Day 13 - Good food, good friends, and good news..!! #45daysofsummer

Again we are without WiFi (for the next couple of days possibly), so I will have to update this post with pictures at a later date! But pictures are not always necessary, and I hope for today, words will suffice.

Day 13 of my Summer, here in Germany, was another good one although it was challenging in various ways too. So far the week has been incredible but we all know that life is not always sunshine and rainbows.. 

I have had this trip planned for many months, with the intention of catching up with old friends, resting, exploring, using my free summertime to it's maximum potential... And it's not that I was unaware but perhaps I was expecting too vast a difference - life is the same wherever in the world you are.

My struggles and challenges and the things I am working out and working through have come with me to Germany. So these past two days I have been continuing to process and pray and cry a little too. 

And I know this is OK. 

I also know that I am not alone in any of it. 

Conclusions from yesterday:

I am thankful for Jessie (I have been thankful for her on other days too!). Thankful that she has come on this trip with me, that she is one of the funniest people I know who makes me laugh more than anyone else in the world, that she knows where I'm at and knows my heart, and that she is patient and encouraging and willing to stand with me. 

But more so (and of course Jess won't mind me saying this!) I am more thankful for God. And thankful to be reminded again that wherever I am, location-wise, in my head or my heart, on my journey, He is there. My 'stuff' comes with me, but my God is already there. He is right beside me, dwelling in me by His Spirit. 

I am not alone. And God is even more patient and encouraging, allowing me to experience all that I am this week, with friends, nostalgia, new experiences, adventure, fun.. but also allowing me to continue to face and work on the things I need to, to grow, to change.. albeit a painful process, but a good one. He is so good.

So that's a bit of what was going on under the surface of the day... now let me give you a quick run down of the rest of the days events! (pictures to follow!)

Jerina, who was on Pais in Canada the year after I came home to England, lives in Frankfurt which is only an hour by train from Marburg. She arrived just before 10am and we all had a remeniscent Canadian style breakfast (pancakes, maple syrup, bagels, cream cheese, blueberries, fruit salad etc..). Needless to say, delicious!

Then we went out to expore the city some more - I have some great photos of the city from up high, at another local landmark (which sadly I can't remember the name of... I do remember that there were A LOT of stairs involved though!). This was followed by Casserole, a typical German dish (again, delicious!) and then our goodbyes were made... :(

The tower we climbed..

Top of the tower, here with Jerina!

View of Marburg.

The journey to Keltern began. :)

No storms this time, yay! In fact, minus the quick detour we had to Mannheim (just to say we've been there.. there is a German band both Jessie and I love called Söhne Mannheim), we made pretty good time until we actually made it to Keltern and got lost. After meeting what felt like half the village to ask if anyone knew 'Frederick Beck' (surprisingly, it seems that everyone does know him.. and each person got us a little closer to finding his house!) But we arrived finally, to see the lovely Anna. She had made Spezel (not sure of the spelling of that, I will have to find out) - basically a baked dish with pasta, vegetables and sauce (again, delicious!! Danke Anna!)

When Freddy arrived home, we drank Irish coffee and ate dessert and we heard their good news... THEY'RE ENGAGED! (Cute picture of them with their rings to come.. honest!)

They have been engaged since June and are announcing it mostly as they see or speak to people. Of course they told us the story of how and when (so unbelievably romantic!) but we were privileged to be the first people to whom they told the story in English!! So cute! :)

The rest of the evening was spent eating more dessert, catching up, playing music, booking tickets for the William Fitzsimmons gig we are going to tonight... and then, finally, to bed!

The above are pretty self I explanatory. We stopped off in Mannheim for some quick snaps of the city!

The happy couple - Freddy & Annschön and their rings!

Day 12 - tourists in Marburg, lots of rain, lots of laughs. #45daysofsummer

Our first morning at Waldi and Ruth's involved a lovely long lie in (in a very comfortable bed!) followed by a typical German breakfast.

Fresh bread, eggs, cheese, avacade, cucumber, tomatoes, jam... Mmm! 

After a couple of hours chatting and catching up some more, putting the world to rights etc.. we wandered in to Marburg, and looked like proper tourists with our cameras out as W&R told us about the history of the city and other interesting facts.

Walking by the river.

The weather was gorgeous and the scenery beautiful..

 The church and castle at the top there, is where we were headed.

 Streets of Marburg.

R&W being cute :)

Jessie and I having a proper tourist picture!

