Hot Dang!

Thanks Shane Claiborne!

and Dad :-)

Mmm Whatcha Say

Just got back from the largest photofair in Germany - The Photokina. 

 (in Cologne, Germany)

It was beastly.

Especially the Lomography section.

Just chillin at the Lomo Lounge, 

checkin the Lomo Wall

Lomo people; Lomo life.

Hope sometime I can have a career as a 

Lomo World Documentary Photographer/Psychological Analyst.

That would be good.

Dream You

Had a hard weekend, but came out even better for it.

God's teaching me to be honest... and patient. And a lovely girl told me earlier this week that there's comfort in having absolutely no control. I'm finding that to be true.
Being honest with myself is the hardest thing of all.

This is a good place.

Yarghhh

Hot dang I've never had such a hard time getting along with people....

Dresden Trip

Yesterday when we were in Dresden, we passed a really old lady fallen on the ground, shaking like she was having a seizure or something. She wasn't from Germany, maybe spain or italy or something, but she couldn't speak german or english.
Some other old german ladies stopped and tried to help her up, but she just held out her cup for money.
We were like man that sucks- who knows if she really needs help, she probably just wants money.
But I couldn't keep walking.. I felt sick inside to just walk by her. All these verses were going through my head... what you do to the least of these, you do unto me... good samaritan... the beggar at the wall, Peter said money i don't have, but the love and power of Jesus...
And so we talked about it, some of the girls were like she's probably there everyday, she just wants money, she wouldn't even let those ladies help her up... But I looked over there and a bunch of german teenagers were standing right in front of her laughing at her.
I was like we can at least go pray for her, and everyone agreed. We went over there and she held out her cup for money and a few of us stuck some change in it, but we put our arms around her and started praying- that God would help her to not feel alone, that He would let her know that He knows every part of her story, He's always been with her and he loves her.
She started crying really hard, we couldn't see her face because it was right next to the ground, but she kept wiping her sleeve and it was wetter and wetter everytime. She lifted up her sleeve and she had a bracelet with a rosary of mary and jesus and she pointed to it. It was an amazing moment. I started trying to lift her up, and she held out the cup again, but i ignored it and we all started lifting her up. We took to her to one of the walls of a building close by that she could lean against and she kept crying and crying, and we just held her hand and rubbed her back. She pointed to the bracelet again, and I pointed to it and then to her heart. She nodded yes and i pointed to my heart. Then she started kissing all of our hands and most of us were crying at that point. She held out her hand with a 2 euro coin in it and we all said no no! And then she hugged us. She never looked at us in the eyes though.
I feel like that was a moment I won't ever forget. Haha, shane claiborne moment. I hope we just made her feel like she was worth something again, that us stopping and caring about her meant something to her, and that she felt like God loves her. :-)
Sorry that was so long...dang.

Witness

I'm writing a report on war photographer James Nachtwey- he has incredible pictures^ and unbelievable stories. This picture is of a man in Rwanda who survived a Hutu death camp in 1994. Reading about James Nachtwey's life inspired me so much- he dedicated and risked his life to take pictures that would make people aware of what is going on in the world and to bring change. I have to give a report about him in a couple weeks in front of everyone... ahh scary... but at least he's awesome.

We started making pinhole cameras yesterday. I made mine out of a hairdye box... haha. So far not so good at taking pictures.... but it looks awesome. Hopefully I can put up a picture of it soon. 

Also I got to use the dark room for the first time today! That was really exciting. 

I have a friend here from Switzerland named Gandalf. Thats also exciting.

I can't believe I've only been here a week.

I'm too tired to think of anything clever to say, but hopefully I can put up a nice fat post soon.

I miss you guys!

Like No Other

Our inspiration for today:

Go Sony... and Jose Gonzalez

We watched this and the making of this commercial in our photo class.

Highfive for thinking outside of the box and for using real bouncy balls.

You are my perfect rhyme

Incredible worship night tonight. I feel so free at this place.

Its so humbling to look around you at a circle of people worshipping God and know that each one of them was handpicked to be right there, at that very moment, and you are one of them.
I mean, its true of every place you go when you think about it, but at such a random far away place you become really aware of God picking you up and placing you exactly where He wants you.

I'm really missing everyone right now, though. It sucks to have so many people with pieces of my heart so far away.

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to give a lot in this trip, you know, knowing that I'm leaving and not wanting to get really close to people- all my trust issue fun stuff. Especially because the one place I invested pretty much my entire social life in highschool kind of left me alone in the hardest part of leaving, when I really needed them the most. But I think God was preparing my heart for some big things this year, and going through that helped me grow up a lot. The YWAM staff wrote me a letter and said they prayed for me before I got here, and they said God told them He was going to help me 'sort out the trash in my life' while I'm here. I hope thats a good thing.
And the dream synopsis Joel wrote of the crazy dream I just have left me with a lot to think about along those lines. Weird things and good things going on.

ADDRESS

Joanna Branson
JMEM / DTS
Untere Dorfstr. 56
02747 Ruppersdorf, Germany

Wilkommen

Why does every German word look like the name of a beer?

I made it, after

three hours of plane delays, one and a half of which spent sitting in the plane with no air conditioning,

two trains without a single person who speaks english, and several naps in the airport. 

This is what the train stations look like. Germany is full of fantastic old buildings. 

While we were there, no one spoke. It was completely silent waiting for the trains. I loved it.

The Water Castle isn't what I expected, but its just as wonderful. Its not like a stone castle with dungeons/chambers/moats, its more like an enormous cottage with hundreds of windows and gardens and five stories. It has a nice cold basement complete with food rooms and a dark room (yay!) and right outside my window is the stone bridge leading up to it, and some goats that yell at me in the morning. 

When we were driving from the train station, we passed a huge field of windmills right next to the base. So amazing. I'm sure I'll be putting up pictures of it soon. 

Its a little awkward right now, there's only seven students here. But everyone gets here Saturday! I already feel at home at this place. Thank you God for bringing me here.

Right now I'm sitting at my laptop, listening to one of the YWAM staff mopping the staircase, singing worship hymns to God that are echoing throughout all four floors and I am so excited for the next seven months. 

No need to say goodbye

I'll be back before you know it. 

Mix tape #1 - See Ya Later

1. Scatterbrain (As Dead As Leaves) - Radiohead

2. Boats and Birds - Gregory and the Hawk

3. Raindrops - Regina Spektor

4. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

5. The Old Days - Dr. Dog

6. Grace - Phil Wickham

7. The Call - Regina Spektor

8. This Will Be Our Year - Ok Go

9. Transatlanticism - Death Cab For Cutie

10. Kingdom Come - Coldplay

11. Last Time Here - The Album Leaf

12. The End Has No End - The Strokes

High five to Rachael D, Kristina, and Lizzie for coming to my house and giving me the best going-away presents ever. 

Bonus high five to Heather for being the last person I'll ever text from my phone and for being the inspiration of 3 or more songs on the Mix #1. 

This is going to be an amazing seven months. The hardest part of all was tonight. 

Thank you God for this chance. Thank you God for Nicky Hackett. Thank you God for providing everything I need to follow my dreams, the ones you painted on my heart yourself. 

Just because everything's changing

doesn't mean its never been this way before.

I'll come back when you call me, 

No need to say goodbye.