Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Before I Go

I thought before I disappear for 10 days I should let you know how last Saturday's flag workshop went. We were glad to have several people from the Baptist church come and join us and we had a lot of fun together. I asked Mareika (the other girl on the dance team at HDH) to teach this since she is stronger with the flags than I am, as well I wanted to give her the opportunity to lead since I'm not going to be here for much longer.

I've noticed an increased interest from people in the church who are wanting to learn the flags, so I think we will continue in this direction for the remaining workshops.

Tomorrow I have the last rehearsal for the young girls dance and then they will perform it on Sunday. It's a song about rejoicing, so it's a happy dance :) Perhaps I will be able to load a video of it when I return from my trip.

Go in His Grace!







Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Convinced of Community

Hi Friends,

I want to share what I experienced this past Monday. Every Monday evening we have a ladies only house group that is in German. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's just a time during the week that a few people from the church get together to grow further in their walk with God by discussing things from the sermon and serving one another in this community.

I have so enjoyed all of our meetings and always leave encouraged. Despite all my wonderful feelings toward my group I didn't want to go on Monday because I knew it would be difficult to hold myself together. It's not that things are bad in my life or that I was just feeling emotional but it just happened that I received lots of difficult news from various people I care deeply about and the situations they are facing over the past two weeks. At first I thought I was not so phased by it but the longer it had to settle in me and with no one to tell except God, I was feeling burdened. It's hard to describe because I have a peace about each situation but I still had to grieve what people are facing.

In our meetings we always begin with worship, so this usually involves singing or some other creative type of worship. We began singing and it wasn't long before the tears started rolling. They came down quietly, first a few and then some more but I was somewhat in control. Then the lady next to me put her arm around me and I lost it. It's amazing how wonderful a touch can be. Anyways, the group allowed me to grieve and be real in their midst without all of the attention turning to me and the evening becoming about me. I am so thankful that the focus stayed where it was supposed to but yet I new people were still there supporting me. I think community is wonderful.

When you want to run from it, that's perhaps when you need it the most. It's humbling to "fall apart" and be real in front of many people but at the same time I'm so glad I have a place to do this. As I was leaving and reflecting I was more convinced than ever that we need community.

So that's a little of what I've been learning and experiencing this week. I know this is more personal than previous blogs but I hope that's ok.

Due to technical difficulties I will not be posting a video. Here's my exciting news. Disclaimer: exciting for me does not necessarily mean exciting to you. Five guys have expressed interest in learning a dance to be performed at one of our services. I think this is a great response since there have not been any guys dancing since I've come here. I'll keep you posted as things develop with this.

In other VERY EXCITING news my sister, her hubby and his dad will be joining me for spring break. I'm looking forward to my vacation which I have combined with my ELE (extended learning experience) which is my chance to debrief about my time here. I won't be back until April 6th, so I'm not planning on updating you during my vacation so I will give you the highlights once I return. I wish you all a wonderful Easter!

Y'all have a great week now!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Assembling Ikea Furniture

You know you've officially arrived at a level of new independence once you successfully assemble some Ikea furniture. Our project was to get the pull out couch together and functioning. It was actually quite easy and fun but I thought I'd post some pics of our hard work and then enjoying the fruit of our labor. This is Barbara's new couch and that means I get the comfy chair moved to my room. Score!

A personal hello:


So here's the world's greatest mentors.


Here's the whole gang.


This dress was screaming Karen Sudds when I walked by....can you hear it calling you?


This is for Rish and anyone else wanting to see shorter hairs styled curly.


And finally a few sights from Strasbourg.



houses


cathedral


random street


artistic license used: I think it's better upside down :)

That's all for now folks

Tschussy!



Monday, March 1, 2010

Extra Extra Read All About It!!

This update is all about good news. I know it's the same day and I'm posting again. What madness is this? Well when you're excited about stuff you just gotta tell whoever you can and since you're my captive audience I thought I'd share with you first (seeing as it's 11:45pm).

1. You may have noticed that the thermometer has more than doubled it's first amount and it accounts for just over half of what I need! I must say I had some tears in my eyes to see how much you all have supported me. It really is overwhelming, so thank you for all of your love in this way.

2. I am taking part in a Mannheim Marathon on May 15th. I'm not crazy though, it's a relay with 4 people, so I will be running with others from our church. This is great motivation to keep active and help in preparation for the 10k I'm planning on running with my friend when I return home. I also think this will be a fun event. I forget the name for it but it's going to be a run into the dusk, which I think is a good idea when it's May! So, I'll keep you posted on some of my training but mostly on the big day.

3. I feel like any good Alliance sermon I need a third point. So here it is. I am growing so much here and I'm so often encouraged. That makes sense now that I read this - positive words bring life and that's something I'm experiencing here. I've also had a lot of opportunities to just try new things, so it's been a confidence builder. Lastly, I have amazing friends here and back home! I am truly blessed.

4. I get to dance everyday in my room because there's lots of room. In fact there's more room in here than in the kitchen so we're gunna try moving our table and chairs into my room so we can fit all our guests comfortably around the table for Sunday lunch. I think this will be funny, functional and memorable!

5. Ok I could go on and on but for your sake I'll end it here.

6. If you wanna comment I'd like to hear one thing that is great in your life today :)

K Bye!


As Promised a Dance Update

This is take number three because I only have 60 seconds on my camera at a time for recording something. I figure this is useful to you the viewer because I can't ramble on and I must stick to the important stuff. So here's my update from the weekend. Thanks for stopping by and tuning in.


BTW tonight I'll be leading communion at our house group which is another first for me!

I was struck yet again on Sunday by how different Mannheim is to Calgary. On Sundays everything is closed with the exception of gas stations and a few restaurants. I believe Calgary used to be more like that when I was a kid but not these days. While at times it's inconvenient, I enjoy this aspect of life here.