Monday, July 30, 2012

Fundraising Time

I have committed to working in Denmark another year. So, that means I need to come up with some more funds! It cost me $1,400 a month to live in Denmark. That means I need to raise $16,800 for the entire year. There are few different fundraisers and ideas I have to help me raise the funds-

My Running- It keeps me sane! No really, I love running and if I ever gave it up I would loose my ability to de-stress and process. So, I have 3 races coming up, all half marathons. I am running my first trail half marathon in Danmark on Sept. 2nd. Then I am going to run a back to back race over New Years with my brother and sister-in-law. That means I'm running a half on the 29th of Dec. and then another on the 1st of Jan. If you are interested in sponsoring me in these runs, all of it will go towards my work in Danmark and the benefit of me keeping my sanity.

Others Running- This Saturday (August 4th) a Women's small group from my home church  (and some of their kids) are running, jogging, or walking a 5k to support me. They are asking people to sponsor them and all the proceeds will go towards my work in Danmark. If you are interested in sponsoring one of them email me. The line up of runners include-
Andie Fitch (yes, my mom has signed up to do it!!)
Sara Allen (my big sister!)
Joshua Allen (my nephew!!!! he's only 7)
Diane Kennedy
Laurel Jacobs
Kristin Calidine
Lillian Caulderon
Katelyn & Caleb (more kids that want to join their Moms in helping support me)
I am feeling so blessed that they are doing this for me! I wish I could join the run with them!

Golf- In October there will be a golf tournament in Pittsburg, Ca. The tournament will go to helping raise funds for my work here. More details for this will follow. If you are interested in playing in the tournament, email me and I will put you in contact with the organizer for this event.

 Speaking- I will be home in the end of November until February. I would love to share in any type of services, small groups, Sunday school classes, any thing like that. Please email me and we can arrange a time.

Thank You so much! Please Pray with me about my next year commitment to Danmark!


Sunday, July 29, 2012

Fast Forward Through July

I looked at the date and realized that July is almost over. And I realized that I have spent the past 3 days feeling like I am on vacation. It has been a good reminder why I love living in Danmark. It has been a crazy month, so I really needed these few days of vacation.

The month started out with a week of camp. It was church camp, most similar to a family camp. I was really stressed heading into camp, over all the cafe stuff that I knew was going on while I was gone and as soon as I got back. I was feeling overwhelmed and feeling like I was just hanging on to make it. Camp was fun and the speaker was really good. The focus was on Encountering God in Everything. And during one of the evening services, I finally felt God speaking again. And God said wait, it will come, not exactly the answer I wanted, but an answer. And so during the services I felt encouraged that God knows what our cafe team is dealing with and we will find another place. The other side of camp was sports and hanging out. I got to play volleyball, not sure how long it has been since the last time I played, but a lot of my training came back to me. I also got to learn how to play handball! Finally! I have been watching this sport and hearing about this sport since I moved here and finally I was taught how to play. Of course I spent the whole game trying to figure out what was going on, but still I played! Camp was good, but very tiring. As camp came to a close I had to leave early to make it home before the next adventure arrived.

3 hours after I arrived home from camp (those hours were spent cleaning the church and making lunch) a work team from West Virgina arrived. They came to work on the shop, but since we didn't have a shop they did work around the church and the white house. Also, that night my parents arrived to work with the team and see what I was up to. It was a great 10 days. We did different projects such as painting and yard work. And the most exciting one for me was that we finished the bonus room in the white house!!!! It was great to have the team around. They were an encouragement to the cafe team and a big help to the church.

It was nice to have my parents here. It was an interesting set up because they stayed with me in the house and they got to see how things go in the house. As always when I have them in the country I am serving in, it's just weird. It is weird to combine both worlds. But, a joy to try and share my life with them. We got to do a lot of touring and there were a lot of places I have not seen that I got to see with them. It was also nice to be spoiled. But, Tuesday I had to drop them off at the airport and go home to an empty house and try to figure out what to do next.

When I got home, I crashed. Too many weeks of craziness and not enough sleep. I spent the next 3 days enjoying the sun and enjoying being here. I went to the beach and actually swam in the water! It finally got warm enough to do that. We also took a really long bike ride where we enjoyed seeing the beach and harbors. I also took a trip to Tivoli and then enjoyed being shown different types of architecture around Copenhagen. And all this got me to a point where I fell back in love with Denmark and I feel refreshed and ready to go back to work.

Today we had a cafe meeting where we discussed our next steps. We are still looking for a place. We will try to go a visit shops this week. Hopefully we will find a place soon. We had to readjust our start date goals. That was disappointing. We also discussed my contract ending and when I will return for another year. So, we are picking up the pieces and moving forward, which is all we can do.