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

Update!

Hey friends!

I'm sorry I've been so absent lately. Between work, fundraising efforts, preparations for leaving Indiana, and the fair (!) I feel like I've been going non-stop for the past few weeks. That's not a bad thing-I like being busy and having "things" going on all the time, but it's definitely made for some exhausted days at work and left little time for fun things like blog posts!

Anyway, the garage sale I had a couple weekends ago was a huge success! I made around $700 in just one day. I was blown away. I'm so grateful for friends and family that stopped by, helped set-up/tear down, and donated some awesome stuff. I was so blessed that day, and seriously can't say thank you enough to those who contributed to a successful fundraising event.

A week at the fair was a bit of a distraction from planning/preparations for the upcoming months, but it was definitely a great way to spend some time with family and friends, say some good-byes, and just let myself breath in the last bit of time here at home-to remember the past and to realize how much I'm looking forward to the future.

I was telling a friend last night how I feel such a mix of emotions right now. I feel a definite finality about my time in Indiana-I think it's really coming to a close. I don't see myself returning here after my time abroad. I think that it's time for me to find a new home. Since my parents moved, it's been so strange figuring out just exactly where I belong. Being here is great-I have so many friends and family members here that I love so much and am so thankful for-but being here is also too weird. I probably sound like I'm rambling, because I'm not exactly sure how to put the way that I feel about this place into words. Needless to say, I've been more than a little emotional lately thinking about leaving this place that's been home for my whole life and being absolutely uncertain of what the future holds.

Moving right along...
Here's the part in the blog post that gets a little awkward, a little weird, a little uncomfortable.
I just have a quick question for you...
Would you consider giving financially to my mission?
There, I said it. Didn't want to, but I did.
I have a long way to go in the support-raising process. I have a few weeks before I leave the country. I know that I will probably leave without having the outreach portion of my DTS paid for, and that's ok. I am confident that God will provide..but it's going to take some miracles. If you feel able to give, in any way, I would be so incredibly grateful for your gift. In giving, you can be confident that your donation will be invested directly into my work with some incredible ministries. I strongly encourage you to visit this website to see first hand how I will be helping to end extreme poverty around the world and sharing the love of Jesus with lost people. 

If you would like to give financially, please contact me via email at jenna.wisler@gmail.com. I can give you the most up-to-date info about where to send donations this way (as I will be moving soon) and can answers any questions that you have.

Lastly, prayer requests..
The aforementioned emotions have been running high. As I prepare to leave Indiana in just six short days, I will be saying a lot of painful goodbyes. I know that this is what the Lord has for me, and I know that my time away will be incredible, but it's still hard to leave. I hate the thought of missing Christmas in Wakarusa with all of my friends and family, and I am so sad that I won't be available to help Kel with every aspect of wedding planning in the coming months, and I want so badly to hold Baby Morales as soon as he/she arrives in February. These things make me sad...but not so much so that I doubt God's will for my life. I'm certain that I am to go to Germany, it's just difficult to think about missing so many beautiful moments in my friends' lives. Pray that I continue to feel peace about my decision and that lines of communication with friends and family members would remain open while I am gone.

Love, blessings, and many thanks.

Jenna

Garage sale/fundraiser coming up!

Hellooo, everyone.

In a previous post I had mentioned that I may be having a garage sale at some point, and that time is quickly approaching! This coming Saturday, July 16th, from 9am-5pm I will be having a garage sale/fundraiser at Kelly Magers' house (407 W. Harrison St, Wakarusa). I'm going to be selling a bunch of my stuff that I'm basically sick of packing up and moving around all the time, as well as lots of greeting cards, button earrings, and other fun things that I have hand-made. I'm also taking donations of any items that you may want to get rid of. If you've got some things around the house just taking up space, I'd be more than happy to pick them up from you and get them out of your hair! All proceeds will benefit my trip to Germany.

I hope to see you all next Saturday at Kelly's house!

Love, blessings, and many thanks.

Jenna

I want to be friends with C.S. Lewis. (And I think that he would want to be friends with me.)

I love C.S. Lewis. I love how he thinks and how he writes and how he believes. I love that you can literally feel his conviction and his passion and sense his wisdom and his wit in every word he writes. As I was reading the last chapter of "Mere Christianity" last night, the following passage struck me in one of those.."Um..YEA" kind of ways. Like..."Woah, Clive, you are so right and you make so much sense." So I'm going to post it now because I feel that it is extremely relevant to my life journey over the last six months or so, and the journey that I am embarking on in the coming months as well.

...."The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. There is so much of Him that millions and millions of 'little Christs,' all different, will still be too few to express Him fully. He made them all. He invented-as an author invents characters in a novel-all the different men that you and I were intended to be. In that sense our real selvs are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to 'by myself' without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surrounding and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call 'Myself' becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop. What I call "my wishes' become merely the desires thrown up by my physical organism or pumped into me by other men's thoughts or even suggested to my by devils. Eggs and alcohol and a good night's sleep will be the real origin of what I regard as my own personal political ideas. I am not, in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I liek to believe: most of what I call 'me' can be very easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.

....Unless you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self. Sameness is to be found most among the most 'natural men, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints.

...The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."

I skipped around a bit and left out a few sentences here and there. You should definitely just read the whole book; it's life-changing. It's one of those that I always thought about reading and intended to read, but just hadn't. I'm glad I finally did. Oh Clive Staples Lewis, you are a stand-up guy.

