Lessons from Summer Camp: Being everything to everyone for the sake of Christ

As mentioned in my last post, I don't like the outdoors. Well, let me rephrase that. I don't like the outdoors in the mountains of San Diego. They are an interesting mixture of dirt, mud, desert heat, pine trees, desert sage and dirt. Oh and bugs. Lots of bugs. Before I went hiking in Italy, I always thought I hated hiking since I associated it with hikes I took in the desert-like mountains, trying to avoid hornets, rattlesnakes and fire ants.

The idea of spending 5 days in a wooden cabin with a bunch of girls was not exciting me and the legistics finally hit me when I had to buy junky clothes for the week.
I'll get hot.
I'll get dirty.
I will be terribly uncomfortable.
I may not get any sleep.
I will be bitten by numerous bugs.
Yuck.

But I had already volunteered and that was that.

Sunday night rolled along fairly well and I discovered I had been placed in a tepee (yes, a real functioning tepee). At first, I was bummed out but soon discovered the tepees were wonderful. There was more useable space, since the mattresses were on the ground the girls could move their beds every night if they wanted, and when it was hot all we had to do was lift the sides and voila! Automatic A/C!

Monday was really good. It was overcast and even sprinkled a little. I insisted, in fact, I demanded that my girls go hiking with me because the weather was cool. (First hint that something was changing in me). Monday night I was grodey and sweaty and gross and I still played Capture the Flat (a game I have always hated) and enjoyed myself. Hmmm....

Tuesday morning we had staff devotionals and a counselor named "Sultan" (camp name) talked about his journey. He talked about how God was breaking him of himself and asking him to do things that he traditionally had thought were "not me". He talked about how God needs servants who are malleable. Servants that He can do whatever He wants with them and they will say, "Okay, go for it!"

I nearly burst into tears all over the counselor in front of me. It all made sense. God was breaking me of myself and asking me to do things that I've traditionally said were "not me". So often in church I had heard, "Use your gifts! Find your spiritual gifts and use them!" But in some ways, that has been overemphasized to the point where some people (....me) would not do something if it didn't fit their "gifting". But that's not what Scripture says. In fact, it's the opposite.

1 Corinthians 9:19-22

¹⁹Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

This week I became an outdoor enthusiast. Not because I'm gifted in it. Not because it's my passion. But for the sake of Christ, I had to sacrifice my comfort, my time, my resources, my likes, my desires.

Do you have an opportunity to impact others for Christ, but have been shying away from it because it didn't fit your "gift" or "passion"?

I spent 5 1/2 days at camp:
Showers: 6
Bug bites: 0
Times I felt super gross: 0
Times I felt super hot and sweaty: 1
Times I told girls to just ignore the bugs crawling all over our tepee: at least 35
Average hours of sleep per night: 9
Average hours hiking per day: 3

If the Spirit leads, just do it. He will provide for every single need.

Lessons from Summer Camp: God has a plan

Growing up there were somethings I could always count on in the summer. One of them was going to Indian Hills Camp for summer camp. As an elementary-age kid, I loved it. Okay, I enjoyed myself minus the dirt and the bugs and the feelings of general uncleanliness. However, junior high camp there for two years was a bust. I lost two of my best friends and literally that's all I remember about those camps. Those summers left their mark and along with other controversies that happened at the camp that summer marred my experience.

So you can imagine my surprise when my church was signed up kids for camp that the first thought in my head was, "I could be a counselor." Whoa. Where did that come from? Camp counselors are usually college kids that are paid about $20 to spend 23 hours with kids a day. However, every time I passed that sign-up sheet I kept thinking about being a counselor which is crazy! My idea of "roughing it" is a Holiday Inn Express.

One Sunday in May, Pastor Bobby approached me and said, "Now, you don't have to say 'yes' or 'no' now, you can think about this, but Indian Hills doesn't have enough counselors for our week at camp and I was wondering..."
"Yes!" burst out of my mouth before he could finish his sentence.
My natural brain is going, "What? I just agreed to go back to camp! To Indian Hills of all places!"
But my heart was saying, "This is the right thing to do. I'm not working, I know the kids and I'm good with kids. They need me."

My brain eventually came around especially since Pastor Bobby and his wife Cheryl would be there too to take care of things.

But life happens and sometimes it's awful. The day before we were to leave for camp, Bobby's dad died. Bobby was in shock. He called the camp telling them he couldn't come. He called me to let me know I was now in charge of signing up and watching out for 30 campers from our church. I was now the official representative of our church. If I had not been going, this past week would have been horrific for Bobby or at least more horrific than it was.

God had a plan. All I had to do was listen and act on what the Holy Spirit had been prompting me to do for weeks.

