Days go by

So much has happened since Christmas break, and even during Christmas break that I never shared here. Don't worry I won't try to fit it all into one post. But i did feel that I should share a little update on this semester before I launch into my more recent adventures over spring break and departure from Europe.

-My idea of an English Holiday-

That title is sarcastic, I'll let you know right off the bat. Most of you have probably already heard this story, but for those of you who haven't I will attempt to summarize the last leg in my Christmas break journey. Flying out of Spain I was all too aware of the awful snow storms raging all around London area, however when my plane took off as scheduled my worried evaporated and my thoughts were consumed with my Christmas break required reading and thoughts of how I would get from point A (London Gatwick Airport) to point B (the Morton's house where I was planning on staying) once we landed. So needless to say I was just short of speechless when after circling Gatwick for a good hour the pilot announced our plane had been diverted to Bournemouth- the southern coast of England, and even more shocked to hear after sitting on a runway for a couple hours that the airline would do nothing to get us to London or provide longing for the night. So as an 18 year old girl, alone standing outside what I'm convinced is one of the world's smallest airports, with but 10 or so Euros in my pocket, I was pretty scared to find out that the roads and rail lines to London were all shut down. So climbing into a cab with two complete strangers from one of the other 6 flights that were sent to Bournemouth I was able to pull out some money and ended up sharing a travel lodge room with my cab buddies. after a few hours of sleep I headed out the next morning and after a few debit card complications managed pay the ridiculously high train fare to London. Finally feeling like I was back on my feet again I settled in for a relaxing ride up to London with a missionary I met on the way from South Korea. Getting off the train and making my next connection should have been a simple task, and it would have been - had I not forgotten my backpack on the train in my hurry. So making a mad dash back across the Waterloo station on central London I arrived back at my platform just minutes after the train left carrying my backpack and all it's precious cargo away with it. In near tears I explained to the security officer my situation, how my back pack contained not only my most of my schoolbooks, but also my laptop, my Brazilian passport, and a whole bunch of tickets and official papers for insurance and such. The man just looked at my incredulously - unbelieving that I could forget such a thing (obviously i could believe it either!). What followed was one of the most ridiculous days of my life. my definition of ridiculous? Well to me ridiculous could mean a lot of things. Annoying, Difficult, challenging, incredible, awesome, memorable...well this day was ll of those. The security officer stationed me at a cafe, bought me coffee and lunch retuning to me every hour and a half or so to update me on my missing backpack.

I sat in that cafe for around 7 hours, missed all possible transportation to the family I planned to stay with, struggled to give up my will and control over the impossible situations I found myself in, saw how God kept me sane by giving me little things like free hot chocolate, and saw Him reveal himself, his protection, and work as I've never seen him do in my life before. It was a long 7 hours, but God certainly provided for me and in the end my backpack was returned to me with only one or two postcards missing from the front pocket. There is so much more I could share here, but I haven't the time. This adventure literally changed my life when i think about it. It taught me to trust the Lord on a more practical level than I'd ever experienced before, and I know it's something i will not quickly forget!

~~My 13th country in a year: POLAND!~~

Every year sing team has on weekend ministry trip this year we spent a weekend in February in Poland a WOL winter camps there here is the letter I sent out to my supporters for the trip with all that happend - once again God proved Himself marvelous beyond my imagination!
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Dear Friends and Family,

             I hope this little update finds you well! I just wanted to thank you all so much for supporting me and the sing team on our missions trip to Poland! God was able to do some awesome things during our long weekend there. I know it is a trip I will never forget.

