, one night we had a comedy night and the first act was my friends Jake, Phil, and Jeremy. Jake rapped while Jeremy played the drums and Phil played the guitar and all the thugs thought it was the coolest thing in the world! They watched them as if they were thinking, "finally someone understands me!" It was sooo cute! Then we did a lot of fun skits, games, and other fun things and it was the talk of the week! All the kids really enjoyed it.
English classes were pretty fun. I helped out in the highest English Class which was made up of kids who had had the most English out of the whole camp. In each class there were about 6 "Bohoffers" (that's what the head of the camp called us) and in each class period we told a little about ourselves. When we used slang, the teacher would right the slang phrases and words up on the board and we had to explain what it meant. It was pretty hilarious! All the kids thought that was the funniest thing! In class, I met a sweet girl named Sonya who took to me like fresh baked bread and nutella. She introduced me to all her friends and invited me to sit at their table at meals. She was very open with me and discussed a lot of personal stuff with me. Also, when all her friends at the table were speaking in German, she would translate for me and would encourage her friends to do the same.
On the last day when we were getting in our vans to leave and go to the train station, my huge group of friends came up to me and asked if I could "make a picture with them." Of course, I did, and then they all gave me a couple more hugs each and stood on the curb and waved goodbye to me until they couldn't see the van anymore. It was the sweetest thing! Our trip was about 3 hours long we figured and we took 3 different trains. When we were getting off the second train, we were hardly warned that it was our stop, so we were all in a rush to get off the train. We all made it off except two guys...haha. It was one of those things where you knew it could happened but believed it wouldn't. Well, it did...and they were panicked, and I was standing on the side in shock with my mouth wide open and pointing at them as the train pulled out of the station! lol...it was bad. We left a German speaker who was used to traveling by train and two other guys behind hoping that if they got a train back to where we were, they would be able to find the little group of guys we left behind. They actually never did and they bought two more train tickets and took a train back home. Sam (the German speaker) and the two other guys were waiting there for 2 hours when they finally decided to take a train to place they would have been and asked if anyone had seen two Americans in the past couple of hours. To their surprise, they had and told them exactly where they had gone. Luckily, they caught up with them and they all made it home before lock up!!
If ya'll could just keep the kids that went to the English Camp in your prayers, that would be great! Also, if you could specifically pray for Jonas, Lars, and Sam, that would be great. God's really laid it on my heart to pray for those boys, and I really think God has some major plans for them!!!
I love and miss ya'll!! I hope all is well! If you have anything you'd like for me to pray about, just let me know!
Love in Christ,
Jill<><

