Well, this summer has certainly been eventful, awesome and memorable! I'm so excited about the new chapter in my life that God has been orchestrating and am really looking forward to moving to Grafenwoehr. I'm leaving for Texas tomorrow and I can't wait to see everyone and spend time hugging and squeezing my precious nieces and nephew. And eating lots of Mexican food and Chick Fil-a :)


My time with MCYM has been great. The organization and people who work for MCYM are so awesome! God has shown me so much about himself and it's been powerful to see Him at work in the lives of people regardless of denomination or location. I think I can put God in a box sometimes and it's been so freeing to know that God is accomplishing great things, through great people everywhere! Serving as a leader at camp this summer in Italy was awesome! I loved the chance to build relationships with these teenage girls and share the love of Christ with them. There is an MCYM group on the base that I'll be at in the fall, so I will most likely volunteer with them once I get settled in.


Sean and Mary Campbell have been my gracious hosts this summer. I've lived with them for the past two months and I know they will be glad to get some privacy back at their house! I've traveled with them, watched Army Wives with them, worked along side them and really just enjoyed their friendship. Thanks for everything Sean and Mary! I'm so glad that our friendship will be able to continue over the next few years that we are in Germany together- even if I am an hour or so away. They have a baby due in October so you know I'll be in Ansbach visiting so I can get my baby fix and be a surrogate "Tia"!

What it's all about!!

We walked into Wildberg a few times. It's a cute little town.
One of my favorite parts of the week was a cookout we had one night. We made this stuff called stick bread by putting dough and cooking it over a fire. I filled mine with Nutella and it was oh so good :)
Another day a group of girls and I drove into a little town called Calw. It was so beautiful and picturesque. We did a little shopping and then stopped to get a cappuccino.

The Island of Elba is off the coast of Tuscany and it is most famous for where Napoleon was exiled in 1814 for about 300 days. It was very pretty and had a lovely pebble beach. We took a ferry ride over and I fed a seagull from my hand. I was praying it wouldn't bite my hand off when it swooped down!  I think someone else got a picture of it so I'll post it if I get it.

Last Friday we left Germany for the 12 hour bus trip down to Camp Darby, Italy.  It is my first time in Italy so I was very excited!!  The first part of the week was a little hectic but it all ended up being a fun trip overall.  I ended up being able to stay with the high school girls from Germany and I had two awesome girls, D and H in my tent. 

So my first day in Germany was pretty uneventful (yeah!).  I got through customs with no questions at all and was picked up from the airport and taken to the Army base at Mannheim. There we met up with the Anderson's, the couple I will be staying with until Tuesday.  They are going to help me get squared away with all the paperwork and military id's I will need for the summer before I head over to Ansbach on Tuesday.  Ansbach is a base that is closer to Nuremberg in the east part of German and I will be there most of the summer.  

Total flying time: 23 hours (5 flights)

Total time waiting in an airport: 25 hours (including 4 hours in UK interrogation room- which we will get to later)

Hours of sleep I’ve gotten: 5

Times I’ve almost cried: 10

Times I’ve cursed myself for remembering my toothbrush in my carry-on but not my toothpaste: 15

And the beauty of it all- after 48 hours I’m back in the exact same place I was when I started on Saturday- Dallas…..

For all of the craziness I’m getting ready to describe, I’ve actually felt pretty calm and at peace. Incredulous would probably be the best adjective to describe how I feel- I just can’t believe this is all happening but I'm really just trying to trust God and remember that He is in control!

So the flight over to England is good- uneventful, went by pretty quickly, got a little sleep, watched a few movies- all a good start to the trip.  And then it starts to go downhill pretty fast.  As I’m going through British Immigration, the woman looking over my stuff asks me lots of questions about why I’m staying so long and what exactly I’ll be doing in England for 9 weeks.  Apparently no one has ever come over to the UK for that long of a time period without an ulterior motive.  Even when I tell her the truth, she thinks I’m hiding things or changing my story- she must think I’m trying to work without a work visa or something but she will not listen to anything I’m telling her.  I’m looking around to other people, like can you believe this?  Who ever gets questioned for spending a month or two in Europe?  People backpack and travel all the time where they don’t have every little detail planned out.  I mention again I will be on an American military base, helping out some friends who do ministry work.  I then get told to step out of line and that I will need to be taken for further questioning.

