First Day of Teaching...

I am writing to you from my apartment in Kolobrzeg, Poland!  I live with a Polish lady from the SDA church here (a 3-minute walk from the apartment) named Halina.  She is very sweet and SO hospitable.  The thing is, you see, she only speaks Polish and I only speak English.  So, it's been very interesting to try to communicate with her, but very fun!  We laugh often.  She already thinks of me as her daughter, which I think is cool.  She only has a son, so from what the Director of the School by the Sea-Poland tells me, she is really enjoying having me around.  She makes wonderful food, too, which is a definite bonus!  :)

I am done tutoring and teaching classes until next Monday afternoon, which will be nice.  I have a LOT of lesson planning to do, but I am so excited for what God has in store for me this year!  I taught my first class this past Tuesday at 4:00 in the afternoon.  Wow!  Talk about throwing a teacher into a classroom and expecting order.  But, the kids were great!  It is the youngest class we teach here at the school (ages range from about 9-12 years old).  Their names are:  Iza, Ola, Justyna, Pola, Piotek, Tomek, and Jack (he was the only one to tell me the English version of his name).  :)  His parents go to the SDA church here.  The class went very well, surprisingly.  Justyna knows more English than the other children, so it was helpful to have her translate into Polish some things that the other students didn't quite understand.  This year will certainly be a learning experience for me!

I have written over 20 pages in my journal already, so hopefully, I will get some of that typed up for your reading pleasure in the near future.  :)  For now, I will leave you with a thought:  No matter where you are or what you do, God always has a plan for you and He loves you so much!  :)

"And so what we have learned applies to our lives today

And God has a lot to say in His Book!"  (to borrow the song from Veggie Tales)

"I will bless you with a future filled with hope--a future of success, not of suffering.  You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers.  You will worship me with all your heart and I will be with you and accept your worship.  Then I will gather you from all the nations where I scattered you and you will return to Jerusalem."  (Jeremiah 29:11-14 Contemporary English Version)

(Photo:  Taken by Erin Will; Downtown Portland, Oregon...October 18, 2009)

Flight of a Lifetime...

This will mostly be a photo blog, just so you can see some of my adventures on my way to Poland.  :)  Enjoy!  :)  

22-23 October 2009

My luggage.  :)

The drive on the way to the Portland airport....SO foggy!

Erin said she wanted a shot of me at my gate in the Portland airport...so here it is!  :)  A lot of the people were staring at me to see what I was doing...so thank you, Erin.  ;)

Earliest sunset ever...this happened at about 3:30pm (my body's time zone).  SOO beautiful!  I almost missed it (I didn't have a window seat for the flight over), but I got up to stretch and saw the colors and out came my camera!  :)  Amazing sight...

I would hate to be outside!  I would freeze to death (literally)!

Proof that I have been to Iceland!  :)  Lol...the city the plane is "hovering" over is Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland.

Welcome to the international airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands!  :)  An 8-hour layover?  What a welcome.  ;)

Goodbye, Amsterdam!  Now onto Berlin...

Classic Netherlands.  See the windmills?

More of the Netherlands...I promise, I get to Berlin soon!  :)  (The flight from Amsterdam to Berlin took about 1 hour.)

Welcome to Berlin, Germany!

Standing outside in the frigid Berlin night air, waiting for the shuttle to take me to Szczecin, Poland!  :)  (The sign actually says, "Shuttle - Busse - Frei"...but my head cut off the "e".)

Berlin International Airport... the drivers found any excuse to honk.  On the left, you see cars whiz by at about 30mph, and on the right, you see cars lined up to take people wherever they are going...on the right is where most of the honking was coming from.  Silly drivers.  :)

And this concludes my photos from my travels to Poland!  I slept on the shuttle on the way to Szczecin (pronounced: "Shchechin").  It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there.  No border crossing to go through (Poland joined the European Union in 2004, so they have open borders with the other countries in the European Union), so I was happy.  When I arrived at the train depot (that is where the shuttle dropped us off) in Szczecin, it was dark, I was tired, I was alone, and I really didn't want to bring my camera out for everyone to see.  Thus, no pictures of Szczecin.  Maybe in the future.  :)

Dobranoc (good night) to those of you who are in the U.S.!  May we meet again soon!  :)

Witamy w Polska!