Pumpkin Carving Competition and The Castle Trip

On Friday night we had a pumpkin carving competition and we could do whatever design we wanted too. Some did the Fruits of the Spirit, Noah's Ark, a butterfly, "Gangsta Kahn," and some other wild things. Well, my group decided we'd do Mario (the awesome video game character...if you don't know, ask my brother) Anyway, things were going great while tracing the shape onto the pumpkin, and we were really getting excited about it until we hit a rotten patch...and everything went downhill from there. Because it was rotten, the piece we needed to stay there just fell off so there was a hole in the side of his face...so instead of starting over or doing something else, we decided to get a blindfold and make it into an eye patch so that he could be Pirate Mario. Yes, that's right...the one and only Pirate Mario!! It actually kind of looked like him when we put the candle in and turned off the lights. We didn't win, but we definitely should have won a prize in the "good try" category...and if there was one...we would have gotten it! hehe.
Yesterday was our school's trip to visit the castle the Disney Castle was modeled after. It was huge, gorgeous, and did I say huge? It was such a fun trip. I hung out with my fellow photographer friend, Kristen and we took our time taking as many pictures as we wanted. I love the pictures I was able to take of the castle, the town below, and the pretty Black Forest. I also went and got some fun gifts for my family back home.....buuuuuuuuut I'm not going to say what they are...:) After the castle we went to a place where we did some serious summer bobsledding! It was sooo awesome! Kristen and I were on the same sled and I was the driver!!! :) Oh...and we didn't crash! haha....however, some kids decided to do it over and over again trying out new techniques and new speeds and in the process my friend Amy hurt her ankle really bad! Apparently it was rammed into the sled in front of her and when she was rolling out of her sled, it rolled on top of her hurt ankle. Then, my friend Erica was going down a rocky hill and twisted her ankle really bad and then fell on it. We called an ambulence for Erica and while they were getting her all situated on the stretcher we decided that Amy should go too. Luckily, neither of them had to spend the night in the hospital and neither of them had broken ankles...but they were definitely in a lot of pain last night and this morning.
It was hilarious though, I sat by both Amy and Erica today in church, both had their legs propped up on other chairs, and the speaker (Christ Thomas, Major Ian Thomas' son) said that the message was about trials, hardships, and discipline. Erica, Amy, me, and a lot of other people started laughing really hard! It was just what both of them needed! :) If ya'll could pray for them, that would be great. Both of them are in a lot of pain and are really having a hard time getting around and getting used to having to use GERMAN crutches!
So, aside from two people getting hurt, a bunch of people got car/bus sick on the way home. It was a two hour drive both ways with many twists and turns and it was absolutely horrible! I was one of the ones who got sick. Luckily, only one of us threw up on the bus and it wasn't ME! When we got back, however, we all had dinner and then I started feeling really sick. It's like it all just hit me at once. I gave my dinner dishes duty to my friend Faith and went and laid down for about a hour. After that I walked around some and found Faith and thanked her for doing my duty. She's such a good friend and in fulfilling her good friend duties, she told me to get to bed...but told me I could watch some tv shows on her iPod!!! Not having been able to watch tv in weeks, I took her up on her offer and watched tv until her iPod died...haha. I did throw up a lot last night but I am doing a lot better today. I still feel sick, but I haven't thrown up any.
So, with all that on my plate, I found out that two of my roommates are sick with the same cold I had a couple of days ago and I'm praying that that won't come back around. My room is constantly sick! We go through tissues like you wouldn't believe!
If ya'll could all pray for the sick and the limping around here, that would be great! I love ya'll and miss ya'll like crazy! I wish you could all come to visit me!!! :)

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

Refugee kids

So on Tuesday I signed up to help out with the refugee kids that come to visit our school on Tuesdays. I signed up to help out every third week so I will still be able to get my work done and helping out with little kids won't hinder the learning process! It was definitely a lot of fun! I got to go with the leaders to pick up the refugee kids and it was so neat! It's a small little community that they live in and they all live close together. When we went to get them, they were making dinner and it smelled really good! The school is in the center of everything and really colorful!! It was cute, when we pulled up, all the kids ran to the cars and vans we came in. They were so excited to see us. They were sooo cute and sooo excited it was really neat to see them all run up to the leaders and give them hugs hold their hands. The youngest little one in the group was three. When we got back to school, we sang songs with them in German, Barbel read them a German devotional, and then I stayed and made crafts with some of the girls while other went and played basketball and soccer. The oldest was probably around 8...and the oldest one spoke just a little bit of english so it was really difficult for me to bond with them. Hopefully after we keep hanging out with them, they will get to know my personality better. If ya'll could keep those little guys in your prayers that would be great, I saw their living situations and some adults that live there and it really made me nervous and really sad. Also, pray for their hearts that God would touch them and that they would come to know Christ. They are the cutest little kids though, I just wish I could talk to them more! Please also pray that God would be able to use me to minister to the kids even though I don't speak German.


Hmmm as for all the other updates, I'm still sick and sing team practice was interesting because I didn't sound to good and my group is kind of unproductive. The leader wants to be the leader but then doesn't always lead...and starts playing other songs on his guitar and then gets frustrated at all the other guys for playing other songs when we are supposed to be working on our worship songs...lol...just frustrating sometimes...anyway, if you could also pray for that as well...just that God would use us to reach others...our first outreach is coming up and if you could just pray for the people that we'll be singing too, that would be great!! Thanks so much!!


I love ya'll!!!


Love in Christ,
Jill<><

The Bathroom Story (not crude I promise...)

