To be in: GERMANY

            There are good and bad things about being in a different country, or even Europe. I can country hop whenever I want, and I can be independent on my own.  I can make my own decisions, and focus on my life over here and not on all the troubles of home. I can make my own opinions on life, and decide when I’m going to bed. I can choose my friends here, and they will know me for who I am at this very moment and not have any view of prior judgment from the past. It is a glorious life to be in Germany on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, but still sometimes I feel distraught and held back from reality.

            I have to grow up, be my own mom. I have to make drastic and tough decisions on my own without the council of a parent. And my friends aren’t the same as they always have been, and they don’t know or understand me the way the ones at home do. Two months can happen, or even one month can pass and drastic things can change. My best friend could get engaged in a month, or the United States could be threatened by a terrorist attack. It sometimes feels as if I’m living in my own little DTS bubble, but for the most part I feel like I lived in my American tent my whole life.

            It seems as if people are afraid to utter the word “injustice” or “poverty. Its as if it is a taboo word, not to be mentioned. But we have lecture after lecture about the tragedies in the world. It’s in our face every day, and we can’t possibly ignore it. I now feel like the one with open eyes, open eyes aware to the unthinkable. Yes, I may not be apart of the social network of the States, but ready to embrace the dark so that I can illuminate the sun. The Son.

            

Not for Sale

November 23, 2010

I remember when I was younger and my siblings and I used to playfully put on stickers with prices on them from yard sales and joke about how much we were worth. It’s a fun game to play when you’re a child, but it’s actually a cruel reality that I discovered. I went to a “Not for Sale” conference with my DTS last weekend.  Not for Sale is an organization that makes people aware of human trafficking and slavery in the world. One of the horrific numbers that I learned about slavery in the world is 27 million people to be exact. That 27 million includes child slave labor and forced prostitution with women and children.

            The third and last day of the conference we had a speaker who was giving an overview of everything we learned. To prove a point, he asked for an 18-year-old girl to stand up. As I looked curiously around the room to see if anyone would stand up, I felt a pang in my heart. All of a sudden I somehow was on my feet with hundreds of people staring at me. The speaker asked the crowd a question, “How much is she worth?”

 I pondered the question in my head. My worth? Can someone truly stamp a price on my forehead? He answered the question, 3:25$. How can that be true? How can it possibly be determined? My heart broke; this was the standard price the world has bestowed on a woman’s body.

Jeremiah 1:5 “ I knew you before I knit you in your mothers womb. Before you were born, I set you apart.”

            If we were not made with worth, why would God take time to form us? To set us apart? We were made for a plan, a purpose, and a future. We were not just tossed into the world broken and without a purpose. God strategically designed us to be beautiful, captivating, and exquisite. God saw our full potential, our special part in the world. Life in the States is so easy to ignore this kind of stuff because it feels like another countries problem, but it’s actually in your back yard.  Just look up “Slaverymap.org”. Check out your state, even your city. I’m sure you will be shocked. For me, it seems like a never-ending shock in my DTS.

            I know with all of my heart that God frowns over injustice, His heart is constantly breaking over it. It seems as if God is breaking my heart every day here, but I don’t want it to just break. I want it to break for a purpose, I want it to break for a change.

Here are some pictures from Hamburg...

           

To: TWIRL

October 22, 2010

Expression, twirling, passion, and leaping and warfare all combined in an intricate eruption of dancing.  I’ve heard of people getting vision from God before, but never experienced it myself.  I’ve heard before that Youth with a Mission can be a very charismatic experience also, but never quite understood the definition of it until we as a whole base decided to pray together.

            The leaders told us one day that they had a handful of people that were supposed to attend the school, but never came for various reasons. We all decided to come together and pray for them. One of the girls on the list of people’s who wasn’t at our schools name was Mykell. Her name stuck out to me boldly, so I felt God wanted me to pray for her.

            As I prayed, God showed me a vision. I saw a girl fighting against a tall and strong brick wall; it was too overwhelming for her. But she sought out God and prayed, and suddenly she was dancing in front of the brick wall. It was the most beautiful dance ever, and as she danced the wall crumbled mightily before her. She leaped over the destroyed and weak wall and danced before God.

