Mistaken

Great song!

Mistaken by Warren Barfield

I shouldn't have to tell you who I am
Cause who I am should be speaking for itself
Cause if I am who I, I want to be
Then who you see won't even be me
Oh the more and more I disappear
The more and more He becomes clear

CHORUS:
Til everyone I talk to hears His voice
And everything I touch feels the warmth of His hand
Til everyone I meet
Sees Jesus in me
This is all I wanna be
I wanna be mistaken
For Jesus
Oh I wanna be mistaken

Do they only see who we are
When who we are should be pointing them to Christ
Cause we are who He chose to use
To spread the news
Of the way the truth and the life
Oh I want all I am to die
So all He is can come alive

Til everyone I talk to hears His voice
And everything I touch feels the warmth of His hand
Til everyone I meet
Sees Jesus in me
This is all I wanna be
I wanna be mistaken
For Jesus
Oh I wanna be
Oh I need to be mistaken
For You
Lord i wanna be mistaken
Mistaken

BRIDGE:
May He touch with my hands
See through my eyes
May He speak through my lips
Live through my life

I want Him to
I want Him to live

This is what the desire of every Christian's heart should be. One of the speakers here said it like this. "If you ask Jesus into your heart you don't have to live for Him, You DON'T have to live for Him. Just let Him live through you." How much better this life would be if we would give ourselves completely over to Christ. If we would remember that we ourselves are dead, but alive only in Christ. That any persecution we might receive is actually directed at Christ and we don't have to deal with it on our own, but Christ will strengthen us for it. It has been a great week here and it sounds like this group has really been encouraged and challenged in their faith. That's all for now.

Everyday Life..

Some everyday life pics..as promised. This is supper clean up. My night off. :)


Grace enjoying her work and brightening everyone's life. :)


Mario and Niffy (short for Jennifer) posing for the camera in the midst of cleaning the dining rooms.


Heidi, our housekeeper, helping out in the kitchen.


Elizabeth, our cute little Dutch speaker. (She's actually German, but she told me last night that she will never speak German again. She loves Dutch too much. :)

We tend to have a lot of fun in the kitchen. Lots of crazy people. Well..today is my day off and so far I have accomplished..nothing. I got up at a reasonable time (9:30) and then just puttered around. Played a bit of piano. I am slowly figuring out how to play with chords. :) We had a great lunch today. Cucumber Salad, Chili, and biscuits with fruited yogurt for dessert. I guess I played piano for longer than I thought! It's already almost 4:00. Oh well. Not much else to say. ttyl

Just for Sherry. :)

Quick Prayer Request..

Dad is flying to Haiti today. He's training pastors and leaders there. Pray for safety in travel and no complications. Also that he would find the right words as he will be speaking a lot of French. Thanx guys!

Continuing on the Same Servant Theme

More rain today. :( I think it did manage to give us some powder up on the mountains, but who knows how long that'll last with how warm it is. So..God brought us another fun group of people. The Dutch people. :) What a weird language. It makes my throat hurt just listening to it. They use a lot of throaty noises. I can't even try to pronounce some things. German is actually easier in comparison. I tried to introduce myself to the group in Dutch, but had to break down in the middle and just admit that I'm Canadian. :) So..I am still stuck on servanthood. Can't get away from it here. It's really good! It's also awesome that all of us kitchen/house girls can get together to pray every morning and get our minds and hearts straight for the day. It's great to be able to lift others up in prayer and just chat and make sure everyone is doing well. I am really enjoying the epistles lately and so the passage of scripture I have been thinking on today is Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.
Also Romans 6:13-14
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master because you are not under law, but under grace.

So, obviously I have been offering my body lately in service. And I have been feeling it too. :) Still it wouldn't be sacrificial if my mind and heart were not in the right place. Too often I find myself grumbling and complaining to myself and focusing on the bad instead of the good. I constantly have to remind myself of why I am here. To serve God..to further His kingdom. Yeah..so..I make food and clean toilets, big deal right? Still..everyone has to eat etc. If I am doing this with a good attitude and even only come in contact with the other kitchen girls I can still make their lives a little happier. I am so thankful to God that he has given me this opportunity and time to be drawn back closer to Him! I have a lot more time on my hands here in the afternoons and evenings. I keep being drawn back to His Word and other good books that are challenging me (though sometimes the only challenge is to stay awake. :) Anyway..not much else new here..I may post some pics or something tomorrow or the next day. Adios

Devos..

