Sometimes my life in Virginia seems a little unreal. I go from being the person who cleans the place, to creating a FB page so that Edith’s vision for this place can be promoted, to doing the yard work, to cooking dinner, to being a grad student and working on class assignments. I kind of love the variety even if the number of things that could be done stresses me out sometimes.
This Tree is Prepared
Before I knew that I wanted to be a counselor, my counselor used to ask me “if you could quit math and do anything in the whole world what would it be?” She would tell me to put aside my rational brain and just dream for a second. Weirdly enough, my response was run a nonprofit.
I feel like most people have a passion for a certain cause and then kind of fall into running a nonprofit in order to make change on their particular cause. However, my dream comes backwards (and maybe cheats and uses both my rational and creative side). You see, my math brain is good at problem solving and I’m super organized. I like to be creative and compassionate. Running a nonprofit, particularly from the ground up would require one to wear many hats, be organized, creative problem solving, detail oriented, but also super passionate about a cause. Also, as a recovering quiet/shy person (I have a soap box about calling people quiet), I’ve always felt like my leadership skills have been underrated and I’d love the opportunity to flex them. Honestly, running a nonprofit is my perfect dream job.
Blue Ridge Parkway Mini-Hike
So why am I currently pursuing a Master’s in Clinical Psychology to be a counselor? And how does this tangent relate to my first paragraph about Virginia? Basically, I quit math to pursue counseling because I do think I will really enjoy it and be able to help lots of people. It is the new passion that finally gave me courage to let go of the old one that wasn’t a good fit.
Cute Neighboring Farm House
Secondly, as mentioned before I do not currently have a cause in mind for which to start a nonprofit. Instead, I have this vague dream about running one, coupled with the sense that maybe just maybe my weird life path is actually the best preparation for such a dream. I mean I have math to teach me problem solving, organization, and sifting through challenging material, counseling to teach me compassion and about social justice work, L’Abri to teach me about community and life in Virginia to teach me how to wear many hats. That sounds like pretty cool preparation to me, and if I’m right about this I can look back at this blog post and say I told you world!
My Favorite Wildflower Boquet to Dat
Therefore, maybe the moral of this post is if you don’t love where you at can you instead think of it as cool preparation for your dream? Although, perhaps a better moral is don’t pray for a interesting life because there might be more twists and turns than you bargained for (actually, I kind of love it, so pray away.)
In a lot of ways, I think I’ve settled into a routine here in Virginia. I wake up roughly at the same time every day, eat meals and the same time, and have friends that I skype with on a weekly basis. These things help me to feel less like I’m stuck at home; however, I have to admit that these four-ish weeks feel like months in comparison to how quickly L’Abri time flew by.
View from the Deck
I spend most of my time doing outdoor projects: mowing the lawn (including using a push mower where the hills are too steep the normal one), clearing vines and underbrush, planting flowers and vegetables, pruning trees, moving dirt out of the flower beds and moving bricks. I definitely think I’m getting stronger or at least for the number of mornings I wake up sore I should be getting stronger.
One project I’m particularly proud of is a path that I created by the creek. It’s still a bit of a work in progress of clearing the dead limbs from the field and widening that path and all of that; however, it’s now possible to walk the length of the creek without steeping through knee high grass.
The surrounding area is beautiful and filled with farms. The pictures I can take don’t do justice to the feeling of driving around the rolling hills and seeing the Appalachian Mountains in the background. There are so many homes that have breath taking views from their back yards.
Other skills I’ve worked on in Virginia include: cooking vegetarian/gluten free/dairy free while pretending I’m a food blogger, continuing my at home bouquets and learning the art of campfire cooking.
Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
Instagram Worthy Quote of The Day
I’ve been reading a bit about social justice lately, and I have learned so much. Two quotes have stuck with me so far from Dr. Ron Ruthruff’s book Closer to the Edge: Walking With Jesus For The World’s Sake. The first is about mercy and the second about justice.
A lot of farms have these old stone walls
“Mercy is love extended to the world even if those we love never meet our standards of success.”
“Justice stands with people as they find out who they are created to be.”
