An Open Heart

Well the year took off at a sprints pace. The last girl arrived at midnight on August 22^nd and we had a full house of 22 students and five staff members. We had opening ceremonies the very next day. All of the seniors carry in flags, many of them representing the countries they are from. There were over 50 countries accounted for—it is truly a moving ceremony thinking of how God has brought us all together for this season of life.

Since opening ceremony, I have been settling back into the dorm, establishing a new routine, and getting to know the new girls and staff members. Even though I returned to the same dorm and many of the same girls, my role this year seems changed. There is much more responsibility. Training the new dorm parents and RA’s along with being the staff member all of the 15 returning girls would present their problems too, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs has been overwhelming. But this past week, I sense a shift. The girls are becoming more comfortable with the new staff and the new staff are settling into routine and life here.  I’m excited for this. I thank you for all of your prayers during this time.

Please pray that God would place on my heart a fresh desire to serve whole-heartedly. I am confronted once again with God’s word to lay down my life for him. My time here is not about me. It’s about serving him through serving these girls. I have days where I don’t feel like serving and that is so discouraging. Yet God reminds me that when I open my heart to him, he will fill me. He will give me what I need for the day.

This past week was spiritual emphasis week for the students. The closing ceremony on Friday night was optional; every single one of our students went!! The girls are longing to grow in their relationship with God. From listening to the girls it seems the theme of the week was obedience to God in whatever he may ask of you. To take action upon what he calls you to and do it and especially to reach out to the millions who do not have a relationship with Jesus. These girls are taking the challenge seriously and really seeking what God has for them. I’m astounded and excited for them in their personal walk with God—to think all of the different places God is going to take each one! 

A picnic dinner with a boys dorm, HBR, followed by a game of Aplha Wolf in the woods!

During half time of the boys flag football game, the girls got a chance at playing. Wittlingen won!!

Thank you for your support, prayers, and love for me and these girls,

Blessings,

Amy

Resting in God

Life has been insanely crazy since my return from spring break. Events have been jam packed into the past 3 weeks. And let me tell you it has been a blast. I love these girls sooo much and feel so loved by them. I came back from break with an endless amount of energy. But as it turns out no one has endless amounts of energy (although I wish I did) and my body crashed. On my day off this past Monday, I came down with a cold. Thankfully, I started my weekend off this Friday and am off until Monday. I am reminded once again that I do not have the strength to pour into these girls lives. I need rest, and I need rest in my God. I constantly need his strength. This weekend I am staying at a family's home that has been an unexpected blessing in my life. They have an absolutely gorgeous house up in the black forest hills and I have the entire redone basement to myself. I walked into my room to find a tray filled with tea (of which I am drinking delightful earl grey tea as I write), cute tea cups, chocolates, fragrant flowers, and an encouraging card. God is good! In the card, she wrote this verse,

"The Lord will continually lead you; He will feed you even in parched regions. He will give you renewed strength, and you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring that continually produces water." Isaiah 58:11

Even though, I have felt so blessed by my relationships with the girls, I feel so parched. So, to read this verse is like a breath of fresh air and a breath of hope and joy. My God feeds me even when I'm parched. He gives me renewed strength. His promises are life-giving. I'm looking forward to being watered this weekend. 

Well, let me share some pictures of all the fun and activities we have been up to! Because it has been good!

Two of the girls in my dorm invited me to join them on their field trip of kayaking! We were all pretty beat afterwards!

HEHEHE! I love this picture. That's a slug in case you are wondering!

A trip to the Titisee waterfall. 74 degrees when we began our road trip and 43 degrees complete with rain and slight hail when we arrived at our destination. But we still managed to have a blast with these girls flexible and positive outlook!

A Friday night drive up to Hochblauen! After this, we headed over to HBR (guy's dorm) for an outdoor movie!

Watching the soccer games with ElleBelle:)

Hannah and Jojo being tanks out on the soccer field. The girls won the game 5-0!

All the beautiful seniors with Erin and I at JSB (junior/senior banquet)

It's tradition at JSB that all the juniors make some sort of tribute to the seniors in their dorm. The juniors performed a live tribute for the seniors. They sang "For the Longest Time" but improvised words in about the seniors. They did a wonderful job.

All together:)

I got to treat the junior girls to McDonald's after JSB.

So there is about half of the activities we have been up to over the past 3 weeks! I can't believe there are only 14 days left before the year ends. While I'm excited to go home and see family and friends, I am also sad to say goodbye to the seniors and to the rest of the girls for 3 months. I am sure it will be a day full of tears.

