a cross to bridge the great divide.

there's a bridge to cross the great divide....
there's a cross to bridge the great divide.

communication is key.
growing in patience, understanding, and grace.
giving up pride and expectations.
with every sunrise comes a new preparation of the mind, body and soul for this challenge.
focusing on the One who gives me life and trusting that His plan is more perfect than mine could ever be.
He alone can know the need in me, before i even speak.
i will trust in Him.
He will not turn away.
there is hope reborn... and sin forgiven.

this is one fabulously frustrating year.


The Great Divide, by Point of Grace
Words and Music by Grant Cunningham & Matt Huesmann

Silence
Trying to fathom the distance
Looking out 'cross the canyon carved
By my hands
God is gracious
Sin would still separate us
Were it not for the bridge His grace
Has made us
His love will carry me

(Chorus)
There's a bridge to cross the great divide
A way was made to reach the other side
The mercy of the Father, cost His son
His life
His love is deep, His love is wide
There's a cross to bridge the great divide

God is faithful
On my own I'm unable
He found me hopeless, alone and
Sent a Savior
He's provided a path a promised
To guide us
Safely past all the sin that would divide us
His love delivers me

(Repeat Chorus)

The cross that cost my Lord His life
Has given me mine

There's a bridge to cross the great divide
There's a cross to bridge the great divide

(Repeat Chorus)

MICHAEL BUBLE :)

Michael Buble was absolutely perfect in concert :)

he was personable, funny, comfortable, sexy, musical, spontaneous, jazzy, gentle, energetic, witty, humble, confident, organized, and sang BEAUTIFULLY.

his concert set was incredible, his song choice was perfect, the lights were bright, the screens were big, the crowd was on their feet and LOUD. i have never screamed so loud myself ;) and he absolutely knew katie, mckenzie and i were there. check it out:

partway through the concert he stopped to introduce his jazz band behind him one by one [because they come from all over the world but mostly Germany and America], and when he got to a particular member he said, "this next guy.. from Seattle, Washington - "

mckenzie, katie and i screamed SO loudly from the balcony seats we were in that michael stopped what he was saying, looked up at us and said "haha uh. thank you... seattle, washington."

pretty much MADE my night. that and the fact that he opened with Cry Me a River, and closed for the encore with Feeling Good. and when Haven't Met You Yet came about.. i sensed it was next so my camera was out in time to record it in video :D

Mikaela.. thank you so much for that ticket :) everyone else, if you EVER go to Micheal Buble live and in concert and need a friend by your side i am THERE. his songs will be at my wedding, and my children will love him like we love the Beatles.

end of story.

on the road again.

mmm :)
McKenzie is playing with my hair as i type. and it feels amazing. i love this....

so. things have taken quite the turn since my last post. i've decided to NOT listen to anyone but the Lord, and if that means people still talk, then so be it. that's not my business, and listening to rumors isnt going to help me any more than it's helping other students. which is.... not at all.

the yearbook this year is going to look so good. that's all i have to say.

we ran the 10k last weekend, and it was quite the experience. i finished, and i guess i can be proud of that in and of itself. and next time, i'll actually run for weeks leading up to the event. instead of just waking up one morning and saying "yeah, today i'll just run 6 miles. whatev."

Peter Reid is a fantastic speaker, and this past week i ordered his series of Colossians in MP3 form because it was THAT good. and because it's what our first exam this upcoming wednesday covers. so... it'd be good to have a sweet memory of our first exam material :P

tomorrow is the Michael Buble concert and the girls and i are SO EXCITED to finally train back up to Frankfurt and see him in concert for the first time!! a dream come true, to say the least. today i got Joel's 2nd letter in the mail and have read it 4 times through already. i love letters. especially from him. i love him. and miss him. and knowing he feels the same makes it SO much easier to handle something as challenging as long distance. Joel... you're the best :)

our first outreach is coming up, and all the sing teams and drama teams performed their first song/drama for the student body yesterday. we have so much talent at this school. and i'm very proud of my group. we call ourselves [IN]dependence. haha.... catchy, huh? ;)


needleess to say, life is picking back up. God is good, school is good, friends are good, and Bodenseehof is GOOD. fabuuuuuulous :)
i'm on the road again.

not... leadership?

scratch that. i feel like im in high school all over again. the gossip here is outrageous and i honestly forgot what this was like. i keep forgetting that the average student is barely 4 months out of high school.

people dont even know me yet. how can they actually have THAT much to say about me when they think i cant hear? or my true friends, who turn around and shut the gossip up. yeah they're listing too.

hope this is just a phase. else im gonna become a whole new person who just doesnt talk anymore. this is absolutely not worth it.

oh. im k-group leader with philip.

leadership

so... this isn't really shocking, but i'm finding myself falling into leadership roles all over the place here at Bodenseehof.