So..this morning I shared a devotion. Basically it feels like getting up in front of everyone in church. I shared a bit of a testimony. This camp has been a bit tough spiritually. Most of the students aren't Christians and so it's a little hard to know where to begin with them for devotionals and bible studies. Two nights ago Sigi shared a bible study. He pretended to be a Jewish man living just after Jesus died. He came in all dressed in Jewish clothes and told the story of Jesus Christ from a Jewish unbeliever's perspective. It was really good! This week has been fun. The Norwegian language is so cool, but it would be scary to try to learn it! It's a weird mix of languages. It often sounds french but with a few German sounding words mixed in with an almost oriental accent. Strange. It has been great to be able to speak English more often though. The flu has been going around here. It seems to be a fairly nasty strain too. Mixed with a bad cold. My roommate was sick and still isn't doing so great. I really am praying that I don't get sick again. Having one cold is bad enough. :) This week has also been filled with injuries. The Norwegians are crazy!! One guy tried a jump and caught an edge and ended flipping and landing on his back. They had to call in a helicopter. He fractured a vertebrae in his spine and had a lot of pain and couldn't move his legs. They kept him in the hospital for a couple of days, but apparently he can still walk and stuff on his own as long as he doesn't lift anything and rests a lot. He came back today. Another girl had a run in with a Polish skier and ripped his forehead open with her helmet and strained her knee. Eis, one of our ski instructors, snapped cartilige in his knee and tore a tendon. He had surgery yesterday and will be in the hospital till Sunday. I'm thinking that not having a ski pass or the ability to ski is a good thing. I really don't want to be injured. A lot of the injuries are ones that will never be completely ok again. Knees take years to heal properly and not to mention spines. Also a lot of sprained ankles. Crazy! I'll stick to running for now. :) I went running again on Tuesday and was able to keep myself going for almost a full hour. Running up and down stairs and pushing vacuum cleaners and mops must be helping. I have never had that kind of endurance before. I have been going to bed early. 9:30-10:00 usually. I got my hair cut yesterday. Rebecca, one of the kitchen girls and also a Canadian, cut it for me. She did a really good job! I think she's a keeper. I'm trying to convince her to move home with me. :) Anywhoo..that's all that's new right now. I'll try to take a few pics of everyday life here. ttyl

New Camp..New Language

We have a new group here. They're Norwegians. They spent 48 hours in 2 buses to come here. Crazy!! They got in at 3 am and boy were they ever loud. They decided to explore upstairs and just came into our room in the middle of the night. Weird. Apparently the whole privacy and modesty factor isn't as big a deal to them. It's really nice that I don't have to listen to German as much this week though. Only English. I have to do a devo on Thursday so I am excited that I don't have to have it translated. So far..other than the middle of the night thing..the group seems to be really fun and nice. Today I had half of the day off and spent most of the time just relaxing and reading. I am reading a book called "If You Want to Walk on Water You Have to Get Out of the Boat" and I am also reading "Kingdom of the Cults". Really good!! It is great to be able to keep my English. I find myself dumbing down my English to be able to communicate and I lose half of my vocabulary. Last night before the Norwegians came, we had a small staff get together with about 10 people. We made sushi and had homemade personal size fruit pizzas (made by myself with two other girls). Such fun!! I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually like sushi. After that we hung out and goofed off for a while. I showed off my arm wrestling skills and Hilde showed off her wrestling skills and took down Grace a couple of times. Rebecca and Ilona and Nif showed off they're line dancing skills. Crazy people! Afterwards we went and watched Ice Age 2. Funny movie and we were all super tired so it was even more funny. Finally went to bed at 12:00 am. Anyway..here's a great encouraging passage of scripture I read today
Philippians 2:4-11
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And a song that just popped up on my playlist as I was typing...