 (above right: view from the hotel window)

            Sing Team and a few select others set out on our seven hour journey to Poland early Friday morning, winding our way through the mountains of Slovakia and up into the snowy slopes of Zakopane, Poland. We made it there around 3 o’clock without mishap. Thank the Lord, we had heard the horror stories from previous trips! We were soon ushered up to our rooms in a beautiful chalet style hotel that Word of Life Poland had    

rented for the winter conference and camps to follow. Although the weather was somewhat dreary during our stay the scenery that surrounded us looked like something out of a picture book. (below: Fanni, Yana, and I at winter camp)

Our first ministry opportunity was that Friday night where we were able to perform a few songs, translated into polish and then enjoy WOL Poland director Tim Good’s thoughts on the weekend theme: prayer. The next two days of the retreat were something of a blur. Because of the many blizzards across the USA recently the conference speaker was unable to make it until Sunday- the last day. Through out Saturday and Sunday Sing team and all the other staff and students that made the trip with us were stretched to our limits, filling in the empty spaces left by an absentee speaker. We crammed in a few quick practices and threw in a few new songs, solos, and sermons. By God’s grace lives were touched, even under such last minute circumstances. I got the chance to sing part of one of our Hungarian songs in English, our sing team leader Gabor, got to lead a few meetings, and our staff joined with Poland’s to put together several beautiful special numbers. It was great to see how all the details worked out, despite our worries.

            Sunday morning we were all very happy to listen to the intended conference speaker share the thoughts he originally had five hours to share. Of course because of all his traveling issues he only had two hours to communicate what God had placed on his heart. Nevertheless, despite the time crunch, I don’t think there was a person there who was not touched by what he had to say. Also on Sunday Sing team preformed a skit. Some may be familiar with the Lifehouse skit: everything. It is a very moving pantomime about a girl who begins her life in wonder at her creator and the world he created, but then a charming young man comes along and steals her heart. What follows is one thing after another: money, drunkenness, eating disorders, and finally physical abuse and suicide until the young girl realizes what she gave up in the beginning and throws herself toward her Savior, warring against the sins of her past until Jesus steps in and sets her free. If you’d like to see one version of this skit here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_M33GcJAmU Thank the Lord for using our feeble attempts to express his grace to touch other peoples hearts. Some were moved to tears. Many people were challenged to take there lives with the Lord to the next step, and some even to place their lives in His hands. Praise the Lord!

            Of course we also managed to fit in time for fun, including skiing and snowboarding for some, shopping in town, and lots of fellowship. We also got the chance to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau the holocaust concentration camps. Walking through old gas chambers, prisons, and execution sites paints life in a completely different way. It is amazing the cruelty that we are capable of, and I am left even more in awe of a Savior that would die for the likes of us.              (right: the famous gate at Birkenau, Auswitz 2)

            Over all the Poland trip was a time of growth, ministering to others, fun and fellowship with believers from all across the globe. And I just want to thank all of you for investing your time money and prayers in making this possible! The Lord is SO good!                                       

 God bless,

Mishaela

The rain in Spain

I know I said that I doubted that anything could top Germany, but after my adventure on the way to Spain I wasn't looking for anything other than relaxation, and a much needed break from the stress of school and travel, that was exactly what Spain gave me. Before going to Spain, I never would have considered it one of my top locations, however after spending two weeks there I couldn't help but fall in love with the beautiful spanish country side,and the family I stayed with. There was in fact much rain in Spain during my stay there (which I'm told is very rare) but i didn't mind it much most days I stayed dry and warm sipping "fireside coffee" by the fire, and reading my systematic theology book (oh joy!). There were many hours spent with Mrs. Humes and Adrianna watching Larkrise, knitting, talking and knitting some more.
I spent both Christmas and New Years in Spain and absolutely loved it. The Humes family sort of adopted me for the time I was there, and I can't thank them enough for allowing me to be part of their family during the time I was there. Between Christmas and New Years I joined them on a little family vacation to the magnificent Sierra Nevada Mountains in the south of Spain. The scenery was breath taking, it was a trip i will never forget. I spent a lot of time walking, talking with Mrs. Humes and Adrianna, and just thinking. The Lord really knew what i needed over this vacation, and he didn't hesitate a moment giving it to me. Thank-you!

