Albertine

Food for thought, is that how that saying goes? Well that is exactly what this is and these are some of the things I have been wrestling with and thinking about. Lately I have had times or days where I just miss certain people or even at times one specific person. You know when you miss someone and you literally can feel your heart aching. That to me is one of the worst feelings, because you feel so helpless. On top of that there are times where I have just felt burdened for people that don't know Jesus or for the Ragamuffins in this world. I long to just serve and help, but at times I feel like such a small fish in a huge ocean, trying to survive and make a difference. Not that fish make a difference except for being part of the food chain I guess. Regardless, I have listened to the song "Albertine" by Brooke Fraser on repeat lately. She wrote it after she went to Rwanda and met an orphan named Albertine. It is an old song, but the verse says:

"Now that I have seen, I am responsible

Faith without deeds is dead

Now that I have held you in my own arms, I cannot let go till you are"

I LOVE this line. It is so powerful. Now that I have been volunteering with the women on the streets, I feel similar to this. I feel that I have a responsibility to help "rescue" these women. This has always been one of my passions. With that being said, going back to feeling burdened; it can be tough and my heart often breaks. But the other day I was having a quiet time and I read in Matthew 9:27 Jesus says, "Do you believe that I can do this?", which was interesting because my director had asked me that the day before regarding a specific person. I think often we say yes to this question, but we truly don't believe it. I want to believe that the Lord can truly change the darkest of places to see Light and that the person furthest away from knowing Him can fall crazy in love with Jesus. I struggle with remembering that God doesn't NEED us. We are an extra in His movie and just being used as tools on this Earth to further His Kingdom. On the flip side, I caught myself thinking, "Elizabeth, how prideful are you, that you think God NEEDS you to accomplish His work?" In Matthew 28:17-18, it says, "All authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me....." That is crazy to think about, ALL AUTHORITY, not most, or some or a little, no ALL! Every tree bows down to worship our Lord. He is limitless and I want to truly believe this and know that it is true. Prayer is incredible and I am really trying to work on my prayer life. I have found that there is something so powerful about praying aloud.

With all that being said, the days when I am burdened or homesick I try to remember that this Earth is not my home. It is easy to wish that you were somewhere else or think that the grass is greener on the other side. But in all reality, no matter where we are there will and should be discomfort because this is not our home. We are living for an eternal purpose and often I have to remind myself that when I think about little things like not being able to spend time with my family, or watch Anna's soccer games, or just see people I love in general. Life is about seeking God's purpose for our life and we are called to something greater. We need to choose to seek Him to find out what that is. In Luke 9:58-59, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." We will always feel restless and feel that there is more to this life, because there is. Even though it is hard at times and we are wishing, missing, burdened or homesick, in the end we can be comforted in knowing that this isn't where we should lay our head and it is not our home. Heaven is home.

Bitte Hören Sie. Sehr gut!

One of my friends sent me this sermon and it is really good, so I wanted to share it with people. It is worth listening to and definitely inspirational in your faith. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

http://www.iamaxis.org/potential-josh-riebock/

"COME BACK PACKERS"

So here is the update. I feel like there is a lot to say somewhat, but it is all random things. And I decided I would explain through photos somewhat. First of all, dating back to last week, I saw the infamous pirate again. So I decided to take a picture. Then that same day I saw this woman with the MOST hair I have ever seen on someones head. Like legit, curls galore in a straight poof ball a foot around her entire head. It was crazy.  My friend said she is known in Berlin as "The Hair Lady". Didn't get a picture of her though, but hopefully next time.

Kind of hard to see, but here is the pirate.

On Thursday night, I hung out with a friend who is teaching me German and he is a great teacher. He won't even explain things in English to me, he refuses and makes me speak German. Which is good, but it makes me go crazy. I need someone like that though to force me to speak German and slow down my brain. We went to his friend's house for dinner and they had an Etch-A-Sketch. When is the last time you played with one of those? It was so cool. I never realized how hard it can be. Not sure how I even enjoyed it when I was a child, but I guess I did.

This weekend was pretty busy. On Saturday, I went to Kevin's house and we ate American pancakes with maple syrup. It was a treat that's for sure. They were awesome. Then his 6 year old daughter Emily and I had a girl date to the mall to get headbands for her. It was fun. I realize how much I love kids and miss being around them. When I go to training, before we train there are little girls training and they are all in their sweatsuits that are the same as ours and it is so adorable. I really miss coaching.


