St. Sebald's Cathedral

Sean had a friend come in town who flew into Nuremberg so we spent the day exploring the city.  Unfortunately it's been a rainy week so we got a little drenched.  Rain also makes it hard to take pictures which is sad but you know me, I'm determined to get my pictures.  I would run into a little door alcove so I could pull out my camera without it getting too wet or try to snap as many as I could in between rain storms.

Me and Mary

My small group after "awkward starfishing" me with a hand full of flour

Went back to Italy this past week again with a group of middle school kids.  I would still not say I'm the biggest fan of camping but it was a little better this week because I got to use an air mattress!  We did have so much fun though! The Young Life program team and work staff did an awesome job making sure the kids had a blast with funny songs and games.  We had a carnival where kids got to pie or flour their leaders.  We even had a birthday party for all the kids at camp.  The middle school kids really got into it!  All these things give us a great opportunity to be silly and get comfortable with each other so that when it came time to open up during our "tent time" the kids would be more likely to share.  The kids heard the story of Christ dying on the cross and many kids recommitted their life to serving Him.  

We did a lot of the same stuff as last week but we went to Pisa and Lucca instead of Elba Island. We of course took a ton of funny "holding up the tower" pictures.  I don't really like my profile in any of the pictures and it was so crowded it was difficult to get a good pic.  My middle school girls were very eager to shop at all the vendors so that is where we spent the majority of our time :)

All in all it was a great two weeks at camp down in Italy.  Hopefully over the next few weeks, I'll get an opportunity to follow up with some of the girls I had at camp to see how they are doing.  A lot of families go back to the states for the summer so I'm not sure if I'll get to see all of them.  Please pray for my conversations in helping to disciples girls or to continue to share the gospel with them!   We have a few fun trips planned this week so stay tuned :)

Always on the lookout...

Manarola

The best pesto pizza!!!!

Vernazza- city 4

This is a place I definitely would want to come back to (preferably without teenagers next time, as much as I love them!)  

I have to admit to you I'm not the hugest fan of camping.  We never really did it growing up and I'm usually fine for one night of it as long as roasting marshmallows and sitting around a campfire is involved.  But the thought of sleeping on the ground (I brought an air mattress at the suggestion of other people but our tent was too small for it to fit) and sharing 8 showers with 250 girls does not sound like my idea of a good time.  I also seem to have no luck when I camp as a natural disaster seems to strike every time I attempt to do it.  The very first night, there were horrible thunder and lightening storms and the entire camp had to move down to the gym (on the other side of base) to sleep.  Nothing like being woken up at 3 am and told to grab your sleeping bag and walk in the pouring rain!  Here a blurry, dark picture of 400 kids and adults crammed into the gym.

The base that I'm staying at, Ansbach, is about 2 hours east of Heidelberg in Bavaria.  I haven't been on a base in a long time and I'm having childhood flashbacks of carrying my ID card with me at all times, shopping at the cheap commissary, having weird clothing choices at the PX... But I'm not going to be complaining about guys in uniform all day long ;)  Laura, I'll let you know if I see any soldiers running.

It's a nice little town.  I haven't seen much of it yet but I'm sure I will.   I'm working with Sean Campbell who is the Community Director here.  I'm also staying with him and his wife Mary- who is preggers :) and starting to decorate her nursery!  They are such a fun, easy going couple and I can tell it's going to be an awesome summer with them. I hopefully will be staying with them most of the time this summer but they do have some friends coming in town to visit so I might have to go bum someone else's guest bed.

The first few days here have been pretty relaxing.  I've been helping organize the MCYM work closets- you know me- I can jump on an organizing task like nobody's business!  It's been kind of fun seeing all the inside work that really goes into being a youth minister.  I've volunteered with Young Life but haven't done a whole lot to help with planning- I just usually show up and get told how I can help.  Ministry definitely is a calling and I just don't know where it exactly fits into my life. I haven't met any kids yet but am looking forward to meeting them on Friday when we leave for Italy.

I have to take the German driving test (yikes!) and they are looking for a car for me to borrow while I'm here. Hope they can find an automatic  :) I got an international license from AAA before I left but can't find it now.  Waste of $25.  I don't know if I packed it somewhere else (i.e. storage unit) or if it was taken when my bags were searched in London.  Oh well.  I'm pretty good with directions but I've never driven in a foreign country so it makes me a little nervous about getting lost, not being able to read signs, getting towed, etc.  But if I get to drive on the Autobahn it will be worth it.  You know I'm going to have to go as fast as I can just to say I did it- plus I love to speed and I need to do it where it's not illegal! There are actually speed limit signs on the Autobahn in places so you have to be careful or you'll just get a ticket in the mail (see I have been studying for my German driving test).  

Here is a random picture that Cindy took of me on our photoshoot day.  I wasn't ready for her to take it but I do like the lighting :)

I feel like I've been here for a long time now even though it's really only been 4 days!  Imagine after two months, I might not want to come back. :)

Let's see Sunday after church, we went and walked around Heidelberg.  It's a beautiful town- you can kind of see the castle at the top of this picture.  I also got my first taste of German food- wurst, sauerkraut and german potatoes, heferweizen (my favorite beer).  Awesome!  Much better than English food I'm sure.

After that, Cindy and I went on a little photo shoot/drive around the countryside.  It was kind of fun- we'd get to an intersection and Cindy would say "which way do you want to turn?".  We found some interesting towns and it was fun just to drive around and stop to take pictures whenever we wanted.  

View from the top where we stopped to try Eis Kaffee (which is just ice cream in coffee- perfect)  and Apple Streudel.  I included those pictures too because they were just sooooo good.  

We then went to this town called Dillsburg which is a walled town.  Most of the houses are built right onto the old brick wall that used to protect the city.  Germans really take care of their stuff- the houses usually look pretty neat and very well gardened.

All the forests made me want to wander through them like Hansel and Gretel!