Beautiful things.

Recently the MOTA DTS spent two weeks in Nuernberg, Germany sharing God's love with this wonderful city! The following link shows a video of one project that we worked on while there. I'm so proud of all of the students that shared their passion and art with this city-it was incredible to be a part of!

 Beautiful Things-MOTA 2012 Flash Mob, Nuernberg

Life these days...

has been quite beautiful.

It's busy..
It's happy..
It's sometimes overwhelming..
It's always fulfilling.


I love evenings like this...

Family dinners full of laughter and happiness with incredible people that God has so graciously placed in my life.

I love days like this...

A day-trip to Dresden (the closest larger city) to give us a taste of the outside world after living the village life in Herrnhut for a time.


Currently...

We are having a blast renovating the sidebuilding (male student housing at the base) in preparation for the three schools that are starting in a few weeks.

Kelsey, Caitlynn and myself found some cute new outfits in the base's boutique (it's like a free Goodwill!) to do a little sanding, painting and priming in today. 

We even snatched some fashionable footwear to complete our look. (Those are real UGGS! Score!)

Kelsey is really loving the power tool aspect of the renovation. She's a natural.

Please pray for us as we continue to battle mice, mold and scary animal wall murals in order to make base housing for the students the best that it can be! We're so excited for this school to start!

In other news... I am currently planning a visit to the land of tulips and windmills...

Yes, that's right. Holland! The YWAM base in Heidebeek, Holland is hosting a Western European DTS conference where staff from bases all over Western Europe can come together and learn more about what it takes to staff/lead a DTS. It's going to be my first big YWAM gathering so I'm really excited! One of our base leaders, Toni, is actually facilitating the whole event-she's amazing, so I am sure that it will be an awesome time. Myself and the rest of the MOTA staff team (as well as a group that is staffing the Justice DTS in Herrnhut) leave for this conference August 12th. Prayers for finances (I need at least 150 Euro!) safe travel and lots of great experiences are appreciated!


So, there you have it. Life in Herrnhut is currently full of good things and God's faithfulness.

I have arrived!

I'm back. Back in the land of magical forests, incredible chocolate and quaint villages. I'm back. Back to the YWAM Herrnhut community-a place of vision, passion and so much joy. Here I am, starting a new season in my life. I'm making a new commitment. Beginning a new journey-and I'm really excited. I'm excited to see what God has in store and I'm excited to see the ways that He is going to continue to reveal Himself to me. Here, in this place, I rediscovered so much about who my Savior is to me, and I know that there is so much more of that sweet revelation to come. Before busy schedules and meetings and 100+ new students overwhelm my life (in a challenging and really good way), I'm taking a few moments-a few days-to soak it all in. To spend time worshipping and praying and re-aligning. Connecting with old friends and making new ones. Figuring out what this new life looks like. The Lord has brought me back. Mentally, emotionally and now physically...I am here. Let's go, Jesus, I am ready to begin another new journey with you. I know the next days will be full of challenges and triumphs, of mountains and valleys. I'm well aware of the fact that my flesh will continually fail...but, my God, you are good and you are faithful and you are constant. I am forever grateful for your love; your love that continues to blow my mind each and every day. Thank you for bringing me back.

Thanks for coming out!

I'd like to say a big thank-you to everyone who came out to hear my stories tonight. It was a great time of fellowship and sharing (and yummy treats from my Grandma). I think the very best part of the night was getting to relive all of my experiences during my DTS in Germany and in Kenya. Looking back over it all again.. seeing the way that God has moved and worked in my life and in the lives of so many people that I came into contact with was just awesome. More to come on tonight's event but for now I'm incredibly exhausted and fighting off a nasty head cold, so I need to get some sleep!

Blessings,

Jenna

Wow, talk about a major hiatus from the blogging world. I started this little guy as a way of updating and informing people about my adventures with YWAM and doing a DTS, but did an absolutely horrible job of keeping it up while away. Needless to say, I'm back in the United States for the time being. The last seven months were an incredible time and I loved it. LOVED IT. For those of you on my email update list you were able to keep informed about the happenings in the life of Jenna through periodic emails sent from Herrnhut and also Kenya during outreach. For the rest of you.. well, get on my email update list. Haha, but seriously! Shoot me your email if you'd like to keep informed. I am also making a COMMITMENT (something that I too often fail at) to get this blog back in business. Hold me to it, people! For now, here's the latest of the aforementioned email updates that I sent. It explains a bit about the last seven months and even more about the future.

Dear friends, family and loved ones,

I find myself writing to you from a little coffee shop in the middle of nowhere, Montana.  I can hardly believe that I am here, back in the United States, after over seven months away. It has been an incredible journey. I have learned so much and have grown in ways I never thought possible. I found, during my DTS, a peace that I had never experienced before and joy unlike anything I’d ever known. I guess that’s what happens when you surrender-when you put yourself in the center of God’s will for your life. Looking back I see how God orchestrated every step, how He planned the last three years of my life to lead me to the point where I am now. I am so grateful for God’s divine intervention and perfect timing.

