dear deutschland.

It's been awful fun over here. Everyone is excited to see each other again.. our little "family" here is such a blessing!

Basically I've been hanging out with friends [and working on staying awake] for the past two days.

This weekend I head to Austria! Salzburg on Saturday, then head out Sunday to the Castle in Milstatt for the Missions Conference all week.

hooray!

And, if you haven't seen them yet, or noticed Jessica's blog, you should definitely check out 

The Official Madden Wedding Pictures at maddenwedding.michaelspotts.com. :)

p.s. Excellent German Find of the Week: they sell kefir here. amazing.

p.s.s. ich habe gelernt zu schalten! 

i made it.

i've safely arrived in Germany. thanks for all your prayers. the flight was thankfully quite uneventful, and my dear friends were there to pick me up. i am quite tired but can't really sleep, hungry but can't really eat, and i think rather dehydrated. but i'm here, hooray!

tonight is worship night at cc siegen. then sleep.

i'm thankful.

nur eine woche!

That's right, folks. Only one week until I depart my homeland once again to the land of my sojourn for yet another five-month adventure. Practically speaking, this world is the land of my sojourn, and as such I am a stranger and a pilgrim therein. I was speaking the other day with a fellowhearted sojourner [although we'd only just been introduced] upon this very subject, and we took great joy in the fact that, at any place on this green earth, God can work in us, love through us. And so, after these eight weeks in this little bit of prairie, I'm off again to the woodland hills of Germany. I grandly anticipate these forthcoming months and the ensuing chapters of Storyland which they shall write. May I be found a willing servant, wise steward, and faithful witness.

I've been thinking today about life. It seems as though friends are being married left and right, and to all accounts my summer last year was continually ringing with wedded bliss. And yet, despite the glory of such momentous occasions, there are also funerals. Greg Laurie's son, Christopher, passed away last Thursday, and just this Sunday, the youth pastor at a local church, with whom I was acquainted and whom many of my friends knew well, was killed in a car accident. Both of these young men have so quickly [and paradoxically] passed from Death to Life and seen the face of their dear Savior, and for this we rejoice! Yet it's a vivid lesson on the brevity of life. "So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." [Psalm 90:12]

Among other sundry matters, I've lately been devouring a delicious bit of literature by L.M. Montgomery. Although the dear old films mayn't speak its name, I am greatly enjoying Anne of the Island, which, as you may well guess, is part of the well-beloved succession of Anne books, beginning with its namesake, Anne of Green Gables. I suppose this has really no impact on life or eternity whatsoever, but I'm always up for a wordy bit of fun. Many of the escapades treasured within this story are featured in the second film based on the series, Anne of Avonlea. Of course, the book remains much superior to the film and carries the theme more truly and rather differently, but both are highly recommendable and enjoyably pleasant, if for nothing more than a splendid lesson in vocabulary.

deutschland!!

the brothers and i were there in spirit [as well as watching live commentary online] to see germany win their place in the Euro Cup 2008 Final Match. [our heartfelt condolences to the döner lady!]
hooray!

the end, part two!

well, sort of, i guess.

we made it through the dienerherzkonferenz! [servant heart conference] last week i spent the majority of each day in the "cave" [aka kitchen], chopping vegetables, stirring pots, listening to music from circa 1997, and cutting, washing, and spinning lettuce. a LOT of lettuce. practically like 25 cases.

it's interesting to note that the combination of mass lettuce washing and mass carrot grating produces a wonderfully orangey-brown coloration all over one's hands.

the conference went really well, and all of us serving had a great time. it was always a blessing to go to the evening sessions and let the Lord "wash our feet" along with the conference attendees. it was nice seeing some old friends, and fun serving alongside the staff and a few students who stuck around for the week. it dawned on me the other day that we really are like a family here at the bible college, and looking around at one of our morning staff meetings, i felt really blessed to know each one.

in other ccbc news, there are two new additions to the bible college family! Simeon Neil Waldrop and Aaron Schultze-Petzold were born within a few minutes of each other, this past friday. Nada and Julia were roommates in the hospital, and even in the delivery room! all are feeling well, and have arrived home. hooray for the kinder, and congrats to the happy parents!

this week we have been cleaning everything again, making and unmaking beds, doing lots of laundry, yardwork, mending, furniture removal, and much more! these past few weeks have been pretty exhausting, but we were reminded again today that it is such a privilege to be counted worthy to serve the Lord. and i was reminded this morning in the Word that HE is my strength! that is really good to know.

been having to say good-bye to some dear friends- chiara left last week, christy and the kathas left yesterday, anjulie leaves monday. but we will see them all sometime soon. and sabine comes back soon too! and we are going to go adventurizing!

i go home 2 weeks from tomorrow, and i am quite looking forward to it. i love germany dearly, but a little bit of home is always sweet. family, home, room, church, job, friends, nephew, music, wedding[yeah!].. it'll be great.

but before then, there's so much fun to be had! bis bald!

