HUGE EXCITEMENTS!

um - God has blessed me over and over today!! i am overwhelmed! i'll try to just list it:

5:45am - got up to do a Christian radio station talk show with Tim and Jae (Helina translated). it was in this guy's house (really nice place) and his wife made us tea. the show was broadcasted on the radio and the web (video...haha) - live. we get there, not knowing a ton about what this is about. the guy asks if we can each give a 10 minute message. haha no notes, no prep - just...do it. thankfully, it went a little differently. he interviewed each of us, asked us our testimony, asked some other questions, and then asked if we had a message to share - so by that time, it didn't have to be a full 10 minutes. i shared part of my sermon i had prepped for outreach. then i lost my train of thought while Helina was translating a verse. so i said "...that's it" - haha and the guy followed up with some more questions. when we were leaving, he handed Jae a wad of krowns (the currency here). we got in the car and Jae counted...and counted...and counted. haha each of us (4) got about $100 US each!

we got back around 9:15am and the Latvia YWAM team was here for a time of worship and intercession (YAY!!!!). soooo great!

music camp from 1-3pm and the 2nd half of the time we put all the instruments/vocals together for practice for the concert tomorrow. it was so fun!

OUR BAGS CAME!!!! praise GOD! it's like Christmas! hahaha :) Tim and Anna's bags didn't come, but we're takin' care of 'em :) and my sleeping bag made it! i was afraid it'd come unattached during all the traveling and i would lose my sleeping bag and broncos blanket (i was more concerned about the broncos blanket).

Aunt Toni sent me on outreach with 12 presents to open on the 12 days of Christmas so since that starts the day after Christmas, i had 3 days worth to open!! such great presents!!

ok Kevin needs his laptop. Thank You, God, for fun days with huge excitements!!

Small excitements!

Today - drum roll, please - I caught a glimpse of the sun!!!!!! It was this bright white-ish colored circle trying to pierce thru the grey clouds. It never fully broke thru. But it was pretty stinkin close and it made me smile really big. I got a picture on my camera.

Today I saw ducks!! The first wildlife I've seen in Estonia!! Animals DO live here!!!

We ate at a McDonalds in Old Town - I never eat McD's back home, but they said it was healthier here so I ate. And it was good. :) plus it was in this sick castle type area that was built in the 15th Century. Again, pics on my camera. A small fry was like $1.75.






(still no luggage=no hair products, no make up, and no contacts)

We went to a mall tonight to get anything we "needed". Well I needed a chai. :) so me, Kevin, and Bob found this uber trendy coffee shop in the mall and I had chai (Oregon Trail tiger spice - rarrrr) and the guys had shots of espresso. Bob also got a slice of keylime pie!!! It was a really light taste. Good though. Then the guys each ate cubes of sugar. Haha no thank you.









We also did a walk thru Old Town, up to the Parliament building and past the prime minister's house (you can walk right up next to it!!). We had a time of intercession in front of Parliament. Beautiful views of Tallinn. Tried getting a couple shots with my phone...






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The solution to cold legs

I have found the secret to staying warm is wearing a minimum of 3 layers of pants. Leggings. Warm ups. Jeans. Then 6 layers on top. Tank top, long sleeve, zip up hoodie, zip up sweater, pull over hoodie, and winter coat.

That's right. I've figured this thing out!!


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observations

Estonia is considered a "cold culture" - people generally do not show much emotion and are quiet in public. it's considered rude to talk on your cell on the bus/train/public transportation. it's hard to describe the architecture because the houses are covered in mounds of snow. :) some drifts are as tall as me. i haven't seen any "beater" cars, no rust buckets. most cars are uber nice and Estonian drivers are snow maniacs - nothing stops them!! haha :) public transportation is popular, lots of busses/trolleys/trains.

when you enter homes, people generally take off their boots (so you don't track snow everywhere - i don't know if they do that in the summer). stoves/ovens take a long time to heat up - Helina, our contact here, said she was shocked when she lived in the US to see how fast stoves/ovens heated up.

when you're walking, cars stop so you can cross. like, pedestrians generally have the right of way. totally not American. haha :) if you need to communicate with someone, your best bet is find someone younger - they are taught English in school. some of the older generation have learned English, but you're much more likely to find a younger person you can communicate with.

coffee shops are not common. they drink a lot more of tea. prices for food are OK, but for clothes they are a bit more expensive than the US.

