Summer 2010

Hey everyone! I hope that your summer has been going great! I have had a bunch of fun times with my friends this summer and I am looking forward to the few weeks I have left before classes start. I've been to the beach, hung out at my friends pool and just enjoyed the beautiful weather while playing with my puppy Paisley outside.

I've been using this summer as an opportunity to work on who I am. Pastor Dustin, who is the pastor at the church I attend here in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Oasis Community Church), has touched on some great topics since I've been back from Tauernhof Bible School. One main idea that has stuck in my head is 'In order to find someone to marry, you need to be someone to marry.' This has really been making me think about who I am as a person and what traits I need to work on. Life lately has been a work in progress. During my time at bible school God worked on me a lot and I know that I'm not a finished piece of work. For the past few months I had been worrying how I felt like I was a different person on the inside then how I was portraying myself on the outside. I felt like I had a mask on, how I wasn't truly being myself. But with talking with others I realized that its not a mask, its just who I am. I am someone who doesn't like to share my feelings with those I don't trust. I am a person who has a strong outer shell but is still vulnerable. I'm not made of stone. This has helped me understand who I am and why certain things hurt me more than others.

I can't wait to see what God is going to do in me these last few weeks of summer and during the time I'll be spending getting my degree at Providence Bible College.

Here is a song from this summer that I've absolutely loved!

Glory to God Forever - Steve Fee

My link thing isn't working so you'll just have to look it up in youtube yourself.

Matt & Alicia's Wedding

So I've realized that I haven't updated this in a long long time!

Since wednesday I have been enjoying beautiful weather down in Georgia! Spent hours laying by the pool and relaxing, eating good food and talking, and seeing my brother get married to a wonderful girl! Matthew and Alicia had a beautiful outdoor wedding at Burnt Pine Plantation. It looked like a fairytale as Alicia walked down the isle. During the reception one of the flowergirls stole the show out on the dance floor. The photo is of me and my adorable nephew, Ethan!

Georgia is absolutely beautiful! The trees are green, the sky is blue and the soil is red out here. It has been a wonderful trip, very relaxing! Hope you are all enjoying God's beautiful creation wherever you are! God's creation, his handiwork show how wonderful and glorious he is! Psalm 19:1-4

Home Sweet Home

After my plane landed in winter-peg, at the start of a snow storm, I experienced a whirlwind of Christmas and New Years festivities. The Christmas Eve Choir Concert at the church I grew up in, Christmas day with my grandparents, Boxing day shopping, Reimer gathering, multiple brunches with friends, New Years Party, my family gathering, and the Shore gathering. I didn't have much time to slow down and relax which is why it's lucky that I never got jet lag!
At the moment I am looking for a job but my mom is awesome at the moment and allowing me to do some work for her around the house.
It is very different living at my parents place then when I lived on my own in Winnipeg. I am over and hour away from my church and friends. I will end up spending way too much on gas this year! Its been great how welcoming my friends have been since I've gotten home and I know that if I ever want to stay in the city I'll have a place to crash.
Here you go Jenny I updated my blog!

Departure from Europe

So I'm sitting in my room at my cousin Katja's house in Germany looking around at my packed bags and my flight itinerary and can't believe that it has been just over 4 months already! Time sure does fly. I had an amazing month of traveling through Germany, France and Italy with Amy, which was followed by three amazing months of Bible School in the Austrian Alps. I was also lucky enough to spend the last week at my cousin's house and being able to meet many family members for the first time. I will never forget the amazing time I have spent here and can't wait for the new adventures that going home will bring.
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a wonderful time with your families while celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour.

