PHOTOS!

This post won't have me saying much, but photos speak louder than words right?!
ENJOY!

Our expectations for the school and what we want to do (I'm the red)

My room (bottom bunk in the middle)

This is the Canaan House (staff house)

some of downtown Lausanne

Cathedral in Lausanne

Largest stain glass window (I think that's what they said)

Me and Karina in the Cathedral

cleaning up after dinner!

Our class theme is walking on water, so painted out feet...

...to put on our wall in the class (right before this we had a really good time praying for each other and having our own experience of "walking on water"

My first Swiss Chocolate that I bought!

Construction worker doin' his thing in st

Swiss Night! 

Cheese and cheese fondue!

Araceli and Our speaker for the week Rebeca (she works in Amsterdam evangelizing)

Tiara!

Joel and Thomas with the chocolate fondue

My Wonderful Class and Staff! Top left: Joel (staff), Tiara, Karina, (Rebeca -speaker for the week), Middle row: Becky, Manuel (staff), me, Eunsil (staff), Sabastian. Bottom: Mariela (staff), Maria, Araceli, Eun Song, Joy (staff)

Eun Song and I before going on outreach

The Jazz Festival (largest one in the world) in Montreux  

Beautiful view in Montreux

Sunset!

Evangelizing team

Korea traditional dress. We have a Korean team called One Voice with us for the 2 weeks of the jazz festival to  do outreach with

Dustin Kelm

World Champion Cyclist

10ft cycle

One Voice Team doing a drum dance

Swans in Ouchy, Switzerland

Karina at the Lake

Gelato in Switzerland after the lake!

God Loves Different

SO last week for lectures our theme was "Hearing God's Voice" and of course touching on all the different ways he can speak to us (through the Bible, meditation, nature, worship, prayer, others, prophecy, etc.) Near the end of one of our lectures, the speaker wanted us to go outside, spend a little time in prayer, and listen to what it was God wanted to tell us. She instructed that we bring back one object to the classroom to talk about what it was God had told us.

As I went outside I walked down the driveway toward the bus stop on the road a little ways down. I sat there and just sort of observed all that was around me (still grasping the fact that I was actually in another continent!). The day was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. The sun was shining and there was a perfect breeze coming around every so often.

And this is what I ended up writing down:

God loves Different.

With man there are no 2 alike.

Nature, His creation, repeats this.

How many different types of tress, birds, flowers, types of grass?

Everything has it's own uniqueness. Not even just for His sake; though, so He doesn't become bored, but for man's sake as well.

In everything He does, He thinks of us.

He communicates with us all in different ways - In our own way that He has intended for us. 

He is a personal God.

He cares about the birds and the trees as well as you and me.

How boring would life be if all there ever was was one type of fish, one type of flower, one type of tree. There would be so little excitement and never any new discoveries.

Having differences allows us to show our uniqueness and the beauty and the creativity of our Father, the one who made us.

Thank you Lord SO very much for making my world full of life, differences, and uniqueness. You are a Father who cares about the most minor of details. And that makes all the difference in the world.

For my object that I brought, I ended up bringing more than one. I grabbed 5 different kinds of flowers (they were small ones from the grass) and 2 different kinds of leaves. I stucked them in the folded area of my paper where I had written everything down.

So far the lectures have been great and super powerful! And I'm looking forward to the rest of them!

Switzerland!!!!

I HAVE ARRIVED!

I am in the land of Swiss chocolate, Swiss watches, and yes Swiss bank accounts!
When I arrived in Geneva I knew I was in the Switzerland airport because the advertisements on the wall were all for watches and then the clocks that hung down from the ceiling were Rolex!!

I was a day late to arrive since my first initial flight was completely canceled in Norfolk. I had no way to reach my international flight, so I got to spend an extra night at home (which my mother was extremely thankful for!)
    My long flight wasn't too bad. Luckily we were served a meal and we could control the movies we watched. They even had TV shows, games, and music options! At the end of the flight, I had arrived in Frankfurt, Germany. While I was sitting and waiting for my next flight to Geneva, a gentleman leaned down to me and said "wow you are beautiful"...and then sat down and introduced himself as "Lorenzo. I am Italian." Not so sure if that line had made girls swoon over him before, but it didn't phase me any. I tried to be cordial until he began to say he loved me and wanted to get married. In my head I was just thinking "Does he really think this works?!" He kissed my hand and after that I was looking for a way out! He continued to ask for a kiss and I said no and he asked for my hand but I refused. And again reiterated his love for me and his admiration of my beauty. Eventually I was able to escape by saying I need to check my flight, but not after I had to give him my e-mail address (don't worry I typed out a fake one...0.0) 

Once in Geneva, from the airport, I had to get a train ticket and find my way to the train station. Oh and carry my luggage which consisted of two luggage bags and my carryon. Luckily for me I have a smart father who had given be a bungee cord to tie my carryon to one of my other luggages so I could effectively roll the luggage. (however it still was difficult to do) After asking for help a couple times I successfully had my train ticket AND had gotten on the right train. The scenery was beautiful. On one side were the mountains with Geneva lake down below and on the other side were neighborhood type village clusters with breaks between of fields and farmland. I sat admiring it all and wishing I had someone to share it all with.