In a world where we often blame the poor for being poor and give ourselves the out to not help others and extend love because people do not meet our criteria for living, these ideas of mercy and justice seem radical. If we kept these two thoughts about mercy and justice in mind maybe we could change the way we talk about “social issues” and remember to view issues on a human level.
I’m excited to continue reading and become a bit more knowlegeable about the world around me.
That’s all I have for now folks. Keep hanging in there! If you need a pick me up, I recommend going to YouTube and typing in Jolly or KoreanEnglishmen and watching a video or two (particulary the ones with Juno). I’ve become obsessed and they make me laugh everyday.
It turns out that when I started this blog I should have named it: “My Life in Huémoz and Other Places,” instead of “.. and Other Musings.” However, since I still have some time on my hands and I still enjoy writing, I’m going to keep this blog going for a bit. I’ll probably even throw in some experiences that I didn’t have time to write about at L’Abri.
Quarantine Projects
More From the Yard Bouquets
Something that I’ve known to be true for a while, but have embraced during this time is how much I enjoy doing a project/cleaning while listening to a podcast. My favorite podcasts in no particular order include That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs (particularly the quarantine episodes with Eddie), The Popcast With Knox and Jamie, Office Ladies, Radio Lab, Dolly Parton’s America, The HeyDay Podcast, and The Bible Binge. I probably listen to 2 or 3 podcasts a day. This came in handy during the quarantine, when my dad enlisted me to help him build his wood shed, which mostly meant me going through and adding three more screws everywhere the wood meets.
Me posing for photos with the electric drill. Photo cred: Dena Clapp
Other projects I tackled while quarantining at my parents’ place, include pressure washing the gutters, washing all the vehicles, and convincing my dad that we needed a tree swing.
Another way I found to spend my time in quarantine was through skype crafting sessions. I’ve been able to paint several times which has given me the oppurtunity to paint some of the scenes I love most from Switzerland.
My final and obviously most important quarantine project: I convinced my brother to bring his dog to visit me. (Well technically his roommate’s dog).
My pet photography skills are undeniable
Virginia
Some photos from my new home
I have recently moved to Virginia. I’m living with a lady, Edith, who bought a big house with the dream of creating a place where missionaries could rest and rejuvenate. She also does a lot of work with international students and hopes to host her many friends here from time to time as well. She has named the place International House for Hope and Healing. Seeing as the world is shut down right now, she can’t have guests; however, she did need some help maintaining the property and a shelter in place buddy.
My first time dying Easter eggs
I really enjoyed the drive up to Virginia and getting to see the world for a brief moment. Also as one can probably tell from all my quarantine project pictures, I really enjoy being busy. There are so many gardening projects, organizing projects and well rooms to dust here, that I think I’ll be kept pretty busy! Also, there’s a nice collection of books and Edith being a former missionary and a counselor has lots of interesting life stories to tell.
We’ve planted about a 3rd of the Garden!
Today, I went for a walk around a local university. It’s sad knowing it’s so empty because of the virus, but it also made for a nice social distance walk.
I’m still a bit sad that I’m not at L’Abri, but I’m excited to see what will come out of this season of life.
Instagram Worthy Quote of the Day
Another one from Bob Goff’s book Love Does: “I think God sends us an invitation to live and sometimes we forget to show up or get head-faked inkto thinking we haven’t really been invited.” A good reminder in a time where the days might feel a little pointless.
So maybe I only took pictures of the water on campus…
The ironic thing about this blog is that I had several new subscribers after my last post. A post that to be honest, could have been my last ever post about L’Abri. I’m not sure when or if I’ll get to go back. Not because I think this pandemic is going to go on forever, but I feel like I had this neat little window of open space in my life before I dive back into grad school and it’s getting smaller and smaller as the shelter at home orders seem to be extending. Therefore, I wondered should I post more about my time at L’Abri? Do I have enough pictures for that? (Let’s be honest half of you are just here for the photos).
Then I wonder why I worry so much about creating quality content. This blog is 95 percent for my mother, and she’s not exactly a harsh critic of my work.