 This is the town I stayed in where the Humes live, just outside of Madrid. This particular picture was taken from the Iternational school that they work at. For those of you from Brasil, it is a ACSI school similar to AVA only bigger, and in many ways more similar to your typical US school.
This is Adrianna and I  on the way down to the Sierra Nevadas. the view from the road was incredible. I was supposed to be reading homework during this four hour journey, I didn't get very far- most of my time was spent staring out the window. I cannot help but marvel at God's creation. His workmanship is so evident in this little corner of the world...you'll see what I'm talking about the more pictures you see =)


sitting on the terrace of the house we stayed in in the quaint village of La Calahorra, which is surrounded by majestic mountains and the home of a 16th century castle (as you can see) the town looked like something out of a movie...I absolutely loved it!

One day we were supposed to go skiing but due to the cloud covering the mountain top and the 100 mph winds the slope were closed, but we had a good time hanging out at the top of the world at a little theme park type thing they had there and taking lots of crazy pictures!

Eventually the skies did clear somewhat but by that time we were ready to head back down to normal altitudes but it was pretty cool to be up above the clouds. Now I don't know what it feels like at the top of Mt. Everest but I imagine if it's anything like that felt, it must be astounding!

 

This was the ski town at the top of the mountain

You are resplendent with light, more majestic than mountains -Psalms

Back in La Calahora Mrs. Humes, Adrianna hiked up the hill to the castle gazing at all the breath taking scenery and talking. It was so good. I have to stop here and say something about these ladies. God has used them in awesome ways in my life, and the funny thing is i don't think they know it. the challenged me in my thinking, reminded me of the power of prayer, and the spiritual battle surrounding us everyday, that only intensifies when we drop our guard, get proud, and consequently render ourselves weak. It seems there is a particular attack on those of us who a just going off on our own, still unsure and often times facing our own questions and doubts and struggles for the first time- alone. Being reminded of that battle and being fully aware of the potential outcomes gave me my fire back in a way, made me want to fight it, and made me want to win. For those us here now at WOLBI Hungary I highly doubt that any of us could look back over the school year so far and not acknowledge that we are often times at war here. The good thing for those of us who hold tight to our savior-is we know that our battle has already been won. =) And in the process of that battle God has the habit of sharpening us for his use, or as mrs. Humes put it -wetting our clay pots down so that he can reshape and re mold them into what he wants us to be for his Honor and Glory. Of course no one likes to be squeezed and punched and all the tears in the process, but always keep in mind something beyond me is happening here- it's hard for a reason and the ending is going to be a miracle of God's design.

We even made it to the Mediterranean sea!!!

NEW YEARS!!!!!! HAPPY 2010

New years was an interesting celebration. we were together with several other missionary families. One of the traditions there is eating one grape at the strike of 12 on new years eve. then if you choke on any of the grapes you will have "bad luck" on the corresponding month of the new year. Lucky for me I don't really believe in luck, but it was fun to look around at everyone attempting to fit 12 grapes in the mouth at once =)

~Duetchland~

Waking up in the very early hours of December the 14th I had that irresistible sense of excitement, a little bit of nervousness, and perhaps a touch of wonder i get when ever I'm about to set out on a journey. This time was a little different though, not only because we woke up very very late and were in quite a rush to get out the door, but also because this journey was one that I had only ever dreamed I would be taking. I was the first person to arrive at the airport that morning, and I promptly set up camp on one of the vacant benches where I slept, read, and chatted for the next five hours of waiting.

As my plane approached Stuttgart I caught my first glimpses of the wintry wonderland that would be my home for the next week. Since Stuttgart was not my final destination however, I had to get on the metro and go to the train station where I could purchase tickets to Saabrucken. As most of you probably know I speak little to nothing in german, so the purchasing of a ticket was being a rather complicated procedure, until a very nice young man came over, promptly told me I looked rather confused, and offered his help. About a minute later I stood there with tickets in had, and looking up to thank my helper, found that he had disappeared. I've labeled him my angel in disguise. My first European train experience proved to be a very pleasant one as I rushed on to Saarbrucken where my friend Hanna picked me up when I arrived. What followed was one of the most memorable weeks of my life.