I am writing from Kolobrzeg, Poland!  :)  I do not have much time to write, as I am using someone else's computer, but I thought I would let all of you know that I made it to Poland, safe and sound after 34 hours of being awake last Thursday and Friday.  It was a blast!  :) 

I will hopefully write a longer post soon!  Hope all of you are having a good week!  Enjoy the day; take a walk!  :)

I love getting mail...

When I was little, I used to love going to check the mailbox.  As I got older and my family got a post office box, I used to fight with my sisters to be the one to check for mail.  Even now, when I am home, I love going into the post office to see what surprises are inside the little box!  :)  In case you didn't get it before, yes, I am asking you to send me stuff while I am in Poland.  I love personal letters, but packages would be welcomed too!  :)

So, I thought it was about time that I put contact information on here.  :)  If you would like to mail me packages or letters, you may send mail to either the lady's house where I will be living or to the school address where I will be working.  Also, for those of you who would like to keep in touch through email, my email address is: lachenein07@gmail.com.  Feel free to write me anytime, and I will get back to you as soon as I am able to.  I might just include a picture from Poland for you!  :)  

Home Address:

c/o Halina Chajduk

ul. Kupiecka 12/9

78-100 Kolobrzeg

Poland

School Address:

c/o Instytut Jezykow Obcych
School by the Sea

ul. Armii Krajowej 20c
78-100 Kolobrzeg

Poland

(Photo:  Map of Poland from Google.com; 
I will be going to Kolobrzeg, Poland, the circled area on the map.)

Never Been So Ready

You know what I was thinking this morning when I woke up?  That I have never been so ready for a trip in all my life.  I packed up my suitcases 10 days before actually leaving and have had no agenda for the past five days.  Instead of running around like crazy, I have made pumpkin cookies, an apple pie with the shape of a tree cut into the top crust, a genuinely unique greeting card, watched Chris and Erin's cats get tortured...by Chris, played in the leaves and took pictures of fall, watched Robin Hood (the Disney version), made guacamole, and enjoyed being with my boyfriend's family.  All-in-all, this week in the U.S. has been quite relaxing...  :)

(Photo: Matching shoes!  Vancouver, Washington; October 17, 2009)

For all of you who are running around like crazy, PLEASE, take a breather.  Walk a few blocks down the street and take in all the amazing colors of fall that are around you.  The oranges and reds and yellows will not be here forever.  Enjoy it!  And maybe share your walk with someone you love...  :)

Fall in Vancouver, Washington

I have been spending the past three days with my boyfriend's family in Vancouver/Battle Ground, Washington and will be here until my flight leaves on Thursday morning.  It was an unexpected adventure, but I really have enjoyed being around for another week.  I have gotten to see more of the fall season in Washington as a result, and this makes me happy.  :)

I have spent this weekend with Nick's older brother, Chris, and his wife, Erin.  Erin and Chris both graduated from Walla Walla University in 2008 and were married that summer.  Yesterday, Erin and I went to the Meadowglade SDA Church in Battle Ground, Washington.  It is the church that is right next to both the elementary school and high school Nick graduated from.  We enjoyed the service (the music was very good!) and afterwards, made a yummy lunch of seasoned noodles and vegetables and corn on the cob.  :)

That afternoon, we wanted to make pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies.  After we started making the batch, however, Erin realized that she didn't have any chocolate chips, much to our dismay.  But, all was not lost!  :)  We decided to make an icing to put on top of the (now) just pumpkin cookies.  Erin mixed together powdered sugar and vanilla flavoring and added cinnamon, drizzling it on top of the cookies as soon as they came out of the oven.  They were delicious!  Chris even liked them, which was a feat in and of itself.  ;)  His words were, "They're better than the zucchini cookies you made."  (Erin and I made those last time we were together.)

Later that day, Erin and I went outside to take pictures of all the fall leaves.  We were outside for maybe five minutes before it started to mist.  We kept taking pictures.  About 10 or 15 minutes later, all of a sudden the sky gave way to rain.  Pouring down on us, both Erin and I were expecting hail because of how hard it was coming down and how big the drops were.  I love rain, for those of you who don't know that.  I hope I have a lot of it wherever I end up living in the future.  :)  So, because of all the rain and the good company, it was a VERY good day yesterday.  :)

(Photo:  Leaf on a sidewalk in College Place, Washington; November 2008)

Onto something more serious, but recently I have had a hard time staying on top of evening worships and morning devotions.  I have struggled with this off and on for the past ten or so years and just when I think it's engrained in my head, I will skip one day and that turns into one of many of the same type of days...  Please keep me in your prayers, in the coming weeks especially.  Thank you!