I could mix together thoughts from L’Abri and my current quarantine life. People need hope, and maybe just maybe I’m a hopeful person. Then again I remind myself that this reaches maybe 4 or 5 peope and I’m no Annie F. Downs… although life goals.
In the end, you’re reading this and I decided to write it. So here we are.
Laundry
My favorite work crew to get assigned to at L’Abri is laundry. I’m legitimately sad that I’m not hanging sheets on clothes lines with pegs right now. My mom joked that my dad could hang some lines in the back yard to make me feel better. Although, considering how yellow our vehicles currently are… I’m going to say the pollen would definitely ruin the cleanliness of sheets.
My view from collecting laundry
There are multiple reasons I love laundry crew. One, it feels super productive. You start with full baskets of dirty stuff, you put away piles of clean sheets you folded, and you empty the irony basket.
Two, it’s like a huge puzzle/game. How many loads can I do in three hours? What’s the most efficient way to hang things? Which rooms have dry stuff to fold? How much can I get done before the first load buzzes? If it’s a sunny day, it’s extra fun because I get to be outside and I get excited to see how fast stuff dries. How can I rotate things so they dry the quickest? It’s also a stretching game. Can I reach this line without falling over? (Basically it makes my nerd brain happy).
Three, I get to work alone which means podcast/music/silent reflection time. I.e. much needed introvert time.
I probably also like knowing this is where all the different types of towels go, this is where we keep the sheets, and knowing when my own clothes will be clean because I was the one to wash them. I definitely feel good when I tell someone I got you, when they need a specific thing washed quickly. I should also put in a warning that my friend Heather mentioned that her laundry experience didn’t live up to the hype. She mentioned something about being alone all morning in a damp and cold basement was kind of creepy.
Overall though, there’s just something oddly nostalgic about hanging up laundry in the sunshine. When your background is the alps and there’s a gentle breeze, it’s a built in formula for peace. I say oddly nostalgic because hanging clothes in the sunshine isn’t something I did as a child, but I do sometimes think of all those historical fiction books I read as a kid as I’m doing it.
Quarantine Life
I’m only on day four of being home, so I’m definitely not an expert, but here’s some of the things I’m doing to try and stay sane and hang on to things I’ve learned at L’abri. Disclaimer: I started off my tim at home by sleeping 12 hours, waking up hungry dazed and in need of a shower, but sobbing and having a panick for a couple of hours before addressing those issues. Switzerland seperation anxiety hit me hard. Oddly enough, after I showered and ate some food, I felt better. My emotions still confuse me sometimes.
My Quarantine home
Now that I’ve leveled out a bit: 1. I go for a walk everyday around my parents yard/house.
2. I try to sleep a close to normal amount of hours.
3. I limit the amount of time I watch tv and spend as much time outside as possilbe.
4. I read my Bible and a book everyday.
5. I check in with my L’Abri friends and call friends I didn’t get to talk to as much when I was in Switzerland.
6. I try to find something to clean. (So far it was making my room feel less like a time capsule from high school and then scrubbing all the moss off the propane tank).
Before
After
7. I’m not making concrete rules or goals for my life. I don’t have to be productive with my quarantine.
Dogwoods that haven’t bloomed are surprisingly pretty
8. If something random peaks my interest I go for it. For example, I decided when I was looking at some wild flowers in the sun, that I wanted to make an arrangement out of the flowers in the yard. I also decided to try water painting again… and well it didn’t go great but it definitely passed the time.
My hammock tree for inspiration
In progress
Smudged finished product
Instagram Worthy Quote of the Day
I’m currently reading Bob Goff’s book Love Does and this line really stood out to me.
“I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I’m more afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.”
I miss Huémoz
This stood out to me particularly as I’m reflecting on my time at L’Abri. I think of my desire to be a counselor, and my wish to live an abnormal but God centered life. I think of the books I have been reading: books about resting, (The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry) about radically loving people, (The Irresistible Revolution) about a different sort of church and community. I think of how L’Abri embodies loving people well, living by faith, being minimalist, being a community, cherishing the little things, celebrating the little things, seeking knowledge and wisdom, living by rhythms. I wonder how can I live that kind of life outside of L’Abri.