I’m led to a room to get fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken- still not really knowing the problem about what I told Immigration girl.  I’m then put in an interrogation room and told someone will come talk to me soon- 3 hours later someone finally comes to talk to me.  He’s cordial and nice- asks me a few more questions about MCYM and then says he’s going to go talk things over with his boss.  Luckily I have been able to talk with the Pitzer’s so I could keep them informed about everything that is going on.   Mr. Interrogator finally comes back about an hour later and informs me that I will be leaving on a flight back to the US in 20 minutes so I need to hurry up, get my stuff and get on that plane.  I have to question him while we are walking, trying to figure out why I’m being denied entrance.  He explains that the UK immigration policy changed in April 2009 (2 months ago!!) and that anyone who is doing any type of ministry work needs additional paperwork (I guess like a visa) to get permission.  Jim and Shannon were just as confused as I was.

This whole day has felt very surreal- I still can’t believe all this has happened!  So then I’m on my 2^nd transatlantic flight of the day.  Luckily this flight was not full so I could stretch out and sleep some.  I’m so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open at this point- I’m pretty sure I was snoring on the plane but I didn’t really care.  I arrive at JKF around 8pm on Sunday to realize that in London, they rebooked my flight to Detroit instead of Dallas.  I run around for about an hour and a half (with all my bags, mind you, because they did not book those all the way through) but I finally get all that settled with a ticket agent and am booked for the 8 am flight- to…. Atlanta (+4 hr layover, then Dallas).  Why can’t anything be easy? 

 

So I left Dallas, Saturday at 5pm and arrive back to Dallas on Monday, 5pm.  What a crazy 48 hours….

Please be praying that this all gets sorted out quickly.  I honestly have no idea how long that paperwork will take to get worked out or when I’ll be leaving to go back.  There is a possibility that I'll be going to another base instead of England as well.

Luckily after having this for my bed tonight:

I have Leslie’s comfy guest bed to look forward to J  You know I’m going to be sleeping for a day straight.  

This summer I'm going over to minister to teens, through an organization called Military Community Youth Ministries (MCYM). I will be able to tell these teens of Jesus Christ’s love and the stability He can bring into their lives in the midst of the instability that we often see in this world. We will be going to summer camp, having small groups and just hanging out- I heard we do a lot of Frisbee golf :-) I better start practicing some more after church on Sundays so I don't utterly humiliate myself....

I will be in Europe from approximately June 7-August 14. I've been assigned to RAF Alconbury which is in Cambridge shire, England about 60 miles north of London. The Lord is so kind! He knows my love of everything English. I've had dreams about just moving to London- even the dreary weather wouldn't get me down, because, hello- its London! Plus the accents would just always put a smile on my face :)

I'm also going to be with my friends, Jim and Shannon Pitzer who are the MCYM Community directors on that base. I was a Young Life leader with them when I lived in Arlington, TX way back in 2000-2002. I haven't actually seen them in quite a few years but it will be awesome to do ministry with them again- their passion for the Lord and love for kids really spurs me on to reach out and do the same!! I secretly always wanted to be like them "when I grew up and got married" because they served together and ministry was just their way of life. I know they have touched so many lives and I feel blessed to be able to go over and work along side them this summer.

I am excited about this opportunity that the Lord has brought my way. I've never really done a mission trip before and feel so inadequate at times. Please pray for me as I to go reach this group of teens with the message of Christ!!!

Ways to pray:

• That I will be able to quickly build relationships with the kids on base.
• That the Lord will use me and help me to be bold in sharing the gospel.
• That these teenagers will fall in love with Christ and accept Him as their personal savior
• For safe travels- personal and when we are traveling with the kids to camp
• For finances for the summer