guten morgen from siegen! i saw the sun for a few minutes early this morning but it's clouding over and the rain shall assuredly come, as surely as the sun does rise. thank you all for your prayers. all my travels have been safe and very blessed. i've had a few adventures but never once have i gotten lost, missed a train/bus/plane, had overweight luggage fees, anything. all good things come from the Lord's hand!

so, london. here's a brief overview:
-arrived thursday afternoon. debbie picked me up at the tube station and brought me home. prayer meeting was sweet that night. i was informed that the last time i was in london with the siegen team two years ago, we were so exhausted from our bristol trip that we've ever since been known as "the sleepy team, because you were so shattered when you got here!" i remember that sleepiness!
-friday i slept in, then went across the thames to greenwich for part of the day. it was in the 80s the whole time i was in london. it never once rained. it was unexpected, to say the least, and a huge blessing!! sunshine always encourages my heart. :) so, debbie showed me around greenwich a bit, and after she went home i went up to greenwich park and read and prayed for a while, and looked around a bit. friday night dan and debbie came over to have dinner with us, which was really nice.
-saturday i met my friend jeremy in london, and we had all sorts of adventures! saw covent garden real quick, walked to trafalgar square, looked around the national gallery for a ship-in-a-bottle exhibition that apparently closed over a year ago, but saw some monet paintings to make up for it! we ate lunch in the crypt cafe beneath St-Martin-in-the-Fields church, then headed toward the river. rode on a sweet singing elevator multiple times in a concert hall, got an ice cream on westminster bridge [maybe it has another name?], walked beneath big ben, hung out in a park between the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey until the appointed time when we were admitted into the abbey for the 3pm Evensong service! how glorious, and somewhat strange. pipe organ, choir with boys and men, gorgeous unreal architecture, a really long song-prayer to michael the archangel, and a few legit scriptural references. so that's what the church of england is like. interesting. after that we were tired so we came back to debbie and marshall's and hung out, and i got worship ready for sunday. then back into town for some delicious marks&spencer goodies for dinner, and then back to St Martin in the Fields for a candlelight baroque concert! we only stayed for half but it was quite nice indeed. it was great to hang out with jeremy again and catch up on all the Lord's been doing in each other's lives. we used to lead worship together in germany.
-sunday i got to lead worship at calvary docklands & city. what a sweet church! oh how dear they are. i recognized several people from before, and made new friends as well. super blessed to be back to visit them again. after church we had Pret for lunch and then debbie and marshall drove me around to london bridge station where i was to take my train. they have an awesome vintage looking car that has a tiny backseat and an even smaller boot [trunk], so we put the top down [it's also a convertible], stood my suitcase on its end on the backseat, i held my other suitcase on my lap, and we were off! it was a lovely day to cruise the streets with the top down. :) got to the station and went upstairs to find the right platform, and then i was informed that although i'd bought a ticket to the airport to leave from that station, there was no train running from there to the airport today! so the man quickly rattled off the 2 tube lines i'd need to take to get to a station where i could catch the train. so, off i went, two suitcases in tow. i made it! praise the Lord. He led me the whole way. made it to the airport with plenty of time, had a snack, eventually got on the plane and flew to germany! simon and michelle picked me up- as usual, it was a very joyous reunion. they brought me back to the BC apartments, where i'm staying. feels like home all over again!

germany thus far:
-monday: breakfast with katja and sabine. german breakfast beats every other breakfast anywhere, ever. afterwards bin and i had a wander in the wald [forest]. beautiful. later michelle and simon picked me up and i hung out with them for a few hours. went to the villa and hung out with everyone there for a bit, then janina picked me up and we went to cafe bar celona to hang out with marco, annika, micha, and jan. i was a little slow getting back into german-speaking mode, but they were all helpful. so good to be with these friends again! this is the family of my heart.
-tuesday: got up early, walked to devos with britta, hung out in the coffeebar for the morning, had döner with kerstin and sabine, came home for the afternoon, and went to women's discipleship in the evening. so encouraging. it was lovely getting to sit in on not one but TWO worship sessions where i didn't have to lead. refreshing and sweet.
-wednesday/yesterday i spent all day with michelle! walked up to her house, had waffles and coffee, went into town and did a little shopping and a lot of talking, had a coffee, and later got pizza and brought that home to eat while we watched Tangled. she leaves for peru on saturday, so we had to make sure we hung out before she left! we have this crazy habit of only ever being in the same continent for a few days at a time before one person leaves. we'll get to hang out once she's back though!
-this morning i got to lead worship at the bible college for devotions. what sweet people are here this semester. i love them all already. then karen brought me home and i've been drinking tea and working on preparing for tomorrow night when i teach at chozen girls, the girls' ministry of the youth group! looking forward to it.
-later i'll head back to the BC for lunch and all-school prayer, maybe study some more, and go to the soup kitchen downtown tonight to help out.
-tomorrow i'm playing piano for karen's first choir practice, studying some more, hanging out with susanne, and teaching at chozen girls!
-wedding on saturday, leading worship at cc herborn youth group on sunday, going to cc siegen sunday night hopefully.
busy busy but soooo good!

so, if you've made it this far down [whether by reading or scrolling, i care not how!] please pray for:
-a continued blessed time in siegen
-balance between people/rest/ministry
-the Lord to really speak through me as i study and prepare to teach the youth group girls tomorrow night!!!!
-time and opportunity to see everyone
-continued direction for yet-unmade plans. lots of opportunities!
-that i'll be a blessing, hopefully as much as i'm already being blessed!

thank the Lord for the fellowship of believers!! thank Him for using this church/bible college to send out SO MANY into europe as missionaries. nearly every single person i've stayed with has some kind of connection to siegen. it's awesome to see how the Lord has used and is using this place. thank Him for all His goodness!

thank you for praying for me and being with me on this missionary journey! this is a huge blessing for me personally but i know it is a huge blessing to your account that you are following along and praying for these things and for me. it is fruit to your account.

much love, a.

ps next week is TBA but it'll be grand, let me tell you!