On Sunday, we had a home game we won 3-1, which was exciting. We needed a good win and after our game my friend that played basketball at Drake, was here in Berlin playing against Berlin's professional basketball game. He got me two tickets, so I asked one of my teammates to come with me, but we were really late because of our game. And let me tell you we were even more late because the tickets were a disaster. We literally ran around the entire massive building because each person sent us to the next door saying they had the "Player List". Finally we were told where they were and when we got there they proceeded to tell us that they gave our tickets away and we were too late. I mean yeah it was halftime, but who gives away reserved tickets? At this point we are frustrated and standing in some workers entrance where we had already been. Everyone claimed there was no list or it was gone, which it is not like this thing grows legs and walks away. I mean it is a professional game, like thousands of people go and there are always player pass lists. Regardless, all hope was pretty much lost because we were not about to pay 16 Euros for one and a half quarters so we asked if we could get a discount. My teammate was talking in German to this random new woman that came up and she explained the situation to her. This helpful woman ended up calling someone and saying that I was a player's girlfriend from the other team and needed to get in (Which we never said gf, we said friend but it helped so whatever I guess). So this high up event manager woman came and walked us through all these secret passages and into a premium lounge area. It was sweet. After the game there was this buffet that all the Alba players come and eat at, but we figured we would be pushing our luck trying to sneak in there. So we just waited and then went back to their hotel and hung out with the players. It was refreshing and definitely nice to see a familiar face. It is crazy they can have five Americans on their basketball teams and their coaches speak English to them.

Today, I had good ole' German tutor class and then hung out with a girl from my German class. She is actually from Wisconsin and it was so funny because we were sitting in this cafe and I saw a sign twenty feet away outside that said, "COME BACK PACKERS." But it was written in yellow and green and knowing that the Vikings and Packers played last night we thought maybe it was something about that. Like the Packers are gonna make a good run this season. So my friend ran outside and looked and said there was a website that I should look at comebackpackers.com to see what the party or whatever was about. So I looked on my phone and started laughing because we realized it was a sketchy hostel sign saying "Come Backpackers!" We felt pretty dumb. Similar to last week when my teammate wrote that they were going to a Sysha bar for her birthday and we were all invited. All week I thought we were going to a sushi bar, when in all reality it was a hooka bar. Oh the time when I just assume. Makes for a good laugh that's for sure.

My family comes two weeks from Wednesday. Can't wait!!!!!

Oktoberfest. Geburtstag. Herbst.

Well it has been awhile since I blogged, but I have been quite busy. I have really enjoyed number form when blogging so today that is what I will do.

1. It is officially fall and it is getting cold. I am starting to wear scarves and lots of layers, which I definitely like. Fall makes me miss Minnesota though, I think partly because it just reminds me of all the "fally" things that are there. Like college football season, pumpkins, leaves, etc. Christmas stuff has already started coming out here since obviously Thanksgiving isn't celebrated. I couldn't believe it, I was like already Christmas. That is two months away.

2. Last Friday, my team and I loaded up on a coach bus and went to Oktoberfest at Diedersdorf Schloss (castle). I didn't really know what to expect, but it was interesting showing up to the bus and seeing everyone in normal clothes when usually all we wear is soccer gear around each other. We got there at about 18:00 and planned on leaving around 23:30. When we should up there was this HUGE tent. Like I didn't even know that tents were made that were this big. And we walked in and there were tons of table and already quite a few people there. There was a large stage with a German band playing obviously German music. We had tables reserved for our team. At first I was a little hesitant, and was like oh man this could be a long night of just sitting staring at each other while drinking beer, but boy was I wrong. We ended up dancing to German music all night and seriously it was so much fun. It was fun hanging out with the girls outside of soccer. It was crazy they knew all the songs and I just pretended to kind of know some, but whenever an English one came on I was like, booyah! Regardless to say it was a blast and it was fun to experience the German culture in a new way. I mean not many Americans can say they got to go to Oktoberfest in Germany.

Team at Oktoberfest

3. Saturday night, I met up with my friend Elaine and we went to this bar/cafe to listen to different acoustic artists. I didn't think it would be that cool at first, but it ended up being sweet. This one girl was "looping" and it was so neat to see it live. I mean tons of artists do that for their music, but to watch her perform it live was really cool. I realize that I don't have much knowledge of music and I have learned a lot because Elaine is really into music and her friends are big time DJ's. I guess one opened for Radiohead in New York and so she was trying to explain how the whole industry works, I still think I have a lot to learn though. Like they say, you usually are gifted with athletics or music, and not usually both. God didn't give a musical bone to anyone in our family. If we sang a chorus together, we would sound like dying cows, not to mention my dad doesn't sing because he claims "Germans don't sing". Which has been proven inaccurate since living here. Good cover up Dad.    Regardless to say it was really cool to listen to her and I have a video of it below.