Ultimatum update...

Remember this post?

So here is the conclusion. I was upset because I wasn't going to get the flight I wanted on the airline I wanted. I bummed around for about 2 days figuring it was "all for the best", but not really believing it...until I got an email. From my school secretary. Letting me know I had my apartment for all of August.

Because I had not booked the East Coast flight, I could go ahead and make arrangements to move my trip back a week, making it more convenient for everyone involved. I bought the ticket for a cheaper price and a better date. I was just stunned, thanking God for stopping me in my tracks. He knew what was best and by being sensitive to what He wanted, things turned out better.

Oh and by the way, just for fun I checked the flight info for my original date...the prices were back to normal.

Thank you, God, that You are powerful enough to alter online airline booking and loving enough to do it for me!

My Obsession

When I lived in Phoenix, I had a ritual. Every Sunday on the way home from church, I would get off at the Litchfield exit, park my car in a treeless lot and walk into Barnes and Noble. Sometimes I would stay for 30 minutes. Other times I would be there for hours. For a while, I ordered their turkey chipotle panini melt and would sit in the cafe reading various travel books or planning the next week of lessons. Most times, I would wander the store, find something fun and interesting, sit in a big comfy chair and read.

I love bookstores. I love all the books in a row. I love the colorful displays and the nooks where you can curl up and read. Barnes and Noble was the location of my first almost real date (more on my sad dating life later...).

I'm a bit of a bookstore snob too. Each one has a different function for me. Barnes and Noble is my favorite curl up and read spot, mostly because of the comfy chairs. Borders is more of a research spot, with firm leather chairs or tables and chairs. I planned my entire Italy trip from Borders.

So now that I'm no longer teaching frantically, I've been able to slip back into old habits. Summertime is when I try to read a book a day, even if it means staying up to 1 or 2 AM. Earlier this year, I found the web site Shelfari, which is a great way to keep track of the books you're reading and want to read.

So this summer, if you are lucky enough to have some free time on your hands, check out my Shelf and send me some book recommendations!

A good reminder

Oswald Chambers has always been hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes the language is so convoluted I have trouble understanding his insight. Other times, it comes at the right time and the right place. This wasn't today's reading, but one that my eyes fell on and it is a good reminder:

By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain . . . —1 Corinthians 15:10

The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say things such as, "Oh, I shouldn’t claim to be sanctified; I’m not a saint." But to say that before God means, "No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are opportunities I have not had and so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible." That may sound wonderfully humble to others, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.

Conversely, the things that sound humble before God may sound exactly the opposite to people. To say, "Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified," is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you have so completely surrendered yourself to God that you know He is true. Never worry about whether what you say sounds humble before others or not. But always be humble before God, and allow Him to be your all in all.

There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.

The Real You

I received an email from a former student (former as in one whole week former) asking if she could be my friend on facebook. I had a pretty strict rule against being friends with current students (especially since many of them are close to my age and that opens a whole can O' worms), but I had phrased it jokingly like, I'm dorky and you'd be embarrassed by most of my antics.

So my student wrote this:

I remembered that you told us you have many funny pictures on facebook, but probably nobody want to see them, but I want to know what Miss Ernst looks like in her real life. (-:

I was struck by the thought that she thought I had a "fake" and a "real" life. Then I looked at my facebook page to see was I really all that different? Like Top Gear. Check, showed a clip in class. Love Jesus, check, talked about it often and did my best to imitate His life. Encourage others, check, got that. Look like a dork in 99% of my pictures, check, half my students during the last week of school said at one time, "Uh...Miss Ernst we need to take picture again. Your eyes are not open."

For me, you see what you get. This was after years of trying to fit in with "cool" teacher friends. Happy hour, Mill Ave (some of the most boring hours of my life) and other activities that weren't necessarily sinning(most of the time), but just not who I am. I finally realized, hey, I'm not having fun, I'm doing this for people who really don't care about me or what's important to me. Hmmm...

So here I am. Me. I'm still trying to root out the junk left over from years of compromising, but I'm happy to say that I think my student will be somewhat disappointed to discover that my real life, is well, my real life.

Ultimatum

Ever give God an ultimatum before?

God, if this is really you, then do x, y or z.

Today, I gave God an ultimatum. "God, I do not have my plane ticket yet to the East Coast or Germany. I've been waiting. But today God, I'm going to book my flight to the East Coast because I can. So if it isn't what you want, then do something catastrophic and I'll listen."

So I went on the airline web site, plugged in the date and time just as I had done two days earlier and...the flight was $150 more expensive. What?!?!?!

I checked out websites, frantically manipulating times and dates, but still same price. The day before it, $150 cheaper. The day after it, $150 cheaper. The day I needed, $150 more expensive.

