One month left!?!

Friends hanging out in
Rhododendron Park!

I have been in Germany for just over three months now.  I have month left.  This idea is bittersweet.  I love being here, and I do not want to leave.  I have made many great friends here, have had many adventures, and have learned a lot.  At the same time, I miss my friends and family from back home.  I was hit by homesickness for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  It was right around when I hit the three month mark.  It was the weekend of the Kinetic Sculpture Race.   My brother was in it, and all of my family members got together to watch it.  Luckily I was able to watch it online, text my dad and look at pictures of the festivities.  Then in the next week, as I realized how long I had been here, I was hit with homesickness again.  Then last week I said goodbye to my best friend, Katie, as she went off to work at a camp for a few weeks, and again I felt homesickness knowing that I would not be able to talk to her until I got back to Humboldt.  Now that I have gotten over the three month mark, and unto my last month here, I am over the homesickness and am enjoying my last days in this beautiful country.

Playing Ultimate Frisbee!

A few exciting things have happened in the last couple of weeks:

E. Coli:
You may have heard about the European E. Coli outbreak.  Its been making international news lately.  Yes,  I live in the middle of it.  No, I am not sick.  And yes...I have eaten bean sprouts...but I think I may be past the incubation period for e. coli.  The outbreak has been going on for over a month now.  Last I checked 35 people had died, and over 3,000 were sick.  Almost all of the sick and dead are from Northern Germany.  One of my friends caught e. coli, and was in the hospital for a few days.  The officials recently found e. coli in bean sprouts, and in recent days the number of newly affected has been going down.

At the North Sea

Bremerhaven:
Bremerhaven is a town on the North Sea, and is 30-40 minutes from Bremen.  I went there last week with a couple of friends.  The city has a great zoo that has polar bears, mountain lions, harbor seals, arctic foxes, penguins and many other animals.  We spent the afternoon at the zoo and even got to watch the trainers feed some of the animals!  We also walked around the city a bit and walked along the water, which looked more like a bay then a sea.

International Breakfast:

International Breakfast!!

Last Monday a group at my school put on an anti-racism event and asked the international students to cook some food from their home countries and bring it to an international breakfast.  Each group was given 45 Euros to buy food with, and there was a prize of 50 Euros for which ever group brought the best food.  The three other students from HSU, Stephanie, Juliannah, Joannah and I decided to cook a traditional American breakfast.  We cooked bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes(both with chocolate and without), banana bread and coffee cake.  We also brought many many toppings for the pancakes.  There were groups of students from many different countries: Spain, Mexico, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, and a few others.  All of the food was delicious and we all had a lot of fun!  My group also brought pictures from places around America, and some Humboldt t-shirts.  Although many people said they liked our food, the Mexicans won the 50 Euros.  And their food was quite delicious, so I think they deserved it :).

Planet Shakers, Jeremy Camp and Joyce Meyer:

Jeremy Camp!!

Two Christian bands came to Bremen recently: Planet Shakers and Jeremy Camp!!  My friends and  I went to both.   One of my favorite parts of the Planet Shakers concert was the band that played before them, Rainbow.  Rainbow is a German Christian band, and they played mostly German music(and one English song...).  I found that worshiping in German, with Germans, is pretty much the most amazing thing ever!  And I learned that, even though this world is all broken up by language, worshiping God surpasses these barriers!

My goal for the Jeremy Camp concert was to be in the very front, so we walked right in, to the front!  Jeremy Camp is one of my favorite singers, and I had never seen him live before.  During the concert, when not talking on the mic, he looked at me and said "It's hot in here.  Are you hot?"  I nodded...even though I wasn't really hot, I think I was just too shocked that Jeremy Camp was talking to me :D.  It was really cool singing songs that I had heard on the radio, or had run slides for at church.  The concert was great and my friends and I had a great time worshiping God together!

Liandri and I waiting for the
concert to start!

On Sunday we spent the whole afternoon at a Joyce Meyer conference in Hamburg, Germany.  There were probably around 10,000 people in attendance, and it was pretty amazing worshiping with thousands of Germans!!  Joyce Meyer was a great speaker, and one of my favorite things she said was "If you do what you can do, God will do what you can't do!"  This was a great reminder that, even when I think I can't do something, God can do it.

Upcoming Events:
Fourth of July BBQ!  One of the other American's and I decided that even though we are in Germany, we still ought to celebrate the Fourth of July!  We are putting on a BBQ, and invited all of our international and German friends!  Sadly, we will have no fireworks...(we don't want the police to show up to our BBQ!)

Trips to Spain and Austria!  Some friends and I are planning trips to Spain and possibly Austria!

Prayer Requests:
-Pray for me as I head into my last month here.  I have a lot of school work left to do and also would like to travel some more.
-Pray for me as I start figuring out life back home.  I have to figure out how to pay rent, tuition, bills, etc.
-Pray for me as I prepare to direct a church camp.  A week and a half after I get back I will be directing this camp.  Please also pray for the kids who will attend and the staff.
-Pray for the e. coli outbreak, that no more people will get sick or die.

Praises:
-Praise God that the officials seem to have found the source of the e. coli outbreak.
-Praise God for a somewhat better relationship with my landlady.
-Praise God for all of the opportunities I have had here, the people I have met and the things I have learned.
-Praise God for the great opportunities to see different Christian bands and speakers here!