Photos of Kandern

Guten Morgen!

The birds are chirping and it's another sunny day here in the Black Forest!  I can hardly believe that this is my last day here.  What an amazing time I have had here!  I wanted to share with you some photos from the past few days...  Enjoy!!!

 

Main campus of BFA

A little fountain and church in town

A main square in the town -- these stubby trees will bloom soon!

Cows on the Hills...

I am loving my time here at ICEC (International Christian Educators' Conference)!  I am amazed at how God has provided for me -- meeting people, learning more about what my position will be like, seeing the town, learning from the conference presenters...  What an amazing opportunity!

Yesterday I was unable to post because the internet stopped working at our apartment... I had some time after dinner tonight, so I decided to share a little bit about yesterday...

One of the biggest highlights was visiting Sitzenkirch, the neighboring town where the elementary school is located.  It was so great to SEE the classrooms and the area.  Here's where the title of the blog post comes in... There are cows on the hill right next to the elementary school!!  There is also a castle up on the hill within view of some of the classrooms.  It's almost unreal!  What a beautiful, quiet town to work in.

During the afternoon sessions, I heard about some best practices in education (sounded familiar from my GCC education classes, so that was good!), as well as transformational Christian education (presented by the principal of BFA).  The teaching in small sessions and larger meetings has been so good!

Today I got to meet with the 5th grade teacher to talk more about what my position will look like next year.  I'll be teaching third grade in the morning, and then my third graders (only 4 of them this year in 2nd grade!) will join the fourth grade for a combined afternoon class while I teach one subject (probably science) for the fifth grade in the afternoon.  The current second graders have been combined with the next grade above them since they entered the school, so that won't be anything new.  Although it's still up in the air, that is the plan for now.  It was so helpful to hear more about the resources, schedule, student population, and mission of the school from him.  I'm excited to work with him, as well as the others, beginning in August!

All in all, the people here are great!  I'm so excited to be a part of this encouraging, supportive environment next year.

With joy,
Heather

P.S.  Pictures aren't working right now, but hopefully I'll have more coming soon!

17 hours later...

17 hours later, and I'm here in Germany! Grüße aus Deutschland!

  

(left:) en route to Newark airport!  (right:) view of NYC from the airplane... the spark of light is Times Square and the middle island towards the top is the Statue of Liberty!!

-- Newark to Berlin: I sat next to a really nice couple from Denmark. The woman (who was 4 months pregnant!) was actually Brazilian, and the couple was on their way back to Denmark from her brother's wedding in Brazil. We enjoyed talking... in English. :)

-- Berlin to Munich: Getting through passport control and to my next gate in the Berlin airport was kinda confusing, but the flight itself was really smooth. I had an empty seat next to me, and I slept most of the way!

-- Munich to Basel: I found this cool internet dome with a number of computer screens that could be used for free on certain sites. Although my email and the blog were not on that list of sites, Facebook was! :) It was nice to have a little taste of home while I waited for my flight. My (tiny!) plane to Basel took off a little later than planned, but we still got in before the predicted time.

I found several BFA staff members outside of baggage claim at the Basel/Mulhouse airport and we traveled about 20-25 minutes to BFA. (Kristen, I did not see any cows, but there are sheep right across the road from the school!!) The whole thing was surreal... the traditional German houses, rolling hills, and the town where I'll be living for the next 2 years! The dorm parents and RAs who were providing transportation from the airport seemed really neat.

  

The first person I saw when I entered the school to register was the BFA recruiter who I met back in October at GCC! She has since returned to the USA for grad school, but she is in Kandern for the conference this weekend. She actually didn't know whether I had been hired, so it was exciting to share with her that I will be teaching in the elementary school this coming year!!

I'm at my guesthouse in the town of Kandern right now. I have my own bedroom with a double bed and a great view of a beautiful old church up on a hill. There are three other rooms in this little apartment area -- we share a kitchen and a bathroom. It's a great setup (and really nice to have wireless internet, too).

    

I spoke briefly with the conference coordinator at check-in, and she said she has a schedule for me for volunteering -- I told her I liked schedules. :) Everything starts tonight with dinner at 5:15 (which is in less than an hour), and I'm sure the time will fly by after that!

Bis dann,
Heather Joy

Testing the Flexibility Muscles...

Okay, so the flexibility muscles are already being tested... but God is truly the Great Provider!

My parents and I had to cancel all of my flights to/from Germany because of concerns with the British Airways strike... It was either that or get stuck at BFA until April 6, which just wouldn't work! :)

Thank You, God, for providing another itinerary with a different airline for roughly the same price! What a blessing. (I'm now flying Newark - Berlin - Munich - Basel, and returning Basel - Dusseldorf - Newark. Yea, I just wanted to get a tour of the German airports! Ha!)