            It was barely a week later that Mykell came to the DTS, and we all welcomed her open arms. I talked with her about what track she was going to be in, and she was signed up for film. I told her of my vision, and she explained that she was a dancer and gymnast for years. My very own heart leaped, God showed me her dancing.

            Its so crazy how God SPEAKS. How He has a purpose and plan for every single person! It wasn’t long until she changed her art track to dancing, which was even more unfathomable. We all may have things that hold us back, but God is right there to encourage us to dance and fight and break every single stronghold down.

The Land of the Swiss!

September 30, 2010

Marching through the mud, rain, cold, and up slow death hill with my camera bag, rolly bag, food bag, sleeping bag AND pillow was not the most thrilling adventure in Germany, but an adventure nonetheless. Did I mention it was at 2 o’clock in the morning? So of course we had no sleep the night before. We were heading off to the beautiful land of Switzerland, and despite the rugged beginning I was quite thrilled to head to another country.

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   We were going to Lausanne, Switzerland for the 50^th anniversary of Youth with a Mission. After the 14 hour bus ride, we were overjoyed when we finally arrived, and joined the big rally in a tent that resembled a circus house. It was quite inspiring to hear and reminisce on all the stories from Loren and Darlene Cunningham, especially in the beautiful city of Lausanne. I took so many pictures there; there were so many riveting things to capture. One of the most incredible things about the trip was that I got to spend my 18^th birthday in Switzerland!

            For most of my birthday we were sitting in lecture, but after it was all done we were released at ten o’clock to roam the city of Lausanne until midnight. It was so much fun to laugh and be silly with my girls, and pretend to be a “grown up” since I was 18 now. But we were in a bit of a rush to not miss the last bus, so once we showed up at the bus station with a bunch of other people from our DTS we all hopped on the very last bus of the night. It was barely five minutes though before the bus driver kicked us off, saying it was the last stop.

            We were all quite worried at the sudden change of destination, since we were definitely not back at the YWAM base. Luckily, our dependable Swiss friend Jonas from our very own DTS had a GPS. We followed him to our home; we walked a little over 2 kilometers.  It was scary and cold walking into the unknown land of the Swiss, but luckily we made it to the base at almost 1am.

            The next day wasn’t as much of an adventure, but it was still quite incredible. We got to tour around Lausanne in the sunlight, and actually made it back in time for the right bus. Sadly though we had to go back to our home in Herrnhut, Germany. Got blessed us with the most stunning and radiant sunset though, and after that I slept quite peacefully on the ride back.

            Once we got back to our dear home in Herrnhut, we all marched back down “Slow Death Hill” and to our beloved castle, where cookies and birthday cards and letters were left for me in my mailbox. I’m pretty sure I’m going to remember this 18^th birthday for a very very long time.

Pirates and Princess's

September 14, 2010

When we’re kids we have extraordinary dreams of being princess’ and pirates, mothers and firefighters, and rock stars and super heroes. Then when we grow into pre-teens its all about the dreams of fitting in, finding a click, a hobby that defines “you”.  But as we gradually mature into high school, we are faced with bigger dreams. Or are they even “dreams” anymore? We have to determine where we want to go to college, and choose a major that gives a stable career. And in our pursuits of college we are supposed to find a husband, get married, have three kids, grow old, have grandchildren…and then what’s left? Death? Is that a dream anymore, or is it just something the world demands from us?

It’s quite confusing at the Marriage of the Arts Discipleship Training School because it seems like we are being taught the opposite. Before I came here I felt like I had everything planned out to the specifics, down to having 7 boys and naming them all after months of the year. But I came here to Germany, and its like my whole world is already shaken up in a week.

Don’t plan! Don’t decide for yourself; instead, let God direct your ways, your dreams, and your hopes. It’s like erasing my entire hard drive and rebooting my whole system. I have to start from scratch, and rely all on God and not what I want. Yes, I know God wants me to follow my dreams, but it’s not about my dreams anymore. It’s about OUR dreams, OUR plans, OUR hopes. So now what? I have no idea.

I’m slowly and gradually learning this new way of life, but I know that even my deepest desires and my most intricate ideas can barley compare to what God has for me. I’m scared, I’m nervous, but I’m ready to embrace His adventure for my life.

Cooking dinner...for 90 people!!!

