as of today, we have new computers.  i love dells.

i received every email sent to my bodenseehof account up to this morning.  if you want me to get them now, you must send them to:

louissa(at)gmail.com

my address for letters:

Louissa Sinclair
Bodenseehof
Postfach 2933
88023 Friedrichshafen
GERMANY

and you’ll never guess what was announced the other day. we’ll be getting new computers and we’re going to coninue to have the internet for the year. that doesn’t really make all that much of a difference besides the fact that they prefer we don’t use our school email accounts anymore. so, no more bodenseehof emails for me. send ‘em to: louissa(at)gmail.com

: )

yes, we were able to sleep an extra hour last night and yes, we should be full of energy because of it, but we’re not. all afternoon, camped on every couch and comfortable chair you could find bodenseehof students reading and writing. there were purchases of coffee and tea being made to keep warm and some of us kept putting more shirts and sweaters on. it was a gray and rainy day here — typical bodensee weather that we haven’t experienced until now.

it’s funny how weather can be so tempermental. yesterday found me on a canoe for over an hour and afterwards i walked for over an hour (yes, over 5 sports points!). i wore a t-shirt and jeans and was warm in them. there are flowers still in bloom here and the trees are just changing colors. i’m told that if you further up north it’s different but here it feels like the beginning of september rather than the end of october.

it’s been more than six weeks since i’ve had my hair trimmed and i’m starting to notice. i’ve also run out of my lovely redken product and have resorted to the common supplies you can buy in grocery stores. my sister would be horrified if she saw what i’m doing.

i don’t have an iPod. everyone here has an iPod. because of that, i don’t need an iPod. afternoons like this one finds me sitting next to a friend with one ear piece in listening to michael buble and thinking of home. it’s rather fun.

speaking of home… i have two more things on my board in my bedroom. a scribbled picture from my baby girl and a note from my big boy. everyone “oohs” and “ahhs” over my pictures and a note that starts with “Dear Aunt Louissa” and ends with “Have a good time in Germany, Louissa. Love, Gabriel.” it all came in a card from their mama and made me smile and be happy. after reading the card over and over and hanging the other two things up, i sat and stared at them. i was so happy.

it’s dark here and it shouldn’t be. it makes me sleepy and want to go to bed but when i look at the clock i realize that it’s only 19:04 and i have 25 minutes until our evening service starts. bummer dude.

if you asked me if i’ve been learning anything, i would probably tell you that i have. if you asked me what i’ve learned, i would probably look at you with a blank stare and not know what to say. sure, i sit in lectures five hours everyday and hear things about what it means to be in Christ, we’ve dissected Colossians and 1 Corinthians, have heard three lectures on prayer, and are currently sitting through a class called, “The Progress of Redemption.”

after writing all that, i feel like i should have heaps to tell you about what the Lord has been showing me, but i don’t. at times i feel like i have so much being thrown at me that i don’t have enough time to really think and apply it to my personal life. but it’s not because they don’t give me enough time — i just don’t choose to spend my time wisely.

and that’s something i’m learning how to do.

we’re reading a book on prayer and i’ve heard a lady talk on prayer for three hours now. and i can’t tell you how convicting it is. prayer is supposed to be a major part of my life and i’m afraid it isn’t. prayer is about adoring Him, about confessing my sins, it’s about thanking Him, it’s about spending time with Him, it’s about having a conversation with Him.

and i’m learning how to do that.

“Be still and know that I am God.” that’s a well known verse that, in my mind, should accompany a picture or card in a Christian bookstore displaying the beauty of nature. i know those words well and yet, haven’t ever really thought of the importance of them. every sunday morning i see them on our wall, here in school, as we “prepare our hearts for our time of worship.”

i’m busy — always have something to do and something to think about. i’m never still. i never wait to hear from Him. i do all the talking in the five minutes i slate out to make all my requests and then have the audacity to be frustrated when i feel like i never hear from Him. Bible passages never jump out at me, no one ever says anything and i think, “that’s a sign!”, and i never feel like a certain thought came to my mind because the Holy Spirit placed it there.

so perhaps i am learning. and i’m learning that there are some things i thought i had down and don’t.

yeah, it’s fun. : )

there is hardly anyone in this computer room, which is a miracle. we ended lectures early tonight but were not given our usual ten minute break during the two hours. i guess i’ve really gotten a routine down because by the end i felt like my bladder was about to explode.

but i hadn’t planned on writing any of that — that’s not why i came down here in the first place.

i was going to tell you that i feel like time is going by like… the speed of light (lame, i know. but i couldn’t come up with anything). some told me that time would drag on by while it went super fast back at home while others suggested that my time here in germany would go amazingly fast. it’s going amazingly fast.

yesterday, i thought it was thursday. a few days ago i thought we were in the teens of october. i never know what day of the week it is, what the date is, or what time it is. i guess i could use all that as an excuse for missing a very special event but i can’t. not when birthdays are so important in my family. i didn’t send a card, didn’t send an email, and no, i didn’t make a phone call. i just let a birthday go by in my family without acknowledging it.

i figured that he might forgive me if i mentioned him online (who doesn’t like to be reading and see their name on it?).

so happy birthday, ry-guy.

i love you and miss you lots.

things that brighten my day…

- going up to my room and finding two candies on my pillow. Happy Hippos are a very yummy way to say “thank you.”