It took 30 minutes for me to stop and realize: I gave God an ultimatum. And He answered. The answer was "no".

Whoa.

So, I'm waiting on that plane ticket. Waiting and listening. Because when you give God an ultimatum, there is a good chance, He'll give you one too...

My School!

Today I turned in my high school keys and faculty badge. I'm officially free to be an elementary teacher in Augsburg!

To help give you an idea of my school, here is an informational video they just produced this month.

Pictures from Disneyland

Check out my pictures from my great birthday at Disneyland on Facebook here.

Birthday at Disneyland

This year Disneyland is letting you in free on the day of your birthday if you register with them online. It just so happened that this year my birthday was on a Sunday!

I convinced my brother to join me, got an awesome, cheap hotel nearby and voila! Instant vacation!

It had been 8 years since I had been to Disneyland and almost 20 years since my brother and I had been there together. So early Sunday morning we drove up to Anaheim and started our 11 hour adventure! Here's a list of best/worst of Disneyland!

1. Best time to come: As soon as it opened. We got there 20 minutes after it opened and we got through the ticket line in 5 minutes, walked onto our first few rides with no wait time and had great morning Southern California weather(overcast and cool).
2. Plan of action: Do what you really want first. Otherwise, you will wait in line forever.
3. Best ride to get a Fast Pass for: Tie between Space Mountain and Indiana Jones. We had FP for Indiana Jones and still had to wait 20+ minutes because it is so popular. At 2PM at Space Mountain, they were giving out FPs for 9-10PM. Wait time for both rides without a FP was 70-90 minutes.
4. Ride with fastest normal line: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We rode this 4 times. Three times without FP and we only had to wait maybe 20-30 minutes. FP was especially good at night. We got on in 10 minutes.
   
5. Ride you should probably get a Fast Pass for just because the line is so mind-numbing: Roger Rabbit. Ugh. I can never have those 35 minutes back.
6. Best food in the park: Corn dog from the Corn dog truck on Main Street. It is $6, but it the best corn dog you will ever have. The ice cream was good too and was the same price you would pay at Coldstone.
   
7. Worst place to walk through due to traffic issues: Adventureland into New Orleans. If the amount of people didn't crush you, the hundreds of strollers outside of Pirates of the Caribbean will.
   
8. Ride that seems entirely inappropriate for children: Haunted Mansion. Seriously, I don't remember it being that bad. It was horrible. My brother, who watches horror movies and laughs at them, about halfway through went, "I'm super creeped out right now. Like, I'm really creeped out." We were in a funk for a good 15 minutes after that one.
9. Best ride for physical exercise: Davy Crockett Canoes. Man, that gets your blood pumping, especially when the steamboat was right behind us and all the tourists in front of us got tired and stopped paddling.
   
10. Most disappointing updated ride: I know you're thinking I'm going to say Pirates of the Caribbean, but no, it's a small world was sad. There was Disney product placement everywhere. When you went to the cute hula girl part, Lilo and Stitch were in front, blocking most of it. Underwater room, almost entirely taken over by Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo. The strangest was in Spain, Cinderella showed up. Seriously? And they don't even look like the rest of the animatronics. It looks cheesy and added on(can it's a small world be even more cheesy than it was? Yes. Yes, it can).
    
11. Weirdest people that you never knew were at Disneyland: So there are these people who collect Disney pins (like the kind you wear) and sit outside a cafe on Main Street for hours at a time, selling, bartering and trading pins. It's like a little Mafia. There's one dude who looks like a cross between Dom DeLuise and Marlon Brando. Seriously strange to watch.
12. Funniest thing my brother said: At the end of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (where you end up in Hell, seriously, not very kid friendly), my brother says casually, "Hey, I'm not supposed to be here!"
13. Best thing we did that my brother thought would be super cheesy: Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. Super fun show. Lots of talent, lots of laughs and just good old fashion fun.
    
14. Best place to be for fireworks: In front of the Magic Kingdom, but not behind Walt Disney's statue(2 hours before these seats are filled) or right at the intersection between Tomorrowland, Main Street, Adventureland and the lane leading up to the Magic Kingdom(we were here an hour early and it was great).
    

Pictures to come...

Helpful, yet humorous travel tips

Daniel Pink is just one of my favorite authors ever. Yeah, what he writes is good, but he blogs and speaks an awful lot and he is intelligent and super funny. If you haven't read A Whole New Mind, his fabulous book defending all things right-brained, you need to, it's awesome.

Anyway, Pink has been making informative and funny travel videos for the last few months as he is on the road. From which food court food to avoid to how to travel with kids, the tips are always interesting and have that certain "Pink" flair. His latest from today is a classic. Enjoy!

