Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone's holidays are going well. I have really been intending to write in my blog more, and so I had a lot of different things in mind to post. I would like to reflect on this past year. I think it is good to see all that has happened to us over the past year and we can focus more on how God has blessed us and helped us grow through our lives. I want to take this month by month as well as I can and talk about all that God has done for me this year.

2004

January started out great as Clint and I were able to make a trip to Germany and visit everyone here. We were able to go to the annual Chili cookoff at the church. It was really great and the fact that we were able to start the year out here in the place we would later be living and working for God was great. This month I also began my student teaching and was very scared and nervous about the whole thing. There was a lot of work to do and it kept me very busy, but overall God walked me through it and I had more confidence because I had Him in my life. During the school year, I studied German privately with Clyde Antwine. This was frustrating at times and very difficult to grasp all the concepts, but I am so thankful that God put Clyde and Gwen in my life to help guide me and give me help with my decisions to go to Germany. God is great! At the end of the month I was able to take part in one of my best friend's Senior Projects. April Stephens put on her Senior Project for her music degree and it was so great to be able to sing with her and two of my other best friends, Amy Bartee and Sarah Davis. God has blessed my life with wonderful Christian friends! In January was when the HIMers were officially introduced to the Memorial Road Church. This was so exciting to announce it to the whole church and to have so many people saying encouraging things about the program.

February started getting busier as I began to teach more and more. There were some stressful times, but God got me through them all. On the 14th, since it was Valentine's Day, my sweet boyfriend took me on a wonderful date to a great restaurant in OKC. It was the fanciest place I had ever been! I've said this many times before, and will say it many more times: I have the most amazing man in my life! Clint makes me feel special every day! Also in February, Clint and I were able to attend several meetings of a Marriage Matters seminar at Memorial Road. It was really great to go to and we are so thankful for the church's efforts to help people who are married get through the difficult parts and to make their marriages stronger. It gave us a lot of good things to think about for our future together. At the end of the month I had my Recital Hearing which was a very nerve-wracking thing. Basically I had to sing all of the pieces I wanted to sing for my final Recital, which I had to perform in order to graduate. Several of the music faculty attended and they critiqued me on how well I sang. If they don't think I am up to the standards, I would have to do it again when I practice more. Thankfully, although it was a stressful thing, God was with me and gave me strength and the ability to get through this and I was able to pass it!

March was full of many different activities and emotions as I was getting closer to graduating. I started out the month by helping a friend with wedding music. I recorded a song with Jason Engelke to give to my friend Kristi for her wedding. I love doing this kind of thing and have helped a couple of other friends with their wedding music as well. I love music and so anything I can do to help in that area is great! I feel this is a talent that God has given me so I want to share it with others and help others in any way that I can. The first week of March was also the last week at my first student teaching site, which meant I was teaching all day long in all of the classes. It was pretty busy, but God had really helped me be able to handle all the situations that came my way. I was also able to attend the musical that the kids were performing at the high school I taught at and it made me feel proud that I had been teaching them! It was a good feeling and made me remember why I wanted to be a teacher. I also experienced a very scary thing in March. The night Clint and I went to see Spring Sing at OC Clint drove me back to his house, where my car was. So I drove home by myself. It was about 11:00 at night but I had parked out in the dark and walked to my apartment by myself a million times so I didn't think anything about it. However, this particular evening I stepped out of my car and headed towards my apartment. Before I even reached the back side of my car I saw two guys out of the corner of my eye approaching me. Hoping they were only heading towards their own apartments I tried to ignore the nervous feeling I had in my stomach and tried to walk quickly away. The next thing I knew one of them yelled, "get her purse!" I looked over quickly just in time for the guy to grab on to my purse. At this point all I saw was a man with a white mask on his face. We immediately went into a struggle as I held on for dear life to my purse. I really am not sure why I did that, but it was out of instinct, I guess. I immediately also began screaming "no, no, no!!!" I am pretty sure everyone in that entire apartment complex could hear me. I think he got scared because I was screaming and just pushed me down and ran. He never got my purse and thankfully didn't do much damage to me besides some bruises on my hip where I fell down and some sore muscles from the struggle. I was so frightened, I just ran to my apartment and banged on the door, as I was crying. My roommate April let me in quickly and called 911. The police came quickly and I told them everything that happened. I don't believe they were ever able to find the man, especially since I didn't have a very good description of him. This was probably the scariest thing that ever happened to me. I am so blessed though that God was watching over me and made me have the instinct to scream and I know it was He who protected me from being harmed. On to better memories, I was able to attend a Mother/Daughter banquet with my mom and it was such a good time with her! I am blessed by God to have a wonderful family who are Christians. I had a very good friend of mine visit from Texas. Monica Witcher and her fiance at the time (now husband), Link Blevins, came and we were able to spend the day together. Neither one of us had ever met our boyfriends so it was great that Clint and I and Monica and Link could all get together. We also went to lunch with some other friends and it was a good time. Once again, God has blessed me with really great Christian friends. In March I also started at my second student teaching site, which was an Elementary School. I loved it a lot and had a really good experience there! God blessed me with a really great teacher that I got to work with named Marilyn Long! We have even been keeping in touch and it is great to have a friend out of that experience! The last weekend of March was my Senior Recital and I felt really good about my performance. I prayed so much that God would give me peace and joy as I tried to do the best I could with the talents He gave me and He answered my prayers! It was such a fun time which I was able to share with my family and friends!

