Sorry it's so late..

So my trip wrapped up about 4 weeks ago and I still haven't finished blogging..my bad.

So I'm going to do a little catch up blog and finish this puppy off. It mainly be all pictures with captions sooo bear with me. I have absolutely no motivation to go tell about each day there.

 ^^ At Dresden Train Station

 ^^ Roomie and Me with the overlook of Leipzig.

 Building in Prague. I loved the Red!

 On St. Charles Bridge in Prague.

 Prague Zoo w/ some of the gang.

 Nathan pretending he was a turtle.

 Kirchentag in Dresden

 Overlook of Dresden.

 Myself at the top of the 3 Kings Church I believe.

 Your basic flea market in Dresden.

 In Vienna!

 Belvedere

In front of the gardens at Belvedere. 

That's all!

On a Mission for God,
Cherish

So viel aufzuholen!

So sorry for the lack of blogging the past few days. We have had one crazy busy week. I'll start by blogging each day:

May 24th:
On Tuesday we went to a school for students wanting to be in the hotel or restaurant business. When we got to their school we performed for them. After the performance we went and had drinks and cake with the teacher and her assistant. Then we were split up into groups and went into the classrooms and talked to the students. The students were allowed to ask us any appropriate questions and we answered them. This exercise was to help them use English more.

May 25th:
On Wednesday we were supposed to go to a music school to sing for them, but due to uncontrollable circumstances that was cancelled. So we went and sung on the streets and passed out flyers for several hours. As always, it was really enjoying and neat to see peoples reactions to our music. Once we were done, we had free time and were able to go do whatever we wanted. We basically had a girls "night". Taryn, Kimber, Amanda & I went to H&M and then went to the tallest building in Leipzig and went to the top to sit on the roof and enjoy the weather and the overlook of the city. We spent about an hour up there.

May 26th:
On Thursday we went to a school were students are studying to be different kinds of medical assistants (veterinary, doctor, etc.) We sung for over 100 kids and then broke into small groups and talked with them for about an hour and a half. After we were done there, we all went back to the LST Center to rest. We went to the Ronald McDonald house later that night where we helped to prepare dinner and ate with the parents of the sick children. We also performed for them. Let's just say it brought tears to almost everyone's eyes. I just pray that we uplifted them.

May 27th:
Today we went to a middle school to preform and then we broke into small groups again to chat with the middle school kids. It was a little harder to converse with them because their English is not as good as the older students. The conversation ran dry pretty quick - but Taryn saved the day several times. We then were free to go eat lunch. After lunch, we went to a hospital and performed for some patients. Several of them really enjoyed the concert - you could tell by their movements to the music and the smiles on their faces. After the concert, the lady who organized it gave us books of the city and lanyards with the hospitals logo on it. After that concert we had another one at a hospital for mentally handicapped patients. The patients were the nicest. When we got there, we had sandwiches and drinks waiting for us. Then as the patients would come in, most would greet us and try to start talking to us in German. It was so sweet. We performed for them and then we were on our way back to the hostel. Before we went to the hostel, Taryn & I went to this popular ice cream place and got ice cream to enjoy.

Tomorrow we have an off day until about 5. Taryn & I plan on sleeping in a little bit and then taking the Trams all over Leipzig and eat lunch at a somewhat fancy restaurant. Then we have to come back to practice for the concert and then it's SHOWTIME!

Here's to the last few days in Leipzig!

That's all for tonight! Guten Nacht!
On a Mission for God,
Cherish

Sorry!

Sorry I haven't blogged recently! I'll be back soon! Things have been uber busy!

On a Mission for God,
Cherish


-For updates, you can always ask my parents if you know them! :)

Nur ein kleines Gespräch mit Jesus macht es richtig.

Guten Tag!

Today was a somewhat busy/relaxing day if that makes any sense. This morning/afternoon we sung on the streets and passed out flyers for our concert on Saturday. I absolutely enjoyed today! I enjoyed singing in front of the crowds and having people stop and watch us and actually be interested in what we were doing. It's so neat to see God work in the the littlest ways. After our singing campaign was done. Taryn and I went to eat at the LST Center where we had leftover lasagna. Then Taryn, Ben and I went shopping. Taryn and I went to H&M while Ben went to a book store, but then we lost Ben after we came out...sorry Ben. I actually bought something in H&M today though!! I bought a super cute dress, a tank top and leggings for 23 euro. Then Taryn and I went and got Gelato. We both had Kokos (or coconut). But I really didn't like it because it had coconut flakes in it. Then we went to sit down and found out shortly after that I sat in Bird Poop!!! Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh. Then we went into the Euroshop. It's basically like the Dollar Tree, but with BETTER stuff. Yeahz.
Now we are sitting in the hostel - chatting with eachother on Facebook. We're lame. That's all for today. No pictures, sorry.

