Intermission

We interrupt this blog to bring you some commical relief. ha ha.
Thursday 10:55 a.m.
I was in the middle of looking at a project when suddenly I remembered our Christmas Dinner for the ERO was tonight. I gasped as I mentioned the fact I had totally forgotten. What was I going to wear? Lisa and Simone laughed and tried to calm me down. They asked if I had anything else planned and I replied "Yes! It's laundry night!" (Such big plans for the evening! ha ha) We all laughed. Then they asked if I had any clean clothes. I said "Well yeah, I have things to wear I just don't know what I'm going to wear!" I will look when I go home for lunch today as I dressed casual today and the place we're going to is dressy!

Interlocken 4

I was quite surprised upon entering my room. There were 2 twin beds with European pillows and down filled duvet covers folded horizontally on the bed. There was not a top sheet on the bed as Europeans do not use them. There was no internet access at the resort. I thought that I had 2 closets similar to an armiore (sp?) only to find out one of them contained a sink. There were 2 community toilettes and 1 community shower each in it's own privacy. I laughed when I saw the toilette as it had a sticker on it with a picture demonstrating for the men not to miss the toilette. How funny! I did not enter the toilette to the right of the area because of the door handle. It had a black square meatle old door handle. I stuck to the one I felt comfortable with.

Interlocken 3

As we drove through the Alps I thought of the movie "White Christmas" in which they're on a train headed to Vermont expecting snow. However when they arrive there is no snow and the temperature is warm. The Alps are beautiful and green. As we got closer to Interlocken the mountains had sparsely covered snow peaks. Joel took this time to remind us to look at what was around us as we may never get another chance to see it. I was at an intense point in the book. I struggled with reading and looking. It didn't take me long to put the book down! I enjoyed the view. Occasionally Ali would point some things out to me on his side as I looked mainly out to the left side of the car. As we got off the exit there seemed to be a roundabout on every corner. It was like being on a carnival ride. ha ha. As we drove to the resort we passed by the lake. It was enormous and the water was choppy. As we approached the bottom of the mountain I was fascinated by what looked like a pipeline. We began the climb of the mountain and I realized it was a guard rail I was looking at. The road became one way either way and I wondered what happened when a car came down. I said several prayers as we climbed the curvy narrow road lined by rock hillsides to the right.

Interlocken part 2

It was 7:56 four minutes until load up time. I gathered up my things dragging the backpack behind me. I hollared to Simone I would see her downstairs. She stoped me & asked if I could come back and get her bags as she had to get the newsletter sent out. I assured her I would and if not I would send one of the guys. Joel & Sarah arrived and we put what few bags we could into the trunk. Nikolaj & Ludia were running late. Ali & I rode with Joel & Sarah, while Verne, Simone, & Lisa rode with Nikolaj. I thought I would sleep as I usually fall asleep in a car with in 5 minutes when on a trip. By this point I was a wake and decided to read my book The Healer by Dee Henderson. It had begun to rain again only this time it was a hard rain. Occassionally Ali would tell me what he was doing with his computer system, but I didn't understand. On our way to the Audubon traffic was almost at a standstill. It was rush hour and a lot of people travel into to Zurich. Reminded me of Little rock and all the people that commute in. After we were outside of Zurich there was a period of about 30 min. where the sun shone bright. I retrieved my sunglasses from my purse, Joel switched the visor to the side of the window, and Ali adjusted in his seat to see his screen better. The sun highlighted the blonde in my hair. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sun as the heat radiated against my face.

Interlocken 12/4/06 part 1

This morning I awoke to the sound of gentle rain falling along with the sound of my alarm buzzing on the desk. My eyes struggled to open. I tried to orient myself in the pitch black room. I struggled to open the netting hangning around my bed. "Why did you close the netting all the way?" I thought to myself. I grabbed the cell phone (it's my alarm), adjusted my eyes to the bright blue light, and wearily looked at the time. 5:30. "Do I get up and shower or snooze?" I thought to myself. It's too early! My body fell onto the bed as my hand hit the snooze button. "Nine minutes and then you've got to get ready!" I said to myself. My hand clutched the phone under the pillow as I drifted back to sleep. The phone vibrated in my hand and then began to beep. I instinctively hit the snooze button again. Just a few more minutes I thought. As I laid there I couldn't help but think I would oversleep. I decided to get up. I still was not fully awake and stumbled into the bathroom to prepare the shower. The sprayer fell from it's holder and danced about in the shower squirting water everywhere. Then when as I bent down to pick it up I knocked my head on the water knob. This was not turning out to be my morning! "I want to go back to bed" I thought to myself as I soaked in the steam!

