Christmas in the Land of the Danes

Well it has been a while since I have posted about my Life in Denmark. Today I am on duty with nothing to do so I figured I'd update you on the goings-on of my life.  Now that I have really settled into the routine here I can accurately describe to you what I do.

My only job is to connect with the kids here.  Sure I have "duties" but all of them are with kids allowing me to get closer to them and share whatever I can with them.  Since getting here I have gotten involved in a couple of extra things outside of my usual stuff. One of the things I have undertaken is a Bible study.  There is a lady in Daugård, the closest town, that cooks dinner for us every Tuesday night. There are regularly five or six students who come with me to her house.  We enjoy a nice homemade meal and then have a Bible study. Her husband is a pastor and regularly leads out.  I'm really glad that the kids have some time to escape from school and talk about whatever is on their minds. None of the kids that come are Adventist, though some are "Christian". I say "Christian" because a few are members of the state church (Lutheran) but here in Denmark that doesn't mean anything.  Children around the age of 14-15 are giving the option to be "confirmed" in the church.  Most children choose to be confirmed whether or not they actually believe or care because there is a big party involved (a little like a Bar Mitzvah) usually involving gifts and money adding up to about 10,000 Danish Krone or $2,000. As you can imagine most kids go for the money.  So back to Bible study. Having a safe place for these kids to leave campus and talk or ask questions is really important otherwise they will be sucked into the void that is Danish teenagers' spirituality.

A few student missionaries and myself have also decided to redecorate one of the common areas of the school. It's called the Pigernesdagligstue (The girls living room).  If you saw it, you wouldn't want to live there, much less just sit down for a movie.  It is very old, dirty, the sofas are falling apart, the walls look like a finger painting board at a preschool. Its extremely unattractive. So we have petitioned the school for some money to fix it up.  A motivator behind this renovation is something called Lighthouse.  This is an idea that I came up with for a place for kids to just come and talk about things.  Whatever is on their minds its talking to people their age aka student missionaries.  Whether it's friends, boy/girlfriends, sex, drugs, religion, school. Anything they want to talk about we are there to share any knowledge/ideas we may have to help them navigate their issues.  We make sure that there are no teachers or deans there so they can honestly open up about whatever they want to say. We have tried it a few times without too much of a turn out, but we are putting it on hold right now until we can get the dagligstue looking better.

Also, my parents are coming!!! As I write they are over the Atlantic. They are coming here for Christmas and we will go to København for Christmas then down to Berlin for the week before Nytår (New Years). I'm excited to have them here and show them around all the great places in Denmark.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Well today is Thanksgiving.  Although this will be a very different Thanksgiving for me, since it is the first time I have been away from home or family, I have a family of a different kind this year.  One of the teachers here is American. So every year she invites the American student missionaries to her home for dinner.  And our boss, Flemming, is understanding of its importance so he gives the American's the night off (as long as we find someone to cover for us...).
This year I am so thankful that I have been plunged into the lives of these kids.  They have redefined mission work for me. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to come over here and share God's love with them.  I am thankful I have connected with the other missionaries so that we are our own family, especially during the holidays. I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to travel a little bit and see the rest of this amazing world that has been created just for us. And I'm thankful that I can feel the love from home in various packages and letters.
Last night we had Thanksgiving number one.  We decided that we were going to have a Thanksgiving dinner for the high school boys.  On Tuesday I spent about 6 hours planning out what we were going to make and how I was going to pull off enough turkey for 40 people...having never made turkey before in my life.  I figured out all the recipes and finally went to bed Tuesday night.  Wednesday morning I woke up at 9 and started the three 12lb. turkeys.  Now even though the school is ok with kids eating meat. They won't allow us to prepare it in the main kitchen, for understandable reasons.  So I had to use the teaching kitchen upstairs. But of course since this was a school day, that kitchen was being used.  So we had to defrost them in three different sinks of three different kitchens in two different buildings. So every 30 minutes I was running around changing the water on these turkeys.  At 1:30 we were allowed into the main kitchen to start our other dishes. At 2:15 the classes were finally done in the school kitchen. So I went up stuffed, seasoned and prepared the turkeys for roasting.  Dinner was at 6:00 and I lost all my missionary kitchen staff at 5:00 do to required chores they have to oversee every day here at school.  So I was running around like a headless chic...um...turkey trying to get everything done.  At a quarter to 6 the turkeys were done. And so was everything else, but in two different kitchens. So I was running back and for between the two, mashing potatoes, dishing out green beans, getting the rolls warmed, serving the vegetarian stuffing, and carving a turkey.  Luckily one of the other Danish missionaries who has at least carved a roast chicken came in to relieve me with that part...his half looked carved, my half looked murdered.  So I let him do the other two.  We served dinner to and desert to the guys a little late but it all came together wonderfully and they seemed to really appreciate being about to share in a big tradition of America.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Pictures