Well, it's Sunday afternoon already (just after 12) and Erin is almost done with her homework.  She is working on her masters in Speech Pathology at Portland State.  :)  So, keep her in your prayers, too!  I will talk to you later!  Keep checking back!  :)

(Photo:  Fall rain in Vancouver, Washington; Erin and Ruth, Oct 17, 2009)

Oh My Visa...

....came too late.  :(  After some minor complications with my visa, I decided that it would be best to change my flight instead of risking something this important.  My flight would have left this morning at 11:55 am from the Portland Airport.  Instead, I was at the Will's home...waiting for my visa to arrive.  It got here at 10:00am, which would not have allowed for enough time to get to the airport if I would have risked keeping the same one in the hopes that my visa would arrive early.

Instead, I will be leaving NEXT Thursday from the Portland Airport at 11:55am.  It's basically the same flight, but I have a 7-hour layover in Amsterdam instead of just an hour.  I will arrive in Berlin, Germany at around 5:00pm local time on Friday, October 23, 2009.  And boy, am I excited!  :)

Yes, things are not working out as I thought they would go...but, I have realized that God has plans for us that we can only dream about.  As I was looking at my visa this morning right after I got it from the nice FedEx man, I realized that the "start" date on it is October 17, 2009.  It gives me 120 days, instead of the 250 that I need to stay in the country until the 2nd of June, when my flight leaves to come back home next year.  I don't know how this will work out.  Perhaps I will have to leave the country while I am there this year when my visa expires and then reenter Poland to renew my alloted time there (U.S. Citizens may stay in Poland for up to 90 days if they do not have a visa).  Who knows how this will all work out?  But, one thing I am glad for is a God who loves me and cares about the little things, no matter how small or menial we think they seem to God.  What matters to us, matters to Him.  This is something I am finding out over and over again.

Thank you for all your prayers.  More would be much appreciated as I prepare for my trip...NEXT Thursday, October 22, 2009.  I will keep you updated.  :)

The time is almost here!

The time is almost here!  I leave in about 65 hours (2 days, 17 hours) from the Portland International Airport.  I fly from Portland, Oregon to Berlin, Germany with a stop in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Oh, wow!  How great is God!  The money keeps coming in and I have been blessed in so many ways since making the decision to be a student missionary for the year.  :)  God is good...ALL the time.  :)  Today, I turned in another $100 to the Student Missions office.  I asked the worker there to check the excel spreadsheet to let me know how much more I needed.   "Well," she said, "with the $100, you are....$14 over.  You don't need anymore money."  :)  How amazing!  :)  So, with two days and some odd hours to go, I have raised all the funds that I need!  How exciting!  How wonderful!  I remember an email from Nick where he stated, "Do not worry about the money part, Ruth.  If God wants you to go, He will make it happen."  And He most certainly did!

However, right now, I am getting more than a little anxious...I have not yet gotten my visa (and ultimately have not gotten my passport) back.  But, trust is still there.  I only have one more day....So, we'll see what happens.  PLEASE pray that it comes tomorrow (Tuesday)!  Otherwise, I might have to change my plane ticket and leave at a later date, which is something that I really don't want to do.  :(

It's amazing how much God provides for us.  I am noticing that more and more through the stories Nick has been telling me about his time in Ethiopia just in the two months he has been there.  God really is incredible.  I am so glad I serve a loving God!  :)

 (Photo:  Milton-Freewater, Oregon; Photo shoot with my friend, Katie; Oct 4, 2009)

Untitled

It's the shadow on the ground,
It's the whisper on the wind -
the beat of butterfly wings,
     when it seems like
     time is running away.
It's the thump of a single heart.
It's the reverberating echo
    of a second heart,
    answering the call.
It's the sweet sound of slumber,
the dream that makes you stay asleep.
It's the thundering voices
     telling you to go for it
     and to not back down.
It's the silence of a single step,
    taken in faith.
Courage.

 

(Photo:  Milton-Freewater, Oregon; Photo shoot with my friend, Katie; Oct 4, 2009)