The next morning, a Tuesday, Hanna and I took of on a walk through her little village and the surrounding coutryside, where I took so many pictures Hanna made a point of laughing at me for it. But how could I help myself!? I was in Germany, where I had always wanted to go, trekking through light snow and hills unlike any other place I had been. Granted all the places I've lived have been rather flat, Between the Amazon and Kansas you don't get very many mountains or even hills for that matter. That evening we explored the town and visited the Christmas market, where we pointed and laughed as, with much fanfare, Santa Clause pulled by eight reindeer flew over the market from one roof top to the next. Europe's Christmas markets go all out!

(Middle: Saarbrucken, Bottom: Christmas market!)

Wednesday proved to be a relaxing day of relaxing by the fireside, reading, and movies topped of by an evening spent with Hanna's discipleship group at a traditional all you can eat "flammkuchen hause" Flammkuchen is something very similar to pizza, only it has a very thin crust and usually doesn't have tomatoe sause.
There are all kinds of different toppings including sweet ones. It was delicious! After having a gift exchange and the group leaders home (they even got something for me!) we headed home to Hanna's for a good nights rest to be followed the next morning by one of the most cherished moments of that leg of my journey.

Thursday morning I woke up to a light fluffy snow falling down out side my window, and so was thrilled when Hanna's mom drove us out to the stables to go horse back riding.  The Krumm's have a few horses since Hanna's mother works with disabled children and horse back riding as a kind of therapy. Hanna led the horse up and around through ever snowier fields, leaving my hands free to take even more pictures of all the white hills dotted with horses grazing.

 Friday was our day on the town. After spending the morning ice skating, and making complete fools of ourselves we headed home only to return that after noon for a very productive afternoon of shopping. One thing that I love about europe, and especially this little town is that very little of our shopping time was spent in malls, it was all set on two or three shop lines streets that we would walk down, peering in windows and getting a few breaths of fresh air in between stores. It was lovely. I suppose it's something similar to the "plazas" they are starting to build now in the States instead of malls. Or perhaps it's always like that in bigger cities. At any rate I was a very happy girl by the time we had enjoyed a little break at a cafe and headed home again.

Saturday was Hanna's birthday! So we made a delicious breakfast complete with home made coffee cake, all sorts of german breads, lunch meats, fruit, yogurt, coffee, juice, and more. The night before I suppose God had decided to give Hanna, or rather me a wonderful gift of heaps and heaps of snow, that coated all the world around tuning everything into a glittering wonderland. So after the guests had left Hanna and  I headed out on our snow walk from her village to the next one, and back. If Hanna thought I had taken too many pictures on our first walk, she was in for a surprise during this little excursion where I only returned the camera to my coat pocket when the lens got so cold it very nearly had a coat of frost over it. The evening was followed by a delicious meal out at a fancy resturant to celebrate Hanna's birthday.

Sunday was my last morning in Saarbrucken, and the beginning of a new adventure, as all who have read my blog are well aware of. My time in Germany was one of the best weeks of my life, I'm not sure I'll be able to top that excursion for a long time! I was able to spend time with one of my great friends, stand in awe of God's beautiful creation (in this case many times the snow-which I like to think was falling at times just because He knew how special it was to me) delicious food ( with veggies!!!!!!!=D ) and as I have said memories to last me a life time. It couldn't have been a better beginning to my vacation.

Trains, planes, travel, and SNOW!!!

Well, it's Christmas break, the time we've all been longing for, and thought would never come! I can say I have been a very lucky girl this winter vacation, and got to continue my European Excursions, and added a few more stories to by little collection.
Now, I absolutely love snow, but it seems that most modes of transportation do not. This is something I've become increasingly aware of over the past week or so, and have never been more grateful to be sitting in my temporary room here in Spain safe, and sound, and warm.
My latest traveling experience began in Germany (which I will tell all about, later) I was supposed to leave Sunday afternoon on a train to Paris so that I could catch my flight to Madrid the following morning. I had it all worked out for a friend from school to meet me at the station so we could go see the Eiffel tower at Christmas time, as well as a possible Hillsong concert at their church in Paris. Needless to say I was pretty excited about all that. However it seems that God had a slightly different agenda for me that day and the next one as well.
Sunday morning Saabrucken, Germany got the most snow it's had in years, according to my friend Hanna. So as we inched along the icy autobahn towards the main station we kept our fingers crossed, hoping that my train wouldn't be canceled. We were lucky, the Train wasn't canceled, but there was a 30 minute delay. So Hanna headed home in her car through the snowy weather, and sat in non-heated station and waited with a cup of very bitter coffee. At long last my train arrived, and after some confusion over changed arrival platforms and asking a few questions I managed to get on what I thought was the right train. I was wrong.