[and, in case you haven't heard, i burnt my hand. TWICE. with bratwurst. but don't worry, it'll be all right.]

the end, part one!

tonight is happy graduation night! the end of the semester has arrived! and the sun is even out, so we hopefully don't need to wear our winter coats for graduation this year.

next week: dienerherzkonferenz! [servanthood conference]

lobe den Herrn meine seele, und seinen heilige namen.

i'm lame, and never update.

this week was speaker's week here at the Bibelschule. i got to sit in on several of the sessions. it was a blessing! john bonner and scott vincent taught the simple truths of the Word, and we were all encouraged and built up.
last year during this week i was in the krankenhaus. this year i was sick, but no krankenhaus, praise the Lord! i do have my 3rd sickness/sinus infection in 2 months, however, so if you think of it, please pray that my antibiotics [which i got today] will do their magic quickly! :)

i think it's easy and most natural to give the impression that things are amazing and life is absolutely wonderful. it isn't exactly true. lately i've been going through some hard times, and being stretched in areas that i didn't think needed stretching- it hurts! but i've been learning that it all is profitable- for i shall be conformed more into the image of Jesus, which is my desire! [just didn't exactly foresee the means by which the transforming would take place!] but it's all so good, and all according to His plan. though He bruises, He also binds up, and though He wounds, He heals! His promises are faithful.

tonight i'm meeting my german family [i, the auslander, am adopted yet again] for dinner, with my american 'sister' charlie. it should be pretty fun! grill season begins in freudenberg tonight! then ratatouille with my sweet michelle.

ciao!

Lippstadt!

this weekend was amazing. our team of 9 from the Bibelschule went to bless the small fellowship of believers at Calvary Chapel Lippstadt, and in turn we were blessed immensely. we had sweet fellowship with pastor Rolf and his wife Regine and daughter Eva Maria, and the other members of the church.
i think we had coffee and cake 4 times in our 30 or so hours we had with them! we talked, laughed, shared testimonies, sang songs, told stories, ate, drank coffee, went for walks, saw the city, went to church with them and shared communion. it was such a blessing for all of us! we were able to lead worship for their church, and found that it was the first sunday they'd had with live worship in their 2 years as a church. since their beginnings, they've been praying that the Lord would send a worship leader. and so, for at least this week, this precious Resurrection Sunday, there was live worship in their little church building! what a privilege for us to be there with them.
i posted pictures on my picasa today- enjoy them here!
thanks to all who prayed for us! continue to pray for Calvary Chapel Lippstadt. God is so good! amen.

rejoice!

Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

God is so gracious. i've been sick for the past week, but i'm on the way back to gesundheit! pretty much felt like i fell off the face of the earth for a few days there, but things are still rolling along, and the Lord is blessing me with new joy and new mercies each morning.

weekend team was amazing, with 2 american girls, a finnish guy, and a bonafide chilango from mexico. we had so much fun, the food turned out really well [all praise to Jesus for that!], and the weekend is over! amen.

this weekend is our trip to Lippstadt! it's a church of about 12 people, a couple hours from here. we're going to spend the weekend with the pastor and his family, lead worship at church, and spend time in fellowship with the church. our team of 8 [so far] met today to go over details and pray. i'm really encouraged, and blessed. we need one more guy to go with us, so pray that the right team comes together. otherwise, the 8 of us will be ok too. pray that we'll be a blessing to our family there in Lippstadt!

tonight i get to lead worship with 2 of my dear friends, ela and ludwig, at monday night class. then tomorrow we have intern meeting, and i work coffeebar in the afternoon. staff meeting and koinonia group on wednesday. and after thursday comes...

FRIDAY BABY!!!!!!!!!

Gott segne euch!
heart!a.


