3 countries in 7 days

Here I am in Braunschweig sitting in a flat of my friends and realizing that I have time to update everyone on my life. :)

So a girl in my program, Jess, and I decided to travel to Dublin, Ireland; Paris, France; and 2 cities in Germany. But we only made it to one city in Germany because of money. But here is a bit of what has happened so far!

On Thursday we found out that the train workers in Italy were going on strike so we wouldn´t be a ble to get out of Florence to Pisa the next day so we had to leave thrusday night unexpectedly. So we left Florence on a train to Pisa at 910pm. Then we got to Pisa and waited outside in the dark at the train station until 1130 for a bus to the Pisa airport. Then when we got to the airport we set up camp for the night because our plane didn´t leave until 7am the next morning. But at 2am they closed the airport and we were kicked out until 4am. So we sat on the ground outside the airport for two hours while it rained and there were drunk teens from america around us. Then they finally let us in at 4am and we got on the plane and headed to Dublin at 7am. Mind you this that that day we had just finished a week of midterm exams and hadn´t slept in over 24 hours. :)

Dublin: I LOVE IRELAND. It is offically a place I MUST return to and possibly live after I graduate college! We stayed there with my families friends the Brauers. They welcomed us into their home and we had an amazing time! We toured the entire city for one day on a hop on hop off bus. Then we went and found little markets and the temple street bar! That was amazing and I think everyone should see it in their lifetime! We went on a train to the coast and saw Graystones a small fisherman town! We ate at an irish pub and ate fish and chips while watching the rugby game on the tv! It was so much fun! On Sunday we got the chance to worship with the Brauers church and then we flew off to Paris that afternoon.

Paris: I hated Paris and I never plan on going back ever again. Yes it is pretty. Yes it is expensive. And yes it is not worth it. We got to the airport at 7pm but the airport we flew into was an hour and a half out of the city. So we took a bus to get into Paris. So we finally got to Paris at 11pm with all travel and everything. Then we waited for an hour for the metro that never came. So at midnight we finally found a taxi and tried to get to our hostel. The taxi gets lost and tells us to get out. So we paid 12 € to not be taken where we needed to be. So after asking for directions 3x we got to the hostel at 130am. We were walking around paris at 1AM!!! It is something I will NEVER forget! Then we got to our room and a man was in it. He was our roommate, Carlos. That is something that I never expected. But all in all the hostel was a fine place to stay. Then the next day we toured Paris on the hop on hop off bus and it was double the cost of Dublins bus. I was very angry about that. And the city is not at all what it is built up to be. So overall: Paris is the worst city I have been to in a long time.

Germany: We then tried to get our ticket for our train to Frankfurt, Germany which online said it would be 44€ and ended up being 104€ and then from frankfurt to Braunschweig it was another 80€ therefore we did not have enough money to go and visit friends in Heidelburg. Sad. And EXPENSIVE! So then we got on the trains. THE VIEW WAS BREATH TAKING! The country side of France and Germany is worth the cost of the trains! I LOVED IT! Put in your music and daydream as you look into the beautiful countryside. Amazing! Then we got to Braunschweig were my parents and brother lived for at least 2 years and I have visited once before. It is nice to see a city that you have lots of pictures in and remember it the second time around. :) Germany has a culture unique to itself. It is a place I suggest all of you go one day! We saw all of Braunschweig and Wolfsburg and another town I don´t know the name of. Best part is the buildings! So pretty. So much history! And then last night I had an amazing time drinking Mede (a viking liquor) and playing cards with my friends! It was a great night!

Now we are spending our last night here and tomorrow we will take the train to the Frankfurt Hahn airport and we will fly back to Italy (home) and sleep until we wake up and set NO alarms! Then on Sunday I will be going back to church and enjoying fellowship with my Christian friends in Florence! And on Tuesday our Bible study will start! So many things too look forward to!

God has been so faithful! He has watched over us and protected us! So many things could have been worse but they weren´t! God is guiding my steps from America to Italy and now to northern Europe and back! Now to see where he takes me next....

°° kate °°

Comfort

Today at church I was asked to talk about what God has been doing in my life lately and just share an encouraging word. So first Pastor Solomon (from Ethiopia) got up and talked about comfort. Then when I got up I said something like this:

I have thought for the past 5 years that I knew what God wanted me to do with my life, that I should be a nurse in other countries. But God didn't change, my understanding him did. I no longer have a peace about doing that any longer. Now I believe that I am hearing Him better because I am only focused on him. I no longer hear the vocies of friends, family, or other people. I am no longer hearing in the back on my mind "this is a job that you can rely on if things don't work out" and this is when I realized. God is only in the business of working things out. There is no failing with God!! And I read Jer 29:11-14. And then I explained about how knowing that God has my days and plans figured out and all I have to do is obey and follow, made my decision so much more simple. And knowing that nothing God has planned for me will harm me. Only lead me into a bright future and comforting hope!

Then later on after during the service my friend Tuula (Pastor Moritzo's wife) got up and spoke about letting God just work in you. That everything you do is a matter of God's doing. What your work is, where you go, shouldn't be a matter or your preference but of obeying God. And I had an overwhelming sense of peace about changing my major. I am now going to be a Social Work major and with a Intercultural studies minor. And if God has for me to change where I study he will show that in time. But for now I have the comforting hope in God and his plan.

