Germany

Germany. Cold. Wet. A place where 25 degrees (celcious) is considered a great summer day. A strange place where the sun never seems to set in the summer ('never' is a gross overstatement I know... but yeah!) and a land where the culture is 'cold'.
Ok, so I've been here in Germany almost 2 months now and It's different from Senegal. Very different, but hey.. that's what I expected. Of course; while some things I braced myself for... others I didn't realise and got shocked. With no disrespect to Germany; it's a great place and I love it... but just so incredibably new to me in many ways.
But I'm going to give those of you who don't know a background info.
We arrived the 18th of July at Frankfurt am Main and found our luggage in record time, which was nice. Now our hometome lies 3 hours-ish away smack-bang in the middle of Germany: a beautiful little medieval town called Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Now, if any of you are Japanese you will have certainly heard the name before 'cause I am positive they must hand out brochures about this place at every tourist agency in Japan - the streets are filled with them. That's pretty cool though, because I fit right in if my accent isn't right... or if I have the sudden urge to walk around the town with a camera in my hand and look like a tourist.

The town is amazing though! A complete city wall which you can walk around and only medieval buildings within these walls which come with about a hotel every 50m, a shop every 45m and some craftsman every 100m (exaggerated yes... but there are really loads of them.)
And well, the landscape is really amazing. For someone who has grown up with dry flat shrubby planes... well, a river looks mighty fine here. As do the forests and the inexhaustible network of biking trails in the woods and running routes.

But what has really been the best thing about Germany, or at least the most surprising to me in the church. I'm so thankful to the Lord for completely changing my expectations of that our church was going to be like. From experience from previous years I expected the youth program to be non-existant and generally no feeling of belonging to a group. This is completely different this year! Wow, God surprises me again and again!
This year we have a new youth pastor and he is awesome! Our youth group has really done all kinds of new and interesting things during the summer. Water skiing, train trips to [shop], biking trips, and about 4 barbecues a week. Awesome! We've gone on adventure journeys in the woods and overnighted in a small log cabin... gone swimming at the pool. Every week several activities.
And for that I'm really thankful for. As an MK I always had the mindset that I just need to talk with someone long enough to build a relationship. Here, it seems as if the experiences are what ties the people together.
It is different. The culture is different and that is really the culture-shock that I got. You always think you're prepared and then it hits you in the face, again and again.

When I came into Germany I had one mindset that has given me hope, and encouragement. Shine for Him! I'm coming into a public school where there isn't much light; in every class or so there are not many hardcore Christians from what I understand. I have had the privilege to experience God move in Africa and to hear miraculous story's in the Church. I've grown up in a great boarding school with strong foundations and now I really feel that the Lord has a plan for me in Germany, and the first step is to live for him.
This verse has come to me often of late as school approaches:

"

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace."
2 Timothy 1: 8-9

As school start tomorrow I can't really concentrate on this, hence the reason it's so short.
Be blessed.