we found out about outreach today... and my heart leapt for joy when my name was called for Sing Team 4. an answer to prayer, indeed. AJ's on my team too, which is awesome because we spend a ton of time together as is. this will be epic :) he and i will basically co-lead: he'll run rehearsals since he'll probably be the keyboardist, while i'll be the team rep. who attends meetings in order to relay messages back to the team and i'll organize when and where rehearsals are. i'll be responsible for making sure our team is fully rehearsed and prepared for every outreach we have. mm.... my specialty :]

every room has a room representative, also to attend meetings and relay messages back to the room. my name was on the room rep. list the first week of school and it felt quite fitting ;) i also hold myself personally responsible [though this isn't part of the room rep job description] if my room ever fails the random room inspections we get once a week. i'd like to think i can hold my roommates accountable for keeping their beds made and our sink and mirror clean each morning. they actually like that; they say it helps them :D

k-groups also have leaders, one male and one female. they ALSO attend meetings and relay messages to the group and are responsible for organizing events and such. k-groups vote on that, i think next week, so we'll see what happens :)

i'm feeling called to start a women's prayer group. something that's simple, but consistent; a place for women to come and vent or pray or share or laugh or cry... or all of it in one sitting. i want a safe place for women to open up and share the things they may not feel comfortable sharing in front of guys. i want a challenge; a way to push myself in my own prayer life. i want to love on these people and be an encouragement to the women here. i took a long walk with Kendra today to Kaufland and shared this desire with her; she said she'd totally help co-lead the group with me; just to make sure one or both of us are at this small group every time it's held. if it becomes huge and we need to split off into smaller groups, awesome :) if it stays small and intimate, awesome :)


i've been missing home, but MUCH less since we've gotten busy with k-groups and now outreach. i just want to stay busy, grow in my friendships, marvel in God's awesome wonder, savor the experiences, take a ton of pictures... and then wake up and have it be time to go home. that's what i want. i feel like that's exactly what will happen. except i'll wake up, realize it's time to go home, and actually feel sadness.

Michael Buble concert up in Frankfurt on October 16th :) :) :)
thank you, Mikalea, for the early birthday gift of a concert ticket last June!!!! i'm so excited, as are Mckenzie and Katie, my Seattle travel buddies who are also going to the concert with me :D

more soon.

Swiss Alps.

This week has been crazy busy. I got sick for a bit of it, woke up and went to bed a couple different times with very uncomfortable headaches and I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the hike up the Swiss Alps yesterday. But God is good, and I woke up Saturday morning feeling just fine with just a little bit of congestion, so the hike was definitely on my agenda that day. The hike was VERY challenging, much more so than I expected at least. Dripping sweat within the first 20 minutes, many students challenged themselves in a way they had never done before. I watched struggles and accomplishments, as I overcame the challenge myself, and doing so in and among God's beauty of the Switzerland Alps was an experience I can only hope my family and friends get someday. We didn't go to the very top [that takes some people a day or two], but we did make it to a very tall peek where we could look out north over the Bodensee to our school, and of course to the east was Austria, while standing in Switzerland. It was great :)

We met our K-Groups earlier this week. These groups consist of about 10-15 students and 2-3 staff members as leaders. These groups stay the same all year, and become our family away from home. They serve as small groups for prayer, confession, activities, games, accountability, and other such 'small group' things. I am in K-Group 4, led by Lorna and Andy Macdonald. They met here at Bodenseehof a few years back, and got married this past summer. We are their first K-Group as a married couple, and it'll be a fabulous year of helping them warm up their first home by decorating and furnishing each room :D

We find out in a few days which outreach team we are on. There are four types: Sing Teams, Drama Teams, English Teams, and Children's Teams. We filled out forms of experience and preference, but we all know God has already placed us on the exact team with the exact people through which He can do most work this year. My passion is singing, my experience is drama, and my challenge is mission work with children [only because it's not my passion like it is some people's]. I'm excited to see where God has placed me for this school year.

I'm not homesick, but I am.... people-sick, I guess. I miss Joel. I miss Sydney. I miss Mikaela [not like I'd ever get to see her if I were home, but still]. I miss Costco kids, and Jeff and Tony. But I'm doing much better than I thought I'd be. I've been waiting for the homesickness or the tears or the desire to simply be alone... and it hasn't come yet. Probably because I have Kendra :D She and I are the same person in so many ways, yet still very different. By day 6 here at Bodenseehof we were cuddling and napping together, so I have my special person already and it's absolutely amazing. Last night I couldn't talk to Joel for reasons out of his control, and Kendra saw me give up waiting for him to get online as I finally stood up and left the e-mail room very sad. Later she came into my room after all my roommates and I had gone to bed and she sad on my bedside, rubbed my back and whispered some things to me in comfort, and then prayed before saying goodnight. We've been here 9 days, and that's already what I have. See, God knows my needs and fulfills them ;) It's great. I love Kendra.