On a Mission for God,
Cherish

Ich spreche kein Deutsch

My title is a saying I'm going to have to learn how to say. Other than "Do you speak English?" I just feel like that is rude.

Ha!! Anyways, Once we went back to the LST Center today, we set up for Coffee and Cake with the LST contacts. To my surprise, Taylor, a friend from back home showed up. Taylor is also in Germany on a mission trip but he is working in a town about an 1 1/2 hours away, called Chemnitz. We ended up knowing the same missionaries in Germany and they invited him and his mission group to Coffee and worship service with us. After worship, I got to talk to Taylor a little bit about his mission trip. From our conversation, I gathered that it was going pretty good, but he would like to be meeting with more people throughout the week. So, please pray for Taylor and his mission group and pray that they touch more lives.

Also, I played several rounds of UNO tonight with Chad, Taryn, Nate, Thomas, Charles and Amanda. Let's just say... I think little Nate hides cards somewhere. :)

Tomorrow, we start singing on the streets, so pray for us as well. And pray that we touch lives too! That's all for tonight.
Guten Nacht.

On a Mission for God,
Cherish

Nur ein weiterer Tag im Paradies

Guten Tag! For all of you at home, you probably aren't even awake yet. But for those of us here in Germany, it's 2:00 PM. This morning, most of the group went to St. Thomas Catholic church. It was definitely experience in itself seeing as the whole service was in German and it was Catholic. Nothing against those who are Catholic, I've just never been to a Catholic service so it was different for me. We went to the church to actually listen to the Boys Choir perform and they were AWESOME! We then stayed for part of the service, but what we didn't realize was that today, it was Conformation day at the church. We ended up having leave during the middle of Conformation because the LST group was feeding us at 11. Once we arrived to the LST Center, we ate Lasagna, corn and bread. Let me say, the Lasagna was the BEST Lasagna I've ever had. Pam is an excellent cook! Now most of us are back at the hostel resting until 3:30 because we have to go back to help set up for Coffee and Cake with the contacts. Then we have worship! Today has been a great day so far!!

Wunderschönen Tag in einem Wunderschönen Ort

So, today the fellow missionaries here in Leipzig took us to a castle in a nearby village.

This castle is around 800 years old! Can you believe that?
Anways, we had an amazing tour guide:

...but she didn't speak a lick of English..but that was okay. Larry translated for us. I absolutely loved listening to her even if I couldn't understand her. You could tell she was very passionate just by her body language.

We found a cat there at the castle:

We named him Adolf. He had the mustache. No lie!!

Here's an overlook of the village from the castle:

It's beautiful here and I'm having the greatest time! I'm so blessed to be a part of this trip.
After the castle trip, Thomas, myself, Taryn, Josh and Amanda all went to St. Nicolas church to hear a brass orchestra along with an organ. It was beautiful music. I loved it! After that, Taryn and I went to Luka's to eat. I had a sandwich that had salami, some type of cheese and a bacony flavor to it! It was delish! After that, we met up with some of our group to get Gellato. Mine was mocha flavored. Yummm! Then to top my night off, I got to finally Skype with my family. It was so good to see them face to face and to hear their voice. It kind of cures the homesickness.

Gotta head to bed though!
Tomorrow we are going to a Catholic church to hear a choir perform. I'm pretty excited about that! Then we had several events with the LSTers. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us tomorrow! Praying we help to change lives!