The Face of Love by Sanctus Real
IÂ’ve seen your face on stained glass, in colored lights
In pictures of you looking to the sky
YouÂ’ve been portrayed a thousand different ways
But my heart can see you better than my eyes
‘Cause it’s love that paints the portrait of your life

The face of love
The face of love
You look more like love everyday

IÂ’ve read your words in the pages of your life
And IÂ’ve imagined what you were like
I may not know the shape of your face
But I can feel your heart changing mine
And your love still proves that youÂ’re alive

The face of love
The face of love
You look more like love everyday

You are the face that changed the whole world
No one too lost for you love
No one too low for you to serve
So give us the grace to change the world
No one too lost for me to love
No one too low for me to serve
Let us see... Let us be your face

I have really had servanthood and a humble attitude on my heart lately. It's kinda hard not be feel humbled when you clean up other people's messes all the time. :) But it is more than that, it's having joy in the midst of doing that. Smiling when people hand you cutlery covered in slime and ketchup. Laughing when someone accidently spills leftover food all over your hands. Funny story...One of the guys, who is a ski instructor here, decided to help put the cutlery into the trays for the dishwasher. The whole time he did it he was mumbling under his breath "Nasty!". I couldn't help laughing at him especially since he has a really fun accent. Australian. So many people here from different countries. Norway, Holland, Germany, Australia, Canada, Austria, US and I'm sure there are more. :) I've gotta hit the sack. Ciao!

Back Online..

So..the Internet wasn't working for awhile. Life has been business as usual here. We had a bit of a break this past weekend between camps. We have another group here which is more than half children from ages 5-18. Crazy!! It is loud! I had my day off yesterday and was able to go running with a girl who lives here in Schladming. She doesn't work at Tauernhof, but she did a few months back and I met her at a lecture. We ran up the Talbach trail. Yes..literally up. I am feeling my lower back and my thighs today! Definitely felt good to go running though. And it is so much fun to be able to run along a river and hear the water the whole time. We set a pretty slow pace and were able to run for a full half hour without stops. Quite a feat for me, I haven't actually done any decent running for a few months. I guess running up and down 5 flights of stairs in the house did help though ;). I am working in the kitchen for this camp and the next. I made chocolate chip cookies my first day. It was great to have a bit of junk food! Today I chopped chocolate for sweet Croissants (sorry mom..the pastry is bought) and I peeled carrots like I was in the Navy. :) Great fun!! Luckily we have latex gloves otherwise my hands would still be orange. We had chicken and potatoes for lunch. Yummy! The potatoes here seem to taste so much better! Sweeter or something. Better flavor, or maybe I am always just starving here. Yes..unfortunately I have lost weight...again. :( I'm trying to eat more, but there is so much bread and carbs that I just burn it off right away. I need to drink more milk and eat more cheese and meat. Speaking of food..my stomach is grumbling. I think I'm going up to the Bistro for a cup of Hot Chocolate and biscotti. Hope you are all doing well!!

Humbleness

So..being in a new country where you don't know the language, and starting a new job, and learning a lot of stuff all at once can be a very humbling experience. Many of you know that when I came here I was seniority at the Credit Union and most people would have to ask me questions. Now I'm in a position where I don't know where anything is and there is a language barrier. I'm just a crazy foreigner that doesn't know anything here. :) I figure that I might as well make the most of being the bottom rung. :) I admit that I have always had a bit of a pride issue. I hate being in awkward situations and feeling stupid. I hate to admit that I'm wrong and I usually try to make myself appear better than I am. Lately God has been breaking me down. I constantly feel a bit dumb here when I can't make myself understood. I always have to ask questions about where things are and where things go. I am learning a lot of things about the work here and I am learning how to operate an espresso machine. On the way here I had to ask a lot of questions that seemed dumb. Where do I get on the train? Can you help me with my bags? Where is a good hotel? Is this the right bus stop? How does this phone work? It's embarrassing to be so needy. But I guess it's natural to ask questions when you don't know something. So God has been breaking down my pride. It is impossible to live here without being humble. I clean toilets and showers for goodness sake!! It has really been good for me.

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble
Daniel 4:37

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:4

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:8 The Ultimate Example of Humility!!

I'm thankful to God for another opportunity to be humble and experience new things. I have been pushed so far out of my comfort zone in so many ways already!! What a blessing. Here's a new challenge now..I have to give 4 devotionals out loud in front of 100 people who speak German. No, I am not going to learn them in German. I do need to have a translator though. Scary!! Anyway..keep praying for me. I'm sure God has a lot of lessons for me to learn yet.