i guess at the start of the new year, they are switching currency to the Euro. right now they still use the krone (spelling?). ooh maybe i should go to the bank and get a few krones before they switch! this is history in the making, peoples! :)

oh! it is not uncommon for houses to have saunas! the house we're staying in has a sauna. Helina's house as a sauna (which we got to use Christmas night!!). we haven't used the sauna here yet - we're not sure if it works yet.

well...the stove just died on us. we're in the middle of cooking dinner...here comes another adventure! :)

James 1:12

"Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

And i will choose to persevere with joy!

stranded

this morning, 6 of us + 1 leader and our contact (Helina) went to work at a soup kitchen. we walked to the train station and waited but the train didn't come. turns out the train got stuck (we were having a snow storm - actually, we still are). so we had to call a taxi. but it took 2 taxis to get the 8 of us to the soup kitchen. so 4 of us girls went in 1 and then the 2 guys, our leader, and Helina went in the other one (hindsight is 20/20). Helina told our driver the address and we took off first. well, our driver drove to this area of warehouses/run down apartment-like buildings that appeared pretty empty. he kept pointing, saying our place was just down the drive. we had no idea if it was or not, but it didn't look like it. anyway, the car got stuck in the snow so 3 of us girls jumped out and tried to push him out. then a couple fellow Estonians driving by stopped to shovel and push. finally the car got out. the driver didn't speak any english, and we had no clue where we were. but he kept motioning that this was the address. so we got out. and he left.

so here we are, 4 American girls, stranded in the middle of who knows where in a foreign country - in the middle of a blizzard-type snow storm. the good news was, i had a 1/2 snickers bar and enough granola bars and water to last us a couple days. safety first.

we were like - what do we do?? my first answer: an emphatic "PRAY!" so we did. then we talked to the first 2 doors of the apartment building and knocked. no one. we saw someone shoveling snow. asked if she spoke english. nope. we had my phone but i doubted i'd have service, plus i had no one's phone numbers in Estonia. it would do no good. i figured if i could find wi-fi, i could get on facebook and message the living daylights out of everyone on our team, hoping someone would check it. but there was no wi-fi in nowheresville. no surprise.

so we stopped and prayed again. then we saw a woman walking toward us and we asked her if she spoke english. she knew very very VERY little english, but she tried so hard!! we were all laughing a lot, it was cute. we got the message across that we needed her to call a taxi (that was the only solution we could think of - get a taxi to pick us up...although we didn't know our address, but we figured we could at least go somewhere warm...haha). she got her phone out but then she felt so bad because she couldn't remember the number for the taxi! she was adorable. then a younger guy walked by and she yelled at him and he came over - he spoke english! praise the Lord! we asked him if there was a soup kitchen near by. thankfully, he knew exactly what we were talking about and it was just a couple blocks away.

we made it to the soup kitchen, refilled lots of hot tea, served some sour kraut, pork, and yellow potatoes (SO GOOD!). i guess it's a common Estonian Christmas dinner. it was a lot of fun!! hardly anyone spoke english, but the ones that did loved trying to say the few words they knew! one old man kept telling all of us we were really beautiful! :) another nearly definitely creepy man kept looking at me with this creepy smile and he asked one of the Estonian workers something or made some comment and pointed at me and smiled and she slugged him. hahaha :)

because of the snow storm, we couldn't get any taxis to take us home. so we walked to the train track (not very far) and waited, hoping some mode of public transportation would come by. we prayed a lot today. :) a trolly came by and from there we got on a bus and made it home!!!!

it was a hugely memorable Christmas!!!! this morning i asked God if i could feel His presence today in some way. totally did. i loved having to rely on Him today!!! and seeing Him tangibly come thru!!

tonight we are hanging out at Helina's and making pizzas! i got to go to a little grocery store tonight and i got a bag of granola! what a treat!!!!!!!

oh and this morning, while waiting for the taxis, we went in the gas station (they're like American ones!) and Jae bought us all hot chocolate!!! she's the best outreach leader EVER!

Grounded

12/21/10 - 9:13am Munich, Germany
We are currently sitting on the tarmac in Munich, Germany...which is cool, because I've never been to Germany before. But we are supposed to be in Frankfurt. We got here around 8am. Frankfurt was closed because of snow, so we were re-routed until it opens. It re-opened around 9am but there are 50 planes sitting here, waiting to refuel and take off for Frankfurt...it could be another hour or so.