Pink's Travel Tips -- Tip#8 from DHP on Vimeo.

Learning new things...

Besides learning German, there is a host of new things I will have to learn in order to avoid becoming the "ugly American" in town.

Here are just a few:

1. Sort trash...I mean, sort trash, not just recycling. Germany is very green and one commentator said that Germany's second hobby behind drinking beer is sorting trash.
2. Bike. I will be cycling to work. Once again, Germany is very green.
3. Not take work home. It's a "no-no" in German culture. You work hard, get your work done, go home and have fun. Working overtime is seen as being inefficient and lazy.
4. Smile less and do not "overshare". Unlike Americans who automatically become friends with just about anyone ("Wow, you juggle chainsaws while reciting the Declaration of Independence? Here's my phone number! Let's have lunch!"), Germans are traditionally more guarded.
   
5. Be open to very blunt advice. It's Germany. It's normal to them.
   

Just like any culture change, I'm sure it will take time, but I'm trying to prepare myself as much as possible so I'm not super cranky. Thankfully, I found this blog by an American from North Carolina who's lived in Germany for several years now. I think my favorite post was this one, on how to not dress like an American in Europe. Awesomely funny!

What the future holds...

From my high school memory book, senior year (2000-2001):

What will you be doing in 10 years?

My response: Probably teaching high school students since I promised I would never teach high school students...

Whoa.

Video Preaching!

I'm stoked! My pastor, Art Evans, is doing live video teaching Wednesday nights at 7PM (Pacific time) and Sunday morning 11:AM (Pacific time)! Which means, you'll probably be able to see the back of my head on Wednesday nights. I usually sit in the second row.

Anyway, here was today's awesome sermon on how Jesus heals the brokenhearted. You will be blessed!

Where are you getting your bread?

I've been very privileged to sit under the teachings of my pastor, Art Evans. He's awesome, mostly in that 75% of his sermons are quoting Scripture. I've got a backlog of sermon notes I want to blog on, but thought I'd start with this one from Luke 11 as Jesus is telling a parable:

⁵Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, ⁶because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'

⁷"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' ⁸I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness^a]">[a] he will get up and give him as much as he needs."

1. You, by yourself, have nothing to give. "a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him." We're like the man who has no bread. By ourselves, we really have nothing to offer. If I'm just counting on my own smarts, my own experiences, and my insight to help people then I'm in trouble.

2. You have to get your bread from Him. The only way the man was able to feed his friend was because the neighbor gave him "as much as he needs". He sought out the neighbor and was annoying enough that it caused the neighbor to act. How much more will God, who is our Father and Friend, act on our behalf and give us what we need so that we, in turn, can feed others!

3. You get bread from Him to give to others. The man didn't get bread to feed himself or his family. He got bread to help his friend. Even if we think, "Gee, I'm feeling holy today. I don't need to read my Bible," it's not for you! You are getting "bread" to share with others. Now interesting enough, when the man did get bread, he got "as much as he needs" meaning even though it was for his friend, his family did not go hungry.

So press on! Keep asking, keep reading His Word because without His "bread", we have nothing to give.

Unexpected gift

In January while in London, I found myself saying, "God, this is enough! You don't have to do anymore than this! This is more than I hoped for!" From meeting an amazing new friend to being affirmed to being forced by a snowstorm (Act of God!) to spend two extra days in London, I just could not believe that God would bless so abundantly.

Well, here I am again. I have my dream job. And God is working out details in ways I never expected or even asked for. Traditionally, one of the most difficult aspects of moving to Germany is housing. It's scarce, you don't know what is typical for the area and it is expensive. My school said they would help me search, but I wasn't looking forward to the whole search.

God knew that. I got an email three weeks ago from my school secretary saying that two single teachers were moving out of their flats (apartments) and were wondering if I would like one of them. Woohoo! Both were nice, but it was this email that clenched it for me:

I'm glad that Gerhild asked you to write. I was actually going to ask Cathie if it was ok for me to contact you to give you some insider information. I'm not sure where you are from but I believe she told me you were from California as well.

"As well." I couldn't believe it. He, Evan, is from California, went to UC Irvine and surfed in San Diego. He gets me. He gets the culture I'm coming from. Not only that, his flat is 100 euros cheaper than the other one, is on the first floor and has a renovated kitchen. That in and of itself would have been more than enough.

But God wasn't done.

Since then, Evan has emailed me about 10 times, giving me insider hints on where to buy a used bike, what cell phone company to use, what to pack, etc. Everything I wanted to know, but didn't know who to ask.

What a blessing. God, this is enough! No more blessing! I can't take it anymore! :-)

Learning the language...