Continue to pray for safety in travel!

With thanksgiving,
Heather

Prayers for the Trip

I would appreciate your prayers as I travel to BFA this weekend (March 26-31)! Please pray...

...that my flights would get figured out! There is a British Airways strike right now so one of the legs of my flight home is actually cancelled. Pray that the strike ends and/or I can get another flight.
...for safety in travel.
...that I would be able to connect with BFA staff, as well as other teachers from around the world.
...that I would be flexible! I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing to help out with the conference, but pray that I would be in the right place at the right to help others, as well as personally benefit from the conference.

May the Lord be glorified above all else!

Serving Him,
Heather

One Week Away!

I am so excited to have the opportunity to travel to BFA next weekend for ACSI's International Christian Educators' Conference! Teachers from all over the world will gather at BFA to learn about different aspects of the field. I will drive home from GCC on Thursday afternoon and fly from Philly to Boston to London to Basel (Switzerland) on Friday-Saturday.

While in Germany, I'll be helping with the conference and sitting in on some of the sessions. I also hope to meet some of the BFA staff, see the town of Kandern, and perhaps even receive some of my curriculum for the fall. I plan to post pictures on this blog, so be sure to check back again soon! :)

I will be at Grace Point for church on Easter Sunday, so please find me if you will be in Newtown! I would love to see you while I am home.

The countdown is on... one week until my first trip to BFA! It's also crazy to think that I'll be leaving in just over 4 months to live there for two years!

I'll close today's post with the lyrics of a song that we sang at All-Campus Worship on Thursday night and at a retreat I attended today. The words of this song are my prayer -- that God would be glorified in all that I do!

"Take my life and let it be / All for You and for Your glory / Take my life and let it be Yours / Glory to God / Glory to God / Glory to God forever"

The Journey Begins...

I think my journey to the Black Forest began last October, when I asked my cooperating teacher in my first student teaching placement if I could head back to campus a few minutes earlier than normal to meet with a recruiter from the Black Forest Academy. Speaking with the recruiter energized me; I could definitely see myself teaching elementary school or serving as a resident assistant at BFA. I wondered – is this where God is calling me?

Or maybe the journey began when I submitted my application to BFA just after Thanksgiving break. I decided to take this next step of obedience, prayerfully seeking God’s guidance and the advice of others.

The journey continued when I applied to TeachBeyond, my mission agency, and met their recruiter at InterVarsity's Urbana missions conference in St. Louis over Christmas break. The personal testimonies of several former BFA staff members at the conference encouraged me to consider BFA more seriously. Moreover, the plenary sessions and small group seminars challenged me to think about issues in global missions – modern-day slavery, racial tensions, poverty – and to wonder how I could be a part of God's solution for any of them. He opened my eyes to the fact that BFA’s ministry to missionary kids actually enables missionaries to stay on the field all around the world. I came to the realization that my service at BFA could actually empower missionaries to meet the diverse needs of many peoples around the world!

Over the next month and a half, as I traveled to London for a multicultural student teaching experience and returned to Grove City College for my last semester of classes, I prayed and sought the advice of many others.  Some days I was convinced that BFA was the place to which God was calling me, while other days I was discouraged with confusion and indecision.

An interview with TeachBeyond was the next part of my journey, which provided a lot of confirmation; God filled me with a true joy in this journey of seeking His will above all else. Only two days later, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter of invitation to be an elementary teacher at the Black Forest Academy! God was clearly at work. I continued to wait on His timing and leading, and on March 1, I officially accepted the position to teach elementary school at BFA!

This journey really began when I trusted Jesus as my personal Savior as a child and began walking with Him. As a regular attender of Grace Point, I was deeply involved in children's and youth ministries. In our home we had regular family devotions and prayed for missionaries around the world. Hearing reports from youth missions teams and meeting missionaries at annual festivals got me excited about what God was doing in other parts of the world. Although I may not have fully known it at the time, God has been preparing me for overseas service since I decided to follow Him wholeheartedly at a young age!

I am so excited for the opportunity to serve God in the Black Forest because I am confident that this is where He has led me. In the next five months, I will be raising support and preparing to move to Kandern, Germany. While there are many unknowns ahead, I am relying fully on the Great Provider!

In each of these steps, it’s clear to see that God has been guiding me in this journey. I have no doubt that He will continue to lead, and I will keep pursuing His will for my life. The journey is only beginning… and I invite you to join me in celebrating God's faithfulness as I serve Him in the Black Forest!