4. On Sunday, we had a game and we lost in the last three minutes to Herforder, which was a bummer. So not much to say about that except it was heartbreaking. Then family dinner in the afternoon. We try to eat as a family at least once every weekend, but it can be tough with all our different schedules and since we travel for soccer a lot. My brother just got back today from London and my sister has been gone this week at a church retreat, so it's been me and the rents, who actually left yesterday for holiday. I have been the constant holding down the fort.

5. So lately I have had this huge craving for anything pumpkin flavored. But you can't buy pumpkin puree here, so it makes it hard to bake anything with pumpkin in it. I was telling one of the Crusade staff women this and she said she loved pumpkin too so we decided to have a baking day. We made this recipe that I found a while ago called Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies. Seriously they were amazing. I had so much baking because she reminded me of my mom and was so hospitable and said they will have a big thanksgiving that I can come to, etc. It felt like home though and she was telling me all the tricks of how to cook in a foreign country. With the leftover homemade pumpkin puree she made soup which was awesome. I was a little hesitant at first, but it was sooo good. Anyways, for the Whoopie Pies you just make pumpkin cookies and then cinnamon cream cheese frosting and put it in between two cookies. Sounds easy, but when you have to make homemade puree, and homemade pumpkin spice, it takes a little more time. Regardless, it makes me wish I could have baked with my mom more when I lived at home. It is pretty fun. I was telling the woman that I usually guestimate when I bake and that lately my things just don't look right and she goes, "Usually when you are a beginner cook you should measure." It just takes so much time though. Plus everything is in grams here, so you have to convert the American cups to grams, etc. ANNOYING! America needs to jump on the band wagon and not have everything in their own conversions.

6. Well as many of you know, it was my birthday on Tuesday. I turned a whopping 24 years old. Birthdays are kind of a big deal in Germany, and everyone has asked me what I am doing, but I always just said I didn't know and it's just another year. Jayna, you would love having your birthday over here. Anyways, my parents had a birthday breakfast for me. So at 9:30 we all sat down and my host mom had made a cake and they lit a candle. Cake for breakfast isn't that abnormal here. It was cute how they set it up. So for an hour and a half we just talked and hung out. Then I opened my present from them, which was AWESOME! Seriously it was one of my favorite presents ever. I got a Bible that is German and English. So on each page there is a column in German and one in English. I have actually been looking for one for a little while now. Then I met up with my friend Jessica for lunch and hung out/walked around. It was fun. At night, I had training from 20-21:30, but we had a meeting before training. One of the women that works with our team had text me and told me she was bringing a cake for me. So she showed up and 8 and was getting the cake ready, but she had thought we had already practiced and our coach was like, "No we can't eat cake right now. We have training." It was an awkward exchange. My team got me a German Cd with all the top German hits and a German book that is like "dumb" German. And a shirt. It was cute. After training we had cake, and she bought us boulette and tea. She also got me a book, but it was in English. I guess everyone knows I like to read. Overall, the birthday was good and I felt pretty special considering I was in a foreign country without my family and closest friends. 

7. I am starting to realize that my biking days may have to come to an end eventually in the winter. Which will be a sad day. I don't like walking alone in the dark so I think I might be the girl that is running with her backpack on. Also I never had thought about the whole bike lock scenario when it gets cold. Elaine informed me that it sometimes freezes when it is really cold. Could be a problem. I might need to get some of that unfreezing stuff. 

8. This weekend we go to Gütersloh for a game on Sunday. So we will have ten hours in the bus. Which means lots of solid reading time. I have started reading fiction books and they rock. Ted Dekker is a really good author. 

9. My German is coming along. I still sometimes definitely say the wrong words. Like the other day I was SMSing the girl I meet with every week and I was telling her I was excited to hang out on Friday in German, but I guess I told her that I have a great idea because she responded saying what is your great idea. Just little things like that. I think my biggest problem is that I know a lot of German words and so I put them into my English sentences, but you can't do that because the order of sentences in German and in English are completely different so it doesn't work so well.