Higher up the hill, looking down at the city.. We were actually walking up to see Landgrafenschloss but I didn't get any photos on my phone so will have to wait til September to see those!

The hill was quite steep, we stopped for a brief rest!

 Beautiful gardens at the top of the hill. They were telling us about a festival here a few weeks back that sounded like so much fun! There's a big outdoor cinema up there too!

On ur way back down, we passed the house that the Grimm brothers lived in for a year while they were in Marburg. They didn't like the city, and were very open about that.

They took us to an adorable little cafe called Die Pause (the break) where we ate delicious food and sat for another few hours, talking, laughing, enjoying ourselves!

I had goats cheese with apple and honey, and some curry lentil soup. Jessie's chips were incredible (that's not an overstatement) and we all helped her to eat them haha!

After a spot of shopping, we made a start for home. That's when the rain started. And carried on. We found shelter under some places, and when it eased off we continued on. But then... Oh how it rained. Absolutely chucking it down. To say we were drenched would be somewhat of an understatement. It was hilarious. We had to walk for about 15 minutes in it as well. In fact, while I write, our clothes are still drying on the airer despite it being like 15 hours later... 

So we dried off, and curled up on the sofa and Waldi played guitar and we all talked some more. It was like the old times, but new times. We talked about how much we have all changed and lots else. Then we had homemade bread (thrown together by Waldi) and salad for a late night snack before heading off to bed. It has to be said, I have not laughed so much as I have today in months. In years potentially. Its been fabulous, and funny. And really freeing. Thank you Jesus!! :):)

Storm Chasers - Day 11 of #45daysofsummer

We felt like storm chasers yesterday. That's not what we were actually doing, it felt more like the storms were chasing us but we survived. Let me tell you about the day before we got to the storms.

We had a chilled morning at Corinna's, and then had a Spanish breakfast (tostadas con tomatoes) out in her little garden, which was just beautiful. We sat for a long while catching up and Corinna told us her story of the last 5 years (Jess and I told ours the previous night) before her flatmates came out and we made friends and just enjoyed the quiet morning.

I helped make the tomato sauce - tomatoes with olive oil and garlic, blitzed together.

Then after a small tour of Munster, with ice cream (the kind German man gave me extra ice cream and a cherry too.. Clearly my broken German is useful for something!) and time to wander around funny little shops, we met Pia, Ushi and Nora (Corinna's flatmates) at the Canal for a rather experiential afternoon:

Putting the slack line up.

Corinna showing us her skills.

Jumping in the canal.

Meeee!

Then, paddling up the canal came two beautiful strangers on stand up surfboards (slightly bigger than a normal surfboard, with more grip I think.. And they offered for us to have a go. So we did! Photos are on my actual camera though so can't upload those until I'm home but that was brilliant - I stood up and paddled my way round on the water for a few minutes! 

We picked raspberries on the walk back to the car, saving some for the pancakes that Pia had made when we arrived home. And by this point, it was time for us to say our goodbyes and get on the road.

That's when the storm hit.

No ordinary storm (although I appreciate all storms are pretty ordinary in that there's normally thunder, lightning, rain etc..) But this time, the rain came down heavily and quickly and within minutes the street was flooding and cars were backed up down the street and people were coming out in bathing suits to play in the giant puddles! It was quite a community to be honest, but it meant that we couldn't leave yet. So we waiting for it to calm down and then made our move heading for Marburg.

45 minutes of peace and then the next storm hit. It is, admittedly, the worst conditions I have driven in. We pulled over at first thinking we could sit and wait for it to pass, but quickly realised that it wasn't passing any time soon and there weren't lights on the road side so if it got dark and we had to drive in these conditions, it would be even worse! So we prayed and drove and stayed super alert. Eventually, the rain died down and we drove in peace for a fee more kilometers. Then the next storm hit, the same again... But God was so good, and we finally made it to Marburg safely and in one piece, despite hearing from friends of the many accidents and fallen trees that had affected others. God protected us on our 3 and a half hour journey and we made it to Ruth and Waldi's.

Talking late in to the night, eating freshly baked banana bread and watching the persistent lightning over the hill from the safety of their beautiful little flat... It was a wonderful evening, to end a crazy adventurous day.

Thank you Jesus for friends, for new experiences, for leading us safely through the storm and for all that is to come.

Day 10 - Flying, cute music and time to reminisce. #45daysofsummer

Well folks, we are here in Germany and our trip has started pretty darn well!