I have four months to learn German...in southern California! You must understand the hilarity of my situation. I live in San Diego, California, a mere 20 minutes from Mexico. I live in a community of mostly immigrants from Iraq which means my neighbors speak Assyrian, Aramaic, Kurdish and Arabic. Our immediate neighbors of 18+ years speak Greek and Czech. Our community college gives classes on Spanish, French, Italian, Assyrian/Aramaic/Arabic and Kumeyaay(our local Native American dialect). But no German.

So it's just me, the library and the internet. And you know what? I'm a little disappointed.

Before you start shouting, "Rosetta Stone!", realize that the program is $600 and consists mostly of vocabulary. Even when I had free access last year to R.S. through a friend's library account, I got bored fairly easily and remember almost nothing.

So far here's what I've discovered about language programs:
1. If it has fun games and cool graphics, it's just vocabulary.
2. If it has good grammar information, it's boring and dry.
3. If it has fun games, cool graphics and good grammar information, it will cost you a month's worth of rent.

But after looking for over a month, here are the resources that seem to be working out okay:

1. Book: really old conversation textbook from the 70's a friend loaned me. So the spelling hasn't been updated yet(did you know German people decided to standardize their spelling in '96? That's crazy!), but I can deal with that. It's good solid grammar and reading practice.
2. Web: www.babbel.com A great web site for learning and reviewing vocabulary and common phrases. It keeps track of what you've gone over and has you review every two days.
3. Web: http://www.deutsch-lernen.com/ Free online grammar course that goes over the basics and gives you a chance to practice. Did I mention it was free?
4. Web: http://www.lingorilla.com/frontpage It must be good because the web site is completely in German! You watch a video and then do exercises based on grammar concepts in the video.
   
5. Web: www.youtube.com Yes, Youtube! I found some easy language videos that a bunch of university students in Muenster made that are fun and informative. You get to hear real people speak.
   

There are other more advanced programs I'll have access to once I get the basics down and there are plenty of web sites I can read for information (reading the T-Mobile website to try to figure out what cell plan to get is insane!). But for now, I'll plug along and hopefully by the time I get to Germany I'll be able to sound respectable!

Tschüss!

Moving forward

I cannot believe it has already been a month since getting my job in Germany. It has been surreal. My church often talks about how we get paradigms or thought patterns stuck in our brain and how we need to seek God to help us renew our minds and get into new paradigms and thought patterns that He has created in us.

I found this happening to me this month. After nearly two years of job searching, I still found myself with the old paradigms. I would catch myself checking the same websites for job openings and then go, "Wait a minute! I already have a job!" I had received a gift from God so great, but my mind was still back in old patterns, out-dated worries and non-existent problems. How often does that happen to Christ-followers today. You've been saved from death, hell and the grave and yet, we sometimes still feel like we don't deserve it, we're not worthy, "Well, I just don't feel saved." Thank God, His salvation doesn't ride on our feelings! You're saved! He's already done the heavy lifting so live! Live as if you have been saved from death, hell and the grave!

You know what it took to destroy some paradigms? Two things: His Word and praise. If I'm not reading the Bible every day, I mean really reading the Bible, not just skimming, I'll fall back into those old thought patterns just like that. Also, I need to praise Him daily, one the who gave me this awesome job! I've been telling everyone I know about His goodness, His faithfulness, His timing, His glory, etc. and when your conversations are dominated by that, your brain cannot hold on to those old thoughts. When you praise God, He shows up in a big way.

So, what paradigms do you need God's power to slay today? Start reading and start praising!

Sisters across the ocean

Many of you know from this post how passionate I am about Acholi Beads. In fact, six out of 7 days a week, I'm probably wearing Acholi Beads. The amazing thing about this company is that it reminds you that there are people behind the clothes you wear, the food you eat and the things you buy. I don't buy beads made in a strange factory. I buy beads that are made by specific women who are not different from you and me in their hope to better themselves and their families.

James Pearson who started Acholi Beads has just posted this wonderful video showing exactly how these sisters across the ocean are being empowered to earn real money and help their families.


Acholi Beads Glimpse: Stepping Stones from James Pearson on Vimeo.

Guten tag! Wie geht es Ihnen?

