my story ;-)

This blog was first published a couple of days ago on Jeremy's blog www.jeremysawatzky.blogspot.com I got a lot of feedback for it and I just felt like putting it on my own blog would be a pretty good idea...it explains a lot about myself. I just like to thank Jer A LOT for everything he's already doen for me! you rock. here's how he introduced me on his page (I love this litle intro ;-) :

greetings from germany (that was the blog's title ;-)
one of the greatest benefits of working at "youth for christ" is the fact i get to meet all sorts of unique and wonderful people from all sorts of unique and wonderful places. usually, these people are living somewhere on the prairies, or at least somewhere else within the boundaries of canada.
however, as a result of writing on this blog, ive been lucky enough to meet some people from the good old united states of america. even though these folks come from a country that we all know isnt quite as cool as canada, im still very grateful for their friendship.back in september, i ran a gymblast motivational assembly at a high school in the small town of wawanesa. wawanesa is a tiny farming community located about 25 minutes southeast of brandon.i always give out my email address at the end of every gymblast, and after the wawanesa event, a 16 year old girl by the name of juli started emailing me. she is here in manitoba as an exhange student from munich, germany!
we started talking via email, and i told her that i was a mennonite, and that mennonites originally migrated from russia or germany or somewhere around there (i dont even know my own heritage). i wondered if perhaps we were related in some way, but juli figured it was unlikely. i also told juli i could speak some german! yes, its true. i can count to ten. and i can say, "my fuss ist gerbrochen", which means "my foot is broken." and i know that "glockenspiel" means "bell". good times. anyhow, i told juli about my site, she started checking it out, and weve been great friends ever since!the other day i wrote a post called "tired". at the end of my entry, i put forward the following challenge:"does anyone want to guest write a blog entry for today? or for tomorrow? i think that would be fun. write down what god has been teaching you lately and email it to me, and ill throw it up here."well, juli took up the challenge (as did a few others)! she sent me her story - a story of hope - and i found it to be rather beautiful and real. juli said i could post it on the site, and thats exactly what im doing.enjoy.jerps. i encourage you guys to show juli some great canadian (or american) hospitality after you read this. post a comment, and let her be encouraged.

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That was Jers cute little intro, and here's my story...