With that being said, I have made the exciting decision to return to Germany as full-time staff with Youth with a Mission. I am incredibly happy about this opportunity and the doors that have opened for me to get connected with the Herrnhut base. I found during my DTS an incredible community of passionate, creative people that became like family to me during my time there. It is without hesitation or doubt that I make a two year commitment to the base and begin my life in full-time missions.

I am so excited to be able to speak with you personally about what I experienced while in Germany and on outreach in Kenya and to share about my future plans with YWAM. I will be spending the months of May and June in Indiana, where I hope to be able to connect with many of you. I realize, however, that some of you aren’t in that area. I would love to talk on the phone or over Skype with you. Please feel free to email me to set up a time when we can chat. For those of you that will be in the area, I am planning an event for some time in May where I can get together with my supporters and share. More details to come!

I would again like to express my gratitude to you all. The words of encouragement I received, the prayers that I could feel-those things were a huge part of my journey. Each one of you has played a part in supporting me over the past seven months, and I am forever grateful for that. There is so much I could say to those of you who have known me all of my life. You have seen me through so many things. You have seen the struggles that I faced and the times of confusion and doubt. I am so incredibly happy that you can now share with me the victory that I have found in Jesus, the freedom I have found in surrender and the fullness of life that I have discovered in seeking God’s will. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for sticking with me. Thank you for walking along side me and praying for me and for never giving up on me.

God bless you for loving me in a way that has shown me God’s love.

Jenna

P.S. While in Indiana, I will need to make money to live on, in whatever way possible. If you have any odd jobs that you need done or children that need a sitter, or if you know of anyone who fits in those categories, please let me know! My schedule is pretty wide open at this point, and I am willing to do just about anything!

Day One: I'm in Germany!

What a day. As I write this, the German countryside is flying by outside of my train window. We’re headed from Berlin to Dresden and from there to Lobau, where someone from the base will (hopefully) be picking us up and taking us to Herrnhut. My two travel buddies, Jennifer and Corey, are here but our luggage, on the other hand, is not. Yes, that’s right… our bags are still in Sweden right now. When we first learned of this unfortunate situation, we decided to wait until they came in on the next flight. After finding out that we would not be able to get a train to Lobau tonight if we waited for the bags, we decided to tough it out without any luggage and head to Herrnhut. Our luggage is supposed to be delivered to us by the beginning of next week, and we’re just hoping that’s true.

Before Sweden, our travels were going well. No issues at St. Louis, the eight-hour flight to Stockholm went very smoothly and didn’t drag on too terribly. We had only an hour between flights in Stockholm. Generally, this would be plenty of time since they were on the same airline and everything. However, we ended making it to our gate at final boarding call due to a passport check and another security screening (pretty annoying). Needless to say, no missed flights…just missing bags.

I’m anxious and nervous and excited to get to the base. Mostly, I’m excited to shower and sleep. Luckily I have an extra of everything packed in my carry on and also some toiletries so I think I’ll be ok for the next couple days. Definitely not ideal, but I’m not too worried about it. Mostly, I’m just hoping that I can feel calm and happy and take a moment to enjoy being abroad. So far it’s been so much chaos and confusion and uncertainty that I haven’t had a moment to just take it all in. I’M IN GERMANY!

Happy update coming soon.

Jenna 

(Written on 9-1-11)

I've missed you!

Hey friends. It's been so long..I'm sorry. In the past few weeks I finished up my job at Interra in Wakarusa, packed up my basement apartment (with tons of help from lots of amazing friends), hopped in the Malibu Barbie with Mackenzie and road-tripped out to Montana! The trip was great. I'm so glad that Kenze was able to come. We saw all kinds of fun stuff and had a great time laughing and talking and making some awesome memories. The past couple of weeks have been spent hanging out with my family, organizing and packing up my stuff, finishing up last minute details of travel, babysitting my precious niece, and basically just being "normal" for a little bit longer. It's been so good to spend this time with my family, and to have the time to get ready for this exciting adventure.

I have a few logistic things to let everyone know about. My permanent US address will be that of my parents' here in Montana. Things such as donations or other important items can be sent there, to my mom. She will be making sure any further donations are deposited into the correct account to continue to pay for the outreach portion of my trip. I still have some funds to raise, but the great news is, the YWAM base in Herrnhut so believes that each student is called to be there that they don't require full payment in advance. They don't believe that money is a huge issue. As the Lord provides the rest of the funds for my outreach, I will continue to pay them. I'm so blessed by the amazing support I've received, and am confident that God will continue to bring in exactly what I need at exactly the right time.

My parents' address:

2136 MT Hwy 41 S
Twin Bridges, MT 59754

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to receive letters and/or notes of encouragement while in Germany. My address there (starting this Friday!) will be:

Jenna Wisler
JMEM/DTS
Untere Dorfstr. 56
02747 Ruppersdorf
Germany


Time for me to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day of packing, packing, and packing! I leave Montana on Wednesday and fly to St Louis, where I'll meet up with a couple friends that I'm flying to Germany with. On Thursday we'll fly from from St Louis to Chicago, Chicago to Stockholm, Sweden and then we'll arrive in Berlin Friday morning. I'll be sure to update from an airport somewhere! Please pray for nerves/anxiety/the sadness of saying goodbye to family members in the next few days.

Love, blessings, and many thanks!

Jenna