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