We haven't been able to get WiFi yet but hope to rectify that today. I am currently sat in a flat in Münster with my dear friend Corinna (who just woke up) and my other dear friend Jessie (who is still sleeping), on a laptop with a German keyboard so the keys are in funny places and I may spell things wrong - please forgive me!

I'm going to give you a quick, bullet point overview of our day yesterday due to time and tiredness and sadly there will be no pictures on this post (although we did take lots last night!) as I can't upload the but will sort that at a later time!

• The clouds on the flight here were AWESOME! Gutted that I had stowed my camera up in the hold so couldn't take any pictures but take my word for it. 
• We (I) had a a small spell of travel sickness as we got off the plane in Germany. All I can say is that the German's have very aptly placed toilets, and I made it just in time! :( my poor tummy. But I'm all good now!
• Apparently you can't get a stamp in your Passport if you're from an EU country. I did ask the kind German border man nicely, but he replied, quite nicely "this is not possible." OK then.
• We have hired a beautiful little Ford Fiesta, which we have named Fifi. She's very stylish and her in-built SATNAV has been super helpful already! We haven't got lost yet :)
• We arrived at Corinna's in one piece and it was soooo good to see her! After a small tour of her cosy little flat, we moved swiftly to find some dinner and get to a local bar, where her friend was playing a gig. We met lots of Corinna's friends, I ordered drinks at the bar in German (somehow ended up with more drinks than I  asked for... but at least I tried!) and I do have some photos of the venue and of Fefa (Eva, who's gig it was and Janne who accompanied her - that's their band name). We bought their CD and some little postcards they had on sale. Very cute. Very lovely start to our adventures!

 Arrived at Corinna's

The concert we went to

Fefa performing

 Us with Eva.

• We went from there on to a local lake and had a slow walk around it, until after midnight (dirty stop outs.. I know!), taking in the beauty and sharing our stories from the past 5 years. That's how long I haven't seen Corinna for! But as we were sharing, Corinna mused over how great it was to be able to talk about the last few years, now they are all finished, sharing the good times and the bad and being able to look back knowing that despite what difficulties might have happened, there were some real highlights too and not only do our stories continue but we can also see God so clearly making a path for us through life..

Jessie and Corinna on a bridge by the lake.

Wow, already. Thankful for an incredible start and for the strong friendships I made in Canada that last despite time and distance, and that can be continued in real time this week..Sending love! And hopefully pictures soon!

Day 9: Let the Twinny adventures begin #45daysofsummer

I said bye to mom this afternoon after Japanese food together at Mount Fuji in Birmingham.

One train from New Street and one from Peterborough later, I arrived at St. Neots to stay with Jess and her folks.

Everyone, this is Jess.

Jess and I at our Commissioning service in Texas, 2009.

Here we're at a Christmas party together later that year - I'm stuffing my face, as usual.

In case you haven't met her before, Jess and I met in Texas in 2008. After two weeks intense training, we flew to Canada with a group of other passionate missionaries to serve the young people of Vancouver in schools and churches across the city. We spent two years on team together before I headed back to the UK to go to uni. (If you're interested to know more about the Pais Project, the organisation we were a part of, click here).

Jess said I was "so annoying" when she first met me, "because [I] always had something to say during out small group time but would never say it." However, she also said this changed quickly and I "soon opened up [my] trap". Haha! But all this didn't stop us becoming friends. Best friends in fact. And soon we were referred to as the twins... 

Four years on, and we are making a trek across the channel to Germany to visit some of our Deutsch friends that we made whilst in Canada:

Corinna (top right), Ruthie & Waldi (bottom left & right respectively), on Vancouver Island.

With Anna (Annschoen) & Bekky (Bekkschoen) at another Christmas party. 

So, the adventure begins here! And I'll be sure to upload to recent pictures of us all so you can see how we've changed over the last 4 years!

Ahhh I'm so excited..!!!! Night folks!

Day 8: Dangerous prayers get dangerous answers. #45daysofsummer

There are some prayers that I find hard to pray sincerely, and they feel somewhat dangerous when I speak them out. But these are the prayers that I know I need to be praying and bringing before God, even if I'm not quite sure I mean them yet, asking for a desire to do so.

Your will be done... Have your way... Break my heart... Stretch me... Teach me how...