Should make for an interesting day - unfortunately I don't think we'll get to go into Frankfurt and see the city over our layover now. Bum.

10am Update - Munich, Germany
The captain just announced it would take at least 5 hours to get refueled so our flight is cancelled and busses are coming out to take us into the terminal. Adventure rocks!!!!

7:02pm - still in Munich, Germany
So we are still at the airport in Munich...11 hours later and counting. We have a flight straight to Estonia. It was supposed to be at 7:25pm. It's delayed to 7:55pm. Not a big deal.
We've spent most of the day here sitting on the tarmac (in the plane), standing in lines for rescheduling, and walking around just outside the airport - there's a cool Christmas-y type thing going on out there - ice skating rink, various booths of food vendors and craft vendors.
We are trying to stay awake until bed tonight so we can defeat jet leg. Running on 30+ hours with maybe a cumulative 3 hrs of sleep mixed in. Most as sitting on the ground with a dazed look. Others of us go thru stages of slap happiness.
This is fun!! It's all part of the adventure!!

--we got in to Tallinn, Estonia around midnight (local- 7 hrs ahead of eastern time zone). Got to our place and in bed by 2am.


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things I’ve learned over the past 11 weeks

disclaimer: this is NOT an exhaustive list.

1. I fear man a lot more than I fear God.  NO MORE!  I am puttin’ my foot down.  I will fear God and God alone!
2. I DO have a testimony.  I’ve always felt like I didn’t have much of a testimony because I’ve grown up knowing God and He has always been a part of my life ever since I can remember.  I didn’t have a time of rebellion, I didn’t have a dramatic conversion story.  but I DO have a testimony – the hope that I have because of Christ, the pain He has protected me from because I didn’t go down any rebellious paths, and the way He has given me hope, peace, and joy in the midst of trials and hurts.  He has also restored me in areas that I struggled with (and He’s still workin’ on me, that’s for sure).  I DO have a testimony.
3. In order to allow God to be my strength in my weakness, I have to ALLOW Him to be my strength in my weakness.  I have to be willing to operate in my weakness so that He can show His strength.  All for His GLORY!

Stoked!

Stoked to leave for outreach!!
Stoked because I got 3 checks totaling $400 today in the mail - definitely a huge surprise and blessing!
Stoked because I have amazing family and friends who love me and support (totally not just financially) me!!
Stoked that, unless God brings me home sooner (to Heaven!!), I will be back to my earthly paradise in less than 2 months!
Stoked to continue on this adventure with God for the next 7 weeks internationally!
Stoked.

:D



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Ironic & Beautiful

Just peruse thru the following...compare locations.







And currently (and my favorite):





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Super bowl

I realized tonight that the Super Bowl is Feb 6 - I get back to the States Feb 4. :D

Today I had a good quiet time. Then one of the guys (Nathan M) in our DTS surprised me with a peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks! That was so cool!!!! Then for lunch we had meatball subs. A lot of people don't like them. I love 'em! Then I got a sweet Christmas card in the mail from the newlywed Silby dynamic duo!! And the Radical book I ordered off Walmart came in! Then this afternoon our DTS went to Majestic View park and hung out (low 60's and sunny baby!). Some of us played ultimate!! Cant wait to be home and playing every Sunday!!

Fun day! So stoked for outreach!!!!!!!!


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Happy Place

Sunny. 55 deg outside. Walked into Chipotle for the last time before I leave. Bob Marley playing. "Baby don't worry - 'bout a ting...'coz every little ting - 's gonna be alllllright...". I am in my happy place. And smiling really big.



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giving praise where praise is way past due

there’s something I’ve been meaning to post and keep forgetting to.  it’s from the end of October.  better late than never, right?

so we had a mid-quarter outreach in October, which was 1 week in downtown Denver (remember the Teddy Bear story?).  it was a busy week, lots of time spent out in the freezing cold, and lots of late nights and early mornings.  in other words, prime breeding ground for sickness.  a lot of people were getting bad colds.

we got back to the base late Thursday night and Friday morning I woke up with a headache and sore throat and totally felt the beginnings of a cold coming on.  during worship that morning, they told people to go up to these 2 guys who wanted to pray for healing for those who were sick.  I didn’t go up.  I feel bad asking for prayer like that and then if I don’t get “healed”, then I don’t want the person to feel bad. so I was like, “OK God, if they pray for like, a group of people or something, or if someone comes up to me and asks to pray for me, I’ll do it.”  well then they decided to have everyone who was sick get in a group and have others lay hands on them and pray for healing.  ha :)

