Happy Late Thanksgiving!

Sunrise from our apartment window - Beautiful!

I know I am late but I couldn’t let Thanksgiving week pass without sharing some of the many things I am thankful for this year.  This Thanksgiving was different in many ways.  While I have been away from my family on Thanksgiving before – it has not been since I was a kid in France that Thanksgiving has been a normal working day.  It is a strange feeling.  Nevertheless I am thankful to be in Germany this Thanksgiving.  Something that I found hard to imagine this time last year.

-          I am thankful for the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving with some other teachers on Thanksgiving evening.  And then again yesterday evening.

-          I am thankful for the beautiful snow and the winter wonderland that we woke up to the day after Thanksgiving.

-          I am thankful for the country of Germany and all of its beauty

-          I am thankful for BFA and for the privilege of working here

-          I am thankful for the new friends that Jesus has brought into my life and some old friends that I have enjoyed living around the corner from. 

-          I am thankful for my roommates and our beautiful apartment right in the middle of Kandern

-          I am thankful for fellow teachers who are helping me in this new venture

Field Trip to Colmar, France with my French 2 class

-          I am thankful for my students

-          I am thankful for the chance to serve these students and their families

-          I am thankful for the opportunity to learn so much in the last few months

-          I am thankful for long hours and a demanding schedule that force me to depend on Jesus not just day to day but moment to moment

-          I am thankful for amazing friends and supporters who make it not only possible for me to be here but whose prayers and love I sense as I have stepped into this new role and phase of life.

-          I am thankful for a Savior that loves me unconditionally and never wearies of my daily petitions for his help and strength

-          I am thankful for a God who loves me so much that He was willing to send His son so that I might know the joy that comes from living in fellowship with Him and loving Him whole-heartedly.

With a thankful heart,

Anna

My Small Group

My small group watching 'One Night with the King' (the story of Esther)

I have had the privilege of leading a small group of six freshmen girls this year.   All six are new to BFA so we are learning life here together.  It has been fun to relate to students outside of the classroom.  They are quite giggly and hyper but fun.  We have been reading through different books of the Bible (so far Daniel, Esther and now James) and reading The Last Battle together.  It has been fun to see Scripture and Lewis through their eyes.  One of my girls came in the other night and was almost giddy and told me she had to tell me something about the book.  She pushed a couple of the other girls out of the way and loudly whispered: “Miss Key, I read ahead and Aslan comes BACK!!!”  I could almost see CS Lewis smile from heaven.  I sure was smiling.  We chat and eat snacks and then talk about the book of the Bible we are reading through and then listen to The Last Battle on CD (Focus on the Family Radio Theater).  They have really enjoyed listening to it.  We meet in my class room and last week they asked if they could write on the boards while they listened.  Of course!  So they all went to work.  By the end of it I had one of those moments that hits you every once in a while at BFA.   You go about your normal day to day routine but every once in a while you have a moment where it hits you that the world is in front of you and the reality of the lives these kids and their families lead.  As I looked at the board I saw eight different languages (Slovene, Bangla, Chinese, Korean, German, French, Spanish and English (which is a second or third language to two of my girls)).  How humbling to have the world in my classroom.  

As this has obviously been a huge semester for me.  I work many hours each night and almost all weekend trying to stay afloat with my Middle School French, French 1 and French 2 classes.  I have not had the time that I wish I had to give to my small group.  Most weeks I am praying as I walk to meet them that somehow someway Jesus will show up at small group despite my inadequacy and my lack of preparation.  And more often than not I am amazed at how He comes through for me.  My cousin shared with me towards the beginning of the semester from Psalm 81 – "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it." (v.10b)  I have often prayed that prayer in the last couple of months.  And He has answered.  There was one week in particular that I found myself making a connection and saying things that I knew were not coming from me. I have challenged them to pray for a country and for three people consistently that Jesus has put on their heart.  We read the book of Esther and they loved the story.  We read about her interceding on behalf of her people by entering the throne room of a King.  “I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16b)  And that same week we read from The Last Battle where King Tirian cries out to Aslan for His people. “And he (King Tirian) called out ‘Aslan! Aslan! Aslan! Come and help us Now…Let me be killed,’ cried the King.  ‘I ask nothing for myself.  But come and save all of Narnia.’” (Lewis, p.41) Two beautiful examples of intercession.  Putting their own needs and concerns aside and storming the throne room of the King himself for those that God has put on our hearts. ("For such a time as this.")  One of the biggest differences is that because of Jesus we can approach the throne of grace with confidence at any moment of the day.  What a gift that we don’t often avail ourselves of.  I want to be faithful in taking these kids and their needs before the throne and standing in the gap for them and for others.  Who is Jesus asking you to stand in the gap for?  

Jesus is good to me!

 

Kandern in the fall

The last month has quite honestly been a hard one as I have felt the stress and the fatigue of the last three months catch up to me.  There were a few days where I wondered what I was doing here and felt like I was completely out of my league as a French teacher (which I still am :)).  Jesus has truly met me in those moments though and sent many to encourage me along the way.   Jesus has asked me to enter into a field and an environment that is completely new to me.  While it is hard it has thrust me into a complete dependence on Him.  And that is never a bad thing.  And in the midst of it Jesus has proven Himself faithful over and over again.  I have seen Jesus in e-mails from friends back home, chocolate in my mailbox after a long day, encouragement from other teachers and finally a weekend with family in Paris.  When you work at a boarding school you don’t get long weekends because many of the kids can’t go home.  We do get a nice long Christmas break but between August and Christmas there is only one long weekend.  All Saints Day (November 1) is a European holiday and was our first day off for the semester.  It was needed by students and staff alike. 

In Paris with Sylvia and Thomas

I was able to go and visit my cousins that live in Paris.  What a treat it was to be with family and to get away for a while.  I was even able to figure out the French train system and the easiest way to get to Paris from Kandern.  Maybe next I will be brave enough to tackle the German trains.  But when you are first figuring things out it is always nice to be able to read and understand what is around you. I had the chance to attend my cousins' Ilka and Philippe's French church which was a real treat as we have been praying for this church for months that they would be able to buy their property and Jesus has answered and things are about to be finalized.  I was also able to catch up with my cousin Sylvia and her husband Tim. Three and a half years ago I was able to attend their wedding and this weekend I got to met their son Thomas and spent most of the weekend with them.  What a treat that was!  We had a great time catching up and walking through the streets of Paris.  We even ended up walking right past the British bookstore WH Smith.  My dad used to take me there on my birthday to buy an English book.  English books were hard to come by in those days and to get the chance to go to an English bookstore and pick out a new Little House on the Prairie or Nancy Drew was a real treat.

 

WH Smith

As I rode the train home yesterday I found myself thanking the Lord for His provision once again.  The beauty of the leaves as I rode and the chance to live in Europe, the privilege of having family nearby, the opportunity to get away and to speak French and eat delicious French food, roommates to welcome me home – all gifts from Jesus right when I needed them most.

Now I am back home in Kandern.  Thankful for the beauty of this little town and for the privilege of serving here.  I am jumping back into lesson planning, day to day life, and seeking to love my students and praying that I will remain faithful in all that He has called me to do. Thank you for your continued love and prayers.  It means so much.