Blessings of Peace to you,

Amy

Spring Break

For the past 2 1/2 weeks BFA has been on Spring Break. A much needed break for everyone. The first week of Spring Break entailed many students going on mission trips. Nine girls from Witt went on mission trips to either Uganda, Burkina Fasa, Moldova, Slovenia, and China. While other girls left to return to England, Bulgaria, Russia, Israel, Albania, Macedonia, Korea, Switzerland, and other parts of Germany. I'm excited for all of them to return and have our 'family' reunited from all parts of the world. It will be great to hear of all their adventures and the ways God spoke to them and grew them during their time away.

I wanted to share a bit of what I spent my Spring Break doing. My parents came!!!!! They came a few days before the girls left and were able to meet and spend time with them. I loved having them here so they could see even more visibly what it is I do over here. Around our area they were able to see the school, many of the dorms and how spread out they are, my favorite restaurants, the windy curvy roads, beautiful weather in full spring bloom, and places that I love around here.

We traveled around for ten days along with our neighbors and family friends, the Groman's. We went into Switzerland, France, Austria, and around Germany. They were long full days of traveling, seeing sights, eating, and learning more about the culture and history.

Hochblauen, I came here my first week in Germany. It's the highest point in our area.

And let me tell you to get there you have to take some sharp hairpin turns. It was a bit cloudy that day, but still beautiful!

The Swiss Alps. We stayed in a chalet nestled in the alps!

We took a cable car up, up, up and this is where we ended up.  
Completely surrounded by the alps with snow. It was so warm out!

This is the "Chapel Bridge." It's in Lucerne, Switzerland and was built in 1333.

We visited the concentration camp Dachau in Germany. This is the gate leading into this horrific place stating, "Freedom through Work." It was a hard place to tour and such a clear picture of sin.

   

The Abbey of St. Gall. A beautiful cathedral with the foundations built in 719 AD.

The home of the captain and children in the Sound of Music

Neuschwanstein Castle, an inspiration for the castle in Sleeping Beauty.

A Storch in the town of Holzen. There are Storch's all over this town, building their massive nests on top of the church and trees. Holzen is home of a girl's dorm at BFA, ironically called Storch!

My lovely parents at a restaurant in Switzerland. At this restaurant I accidentally ordered us all dessert, whoops! Still working on my German. But, hey everyone said it was the best part of the meal:)

It was wonderful having them visit and sad to see them go. The second week of Spring Break I spent time with other RA's. Honestly, mostly just bumming around. These girls tire me out! But, I am ready and excited for them to return tomorrow:) We only have 5 weeks left in the semester and I'm sure they will quickly fly by. I will keep you posted on the activities that fill our last 5 weeks.

Blessings,
Amy

Famous Couples

This past Tuesday Wittlingen held it's traditional famous couples night. Each girl in the dorm selects a 'famous couple' they want to dress up as for the night while their roommate/friend picks the guy she will go with. Erin (co-RA) and I then call up the boys and tell them who they will be dressing up as for the night. Both of them have no idea who their date is until they show up; then they find each other by their costumes. It was such a funny and fun night. Here are some pictures so you can get a glimpse of the evening!

We did a fifties, Happy Days theme for the evening.
Even though, half the kids had no clue what the tv show was!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  Jordan's hair was amazing!

Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato....impressive!

Aladdin and Jasmine

Darla and Alfalfa

The Seniors, Ken and Barbie, Eminem and Rihanna,
Mickey and Minnie, and Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Calvin and Hobbs

Then last Friday we headed off to high school retreat in Lenk, Switzerland. It was a great place and time for the kids to get away and be refreshed. The speaker talked a lot about being vulnerable and healing from God. I'm praying the girls will have the freedom to be open, honest, and vulnerable with friends and mentors in their lives. I went as a small group leader since their leader could not get away for the weekend. It was  great to see the Witt girls interact with their friends, usually I just see them with girls in the dorm. I also really enjoyed getting to know students outside of my dorm and leading a group of senior girls. This weekend, I didn't have the responsibilities of cooking, cleaning, driving, and disciplining which made it awesome concentrated time of great conversations and chill time with them:) 

                                           Hanna taking some time to soak up the Sun and the Word!

The group of Senior girls I got to lead for the weekend AND
the beautiful Swiss Alps in the background!!

Jordan, JoJo and I got to take a walk into town on Saturday afternoon.
Always enjoy times with these girls:)

Meet my small group leader, Jen. She has been such a blessing to
me this year, such a woman filled with Jesus! OH we have matching coats too:)

A New Year

Here at Wittlingen, much has happened since I returned from my visit to the states over Christmas. I won't include everything though, no worries! Well, at least I will try not to:)

Well, by far the biggest piece of news is that with the start of a new semester came two new girls. Jessi, a freshman, and Becky, a sophomore. Please pray for them as they continue to transition into dorm life, being away from their families, and suddenly living with 23 other people. I also just found out a couple days ago that we are getting another new student on February 20th. Her name is Joo-Yoong or Michelle, she is Korean and will come in as a freshman. This will be a very big transition for her as she has never been away from her parents and is still not fluent in English. I am really excited to have her join us though! But with that, please be in prayer for our staff as soon we will have 21 girls to pour into and take care of.