So, last week I walked to the nearest grocery store with my friends Kristen and Emily. I guess I didn't really judge the distance too well and didn't go to the bathroom before I left. When we finally got the the store, we looked all over the store for what might look like a bathroom. Finally, we found a lady and I asked her for the "toilettes" and she didn't understand what I was saying. She asked if I spoke English and when I said yes she walked away saying stay here (so I figured from the hand motions). When she came back, she had a lady with her. The lady said she only spoke a little bit of english and when I tried asking for the "toilettes" again, she didn't understand. She thought I was trying to ask for toilet cleaning supplies instead. By this time, I thought I was going to die. I thought I would have to mime it to them and thought about how embarrassing that would be...once the clerk lady decided that the lady she brought over was much help, she started asking everyone that passed by or near by if they spoke english. A girl about my age came up and said she did. I told her what I was looking for and she thought I was trying to say toilet paper. I was about ready to give up and mime it when I finally said "use toilette" and THEN she translated it to the clerk and she took us there right away. On the way to the bathroom (which happened to be right by the front door by the way) she told me she spoke German, Dutch, and Spanish...and I just about died....I could have successfully asked where the bathroom was in Spanish if I had known...lol! She was really sweet though and I was soooo thankful that she was so helpful!

So I can really tell God's growing me. He's been helping me work through things I didn't even know I had a problem with and other things I thought would be nearly impossible to work through at all! I'm really excited.

Alright, so I almost died twice since the last blog I posted...as some of you may know, I'm allergic to nuts, coconut, and dill. Well, apparently one night they decided to put nuts in all the brownies and I didn't even notice them. My friend, Moses, who is also allergic to nuts came up to me and said, "Oh my goodness I was trying to find you, they put nuts in the brownies did you have any?" At that point
I had been feeling fine and I thought that maybe the one I had didn't have any nuts or something...pretty soon...my nose started running and my throat got itchy so I ran up to my room to get my meds. By the time I got there I had just a little space in the back of my throat (because it was swelling shut) just big enough for my meds! Thank goodness....weeeeell the second time was yesterday at lunch...we had potatoes with green stuff on them and I was eating them with no problems until my throat got kind of itchy and then my friend went and asked what was on them and they said dill...haha...I ran to my room, again just in time, and took some meds. God is awesome and thank goodness for friends, roommates (who quickly opened my meds at the speed of light), and my meds. I then went and talked to the cook and he said he would take care of everything....thankgoodness!

As for the lectures, we are studying the book of Colossians and I'm really enjoying it! I'm getting a lot out of this study and really appreciate the message we're hearing.

On that note, I think I'm going to go read my Bible and work more on my paper...

I love and miss ya'll like crazy!!!

Thank you for all your prayers!!!

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

MY FIRST LETTER!

Yes, its that important that I title my blog like that! haha...I recieved my very first letter today and it was from my good friend Kari. It was soooo good to hear from her and to finally recieve some mail!! hehe. I also recieved my ballot today so I will fill that out and send that in soon. Im so excited...its my first time to vote!!
Well, today we had auditions for our sing teams and drama teams today...and that went really well. I think my sing team did really well, I was just kind of nervous. It was okay though.
At lunch today, I signed up to be on the yearbook staff! Im really excited about that because I love taking pictures and I love making layouts. When I went to LCA, I was on the yearbook staff for 3 years...yeah...I kinda like it...
Today I finished the book we needed to read and tomorrow I will hopefully have the paper done that I need to write about the book. Its due on the 16th but I am trying to get it done early so I will be able to go on my sing team outreach and not have to worry about it.
Right now, I am trying to plan for my travel weekend coming up. I will be going somewhere with my friend Kristen but we are not sure where we want to go yet. It is either Austria (which we really want to do), London, or Scotland. I have never been to Austria and we want to go and tour the Sound of Music House!!! Luckily she and I are both photographers so we will allow enough time for the both of us to take all the pictures we want!
Oh man, last night we had a really cool worship event and apparently we will be having one of those every wednesday night! I am so excited. I was able to worship freely and not have to worry about people watching me or thinking I am weird for wanting to lift my hands up, close my eyes, and even dance a little...because everyone else was too!! It was awesome! Then, there was a time where people could go up to the mic and talk about how God has been working in their lives lately and it was just so encouraging to hear!!
In lectures, we have been learning about how important it is to walk in the image of God and to turn to Him in our weaknesses and that has really spoken to me! Because of that, I have been able to spend more time with God and feel a lot closer to God. Im so thankful for this opportunity to be here and I now I can see why God wanted me here! It is so excited to see God work in my life so much already...and to think Im here for 6 months!?!?! I cant wait!