End of Bible School

So sadly my time at Tauernhof has come to an end. It was a life changing experience and worth every minute! In a lot of ways it still feels really strange that I am not there. God worked on my life so much while I was at school. Some of the time it hurt but in the end its all worth it because God is molding me into the person he wants me to be, molding me to reflect the image of Jesus Christ. I know that he still has lots of work to do in my life but it is a process. While I have been at bible school I've come to the realization that often in my life God has become just a part of my life and not my life. One of the speakers, Tobi Kley said "God is a mountain; Our life and goals are an apple tree at the bottom of the mountain. Our lives are way smaller than the mountain. God needs to be the mountain in our lives, not just another apple tree."

My goal as I go home is to keep the focus that God is a mountain in my life, the biggest, most important thing. While living in the mountains every day I woke up and was continually amazed by them and it wasn't like I could just ignore them, because they are kinda big and always there. In the same way I want to be continually in awe of God and his wonders, continually looking to him and finding his beauty. I want God to be my life and not just in my life.

There is this awesome video that shows how I felt at times during bible school as God was working on me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXut0HxncvY&feature=autofb

I have now spent the last couple of days at my friend Jenny's in Germany and today I go to my family here in Germany. Its only 10 more sleeps until I head home.

Love you all and can't wait to see you.

Testimony

Hey everyone! Things are going great out here at Bible School. We are just starting week 9 which is crazy. I can't believe how fast time flies. We have had some awesome lectures and fun times. I am in an outreach group that sings in the hospital and also in local churches. We are doing a service tomorrow in which I am sharing my testimony. I am just going to share it with you as well.

'My name is Esther Reimer and I am from Manitoba, Canada. Growing up my Mom was a great Christian influence in my life and as a result I accepted Jesus Christ into my life at a young age. I really recognized my need for Jesus Christ when I decided to live my life centered on him, which he continually gives me strength to do. Through him I have found purpose for my life, my life is not meaningless but centered on my relationship with Him, His love for me and the plans that He has for me, which in Jeremiah 29:11 it shows his plans are to prosper me, not harm me and to give me hope and a future.

God has really shown his love for me this past year when within the same week my close friend, who was my mentor died, and my nephew was stillborn. During this time of pain I called out to God to comfort me and I felt him comfort me. I could actually physically feel arms wrap around me and comfort me even though there was no one else in the room. But even when I don’t physically feel Him beside me, I know that I can trust God to always be there for me, to strengthen me and give me comfort.

I came to Tauernhof to learn more about God and to spend time focusing on God without my busy schedule of university, work and friends but mainly with the hope of being able to figure out what God wants me to do with my life. While here God has used this time to show me how spending personal time each day with Him, fills me with His Spirit and reminds me to look towards Him for all my needs and that I do not need to look towards anyone else or to anything else in order to fulfill my life and that with all things I should do them to glorify God.

I am excited to go home and take all the things that God has been teaching me here and to share it with others. I want people to look at me and see the joy that God gives me and ask how they too can receive that joy. '

I hope that this gives you a bit of insight into how I am doing and what God has been doing in my lately.

Hello Wie geht's? I'm starting to learn German out here. My new friend Jenny is teaching me. Sadly we get so busy that I haven't worked much on it lately.

Ok so I am the worst blogger ever! Its been so long since my last post! Ok the speakers are amazing and I am learning so many cool things. I can't wait to get home and tell everyone what I have learnt. I am discovering new things about God and the bible. SO EXCITING!!!

God is teaching me so many new things about myself and showing me things that I need to work on in my life. This week the speaker talked a bit about our identity and how we tend to look toward others for acceptance and for our identity. I realize now how much I am doing this and how I need to be looking towards God for my identity!

I am meeting so many amazing people here that I don't know what I'll do when I go home! Sadly my way cool friend Jenny lives in Germany, so I'm sure there will be lots of skype sessions when I go home. There are also so many encouraging people and such a feeling of community that I am really enjoying. People you should totally check out bible school if you think God is leading you in that direction. Its amazing to have so much free time just to focus in on your relationship with God.

So I got interrupted with worship team practice so I totally lost my train of thought in this post.

Hope you all are having a beautiful fall. We are covered in snow here!