Something that God has been talking to me about recently is about having fun, letting go and enjoying the journey. I'm not sure why I struggle with this, but I suppose I tend to plan ahead, striving for excellence and order and taking things fairly seriously and this can often get in the way of enjoying the moment, seeing the fun and fully engaging with the present. But He is working on me this!

I believe God is a God of creativity and fun, of adventure and excitement. But the same is true for Him taking me seriously, knowing how I tick, seeing the depths of my heart, my deepest desires and He meets me there.

I know that despite finding these prayers hard to pray, my desire is truly for God to have His way in my life and be glorified through the fun stuff and through the serious stuff. He knows this and hears me and takes me at my word.

Over the past few days I have been reminded of the prayer of surrender, Have your way, LORD. One which I have prayed so many times regarding so many situations, even knowing that His way is not necessarily the way I want things to go. And so many times I have seen Him answer this, sometimes in the way I hope and expect, but more often than not, in a very different way which I later come to realise is so much better. I have been encouraged this week by friends who I know are also praying this prayer sincerely, and seeing God faithfully answer, working out His perfect will in their lives. And its not easy, but it is so good. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts on than your thoughts..."

Day 8 has been quieter and more reflective. I have again been for coffee (well, peach iced tea this time!) and enjoyed time in the sunshine with friends, I finished Her Daughters Dream, I've been watching the swimming in the Commonwealth Games, but I have had a lot more time and space to pray and think and simply be, today. I've needed that, I think, before I head in to these next few weeks of fullness, newness, challenge, fun and adventure.
Time to breathe in and out and come again before God.

Full of coffee & topping up the tan. Day 7 of #45daysofsummer

Well I'm feeling slightly frustrated (understatement) because I just wrote this post out and moved off the page to upload pictures and came back to find it gone :( boooo..

BUT, it's been a great day and we're now one week in to the break..!

I am feeling well and truly coffee'd up. Plus I have a tan. This is a good thing. I still expect to stick out like a sore thumb in Spain, but at least I can continue browning nicely in Germany now that I have a base layer.

So today's catch ups were with two lovely friends of mine. I so love being able to spend time with people in such different life stages to me, finding out things we have in common and sharing with each other about the things that we don't have in common but all the while enjoying their company and being blessed by their friendship.
I have come away from today with some deep and challenging thoughts that I shall ponder on for a while, feeling uplifted and encouraged and excited as I look ahead to what is to come! I'm particularly thankful that I was also able to talk from what God has been speaking to me about recently, in order to bring encouragement and comfort. 2 Corinth 1:4 talks about this - how God gives us comfort when we face troubles, that we may then be able to bring comfort to those who need it out of the comfort He first gave us (lots of 'comforts' in there but surely that's not a bad thing!). How wonderful to think that God is willing to use us in this way :)

I also came away from today with a Spanish bible to take with me to León (thank you so much Linda!) as well as a bookmark on my web browser for The Diary of a Nobody. This is something I am very excited about! A comic novel, written in the late-1800s about the daily life of a London clerk and his family and friends. Random, witty and definitely worth a read. I've already read a couple of entries and will pop back there every so often to see how he's getting on! Check it out for yourself: http://www.diaryofanobody.net

My Spanish New Testament

Thanks to Linda for this as well!

Now, the sun is slowly sinking down... And I'm heading off because this is about to be watched.

(Not all of it.. Not now at least!)

See you tomorrow!!

Oh and I did say I'd post a picture of my blooming courgette plant. Avid gardeners, any advice or does this look like its doing OK?

Day 6: Slowing down, I've got all Summer.. #45daysofsummer

Well the moral of the story today (or this week) is to stop eating out as I have been feeling rather full..!

However, in weeks like this, when I get the time and space to slow down and catch up with friends and family, it is usually over coffee & cake or at a meal time, as having food together is a very social thing. And so we'll overlook it this time! But definitely need to consider other social activities to suggest when meeting with people!

I quite enjoyed having an admin morning first thing today and now I'm basically packed (and within the weight limit!) and all the paperwork is printed and organised! So all that's left for me to do is slow down (even more, as this week has been fairly full already), chill, read, sunbathe, eat, hangout with people.. Which is essentially what I've been able to do today. Today has seen some rather deep and profound conversations about Prison Break, Grey's Anatomy, hair accessories, summer reading lists (all important things to discuss at this point in the holidays!), but equally some lighter topics such as compromising, trusting God, the book of John, and missionary stories.. Rich and diverse and keeping me thinking!

