Catching Up

Hi friends! I have to appologize for not keeping any of you well informed about my life since moving to BFA. It has been a crazy several weeks of my life and I feel like I am just now settling in and it is feeling like home. I love it here and I adore the girls that I get to serve every day. But before I tell you about them I want to catch you up on what the last 7 weeks have looked like. And pictures are still the best way for me to communicate so here it goes...

As support raising often goes it was down to the wire. One day I was at 70% and the next I was at 93% - on the phone with my mission and getting the "go ahead!" My "See you later" party was a special time to give final hugs and I only shed a few tears.

I flew out of Seattle on the 7th and it was way harder then I expected. I thought that after two years of waiting, praying and anticipation I would be ready, but nothing could have prepared me for the tears that came in the security check line. I had never received sympathy from a security guard until that morning.

BUT I hopped on my flight to Germany and slept most of the way. Got there safely and met up with a friend who joined me for the last leg of the trip to Kandern. We were picked up after our last flight in Basel Switzerland and driven in our post-flight-haziness to Kandern. I had a few days to recover from jetlag and get to know the other RAs as they arrived for orientation. This picture is from a castle that we hiked to on one of the first days. I miss summer already.

This is Kandern's main road that runs through town. Isn't it so cute?!

After two weeks of orientating ourselves and getting to know the other RAs and dorm parents there were decisions to be made. God was so good and put together a wonderful team for the Blauen Dorm. This is my staff on one of our first outing together.

Sally (DP), me, Megan (RA), and Butch (DP)

We did a lot during the 3 weeks of orientation. There were countless meetings and trainings on language, culture, student wellness and care, dorm life, how to work as a team, driving training, and the list goes on...but one day we got to go on a picnic to the Rhine. Ya know...no biggie.

 Behind us is our lovely little dorm. Blauen is located about 15 minutes from school, "Up on the mountain." I love it up here! Its so beautiful and the fact that it is a ways from the school really makes it feel like a home.

So, we set out the flowers....

Baked the treats...

 And then the girls came!!! There are 14 lovely ladies in our house and I just love them all.

Here is a funny movie we made to "prepare" them for the rules. Du du dun!

Life in Kandern and at BFA is never boring. Germany has lots of fun holidays and festivels. The picture below was taken at Budenfest the week after students arrived. The girls got a little money for lunch and then were set loose in pairs. This was a little break for me to spend some time with some of my new friends, Emily and Sarah.

Remember how I said nothing is ever boring? Well this is a perfect example. This is at the Fall Party were the theme was "Through the Decades". As you can tell I am fully embracing the oddities of youth ministry.

But there is a sense of normal life in this job. There are always sports events, practices, clubs, sleep overs, and shopping trips to drive to. I try to take every one of these as a chance to invest in relationship with these girls.

And then there is some extra fun too. All res-life staff only get one day off a week. For RAs that is on Monday and Dorm parents are off on Thursdays. This is much needed time, but BFA also gives us a few weekends off a semester. Since we happen to live in such a central location four of us decided to take a little trip down to Italy. We spent a wonderful time relaxing, sightseeing, processing, cooking and sleeping. Those four days were the perfect rejuvenation that I needed to go back to the crazy life that I love so much.

If you made it this far and are still reading you are amazing! Thank you for your prayers and I will try and give more regular updates. If you want to be on my monthly update list please email me at larisawmissions@gmail.com and I'll put you on the list.