Jenna

Oh happy day!

Here is a random little post. No, it's not about Germany and it's not about YWAM and it's not about support raising-it's just about the really good day that I had today.

Today I...

had a half day at work.
spent some time actively working on things I'd been putting off working on.
got to spend a few moments with precious Maile Terui, which reminded me that I have a beautiful niece awaiting my arrival in Montana in just a few short weeks.
laughed with one of my very best friends, who I feel most comfortable and most myself around (Kelly Magers). That is such an awesome feeling.
had some delicious dinner at Politos (YUM) with an awesome person that I'm so glad I've gotten to know (Katie Carl).
caught a quality movie at the dollar theater with the aforementioned dinner date. (Limitless-SO GOOD!)
made some real cute button earrings that will hopefully make me some money for Germany! (Ok, ok..this post is a little bit about Germany and support raising).

Tonight I...am laying in my super comfy bed in my super comfy home that my awesome Aunt and Uncle (Wendy and Joe) have provided for me for the past 10 months.

Tonight I...realize how blessed I am.

I think sometimes we forget about the really good days when we're having a really bad one. I think it's easy to dwell on the negative things instead of hoping for the positive. I'm hoping that by documenting some wonderful little happenings that I'll remind you (me) that good days come, before and after the bad ones. Tomorrow will most likely be better than today...and who knows-the next day might be even better.

Have a happy day,

Jenna

Support Raising Updates.

Hello friends/family/supporters/the few people that actually read this blog...

How are you?! I hope you're great. Things are good on this end of the blogosphere. Between working, preparing for a best friend's wedding, and then celebrating that awesome day with the incredible Jess and Bryce Matteson, I've been super busy and have neglected my blog-updating duties! So...here's a little bit of what's been going on in my mind..

I sent out a batch of support letters about a week ago and am starting to see some awesome responses, which is so encouraging. I still have a second bunch to send out (hopefully tomorrow). I'm already blown away by the ways in which the Lord is using people in my life to bless me, and I know this is only the beginning.

I wanted to update you on a couple more ways that I'm working toward raising funds for my upcoming mission trip. As some of you may know, I am a lover of crafting and creating. Recently one of my friends bought 15 pairs of earring that I made to give as gifts, and as a way to support me, and I'm hoping to keep that going. I have TONS of cute greeting cards that I'd love to sell. I've set up an Etsy shop and will hopefully get things listed under there really soon. Until then, I'd be more than happy to talk to you about creating some special treasures for you! Birthday cards...congratulatory cards...thank-you cards...general cute quote-on-front greeting cards...if you need them, I will make them for you! I'm also working on making some more button earrings (and I've got a bunch of cute button bobby pins).

I'm also hoping to have a big garage sale sometime around the end of July. I've got a lot of "stuff" that I really want/need to get rid of. I would also love to get donations of items that any of you are wanting to get rid of as well! If you've got some "junk" laying around your house that you would like to donate to the cause, I would arrange pick-up of the items and could hopefully get rid of them for you while making a little money for my DTS.

So these are just a couple ideas that I'm throwing around right now that I wanted to share with you all. Feel free to email me (jenna.wisler[at]gmail.com) with any questions or suggestions, or like...anything.

Love, blessings, and many thanks.

Jenna

ATOM Magazine.

I thought this might be something of interest...

The Marriage of the Arts Discipleship Training School (MOTA DTS) that took place over the last year in Herrnhut compiled a really cool publication, sharing many experiences of past MOTA students. I've loved looking through it and catching a glimpse of what my time may be like. You can see ATOM Magazine online here.

Fun times ahead!

I got some exciting news today.

My last day of work in Indiana will be August 5th, and from there I was planning on driving out to Montana to spend a couple weeks with my family before departing for Europe. Well, seeing as how the drive to Montana is a rather long one, especially when traveling alone, I was hoping to find someone to road-trip it out to Big Sky Country with me. SO PUMPED that Mackenzie gets to go on this adventure with me. She booked her return flight today, so it's official. We'll be leaving August 7th for an awesome cross-country trip that is sure to be nothing short of incredible. Can't wait.

Prayer Requests

Hey friends!

Here's a list of things that I could really use prayer for right now, as I'm preparing to embark on this awesome adventure into ministry and missions. I'm so grateful for each one of you who reads this and decides to prayerfully support me in the coming months!

-Finances: I need to raise around $9,000 before I leave for Germany. I have already been humbled and so blessed by the way that God is showing his provision, but I have a long way to go.

-Airfare: I am traveling over to Germany with a couple other students who are attending my DTS. We're planning on purchasing our plane tickets in the next couple of weeks. I could definitely use prayer in knowing what tickets to purchase and in finding flights that fit our schedules for a good price.

-I am going to miss my friends and family so much while I'm gone for seven months. I am already getting pretty sad thinking about everything that I'm going to miss out on. (Jared's football season, the birth of my new niece or nephew in November, Christmas with my family in Montana, planning Kelly's wedding and so much more) Pray that I will feel overwhelming comfort and peace about the time that I'm going to spend apart from friends and family.

Marriage of the Arts Discipleship Training School

Here is a link that will take you to an awesome website that will tell you all about what I'm doing and where I'm going for seven months, beginning in September.
CLICK ME!