love covers

"The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

1 Peter 4:7-11

Wow, I don’t even know where to start! I honestly can’t remember what I did at the end of last week. It’s been that crazy. A group of eight of us left for Prague last Thursday evening and came back late Sunday night, Harry Potter train ride style again. The city was incredibly beautiful, but no doubt the most tourist-y place I have ever been. We probably walked about 15 miles (at least). We saw everything Europe’s largest ancient castle to the stunning countryside of the Czeck Republic to a public viewing of a Germany soccer game in the old town square with hundreds of our closest drunk soccer fans. Ya know, it’s always been one of my life dreams to have beer poured on me every time we scored a goal.. four sticky, smelly goals. We stayed in a hostel that was a lot like the one I stayed in London last year. The other girl in our group of eight, Heather, and I, stayed in one hostel and the boys in another because we booked ours late. But it turns out ours was nicer. :) For those of you who don’t know what a hostel really is, it’s basically public living mixed with a hotel. Heather and I were in an 8-person co-ed room with bunk beds (always interesting). In the rooms were lockers for us to keep our stuff. There were hall showers and bathrooms, similar to a freshman dorm at Tech. The most adventurous part of the weekend was easily at 10:30pm Thursday night when Heather and I were trying to find the hostel from the train station... Mom, for the sake of your sanity as you read this, let’s just say the directions we had were a little vague, Prague is a little more like Amsterdam at night, and I’m really grateful Heather speaks some Russian and that God kept us safe. I’ve learned a valuable lesson for sure. :) Best part of the trip? I GOT MEXICAN FOOD!

Here’s some photos from the weekend! There are soooooooo many more on Facebook.

Main shopping drag:

 St. Charles Bridge and Prague Castle (up on the hill):

 From the castle:

 St. Charles Bridge:

 From the monastery:

 KGB Museum... don't I look like a Russian spy?

Back in Deutschland, we went to Kahla, a massive porcelain company yesterday (Monday). I have a new found love affair with dishes. I’m not kidding. And we went to a chocolate store that was the size of a supermarket... the chocolate was cheap and they had a bazillion free samples. Needless to say, I think I know what trying ecstacy is like now. Also we hiked up to Leuchtenburg, a small castle. The view from the top was incredible.

CHOCOLATE!

 Charlotte and I at the castle. She's the best!

 From the castle:

Spiritually, I’ve got a whole lot going on. I’ll try to keep it short.

1. There’s something along the lines of the black plague going around our group, and I’ve gotten a hold of it. Thank goodness the only part I got was a cough, but it’s not doing so well. With all the things I’m doing to help it, it’s only a matter of time and rest until I get better. But what I’m learning from it (I was taught mostly by my wonderful dad to take note of what you learn from every situation- hi dad :) ) is that it shouldn’t affect my attitude. I’ve mentioned before that I seriously need to be a light to the people around me here, and I can’t get cranky like I normally do when I’m sick. Serving and loving and pouring and giving and abandoning yourself doesn’t have a footnote in the Bible that says, “**only when you feel like it.”
2. For the first time in months, I had the urge to randomly talk to someone about Jesus the other day. And for the first time ever, I acted on it. By “randomly,” I mean it didn’t come up in conversation. I mean I tapped the person on the shoulder and asked. I still don’t know the outcome or if anything happened through it, but I am trusting that God is using it to His glory. He always does. And what’s crazier is that even though I didn’t see an outcome, it made me want to do it more. "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." Ephesians 6:18-20
3. My biggest struggle right now is coping with the abundance of sin I have been seeing. There is so much brokenness- way more than we think or notice. I always thought there were tons of nonbelievers back home, but then I stepped out of the Bible belt for longer than a couple of days. Prague has the highest concentration of atheists and consumes the most alcohol per capita in the world. Last summer I was plenty exposed to the complete lack of love of Jesus in much of the world, but here I feel even less surrounded by it. That’s probably because I’ve grown to become more aware of sin. I want to run from it. What’s scary is that I can even see satan try to pull me towards it constantly. In a way, that makes me happy, because I know that I’m more of a threat, and I know that the Holy Spirit is in me to make me hate satan. But at the same time, it completely breaks my heart to see SO MANY people falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and not accepting and worshipping a Savior to save their souls from it (Romans 6:23). There are some moments where I want to look up and ask God why He’s letting so many people suffer, whether from misfortune or from their own stupidity and greed. I don’t get it. On the bright side, I’ve been reading my Bible a ton and have been oh so blessed to have Charlotte and a couple others here to talk through my confusion with me. Scripture has been reminding me over and over to keep loving and keep pushing, no matter how disheartened I become. Praise God for the Spirit, and praise God for Jesus, because it is not by works that we are saved, but ONLY because God chooses who follows Him (Ephesians 2:8-9).
4. Prayer requests: Ephesians 6:18-20 and continued diligence in prayer and the Word.

Over halfway home! :)