Milka

I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten so much chocolate in my life. Everyday, we have chocolate. I eat Nutella for breakfast. I usually have some little chocolate bar after lunch, and in the evening, we all dive into our Milka bars. Milka is like chocolate, but better than American chocolate. Maybe they have it in the United States, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it. So, we eat a lot of chocolate, and we drink a lot of coffee and tea. At 11 o’clock everyday, there is a coffee break with coffee, tea, and loads of fruit. It’s the strangest thing right before lunch, but everybody enjoys it. Must be some kind of German tradition. I think I’d like to take it back with me. Mornings always need breaks, and coffee and fruit can be consumed always. I thought it was important to tell you all of that, for some reason. There is a mad game of Dutch Blitz, some crazy card game, going on behind me right now with lots of yelling, flying arms, and laughing. With so many people in this building, it seems like there is never a dull moment. There are times, though, when all of us realize that we don’t really know each other at all. Those thoughts usually come when we’re all tired after a long day. Conversations get quiet then. I remember those times on my DTS. The times when nobody is really sure what to say, so nobody takes a risk to say anything. It was only at the beginning of the school. Those silent times are happening less and less everyday as everybody gets to know each other better. We are finding out new things about each other daily. Things like one of the students has 12 brothers and sisters, another speaks 3 languages and 5 dialects of one of those 3, another is certified in underwater hunting, and many more. With so many people, you don’t get much time to spend with each one of them. I feel like I know everybody, but there are people who I haven’t shared my stories with. There are many students and staff that I have shared with, though. It’s incredible how different our stories from the past our but how similar are goals for the future are. I guess it’s not that incredible considering I’m at a YWAM base where everybody is fairly young and has thoughts of serving others in the future in one form or another. There’s always at least one connection that we all have, and that’s a rather big connection. “Blessed be the tie that binds,” says my watch from Megan. There is a tie that binds us all together: family, friends, schoolmates, neighbors, strangers. Every person here has discovered that tie at some point or another in their lives, and if they haven’t yet, they will soon. I am so excited for the students here. I remember how clueless I was at the beginning of my DTS. I had no clue what was going to happen each week, who I was living with, where I was going for outreach, or anything really. I had no clue what was in store for me, and that’s why I’m so excited for these students. I try to tell them when I get the chance, but I don’t want to sound like I’m a graduate know-it-all. I just wish that I could sit every person down at one point or another and tell them the things I’ve learned and know, and I wish that I could hear the same from them. I think I’d like to do that with every person; not just in this school, but everywhere. Who wouldn’t want to do that, though? I can’t imagine anybody turning down that offer if they were given it.

My time in the castle is nearing its end. Everyday, as I’ve told you before, people ask me when I’m going to join staff or if I’ve decided to stay forever or how I can leave after I’ve just met everybody. I ask myself the same questions. They aren’t easy to answer, but I’ve had some help this time. You see, I would love to stay here in the castle. I would love to stay in Herrnhut, and I would love to stay with YWAM. I would love to join staff here, and I would love to be a part of this school. I would love all of it. But, that’s just the problem. I would love all of those things. Those are things that I want. My decision would affect my family and friends in Iowa, not just me. That decision is also not mine to make, but it belongs to somebody far greater. My path has already been decided; at least the next step. That step is to go to Klagenfurt, where adventures beyond my imagination await me. I have no clue what is going to meet me there. I only know that it is where I will be next, and it is where I am supposed to be. It’s a whole new adventure on this already crazy journey. I am excited to start it. I bought my ticket today. I am leaving Herrnhut this Friday to go to Austria. I will be arriving in Salzburg, the city where Sound of Music was filmed, on Friday night, and I will be staying there until Sunday. On Sunday, I am going to be making my way 3 hours south to Klagenfurt. While in Salzburg, I will be staying in a hostel with 5 other people; strangers. This is the part that excites me. I’m going to be rooming with people I’ve never seen or talked to. They may not even speak my language; just another part of the great and terrible. Who knows which one of those descriptions it will fit. I hope great, but I suppose terrible could happen too. Either way, I will let you know when I find out. I think there is free Internet. There are also free showings of Sound of Music playing all day in the lobby. I’m excited. Today is almost over, and it’s only 8 pm. Waking up early is nice because you can go to bed so early. I walked to town today, too, which is a bit of a walk. Ich habe meine erste Deutsche Bibel heute gekauft. Hopefully, it will help me speak better. That whole speaking thing in Austria is making me nervous. I’m hearing stories of people coming here, though, and not speaking any English when they came. I’ve met two people who have said that to me, in English. They are now translating only 1 year after they spoke their first English sentence. That gives me hope. When you have the right People helping, learning can be really easy. I will let you know my progress. That is all I have to say for today. It was a great day but very cold. I read this today, and it made me think. I would like you to think about it too. It comes from a reliable source.

“The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.”