Well, details are slowly being realized with my new job so I thought I'd share what I know so far.
I will be teaching 4th grade at the International School of Augsburg. The school is fairly international in the staffing. I will be one of the only Americans among English, Aussie, Kiwi and German colleagues. The students are almost all German children whose parents wanted them to have an international education in English. The class size is capped at 15 students! Woohoo! I've already talked to my fellow 4th grade teacher, Sarah, and she is an experienced teacher who sounds absolutely wonderful.I will be living in lovely Augsburg, Germany, the third-largest city in the German state of Bavaria. Augsburg is only 30 minutes outside of Munich or München which is home of Oktoberfest. No worries that I may become a non-stop party animal as I tend to run from large crowds of tourists with beer. Augsburg is also 3 hours from Salzburg, Austria which is known for two things: 1. Mozart was born there 2. The Sound of Music was filmed there. Augsburg is also near Switzerland and Northern Italy.So needless to say I am very excited to work at an excellent school in a great location. I do not know yet when I'm leaving, but most likely sometime in August. In the meantime, I'm frantically learning as much German as I possibly can!

So for now, Auf Wiedersehen!

I have a job!

Praise Jesus! I have a job teaching 4th grade in Germany next year! I will be teaching at the International School of Augsburg!

More details to come...

Thank you for all your prayers!

Feeling little again

Sometimes I wonder about my high schoolers. They surprise me every day.

After the great success of Infinitives! The Musical, Luiz brought in a rolly-polly bug. Luiz wanted to know the English name for this bug so I told him the official name (Pill Bug) and the informal name (Rolly-Polly Bug) which evidently in BrazillianPortuguesEnglish becomes "Rolly Bug". He played with it for about 10 minutes, then Cindy ran around the room with it chasing Vivian.

As class got started, rolly bug officially earned the name "Yang Jr." Yang was not amused. Yang Jr. became a part of our class that day even to the point where Luiz would ask, "Now Yang Jr., what do you think the answer is?"

During a review game, Eric noticed that Yang Jr. had stopped moving to which Luiz said in his laid-back life approach, "Ohhh, heez jus' resting."

Sure enough, Yang Jr. crawled over to their team sign and the boys claimed he was a lucky charm especially after they won.

After the bell rang, Yang Jr. just became another pill bug on the grass and my students remembered they were 17 and 18 again, not supposed to have rolly bugs for pets and moved on with their lives.

Yep, they definitely surprise me.

School fun!

I had too much fun in school this week.

The highlight was an activity I did with my students called, "Miss Ernst is too tired to teach so learn it yourself". That's not the official title, but still you get the just of it. Now you must understand I teach advanced grammar...really boring advanced grammar so I have to trick my brain (and my students' brains) into thinking advanced English grammar is exciting.

My students had 45 verbs to memorize that accompany infinitives. 45. Ugh.

So I gave them 20 minutes, colored paper, markers and said, "Make something that will help your classmates remember these for the test."

What I didn't expect was Infinitives! The Musical, an impromptu production created and performed by my students.

Act I was Luiz, Sean and Yang. Luiz (my sassy Brazilian) sang an infinitive-infused love song, Sean(your average Korean side-kick) beatboxed and Yang (my resident Communist and eternal pessimist) did his best Milli-Vanilli dance moves.

Act II was James, Andrew, Daniel and Eric. James and Andrew provided back-up vocals for the "Twinkle-twinkle, little star" introduction which then dove head-first into Eric's (unassuming, lisping Eric) gansta-rap backed up by none other than Daniel(quiet, polite, respectful) who added his own mix of Flava-Flav/Koolaid man interludes in his deep bass voice. "OH yeaaah..." I didn't hear the first half of it because I was laughing so hard.

Act III was Meg, Sunnie and Cindy (I'm not making this up) who sang their ABC song with verb lyrics, looking excessively cute as usual.

It is now the stuff of legend. And all because I let them have control of their own learning. I wonder how many students during their test will be mouthing "oh yeah".

Is God Enough?

Last Sunday, Pastor Art was out of town and the children's pastor, Bobby, preached. I knew Bobby was nervous about his first opportunity to preach Sunday morning and so I prayed that God would give him a Word, not just a word, but a WORD from God. Little did I know, it was a Word for me. Here's what Pastor Bobby preached on:

Job 13:15
Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him

Think about Job's life. He lost everything. He lost his finances, his family, his fitness(health) and his face(his reputation). He lost it all. Yet, he still said, "I know God did this. Heck, He could even kill me. But I will still hope in Him."

Wow.

Here are three questions that Pastor Bobby brought up with accompanying thoughts:

1. Can God be trusted while you are submerged in suffering?
Faith may not be a way out of trouble. It may be a way to endure trouble.
Faith is not receiving from God what you want. Faith is accepting from God what He gives you.

2. Can God be trusted when you are forsaken by friends?
Job 19:13-19
Psalm 41:9
Psalm 55:12-13

3. Can God be trusted when you are dismayed by darkness?
Remember, Job never read the book of Job. He didn't know the backstory. He didn't really know what was going on. He only saw part of the picture. Job never got the answers he wanted.
"Why" is God's question. "How" is ours. How will I respond?
Isaiah 50:10-11
¹⁰ Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on his God.

