Fun and fellowship today!

This morning Marni and I went to church at City Light.  We walked through the Stadtpark to get there because the day was so nice.  A tad cool, and it sprinkled here and there, but overall today was sunny and really pretty.

City Light was great!  Joey, the pastor, was back from his trip to Israel, so he led worship and taught the study.  It was so awesome to be in a group and sing worship songs--I hadn't realized how much I missed that!  (Singing in my room with just me and a guitar is okay, but it's not the same.)  We did a few worship songs in English and some in German translated from English, which was awesome!  They were all songs I knew, so I just read along with the German words and sang them as best I could. It was just so great to be able to sing worship in a group.  The study was rad too--they're starting up at 12-week series about the vision for their church and how to build it up successfully, since the church group itself is still so new.  Joey talked about building with Christ as the foundation, out of 1 Corinthians 3 and Matthew 7, and it was super good.  It made me realize how important it is to be an active part of the body, no matter where you are from or which church you are with at the time, and it also showed me that I need to be more prayed up about showing God's love to the people around me.  Janos translated the message into German.  We had around 20 people total, from not only Germany but also California, Afghanistan, and the Ukraine!  The group is small but very diverse.

Here is our group today! (Sorry for the fuzzy quality.)  On the far left is Rose, Joey's mom; next to her is Martin, in whose house CLH currently meets; next to him is Janos' wife Anja; behind me is Elaine; next to me with the two girls is Joey; on the couch in the white shirt is Joey's wife Rebecca; next to her is Martin's wife Yvanna and her mom; in the red sweater with the scarf is Marni; and on the far right is Katja!  Janos took the picture, so he's not in this one.  Sorry I don't know the kids' names yet!

We had lunch afterwards.  Katja, who is a Calvary Chapel missionary from Siegen (in western Germany near Köln), was there visiting.  We had talked on Facebook, so it was great to finally meet her.  I also met Joey's wife Rebecca and his mom Rose, who is also visiting from CA.  It was a fun time!  Marni enjoyed it a lot too.

I left with Marni at about 2:30 (the church service had started around 11) and we walked back through the Stadtpark to home.  It was still so nice outside that we weren't ready to be cooped up in our rooms yet, so we went kayaking.  This time we explored a different canal from the one I went on with Petra.  It was so still and beautiful--like paddling on glass--and there were some gorgeous clouds.

After I got home and made dinner (hot dog on a roll with veggies and salad), Indra loaned me Stardust to watch.  She and Petra had watched it earlier while I was kayaking with Marni.  It is one of Indra's favorite movies, so she said I should watch it too.  I figured it would be more fun to have a buddy for a movie night, so I texted Marni and she came down the hall to watch it with me.  We made tea and hot chocolate and put the movie on my laptop.  The movie was super corny, but we had a great time laughing about it together.  It was good fun, as Marni would say.

Ended the evening with Indra and Petra in the kitchen.  Petra made a fish dinner at 10:30 pm!  I drew a picture of her washing the dishes, and colored it in with the berry juice from my tea bag.

A quick shout-out to my dear friend, Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Talia Bastien, who turns 21 today!  She is a seriously hardcore individual . . . how many girls can say they're a 2nd Lt. in the Marines by their 21st birthdays???  (Answer: Not many.)  So Talia, if you're reading this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!