so here i am… in nykøbing (on the island falster)… on broadband. so what does that mean for you? yes… you get the latest pictures from danmark! since i have to be up in less than 6 hours… i won’t write much… just click here for the pictures!
Archive for January, 2004
hej from the nejsum’s house!
January 18th, 2004
wow. what a change. i have gone from feeling so insecure and out of place here in danmark, to loving every minute of it! our last couple of days was amazing… and we have been meeting the most awesome people!
on friday night, we played at a coffee house called ‘cafe genisis’. it is a Christian coffee house, and we played two ‘sets’ of music for everyone…. and we got the chance to hang out and meet some really cool people before, after and between playing music. 
we also had a HUGE danish pizza at around 2 in the morning 
it was sooooooooo good!!!
then yesterday (saturday) we played a program for the people at the bible school where we have been staying since we got here. it was amazing! the people were awesome… AND they were really getting into the music. you know… i wonder… why can danes clap on beats 2 and 4…. when most american lutherans can’t? 
hehehe. j/k! but yea… it was cool… they were claping, dancing and even singing along. it was so much fun!!!!
also at the program on saturday night, elisabeth’s parents and sister came to hear us… and also to take some of us home with them right now i am here in fjellerup, at the nejsum house, with lisa, nate, elisabeth, and a whole lot of nejsum’s! it’s so much fun and the food has been SOOO good. (i might have to buy new clothes soon… i’m gonna eat too much good danish food… and my pants won’t fit anymore!) we went to the beach today and threw rocks into the sea. we also walked through a nearby forest, and i took LOTS of pictures. (and when i mean LOTS… i mean LOTS!!!! in the matter of around 30 minutes… i took four rolls of film… and started on roll five. eek!)
God is so good…. the people here are amazing… and i’m actually understanding more danish than i think. i don’t know why… but a couple times i supprised elisabeth (not to mention MYSELF) with understanding what someone said in danish. i have no idea HOW that happened… but i have a feeling that God is the primary reason behind it.
now i must get going. but i wanted to give everyone an update. hope all is well with everyone…. God’s blessings to you! *hugz*
jeg er i danmark
January 15th, 2004
i don’t have much time to write an update about our travels to danmark…. but i will post a little “sumthin-sumthin”
first off… the three extra keys on this keyboard are making me type even slower, since the puncuation is all moved around. so i keep typing things like “iøm in danmark Æ+P” instead of “i’m in danmark ”
ok. so yes.. you read the title correctly… i am in denmark. we arrived safely from our 10 hours in transit… i took lots of pictures… but it may take a while to get all those uploaded… since the internet is dial up.. and it is so expensive. we have had a pretty relaxed schedule… but it seems like we have been doing so much more… since my brain has to work like 50 times harder to do the simple things … like EATING… and figuring out how to flush the toliet… or turn on the lights…. etc. not to mention our inability to communicate clearly in danish. it’s great to have so many people that at least speak a little english… and even BETTER to have elisabeth to answer our questions.
we got our new van… and our new sound system… but we have yet to see if everything of ours fits INSIDE our new van…. but i’m sure we are gonna get really good at stuffing all that stuff into that van. it’s kinda funny looking.. cuz it’s around the same legnth as our old van… but it’s a lot taller… kate can stand up straight while inside the van.. so we figured it’s around 5’4″ tall inside.
i’m such a ‘sign’ freak and i love taking pictures of road signs and such… so i’ve been having a field day taking pictures of a whole bach of new signs! just wait till you see all the pictures.. and you’ll know what i mean by “sign freak”
well… we are at a bible college right now, and we all have our own rooms… we also went to the store today and were able to buy pillows… soap.. and anything else that we needed. i realized one of my fears of being here in danmark. it’s the whole “feeling out of place/feeling lost” sort of thing. well.. i definitly walked through that store and felt completely out of my element. hearing everyone talk in a language that i don’t know… and not knowing what the signs say as i pass them… all of these things just aid in my feeling out of place. but it’s the times when i feel lost… feel frustrated (ESPECIALLY when i keep typing the “ø” instead of a ‘!! ahhh!!!)… when i feel nervous about making a fool of myself cuz i don’t know how to eat correctly in another culture… that’s when God is reminding me that He is still God here. reminding me that He has not changed. reminding me that i am here for a reason. and one thing sunitha said in our phone call right before leaving the bronx keeps ringing in my head…. when i said that i was a little afraid of leaving for denmark… she replied “they’re gonna love you, drummer girl!” and for some reason… that is making me feel much better right now.
