Team Ukraineee!!

Sledding near the castle

Lobau- right outside of Herrnhut

Nine people, two weeks, one van, twenty hours of road tripping. The destination? Ukraine!!! My team leaves next Saturday for mini-outreach, which is a shorter version of the 2-3 month outreach we'll be doing later on. While there, we'll be helping out an orphanage. After a lot of time in Herrnhut learning and processing, I'm looking forward working with kids! And the road trip should be a blast, too- I'm excited to see the countryside and be on the road again.

The excitement carried throughout the whole castle this past week as over 100 students from the September DTS just got back from doing two months of outreach in Southeast Europe, Kenya, and China. It's been fun having even more creative energy around here- we've had salsa dancing lessons, Attic Church (sermon and music in the attic- put together by the September students), playing music on the street in Zittau, and a successful all-night prayer service (prayer until 6am, hoorah hoorah). 

It was also a solid week of lectures last week. Cory, the speaker, talked about Foundations. She said that our values make our decisions. If we want to live like Christ, we must align our values with those of Jesus. What then are my values? And where do they come from? She said that an easy way to determine the things we value is where we spend (or don’t spend) money. 

Not only do our values decide our actions, but our actions show what we value. Just by looking at a grocery store, Cory mentioned, it’s easy to tell what a culture values. Germany designates lots of space for chocolate (yahh) and dairy.. The U.S., on the other hand, sets aside an unusually large amount of space for cereal. Perhaps it’s because the U.S. values speed. Food that’s easy to prepare. But what does G-d value? 

During one lecture, Cory sent us outside the classroom with this question. Based on what we see nature, what can we conclude that G-d values? We came up with loads of answers: Relationship, diversity, creativity, beauty, rest... but what was most profound to me was that G-d values change. The seasons change, plants grow and die- nature is constantly changing. Likewise, humans are constantly changing. We can't be boxed in easy categories or defined by a single action. Joe reminded us, “We are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS.” I hope, then, that I, too can value change. If I know the reality of change, I will be more present to each moment, knowing that this moment can never be replicated. Time changes. 

"There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

  a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 a time to tear and a time to mend,
  a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace."

 -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8