Unge på flugt

Unge på flugt. That is the title of what happened this weekend. The danish Red Cross came and put on a role playing game for our students. A translation could be "Young on the run." They put the students in 'families' and had to act as muslim refugees from Somalia. Then the next 24 hours was a gruelling time of running, hiding, getting 'arrested' and finally reaching Denmark. It started out with them going to the 'passport office' to fill out all the right paper work to be able to leave the country. They had to deal with the stress of getting denied and dealing with people who don't really care about their situation. Then they had to walk 5 km in the snow to try to get to the refugee camp. On the way they passed a checkpoint where the soldiers rifled through all their stuff, threw it on the ground, 'confiscated' valuables, and stole thier money. Then they walked more and were picked up by a 'boat' (it was really our bus) to take them across the sea. They had to lay down on the seats so no one could see them from outside. Then when they got to 'NoHope' the refugee camp, they had to sit on the cold floor in the garage and not talk for 3 hours. If they needed the washroom, they had to have a guard follow them. There each family only got one bag of rice and one cocktail weiner between them. And since they are 'muslim' they couldn't eat the pork wiener. Some converted on the spot. They got first aid supplies, but it was baby clothes and one shoe, things they couldn't use, because the first aid got robbed before it reached them. But finally they were allowed all the rice they could eat. Then the camp got attacked and they had to run to flee. One family got offered a ride, but when they couldn't pay all the driver wanted, they were dropped back off where they were picked up. Then I got to be in the van when the students were 'hunted.' The were making their way to Denmark along the road, and we would drive up and down with big flashlights trying to find them to arrest them. We were yelling out the windows for them and telling them to show themselves. This really got their adrenaline pumping and some have some funny stories of leaping over streams and not knowing how they could have ever jumped that far. After another 5 km, they were picked up by another transport and taken to Denmark where a family hid them in their basement. They had all just fallen to sleep when the cops came in and arrested them. They brought them over to the station, took their fingerprints and were kept there. Then after a few hours sleep, they were interviewed and told who recieved assylum and who didn't. Not everyone did after all that. It was a really cool game. There were only 9 Red Cross people with many different costumes to play all the roles. It looked like so much fun. I was talking to the main guy, and he said I could join in the future if I would like. I am so up for that! It sounds like a blast! One cool thing about the weekend is the testimony of the students. The Red Cross people kept saying how nice the students were and how good attitudes they had and had no problems. I guess we've taught them something this year!

London

So I had a fabulous time in London! We saw a lot of things! We arrived at our friends house at 4:30 in the morning! So after sleeping til noon, we woke up and had an english breakfast... bacon, eggs, toast, beans, fried tomato. It was great. Then we went to Hounslow, where the movie Bend it like Beckham was filmed. It is very Indian culture there, so I just had to buy a bangle. Which I did. Then that night we went to Wimbeldon village to a nice little pub to meet up with my travel mate's friends. After some good laughs, we headed home. The next day we went into the city to see the sites. We saw trafalgar square, big ben, westminster abby, London eye, Buckingham palace, and my personal favourite, Madame Troussauds wax museum! It was well worth the 21 pounds. We got our pictures taken with all the stars. And they have a Chamber of Horrors with live actors that freaked the pants off me! So good! But I'm thankful that I kept my pants on. That could have been embarrassing! The next day we went to the Equippers Church in the morning, home for a rest and then Starbucks and Hillsong Church at night! I got to see two friends from when I was in Hillsong College in Sydney. That was so good! Afterwards we went to Leciester Square and had icecream at the Haagen Daas restaurant!
The next day we spent shopping on Oxford street and we saw Guys and Dolls at the Picadilly Theater starring Don Johnson! What a treat! We raced back to our friends house to start our long journey home. We got a ride to the tube station to catch one of the last tubes to Heathrow airport. There Rebecca left her purse with EVERYTHING on the tube. But we ran to the guys and they radioed and found it all intact, Praise God. So we picked it up, then went back to Heathrow. We had to wait there till 3:30 am to catch the bus to Stansted Airport. We got to Stansted just before 5am. Then we had to wait til 5:30 to check in. Then once we passed security, we slept at our gate til boarding to take off at 7:30. Hour and a half later we landed in Denmark. We just barely caught the bus from the airport to the train station which is 45 mins. Then the train from Århus to Kolding. Then the bus from the Kolding station home! All said and done it was like 14 hours! Crazy! I slept for like 11 hours last night! Now I am on duty and have to teach and it's going to be great! Hopefully the students don't find the teacher sleeping in class!

woo hoo!