Some of you have had a problem getting to my pictures so this is what I have done. Some are here, and the rest are on another website called flickr.  Click here to see more pictures.

The Long Awaited Photos...

...are here!!!

However there are certainly too many to post here, so check out my Facebook album.

Or click HERE

I've Been Thinking...

Ever since I can remember I have been taught that before Jesus can return to this Earth and take us to eternity with Him things have to get much worse here.  With some of the things I see I on the news sometimes I wonder if that is possible.  But I remember many people I have talked to through the course of my life believe that a world church will rise up, condemning all other religions and declaring it criminal to worship on a different day. As Adventists we are the minority and have something to fear in losing our day of worship.  I don't claim to have the knowledge or wisdom to say whether a world church will happen or not, but none the less a news link that was recently shared on my Facebook wall told me about a proposal by the Catholic church for a world bank. (If you haven't seen this news report click here.) Now, I don't know how skewed this report is, or if it is even true, but it got me thinking; what happens if a world church is created.  What are we supposed to do, I remember hearing the stories of running to the hills, but I'd rather not.  I don't know about you, but I have come to rather like my friends around me. Adventist or not.  And I don't believe that Adventists will be the only ones in Heaven.  So why should I run? I listened to a song recently that gave me the answer. DON'T! We are more than a building, more than a pulpit, more than just a bunch of people. We a church, God's church. As it says in Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can stand against us."  If you are taking the time to read this, please take the time and listen to this song by a group called Downhere.  The song is called Cathedral Made of People. You will find the link to the song to the right of this post, it is under the title Song for Today. I have also put the lyrics below, I encourage you to read along to let the words really sink in.
Remember to turn on your speakers :)

If they shut down the churches,
Where would you go?
If they melted all the stained-glass windows
Replaced every sanctuary with a condo
Where would you go?
Where would you go?

We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever can stand against her

If they burned every Bible
What would you know?
If they tore your marked-up pages
How would you grow?
And declared your devotion to be criminal
What would you know?
What would you know?

When they throw you in prison
What will you do?
When they hate you for the things that you know are true
They can tear down this temple,
But they can't touch you.

Just a small tease...

More to come of course...

Stuck between a train door and another train door

Our last day in Madrid was a great day. We had planned on going to the city of Avila, but since we had been going non-stop since Tuesday we decided to have our last day in Madrid be a lazy day. We woke up late and the girls did a little last minute shopping ( ok I did too) then went out to our last night on the town with tapas and boardgames. Yes, boardgames! While searching for a place to eat we came across a place called Cafe Manuela. We noticed the wall of games in the back and a menu of good looking croissant sandwiches. Two big pluses in my book.

Then we were off to the airport, no not the next morning, right after our croissants. Our flight left at 7:10am and we were planning on taking a train to the airport at 4:30, until we were informed that the trains don't start until 6 and the only bus was quite a trek from our hostel, and we weren't doing that again. So Elmer and I decided to spend the night at the airport. The girls again had a different flight, so they got to enjoy one last night in a bed while we "slept" in the airport.
Since we are spending the night in København we contacted an Adventist church a little ways outside the city with free guest rooms. In order to get the key to our room we were supposed to meet up with someone named Josefine. But, we weren't meeting her at the airport, or at the church. We were meeting her at a station somewhere in the middle. As we were approaching the station I called her and told her we were in car 14 and I would wave my hand when I got off the train. We found each other and exchanged pleasantries and a key just as I heard the train whistle scream, "get on or I'm leaving you!" I headed towards the doors as they started shutting. Elmer made it on ok, but with a backpack in front and a backpack behind I am a little thicker than usual. I got caught in the train doors. I have seen enough of Hollywood to know that train doors are like elevators. It your in them when they start closing they open back up. False. These doors close and continue to do so for a good 30 seconds. Here I am half in, and half out. Probably a hilarious sight. When finally the doors did surrender I decided to go ahead and continue inside so as not to delay the train any further.