Well…I came here on August 25th last year, 2004. I left all the things I knew before behind and came here to a totally strange family, people I haven’t even seen on a picture before…Now I’m living here and I’m happy and I found an amazing second family that makes me feel at home like I’ve been living here for all my life. I really must confess that I never believed something like that could happen. Sure, exchange organisations will tell you that you’ll find a second family and stuff and that they will love and treat you like their own child…But I never quite believed that. I looked at families of my friends in Germany and imagined living with them as an exchange student but all I could think of was : no, that’ll never work! But it does, I’m experiencing it right now!I found a second Mom and Dad and even siblings, something I’ve never had before! Now I have 4 siblings, 3 amazing big brothers and an incredible older sister and I can say without a doubt they already changed me a lot… my view of the world, my actions and my thinking… The change of my environment couldn’t have been much bigger for me… The last 16 years I’ve been living in a city that has as many inhabitants as Manitoba. In a country that would fit into Manitoba 3 and a half times. In a small flat with my parents, on the third floor. With my nice, small 3 persons family. In an area where –15 degrees in January is really cold ;-) Now I’m here on a huge farm with cows and chickens and soooooooooooo much space everywhere and a huge mennonite family, 80 people at a christmas gathering…and –40 degrees. And I am really happy.Well there was something else new for me here (and that’s where your website comes in…on “stumbling after Jesus” I can’t just write about Family and stuff ;-) :I AM GOING TO CHURCH HERE. And I like it. I love it. It makes sense to me. And it changed me already.Maybe I should tell you something about Germany first, about the area where I grew up the last 16 years… Church- I’ll give you a few things that I associated with “church” til I came here…: tradition- boring- something waaaaay back then- not real- not up to date- people who talk about God and Jesus and don’t bring it in their daily lives- nice songs without meaning- baptism- weddings… It’s a lot about Tradition. I became baptised ( or however you spell that ;-) when I was a baby, and so are most of the people I know. My parents don’t go to church, or only if there’s a wedding or something like that. But I don’t think they believe in God. I have a lot of friends who go to church. In the area where I live most people are catholic. There are hardly any protestants and so most of my friends are catholic, too. Well, when I was 14 there was this protestant celebration coming up. It’s called confirmation and almost every protestant person I know does it. It’s a big family thing, you get a lot of presents and money… so I decided to do it. Partly because of the big celebration in the end and partly because I wanted to know more about God and the church. But it was more like a big disappointment for me. We had kind of a Sunday school meeting thing every week on Wednesday and we were a group of 14 people…just meeting and talking about God or reading in the bible or doing stuff…that was not too bad actually. But it didn’t bring me any closer to God I guess. After a couple of weeks I got tired of that. I wanted to do other stuff Wednesday afternoon. And we had to go to church every other Sunday… I didn’t like that at all. It spoiled my whole day. I had to get up early and go there, most times without my parents because they didn’t like it either. So I sat there for an hour or more, listening (or not listening) to people talking about stuff I didn’t want to hear and waited till it was over, …. But then it was already 11 o’clock and if my parents had planned anything for the day they were already gone when I came home. In winter it got worse… You gotta know, I love snowboarding, it’s a big thing for me and I have a lot of passion for that. Munich (the city where I come from) is close to the mountains and so we go there every weekend in winter to snowboard. But I had to go to church. So that didn’t make me happy either… well, spring came and this big celebration, too, and it was fun and my whole family came from wherever they live in Germany and we had a really good time, good food and, just as I thought, I got a lot of presents (and money). And I didn’t go to church for a year after that.There’s something wrong with that, don’t you think? Oh yes there is. I just didn’t see a way, and nobody in Germany could show me one, how to make me believe in God, show me a way to bring it in my life and stuff… why??? Hm, why?I came here and saw people are living their faith. I’m really really impressed! I went to church with my host family and I went to a youth retreat thing with my brother (he’s at bible college) and things are really starting to make sense. I started praying every day. I got a study Bible for christmas and I’m reading it every day. I got another book, “how to find God” and I’m reading it all the time. I met you at the Gym Blast and started reading your site, I feel like my life has gained a whole lot more meaning and hope. My behaviour is changing, I think about what I’m saying a lot more, I treat people differently. I love going to Sunday school and church on Sundays, I’m singing as loud as I can, I’m acting in a play at church, I want to get involved…All that stuff changed me already. Just seeing that it is actually possible to believe in God and Jesus and somehow connect it to your life, be a normal 16 year old girl and be “cool” and stuff (I hope ;-) and that there are people with incredible ideas and passion and purpose for their lives out there. It just impresses me a lot. I want to be like that too. That’s the first thing I thought when I got to know some people (like my host brother…) who do that.Of course there are still a lot of doubts in my head, a lot of questions and stuff I don’t understand. But I’m getting there. I ask my family, I ask people at church, I read my new awesome bible and it’s fun and it makes sense…Well, this whole thing here gets kind of mixed up now, so I think I’ll finish it pretty shortly ;-)All I wanted to say: I’m so glad to be here, I’m so glad that I seem to find a way to God, I’m glad to see new meaning and I like seeing myself change.But I feel bad for the things I’ve done and felt when I was 14, at the confirmation… I don’t understand why it can’t be like that in Germany like it is here, the church is a meeting place, there are drums and electric guitar at church, it’s up to date, it’s real, it’s fun, it’s cool, it works. People don’t just talk about God, about being obedient and stuff, no, they find a way to live like God wants them to. And that’s what I think is “cool” (I remember one post about the “cool” thing ;-) If I say cool I think you could just replace it by “awesome” or something like that ;-)That’s my story so far. I hope that I can keep building up a faith here, and find a way to take it back with me to Germany next July and that it’s all gonna work out. I’m scared. But since I found out there’s always somebody to talk to and ask for help, I have hope and I’ll just pray for that it’s all gonna work out. Thank you Jer for helping me in all that through your posts. Thanks also to my wonderful family. And thank you God for everything you’ve done for me, for bringing me here, for bringing me closer to you every day and for giving me hope and changing my life.love ya, JULI

