A Day in the Life of Brittany...

(This is my day in a nutshell in the Front Office -all of the events listed have happened and I have accomplished, not in my own strength but only by the strength of my Father - what a joy it is to serve Him in the Black Forest!)

8:00 - Open up the school - empty the dishwasher - and start the much anticipated coffee! (Will the 50 cup pot be enough for the day???)

8:28 - Answer the phone - Student A from Dorm 1 is sick. Student B from Dorm 2 will be late. 

8:50 - First bell rings 

8:52 - Sign 6 late slips 

9:00 - Put postage on the 12 letters that need to go out

9:16 - Student C and D are marked as absent  but no one called them in sick - time to call out a search party - bring on the yearbook! If I need to search campus for them - what do they look like??

9:33 - Start walking to the Post (post office) 

9:49 - Successful mail pick-up requires around 8 German words - Guten Morgen, Mail für BFA, Bitte....Danke - Tschüss! (Good morning, mail for BFA, please...thank you, bye) 

10:06 - Walk back into the office - 2 students need their computer login information - 1 staff member needs the key to the storage closet - 1 German speaker on the phone and the police walk in - take a deep breath! 

10:23 - Sort through mail:

Pile 1 = current students

Pile 2 = bills to open, sign and take to finance

Pile 3 = current staff

Pile 4 = past students - hmmm, where are they now?

Pile 5 = past staff to be given to the personnel office to find current address

Pile 6 = german advertisements

10:47 - The office is Q (quiet is a forbidden word to say as it always brings chaos), time to grab a cup of coffee and check email

10:59 - Internet Explorer opens - 48 new messages - some have to do with parent/teacher conferences and guest house bookings, and some are new staff phone numbers to add to the phone list that was printed in bulk yesterday - draft copy is a term used for most phone lists until around April! 

11:26 - Start a Resin office supply order - Now let's think - Bob wanted a stapler, Tom wanted 4 reams of the light green paper, Sarah wanted 4 packages of 10 mm staplers, Chris wanted erasers and green pens and the supply room is out of white paper - I think that was all! Now let's see... what would the German name for that be??? 

12:32 - It is the students lunch time! Many come to the office to pick up lunches, call home, or are searching for their long lost textbook. 

1:00 - Time for my lunch.... ahhh a quiet and near deserted staff room. There are only a handful of us who are eating at this time. I don't mind eating a little later and I look forward to the few moments of quiet I can get. 

1:30 - Fix a paper jam - sign for a parcel - send a fax

1:52 - A Resin order from last week comes in - time to unpack and organize. Paper is organized by colour and weight in the paper room - they are labeled now, please don't mix up! The office supplies go in the closet and are there for the staff as they need them. 

2:46 - A family of 6 is visiting to check out the school - write and sign their visitor badges and appoint them to their tour guide for the afternoon

3:50 - School is out! Kids are running everywhere. "Can I use the phone" ... "Have you seen my mom"... "Did my glasses get turned in here" ... "Do you know if there is volleyball tonight" The answer is a glad and cheerful yes! Now just one second while I answer this phone. 

4:15 - Dorm Sonne calls - "our guys are not home yet, were there buses today?" Time to track down the bus company and make sure the students get home soon! 

4:30 - The halls are quiet - time to finish drinking that cup of coffee I started this morning. 

4:44 - respond to some pressing emails. 

4:59 - turn off the computers, printers, shut the windows, clean the kitchen, start the dishwasher

5:00 - Lock the doors and home to Riedlingen I go. 

"Thank you Father for another awesome day in the Front Office!"

Mighty and Faithful is He

I just wanted to write a quick update on where I am financially.

Jennifer so graciously sat down with me this evening to find out my % as we went through each one of my monthly support statements.

I was in awe as I saw her add up the total... for the 2 years I have committed to I will need $46, 704, and my total came to $49, 754. I am at 106.5%! WOW!

Our God is sooo good!

Thank you SO much to all who have been praying and have supported me financially!

Love,

Brittany

Birthday Celebrations!

I am sorry that it has been a while since I have last blogged... I am awaiting a new computer cord to charge my dead computer. Jennifer has so graciously allowed me to use her computer while she is out hiking, thus the reason I am able to blog this beautiful Saturday morning. 