you know… we were asked if there was something that we didn’t like about danmark… and i don’t think i can answer that. i love danmark. it’s my home for the next 4 months. i don’t know enough about danmark and the people to be able to say if there is something different.. in a bad way. besides… who decides what is ‘different’? (ok… it took me like a whole minute just then to find the question mark) the only person i can think of that can judge things is God… so… what does GOD’S keyboard look like? heh
ok. i’m rambling… i’m gonna go now. hopefully i’ll have pictures up sometime… but no promises. but before i go… i just have to say.. GOD IS SOOO GOOD!! even though i have all these doubts…. questions… worries… etc… He continues to stregnthen me… and give me the words i need to hear (like … right now… talking to friends online… right now!) Jesus is the rock that never changes…. i’m glad that He is where our feet are planted right now. (otherwise… well… it wouldn’t be pretty!) *hugz* have a most blessed weekend everyone!
vi skal til danmark
January 13th, 2004
yep. we are going to denmark. our bags are packed… and we leaving on a jet plane… and we’ll be back in … may.
so yea…. prep week went way too fast! (ok.. so … it really wasn’t prep “week” … it was more like… prep “three days.” ) here we are in the bronx, and the church where we are staying is such an awesome church! the people are amazing here. we lead the ‘international service’ on sunday… which is full of ‘muliti cultural’ pieces… put together into one litergy…. and we felt the least multicultural in the whole congergation. but it was amazing… peopel came up to us afterwards saying how different pieces of the service were from their home tribe/nation… and it brought them much joy to hear it put into this particular service. it was great to hear from someone who grew up in africa, about the people of africa… and why that creed was like it was. then we had a pot luck… and all different cultures were represented there… since people would bring food that they eat. but the most awesome thing about this church… is seeing Christ in the eyes of these people. a place of peace and joy… among the angry faces, the sirens and honking horns.
so prep ‘three days’ is over… and i still don’t know very much danish… i am still nervous about not being able to communicate at all… and making a complete fool of myself (well… that’s just a given.. we have all come to terms with our ability to make complete fools of ourselves… silly americans. ) but i will say that i am SOOOO excited. ok. that’s an understatement. i’m SOOO UBER GEEKED about going to denmark. i really hope that i get the chance to see God working in amazing ways… i’m sure i will… i just hope i reconize it when i see it. i pray that we as a team develop such a deep love for the people of denmark.. that this love is overwhelmingly obvious to the danes we meet…. and that this love… from God…. can break through barriers of shyness…. language… culture… etc.
we are going to see another section of God’s creation… and another bunch of God’s beautiful creations…. the people of denmark.
our flight leaves from new york around 10pm…… we are finishing up with our last little ‘job things’…. man… this is intense. God is good.
i love you all! God loves you all MORE!
*hugz*!!!
brick.
January 10th, 2004
we are in brick. i’m just posting quick to let you all know that i finally got to uploading pictures… and now i’m caught up with all of those. there’s a ton from pittsburgh, altoona, the bronx, catasauqua, and here in brick. go check them out.
anyways… i’m off. we are heading to our prep church today… yippie!!
cata-what?
January 8th, 2004
catasauqua, pennsylvania? yep. that’s where i am right now.
we’ve had some fun travels lately.. and not much internet access… so here’s a quick update. so last i checked in we were outside pittsburgh…. from there we went to altoona, and stayed in simpson-temple church, which we had played at a church service very early on in our time on team. we had some time to do an acoustic rehearsal… and just hang out and relax. then after one night in altoona (where our locks kept freezing on our van and trailer… blah!)… we left early in the morning and spent most of the day on the road as we traveled to the bronx, ny. we played some music… played some basketball… made some art…. ate some pizza….. and celebrated lisa’s 24th birthday with some cake. this was the third time we were at this particular church in the bronx… so we have become pretty good friends with the people there… it’s such a blessing! then after our one night in the bronx, we hoped in the van early again… and headed BACK to pennsylvania… where we had our first electric family night program as a team since we got back off of our Christmas break. it was great to carry heavy sound equipment again… and even greater when i realized that we will be in denmark soon.. with a much smaller much BETTER sound system. *grin*
speaking of that… it’s january 8th…. we leave on tuesday.. TUESDAY! *shakes head* i just don’t understand where all this time flys to! wow…. in less than a week.. i’ll be in denmark. surreal.
welp… i’m off to bed now. tomorrow we are heading to brick, new jersey…. where we are doing a lock-in/retreat… so probably no posting tomorrow anytime… and then we are heading back to the bronx… to a different church this time… where we prepare for denmark! ack! i’ve got lots of pictures to upload… so hopefully i’ll get a chance to get online before we step on that plane! *hugz* night all! gud velsigne dig!
what? we leave in 8 days?!?