I love you guys and miss you a lot!

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

The Alps

Hey ya'll,
So, Saturday I totally went hiking in the Alps with my school. It was sooo awesome and incredibly gorgeous! I had an asthma attack at the very begining and the staff thought it was a better idea for me to walk up the paved path instead of the trail. Because my asthma gets worse with hight and cold wet air, it was still difficult, but I made it up and enjoyed a good lunch in the hut. Then, I walked down with a bunch of my friends. There is a picture of me and my friend Faith at the hut on my Facebook, but I haven't been able to upload any photos yet. She just "tagged" me in it (for those of you who know the facebook lingo). I'm waiting for my dad to send me a portable hard drive before I upload any pix so I don't slow down my new computer with too many pictures.
Anyway, this week has been great so far. We've had a lot of really good lectures on Personal Evangelism and I've thoroughly enjoyed them! We were also assigned a book to read (The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink) It's actually a hard book for me to read because he writes in like older language like "saith, and thy," but it's pretty good and I've actually taken a lot from it. I've taken quite a few notes. We have to have a book report written by next Thursday, so my goal for today is to finish the book, and write an outline! I'm so excited that I'm actually getting all my work done early and on time! I used to be a major procrastinator!
Already, God's been working in my life. I've been focused on Him and most of the time I choose God over going down to the email room to get on the computer. It's amazing!! At home I barely spent anytime with God and now my life is much more enjoyable and I already am building a closer relationship with God and I love it!!
Well, I guess that's all I've got for right now...I'll ttyl!! Love you!!!

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

Cheering up...

So yesterday, I hung out with my friend Faith and her cousin Becca. It really cheered me up a lot. I'm actually not missing my mom as much...which I guess is a good thing. Last night we had another cookout and then had an open mic night...(music night). It was pretty awesome! It made me forget all about missing my mom. Also, I got to really talk to a lot of people last night and it was neat getting to know them better.
So earlier today we listened to a couple of staff's testimonies and that was pretty awesome! Then my roommates and I sat in our beds and tried to read this book that's required for school. It's a good book, but really hard to get through so it was good that we read it out loud and altogether.
After that, I signed up to be on a sing team...that's right everyone...a sing team....it's like a worship team and you go around to different schools or churches and sing for them. We have a german speaker along so she can translate for us.
After that, my roommate Binkie and I practiced singing in our room because we're on the same sing team and we were just going over our group's songs. Oh, our groups name is Cross Eyed. It was actually my idea...because it was going to be my band's name if it ever worked out...and it didn't.
So, I think that's all I have to say for right now. I guess I'll update you more tomorrow after my hike in the ALPS!!!! :)

God Bless,
Jill<><

I'm Pretty Sad

I'm pretty sad...my mom just left....but I did have fun with my mom and my German relatives at a bakery! The bread was soooo good!
Besides my mom leaving, I had a really good morning. We had two extremely awesome lectures this morning and then I had a great quiet time after that and I finished my papers early for tomorrow. I'm trying to make sure that I get all my work done and at a decent time...not at the last minute like in high school...lol! Anyways, I think that's probably all the updating I have time for right now...that and I don't think I have much else to say. Love and miss ya'll like crazy!!!! Keep in touch and send me letters!! :) hehe...

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

I'm P

So Today...

My roommates Rachel, Becky, my friend Danielle, and I all went for a walk on some old train tracks and had soooo much fun! There was absolutely beautiful scenery and of course, I took lots of pictures! After that, we had some really good lectures and then some discussions and they were really pretty awesome and powerful. I think I really learned a lot just from hearing the lesson and then hearing everyone's comments on it.
Then, I emailed a couple of my friends and my dad which was really nice! It's sooo great to get to hear from ya'll! I miss you so much and I get all excited when I login to my email and see I have an email from one of ya'll! hehe. Anyways, that's about it for today I guess...kind of a relaxing day. This Saturday I'll be going hiking in the Alps with school so I'm pretty stoked about that! Anyways, keep in touch and hope everything's going well with all of ya'll! Miss you like crazy!!!