Bittersweet Goodbye

Today I arrived home from the retreat. We had no internet access the entire time. To tell you the truth it was qutie nice! Upon checking my mail I found one from my mother entintled "Good News!" I thought this is it my car has sold, but then pushed the thought to the back of my mind so I wouldn't get my hopes up. As I read the email I screamed "Yes" several times. My smile stretched across both sides of my face. I ran into Simone's room to tell her the good news. My car had sold and for 200 less than what I had hoped to get (which was fine with me!) God had answered our prayers, given my moms the words to say, and led the person to buying the car! What a blessing! The best part is that it sold the day I left for the retreat! How awesome is God? Secretly I had hoped that it wouldn't sell and would be there for me when I return. However I know I needed the money and God provided as he will when I get home. I need not worry about the future what lies ahead when I return only the present!

Gentle Whispers

I'm not sure where I heard the phrase that sometimes God speaks to us in gentle whispers. Today was the start of Advent season. The music minister at the church sang a song about trusting the Lord. She brought up the point of how Mary and Joseph might have felt yet through it all they trusted God even though they didn't understand. She concluded before she sang with "Trust in the Lord no matter what your future holds" I'm not sure who wrote/sings the song but as she sang it some words in particular stuck out to me "When you can't trace his hands trust his heart" Over a year ago my friend, Teresa, added a screen saver marquee to my comp. and those were the words she put on it. I don't remember if I heard the song before today. It was a reminder of my friend and also to trust in God. "All things work for our good although we don't see how they could....Our father knows whats best for us...when we can't trace his hand trust his heart...He sees the master plan...Don't live as those who have no hope all our hope is in him...Like a tapestry he's weaving you and me to be just like him."
The sermon focused on how God does things and often times they don't come with big announcements. Like the birth of Jesus- was simple and quiet. The angels rejoiced, but as to the world....little knew. Whereas when Prince William was born there were celebrations, announcements etc... The points of the sermon (taken from Micah 5:2, 4-5) were

1. God often chooses small things to bring about results
2. God can make crooked ways straight again.
3. No matter what the past God can change the future. Don't dwell on the past

Today was filled with gentle whispers on trusting God even when I feel like he's not there, knowing he has made my way straight again, and knowing he knows my future. Even as I write this I'm reminded of the song "I have a Maker....He knows my name, He knows each tear that falls, and hears me when I call."

Christmas Market

Each year German towns put on Christmas markets. Some are a day, a week, or the month of December. Stuttgarts is the most famous (at least that's the one everyone talks about on campus). I opted for the Busingen Market as it was just around the corner. The aroma of roasted chestnuts filled the air. There was a booth with nothing but Germany pastries. I had a slice of Black Forest Cake! It was heavenly. My friend Lely sold some of her Indonesian food. The prophets are going toward her summer mission trip to Bali. A common thing here in Europe is to have "lotto" you pay 2 Francs for a ticket and the number on the ticket is the prize you get. I had seen a black satin evening purse with silver handles. It was my kind of purse. So I bought a ticket only ended up with an angel. I bought a few more but they were the "sorry not a winner" tickets. :( I found a tall porcelin teapot I thought my mom would like. The lady was busy and I decided to come back later. When I went back the teapot was gone! :( I need to go to the brokey (Salvation Army) in Shaffhaussen as they have some beautiful teacups there. They had a Saint Nicholas walk around and a german mens choir provided music.

Advent Banquet

December 1, 2006 EuNC hosted it's anual Advent banquet. It's the party of the year everyone looks forward to. In a way it could be compared to a prom. Everyone comes in their very best. Friday afternoon the girls around campus were busy doing each others hair, makeup, borrowing straightners, asking which dress looks best. Clothes adorned the beds from several changes to find that one perfect outfit that flattered them. Even those of us that didn't have a date (there were a lot of us! :) ) wanted to look our best as if we did. We were having a blast were daring shades of red lipstick or creating smokey eyes.
We arrived at the room shortly before 6. Everyone was standing in the hall. Barnabas ,being the flirt that he is, took each of the ladies hands as they arrived and kissed them as if we were royalty. Once we entered the room people began to quickly choose their seats and save others for late coming friends. It was like choosing a car for bumper cars.
After the banquet we had a 30 min. break then met in the chapel. The team had transformed it into a cafe. White lights and candles filled the darkened room creating a warm glow. One of the ladies who attends EuNC did a duet with her daughter. She played the piano and the daughter (around 6 or so) played the violin. It was beautiful. The second song she did she messed up but I have to commend her as she didn't get upset and just went on with the song. It was a difficult piece she was playing. My favorite skit was the "Last roll of toilet paper in the guys dorm" Shahade, Victor, Nacho, Andrew, & Peter did a slow motion coregraphed routine for a roll of toilett paper fighting for it. It was very well done. The music is one familiar and if you could hear me humm it you'd probably recognize it. It's a common one used in Epic movies. I want to say it's a requium. I could be wrong. The night was filled with laughter and even a tribal dance. Quite entertaining.