My Living Quarters/Sty :)

Actually, as you can see, I have a very nice room. It is small though, and a sock on the floor could become overwhelming. :)


This is looking into the room from the door. My bed is on the right. What a neat freak. :) Mom, have you been able to find a place for all of my junk at home?


This is looking towards the door. Just outside our door on the right is the staff shower. Literally just a shower stall in the open with a glass door and a curtain. Could be awkward. :) On the right behind the wardrobe, which holds all of our clothes, is where our shoes and jackets are. On the left is the desk with shelves for all our cosmetic paraphernalia etc. Under the desk is our radiator, Above the Desk is our window. Basically a heating/cooling unit in one. ;) Straight ahead is the sink with a mirror and our lovely red backsplash. So fun!! My roommate's name is Christy, and she's a very nice girl. :) We both crash into bed at the end of a day and so I don't know her very well yet. It's good for me to have a limited space for my stuff. I have to keep it neat or else I get frustrated with it. I don't have much flat space to leave stuff on. Christy has given herself a concussion on the slanted ceiling and so I am extremely careful when I crawl into bed in the dark. Picture me crawling on the floor. :) Just bumping my head wouldn't be so bad, but there are nails poking through as well. Anywhoo..my apartment back home is going to feel like a mansion when I get back!!

Thought for the Day

I'm going to have to lead devotions for 4 different camps in the next few months and so I thought I should get some practice and start writing a few thoughts down.

Truth...God's Word is truth. Absolute truth. Infallible Truth.
The Bible is not something that we can pick and choose what we want to believe, or say that it is not applicable now. God doesn't change. This is a big subject, but all the passages that I have flipped through seem to be screaming "TRUTH" at me. I can't get away from it. :)

2 Timothy 2:14-15
Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one appoved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of TRUTH.

Correctly handling God's word is of utmost importance. I almost cringe as I write this, because I know that at times I speak before I think or know things. We are responsible before God to represent him truthfully and use his Word to correctly teach others.

2 Timothy 3:14-17
Bus as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation throught faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking,correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We all too easily fall away from truth. We hear something that sounds "better" or "more interesting" or "exciting" and fail to make sure that it agrees with God's Word. Acts 17:11 says, "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." We need to be careful what we accept as truth. We are very easily deceived.

Galatians 3:1-5
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you! Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing - if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard?

Paul is correcting the Galatians who were beginning to believe that they needed to fulfill the Jewish law in order to be saved. Paul reminds them of the truth that they received from the first. Jesus Christ was crucified. They received the Spirit by believing on Jesus Christ as Savior, not because they started fulfilling the Jewish law.
One of the most important things you have to know before reading the bible is "Read it the way God wrote it and not the way you see it through your own experience." When God used the Holy Spirit to guide the writers hands He had only one meaning in mind for each thing written. We are not to distort scripture so that it fits with our lives. Reading within context and understanding within that context is paramount. I feel like I'm writing a lecture..I'm just going to stop right now and yeah..forgive me for running on. I'm having a hard time writing in the English language and getting my thoughts clear.

God is So Good!!!

