Pennies for Germany

Things are shaping up for my trip to Germany. I went and applied for my passport this week and I slowly but surely am getting to the needed dollar amount. I've been continuing to go to Infinity Stone once a week to clean and doing other little jobs here and there that will help.
I recently started a penny drive! I have a little pail that asks for penny donations to help me go to Germany. I know someone who went to Cambodia and she did that and it actually ended up greatly helping. So, today to Infinity I took it, and sat it by the sink and coffee maker (where the most people go). I just left it there while I cleaned and wasn't going to go around asking. But then the secretary apparently took it around out back to the shop and when she got back she was all excited and told me that she got me donations!! It was such a big blessing to me and I decided that maybe this would work!! :-)

I'm really excited for the trip - only 2 months from tomorrow!!

Germany here I come!

I am so excited about going to Germany! In some ways August 19th seems very far away, and yet in others it seems so close, afterall, we are now in the month of June. Which I think is good and bad (not about this month being June, that is a very good thing in my opinion), because I am so excited I could be packed and ready to leave tomorrow. But I can't exactly leave tomorrow because I don't have the money. So there is the little problem. That is why I am totally willing to wait the 2 1/2 months, for that gives me time to raise enough. Some moments I'll stress about it, and at other times will feel total peace. But I know that where God guides He provides, and I really don't have any reason to worry. I love the verse Philippians 4:19 "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Today I did do some work at a countertop place. They are the people we are getting ours from and the owners used to be my jr. high leaders at a church I went to and I am also friends with their daughter. So Carol (owner) had offered to give me some work to help me out. It was cleaning - cleaning windows, dusting, sweeping and mopping, and cleaning the blinds. Oh, I was so excited to hear I got to mop, you know, with one of those big mops they use in stores. The guy who showed me how to use it probably thought I was nuts, because I said "Ooh, I've always wanted to use one of these!" The whole blind cleaning thing took a really long time and I was so worried that as I opened them I would snap the cord. I finally managed to open the first one without causing harm to them. So, feeling a little bit more confident, I moved onto the second window. As I was struggling to get the blinds open, all of sudden the whole thing just comes crashing down. I was shocked, and really stressed. Not to mention the blinds banged me on the nose. I could care less about my nose at that point, I just hoped the blinds weren't broken. Thankfully, I found out that they were not at all broken, and were easily snapped back into place. It was only then that I realized my nose hurt but it was just a little bruised. No biggie. Needless to say, I asked someone to pull up the other blinds for me. I was going to take no more risks.


Anyways, so I'm really excited about the trip!!! I've never been out of the country before, and oh, I just love love love to fly! My first time (I remember) flying was really only about a year ago, and it was a short trip at that, just to California. Then I was able to fly again in August when my mom and I went to Dallas, Texas. Now THAT was a fun flight. It was nice and long, at least to me it was long. Once we are in the air though I kinda lose interest, I just read a book or hope that they will show a good movie or serve us pop and a snack. The landing and take off are the best though. But even though I love it, I do get super nervous and pray like crazy. Just something about being high up in the air unnerves me...

But flying's not the only exciting thing about going. I think it will be great to go to Europe on a mission trip. My grandparents are actually there right now, on a vacation they have been planning for sooo long. I can't wait til they come back so I can tell them that now I'm going! You know, it's actually kinda cool. Months ago, while I was at their house, I was trying to convince them that I should go to Mexico this summer with my church group. My parents weren't too hip on me going, but I thought my grandparents might think that it would be cool. And, I thought if I got them on my side, they might convince my parents. I was wrong. They too didn't think it was that good of an idea for me to go. My parents had said the only way I could go is if someone from my family comes along, but no one wanted to. But my grandpa did say that if the only way I could go was to have a family member go, and if no one in my family would go with me, he would consider coming. My grandma still wasn't too sure about the whole thing and said "Wouldn't you rather go to Europe?" Of course then I didn't really show much of a desire to go, because I was trying to talk about Mexico!

So in a way, it's rather ironic that she said that, I had no idea that I would indeed end up going. I'm not going to Mexico, I decided that back in April. My parents really didn't want me to but said they'd think about it. I prayed about it and felt like God was saying not this time. I was disappointed but I knew there would be more blessings listening to God than going to Mexico if I really felt I shouldn't. So really only a month or so goes by when a friend of ours and I start emailing. He asked me if I had any thoughts about going to Germany. I told him it would be amazing to be able to go and thought it would be really neat if my Dad could also go with me. I mentioned it to my parents and they didn't say a whole lot. But when we are going is when my Dad starts back to school (he's a teacher) so those are days he can't really miss. I never in my wildest dreams thought they'd say yes to me going. But Al and I kept emailing and I was getting more and more info about the trip. I prayed about it and talked to my parents and then they said yes! I was amazed they agreed, but incredibly happy!

So, when my grandma gets back in a week I can tell her that I am going to Europe. She was right all along. God sure does work in mysterious ways!