¹¹ But now, all you who light fires
and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
You will lie down in torment.

When in darkness, don't light your own torch!

A new way to give

So I don't often get super excited about things. However, when I do, I get REALLY excited!

Kiva is one of those things. I was introduced to the organization by family friends. Kiva is not a charity, it's a microloan organization. They work with field partners all around the world that give people loans to fund their business. It's not charity, it's a loan so it is expected to be paid back to you. It has a powerful effect though.

You get to choose who you would like to fund, research the field partners for risk and then loan as little as $25.

Currently, I'm helping a beauty salon and grocery store in Nigeria and a food stall in Ghana. These are real women with real ambition to bring their family out of poverty and send their children to school.

You can also be a part of teams, or small communities of loaners with similar interests. I'm part of Kiva Christians and it's amazing the dialogue people have, sharing all the organizations out there to give.

It's amazing how fast projects are funded, usually within a day. Sometimes, they even have trouble when people want to lend, but there are not enough borrowers!

If you're interested in helping out, you can go to Kiva's main site, www.kiva.org or if you would like more information, watch this video from a Kiva volunteer that explains the process.

Shorts snippets of goodness

This is from my single's Bible study a few weeks back.

What your focus is on determines your fruit.
What your fruit is determines if you will be fulfilled or just stuffed.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Listen to the Lord in all you do and wherever you go
Matthew 6:33 Steep yourself in God thoughts, God-reality-->you won't miss out.
Philippians 3:13-14 Your prize is a relationship with God. He is my reward!

Promotion

Time to catch up on some great encouragement I've received at church in the last few weeks:

Godly promotion--you don't promote yourself, your boss doesn't promote you, God is the one who promotes you (or demotes you).

Psalm 75:6-7 "

⁶ No one from the east or the west
or from the desert can exalt a man.

⁷ But it is God who judges:
He brings one down, he exalts another."

Everything we do is unto God-->this is true freedom!

Hebrews 4:13--God judges from the inside out. Doesn't matter what you do publicly, it's what's going on privately.

1. Be found content with what you have and where you are

• 1 Timothy 6:6 "But godliness with contentment is great gain."
• Ecclesiastes 4:6 "Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind."
• How do you expect God to move you forward when you're not content with where He has placed you right now?
  

2. Be found dependable and teachable

• If you're dependable to everyone except God, something's wrong. If you will show up at every meeting on time, every obligation on time, but refuse to spend time in God's Word or push it to the side, something is wrong.
  
• Promotion comes with obedience
  

3. Be found honest

• Don't demand something that is not yours.
• When others say, "Oh that's just fine," God is saying, "No, that's not fine. It's not okay to take that stapler. It's not okay to take that paper. It's NOT yours!"
• Pastor Art shared an amazing story from his own life when he (while in the ministry) stole merchandise from his employer. He was unable to be promoted, to get a job, or even succeed in the ministry until he had called his employer and repaid what he had taken.
• Proverbs 16:11 (Amplified) "A just balance and scales are the Lord's; all the weights of the bag are His work [established on His eternal principles]."
  

4. Be found excellent

• Reflect the character of God and His nature.
• Excellence has NOTHING to do with performance. Look at the life of Daniel (Daniel 1:16-21) He outlasted numerous kings and three kingdoms!
• Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
  

London, baby!

I figured I couldn't really contain all that London had to hold in one blog so I started on just for my trip at

http://stuckinlondon.blogspot.com

Come read about my trip, the cool people I met (I even found Skot online! I feel like I know someone semi-famous!) and the amazing things that God did.

I'll be posting as much as I can today and then trying to add more each day.

See you there!

I'm in London!

Please pray for me as I go through this job fair. I only got one hour of sleep on the plane and I have a lot to do today!

I'll update you as soon as I can from this internet cafe.

Much love!

Testimonies--Phyllis

You can hear Phyllis a mile away. You can see her too. At over 6 feet, she's an imposing force to be reckoned with.

Saved by Jesus from a difficult childhood, taken out of the hood, she has amazing elegance and tons of sass.

Phyllis weaves magical phrases in her conversation such as "I was a kid at a candy store on crack!"

You got to love Phyllis.

As part of our study, one member Jennifer, was sharing how she was struggling to understand God's will. She was looking for a job and things just weren't happening.

Phyllis started to share her story of how she came out of the hood, how she was taken by God from job to job, gaining experience and wisdom. One week she drove her car on empty, a full week and God kept that tank full.

One time she was working a 20 hour a week job and she had 40 hour a week expenses, but she never stopped tithing and she was never late in a payment. God always provided.