- sitting in our tiny “coffee shop” and having my first german lesson. there were three students, one teacher, and two oberservers who both speak deutch. because one of the students was a boy, i now know how to say really important things like, “you have beautiful eyes.” i really appreciated wasting brain space on that one since i’ll use it so much.

- getting emails. two of them long. one of them short. from friends and family. now to write back. : )

all you could smell on the 3rd floor was hairspray. girls were running from room to room in search of red lipstick and blue eyeshadow. in each room every drawer and closet had been emptied of all it’s contents because of the search for just the right thing to wear. the amount of leg warmers that had somehow ended up in suitcases were amazing — along with spandex leggings and atrocious pumps. some had gone out earlier in the day to shop for the evening and wore tights that were so gaudy it was sickening. there were too many pony-tails to the side for me to count and everything was crimped.

the staff decorated the dining hall and set up a stage. they had printed up posters of every movie made it that time which included “Top Gun”, “Pretty In Pink”, “Breakfast Club”, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, and others that i didn’t recognize. and the staff… well, some of them were more decked out in their attire than the students.

that’s right, we had an 80’s night.

my roommate teased my hair so that it was the biggest thing i’ve ever seen. it looked more like Grease to me but it worked since practically no one knew what exactly people looked like in the 80’s (most of us were born at the very end of that decade). i stuffed the toes of the shoes i wore since they were three sizes too big and i was even given a pair of gray leg warmers to wear.

as we ate our dessert, we turned our attention to the stage as students (and some of the staff) played songs and recited poems. the first act was singing “Time of Your Life” and i almost thought that it was the real thing from the 80’s. nope. it was the “Green Day” song. oh well. all in all, it was a grand night.

- – - – - – - -

mr.mark thomas, the son of major ian thomas (founder of torchbearers), came this past week and we studied 1 Corinthians which includes “hot topics” such as marriage/singleness and the gifts of the Holy Spirit which include tongues. it’s just interesting for me to hear someone teach from a different perspective.

most of the students compained because they thought he was rather boring and hard to follow. i loved every minute of it.

- – - – - – - -

my email isn’t working for some reason. today was going to be my finish my Genesis and Exodus journals for school and catch up on email but after writing four emails i realized they had all been sent back to me. but i just found out that we might be keeping the internet for the whole year so that means that i could go back to my old account. so pretty much, sorry if you haven’t gotten an email back from me.

today was just plain discouraging.

but since it won’t do any good for me to sit and think on it, i’ll think about something else…

1. i’m thankful for my three roommates. nadine, ashley, and janel are my bestest friends here and i’m so entirely thankful that i have a room with them. sure, i might be biased, but i think they are the three most wonderful girls here at school. last night we had a “room night out.” we made ourselves pretty, took the bus into town, ate dinner, ran for some ice cream, and then missed our bus home and had to wait twenty-five minutes for the next one which gave us more time to talk and laugh. we talk about lectures and what God’s been showing us. we talk about childhoods and all the funny things we did when we were kids. we talk and talk and talk and are already sad that in three months we’ll have to move into different rooms.

2. i’m thankful that people here are interested in building relationships and really care about others. i’m thankful for the one who noticed i was a bit out of sorts and encouraged me.

3. i’m thankful for having a small group and going and waking up one of our staff leaders to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. i’m thankful for two creative girls in our group who made the birthday card so i didn’t get stuck doing it.

4. i’m thankful for another opportunity to do something i love – sing. you would laugh if you knew what i was singing…

5. i’m thankful for a mom i can email when i’m not doing well and getting an email back that always makes me smile.

6. i’m thankful that i’m here to focus on my Jesus and grow closer to Him and nothing else really matters.

okay. i might go take a walk to clear my head a bit and then go to bed.

good night.

twelve more pictures on my other flickr site. just find, “my pictures #2.”

i was on the phone for almost an hour today.

during that hour i found out that instead of kids playing orphans like i did when i was litte, they play homeless now. clever, isn’t it?

i love my family.

these computers have given us issues and many have been frustrated with them but i’m just thankful i still have the internet.

and even though it is extremely slow, i am still able to upload at least a few pictures.

find the link for “my pictures”. they’ll be there.

enjoy.