Since returning from Christmas break many of my relationships with the girls are really starting to take off. They are beginning to open up more...even pulling some innocent pranks on me, which is great! But, I do ask for your prayers that I would rely on God's wisdom and not my own in guiding them. My times with God have been so good this semester and He has blessed me with more of a desire to spend time daily with Him. I just feel so refreshed when I daily come to Him with my burdens, praises, and requests. A passage that we went through in an all staff meeting has really stuck with me.  In Colossians 3, Paul talks about as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, that we are to be clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and that love will bind these all together in perfect unity. I love that it says to clothe yourself with these fruits and virtues because it gives me the imagery of taking time to put them on each morning. And Christ is the only one who can put those on me when I come to Him and spend time with Him. I just wanted to share some of my heart with you guys and ways God is growing me.

Now on to a couple activities of what we have been up to! Two Sundays ago a HUGE parade came to little ole' Wittlingen. A parade like I had never seen. It's called a Fasching parade and it is full of people wearing scary and weird masks, confetti, smoke shooting from floats, and lots of loud music. As it was right outside of our house we were able to watch and enjoy all the festivities. Some of the girls dressed up ridiculously and all the Germans looked at them strangely...hahaha:) We came back with confetti ALL over us and even in several rooms of our house where windows had been left open...whoops! It was a great way to start the semester back up, I laughed so hard that day with many of the girls!!

At the end of last semester, I started story time with the sophomores on tuesday nights for tuck-ins. We read short picture books to begin with but at the start of the semester we began "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis. It's a fun time to be together and usually I have to peel a couple of them out of my bed by the end of the chapter. At the end of the semester, once we finish, we are hoping to watch the movie together and have a slumber party in my room:)

Some of the sophomores piled high on my couch!
They are soo cute:)

When we returned in early January, we had a delightful
streak of 55 degree weather and sun!! Lauren and Rachel playing beautiful music.

That same day, many girls became adventurous-
 Katie, Anna and Elle.

A small glimpse of the Fasching parade.
Jordan, Katie, Me, Anna, and Rachel.

See, they are crazy! There are many more pics of the festivities on
my Facebook if you care to see more!

And so now you know some of the happenings of January!

With Love,

Amy

Full Weekends

Here at Wittlingen, life has been pretty hectic and full of activities. A couple weeks ago all of the dorm students went ice skating. The last time I went I was a little girl and went to a creek with my Aunt and cousins. We all had sooo much fun and it was a beautiful night out! Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving for about 40 people. It was a fun night night ending with the tradition of watching 'White Christmas.' My personal favorite!!

Last Friday we had Open House. We opened our house to our German neighbors and all of the BFA community (some 300 people). Our theme was 'celebrities.' We had Miley Cyrus here, Sandra Bullock, Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Body Guards, Paparazzi, Reese Witherspoon, and those were just the girls at Witt! It was a full night of fun; with a fashion shoot in the basement, music videos, and the community touring all of the nooks and crannies of our home. Then on Sunday night for dorm fellowship we decorated the house for Christmas!! It makes it so much more cozy and gives the girls a boost of energy as they finish up the semester.

This coming weekend is Christmas Banquet. And let me tell you it's a big deal here. It's kind of like our homecoming back home, well no football game and no court. But the guys ask the girls in really extravagant ways. One guy came to our dorm a couple weeks ago to ask one of our girls and sang Taylor Swift's 'You belong with me'.....only 'Will you go to banquet with me.' Followed with the presenting of roses. These boys know how to treat these girls well! Friday we are having a spa night of painting nails and facials while Saturday will be filled with doing hair and make-up. Im excited to help them all get ready. The theme is a masquerade ball, so they all get to wear fun masks too!

Wittlingen on Ice!

The Cooks:)

Thanksgiving fun!

Anna, Ross, Jamie, and Miriam...family:)

Hanna and Sam...family:)

Kat and Luke...family:)

Elle and Wes....family:)

Anna is Dorothy!

The intimidating Body Guards

Posing by her name dressed as Sandra Bullock

Joining in on celebrity night as Miley Cyrus

Beautiful, she went as Reese Witherspoon

Even though November is dreary here, we are finding ways to brighten the days:)

I hope you are all getting in the holiday spirits and that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

~Amy