9 days ago marked the day of my 21st Birthday - a day that I thought would be like the day before. I was wrong - so wrong! 

While showering that morning, my roommates, Jennifer and Heather put up balloons and Happy Birthday signs on my door and in my room. In the hallway sat a vase of flowers and a birthday card. 

I thought, aww how sweet! I have great roommates! Little did I know, the day was just beginning! 

Once I got to work I was flooded with food! It was donut day (Thursdays) and Betty the one who makes the donuts had wrapped me two as a gift! I also received lots of chocolate and carrot cake! I was amazed at the amount of flowers I got, from roses to sunflowers! What great gifts! They really brightened up my day- and my desk! 

Jennifer came in mid-morning and brought me two cupcakes and a birthday card. She had expressed that she needed to leave but to be prepared as the surprises were not over. 

I told Bethany she could go on her break as I had a few things I wanted to finish up. My phone rang, and it was for Tim. Little did I know that Jennifer had not left - in fact she was in the office that called. 

It was around this time that I was so lovingly kicked out of the office for a break. Tim tried to persuade me that I should take a walk on such a beautiful day but I really just wanted a cup of coffee and a quiet place to sit in the kitchen across from the office. 

I sat down in the kitchen, in perfect view of he office, I had no idea what was going on. Soon Valerie (the one who had called earlier) came in, it seemed like the perfect time for a break as a few of my close friends were in the kitchen. Little did I know Valerie was standing in the door way so Jennifer and Bethany could decorate - oh dear! 

I went back to the office after my coffee was consumed and this is what I found:

And every time I turned the corner at school this is what I found:

Needless to say, everyone knew it was my birthday! So at the end of the school day, as I am tearing down signs and cleaning up confetti, I was thinking "this was an awesome day." Little did I know - the day was not over! 

As I was checking my email and just winding down at home, I was asked if I was ready for dinner. I was a little surprised as none of us had really started on making anything. I was then told to dress warmly. Before we left I had to sit on the couch and I was handed a gift from the girls. It was a picture frame with a picture of the 3 of us in Basel, Switzerland a few weeks previous.

After many questions and trying to figure out what we were doing I jumped into the car with Heather, Jennifer, Brad and Janis (our host family/dorm parents :D). When we arrived at a parking lot half an hour later I was told it was time to close my eyes and they would lead me. It looked something like this:

I was safely led to our destination, which was this awesome restaurant called Funfschilling (spelled something like that!)! It was an awesome evening eating outside with my Germany family.

 I thought what a great ending to my birthday! (by now you probably know that the surprises were still in the works)

Two days later takes us to Saturday September 4. It was a nice morning of sleeping in. After getting groceries and spending some time outside, Jennifer asked if I wanted to go for coffee and kuchen(cake) (what they had looked into doing on my actual birthday but it wasn't open very late) I eagerly said yes and we agreed we would dress up. 

I found myself waiting on the couch for the girls to finish getting ready. Heather all of a sudden wanted to straighten her hair and Jennifer was helping Janis cut vegetables for their evening guests. 

I saw a shadow outside our door and so like anyone else would I opened it. It was Laura! She is an RA at the dorm Storch (the one I sub at). Heather was suddenly at the door and explaining how it was nice Laura stopped by on her day off. I was starting to wonder what was going on. Not too much later lots of our close friends were at our house and all dressed up saying surprise! We had great food and great fun playing farkle! Let me introduce you to some of the people that made my birthday a very special one:

Jonathan and Valerie

Brad

Janis

Kristi, Emily and Anna

I am so blessed to have these amazing people in my life who made my birthday so special!

I am thankful for these wonderful roommates I have and all that they did for me to have a great first birthday in Germany! I look forward to what God has in store for us this next year and the ways we can celebrate His faithfulness in our lives.

Week 1 @ BFA!

Here we are... we have made it through our first week at Black Forest Academy - and what an amazing week it was! 

(Unfortunately it was a busy one so I have not been able to take many pictures at school yet. You can expect to see some of those in the next few weeks!)

Tuesday (24) we had opening ceremonies where the teaching faculty walked in to an uproar of applause; followed by the graduating class of 2011 walking in with the country flags represented at our school. There are a total of 52 nations represented at Black Forest Academy! It was amazing to watch as they did the role call of the nations and see how our student body comes from so many different places. 

