The Beginning

Storch! My room is the very top left window

It has been 10 days since I last posted. My apologies, seeing as there is much to tell! But seriously...so much going on! I'm currently sitting on the floor in my room...and my room is in my dorm...and my dorm issssssss.....Storchenblick!! Storch for short. It actually means “view of the storks,” which makes sense because there are lots of storks in this town. There is actually a stork sanctuary right down the road from us! The church across the street has storks living on it's clock tower (which chimes every 15 minutes). I'll let you know if I see lots of babies around town. (I actually learned the story behind that whole myth...will share at a later date!) The village Storch is in is called Holzen, located about 5km from BFA's main campus in Kandern. It's just gorgeous here! I've included a couple photos, but I'll be posting most on facebook, so if you'd like to see them make sure to check out the albums I post on there!

Callie, Me, Stacey, & Steve

Us RA's were assigned to our dorms last Thursday, and then everyone moved to their respective new homes on Sunday. We were actually all staying at Storch for the first week, so I didn't have to move far! I just now finished painting my room, so I have yet to move my stuff up and arrange furniture. Ikea trip on Saturday! One other exciting piece of news about dorm placement is the people I am working with. The dorm parents here at Storch are Steve and Stacey Babich, and I'm excited to get to know them better! This is their second year here, so we've been learning a lot from them about how things work around here and the girls that will be arriving in a week for the school year. Grateful to have some experienced people to help figure all this out! They've been very welcoming, and I'm happy to get to work with them. The other RA in Storch is a wonderful young woman by the name of Callie Buchholz...who happened to graduate from JBU as well! (There is another RA from JBU, too...as well as other dorm parents...and BFA staff...represent!! Didn't know any of them before though.) Callie and I are learning all the ins and outs together, and I'm grateful that she's around to go through this experience with me! Excited to see all God will be doing in our dorm over the next 2 years, and how He will build us up as a team!

Lovely view from a local mountain, Hochblauen

The last couple weeks have been just packed full of all sorts of things. We've had German language classes, All New Staff Orientation, Res. Life meetings/training, learning how to drive here and where things are (including school campuses, dorms, hospital, orthodontist, doctors' offices, grocery stores, gas station, etc.), mission dinners, dorm chores and cooking, room painting, etc etc. And all of this is taking place in a country where I don't speak the language (you should have seen me try to buy paint for my room using the few words I know and lots of hand motions with English all in the mix...haha), where customs and rules are different, the food is different, even the toilets are different. This is all good, and I'm so glad that I get to experience this! But I AM on information overload and quite tired. Fortunately I really didn't have much trouble getting over jet-lag, so that's a big praise! I just ask that you pray that I would be as prepared as possible, including energy-wise, for when the girls arrive. By the way, I've had several of them friend me on facebook and saying that they're excited to come and meet us newbies. I'm so excited for them to come, too!!! Really looking forward to starting to develop relationships with these girls. I will definitely be keeping you all up to date on how it goes! Prayers appreciated!

On the Rhein in Basel, Switzerland

So next week is All Staff Orientation, and more Res. Life training, so we'll continue to stay busy! Students start arriving on Sept. 2, and then we're off! As in starting a race, not going on vacation haha. There are tons of details that I could get into, but it's after 11:00pm here and I've been going at it all day today, so I think I'll hold off for now, and hopefully I'll get another post in soon with more details! I would love to hear from you, so feel free to email me or message me on facebook!

I Chronicles 16:28

Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.