In exactly a week I will be flying to Dallas. Just as every year, i wonder where the time went. 3 months since I've been here, and Father has grown and stretched me and taught me so many things... and I love him for it. Before coming, in April I had written in my journal ' i don't understand your love, nor do i understand how to love... put a Hosea in my life, and show me your love...help me to learn your love.' This summer, not remembering that prayer the theme has certainly been one of pursuing love, of learning more of who Father is and how he loves us... sure, it'll always be a lesson. There's a song by Jason Mraz that began playing while listening to my music on shuffle that says "it takes a second to fall in love but it takes a lifetime to learn what love is." I let that sink in awhile, because that is what God is teaching me. I'm excited to go home and see people and get necessary things done, but today has been so good for me, in that Father is putting an eagerness and a desire to be in Hannover -- something that I so need. As I was looking through old photos from when i came to Deutschland in 2004, i began to realize that soon I will be living in a flat, with room mates i know nothing about from all over the world, going to class all in german and being placed inside of a culture that i've always been outside of here... i'm so excited to be a university student... i'm excited about what Father will do, and how he'll teach me MORE of his love. The photo i've posted is from 2004, it is right infront of the main mensa (cafeteria), which is right in the nahe (in the vicinity) of where I will live. Hannover is different than many of the places i've been in Germany in that it is definitely a college town. In Koln and Hamburg, yes there are universities, but the university isn't the main focal point... and in Hannover, though it's the smallest, it's the place where i've met more internationals who are there for the soul purpose of studying. .. i mean they are in the other places too... who knows really-- It seemed so much easier to meet people in Hannover, but perhaps it's the situation, and the culture. I really couldn't tell you.

Yesterday, I rode the bike for about 5k... it was fun! i don't like that i can't ride on the sidewalk if there isn't a bike path though, and i hate being near cars-- luckily i think the ride from the dorm to the university in hannover won't be too far of a ride. This picture definitely shows how short i am.. I only crashed once, and it was an understandable crash-- definitely not my fault. Ha if you make the photo bigger you can see the dirt on my shirt.. but i walked away with only a bruise.. i'm good. Anyway, i'm blessed to have been given a bike, and not only a bike but a blue one-- because as my german class, and Dr. Packer and Die Prinzen note... blue bikes are the best. I think the bike will help me build confidence. not only in riding but in my life as well... that's a weird concept, i know, but it makes sense. Yesterday was a nice day to ride though, we rode through a nearby cornfield and by horses, and every person who was out said hello to us! (that is rare, my friends...rare.) Anyway, today and tomorrow are days that will be spent prayer walking and getting some errands done. Thursday I'll meet a lady who is here as an M and lives very near Hannover, and another kid who is studying there for a semester.

Thank you guys for everything!
i'll probably update again soon

Lajo