[Easter verse: For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. 1 thes 1:9-10]

p.s. i miss you chilanga.

gears are turning, praise is rising, and God is good!
He is doing amazing things in my heart, and is reviving my vision and my heart for others.
soon we shall see if an opportunity to minister opens up: i emailed a church today and they wrote right back with encouraging words! pray for wisdom and guidance, especially concerning outreach week also.
how great is our God! let us be vessels to pour out His love upon each soul we encounter today.
mit lieb!
akj.

what fun.

i love it here.
tonight i went with another intern, lydia, along with 3 german girls, katja, tanja, and sarah, to the cinema to see a documentary auf deutsch! we saw Unsere Erde [our world]. basically lots of shots of all over the world, animals and nature. it was pretty sweet. we all were getting pretty sleepy towards the end but it was cool!
learned some new things about german culture, particularly in their movie theaters [Kino]:
-you get assigned seats, but you can also go online beforehand and reserve seats
-they show commercials first, ending with one or two ice cream commercials. then the lights go up, and the ice cream men appear to sell their goodies! amazing! then the lights go back down after a few minutes and we get on with the previews.

last night i led worship at monday night class at the church. it was so fun, and i prayed auf deutsch, during which i forgot how to say something and ended up laughing a bit [lyds thought i was crying!], but it went well.
i also got adopted by my family last night! the dad is super nice! i was really scared to get adopted, mostly because i hate/fear awkwardness, but it wasn't awkward at all.

our house smells like santa claus' house.. christy and anjulie have been baking cookies all night.

tomorrow is anja's birthday!!!!! :) should be a schon tag!

yesterday i purchased an amazingly enormous turnip [which i fondly deemed The Rutabaga], and tonight i cooked it. half was a disastrous, albeit perfectly seasoned, sauteed ordeal, which produced rapturous cries of dismay from michelle upon tasting. the other half was much improved by a good steady boil, and cooked up quite nicely. i, however, was quite through with my rutabaga by then, and willingly handed it off to a much more eager michelle [she finally worked up the guts to try the second batch]. [i love you misheru!!!!!]

and so the daily chronicle ends. it's been a good day. our cupboard is hung, our couch is fixed, our bathroom is clean, our cookies are burning [jk], and we've put our Wollemäuse to bed. bis morgen!

meet and greet.

i love it here so much! the Lord had put it on my heart quite some time ago [since i first began considering this internship] to come back here and to build relationships with and be a blessing to the girls, just like the intern girls of old were to me! and lo and behold, the Lord has already begun that very thing! of our 75-member family here, there are very few of whom i can say that i've not yet had a meaningful conversation. and they've only been here a week! praise the Lord for the fellowship we have in Christ with the Body of believers! how amazing. i counted tonight, while looking at a list of student's names and pictures, and there are less than 5 girls with whom i've not had daily [if not several times daily] fellowship- asking how things are going, laughing, joking around, praying, eating together, walking together, etc. i used to be so scared of girls.. not necessarily scared, but more along the lines of Wary. being one of the boys was no problem to me, and while i didn't always flee from girls, i typically was much more comfortable with the boys. but the Lord, in His abundant, tender mercies, has given me these past 2.5 years of bible college [and dozens of roommates], and in doing so, He has stirred in me a great love and appreciation for girls. sure, they're a lot of trouble, but, in all sincerity, how blessed i am to have so many dear, precious, beloved sisters.
and so, on y va! into the semester! i absolutely adore the group of people here this semester. thank you Jesus!!

locked out of my house.

so i will update!
i have been so bad at updating! sorry.
things here are super busy to the extreme. but everything is going really well, and i love it here so very much! i haven't taken any pictures, otherwise i'd post.
my days pretty much consist of helping in the kitchen, figuring out my m199ers' schedules [i am the laundry intern this semester], leading worship [yesterday devos + tonight for all-girls koinonia], and going to inga-lill's block class "women of the bible" [3 hours/day, 5 days/week, 2 weeks].
classes and devotions have all been so encouraging!!! i'm so blessed to be here and to sit under such rich teaching. and worshiping together with the Body of Christ is also so great.
this weekend i'm on weekend team, and we're going to the Wartburg, which is the castle in Eisenach where martin luther was held captive. been there before. it's cool. so it'll be a crazy weekend of continued cooking and running around.
the Lord keeps reminding me that it's only in His strength that i am to begin and to complete anything. i've been given a lot of responsibilities, and i tend to get going in my own strength and start to burn out before i realize that all along i should have been relying upon His sufficiency in everything.
so that's definitely a prayer request! keep us all in your prayers, staff and students.. we all have a LOT going on this week and next. pray for wisdom, strength, clarity of thought, and most of all a closeness to the Lord in this time.
love!

schon tag!