About 5 minutes before the train left the station someone came in and tried to take my seat. This left me very confused, but I got up and switched to an empty seat. Just when I realized that the train number on my ticket did not match the number of the train I was on it began to slide forward. What had happened was the train coming from Paris and the train going to Paris had switched platforms due to the delay, which they announced repeatedly, in German. When I had seem PARIS in large, bright letters in the window of the train I didn't think twice about it.
Above: as you can see it really wasn't the best day for travel =/

Oddly, the picture to the right was taken before I realized my mistake =P

You know that feeling of dread you get int he bottom of your stomach when you know something is very very wrong? Well, when the conductor came over the intercom and announced the trains destination, that was me. I was headed toward Frankfurt! For those of you who don't know your European geography very well all you need to know it that Frankfurt is pretty much the opposite direction from Paris. After sitting there for about five minutes praying my little heart out that I would somehow manage to get to Paris I got up and asked an English speaking family for help. Turns out the mother was American, the father was German and they had an adopted daughter for India, who they got from no other than Mother Teresa herself. When they asked me where I was from and where i wanted to be headed it took a while to explain, but we came to the conclusion that I am an American missionary kid, from Brasil, currently studying in Hungary, visiting a friend in Germany, on my way to Paris en route to Spain! Now If you can follow that you should have no problem following the rest of this little adventure. They were very helpful and promised to pray for me as I made a swift exit at the next stop and processed to the DeBahn information desk. I only wish I had gotten their names or and e-mail address so that I could thank them and let them know their prayers were answered.

And this point I was rather nervous, I was down to 10 E in my pocket and a US debit card that I wasn't sure had very much money on it even if they would accept it. So i explained my situation to the thankfully English speaking attendant, who looked at my ticket and promptly printed off a ticket for the next train to Paris that was due to arrive in about an hour and a half. "Enjoy your trip!" he said, and turned back to his computer. That was it, I didn't have to pay a dime! So breathing a prayer of thanks I quickly went in search of a pay phone to tell my friend i was not on the train she would expect me to be on. After buying some gum at the convenience store with my limited supply of cash  in order to get change to use the pay phone I was able to reach Hanna who promised to call our friend Laura who was to pick me up in Paris.
Above: Me in some random town in Germany...not too happy about it.

From that point things went relatively smoothly, well at least from my end. The train station I was in in this random town in germany had a rather small train station. one room (not heated) and information      (Above: this is the town I managed to get stuck in, you can't tell here but it was still snowing.) counter, a convenience store, and bathrooms that you had to pay 50c to use. in the main room there were three cold metal chairs. So i stationed myself there to wait for the train. Outside the snow was still falling full force, and i had long since lost all feeling in my toes when to my horror my train was delayed. the first time it was 15 minutes. That wasn't so bad. but then it happened again, and again, and again.  I began making half hour rounds between the much warmer little store and the icy metal chairs. So finally after about four hours in the station I went up to my platform where the train was once again delayed for another 10 minutes. there was quite a little group of us up there stomping our feet and walking up and down along the tracks to keep warm.

