Main outreach locations:

Please join me in praying about where I should spend January-March for our main outreach time. I will be submitting my top three choices to our school leadership team on Friday. Thank you so much for remembering me in your prayers, and please feel free to share with me if you hear anything! :-) I let you all know when I find out more!

Mini-Outreach

We found out our mini outreach teams today! I am part of the group that will be headed to Koln (Cologne.) This was one of my top choices, and my friend Leah is also a part of the team.
Koln is actually the only mini outreach location that I have actually visited before. I spent my 17th birthday in the city. I am eager to visit it again under such different circumstances than my high school exchange trip. I am also pleased that I am staying in Germany: I was really interested in trips to other countries, but it makes much more sense to serve and evangelize in a place where I can actually understand some of the language :-)
I'm not sure if Gitta will manage to get here-but I am praying that she makes is safely, or that we both won't be too crushed if it doesn't work out. I think I could cry.

Life is good

Today was a beautiful day in Herrnhut! Our scheduled speaker for this week was unable to to get a visa from South Africa, so today we did some individual and group processing—I really needed, and enjoyed spending some time quietly sitting on a bench in the sunshine, listening to the wind in the trees. It has been wonderful watching the autumn colors swell to a vibrant peak, and now to watch the leaves blow away. I almost feel bad for those who's work duty is to rake leaves: it seems so futile while there are still leaves on the trees.
My time has fallen into a daily routine; morning lecture with a coffee break, lunch, work, and whatever is on the schedule for the evening. I am a part of the local outreach team that will be focused on connecting with residence of Herrnhut—I felt the most drawn to this group as I live in town, and I think it makes sense to develop relationships here. I am also pretty curious about the town's perceptions of the constantly changing hordes of students that swell the small towns population. Are we more of a blessing or a curse?
I have just realized that I neglected to share a bit more about the historical background of this place. Herrnhut was the location for the beginning of the Moravian church, and started the missionary movement. This community dedicated to spend one hundred years in 24/7 prayer. All of this was more than a hundred years ago, and the East German village, while still known for it's heritage of the Breudergeminshaft (Moravian church) the church is not as vibrant and active as it once was, and the local community still remembers the abuses of communism. For example, there as an anti-Nazi rally in Dresden this last weekend, which would undoubtedly have drawn the retaliation of the Nazis if not for the heavy presence of riot police. It is hard, as an outsider, to contemplate what it must have been like here just 18 years ago. Or to imagine this place devastated for years by war. The beautiful via duct, bridge that I have already posted pictures of is the only structure that I can see was effected by the war (the two center spans were destroyed to keep the reds from crossing via rail)-it was repaired by the next year.
Tomorrow we hear the mini outreach locations, and I am curious to see what the leaders have on their hearts, and where the Lord directs my heart for that time. Next week we hear more about Outreach! My heavens, time goes quickly.
...
I can never seem to complete a post when I sit down to write it. So it is already tomorrow (the 21st of October) and we've been given about 24 hours in which to pray and list our top three choices for mini outreach locations. There are several locations within Germany and the Czech Republic, and also trips to Poland and Hungary. I wish that we had a little more time...
One of my housemates, McKenna, has started Tuesday night dinner at our house, so when everyone finishes our small group/local outreach connection and prayer times, the now-quiet kitchen will be a mad house.
The main point that I have taken from the times of teaching thus far has been an emphasis on relationship. Our main focus should be on pursing a greater understanding of God's character, plans and love for us. It is through this dynamic relationship that we grow more like Him, develop the gifts He has given us and reflect Him to those around us. None of this is exactly news to me, but it is one of my main reasons for being here. Of course I still face the same challenges, of setting aside time to be with God in the word, and waiting on Him.
Okay-the pack is here now, and one of the Germans, Lukas, who also has an Eee PC fixed my internet-so I can just put this in the blog!!! You have no idea how excited I am about this! I love you all, and have you in my thoughts and prayers.

A very few photos

Please check out the photo link at the right to see a couple pictures from my time here so far.

Every day I will walk from the house in town to the Wasser Schloss (Water Castle) It is a beautiful walk and includes woods, a stream with many bridges and a field with a long gradual sloping path. When i first walked up this hill, the girls I was with called it "long, slow, death." I thought this an absurd name for a walk that I found very enjoyable, especially relative to the walk I used to take in Seattle. Yesterday, however, when I had a bit more time to enjoy my walk, I read the sign: "Langsamer Tod"-slow death! The walk was actually called that and I didn't realize the girls had only added long. The name derives from when the Ruppersdorf residents had to carry heavy loads of linens into market in Herrnhut.
I am pleasantly surprised at my use of German, but know that I am still very limited in my knowledge-but at least I get to use what little I know.

I'm here!

Hello again! I just wanted to write a quick note to say that I am in Herrnhut-it was a long trip, but not as long as some others :-) I am living in a house in town (Fischer Haus) where there will be 20 girls sharing 2 showers and WCs! Welcome back to community living... It's a 2km walk to the Castle, and we'll be walking there and back probably 2+ times a day-thank the Lord for exercise, but it's going to be pretty miserable when it rains and snows. I'll post pictures when i take some, and find someone else's computer to upload from. Thank you all for your prayers!

So close!

I have a lot of things to get done today and tomorrow before I leave on Thursday (such as packing, helping mom with the house, sewing a long skirt, and putting together grad application stuff so that mom can send it off for me eventually...) I'm planning on writing more while I travel on Thursday and so should have some info posted ASAP when i get to Herrnhut on Friday evening... Loves!

One last month in Washington

Hello All!

I've decided that it would probably be a wise idea to have a space to share what is happening in my life as I will have limited communication over the next six or so months. For those of you who don't know, I will be attending a Discipleship Training School through Youth With A Mission in Herrnhut, Germany. This adventure begins on 2 October, when I fly to east Germany for ten weeks of lectures in a bilingual-international setting, and preparation for Outreach (the second three months, spent in a location doing things and with a team that will all be determined in Germany.)

I had the awesome opportunity to work for Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs, Colorado (just west of Colorado Springs) for nearly two months this summer and enjoyed it immensly. I worked on "Domestics," drove 15 passenger vans to set up for sports time, and led small groups during each session, and generally had a blast getting to know and work with people who have fun and seek after the Lord. As a sweet close to my time in CO I got to go down to Pagosa Springs and get the lodge there ready for Summit Semester, which was full work, fun, and beautiful scenery. It's always hard to leave a place that holds people we love, and good memories, but I am hoping to get back to Summit next summer.

I've been home for just less than a week, had my wisdom teeth removed, and am now in the process of wrapping my mind around the work that I need to do before I leave. It will get done--eventually. I am struggling with the idea of graduate school, and not sure if it's because I just don't want to do the hard work of applying, or if it's the bigger picture of the end results of a PhD in I/O Psych. What do I really want? and more importantly, what does God want with me?
Mom and dad have also accepted a contingent offer of sale on the big house in Ferndale, so nearly all my possessions are boxed up in the closet, and we have the joy of exploring though various homes and neighborhoods in Bellingham trying to imagine my parents there and someday (when we might all be in the same place again) the whole family. We live in a beautiful place, and it makes it a bit hard to leave knowing I won't have a home that has been mine to return to. Thanks for not moving until I'd graduated from college, mom and dad :-)

I appreciate all the love and support that I have received and that I know will follow me across the world this year. Thanks bunches!

Hugs, kisses, and prayers,

Libby, Sniffy, Libs, Lu-Bunny, etc...