Mosaic Weekend Retreat

November 11-12, 2007

This was our weekend retreat with Mosaic, the church plant we are helping with outside of BFA. To get to know each other a little better, we headed to Adelboden, Switzerland for a retreat. We stayed at the Janz Team Mission Chalet, located in the mountains. Absolutely beautiful. This particular weekend, snow was in the forcast, and their first snow for the season...what a blessing! We just relaxed by playing cards, eating, watching a movie, more eating, and then more eating. Oh yeah, and a huge snowball fight, which was so much fun for this Louisiana girl! I can think of only 3 times in my life seeing this much snow.

There was a couple coming later that evening, so we had to shovel snow for them to be able to use the driveway. Another thing I have never done before. It was hilarious to watch all of us shoveling snow.....the irony of it is that all of us involved in Mosaic are from the south part of the world: Ghana, Africa; Australia, Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. We have one German lady, Ilona, but she was a missionary in Indonesia for 13 years. God has a funny sense of humor, how we are come together in Germany to worship our Living God.

Before leaving Sunday, we had a intimate worship service sharing our hearts and vision for the church. A great time spent with new friends. Another way God blesses us! Oh yeah, we had to get one more snowball fight in before leaving.

More Pictures from Herbst Messe

Herbst Messe is still taking place in Basel, Switzerland. It is a 2 week festival, and students attend October 31 (written about earlier in the blog). Here are some more pictures from the night all the students went to the festival.

Spirit Day

November 8, 2007

Every so often, the Student Council at BFA will have a spirit day at the school. It could be any random day. So last Thursday, was claimed "Hat Day". Every one could wear any type of hat, including teachers. Since it is a school rule that hats are not allowed, students have fun with this day, because they could wear hats without any consequences. Of course, being that our students are quite creative, they wore all types of different hats. It was another fun day for the students and staff. The pictures are from my English classes. I forgot to take one of myself wearing a hat :)

Northern Ireland Friends

November 2, 2007

Nicola and Ian are two friends of ours from Northern Ireland, and they came for a visit to see us this weekend. They met us in Kandern yesterday, and we showed them around a little, and then had a late lunch at Funfshillings. By the way, Funfshillings was once a farmhouse and now turned into a fabulous restaurant, serving food fresh from the farm, and whatever is in season is what is on the menu.....so pumpkin is used for a lot of the dishes right now. The pumpkin soup is heavenly! I have never had anything like it before.

After lunch, we sponatanously decided to take them to Todtnau to ride the rodelbahn down the mountain. On the way, we caught up on different things going on in our lives. It was such a lovely time. Once we got there, we could tell they were closed for the day. They were just shutting it down, so I asked if they could please let us have one ride down...I explained to them we have friends visiting us from Northern Ireland, but that didn't work. Oh well, we found a quaint cafe and enjoyed more conversation over coffee and Black Forest Cake!

On the way back to Kandern, we stopped by Wittlengen dorm, so Nicola and Ian could see what dorm life was like. They got to meet some of my students and tour the dorm. Then we headed to the school to show them around...not knowing that it was Swing Dance night for the students. Of course we had to dance a few songs before heading back home. Nicola and Ian stayed until midnight. We shared old pictures from our former Northern Ireland trips. It was so nice to catch up with them. We found it humerous that Americans were showing Irish friends around in Germany. How wild is that!

Weeks like this remind us of how great God is and how faithful He is in providing in our lives. God is good!

All Saints Day

November 1, 2007

So this is a holiday around here. We didn't have school, and the town was completely shut down. Nolan and I were forced to stay in and relax. We caught up on sleep and reading, and just spending time together. We thought maybe some things in France would be open, but after driving to Carrfoure (France's version of Wal-Mart), we realized they were shut down too. Oh well, it was a beautiful drive anyway. So that evening, we discovered that the Roman baths in Badenweiler were open. 2 other couples and us spent the evening at these baths. It is basically indoor swimming pools with heated water. Other sections of this "spa" had saunas and massage rooms, but we only paid to swim in the pools. I found the warmest pool and stayed there, being that it was extremely cold this particular day. We stayed almost 3 hours, and we were like prunes. But our muscles were so relaxed and that we fell into bed that night and slept like babies. We will be doing that again! Maybe I will brave the outdoor pool, which is heated but still not so warm, and enjoy the outdoor scenery as I swim. It was just too cold for me!

BFA Tradition

October 31, 2007

Fall and Halloween are a big deal in Germany...or at least in this part of Germany. Wednesday after school students and staff loaded up in buses and headed down to Basel, Switzerland for HerbstMesse....translates literally to Fall Festival. This is a tradition for BFA, and I have been hearing about it all month. Once we are in Basel, they let the students loose in the city. All around the city they have rides, games, and concession stands set up. But the most popular activity for students and staff is going to Starbucks, being that this is the closest Starbucks for us, and it is a treat. I think all 300 BFA staff and students were at one of the 4 Starbucks that evening. But by 7:30, everyone heads to the bumper cars. Students go crazy riding the bumper cars...and staff too! I had to make a go of it, but was riding with a mother of one of my students. She is the one driving, and I was giving directions for her to bump all of my students who were out there, and of course the students were doing the same to me! It was a blast. For 2 hours students rode these bumper cars. I felt sorry for the Swiss because we basically took over this section of the festival. After an hour of watching, and dizzy with headache, Nolan and I headed back to Starbucks...couldn't get enough of "home". By chance, a whole group of BFA teachers were at the same Starbucks, and we all sat there visiting until 11:00 that night. These are good memories Nolan and I will forever remember about our time here at BFA.

Hiking and So Much More!

October 28, 2007

Well, it starts with Sunday October 28. Nolan and I had a lovely time fellowshipping with new friends at our morning church, G-5. Then that afternoon, we went for a hike right behind our house. These are pics from that hike. It is so beautiful with all the leaves changing colors. How could someone not believe there is a God when you see such beautiful creation....that God could only create. We have an awesome God!