I can't even begin to explain the utter joy I felt as I watched the BFA campus fill with students this week. This place totally changed. There are kids in what were empty classrooms, and chatter filled the hallways! To watch returning students show new students around and to see friends embrace each other after being apart was not something that can easily be described with words. Those moments truly brought tears to my eyes. God is in this place and is moving in this place, and that is evident in every day.

I knew I was going to love the office, but each day I am renewed with a deep passion and love for the work God has called me to. Last week I was informed that not only will I be working in the Front Office... I will be overseeing it all! The Front Office Manager, Tim, and his family are returning to Australia in November for 6 months and I will be the one to step into that role. It was scary to hear at first but God has been preparing me and I am very excited for this. It has been a week of learning and adjusting to a different office setting and just learning what my role entails. It is a blessing to have Tim around for the next few weeks to help in the "newness" of it all. 

Tomorrow (30) is the start of a new week, a week that a lot of our school programs begin in. I have been accepted to work in the dorm "Storchenblick," (also known as "Storch") which is a high school girls dorm. The dorm parents there are really great and I look forward to getting to know them better and serving alongside them. (They are also fellow Canadians! :)) We have a meeting tomorrow evening in regards to what is expected from us and the following Monday evening I will be in the dorm! I am SOO looking forward to meeting the girls and being able to spend time with them each week. 

There are also music and sports teams starting up this week in addition to Resident Life subbing. I will be on a worship team at the church (Black Forest Christian Fellowship) that meets in the BFA auditorium each Sunday. It's a great community and I have loved attending there for the few Sundays I have been here.

It is amazing to see the school in action and really see first hand what an amazing ministry opportunity we have here in the Black Forest.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers! 

There is no other place I would rather be than in Germany loving on these missionary kids right now. God is good! 

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Galatians 6:9

Praise:

-The other 2 ladies who work in the office speak German!!

-Providing a Christian educational facility in a safe place where so many students of so many nations can meet

Prayer:

-Please pray for the staff/students who have not arrived yet due to visa complications/support raising

-Please pray that we would have continual opportunities to invest into these kids, to love on them, and to make Jesus known in real ways

The school bell is about to ring...

Hello!

I wanted to write a quick post about what is happening in and around Kandern this week:

Today (22) and tomorrow (23):
New students will be arriving and moving into their dorms and attending new student orientation tomorrow!

Tuesday (24):
All returning students will be back! The whole school will meet on Tuesday morning for opening ceremonies (where we will have a flag for each country represented). After our morning celebrations, students will say last goodbyes to their parents and will be off to their first day of classes.

This week is going to be a busy one filled with lots of learning and meeting new people (both for staff and students)!

Please pray for:
Black Forest Academy as we start off the new school year
Students and their families as they are saying goodbyes
New staff who are in the midst of preparation and learning how to function in a new school and country

May it be a year that is pleasing to our God!

I will try and write a more detailed post once school has started!

Blessings on you as you continue to walk with Him,

Brittany

All part of the "abenteuer" (adventure)!

Greetings from Germany!
It’s hard to believe I have been here for almost a week now! Let me give you a glimpse of what my first week in Germany has looked like:

Saturday – Departure/Arrival Day! I arrived safely in Basel, Switzerland at 10pm. There was a couple who was waiting with a sign that read “ Herzlich Willkommen, Brittany." My roommate Heather had made it and it was quite helpful as I had no idea who would be picking me up. The Basel airport is actually in France (Switzerland didn’t have enough room) so within a few minutes I had been in 3 countries. We drove across the Rhine River as we were heading to Riedlingen (my home!). I wish I had been ready with my camera because as we were going over the bridge there was a single firework that went off. It was one of those moments where your heart smiles.

Sunday – Good morning jet lag! I had a hard time sleeping the first night so I got up at 6am and unpacked EVERYTHING! We went to the Black Forest Christian Fellowship that morning. It is the English church service that meets in the BFA chapel. It was a great morning of meeting people I had been emailing for months, and also meeting new people! After lunch we went to Sonne (boys dorm), where one of the English camps is going on. We were able to have lunch with Jennifer (the third part to our roommate trio). She has stayed at Sonne with the English camps so this was the only day we have seen her thus far. It will be nice when she is able to move back to the apartment.