So I'm in Århus right now. I'm visiting my friend Anne whom I met at Hillsong College. It's been so great and so cozy! We are planning to go to the swim hall today, and shopping. And yesterday we visited with our other friend Louise and had such a great time catching up and having girl chat. We also went through Louise's wedding stuff. She is going to be such a gorgeous bride, I can't wait! Tomorrow I'm flying to London England! So excited about that! I have never been and can't wait to see the sights. I'm a little nervous about how expensive it is there, but i can live on canned tuna for five days, if need be! I will post more about that afterwards and show pictures! So excited!

What a weekend!

So I had a really good weekend! It all started out with a Switchfoot concert on Friday night! They were amazing, and their new cd rocks! But I'm going to wait till Canada to buy it, it's much cheaper there. Here it's 30 dollars! Anyways, I met some of my friends there, mainly Louise and Joachim who are now engaged! And my friend Signe whose house I went to afterwards. It was a 3 hour drive from the concert back to Copenhagen, and since I was shotgun, I had to stay awake to keep the driver awake. That was fun! At one point we stopped at a turnout to do a chinese fire drill to get the juices flowing. But 3:30am rolled around and I finally got into bed! The next day was Signe's goodbye party as she is moving back to Australia for two years of design school! That was fun, I met new people and had a pause to go talk to my family on webcam. Then we went to the biggest church in Denmark for Sunday service. There I found a CD I've been looking everywhere for! Then it was Return of the King, and then saying goodbye to Signe for real. I stayed the night at her sister Sara's house because I knew the way to the train station from there. We stayed up talking past midnight, then we decided we needed to sleep. I was up at 6am, out by 6:10, and on the train home by 6:25. Well, I am tired, but I took a nice long nap once I got home. So that was my weekend in a very short nutshell. Believe me, I could elaborate more, but then I would have nothing to talk about the next time I see you! Hehe. Anyways. Hope all you who read this are doing amazing! God bless!

Who, me?

I am so blessed, and so humbled. My students got together and raised some money for me so that I could go visit my friends who live in different cities, so I can have a break and not be so lonely. How amazing are they! I had no idea they would do that, and feel so honored to have such thoughtful generous kids here. I was stupidly stressed about money, but God has heard my prayers and come to answer my cries using these beautiful students. God is a good God. I just pray that the blessing is returned back to each and every one of them. I am full of mistakes, and can be so stupid sometimes, but God still chooses to bless me. Wow.

Fields and flying carpets

So, God is good. I would just like to put that out there. I went to the Young Adults meeting in the church last night and had a really awesome time. There are having a School of Ministry every last Sunday of the month there, so I joined the Prophetic class. It was so good. One girl got a really encouraging word for me. She said she saw me on a flying carpet flying high in the sky, having a good time. Then she said she felt it meant that I would fly over my problems, not put them lightly, but not be affected by them so much because I know that God is with me and helping me through them because He is the flying carpet. She said she saw me being unlike others who are down on the ground dealing with their problems, but I had something special with God. She said I stand out because of my smile and God's presence shining through me. How cool is that?! So that, needless to say, was very encouraging. I have had similar words like that in the past, so it's kind of crazy. One word I had before was when I was at Tahilla Monday in Calgary. Pastor Steve stopped the ending worship set to point me out and give me a word. He said that I was going to have such a great life. He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time for how great it was going to be. He said that most people are on a tightrope going through life and have to be careful not to make a wrong step, but my life was like a big, wide open field that I could go running through and dancing in. He said again that I was going to have a great life. And I would have to say, so far he's right! I have had the best life I could imagine! I'm living the life I want, and God is there every step of the way blessing me beyond what I can imagine. He is so good to me! I love that with God, all things are possible, so I'm running through the field and excited for what is going to happen next. Well, this blog entry is a lot more cheerful than the last one, eh? God is so good.

Hey all who read this. I need your help. I've been feeling a little down lately, well, a LOT down. Let's just say my pillow case needs to be de-salted. If you could please pray for me. I'm feeling really lonely and homesick. It is really hard for me here in this Scandinavian culture. In my city I have no friends outside of Euroclass where I work. And that is really really hard for a sanguine extrovert like myself. I'm used to having many many friends and something to do anytime I want, and people to hang out with always. And now, I have no one it seems. I can't really have best friends amoungst the students, can't show favouritism or anything. And the other leaders have their lives or have to work here, so they can't leave the building. Or like we all deal with, we have no money to do the stuff we want. And that includes going to another town to see my good friends. I would do that all the time if I could. But I can't. So needless to say, the past 6 months of loneliness feel like they are culminating in this moment. So please pray. I have been to the young adults group here, but the people are so reserved and not very friendly or welcoming. Yes, they are civil and nice, but when it comes to inviting me out to just hang, or do whatever, well... there is just none of that. So please pray for a breakthrough for me. I can't do this alone. It's just not in my personality or nature. I NEED friends to keep me sane and keep me from not killing my students.
Thank you for all your understanding and prayer! God bless!