But grateful to have some more time to carry on reading Her Daughter's Dream by Francine Rivers (recommended read!) and think everyone should read at least one Francine Rivers book this Summer and be inspired! Even got a bit of a cuddle from Missy while I was reading (although I wonder if she just thought I looked like a comfy place to nap).

                                                   

Here's the recipe for the muffins I made yesterday by the way, as they seemed to go down a treat! I'm sure you could substitute the raspberries for another soft fruit if they don't take your fancy. This makes approx. 20 muffins (plenty to share!) and since they contain two types of fruit (almost) they can surely be considered healthy?!

Or go to http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/raspberry-orange-muffins-recipe.html (in case the picture isn't that good!)

One more thing to share this evening! Ooh as well as the fact that I harvested one of my little courgettes today (perhaps prematurely!) but it was delicious and so cute! Have lots more growing on there too, will upload a picture tomorrow - the plant has well and truly flourished and seems to have exploded in terms of growth over the past week! BUT, that's not what I wanted to share. Look at my pansies!!! Grown from seed and have taken a few months but we finally have some smiley little flowers :) and I'm so happy I got into see them before I leave for my travels. 

On that note I'll wish you all a smiley Thursday, and leave you with the encouraging thought that sometimes it takes a long time for good things to grow, but it's worth the wait!
Goodnight!

Day 5: Have you ever travelled south of the Equator? #45daysofsummer

Well, where to start today?! It has felt jam-packed with goodness!

Let's go chronologically as that makes it simple!

Raspberry orange muffins were the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning (although I can honestly say that's not a normal thing for me, to wake up with baking on my mind...!) But that was an easy way to get me out of bed quickly... Here's the result of my efforts:

Nom nom...

Mom and Matty have both eaten two each, so they must be good! And not only have I ticked off another Summer Project activity, I also put to good use the raspberries that Dad and I harvested yesterday and had way more mix than I expected so made 21 muffins and have been able to share them with people :) bonus!

The afternoon saw Chloe and I heading to Starbucks for a sophisticated lunch in the sunshine, and then a trip to... (wait for it...) COUNTRY BASKETS! Felt the need to capitalise that as it was such a fun visit!! Neither of us had been before, but think I may have found my new favourite shop! We spent at least a couple of hours wandering the aisles and trying our best not to make unnecessary purchases (which for the most part, worked very well!) but it's just so cheap and there are so many pretty things there! Hurray for craft shops and friends with similar (potentially geeky) interests! (Not calling you a geek, Chlo!)

Then, after a quick rush round Merry Hill (holiday shopping now complete! Yes!) I got to hang out with some of my favourite young people for the rest of the summery evening starting at McDonalds with Hannah for some inspirational conversations, and then at the annual Resound CAL BBQ (Thank you Morgan family!).. Naturally this included way too much meat, vegetarian jokes, lots of selfies, the water game (not sure that's what it's called but it's a game involving water!), the 'Gareth Bale' game (sadly this game doesn't actually involved Gareth Bale as one night expect), and general all-round fun times.

Us three on the right are all vegetarians. Subconsciously we felt the need to sit together..

The Gareth Bale game.

Lovely Beth (who was overjoyed this evening upon being asked if she was 19!)

So Day 5 has turned out to be another scorcher. Thankful for these Summer days and for the community I am a part of that is so rich in love and joy.

Interesting fact of the day (thank you Hannah & Aisha for this): I have never been South of the equator. I think. I tried to go through all the countries I've been to in my head and I'm pretty sure I haven't. I can also understand that how interesting this fact is, is totally subjective but I wanted to share it in case it enlightens anyone else. I felt enlightened when I realised. And now have a new goal for travelling: at least one time, I'd like to travel south of the equator and be aware that I'm doing so. 

Another random something.. I recently bought Bethel's latest album 'We Dance' and have been listening to it non-stop when I'm in the car. It's a quality album, and worth a purchase if you fancy a Spirit-led, spacious style worship set that's lyrically creative and fresh. I think I could go through each song on the album and talk about what God is saying through it, but I want to highlight just a couple for now. 'You make me brave' is on there, which I blogged about last week. 'It is well' is in another league altogether and may even get a post of it's own at some point as well as has meant a lot to me recently. But another stand out song for me at the moment is 'Shepherd'. Wanted to share it so you can have a listen. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xMW-O9GB-UY Enjoy and be blessed.