January 5th, 2004
wow. where has the first four months gone? is it really true? are we really gonna be leaving in eight days… flying to denmark… and not going to be back in the states until may? you know.. no matter how much i talk about it beforehand.. i don’t think i’ll truly BELIEVE it until i’m on that plane. and that time is fast approaching…. i’m getting a little nervous… but UBER GEEKED at the same time.
so here we are, outside of pittsburgh, pennsylvania on our day off. yesterday we were in novelty ohio, with wmg… so we were *dramatic music* WATERMARK SQUARED *echo.. echo… echo*! so we had a blast being housed with watermark germany… and we even got to share instruments as we both played for sunday school and sunday morning service. in fact… when we were playing for the sunday school… we kinda made a massive ‘joint effort’ for most of the songs… and other ‘watermarkers’ picked up random instruments and played with the other team…. it was super fun. i uploaded tons of pictures from our adventures as the massive watermark team here. good times i tell ya… good times.
in other news… me, john and elisabeth went shopping… i bought two new cds, elisabeth bought some jeans… and we had a blast just hanging out. last night i had an amazing 2 hour phone conversation with erin… which was a great time to catch up on each others lives. ya know… it’s such a blessing to have friendships where you can not talk for a really long time… and then when you do talk… you can pick right up where you left off. it makes me realize that while so many things in this world change… people change… people’s locations change… people’s schedules change… etc… but a relationship that is built on Christ… who is UNCHANGING… are those that stand through all the changes. God is so cool like that… isn’t He?
well hey.. i should get goin… but make sure you check out those pictures sometime. happy monday everyone!
I like Ohio!
January 4th, 2004
Hi everyone! This is Lisa. I’m back in writing mode. I’ll have pictures up shortly on thisroad.org – I got a digital camara for Christmas – yea!!! Break was nice! It was a bit weird to be away from people that I had seen, lived with, and worked with every day for the past four months. Our break was especially needed after a grueling Midwinter Training week. The past two weeks for me were spent with my parents, my sister and her husband, grandmothers, relatives, and friends. Not all at the same time! I also got some quality me-time and sleep! One of my biggest highlights was to hear the heartbeat of my niece or nephew that will be born in early March. Yes, I’ll be in Denmark when he or she is born – sad sigh. The next time I see my family there will be a baby!!! How exciting!!!
For New Years celebration stuff we were in Maumee, OH – pronounced Mow-me. The church we were at — St. Paul’s Lutheran Church — had a nativity scene out front. It was made up of white Mary and Joseph and a black baby Jesus. The story goes (if I remember it correctly)- – A few weeks ago baby Jesus was stolen. It turned up a few days ago painted black. Believe it or not, the real Jesus did not have white skin or blue eyes like many pictures portray him as having – - someone had an interesting way of reminding the city of Maumee of that — as well as CNN watchers! It sounds like the story will be on CNN within the next few days
Happy New year!!! And for those still receiving Christmas cards from me – it never hurts to be celebrating Jesus year round!!
Peace and Joy!!! LIsa
P.S. Interesting fact about Rio, WI (where we reconvened after break). Rio is pronounced r-eye-o – because the people who named the town wanted it to be called Ohio. Well, someone saw the word Ohio – and mistook (that’s a word, right?) for Rio. Just thought you’d like to know!
happy january
January 3rd, 2004
so i really don’t have much to journal about… we had an awesome day off on the first… and we have basically had a really relaxed schedule since then anywayys. now i am laying on my bed in avon, ohio, on wireless internet… i had the chance to upload pictures… check and write some emails… and just chat with people online. team has been full of great times… useful meetings… and tons of laughs. everyone on our team is getting more and more geeked about going over to denmark… i can’t believe that we will be flying over there in less than two weeks… 10 days to be exact! AHHHHHHH!
anyways… back to my one on one with elisabeth. *waves*
two thousand four
January 1st, 2004
happy new years everyone! praise God for an excellent 2003… and praise God that He is still God in 2004.
so in other news… i’m in ohio right now, and i just uploaded a whole bunch of pictures from wisconsin… indiana… and here. so feel free to check those out. you know.. i was looking at that picture album.. and i really need to find a better way to put them online… does anyone else think so? or is the ‘list of photo albums’ ok for everyone? or maybe i should stop taking so many pictures? NAWWW! maybe i’ll start a new ‘album of albums’ when i get to denmark. ooohhh. i think that’s a good idea.. maybe i’ll work on a new layout for it and everything hehe. ok. i need to go to bed now before i come up with anymore web nerdy ideas.
hope everyone’s new years celebrations were great… joyful… and safe! God bless!