At long last the train pulled in and climbed on with legs and feet so numb I could barely walk.  I climbed into the wrong car however. Having made myself comfortable in the luxurious first class car, I was forced to move back to second class (a whole 6 cars away) because I couldn't read my German ticket and had mistaken the platform number for the car number. It was a rather ironic moment for me when the train rolled through Saarbrucken, the same town I had started in nearly 6 hours before. Once the train crossed the border into France things just took longer and longer. Because of all the snow the train was forced to stop three times in the middle of no where, each time for about 15 minutes.  I did manage to borrow a cell phone from a french couple across the aisle from me, so I could call Laura and let her know I was going to be later than expected. At this point i have to take back every mean thing I've ever said about the french and their treatment of foreigners. They were all extremely helpful, and for that I am very grateful.

    Right: 

Me and laura! Finally in Paris!

     Below: unfortunately all I saw of Paris this time was the train station.

At long last the train rolled into Paris EST where a very cold and I can only guess quite bored Laura was waiting for me. After getting some food in me, we went straight home. By that time I had missed the Christmas market, Eiffel Tower light show, and concert, but I was just happy to be safe.

Of course Paris got it's fair share of Ice and snow as well...which made for another adventure the following morning. If my flight had left on time, which it didn't (go figure) I very well might have missed it. We made it to the counter about 5 minutes after it was supposed to have closed, but due to the bad weather in Madrid there was a delay of an hour. Well as the story goes...one hour turned into 2, then 3, then 4. At that point the airport was required to feed us. So everyone on the Madrid flight was given 5 E, about enough to buy a small sandwich or a drink. it wasn't much, but it was more than the 2 E i still had in my pocket. When 4 hours turned into 5 we were not a very happy bunch. Still i managed to occupy my time reading homework and talking to a nice lady from the US embassy in Norway.  
(Top right: we finally made it to the airport, Bottom right: and then I waited there forever!)

Our plane finally did arrive and I'm convinced there has never been a more eager bunch of people to get on a plane! But when the plane landed in an oddly snowy Madrid it landed in a different terminal than was expected...so for about two hours after we landed you could find the passenger of the flight from Paris BVA wondering about the Madrid airport in search of their luggage. Thankfully I found mine after about an hour, by sneaking back into a different baggage claim area. Adrianna Humes, the second oldest daughter in the family I am currently staying with was there waiting for me. Mr Humes expertly maneuvered his way through rush hour traffic and ushered me into the house. Chilli and cornbread never tasted so good in my entire life!     
Through out all this mess I was acutely aware of God protection. Things could have been so much worse for an 18 year old girl traveling alone through Europe, for a large part at night time. I'm overwhelmed by how God protected me from dangerous situations and got me to Spain safe, and with what now seems like a rather humorous story. One more adventure to tell my kids some day!

Falling Leaves

Snapshots of WOL life lately

Sing Team twins. Megan and i realized that we both have the exact same winter coat, and since we were in sing team "uniform" we decided it merited a picture. This was taken at Sing Team's first ministry.

Princess Costa Rica, likes the pretty fall leaves just as much as me =)

Then after the princess got bored, this butterfly decided it wanted to be a part of the photo shoot too.
Over Fall Break I went with my lovely RA Yana to Romania with her adoptive "parental units" for their wedding reception with Timea's family.


Yana and I had a fun time entertaining ourselves for 10 hours of more food than you could ever imagine (i think we finally counted 7 or 8 courses) lots of loud traditional Romanian music, and turned down dance invitations turned gospel presentations. We loved it, both of us felt like we had stepped into the world of "My big fat Greek wedding"


At around 11 pm after everyone had left (this was a rather early ending according to all the Romanians) Timi threw the bouquet for Yana and I. Yana caught it =) I guess I still have to wait a little while before I get to get married- that's okay, I'm only 18, i have time ;)

Since the title of this post if Falling leaves, it think it's only fair to put up some pictures of the campus during fall...as you can see we have a lot of yellow around here now. =)And here is my lovely home sweet home...well I suppose technically I don't live here, but I like to think that i do. =)
As for the other happenings here at WOL, I'm sorry but you'll just have to be patient and wait till I get a chance to breathe. Things have been very busy lately, but of course that is to be expected at the end of the first quarter. I have been learning so much about life, myself, others and the awesome God I serve. Thanks to all of you for your love and prayers!