Now we are in our rather large guest room in Nærum . We will meet the girls tomorrow morning for church at the cafe church. Then its back to Vejlefjord.

This was a great trip.

Vi ses

Again, only this time in Spain...

Our second to last day on our Spain trip were going to take a morning train to Segovia. But when the alarm went off, we didn't listen. So we slept in. When we finally got up and ready it was 12:30. Luckily there are more trains in the afternoon for the lazy tourist bunch.
Segovia is a charming little Spanish city with an interetesting twist; one of the most well preserved Roman aqueducts runs right through the middle of the city.

We had a good time exploring the little streets and emerging into the main plaza where massive cathedral commands respect. The girls did a little shopping then we explored the ruins. On top of the wall on one end of the ruins there was an old man. Not just any old man, National Geographic-cover-status old man. I had to get his picture. Of all the times Elmer, our spanish speaker, came in handy on this trip, this was the time I appreciated his skills most. He translated for me that I was a photographer and wanted his picture to capture the essence of Segovia. He didn't buy it. I don't remember a lot of Spanish but I still pick up words. He wasn't going to get in front of my "machine." So my epic picture didn't happen. Instead I took more pictures of the aqueduct with evening sun on it until it was time to head out. But before we went back Madrid I really wanted a picture of this great Roman artifact at night. The problem was: no tripod. So we took a bus to the commercial center of Segovia looking for a camera store. We got off when we saw a large sports store. No luck. But by the time we were done looking around it was time to head back to the train station for our trip back to Madrid. I wasn't going to have time for my night shot. We were told to take bus 'x' to the station. But when we looked at the time table, such a bus didn't exist. So we started walking. I don't know why this trip involved so much walking. We asked a gas station attendant for directions. She laughed and pointed us down a dark roadway that looked like a freeway offramp. With no other option we headed on (sorry mom). There was nothing here. Literally no civilization. When we were sure we were going to miss our train we came around a corner and saw lights. Lots of them. You could say we all shouted for joy, yes you could say that. We made it just in time, the last train anywhere near our price range left in fifteen minutes.

Another adventurous day exploring the world.
This is why I love traveling.

Of sore arms and famous steel...

We have been in Madrid for a few days now, and I must say, it is quite a small city as far as a capital goes. You can easily walk a circle around the center in a couple of hours; depending on how many shops you go into.
During our first couple of days here we walked around the city, got acquainted with the metro system and said hi to tue royal palace. The weather has been an amazing blessing after being stuck in rainy Denmark for the last couple of months.

Yesterday we ventured out of the city and took a train to Toledo. This is the old capital of Spain. It was so quaint and stereotypically spanish. There was an amazing castle and cathedral amidst the numerous tourist shops and sword venders. Toledo is renowned for it's steel and according to lonely planet it is foolish to visit and not come away with some sort of bladed item. So of course that's what I did. Just a short sword with Toledo etched in the blade. Now to get it home...
After the bus ride back I noticed my left arm was sore, I couldn't figure out why until someone said, your camera is probably too heavy. AHAH! So it is. After carrying the beast round for pretty much 4 days straight my arm was trying to tell me to give it a rest...sorry arm, I'm in Spain.

The First 24...

Well I was hoping that I didn´t need to make a new post until the middle of the week, but the last 24 hours deserve one.  The train to Copehagen and flight to Geneva went flawlessly.  Before we left I printed off directions to the Adventist school in Collonges, France. We arrived in Geneva and asked the information desk if the directions seemed right to him.  He said yes, but that we were crazy to do it with luggage.  But the paper said it was only a mile and a half from where we would get off the bus.  He couldn´t believe we wanted to climb such a hill with our backpacks.  So taking his advice we asked our options.  Option #1: public trasportation/ walk.  Option #2: take a taxi ~80 € (one way mind you). Option #3: book a shuttle with him for 40€ (each way).  Well my travel pal and I decided we could do option #1.  Then we told him we needed to be back at the airport for a 7 am flight.  He just laughed.  7am flight, that meant at the airport by 5-5:30.  We were informed that if we booked with him, we would have to be picked up at 3:45am. And, public transportation didn´t start running until 5:30am.  So again we had our 3 options plus a fourth.  We knew that school offered transportation.  However I had originally rejected it because it was the most expensive of the options at the time, but for one way it was 50€.  So we decided we would just book it when we got to the school that night. The information man was unimpressed with our decision and told us that if we wanted to change our mind to call him by 10pm to book a ride.

