My First Days in Switzerland

Well, I have arrived in Switzerland once again with joy and a new feeling compared to my previous visit. Switzerland is very familiar and North Carolina is also very familiar to me. I have taken time the first week to adjust to the new surrounding. I had a good flight to Switzerland with little sleep but good company. I live up the hill from the Youth With A Mission base where I volunteer. I have my own room with a kitchen, but I share the bathroom with six children. I stay in a farm house with a family of eight people, two dogs, a few cats, chickens, and cows with bells outside my bedroom window. I wake up to the sound of the cow's bells around sunrise and get tired around the time the sun sets. It is rather quiet in the house when the children go to sleep by 9 p.m. My schedule is shifting earlier. I am helping at the moment with the house team. This involves working in hospitality to take care of guests, cooking in the kitchen at least once a week, and keeping the Boutique in order. The Boutique is a sort of thrift shop in the attic where people take clothes and get clothes for free. This is how I was able to live here in 2002 for nine months doing a Bible school. I also prepare the morning snack for the staff which in Swiss German is Z'nueni. While living in the German speaking part of Switzerland, I also have the opportunity to practice my German while learning new vocabulary. I usually practice at meal time or break time, but conversations are usually a mixture between German and English. At the end of June, I will begin helping to prepare for the School of Biblical Worldview which I will staff for the remainder of my time here. I was a student in 2003, and helping to staff will help me remember truths which are taught in the school.

This week I have often been in the kitchen. I helped an Indian man cook curry chicken for about 40 people on Tuesday by cutting all the vegetables for the chicken dish and the salad. On Wednesday, I peeled many kilograms of potatoes for a scalloped potatoe dish. I practiced patient endurance while peeling potatoes and listening to a German conversation which I could often understand. In hospitality, I am learning the importance of the little things. I serve the students, staff, and guests through preparing snacks at times and preparing rooms. My advisor is a nurse and has shown me ways to make the beds nice, keep the corners of the pillow cases out, and to add color through table cloths or nice flowers.

My time here is not only a time of practical service. In this I learn and am able to use abilities that I have. I also want to spend more time journalling, having conversations with God, read good books, and develop relationships with people here. This is a time for me to step back from my comfortable surrounding of North Carolina to be challenged by God, ask for direction, and for opportunities for me to give and learn. I am praying for patience, faith, vision, and financial support. I know that God is my provider, sustainer of my life, and guide. I expect this time to be full of many moments that challenge me, moments where my eyes are opened more to the truth, and where God uses me for his purposes in ways I never would have imagined. I look forward to sharing with you on a regular basis how God is working in and through me in Switzerland. Thanks for your prayers. Until next time - be blessed.

Switzerland here I come!

Tuesday will be a long day of travelling to my favorite place outside of the U.S. - Switzerland. I will let you know how life is when I get there. :)