Play Practice

The BFA middle school students have practiced since November to preform "The Mouse that Roared."

 At our technical rehearsal we worked out all of the detail, and made sure we had our props.

The students worked so hard.  BFA has about 50 middle school students and 29 of them preformed in the play.  I was the assistant director with Heather Powers as the Director.  It was an amazing experience.

A Night in Friberg

 The dorm gets very empty in the spring with the nice weather and soccer and track in sessions.  The girls not in a sport choose to skip the after school snack so that they could have a nice dinner out.

As soon as we got to Friberg, about 45 minutes away from BFA, the girls found this cool Marylin Monroe mural.  

This is our crew of people not in sports.  Since we are such a small group we decided to go out to eat!

We had some Italian food.  They sat us in an outside breezeway.  This was good because we were way too loud for European dining standards!  It was a great evening out on the town and away from the cafeteria food.

Res Life Personal Developement Day

Palm Staff Ladies: Bonnie, Taylor, & Stephanie

After a couple of sessions of learing with the ResLife staff, we got to go out to dinner.  We went to this cool place built in the 1700s.  We ate in the basement and had a yummy broth fondue with chocolate fondue for dessert.

Luke, Chris, and Cory

The guys were ready to eat as soon as we sat down...but we are in Germany and a meal is an event.  We sat and ate and talked for three hours!  

The Candle Light Feast

Anne, Anna, and Amanda made up the rest of the table.

Becky vists from Spain

Bonnie & Becky

My friend Becky Williams, a fellow worker Avant Ministries came from Malaga,Spain.  There she writes for the Malaga Media Center.  She came through the Basel area to go to a wedding in Germany, so we got to hang out for a day! 

I took Becky to Hoch Blauen. On a clear day you can see France and Switzerland.  It was NOT a clear day, but we did see this para glider.  Off he goes!

Up, Up and Away!

Then I took Becky to Salsenberg.  This ancient tower was build in 1311 by some monks.  I can see this tower from the front door of my dorm.  

Becky and I climbed the winding stairs and got to the top.  Here is Becky with Marzell in the background.  This village houses two BFA dorms:  Sonne a boys dorm and Blauen a girls dorm.

The sunset was beautiful from the tower.  We enjoyed a quiet evening with the beautiful German landscape.

Fasching Celebration

Fasching (probably not spelled correctly) is a German and Swiss celebration that the people have before Ash Wednesday on March 9, 2011.  This year the village of Kandern had their Fasching parade on Sunday March 6, 2011. 

If you look closely you can see underwear hanging across the main street of Kandern.  The people are celebrating being able to do "whatever" is forbidden over Lent.  In my experience it tends to be a spiritually dark time.

Here is a local house ready to enjoy the party.  The Fashing season goes on for anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks and then ends with a parade.

The people will dress up in interesting costumes.  Earlier this day I saw a man with a chicken on his head and another dressed as a Catholic cardinal.  Many people had a variety of furry costumes on.

This is a group of people getting set up for the parade.  This time has been very dark in my dorm.  Often I will wake up  in the middle of the night and just pray for the protection of the dorm.  Last night one of my girls asked me to come and pray over her room so that she could go to sleep.  Please lift up the girls in my dorm.  Many are battling with spiritual attacks.  Most of their parents are serving the Lord in dangerous situations, and attacking the children of missionaries is a good way to get missionaries off of the field.  Please pray that there would be a hedge of protection around Palmgarten dorm and that each girl would wear the spiritual armor in Eph. 6:10-18.  Thank you for your prayers.

First Moldova Team Meeting

 I have the opportunity to help lead a BFA missions trip to the country of Moldova.  If you are like me, you are wondering where Moldova is. Good question.  It is the poorest country in Europe and it is between Romania and the Ukraine. I get to help lead this trip with my two good friends, Brandon and Lizzy Jeffers.  Lizzy was my co-RA last year and I went to their wedding in Georgia last summer.  We have 11 high school students going with us.

Lizzy and I made a yummy pasta bar meal.  The kids seem to enjoy this simple meal.

K and K enjoy their tasty meal of pasta.

Brandon challenged the students with some words of wisdom.  We have 9th through 12th graders going on this trip.