We headed out, ´´Take tram 13´´ so we did. ´´Get off here´´ so we did.  Then it said, ´´Take either bus 44 or 45 to the French border.  Well we had just missed the 44 so we got on the next 45.  A little while into the journey we looked at the map to see how many more stations until we should get off. It was then that we realized that 45 did not go towards the border, but more of a parallel-to-it route.  According to the map, if we got off at the end of the line we would be closer to where we needed to be than if we got off right away.  So we got off at the end.  We asked the bus driver for directions to the border, he of course didn´t speak English, but pointed down a dark road.  Then he turned around and headed off the way we came, leaving us in the middle of an intersection somewhere in the French countryside lit by one lonesome streetlight with self-esteem issues.  We had no option but to follow the man´s direction. As we were walking I pulled out the GPS to confirm our route.  We proceeded the next 2.5 miles across the border and up the hill. I have since discovered it was nearly a 1000ft elevation gain, with our luggage, at 9:45 at night.  Our 10pm deadline for guarenteed transportation was soon approaching.  I knew we weren´t going to be at the school by 10 pm, so we had make a decision. We didn´t call him back.  The rest of our trip I prayed that somehow we would be able to get back to the airport for our flight without having to pay 80€ for a taxi. I didn´t even know if taxi service was 24 hours or not in Switzerland. Our deadline came and went, and we arrived at the school around 10:10.  After figuring out our accomodations I asked him if it was still possible to get a ride to the airport in the morning.  It didn´t look hopeful, he called a couple of people to no avail.  ´´Tell you what,´´ he said, ´´I will take you to the airport in the morning. And you only need to pay me 10€.´´ I just about hugged the man. The next morning we got up and headed to the airport.  Apparently, unlike Seattle airport, Geneva is a busy mess at 5:30 in the morning.  We got our bags checked as the plane was supposed to be boarding, so more prayers were sent to the Big Guy upstairs about security. We practically walked through! And though we didn´t have a chance to eat a breakfast in the airport they offered free croissants on the plane.

Other than that....pretty uneventful ;)
I had a great time spending a few minutes with friends from Walla Walla like Rachel Logan, Sacha Kravig, Karli Will, and their friend Marjorie. 


We are now safely in our hostel in Madrid.  Now, must sleep.....hopefully the next 24 hours won´t require a blog post.

Efterårsferie

Well, this last week has been filled with the stereotypical bustle that comes just before a break.  Efteraarsferie, or Autumn Holiday is next week.  The school takes a week to relax and get some well needed rest.  As student missionaries we are allowed to travel and leave the school behind for a week.  I am fortunate enough to head to Spain! Three other missionaries and myself will be heading into Madrid for the next week.  We don't actually have a plan of what we want to see, but you will be updated as we go, since our hostel has free internet! Our train leaves in a little less than 3 hours; I guess I should start packing....

See you soon!
Jeff

Not Quite Perfect...

The student missionaries were in charge of vespers last Friday night.  The speaker, Ashok, spoke about how perfection is not a requirement for being a Christian.  I was talking with one of the other deans the other night and he said something I really liked, "This is not an Adventist school, this is a mission school. There are so many kids here that need our help. An only Adventist school doesn't require any witnessing, but that is all we do."  This quote has helped me when I'm not sure what my purpose at the school is. My purpose is just that I am here. I am here to help, listen, talk, and witness.

For vespers I made a video. It is an interview with all the other student missionaries here at Vejlefjord.  Hope you like it :)

A Busy Week...

Ahhh, I'm back. Last week was busy, but amazing. I was assigned to accompany the 10th grade class on their study tour to Berlin. Yes, assigned, what a bummer :)

While there we had a fantastic time seeing the German Parliament building, a film park, the Jewish monument, and we went up in the iconic Berlin TV tower, which was a disappointment. Our tour guide Christian said that he has never had the privilege of going inside the parliament room. The film park staff showed us around some sets of German movies, we got to see a casting show and how different video effects work.  That evening we went to the Blue Man Group. I have one thing to say, "Go!" That was one of the most fun shows I have ever been to.  If any of you have the opportunity to go, please do. Overall the trip was a great success. We had an opportunity to bond with some of the kids and see an amazing city with great history. (We also found the American Embassy.)  

