Change of Plans

Ok, I lied. Well, it wasn't intentional. I did not go away this last weekend. I was all ready to, and then the night before I decided not to. And i do not regret my decision. i was feeling really tired, not just physically, but more on the just feeling drained side of things. I have discovered, as i am sure many of you have, that going on trips is a lot of fun, but sometimes you feel even more tired after than before you left. This was my concern. So I stayed home, watched movies, ate a good thanksgiving meal, and unpacked more of my stuff.

I ate Thanksgiving dinner over at the hospitality house, which is a part of Cadence ministries. Cadenec is on a number of military bases worldwide, and i think the best way to describe it is that it is like Club beyond for adults. They meet every week on friday night and do some worship, have a speaker, and spend time in fellowship. They get together throughout the week for different events and outings, and basically are a relational ministry just like we at Club are. Brian and Aimee Kleager run it, and they do an amazing job.

Great football weekend, as Michigan State wrapped up a share of the Big 10 title. That hasn't happened in twenty years, so I am pretty pumped about that. Having no tv is making things difficult, but i find places to go to see the games i really need to see.

Speaking of no tv, i think the electronics in germany hate me. I have had problems with my phone, w/ my home internet, w/ the governement computer, my camera, and now my laptop is broken. I think I have to send it in to be fixed. I have a warranty and all that good stuff, it's just a nuisance, so no home computer anymore. i would send it in today, but it snowed here and the post shut down really early. it feels like i am the only one still in my office doing work on the entire post. There is no way of knowing that obviosuly, but i am the only one at the chapel. It's a good bit of snow, maybe 6 inches over the last 24 hours. A pet peeve of mine is when people say things like "I am from (wherever) and this (whatever it may be) is nothing compared to that." But I am going to go ahead and do that anyway. I don't think Grand Rapids ever shut down w/ snow like this. Just saying.

On a grammatical note, I do not spell check these posts or go back and fix things. My major issue I see is capitalization. I have decided my issue is that I take my finger off of the shift key too quickly, and therefore words like I often end up like i. just want you to know I am aware of it, i do know how it should be, and no I don't care. (see even there, the second I used in that sentence ended up lower cased and the first word in the sentence lower cased).

Ok, I am going home. If no one else on this post is working, i shouldn't be either (especially since my boss is in the US for 10 days). 7 hours on what for a lot of people was a snow day is plenty. Tomorrow will now probably have to be more along the lines of 10 hours, but that's ok. tuesdays are usually at least 10, if not more, but there is no Club Beyond tomorrow, since out of the 5 adults who do it I am the only one in Germany. I am not doing a club with 60 students by myself. ok, for real, good bye.

CHOW

This was from 2 weeks ago now, but on Veterans day, Sportscenter did a special episode from here in Grafenwoehr. Hannah Storm and Josh Elliot, 2 anchors, were here all day and they showed highlights, talked about the community, interviewed different people, etc. I was on tv a few times in the background. My Dad wrote me saying that he could see me, which was pretty cool to think about. One of my life goals was to be on Sportscenter, and while i was thinking of being more featured, being in the background is pretty cool also. I believe my parents did or are trying to make copies of the episodes, so if you see them, ask them about that. There some great segments that explained the post here and what goes on. I even learned some new things about what goes on here everyday. Some of my students were featured for different things, some got to play in the band, others were preforming at different areas during the festivities, so it was a great contact work day, going around and seeing everyone i knew. I was pleasantly surprised that almost everywhere I went I saw people I knew. pretty cool day overall. So I thought that was definitely worthy of being the CHOW.

Train rides and broken bones

Sorry for the 2 week absence. But i will do my best to fill you in on what has gone down. As I said in my last post, we went on a Middle School retreat to Nurnberg, a really cool city about a 45 minute train ride from my post. There were 8 different Club Beyond communities there, most from Germany, but also a couple from England. I love when we can get multiple communities together. It is a great chance for our kids to meet other people who are in the same types of situations as they are. And i really like being around the other staff as well. The weekend was a success i would say. Aretta was the camp director, so she was busy with camp stuff, so i was the community director for the weekend. I will admit it was a little stressful getting 30 middle schoolers on and off the train and getting them across the city, which was about a 20 minute walk with all of their luggage from the train station to the hostel we were staying at. But it went well.

We stayed at a hostel that is attached to a castle, so it has a very midevil look to it. It was pretty cool. Since we were staying there, our speaker spoke about the knights of old and the code they lived by. The speaker was Dale Mace, who is a club beyond staff guy in England and someone i have become fast friends with. He is the only other single guy on staff in Europe, so we have that in common. he is an extremely gifted speaker, and had a number of the students in tears each night. Working off the code for knights, he spoke on self worth and how we should draw our self worth and views of ourselves based on what God thinks of us, not what others think. It hit home with a lot of students, and helped them to confront both their own feelings of inadaquacy as well as how they speak to others and put others down.

Unfortunately, i missed he talk on the 2nd night. In a game leading up to that talk, we were doing a relay race where two students are dragging a third student on a sleeping bag. One of the girls from here was running backwards and fell and broke two bones in her wrist. We called an ambulance and went to a german hospital, which was a new experience for me. She ended up having surgery that night to repair her wrist and is doing well now, wih the addition of a cast. Her x ray looked like her bones in her wrist turned completely sideways, as if they were on a hinge like a door and the door was thrown open. pretty gross. So i went to the hospital with her and was there for a few hours until her Mom was able to get there. So unfortunately i missed the talk and small group time with my guys, which was really unfortunate but i was needed in the hospital more.

This coming weekend is obviously Thanksgiving and therefore a long weekend. I am thinking i will be heading out to a lake that is on the German/Austrian/Switzerland border. I have heard it described as one of the most beautiful places ever, so i am looking forward to it. I'll let you know how it goes. Two days ago I also went to Prague for the day, which is a really cool city. Gorgeous view and city skyline. I love living in Europe.

Meeting my new family

This last week I was at a staff conference and training for MCYM. It took place at a Christian retreat center in the Black Forest. It gave me an opportunity to meet all of my new coworkers from across Europe. I had met about a dozen of them prior to this, but there were about 40 more that I had not met yet. I was a little nervous at first, with meeting so many of my peers at the same time, but I am very pleased with how well it went. There were two aspects to this: there was first the staff conference with everyone, where we discussed our upcoming trips (just so you are jealous we talked about trips we are taking to Austria, Italy, Romania, Belgium and another place in Germany, for both high school and middle school stuff) and just spent time getting to know one another, catching up with others and just having fun. After this was over, the relatively new staff members stayed for a few days of training. I learned quite a bit, and it was really nice to talk to others who are new and talk about what we are going through.

I am now back in Graf, and it is nice to be back. I had a lot of fun this week, and it's good to be home. And the fact that it felt like home when I was coming back was very encouraging to me. Ok, one of our students here is giving me a hard time about being on the computer and needs a ride to Burger King, so it is her fault that this is not longer or more in depth.

Quick prayers for this week, we have a middle school retreat in Nuremberg from Friday to Sunday. Pray that the couple hundred middle schoolers that come together will both have fun and learn more about God. I'll make sure to let you know how that turned out. oh, and i know i promised pictures of everything, but I do not have internet in my new house, and i cannot upload pictures on a government computer (which i am on now) so those will be coming when i get internet at my house. So, i am sorry for the delay, but i will get those on as soon as I can.