Our main contacts are Janz Team missionaries Alec and Jan Forman.  They live in the BFA community and have been to Moldova.  They are from England and have fabulous accents.  They spent many years in Mali, West Africa and know Denis and Cindy Weins well (missionaries that Ebenezer Mennonite Church supports who were in Mali).

Alex show the team the community center in Moldova.  We will be doing some landscaping to make it a more welcoming place.  In the evenings we will also do a program for the children in the village.

Since I LOVE team building activities, I had our team play the tarp game.  First they had to all get under the tarp without using their arms or hands.  

Then they had to fold the tarp in half without touching the ground or using their hands.

Finally they had to flip the tarp.  Again they could not use their hands or touch the floor. They did a great job.

Roman Adventrue #4: Palatine Hill and The Colosseum

On Sunday we explored Palatine Hill and the Colosseum.  Here you can see some of the ruins of Palatine Hill.  Nero had his home on Palatine Hill.

This is a map of the Roman Empire when it was the most powerful  nation on the earth.  

The road ends right at the Colosseum.  It is so huge and impressive. I would hate to have been a slave or an early Christian who was forced to fight as a gladiator. 

The Arch of Septinium Severus

This is a training ground for the gladiators on Palatine Hill.  

Bonnie and the Colosseum

Inside the Colosseum you can see what was underneath the wooden floor where the gladiators fought.  There are many room, hallways and chambers that kept lions, tigers, and gladiators among other things.  The Romans would also flood this area and have naval battles so that Roman citizens could watch.

This cross was carved into the Colosseum wall.  It might have been put their by an early Christian.

Each Roman citizen had a specific place they were able to sit for anything that went on at the Colosseum.  They had a specific door they would enter and a specific set of stairs they would use.  Here you can see more of the space underneath the wooden floor where the action took place on.

You can see the white wooden floor that shows where the wooden floor would have been. It is a sobering thought to think of what actually went on here all in the name of entertainment.

Bonnie, Anna, and Erin

 

 Three happy travels end their Roman Adventures.  It was a wonderful time and a time to just think about the early church.

Roman Adventrue #3: The Vatican Museum

 After we saw St. Peter's we went around the corner to see the Vatican Museum. 

Bonnie, a HUGE Roman Dude, and Anna

I love random things and are unusually HUGE.   When I saw this incredibly giant bust, I had to get my picture with it and I forced Anna to be in the picture with me.  After we got our picture taken, then suddenly a lot of other people began to do the same thing.  I am such a trend setter.

There is just so much art in the Vatican that it is impossible to take it all in.  Each of those frames on the ceiling has a masterpiece in it.

This is the famous "School of Athens."   It has famous philosophers like Plato and Socrates. It was so big, I had a hard time capturing the whole painting.

The Spanish Steps

 

The Pantheon

 Anna and Erin pose with the Piazza Venezia in the back ground.  We began to call this "our home in Rome," since this was were we always ended up and it is sort of in the center of a giant traffic circle.

This is the Piazza Venezia in the daylight and up close.  It is very impressive and yes there are more statures. 

I am enjoying the view from the Piazza Venezia.  The weather in Rome in February was in the 70s and sunny. 

Roman Adventure #2: St. Peter's Cathedral

 On Saturday morning we went to the Vatican City, which is a country within Italy. It even has it's own postal service.

 As we stood in line to get into St. Peter's Cathedral, we enjoyed the architecture.

Rome has so many statures... they are everywhere.  Each of these columns has it's  own stature.

Erin and I catch some rays as we wait in line.

Since we were entering St. Peter's Cathedral, and it is a church, there is a dress code to ensure that people show the proper respect.  I was dress properly so I was able to enter.

St. Peter's Cathedral is such a HUGE church, that you could fit a normal church inside of it.

St. Peter's also holds the Pieta by Michelangelo.   It shows Mary holding Jesus when He was removed from the cross.

Peter was martyred in Rome and in the location of St. Peter's Cathedral.  This huge wooden carving marks Peter's burial place. The crypt is just below this and no entry is allowed into this place.

Christ Ascends into the Heavens

 

The Vatican has the Swiss Guard patrol this holy place.  They wear very colorful outfits.