11 Comments:
MarkM said...
Amen brother. I am printing this out and showing it to my CCD class.
7:09 PM
Anonymous said...
AAAAH!thanx Jer, I'm allllll excited now, it's my blog! good times! hahaha you should here my heart beating now, it's crazy, it's just a blog on the imnternet but I'm all excited! and after all, reading it again, maybe it's not as bad as I thought it was ;-) maybe it's just my computer but I couldnt read a couple of sentences completely... and one says: i dont....believe in God. well thats not true and it should say: I don't believe THEY believe in God ...;-) but maybe its just my computer that doesn't show that! aaah, I'm excited ;-) ok calm down now, love ya, thanx a lot (also for the "we've been good friend ever since"- part ;-) cu JULIps oh yes, I would love to read comments on this blog... ;-)
8:03 PM
*Becky* said...
Hey Jer... and Juli :) actually, mostly just Juli. yup, just Juli. (sorry jer).I read that... its awesome! really, i love hearing people's stories, i just love stories so much. and when they are about God and his people doing nifty stuff, well, thats even better! I've never been to anywhere cool like Germany (i've rarely been outside Ontario actually), so i super duper admire your guts to leave your country and come to Manitoba (and to a farming hick-town at that! lol) and be with another family... i definitely admire you for that. and its so cool that its a great family and you're having a great time and such... i am duly impressed :) and i am SO hardcore excited for you that you are going to church and meeting Jesus and being real... yay!!Well, ya, thats all i have to say. you go girl :D (thats a big happy loving friendly radiant 'zip-i-dee-doo-dah' smile just for you Juli!!)
8:51 PM
Anonymous said...
Hey Juli! That was an awesome post you wrote. Its cool* that your having a good time out here, and having a good time at church!! yes the drums and guitars really add to the praise and worship! Its awesome that you want to learn more about God, and already are learning more! I hope you have an awesome time out here, make tons of new freinds, and especially draw closer to God. Cause in the end thats all that really matters! God Bless. -save our jets
8:53 PM
Kristy said...
to jer: isnt quite as cool as canada? still grateful for my friendship you say? so...you slam...then love? uh...does anyone see something wrong with this?Juli-God has definately blessed you by bringing you to canada. :) There is a german forign exchanged student from Germany who goes to my church. She just turned 16.I pray that when you go back to your homeland in july that you will take Jesus back with you and share him with all your friends and family. Let them SEE that change, and the new creation Christ as transformed you into. I also pray that you wont listen to jer when he disses on the USA..i live in Idaho and its a lovely place and there isnt any more bad things about it then canada. I have no hard feelings toward my northern neighbor. If you want to get to know me more you can just click on my name and go to my own blog, email me, it would be wonderful getting to know you. Swing on and be merryThe Kristy Kritter
9:20 PM
warren thiessen said...
Hey Juli!I don't know you, but I sure feel like I do, 'cause in the last few years there have been a ton of german families that started coming to our church. They all tell stories that sound exactly like yours. Most of them have come from the Wiesbaden area. Most of them went to church in germany, but they couldn't stand how everything was done just because of tradition. That's so exciting to hear how being here has strengthened your faith in God. My friend Ellie was here for a year to study at a Bible camp/bible school kinda thing, and I know she said the same thing...she hoped her faith would be strong enough that she could take it back to germany and share with her friends and family.Anywhoos, loved your post! Wanna read something good in that bible of yours? Check out Psalm 139. It's one of my favorites.Take care,Warrenwww.warrenthiessen.blogspot.com
9:51 PM
mvp said...
"Of course there are still a lot of doubts in my head, a lot of questions and stuff I don’t understand. But I’m getting there. I ask my family, I ask people at church, I read my new awesome bible and it’s fun and it makes sense…"We're all still "getting there" Juli, nobody on this side of heaven has all the answers... but it's great that you're not afraid to ask questions. Never stop asking questions and you'll never stop learning. If there's one thing that can bring us closer to God it's learning about Him.Keep strong and learn lots.
1:19 AM
Anonymous said...
Hey you guys...oh wow thanx so much for the great great words of encouragement here, I really appreciate that! Ièm having a kind of rough day at school right now so I went here to the computer room at lunch and thought maybe Ill find something to help me make it through that day ... and now Ièm just...speechless. Ièm sooo glad about all these comments, and Ièd love to stay in touch with you all...never enough friends, eh ;-) yeah, thanx especially for that we are all getting there thing. never thought about it that way... hmmm, well then Im sure itll be abetter day now! love ya all!!! JULI
12:55 PM
Anonymous said...
yo juli...well im only gonna be nice cuz jer said 2 do that...no im jk..its cuz im canadian...haha im still jk..neways i read ur post last night and i thought it was amazing...i just sat here like a lil boy and smiled and thought wow, what an amazing/unique story...i think its awsome that u like it here in the good old snow..er canada..neways..i understand where ur comin from with the whole confirmation thing...i went through that like 4 er 5 years ago...cant remember(thats how important it was 2 me...)...it was almost pointless..so yah 2 make a long story short...my confirmation did absolutely nuttin 2 help my faith and i quit goin 2 church 4 a long time...o and the priest who was teachin us kinda discouraged me 2 but i dont wanna call him down...so yah keep on rockin it up in canada eh:) peaceloverboy
10:59 PM
alienyouth4jesus said...
hey juli. wow, thanks for blogging your testimony. that was so encouraging for me, and i'm sure for others. i'm so glad you found Jesus! He never stops amazing me with the way He grabs hold of people's lives, and completely turns them around. keep walking with Him, you are in my prayers! love carly
12:01 PM
Anonymous said...
hey juli!Great story! I really have to tell you that I kinda went through the same thing for a while. I went in confirmation for the same reasons you did, and i felt that it disrupted my life too. I still feel horrible too. But then when i was introduced to a more mordern way to live life with God, and met people that I could connect with, I started to understand my life with God. Now that I understand I can go to church now, listen, and appreciate and understand what is being said. Thanks for the great story!Stacy
6:37 PM


yeah, that was my story.. I'm tired now, good night! love ya, JULI
Thanx for listening