From the train station, I had to find the McDonald's where a staff member from YWAM was picking me up. The problem with getting out of the station was I had to go up 2 flights of stairs....a bit hard to do with three things of luggage. I made two trips (probably looked a bit ridiculous too, but made it up the stairs successfully!) Found the McDonald's and was on my way to the base!


The base use to be a hotel way back in the day (it's been remodeled some since). There's a forest nearby where we can run trails, go on bike rides, not to mention they have a PING PONG TABLE! The internet cafe is where we get the wifi, but the hours of availability for the wifi is limited (so mostly likely not a whole lot of online stuff since I'll have to use that time to do schoolwork). The meals are cooked for us or we pack them when we have a sack lunch/dinner day. In my room there are 3 other girls: Eun Sung is from South Korea, Tiara is from Canada, and Katrina is from California. Our room is a bit small, but no worries there for me.
So far just have been doing orientation type things and explanations of things expected and to do.

Sorry I don't have any photos for this blog. I haven't had time to connect my phone to my computer, but I'll get some up soon.

Much love,
Rebecca

Some Heart Changes

Well a majority of you know that I was planning on going into nursing with the transfer to Old Dominion University. It's a great profession. Great hours. Great pay. Great way to serve and help people. All things that are nice to have when planning a future.  And as much as I could see myself doing this, there is a part of my heart that feels as if there is a missing piece to this plan of mine.

With that said, I have always wanted to go to a Bible school....something like YWAM (youth with a mission). Our youth group once did the summer program at Tyler, TX and I loved it and my brother (Chris) spent a couple years with YWAM as well, so I'm familiar with how the school works. I never really nurtured the thought of actually going, but with some changes that have occurred recently in my life I feel like this is a prime time to rekindle the desire to go to a DTS (discipleship training school) at a YWAM campus.

Life never seems to slow down, but for me...this time I now have seems opportune for me to take.
It's scary to say the least, but I have a peace about the decision.

I'm still looking into a couple different schools....mainly away from North America. I mean, why not see some of the world while I'm at it right?!

So instead of applying for nursing school this coming Feb '13, I'm going to take some time off from school and work. Try to save some money and get redirected in what God wants me to do with my life and passions.

Exciting and Scary changes, but I'm looking forward to what will all come about! :)

"For I know the plans I have for you" says the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future". Jeremiah 29:11   <<< that's ma verse!

Christmas GIVE AWAY - for a great cause!

Here's the GIVE AWAY LINK

Hey everyone, a friend of mine is putting on a Christmas basket give away. The basket items all together are worth $400 and all you have to do is donate $5 to get your name entered into the drawing. EACH $5 gets your name out in the drawing. NOT TO MENTION!!!! All the money goes to helping them bring their BABY HOME from Ethiopia!

I don't know about you.....but I'm ALL in!!

My September 11th

I had just entered into fourth grade. It was my first year in a public school, let a lone a new state. My family had moved from South Dakota to Virginia, a long four day trip. I was a couple days into my classes and had already suffered from the boy sitting next to me vomiting on my shoe the first day of school. For the most part I do not remember how my day started, most likely the usual way of waking up, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and heading to the bus stop (to paraphrase one of our favorite singers, Rebecca Black). But, what I do remember vividly was how quickly the environment at school had changed when the news feed reported an attack on the Twin Towers. Coming from South Dakota, I had no idea what these two buildings were and I was ignorant of what the Pentagon was since I had lived nowhere near New York. I could gather, however, that to my classmates and teachers these buildings were not only important, but personal. Many had family members working in the buildings or new of friends who had family members in those buildings. Fear and anxiety began to permeate.

With the sudden news, parents came to pick up their children early from school. My mother picked up my sister and me and we drove home. I still was having a hard time grasping what was going on around me. When we got home the TV was on, showing the video footage of the first twin tower on fire from where it was hit. My mother tried to explain to me the importance of the buildings and what the news meant by terrorist attack, but the only thing I could really understand was when my parents told us we need to pray for the people and families undergoing such a tragic experience.

My thoughts and prayers are still with all those who experienced a loss or pain from this heartbreaking day.

Hope

Our pastor's message today was on keeping hope alive.

He mentioned something that I thought answered a lot of people's "why" questions. One of those questions being "Why aren't there stories in the Bible of people who were prayed for and weren't healed, or of a baren mother who hasn't become pregnant?"

The story of Sarah and of the woman who reached out to grasp the hem of Jesus' garments in HOPES that if she were to only touch his hem she would be healed-- these along with others in the Bible, help build up our faith and hope.

Our God is the God of hope.
Romans 15:13New International Version (NIV)

 ¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We can hope and hope BIG. And for that I am extremely grateful to my God for.




Here's a testimony I'd like to share of a women in our church.
She's been married 16 years and in those 16 years has adopted 3 children. As she was spending time with the Lord during her quiet time, she was telling Him that she's Okay were her life. She's Okay with how everything is going. And the Lord said back to her, you're Okay? Or you've just stopped believing?
She fell to her knees and raised her arms asking God to forgive her for her unbelief and for the Lord to restore her faith and hope. 30 days later, she was pregnant!

After hearing the testimony, I realized I had begun to tear up. I was so happy for her and her family and for what they were all about to share with each other. And just moved by the power of God. And I'm sure that story, just like Sarah's, gave hope to some women in the congregation that have been asking God "why?"

For me it was an extremely powerful message. Hope is one of humanities strongest emotions and I've been encouraged to hope more.