Look what God has done

I'd never understood what people were talking about when they were glad to see a month end. Sure some months were often tougher than others, but I never blamed it on the month itself. Until this past February. It was bad from start to finish, full of crises and challenges and bad news. Those of you who helped pray me through it remember! March didn't come soon enough, and it definitely turned a corner. High school retreat picked up our spirits, and then we all headed in spring break with mission trips and uplifting conferences. I looked back at February 2010 and said, "Good. Riddance!" February was rot, dust, ashes.

Last week and today, the Black Forest Christian Fellowship (the English-speaking church that meets at school) had baptisms. I decided to forgo my German church to see some of my current and future students make this big step of obedience. Well, no one told me EY was among those getting baptized. EY was the one who helped blow the whistle on the sexual abuse case in February, and so many of you have prayed for her and her healing process since. Today I saw some of those prayers answered. God has brought beauty out of the ashes!
There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Especially from all the boys you can see in the front of the picture - her dorm brothers. During the prayer time, her mother asked everyone who'd invested in EY's life or at any time ever prayed for her to stand. The entire auditorium was on its feet, and I couldn't help but think of all the people and supporters around the world who'd also laid EY at Jesus' feet. It was a beautiful picture. Do February storms also bring May crowns?

Not to overlook all the other students who took big steps today as well, here are some other snapshots. The first one is a girl who'll be my student next year! The middle one had a testimony of loss that also made me sob, and the final shot is one of the boys from the dorm I volunteer at every Thursday. Such sweethearts all of them!

Signs of spring!

- It could almost be snowing, there's so much pollen floating in the air right now.
- The trees on the hill outside my window are practically neon green.
- This morning, a huge bumble bee crashed into my four large windows numerous times before finally decided he was in fact not going to get me to open them for him to come in.
- I wore sandals to work today.
- The clouds are getting puffier and looking whiter.
- There's the promise of our first thunderstorm coming up.
- Kids are getting stir crazy in classes.
- Everyone eats lunch outside.
- I really don't want to grade anymore online papers!
- It's getting too warm at night for my down comforter.
- And the best one: it's light-ish when I get up at 5:50 and stays light till 9:30-ish!!! LOVE it!

Guilty

Today during VW's homework period, he was done with his homework for the entire weekend. Excitedly, he asked if he could play on the classroom computer. It was Friday, so I said sure. He practically ran down the hallway to take his science book back to his locker and clean up his stuff, then he jumped on the computer. I meanwhile grabbed one of the 8th grade novels off the shelf that I've been eying for a while and started browsing. Five minutes into my enjoyable perusal, VW turned around with a stern look on his face, "Are you working, Ms. Custer?" "Um, no, not really." "You should be working." Caught red-handed, I suppose.

What's the point?

Yesterday over lunch, one of the many announcements that came through was the following:

"Anyone interested in being baptized as a part of BFCF's (Black Forest Christian Fellowship) baptismal service - coming up - should go see Pastor Harrop right now during lunch. He's sitting in the student center and promises he won't take more than 2 minutes of your time."

During my 6th period class, JB said something about being baptized.

Me: "Oh, did you go see Pastor Harrop during lunch?"
JB: "No, that seemed really meaningless and rushed."
Me: "You mean short-notice? You didn't have your testimony ready?"
JB: "No, I mean that 2 minutes to talk and get baptized and you're out of there all seems really fast and kind of pointless."
Me: "Uhh, ...."

I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn't laugh (too loud) and then tried to explain today was just about expressing interest in being baptized, not the baptism itself. However, it was really cool because afterwards, we did get onto a short conversation about living a life for God and allowed God to control it. Darn bell interrupted us though! I've never had a serious conversation with JB before, so I was extra excited!

Spring Break Part 1: Austria

I've been avoiding tackling the blog because it seems like there is so much to catch up on. But I guess rather than overwhelming everyone with details no one cares about anyway, I'll hit the highlights.

The WorldVenture Austria team conference takes place every spring in the mountains of Austria. The Germany team (which used to consist of one family) always joined them. This year, the Germany team is finally big enough to hold its own water! Hooray! We still met with the Austria team for the devotions and worship, but we had team meetings and strategy planning sessions separately. And all this is gorgeous Alpine setting:
On the last day, Jill, Amanda, and I hiked to the Toplitzsee Lake. It's where the Nazis supposely dumped a lot of treasure on the eve of their loss in 1945. However, there have been many searches of the lake's depths, and all that has been uncovered were thousands and thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit money. They were intending on flooding (and bankrupting) the British and American economies.From there, we three girls drove to Spittal for Good Friday and Easter. It was fun to show them my old stomping grounds and to stay with fantastic friends. I think I ate approximately eight loaves of bread, cheese of two whole cows, meat from a giant pig, fifteen cloves of garlic, and seventy-three pieces of cake. Give or take a few. It was yummy, and a lot of great conversations happened over those dinner tables.

I've run out of the pictures I took. I have to get the rest from Jill and Amanda to tell you about the real adventures that followed.

Seeing Family

Family's great, especially when they give you an excuse to travel in the middle of the week. Last Tuesday, I took a 1/2 day from work and drove up to Strasbourg, France, to see my uncle, aunt, cousins, and some cousin in-laws for the day. We toured the 12th century cathedral, climbed the 330 stairs to the top, meandered around the old parts of the city, and ate a magnificent meal before wandering around some more. It was such a treat seeing relatives and sharing stories of what God's been doing so far at BFA with a real live person!
I loved this picture of all the coins on the statue's head. Many of the coins were not Euros, which means they've probably been lying there for a while. In the last picture, my favorite building was the one that has 5 stories in the roof alone! Talk about a steep roof!So, who wants to come visit next? Any takers?

Gotta love sophomores!

I'm excited for tomorrow morning because I get to hang out with these guys:You'll meet them in my next Prayer Flash and Newsletter. (If you don't get either and would like to, please let me know via comment or at katrinacuster@gmail.com.)