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

I'm having soooo much fun!!!

Hello Everyone....
So, things have been pretty awesome! We got our fourth roommate the other night. Her name is Rebecca but we call her Becky and she's pretty cool.
Yesterday my mom and I hung out with our German relatives and it was awesome! We went to the Isle of Maniu or something like that...It's pronouced "my-no." It was neat, it was like an arboretum type thing which is perfect for me...the jr. photographer!! :) I got to take some pictures, but my relatives were in rush so we could see all that they wanted us to see. I may go back in a couple days or so with some friends so I can take more time and more pictures. Oh man....we also had this really awesome meal there too! My mom and I had schnitzel with french fries (but we ate them with a fork...) and apple pop...that's right...apple juice with bubbles!
This morning we had 3 lectures this morning and 1 tonight...they were kinda cool...they were just informational and the teachers and leaders gave their testimonies which were pretty cool!
Right now I'm just enjoying the extra time and updating everyone on everything.
Oh found out something awesome...some of you may know I get three weeks off for Christmas...and when I met my relatives yesterday, Irene (my grandpa's cousin) gave me a huge hug and said "you come to christmas with me!" hehe...she doesn't speak much english sooo I thought that was really cute...sooo instead of wondering what I'm doing for christmas...now I know! I do still want to go to Morocco on mission trip with my friend and her parents but I'm not sure what my relatives what me to do. I was thinking though, if I do get the chance to go, I'd like to help out in an orphanage.
Ok, I guess that's all I've got for now. Keep in touch!!

Love in Christ,
Jill<><

First Day!!

Well, the trip went well and I made it safely to Bodenseehof. My mom helped me settle in and came and enjoyed the day with me and met a lot of my new friends and roommates. I'm sooo excited about being here and so far it's been an incredible experience. Today we rode the bus into town (friedrichshafen) and walked around, went shopping, found the coffee place, and stuff. It was soooo cool!
I have really cool roommates. One of them is from Germany and her name is Bianca but we call her "Binkie" and the other one is from Oregon and her name is Rachel. We are expecting one more soon, but not sure when she'll arrive.
Oh, last night was fun, my mom and I slept in a youth hostile and in the same room was a girl from Bodenseehof named Heidi. She and I have become pretty awesome friends.
All in all it's been pretty awesome, good food, comfy bed, good strong christian people, and all around an awesome place to spend 6 months.
It's sooo beautiful here and everyone has such a cool accent!
Sorry, I'm kind of scatter-brained at the moment...I'm just kind of tired from the trip and the big day....hmmm what else can I say.....tonight we had a good meeting and introduced ourselves to everyone. That was pretty cool. We have a lot of German kids (obviously), Canadians, and people from Colorado!! There is quite a wide range of people too. I also met a girl today from Norway which was really fun!!
I'll have you know, the first thing I bought in Germany was a bottle of carbonated water! haha...I'm really looking forward to black current juice. (it's like grape juice and I drank it all the time in London when I lived there...and miss it terribly)
Thank you all for all your prayers. I'm too tired I think to post pictures tonight, but I may post them later this week. To tell you the truth, I'm surprised I got on the internet tonight. I've been having so much fun I almost forgot to email my friends and call my dad and brother....I felt kind of bad but I guess that's a good thing too! Looking forward to hearing from all of you!! I love and miss ya'll sooo much!!!

Jill<><

God Provides!

I knew I was supposed to go to Bible School, but wasn't quite sure how I was going to get there. My family's a little tight on money, but God provided a practically free plane trip using my dad's built up frequent flyer miles!! Because we got the flight so cheap, I knew I was going to have to make a lot of stops and use a lot of different transportation. I was also pretty scared because I knew I would have to stay in a hotel or something late at night and don't know the language. God, however, had a plan the whole time and made it so my mom would be able to take me there! She will be in Germany with me for a week, but she'll be there to help me get settled and everything. God is so awesome and works in amazing ways! I'm so excited what God will do in my life and how He will work through me. I will keep ya'll updated with this new blog. Also, feel free to email me and/or write to me! I will miss all of you. You're in my prayers.

Jill<><