Wolverine

I cannot believe I won't be in the States when this movie is in theaters! Take advantage of seeing it... if you can. Go X-Men!

Polska

Let's see here, what's been going on.

Well, at lot of social interactions with Germans, for sure. We have a new conversation partner, named Sandra, that has gotten us involved with other people. She is somewhat new to Dresden, and through this thing that she calls "German facebook" has access to meeting new people who want to get involved in hanging out in Dresden. On the 17th of the month, we went with her to her hometown, Leipzig, and saw some pretty cool sites. We learned that the city holds the largest train station in Europe and yes, it. was. huge. We also saw the church at which Bach consistently played and a familiar site--Starbucks. On the train ride back, an interesting conversation happened that my teammate Jennifer writes about here. She gives a nice account of the story since she was the one with whom the conversation was held. I, sadly, slept on the ride back and missed out. Trust me--I never knew my sleeping could get in the way of things! I think it worked out for the best because Sandra might've been less open if she was discussing everything with all four of us, instead of just two. We are planning on seeing her again this coming Tuesday to go for a paddle boat ride on the Elbe.

Now, more currently--through Sandra we've met a guy named Mat. He likes movies and invited us all to go to one. So, this Wednesday, I finally saw my first movie IN THEATERS since January 11. Considering I go to the movies once a week at home, I've been suffering. Seriously--I have a test that proves that I will go into stress mode when I don't exhibit my "artistic" side, which just so happens to be movies (in my case). On top of going to the movies, the movie I watched just so happened to be Slumdog Millionaire. I was very impressed. I should be writing a review about it sometime soon! 

We have met with a new conversation partner, Elizabeth, but only for about 10 minutes. She needed to leave and go practice the piano. In that time, we were able to find out that she attends a local Lutheran church and hopes to start playing church hymns soon. I'm excited to get the chance to know Elizabeth! We'll see more of her tomorrow.

Lastly, Jessica, Jennifer, and I ventured outside of Dresden on Saturday to visit the easternmost town in Germany: Görlitz. Some claims were thrown out there that it is considered the most beautiful city in Germany. Well, all I have to say is that Dresden is prettier :) It is still a beautiful city, though. We even found a place called Heiliges Grab, a copy of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, with representations of the scenes of Christ's Passion. After viewing most of the city, we walked across the border into Poland. Yep, we just walked on over. The Polish city's name is Zgorzelec, and it wasn't much to see. I don't really care too much about that because I can say I've now been to Poland! It was quite a difficult thing after we realized that we dont a) know the language, b) have a map, or c) have Polish money. We made it back to Germany safely, nonetheless. 

That's most of what's going on around here. We have several meetings with people this week so we hope that they will all go well! And guess what? May starts this Friday! What a great month it will be!

German word: wünschen--to wish

Bach's statue in front of "his church"

Supersized Train Station

St. Peter's Kirche in Görlitz

Görlitz City Hall

Angel proclaiming that Jesus' tomb is empy!

A look down Brüderstrasse

Yes, I like Harry Potter

So, I didn't really have time to write a post, but I saw the new Harry Potter trailer and thought I'd post it for all to see! I'm so excited to see it this summer!

If, for some reason, the Youtube video didn't work, here's the link to the Warner Brothers website with the trailer. :)
Harry Potter Trailer

I have seen the sun!

So let's see here--last week. I have finally discovered that Germany DOES see the sun and oh what a beauty the country is when it is covered by a blue sky and adorned by flowers of all colors. My main picture at the top is one taken (in my opinion) on the first day of spring. I forgot what a joy it is to walk outside without a coat, scarf, and gloves. My how I've missed warmth! A plus about the warm weather here is the humidity is about 1/2 of the humidity at home, so now I know what normal temperatures are supposed to feel like!

Moving onto activities of last week: We had a retreat of sorts at a city about an hour and a half from here. The town is extremely small and with a name almost impossible to pronounce. Through the trip we learned a lot about ourselves, our teammates, and how we work together as a team. There were several other missionaries from Germany at the retreat, so it was also nice to meet others serving God in Germany! I wish everyone I knew could take this test. It's called Grip-Birkman, and it's one of the most elaborate tests I've ever taken. It describes you when you're just jim dandy, and what happens to you when you get stressed out. It shows your highest levels of interest (my top two were artistic and scientific..hint hint) which help people learn how to help you out when they see your stress signs. I believe in this test so much that I'm just going to save it in my email and hand it over to my future husband one day (who knows if email will even exist by that point). I think this test is so beneficial for teammates to have--I know it's already helped my fellow hands-on teammates and I!

Outside of the Grip-Birkman discussion times, we had a lot of free time in the late afternoon and evening. I was lucky enough to participate in my first ultimate frisbee game and show Team Dresden, as well as the rest of Germany, how truly competitive I am. The team I was on won both times, so I walked off the field happy. We also visited a local waterfall, as well as an Alpine slide. I've been on an Alpine slide once before, so I felt confident enough in the tracks to put my speed level on full steam ahead. All in all, last week was an amazing trip! We're hoping to see more of Germany in our last two months here!

German word:
niesen--to sneeze

Team Hands-on Dresden in front of the waterfall

On the way down on the alpine slide

The whole Alpine slide

Quickly, now

So, I haven't much time to write a blog, but I'll see what I can do when I only have a 10 minute time window. Here goes!

Last weekend, I visited good ol' Berlin! You don't realize how blessed you are to live in country full of such history (even if some of it is pretty dark). I won't go into total detail of the places I saw here is a list of places including but not limited to: the Berliner Dom, the memorial to commemorate the book burning where over 20,000 books containing "un-German" ideas were burned on May 10, 1933, the memorial to all the murdered Jews in Europe, the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), the Reichstag (Parliament building), Checkpoint Charlie, remnants of the Berlin wall, and of course, the hotel where Michael Jackson held a baby out the window. The experience was unreal. I thank God for this opportunity and can't wait to share my experiences with others.

In other news, our conversation partner, Joanna, is as sweet as can be. She is teaching us a lot about Poland. She grew up there and still visits her family often. We are getting to know her much better. Also, the Hands-on team had the chance to hang out with the local Baptist church's youth group. We were able to encourage them as well as learn much about how their friends and family react to the gospel. A few of them are the only Christians in their family, and they explained how difficult that really is. Please keep this youth group in your prayers as they all are very vulnerable in their faith right now. They don't have much support from family or friends so you could imagine the difficult situations they've dealt with. Anyways, I have to hop of the computer now. Hopefully another update next Sunday!!

German word:

Sofort--Immediately

P.S. I will be at a retreat all week learning about my teammates and supervisors as well as myself. Pray for us all. We need to take all of this into account when we return to Dresden on Friday and continue this ministry.

Berliner Dom

Reichstag

Remnants of the Wall

Brandenburger Tor