September 13, 2010

This Marriage of the Arts Discipleship Training School has been nothing less then an adventure, whether it was walking through the scary dark forest at night after walking down “Slow Death Hill” or sleeping in boxes, they never disappoint here in Herrnhut. My friends and I all figured it would be an easy and painless task of volunteering for Sunday kitchen duty, and breakfast was actually quite fun and quick. All five of us worked like a professional NFL football team. When two of the kitchen workers asked if we would make dinner so they could play soccer we didn’t think of it as that big of a deal. Hah.

The staff member who was training us for kitchen duty also wanted to play soccer, so he gave us the directions and said make it for 90 people. So us three girls took on the job, in a huge kitchen, and a pantry and fridge that labeled everything in German. It was crazy, we couldn’t find anything, we were making turkey goulah(sp?). What the flip IS turkey gooooolaw? We searched for an hour in the fridge and pantry for the ingredients, and then went to cutting up all the mushrooms and carrots while Rosey cooked the turkey. Somehow we turned the cream sauce into a consistency that resembled cookie dough. We frantically added parmesan to make the goop taste appetizing. The recipe was totally changed, but finally we got the food out.

Nervously, I walked proudly out in my cooking smock and ate my food. It was surprisingly delicious, and everyone loved it! Success! Thank JESUS we didn’t waste tons of food! Alyssa, Rosey, and I were one bombin cookin’ crew!

            

Sleeping in Boxes

            At school last night the main leader of the Marriage of the Arts DTS guy spoke to us about Garbage City, (in German with an English translator) and about how they lived over there. Kids would live in boxes, in the freezing cold, because they had nowhere else to stay. Not a home, not a blanket, not even matching shoes. He gave us a challenge, to sleep in boxes out in the cold too. It was exciting to set up my little fort outside, but as the night went on it got FREEZING. I barely slept a couple of hours, but when I looked up at the sky I saw the most beautiful and riveting thing, I saw millions and millions of shining stars dazzling the sky with their beauty. It was breath taking. I’ve never seen anything like it. Our God is so incredible and so much bigger then I could of ever imagined, and it pained and shook my heart to think that children actually did this every night, sleep in boxes. I could of ran to the castle any time of the night into the safety of my bed, but those kids in Garbage City didn’t have that same luxury.

            The thing is, back in the States I read so many stories about places like Garbage City, and I felt a pain in my heart. But the emotion that ran through the veins in my body while shivering in my box was so much stronger, so much more impactful. It became more then a story, more then a sad pain in my heart, it became reality. I know God is going to make so many more incredible changes in my heart, and influence it so much stronger then I could of ever imagined.

            God is certainly here with us in Herrnhut Germany, and He has certainly stirred up my heart on the first night. I am so excited to see what else He shows me and lets me experience, but know that I am thinking of you all every day and miss you immensely.

-Eleanor Wynne

Adventure time, in Germany!

September 5, 2010

Hello my wonderful friends from the States, Germany has been quite an adventure so far, an exciting, scary, breath taking, emotional, and an exhilarating adventure. Getting here was my first adventure, my first short plane flight to Newark, New Jersey was a peace of cake. But after no sleep and not being able to sleep at all on the seven and a half hour flight to Berlin was pretty exhausting. But it was fine; I was just ready to get to the school. Trying to take the train, and call the school and my parents was the nightmare. Not knowing how to speak German or ask people for help was crazy, and missing my train stop at Lobau was not very successful. God was certainly with me along the way though, He placed amazingly sweet people along the way. So many people would help me carry my bags and direct me to the right ways, and even the local Germans would joke with me about “silly German telephones”. Finally, I got to Lobau, which was where I was supposed to be picked up.  But no one was there to pick me up, and so I kind of freaked out. But then this super nice man let me borrow his phone and call the school, and finally someone came and picked me up.

            Walking over the bridge to the castle through a sea of students was quite intimidating, but within minutes I made really nice friends. I’m staying in a room on the third floor at the castle with five other lovely and captivating girls, and they all are incredible. To my favor, most people here speak German. So I’ve barely been struggling. Our meals have consisted of sausage, sausage, and noodles. Quite delicious though!

            Herrnhut, Germany is riveting, but it is not Virginia. And I miss you all so much, but I know that here is where God to be, its where He is going to use me. And so I’m willing to give Him my next seven months, my time, my energy, my love, and my all.

-Eleanor Wynne