On a Mission for God,
Cherish

Meine Seele Erhebt Den Herrn

Another full day here in Leipzig. Today we ate breakfast and then we had a little time before we had to leave to go to the LST Center so Taryn and I went and tried to get lost in the city. It was great to go out and explore on my own. Once we arrived at the LST Center, we met Manfred. He was our Tour Guide for the day and showed us around Leipzig pointing out different cool facts about the city and taking us into churches. Manfred is very passionate about Leipzig and he was once a professor at the University. Once we were finished with the Tour, Taryn and I went to lunch at the Mensa and ate pizza. It was very different to say the least. Then we went and got Gellato. Mine was raspberry flavored but had sesame seeds in it. It was different. After that we went back to the hostel to rest as instructed. We had to meet back at the LST Center at 3 to practice for our show tonight. Then the LST group fed us sandwiches and chips. Then it was performance time. It was nerve racking to me, because it was my first time performing with a choir. But I enjoyed it. I really like it here in Leipzig. After the show we mingled around with a few German residents and I even learned how to say a few things in German from Rosie. She was such a sweet lady. After everyone left, a few of us were still at the LST Center and Karen (One of the missionaries) informed us that a lot of the guests were going to come back on Sunday to worship with us. One of the guests are Muslim, so this is a big step. I can really feel God moving in this city. I can't wait to see what great things happen here. Also, while leaving the LST Center, I feel down the stairs. I only hurt my pride and dignity. No big deal. 

On a Mission for God,
Cherish

Guten Abend

Well, we landed in Germany around 1:00 PM (Germany Time) on Wednesday. Our travel experience was filled with 3 planes, a bus and a train. But it was all worth it. We arrived in Leipzig around 8:00 PM last night. Once we arrived, we checked into our hostel (Sleepy Lion) and then went and ate a place called Schnitzel Culture. It was a quaint little restaurant (as most restaurants are in Germany). All of us ate the regular Schnitzel. If you have never had Schnitzel then I suggest you get yourself to Germany to try it. It's delicious. It's pork loin fried, but oh so good!
After Dinner we came back to the hostel where we took showers and feel asleep.

This morning I woke up around 6:30 AM and went with Taryn and Kimber to the grocery store. If you haven't been to Germany, I will tell you that when you ask for water here, you have to ask for Still water or you will get Sparkling water if you don't. So that is why we went to the grocery store, to buy some water. Oh wait, but before we went to the grocery store we ate breakfast here at the hostel. For breakfast, I had the typical German breakfast which is Slices of Salami, Slices of Cheese, Bread with Nutella on it and some orange juice. Delicious!
After Breakfast, we all came to the girls room and practiced our songs for a few hours. Then we went with Larry ( a missionary here in Germany) to the LST Center. LST stands for Let's Start Talking. Instead of calling the church Leipzig church of Christ, they call it the LST Center. After we toured the LST center, we went to the University of Leipzig to eat lunch. We ate in the "Mensa" or the cafeteria. Lunch was interesting. I had fried fish with Spinach and mustard sauce. It was pretty good. After lunch we headed back to the LST Center to work on some more songs. Some missionaries from Dresden joined us to practice the songs as well. After we were done practicing, Chad dismissed us and I came back to the hostel to take a quick nap because I was so exhausted and "jet-lagged". Once I woke from my nap, we all went to Leo's to eat dinner. I had Schnitzel again. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites. After dinner, Taryn and I went to H&M where I could of boughten out the WHOLE store. Now, I'm sitting here typing up this blog listening to cars drive by because we leave our window open, because theirs NO air conditioning. But, that's okay! I want the full German experience!




Are you ready for pictures??

 Teaching Nathan how to play the Ukelele.

Greg jamming out to the Mandolin in the airport. 

Dresden Train Station

 Taryn & I after 20 hours of Traveling.

 I just loved the sign there.

On a Mission for God,
Cherish

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Less than 24 hours until I board my flight, Germany Bound. As of right now, I'm about halfway packed and I still have a bazillion things to do. I'm overwhelmed with different emotions. I'm excited, nervous, and scared. I'm excited because I'm about to go show God's love to people who may have never been able to experience it before because they don't even know about Jesus. I'm nervous because I have to pack for a month and I'm not very good at packing. I always over pack! I'm also nervous because I will be away from my parents for nearly 5 weeks! It's times like these that I really appreciate Skype. I'm scared because I don't know what lies ahead of me, but what I do know is that God's got my back and he created this opportunity for me for various reasons.

I ask that each of you pray for myself and the campaign group as we prepare to show God's love to the European Natives and as Chad said "be Jesus" to them. Please pray for safe travels and pray that we each gain a lot from this experience.

Also, for those who have shown me their support in various forms. Thank you so much! I truly appreciate it!


Stay tuned to my blog, I'll be updating it frequently during the trip.

On a Mission for God,
Cherish