Monday – Day 1 of German classes “How to conjugate a verb” Nothing like jumping in on day 1! Haha! A couple who work at BFA had graciously given up their week to help us with the basics of the German language as well as taking us on field trips to help us better understand the cultural side of things. That morning we went to the Rathaus (City Hall) and the Volksbank (Bank).

Tuesday- Day 2 of German classes was filled with learning our Ah-Beh-Tseh’s (ABC’s) and going to the Recyclinghof (Recycling depot). The Germans take their recycling very seriously! I think we have about 7 different containers in our kitchen to sort it all. That night Heather and I went to a TeachBeyond supper at the Reed’s house. Every few days they had a dinner for the new staff that had arrived since the last one. It was a great night of reconnecting with other TeachBeyond staff as well as meeting some of the ones who had not been at orientation. They have been very helpful in helping us with our transitions here.

Wednesday – Day 3 of German classes we went over different foods, grocery shopping, money and going to the doctor! After morning tea we went to the post office as well as the grocery store. The businesses around town are very helpful and gracious as we are still trying to learn their language and the culture.

Thursday – Day 4 of German classes consisted of learning how to eat out and order in German! We went to the local bakery (YUM!). Here we ordered anything from cakes to breads to pastries and then some sort of drink. It was a good experience and as I learn more German I look forward to using it around town. Yesterday I was also given then keys to our apartment and signed the papers to become German resident! Yay!!



Friday – Last day of German classes we went over any questions we had and were given tips on how to continue learning German. After class Heather and I went for a beautiful walk through the forest. In one view we could see the golf course, a hay field, a herd of dairy cows, and the edge of town! It was incredible! The cows were right off of our walking path so the smell definitely reminded me of home. When we got back to town we went to the bank and got my bank account set up! I was very thankful that Heather came for both the town registration and getting my account set up. They do speak pretty good English but it was nice having her be able to ask and clarify things in German.

It has been such a good week. It feels so right here, I know this is exactly where I am supposed to be. Things are different here, for sure. God is continually reminding me that the way they do things here compared to Canada is not right or wrong, it is just different. As someone who will not only be living here but working here, I hope and pray that I will be able to learn from the Germans and transition into how they do things.

It’s been really good getting to know the staff at BFA. For those of us who are not in Reslife we have had a lot more free time in the afternoons. This has allowed us to explore and get some things done before it starts to get super crazy at school. It has also been an adventure buying groceries and cooking them as they all are in German. Heather has been our awesome translator and so far our meals have been really good! Haven’t burnt the house down or anything! :) Looking forward to having our third roommate, Jennifer, come back from English camps on Sunday!

Next week we move into new staff orientation within BFA. We will spend more time in our departments and getting ready as students will be arriving in two weeks!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support as I am settling in Germany!

God is at work preparing us physically for this upcoming year, please pray that our hearts would be in preparation also. While we have a lot to accomplish in the next few weeks it is so important we stay focused on Jesus and becoming "Kingdom Builders" in this great adventure He is taking us on. Danke! (Thanks!)

Bring on the jet lag!

Greetings from Germany!

I have been here for about 17 hours now. Just long enough to sleep for a few hours, unpack my 3 suitcases, attend the Black Forest Christian Assembly, eat lunch with my roommates and have a nap!

There is so much to take in -- from the windy roads, the forestry, the animals, all the new people and the chattering German kids outside, it's just so incredible!

This morning at church we sang songs about God's faithfulness and how He can move the mountains. These are not only things that we see throughout the old and new testament, God shows us again and again in our own lives. A few weeks ago I was starting to wonder if Germany was going to become a reality, and it did! Of course it did!  God provided everything I needed as I took the step in faith to follow Him.

In the midst of my jet lag and adjusting to the German  culture I have no doubt in my mind that God will provide my every need as I am here. He is my all in all.

This week we start new staff orientation at BFA. The next few days will be spent in German classes. I am hoping and praying that a lot will stick with me as I really don't know the language.

Looking forward to keeping in touch and hearing how God is at work here and there.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

~Brittany