Finally getting a post up! Though I must apologize... I am NOT a writer so... yeah, haha.
We are currently starting our third week here in Herrnhut and a LOT has happened in the last 17 days. We've gone on plenty of adventures and have had even more spiritual encounters with God that are just awesome.
Traveling in Germany
In the last two weeks, we have taken six trains and five buses to go to various locations around Germany. During our first weekend here in Germany, a group of nine of us went on a day-trip to Dresden, about an hour and a half from Herrnhut. The city was beautiful! Many of the churches in the city are a black or gray in color, due to the smoke from fires and bombings during World War II. It's crazy to think that to the locals, these churches are pretty average in age, but to us Americans, they're crazy old!
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| The main square in Dresden |
We had the chance to climb to a viewpoint on the Church of the Holy Cross, a church that was built in the early 13th century. The view from the top was pretty amazing, being able to look out and see the entire city. It is really cool being able to walk around a city full of so much history.
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The Dresden crew at the view-
point at the church. From left
to right: Rebekah, David,
Mitchell (WA, USA), Samuel
(Switzerland), Steve (OR, USA),
Kessly (Brazil), Lianne (Holland) |
This past weekend, a group of 13 of us did an overnight backpacking trip through the Sächsische Schweiz National Park. After two trains and two buses, we hiked between six and seven hours to reach a place to camp. Without a real destination, we found a cave where we decided to stay the night. We reached the cave around 7:30 pm, just in time to watch the sun go down over the countryside. We then set up camp and slept (partially) under the stars, only to wake up to an even more beautiful sunrise. Well, at least I thought so. We then packed up and started our trek back to the castle. We're sore, but it was well worth it!
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Sunrise at Sächsische Schweiz
National Park |
Experiencing God on a Daily Basis
While the traveling here in Germany is awesome, that is not the true reason why we've come. We have come to experience God and live in His presence through every moment. He has absolutely done some crazy things in my life already as well as the lives of my fellow YWAMers and it's only been two weeks! I have seen God in many ways during this trip: through worship, through serving, through seeing people serve, and even just through the beautiful scenery right in my backyard. But the most amazing way I've seen God during my time here was during ministry night two weeks ago.
Every Wednesday night, we walk into town to a local Christian church for ministry night which is basically an incredible, intense worship session. In the days leading up to the first ministry, I was dealing with a lot of anxiety. I was in a strange place with strange people, I left everything (but David) I'd ever known, and all I wanted to do was go home. Anxiety is also something that I have dealt with on and off through high school. It came and went; some days were worse than others.
During ministry night, we started singing a song with the words, "You're an endless ocean, a bottomless sea." I didn't know the song very well, but instantly a picture was put into my head. I kept going along with the song, but all the while, I couldn't get this image out of my head. So with my minimal artistic skills, I grabbed a pen and paper and tried to draw it. The image is of a stormy sea, filled with words of condemnation, split by a calm sea filled with words that describe Jesus and the qualities he has. Shortly after finishing the drawing, Karina, one of the girls I room with, came up to me. She told me that she was praying to God, asking that he would take this anxiety away and He told her, "No. Just go to her and tell her!" So she did. She came up to me and told me that my anxiety was gone. My chains were broken and I had no need to fear, all I needed was to pick up my mat and walk. The funny thing is, I had just read that part of scripture during my Bible reading that morning! Things were crazy. But that wasn't it! Immediately after Karina prayed for me, the band started playing "No Longer Slaves." It was too perfect! There was absolutely no way that this couldn't have been God making himself clear to me. And you know what? I have been anxiety-free for almost two weeks! All because of that night and that one encounter with God.
So to sum up, God is a God who creates beautiful things from nothing. He's a God who heals your brokenness. He's a God who will sneak up on you and do something crazy when you least expect it. We'll see what else God has in store!
"The Lord is my light and my salvation - so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?" --- Psalm 27:1