But the best part of the trip came Friday morning after the kids left...I know that sounds bad. But when Ashok and I, both being car fanatics, found out that the Frankfurt Auto Show would be going on just a few hours away, we couldn't pass it up. We bought our train tickets in advance, sent the kids on the long bus ride back to school and took a train ride to Frankfurt. Of course being on a student missionary budget we took the cheap tickets. This means that the 4 hour train ride from Berlin to Frankfurt took 8 hours and 3 transfers.  But we got there. Saturday we decided to look up the closest Adventist church and see if we could score a potluck. We found one right in downtown Frankfurt and met two extremely nice English speaking people. They told us all about the car show, and how the population of Frankfurt increases by over 1 million people during the week of the show.  They also made it very clear to get there early if wanted to see the big hits like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Audi, etc.  So the next morning we were up by 7 and standing in line by 8.  This show was amazing. I'm used to the Seattle car show, with barely 1.5 one-story buildings with cars....this particular expo had 12 buildings, all of them two stories. One of those buildings was specifically dedicated to Audi.  They built the building from scratch just for this show.  I took a bunch of pictures, but if you would like to see them please look at my facebook album.

I'm very glad I had the opportunity to see this amazing car show, it was a great early birthday present.  And thank you to all who sent birthday wishes my way while I'm over here.

See you soon :)

A successful week

Well this week with the 10th graders of vejlefjord has been awesome! Every day was packed with fun things to keep everyone busy. As student missionaries our only job was to stay at the back of the group and kick the stragglers...figuratively of course :)

We went to the film studios of Babelsburg, where the film "Inglorious Bastards" had a few scenes. We saw the Blue Man Group. And we at ate a quite nice restaurant where I got to try wienerschnitzel for the first time... And simultaneously received this and next years helping of salt x_x

This morning We said goodbye to a bus-load of good kids, now for the next big adventure. Fellow missionary, Ashok and I are just about to head to the station to catch our train from Berlin to Frankfurt.

See you soon :D

I Haven't Taken Manhattan, But I'm About to Take Berlin!

Tomorrow, well actually today, in less than 8 hours I will headed to Berlin.  I will going with the 10th grade class.  We are in Berlin for 5 days, and then the class heads home. However, I will be staying. A fellow missionary, Ashok, and I will be going to Frankfurt for the weekend. Now it could just be for no reason, just an extra weekend off campus, but no.  We are going to spend a day at the Frankfurt Auto Show!!!!

I have nothing to say after that. Nothing beats that.

Talk to you soon :)

Story Time...

As winter approaches here in the land of the Danes rain is becoming a daily occurrence.  I don't mind, however, it makes for some slippery roads.  About a week ago I took a bus full of kids and went to a church in Århus, an hour north of the school.  One of the girls told me about a tradition they have here at the school.  When a guy gets a girlfriend, he gets thrown in the fjord.  Of course his phone and valuables are removed from his person before this event occurs, but still, the fjord is cold.  So I was told to drive down to the fjord when we got back to school.  As an unknowing, newly Danish driver, I didn't think about the massive rain storm early that morning.  To get to the fjord from the school it is only a matter of driving down a fairly steep hill.  It wasn't until after driving down this "fairly steep hill" that I realized this old Toyota minivan may not have the willpower to return to the school.  So after one of my passengers was soaked we headed back to the van to go back to school.  "Oh, this ground is really sloppy." I said. "That's alright, we can make it."
*Spin, spin, spin...rev, rev, rev.
"Ok maybe you guys need to get out and push."
Well that didn't work. We tried in vain to get our old Toyota RWD van out of the mud.
So we decided that we would wait until morning (hopefully it wouldn't rain that night) so that the ground would be a little drier.  Well, later that night I was informed that the forecast for that night was more rain...lots of it.  I could imagine going down the next morning and seeing the bus floating in the fjord.  So I figured we should probably get the bus up, now.  I went up to the boys dorm and got about 10 guys to go down and get the bus out.  And one of the girls who was in the van earlier had already called her dad. So he came, and drove, and we all pushed.  It was much easier with 10 guys.