April was great because it was the month that I graduated! It was also pretty full with getting everything finished up for school though so it still had it's stressful moments. We were able to have our Germany Retreat in April which is always a great time. The campaign group that goes every summer gets together to organize everything for the trip and do some rehearsal for the singing that we do. It is always a great time to bond and to get to know each other well so that we can work together the way God wants us to. I really enjoy the way we always talk about conversion stories and what God has done in our lives. It is a great weekend. The end of April was busy with teaching and getting all the assignments in before graduation. Thanks to God, He got me through it all and on April 30th I graduated! It was such a great feeling and I know that God helped me through it all!

May was busy with preparations to move to Germany. At the very beginning of the month I started to move out of my apartment and move everything back to my parent's house. This month was also packed of getting together with all my friends and all of Clint's friends before we left. It was great to get to spend some time with them before we left and also a little sad since we knew it would be a while before we could see them again. Also in May, I went to Ohio with Clint and was able to meet his family for the first time. I had met his mom once, but the rest of his family I had never met. It was a great trip and I was also able to meet some of his good friends there. Because of all the things that Clint had to do to get ready to move, I helped him a lot at his house getting things ready. Thankfully God was able to bless Him in finding someone to buy his house quickly and everything was taken care of! I would also like to add all the blessings that I received throughout the year from different churches and friends who helped support me for the HIM Program. It was amazing how it all came together so well. I know God had everything to do with that. The week before I left for Germany, my Papa had a heart attack. It was very scary and we rushed to Texas to be with him. He was in the hospital for a few days, but he was able to go home and recuperate. I know God was watching over him. Later that week, my parents and I were already planning on going to Texas to visit all my relatives to see them before I left and so I did and I am so grateful for the wonderful family that God blessed me with.

June was the beginning of my new adventures in Germany! On the 1st of June I was able to pull off a surprise birthday party for Clint in which I invited some of his good friends to come over to my parents' house for a barbecue. It was a good time and he was surprised! On the 2nd the shippers went over to Clint's house and packed up everything that he wanted to be shipped to Germany. His house was really empty after that! On the 3rd the entire campaign group flew from OKC and made it to Germany on the 4th. On the 5th, I unfortunately missed one of my best friend's weddings. Monica had asked me if I could be a bridesmaid, but because of all the Germany plans, I wasn't able to. I am still very honored that she asked me! Also in June, Clint and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary. To read about the German Campaign you can click on the link.

July was when the camaigners left Germany and I was able to settle into my apartment in Chemnitz. I know that God has led me to this point in my life and that this is where He wants me to be right now. I started doing my first LST lessons and Bible studies in July and it was a great start. I have made so many new friends and it has been a great experience. I also started meeting with the Cantrells and Clint regularly every morning to study God's word and pray. It was such a great time of fellowship. I'm so thankful to have Ed and Courtney as friends and mentors. Clint and I were also given a surprise "welcome to Germany" party. It was so fun and wonderful to have so many people who care about us there.

August was a continuation of getting settled in Chemnitz. During this month we really started to try to get the word out to former LST readers that we wanted to continue reading with them and so we started making calls and writing e-mails. We also tried to get more involved and have more activities with the 20-something and so we did more activities such as going to get ice cream and going out to eat after the mid-week Bible study. It was great to get more involved with people and to get to know them better. I tried to do some work on the church garden and get things looking nice there. In August, Clint's grandmother got very ill and passed away. He was able to fly to see her as quickly as he heard how badly she was doing and was able to see her before she passed away. This was definitely a prayer answered and I know he was so glad to be able to see her one last time. It was also good for him to be there with his family helping out in any way that he could. The Sullivans had also arrived back from the States and I was able to spend some more time with them. I was able to participate for the first time in the traditional Saturday morning pancakes. I go over there pretty much every Saturday morning and they make pancakes. It's a great time to get to talk and enjoy each other's company. God has also blessed me with more wonderful people with which to work in the church. Clint and I were also able to enroll in our first German class that began in September.