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This week I have midterm exams and then on Friday morning I am off to Dublin, Paris, and a few towns in Germany! So I would appreciate your prayers over my tests and my safety while traveling! And if any of you have ANY prayer requests or needs PLEASE email me them! ksudduth@gmail.com

God bless you with overwhelming peace and comforting hope!
kate

A great night

Do you ever have events that send you back to your childhood?

Today I had one of those moments and I cherished it!

Story:

I got a tea bag from a friend here in Florence and made some amazing tea which is perfect for an apartment that has no heat! So that made me think about making tea for me and my mom at home in Ohio and drinking warm tea in the living room and reading some amazing books. We always ended up talking more than reading but thats because sometimes I just can't shut up. And then I got the movie "A Little Princess" from a friend here and watched it on my laptop and it sent me back to watching it with Katherine Humbert one of my oldest friends! and it just sent me to watching TONS of movies in Katherines basement from the Olsen twin movies to Anne of Green Gables which we watched this summer before I left for Italy. It is so funny how little things can send you to another time and place. But I am greatful for it!

Thank you for tuning in... Next time on the blog of kates random thoughts..............

JOY. LOVE. FAITH. HOPE.

JOY is my middle name.
JOY is the feeling I get everytime I hear my favorite song come on the radio.
JOY is the knowledge that God is with me.
JOY is faith.
JOY is finding the perfect shoes.
JOY is a camp couselor I worked with.
JOY is an old friend from church.
JOY is the abiblity to call home.
JOY is home.
JOY is contagious.
JOY is in everyone.
LOVE is a warm bed.
LOVE is death on a cross.
LOVE is cookies right out of the oven.
LOVE is John 3:16.
LOVE is real.
LOVE can not be faked.
LOVE is never temptaion.
LOVE is what matters.
LOVE is in everyone.
FAITH is sitting in a chiar.
FAITH is getting up in the morning.
FAITH is taking medicine to keep you breathing.
FAITH is not people.
FAITH is in everyone.
HOPE is seeing a sunrise.
HOPE is crossing your fingers.
HOPE is a second coming of the only true KING.
HOPE is NOT in everyone.

The things that make us human and the things that seperate us different when we have a God that is all powerful. We might all have a secret joy, or a never forgotten love, or even some unrational faith, but not everyone has hope. But those that know Him have faith that will be satisfied when we see Him. Hallelujah.

Thoughts that attack

So I was reading "The confessions of an Economic Hit Man" for my ethics of globalization class. I adore this book. I think everyone should read it! It is so interesting and challenges your normal thoughts of what happen within the government. And while reading it last night it made me think about how the story he is telling has been told hundreds of times before. And most of it is seen in the Bible. 

People long for power and importance. People all try to make their life count. Everyone had a different idea of what makes life "count" but I think that we all try and justify our decisions and our life in general. In this book He is trying to make his life count by destroying the economies of other countries for the benefit of the USA. And this story is seen in the Bible where kings want power and to show up God and do things in his own power. And that sent me into thinking...

If we are Christians we already have a purpose. We have a reason for living: to Glorify God and show Him worthy. And if this is our purpose in life than we don't have to try so hard to justify our lives. We just have to be pawns in God's master plan and let Him show us the importance of our existence. sooo....

That made me think about how I saw my life and others around me in the sense of God's tools for such a greater plan. And yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of a dear friends death. And when I was thinking back to when I heard the news that Becca had died I at the time never thought that God has so many reasons for taking her. I was just angry confused and hurt. I just wanted for God to explain it all. And then yesterday I thought about the multiple purposes that God might have taken her life and what my life had been used for since then. 

It is very interesting and very freeing to look back at your life. Sometimes I saw when I resisted what God had planned and then at other moments I saw how I was open enough to all God had planned and the benefit of letting Him use me! And after thinking about this for about 2 hours I came to the realization that me being in Italy was just another move that God was using me. And I am so excited to look back in 2 years and see what God really used me for here. 

So I challenge you to do the same. Look at your life and see the ways God has used you and the people around you and see all the amazing possibilities that are to come!

-- amazed by the way she was used. kate.

Things falling together always have the same possibility of falling apart

Ciao yet again for the computer lab in Firenze! Thank you for all your prayers I have gotten better and no longer have a nasty cold! But now my roommate does :) The joy of sharing germs with those you live with. 

So this past week I have spent a lot of time alone, reading for class, thinking, reading for fun, thinking, watching movies from the library, and thinking. So I have a lot of new thoughts rolling around in my head. That is a whole other blog worth of information but that is what I have done a lot of this week. 

On Sat. I went with a friend of mine to a Ceramics and house-wear private convention. We got the tickets for free from her host mom who is an architect. It was a lot of fun and we got lots of magazines in Italian that I can understand about 50% of it. But overall that was nice.

The best part of my weekend was going to church. I went to Fellowship again and God showed what I consider to be His sense of humor. In my devotions that very morning I was reading in Psalms and Ez. and it talked about idols and David using the very words that would later be used in Matthew to describe the events surrounding Christ death. And then in the sermon He spoke about the message of the Cross and the significants that come with it and how some people make it and idol in their life. And it was so neat seeing how those things tied together! And then at the end we have testimonies and a girl from another school got up and gave my testimony. She literally said what I have been feeling and going through for the past month here and it was so exciting to see someone who is the same age as me and doing the same profession for the same reason have the same mix of emotions and feelings here. God is good.  I just thought that was neat so I would tell all of you. 

This week is a week of getting ready for midterm exams in about a week and a half! So keep my focus and non procrastinating in your prayers please! 

-- amazed how things fall in place. kate.