Lesson learned. Never drive down to the fjord after rain.

1 måned

Its hard to believe that one month has passed already.  This year is definitely going to go by quickly.  I had some spare time when I was on duty this morning so I did a little counting. Out of 64 guys in the boys dorms, I know 60. I may not know them personally, but I can call them by name. I think that is quite an accomplishment with names like Ulloriaq and Szabolcs.

English Class

No, not for me. For kids who are struggling with English.  I have been really impressed with the amount of English spoken here, but there are those who struggle with learning it. Whether it's because they don't like it, have something like dyslexia, or various other reasons. But the school gave us an opportunity to help them if we wanted.  So this week I started helping kids with English. Every week I will have 9 kids at different times and we will explore English together and hopefully help their confidence with speaking English.  Even though they think they aren't good at English, I just remind them that anything they will be better than my Danish.  I'm really excited about the opportunity to be creative with these kids.  I take them out of class during the regular English class, and we get to do whatever we want! Play games, watch tv/movies, play sports, seriously anything.  The other kids in these classes are jealous of the ones who get to spend an hour with us each week because we are more fun than their regular class :)

My Job...What Is It?

I think I'll take this time to tell the world what exactly it is that I do over here in Denmark.  I'm a student dean! Ok, Jeff, what exactly does that mean.  Honestly I was a little worried when I got the letter from Flemming (my boss) saying that my job was a little bit like a Resident Assistant in the US. Which is exactly what I did last year at WWU.  But after having 2 shifts on duty here at Vejlefjord I realize it involves a little more than your average RA.  "You've only had 2 shifts in 2 weeks!?!," you ask.  There are two types of shifts here at Vejlefjord. You can either be on duty, or you can be the Dean on Duty.  The Dean on Duty has charge of the school for 9 hours between 6:30 and 2:30pm. Each Student Missionary has one of these shifts per week.  Then throughout the week you can just be on duty at various times during the day.
Let me run through a day as Dean on Duty:
6:30 Wake up the 8th & 9th grade students and make sure they are not sick.
7-7:40 Sit in the cafeteria and check that the 8/9 graders come to breakfast.
(Until this point there is one dean in charge of the girls buildings and one in charge of the boys buildings, just to make managing the students a little easier.)
7:45 Go around to the 8-9 grade classes and make sure everyone is in class. If not, we have to go find them, see why they aren't in class. If they say they are 'sick' we send to the wonderful Lise who determine whether to call their bluff or allow them to stay in for the day.
8-2:30 Be at the mercy of the staff....

Usually during that last time slot we are sitting in an office, running errands for the secretary or running kids to doctor/ dentist appointments.

2:30 nap :)

So ya, that is the beef of my job here in Denmark.

We have also started Danish classes this week. So...
Farvel, indtil næste gang

First Trip to the ER *WARNING* A tiny bit graphic

Well, when I first arrived here in Denmark I was told that I would become very familiar with the Danish medical system and the Emergency Room in Vejle.  I was told that students here want to go to the hospital if they sneeze.  So I was ready for kids cryin' wolf trying to get out of class, I was ready for students who felt a little warm to the forehead and wanted ER attention. I wasn't however prepared for the kayaking instructor to smash his finger in the van door.  I had to help him get the door open since he was about to faint.  Once we got his finger out in the open we both looked at the gaping hole that had yet to start bleeding and said, "Oh, that's gonna need a doctor."  But of course since we had just gotten back from kayaking, no one had a phone.  So I ran up to the school and got the mid-80's Volvo and took the poor man to the hospital.  All medical services in Denmark are covered by their insane taxes, so he didn't have to pay a thing (up front anyway) for his 2 hour stay at the hospital.  He was really hoping his finger wasn't broken because he is an avid guitar player and likes his fingers intact.  And the X-ray didn't show any fractures, at least not where he slammed his finger in the door. Turns out, sometime in the past, he doesn't know when, he fractured two of his other fingers.  They have healed fine now, and will cause him no trouble. But how do you fracture, not one but two fingers probably at the same time and not know it?!?

Pictures!

The issue with the filter has finally been resolved.  So here are some pictures of the School, surrounding area, and our first big event. (For those of you from WWU, it is their equivalent of Welcome Back Bash.)