today i am 22!
i had a lovely birthday breakfast with anja, and katja and the coffeebar crew all sang to me and gave me cake with a little candle! and i have had 3 cups of kaffee, mmm lecker. later tonight we will do the Tim Tam Slam at the coffeebar and have some good fellowship. church was amazing this morning,
last night i went with keith and christy to Neuwied, where there is a bible study. it was at this turkish family's house, and their 2 little kids were amazing!! Magnolia is a spunky little curly-redheaded turkish-german girl whose birthday is on tuesday! i think she is turning 3 or 4 [got a little lost in translation.. she definitely let me know it was her birthday soon though!] we danced, and exchanged hair clip for necklace for a while, and spun circles, and made shadow puppets, and had an all-around grand time. the bible study was cool too! it's so great to see the Lord's hand orchestrating it all, and giving people a heart for the Word!! He is working everywhere!! i led worship on guitar, all in german. that was exciting!- i had never played most of them before on the guitar, and all but 1 or 2 i had never sang in german before. but, Preisen Den Herrn! He provided. and it's not about me!! i was so nervous about going and doing it but as we prayed beforehand the Lord blessed my heart with peace. talk about flying by the seat of your pants. amen! God is good!
lydia is making an amazing lunch for us now, and then we shall see what other fun things may come about today. tomorrow night we girls are going to the Schwarze Schafe!
ja, ganz genau. ciao!

deutschland!

i am here! it is going well! not too jet-lagged.. i stayed up all day yesterday after an early morning arrival.. it was a little rough but i made it through! slept pretty well besides a 4-hour awake time in the middle of the night.
that's about it for now! hoorah.

departure.

my time here is quickly coming to an end, and germany looms ever closer on the horizon! it is only 10.5 days until i leave my home and homeland for 5 months, and walk down this new [yet rather familiar] path. i am supremely excited to return to my dear-beloved siegen. the very first day i arrived in germany, in summer 2006, i knew that i'd love to return, not only to graduate [which was accomplished by His grace alone!], but also to serve on staff as an intern. i'm going to be a missionary! truly, as we delight ourselves in the Lord, He fulfills the desires of our hearts. it will be lovely to be reunited with the old friends, and build friendships with the new.

one week from today will be my last day at our dear old calvary chapel here. i'll miss it, truly. the Lord does indeed know what is best for His children, for there is no greater blessing than to be in fellowship with other believers. i'm not particularly close with any of them, but it is still an honor and a privilege to be a part of that Body, and to lead them in worship. i will especially miss playing worship with my younger brother. he is a phenomenal self-taught drummer, and in the past year has become one of the best cajon players i've heard [and i lean towards the fastidious end of the spectrum concerning drummers]. i'll also dearly miss my dad, who is my pastor, my boss, and my friend, to mention a few [in no particular order]. my mother, too, has become a dearer friend than ever in these months at home. what grace she's shown me! she is a wonderful woman of God, and we definitely sharpen each other as somewhat differing pieces of iron at times! :) my youngest brother- what a guy. i love him to pieces. his guitar skills blow mine to bits. [i shall also greatly miss my oldest brother, sis-in-law, and dear little nephew! i'm sad to miss even a day of his growth and Becoming of a Little Man]

in exactly three weeks i will turn twenty-two. it will be my first birthday spent away from the company of my family. but is it not true that when we seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, all these things shall be added unto us- by the one Good Father, who loves to give good gifts to His children? oh, He is good.

So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions--and in the age to come, eternal life." Matthew 10:29-30

For this reason, I also suffer these things [not that it's huge suffering, but it is a slight deprivation on behalf of the Lord's calling!]; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. 2 Timothy 1:12

He is good.
here's to home! and here's to the future!

four weeks.

just four short little weeks until i stuff my suitcases to capacity, put on some warm socks, and walk through security, passport in hand, to a world of wonder and adventure: the minneapolis airport!
after a few inevitable delays, a stopover in detroit [Oh, Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head!], i'll be well on my way 'cross the Great Atlantic Ocean.
a few minor details, which quite possibly may include some extraordinarily joyful "hello"s, a cup of coffee to keep the eyelids up, and a long stuffy wait at the baggage claim shall ensue [not in that particular order], ultimately followed by a wonderfully heartwarming ride back to my old home.
Eiserfelder Strasse 275.

and then the fun begins.



hooray!!!!!!!!!

home-coming.

schönster Deutschland, ich vermisse dich. du bist mein Liebling!
weniger als vier Monate, und ich gehen zurück!
..
[translation: less than four months till i'm back!]

in memory.

[beware of somewhat gory content]








it has come to my remembrance that a certain calamitous event occured one year ago this week.
oh yes, it was a memorable day: the day the Danger Brigade inaugurated its first permanent member, who happens to be myself.

on September 22nd, we shall celebrate this joyous [and somewhat less bloody] anniversary, perhaps by an Impromptu Crash Course in Bicycle Safety!

dedicated to Anja Kell, my faithful and beloved Krankenhaus sister. let's eat some CAKE! :)