I figured I had nothing to lose.  this way I wasn’t on the spot, so they wouldn’t pray for me individually and then ask expectantly, “are you better??”  and then if I wasn’t better, I’d let them down. (I know, I’ve got issues – I shouldn’t be worried/thinking about that – trying to get over it)

so I went up.  and they prayed and I did feel a little relief in the pressure I was feeling in my head, and my throat didn’t hurt as much.  but as we left the worship session and went about our days, my throat started to hurt a little again.  so I was like “oh…bummer.”

BUT – I woke up the next day and felt TOTALLY fine!

Praise God!  and praise Him that I haven’t been sick at all these 3 months I’ve been here!  the flu has made it’s rounds twice now (it’s making it’s 2nd round currently – so far so good). horrible colds have spread around.  and God has protected my health.

Praise Him!

note to self

learn how to spell “too-shay” – I’ve said it twice on here within the past week and each time I put the disclaimer that I don’t know how to spell it so I spell it like it sounds.

3 more hours

If I could have even just 3 more hours in the day, that would be great.

If I could just better utilize the time I DO have each day, that would be greater.


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fire alarm

this morning at 2:45am I woke up to the sound of my roommates rushing around, running out the door.  I could faintly hear a “beeep…beeep…beeep…”  I soon realized they were freaking out because the fire alarm was going off.  I rolled over, thinking, “ugh – dumb thing, I’m SO not getting out of bed.”  but then I realized EVERYONE was jumping up and running out the door so I thought, “ok, will I get in trouble if I don’t evacuate?  like, is it mandatory?”  I decided I didn’t want to risk getting in trouble (at that time in the morning, I couldn’t figure out if it was illegal or not to not evacuate…although it SHOULD be a voluntary evacuation…just sayin’…).  so I slowly climbed out of bed, rummaged through my drawer to find warm things to put on (priorities, first – I didn’t want to freeze outside - I settled for 2 hoodies and my snowpants), stuck my phone in my pocket, and leisurely made it outside.

then we all sat in the admin building (which was really cold but I, having priorities and taking the time to properly suit up before evacuating, was comfortable…while others were in shorts and freezing…hehe – that’s what they get for freaking out).  we got to go back to our rooms by about 3:15am I think.

I tried really hard not to fully “wake up” but it was still enough to wake me up and I couldn’t fall back asleep ‘til at least 5am.  I was bummed.  I’m so tired today.  but it’s OK.

and PS, there was no fire.

ha – I suppose, though, if there ever were to be a fire, then I’d regret being so relaxed about it.

but seriously, evacuations should be voluntary.

that reminds me of the time some of us girls lived in the extended stay hotel by LU and had the fire alarm go off in the middle of the night…

hard times do come

(I wrote this 11/30/10 but didn’t have internet so I’m posting it now)

hi.

this week I have 3 presentations to do.  have I mentioned that presentations aren’t my favorite?  I wasn’t sure if I had.

heavy sarcasm.

I’m trying to fear God and not fear man.  I’m trying really hard to not be anxious.  I’m trying to put Phil. 4:4-8 into practice.  I still feel like I’m failing at it though.

today I went to Starbucks for a couple hours (we have a weird schedule this week, it’s outreach prep week, so I had a couple hours free this morning).  then I called my friend.  he’s good at being tough but encouraging.  I asked him to just tell me about Jesus.  :) and he did.  among other things, he asked me if I thought Jesus was excited to come to earth and suffer like He did for the sin of the world?  too-shay (I don’t know how to spell that word, so I spelt it like it sounds so you’ll know what I’m trying to say).

on my walk back to the base, I really just wanted to cry and get all the ickiness out.  but I couldn’t cry.  not because it wouldn’t come. the tears were about there. but it was so stinkin’ cold out and the wind chill was like –50 (I might be exaggerating a little, but not much).  it was so cold that I couldn’t even cry when I wanted to.  I rarely cry.  and when I finally want to, I can’t.  because it’s so stinkin’ cold.  as I walked, I asked (yes, out loud), “God, why do You let it get so cold??”

I didn’t hear an answer.

but Jesus left Paradise to live on earth for 33 years.  I can handle sacrificing earthly paradise (the Keys) for 5 months.  by His strength, I can do this.