As Phyllis teared up remember these things, she looked at Jennifer and started weeping. Through her tears she said, "You're it. You're the reason I went through these things. I know it. You need to hear this right now, don't you?"

Jennifer who was crying by now, nodded her head. Her faith was built up and Phyllis was reminded that she did not suffer in vain. God had a plan and a purpose for everything.

Update on Riley

Good news for Riley! The tumors are not malignent! They are pseudotumors, a serious side-effect from his transplant he had earlier.

Riley is still very sick as these pseudotumors have cupped his liver and surrounded his aorta and inferior vena cava. Please continue to pray for his complete healing.

Our God is a God who Heals!

Divine Appointment

I think the best thing about my new small group that I attend is that it meets in a popular college coffeeshop. Not only is there a plethora of goodies to be shared, but everyone within hearing distance hears about Jesus. And anyone within a block hears Phyllis. But that's another post...

This past Sunday we had 11 of us crammed around a long table. Our topic was "What is faith?", not a pat, Sunday School answer kind of study. We delved into real applications of what faith is and what it looks like in our lives. I'll share a bit later some of the amazing testimonies that were shared.

But about one hour into the study, two young men came up to us and said, "Are you a Bible study?" Shocked we said, "Uh, yeah."
"Can we join you?" he said, holding up his well-worn Bible.
"Of course!" we all said.
So D'juan and Hynik joined us. And their story was amazing.

The men are brothers, both working hard at a new church plant in the area. They were coming to the coffeeshop to talk and read the Word together. As they were walking in the door, Hynik talked about his desire to be able to step out in faith and really trust God with his finances. As they were standing in line to get coffee, they heard people talking about these "loud people in the back" and went to investigate.

Hynik needed to hear about faith and trusting God. And we were talking about the exact. same. thing. Not only that, but members were able to give him specific encouragement and advice that helped him exactly where he was at.

That was just one of many amazing God moments from that night.

So be open to divine appointments. God works through lattes and old worn tables and loud people, laughing and praising Jesus.

Today we witnessed history

Every year I taught elementary school I looked out onto a class of children that reminded me I live in America. I can count on both hands the number of white children I've taught. The majority of my students were Hispanic, African-American(or African), Iraqi or Afghani and a mixture of just about every combination possible. I didn't teach races, I taught kids, but many of these kids didn't understand their history, hadn't seen anyone like them in a history book and didn't have a lot of heroes to look up to.

Every year I taught a unit about the Civil Rights Movement. We read Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou, we sang and danced to spirituals and African praise songs. We wept over the horror of the slave trade, ran with Harriet Tubman on the Underground Railroad, and road the bus with the Freedom Riders around our classroom. We read The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, one of the best kids' books out there. We watched Dr. King preach Jesus and freedom and Jesus some more. I had 10 year-olds that wept for 10 minutes after watching the "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech. When Dr. King finished with "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!" I had kids cheering and jumping up and down. In a public school.

So today as I watched the swearing in on TV, I remember every child I've taught and I just want to hold them and say, "Look! Look what's happened right here in your lifetime! Look what YOU can do! Look who YOU can become!"

I remembered every firsthand account we read by a former slave, every picture of those precious girls from Birmingham that lost their lives going to Sunday School, and everything in me wants to rejoice! We are not done yet, but I rejoice with those who are rejoicing today.

This is huge.

We are witnessing history.

Pray for Riley

Hi all.

Our family found out some devistating news this week. One of my mom's students who has been battling leukemia for years and was finally healthy. This week he was taken back to the hospital. He is one of my mom's favorite students. Recently the local newspaper, San Diego Union Tribune, did a two-page spread on Riley and his recovery. When they went to interview him, they wanted to go to his favorite class, my mom's band class. Here is the newspaper report and here is the report from Riley's teacher:

"Riley Spiering is a 10 year old, 5th grade student at Christian Elementary School West. He was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was in kindergarten and has only been able to attend school intermittently since that time. His mother has homeschooled him when he has been well enough. We have all been so excited to have Riley at school this year, but sadly, he has had a
recent major set back.

Riley now has a form of lymphoma (yet to be determined what form), several cancerous tumors around his kidney, and one in his liver. There will be more tests throughout the week to determine if there are more tumors and how to treat all of this. The Spierings have four other
boys. This is very heavy for them to hear after a time of rejoicing in Riley’s health. Please bathe this family and our little Riley in prayer. He is at Children’s Hospital, and his mom told me he will probably start chemotherapy on Friday."

Please pray for Riley. He loves Jesus and is simply a joy. Please pray for comfort for his parents and brothers and for all his classmates and teachers who love him dearly.