So..like every New Year's I spent some time reflecting on the past and praying for the future. Last night we had a lecture by Eis about giving up the garbage in our life and letting God be glorified through our weakness. Understanding German is getting easier and easier. After Eis spoke there was a sharing time. About 4-5 people shared what God has been doing in their lives this past year. I was able to sit next to a girl named Andrea and she shared a bit about her life with me after the service. What an amazing wonderful God we have. He gives us so many blessings. Andrea became a Christian 2 years ago and since then she gave up her life's work in physiotherapy and has been travelling where God wants her. She spent some time in Sweden at Holsby and some time here at Tauernhof and is currently working as a nanny in Schladming for a non-Christian family. She was a student here and God continually provided for her as she was unemployed and was unable to pay for schooling and missions on her own. She shared with me that people she didn't even really know, were giving her money. Now as a nanny, she has an amazing opportunity to reach out to the family she is working for. Also I was talking with another person about life and he shared that 2 years ago he was in Holland while going to Bible School and that New Year's Eve he got drunk and was put in prison. Now he is working here as staff and is engaged to a lovely Christian girl. God sure does know how to stretch a person and how to get their attention. He did that to me on my trip over here. First I was stuck in the Airport in Winnipeg for 4 hours longer than I should have been. This caused me to miss all of my connection flights. I had never travelled abroad before, never been on a jet, never been on a transit bus, never been on a train. After many hours of waiting in Airports I got to Salzburg, where I was supposed to board a train to Schladming. It was 7:30 in the evening and I had to wait for a bus to bring me to the hauptbahnhof. I didn't speak any German and I was hauling two suitcases and a backpack around weighing up to 110 lbs. God sent someone along to help me get my luggage on the bus and off the bus. Then I walked into the trainstation which was by this time deserted. It was 8:30 in the evening. I had no idea where to go or whether there were any trains still going to Schladming. I walked up and down too many flights of stairs to count. All of the Elevators were out of order. I think my arms literally stretched a foot. :) I finally wandered into an area with payphones and was able to call Eis and Maja. All the staff here had been expecting me in the early afternoon that day and Maja had been to the trainstation 3 times already. They were having a Christmas party and they told me to find a hotel room in Salzburg and come the next day. They didn't know the city well enough to tell me which hotel though. This brought me to the next problem. All through this time I was unable to call mom and dad since I didn't have a calling card. I was in Salzburg more than 8 hours later than expected. So..now to find a hotel. After walking up and down a few more staircases I found a ticket master's area. I was able to ask for help to find a hotel room. At first they weren't really interested in helping me, but I explained the situation to them (almost in tears) and they finally realized that I was desperate. They gave me the name and directions for a hotel a couple minutes walk away from the trainstation. All through this time I was praying like crazy and feeling a bit panicked. I wasn't going to spend the night in the trainstation!! So I took the directions and started walking down the street hauling my huge bags after me and walked for a long time before I realized that they had given me backwards directions. They gave them to me as if they were facing the opposite way. So I turned around and asked someone on the street for directions to Elizabeth Strasse which the hotel was on. I finally found it, but it was crazy. It felt like I was just walking aimlessly in a guessed direction and all of a sudden it appeared in front of me. So..I was at the door, but I couldn't get inside. The door was a foot and a half step up and it swung inward so I couldn't heft my suitcases and open the door at the same time. Luckily the Reception person heard me trying and came to help me. I got a room and took a shower and fell into bed. I slept for 3 hours before waking up, sick to my stomach from something I had eaten on the plane. I couldn't go back to sleep, since I was jet lagged. That was when I truly took some time to cry out to God. I was still feeling anxious about the rest of the trip the next day, and I was hungry, and I didn't have any idea what I was doing here anyway!! I just really wanted to go home! I read some of the Psalms. I can't remember which ones, but they were about being distressed and God defeating our enemies. I realized at that point that I had been trying to do it on my own and it obviously wasn't working. I thought back through the hours of travel and thought of all the people that God had put in my way to help me. I felt so needy and truly humbled by this. I told God that it was in his hands to get me safely to Tauernhof. After wrestling in prayer for a while, I finally felt at peace enough to go to sleep again. The next morning I got ready and went back to the train station. The same ticket master who helped me the night before had told me to come back to him in the morning and he would help me get a ticket and get me on the right train. Another angel in disguise!! :) I was sent to my platform and I ate the apples that the Reception person had given me at the hotel (it was too early for breakfast and he insisted on giving me something to eat). I wasn't too sure how to go about getting on the train. I finally walked to where some people were standing and asked some guy (totally a twin of Dan Macloskie) to help me with my baggage. He loaded it up for me and I sat down and waited for the train to start moving. This was my favorite part of the whole trip. I had a direct train and didn't have to switch anywhere, so I was able to just relax and enjoy the gorgeous scenery. Wow!! was it gorgeous! All the while I was just praising God for getting me so far. I got to Schladming and asked another guy to help me get my baggage off the train (why aren't guys more gentlemanly at home?) Then I was at the trainstation and no one knew that I was there. I had to buy a phone card and use it to call Tauernhof for someone to come pick me up. My first day here is just a blur. I know I helped with cleaning, but I really can't remember much other than falling into bed that night. (craving a cheeseburger and fries) :) So God has brought me through and he is still showing me how powerless I am and how much help I truly need all the time. :) Pray for me as I continue to learn the language here and as I serve through cleaning and cooking. I want to be gracious and humble. What a hard lesson!

'For we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not in despair' 2 Corinthians 4:8