September is when my schedule went crazy! I started really trying to get everything taken care of for my visa. I also started to get more and more LST readers. The second week of September my German class started which was 8:30-11:45 am Monday through Friday. In the afternoons I always had readers. This is when I started to get a little stressed out and overwhelmed. I was able to participate in a women's retreat in Austria that lasted for an entire week in an incredibly beautiful place in the Alps! It was such a spiritual encouragement to meet Christian women from around Germany and Austria and it was a learning experience in association with German as well as spiritually.

October continued to be just as busy. I guess by now you can see a trend in my personal schedules. I tend to make myself really busy. I guess that is the way I have always been. I think I would be bored if I didn't have enough to do though. :) The Vienna studies group came to do some mission work with us. It was a great and encouraging weekend to see them. My parents were able to visit and we had a wonderful time getting to go see the sites in Chemnitz and Dresden. They were really glad to be able to see where I lived. I also had a two week Fall Break and didn't have to go to German class. German class was frustrating at times and at others I really enjoyed it and felt like I was learning a lot. I got to see Clyde Antwine who came to Dresden for a day! All the HIMers got to get together to talk to him. We had a good time.

November started to bring a little culture shock and homesickness. I was feeling a little down at times, but God has been with me this whole time and is getting me through this transition. There were times during this month that I felt really good about my German and I'm getting excited about how much I'm learning. We have been able to spend more time going to Dresden every now and then. We got to go to a fellowship singing at the beginning of the month and it was really good to see everyone. The guys went to Bulgaria for over a week. Ed, Larry, Clint, and Guido took two vans full of winter clothes for people who needed it in Bulgaria. They had a successful trip and very many interesting experiences. I was able to experience my first Christmas market and it was great! I took a wonderful communication seminar on Thanksgiving day and it was very informative and I think it will help me in my relationships and in the work here with the church. I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving with many Christians in Saxony. Thanks be to God for the brothers and sister that I have all over the world!

December has been a wonderful month so far and I know God will continue to look over me for the rest of the month as well as next year! I was able to sing and teach some songs at an English festival for a school and I got to know some cool people there. I got to celebrate Christmas in a little different way here this year and it was fun! On the 6th of December is called Nicolaus day and I got some little sweets from Nicolaus that day! Clint and I celebrated our 1 and 1/2 year anniversary by going to the Christmas Market together and I bought a beautiful Advent Star for my window. Ed, Clint and I went to another school and talked to the students about how we celebrate Christmas in the States. Then we were able to teach them and sing with them traditional Christmas songs. It was a lot of fun and we met some great people there as well. Clint and I were invited for dinner at my neighbor's house, Kathrin. I read LST with her and it was a great evening to get to know her family better. We had a great time there. We had a Christmas Coffee at the church and everyone got together and had coffee, cake, and we sang Christmas songs together. I had a Christmas party/Movie night with the 20-somethings group at church as well as other friends that I read with. Clint and I were invited to have coffee at Gisela's house. She is a really nice woman whom we met when we went to the school she teaches at during the summer. Clint and I were also invited to go to Seiffen, which is a Christmas town in the Erzgebirge area by my friend Jacqueline. It was a beautiful day and we had fun shopping for Christmas decorations and presents. We also celebrated with the Sullivans by having Fondue and opening presents. The best part of the day however, was when Clint decided to surprise me and propose! I am now engaged to them most wonderful man! Clint and I were also invited to celebrate Christmas with Ed and Courtney in Frankfurt at Courtney's parents house. Bill and Kay Weger were very kind to extend this invitation and we had a wonderful time with them. We also got to go to the American Military base there and got to have some good American food (Taco Bell) and shop for some American products. It was a great week to get to spend with them all. This week is going to be great as we will get to spend New Years with the church members.

Whew... well that was my year and I am very confident to say that God has directed and protected and guided me this year. I know that if I continue to have faith in Him and try to do what He wants me to He will continue to do those things for me in 2005 and for the rest of my life! I pray that God does the same for you and that you always lean on Him!