Well, Christmas break was extremely eventful to say the least! I traveled a lot! We got 3 weeks off for Christmas and we weren't allowed to stay at the school (course, I don't know who would...) so we had to stay somewhere else. I chose to go to my relative's house for Christmas. I was really nervous about traveling by myself in a country where English isn't their first language. The whole time, however, God provided me with a sense of peace and a lot of help along the way. Not only that, God also presented me with many opportunities to share my faith with others. It was really cool to see how God spoke through me and gave me the wisdom to answer their deep spiritual questions. I must say, the coolest experience in the world is to experience the Lord speaking through you and seeing how it touches the other person's heart, right before your eyes! I can't explain it, but it's just the coolest thing ever and I'm so thankful that God chose me!!
It's funny, because my relatives don't speak much English and I don't speak much German, so between activities or meals and they didn't know what else to do with me, they would sit me down in front of the T.V. and turn on CNN or MTV (the only English channels they have) in hopes that I would be satisfied for hours. Well, I decided to go upstairs and grab my journal so I could journal while I listened to CNN. My Oma walked in and saw me journaling and was happy that I was able to entertain myself with something else other than T.V. and seemed to enjoy it soooo much more! Well, from then on, if she didn't need any help with anything and didn't know what to do with me, she would tell me I could write in my journal. It was awesome! It was like God was telling me through her that it was time to spend some time with Him! The cool thing is, though, she's not a christian, and this nonchristian woman was telling me to spend time with God!!! :) Can you believe it???
Christmas was a lot of fun, we had a lot of different food, different traditions, and it was such a fun experience. Many of my relatives didn't speak English, but luckily I met some cousins who speak perfect English because they are studying in England and Wales. I was so happy to be able to communicate with some people who spoke my language AND who were around my age. It was sooo much fun!
So, after my time with my relatives came to an end, I was going to take a train to my friend Sonja's house (My friend that I met on outreach). However, the train experience there was absolutely horrible! Everything was fine until I had to switch trains in Ulm...just for the record....I hate ULM! Anyway, I got off my train and only had 5 minutes to switch trains because my train came in late and my track was way across the station. Well, I went into the station and called my friend's mom to let her know and she told me that the next train wouldn't get there for another 2 hours. I was looking around for somewhere to go or something to do and nothing seemed appealing. As I continued to look around, I realized an older man looking at me as if he knew me. As he walked passed me, he kept looking back at me. When he reached the other side of the station, he stared at me with the same blank look. It was so weird. Whenever I would glance in his direction or look at people who passed by him, he was still looking at me and the other people never phased him. I prayed and I told God that I was scared, I told Him that if I looked back at that man again and he was still looking at me, then I would know that he was a creep! When I glanced at him again, he was still staring at me with that blank stare and I decided that I would brave the negative 5 degree weather and wait at my track. As I walked out of the station, I looked back and saw him starting to follow me. I was terrified! I started walking faster, but couldn't walk a lot faster because my duffle back was so heavy. The more I started to panic, the heavier my duffle was. When I reached my track, I looked behind me and there he was! He had no suitcase, no one with him, and he waited at my track for a whole hour before he decided to go inside because he was too cold. I was freezing and looking forward for my train to come. Then, I looked at the sign with all my train information on it and it said that my train was delayed another hour! I was so frustrated, so cold, and so nervous that I just wanted to leave. Another hour passed and I glanced up at the sign to see if there was another update on my train and realized that my train information had switched to another track which happened to be so conviently at a different platform! When I got there, I waited about 10 minutes and then there was an anouncement talking about the train I needed to take. I asked someone around me and they told me that my train was at track 8 which was waaaaaaay across the station and that I needed to hurry! There was no way I was going to miss this train again so I ran as fast as I could! When I got to the top of the stairs and reached my platform, I saw a guy that works at my school!!! By that time, I was so happy to see anyone I knew and ran up to him and started talking to him. He helped me with my suitcase and everything was good from there. I was so happy that God provided me with Nills to help me. God knew that I needed someone I knew and He provided!!
Finally, when I got to Sonja's house, her mom had prepared a bath for me and they totally took such good care of me. I had a lot of fun with Sonja and her family and really enjoyed getting to spend time with them. I was able to spend a lot of time with Sonja and she and I had some awesome conversations!!! She and I get along so well and we're looking forward to spending more time together. When we talk, it's almost as if we've been friends for years!!! It's sooo awesome. I'm really looking forward to her coming to visit me in Texas!
After that, I had an awesome train ride to my friend Tanja's house wich Sonja's mom and sister so graciously helped me get that also went straight to where Tanja needed to pick me up and I didn't need to change trains along the way. When I got there, she met me right at the train, helped me with my luggage, and went to her house. When we got there we packed up our stuff so we could go to our friend's Helen and Christian's house for New Year's. At their house, we had a traditional German New Year's dinner, watched Dinner For One, then went out and did fireworks, sparklers, and other fun explosive fire things, and drank some sparkling wine to celebrate! It was soo much fun, when we got back, we watched Ratatouille and went to bed. The next day, she and I were driving back through the black forest and stopped at a small cafe right in the middle of it and after we ate, took a walk around a canyon in the forest. The rest of the time, I stayed at Tanja's house and went to the Mercedes Benz Museum, got my picture taken with Lewis Hamilton's car, went to the T.V. Tower, and did a lot of shopping. While I was there, my favorite jeans ripped and I was able to buy two pairs of jeans for 25 Euros!!! It was totally awesome! God sure provides!!!
It was definitely a great trip! Tanja and I had an awesome trip back to school and it's so great to be home with all my friends again! I have a new room and 3 new roommates and I love it! My roommates are so sweet and today we had our first lecture. So far, school's going well and I'm really excited about how God will continue to work in my life!
I'm so thankful that God is so faithful and will never leave me, espeically when I'm all alone in Ulm! :)
I miss all of you and love all of you so much! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a good start to the New Year! Let me know if there's anything I can pray for. If you wouldn't mind praying for me and my continual growth in Christ, that would be great!
Love in Christ,
Jill<><