I think a small part of it is realizing that for me this quote rings true. I’ve spent a lot of time worrying about and eventually succeeding at things that don’t really matter that much, and now, well now I hope to be spending more energy on trying to succeed at the things that do matter. Which honestly means to the outside world or even to myself my new goals might look a little weird, and my decision making process might be a little different than it used to be. Maybe that’s a good thing though.
Well that’s all for now folks. If you have any fun quarantine ideas or questions about L’Abri, let me know.
Life at L’Abri has been crazy the past couple of weeks as people have had to abruptly change their plans due to the virus, and I haven’t found much time to write or honestly process anything. Sadly, I’m back in the U.S. However, I have been wanting to dedicate a post to arts week. Edith Schaeffer had a passion for the arts and L’Abri honors her with a week dedicated to art. Something she talks about in her books is finding art in the every day. I appreciated how in addition to holding special lectures and workshops, the workers also spent the week getting more creative with the meals and having us decorate for Arts Week.
Painting
One of the workshops we did was on water color painting. They had a painter, who is a past L’Abri student (I think) and has some of her work in a gallery in Villars, come and teach us about water color and led a workshop. It was beautiful having all the tables in Farel face the widows so we could look at the mountains. There was soft music playing and candles lit. This mixed with the smell of the lavender hand sanitizer and the natural lighting to create a truly peaceful scene. It was wonderful seeing the artist drawn out in everyone and the different ways in which they viewed the scene in front of us. We were told to focus on drawing the different depth and layers in the scene. She talked about how with water color it’s important to not overwork the picture and to gently guide the paint.
Morgan’s Paintings
The teacher encouraged my friend Morgan and I to do a second painting. I think we both had a lot of fun seeing how much progress we made between the first and the second paintings. Although, I still have some work to do as far as the learning less is more when it comes to water color.
My Paintings
Korean Sushi
One of my favorite parts of L’Abri that I definitely do not talk about enough is the food. The food at L’Abri is so good a so creative. There is a tight budget which makes ingredients somewhat limited. Also, in Switzerland there is not access to all the ingredients one might be used to cooking with, especially since a lot of the people who cook are from other countries. What makes my heart so happy when thinking about food at L’Abri is the attitude around cooking. We have the time and the people to cook, so sometimes we’ll do something that seems tedious just to make the meal better. Small things like making all the plates match or dicing the vegetables super tiny. I love seeing the excitement in a worker’s eye when they think of something they could throw into a dish or a last-minute dessert they could make. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard someone say in the kitchen “I’ve never done this before but I’m going to go for it.” There’s bravery there because you are cooking for a group and the tighter budget means that unless what you make is completely inedible, it’s going to be served.
Sushi rolling party in the lounge
The amazing thing is that I feel like more times than not the food turns out really well. An example of this is when Amelia decided to make Korean sushi for arts week. Those of us (not me) who had rolled sushi before did not have much experience. We cut up into toothpick size pieces carrots, pickles, cucumbers, peppers, cooked omlete style eggs, and ham. The carrots and peppers were slightly cooked and some spinach was cooked as well. You have a mat called a rollar. You lay out the seaweed wrap, pat on a layer of sticky rice, put each of the other ingredients in, roll it up and then slice it. Fortunetly, we got some extra helping hands from one of the work crews that ended early and it turned out really beautiful. Plus we had a lot of fun.
Everyday Art
We started off arts week by decorating with flowers and branches from Karen’s (one of the workers) yard.
L’Abri’s culture had always embodied everyday art in my opinion. In fact one of my favorite things about L’Abri is that if someone finds out you semi-know how to do something they ask you to either do it or teach them how to do it. I loved walking around the lounge and hearing people singing and playing guitar and the piano. People teaching other people songs they know or reading aloud stories they love. One student taught us an interpretive dance and another did a group swing dancing lesson. I’ll never forget walking into the lounge and seeing a group of students improvising because they were bored and couldn’t watch a movie. I loved the lack of technology and the no technology zones. There’s something to them that allows people to open up and share their talents. Here’s some of the art I made at L’Abri, including a painted carving, that Steve, a worker asked me to paint for him the second he saw me painting.
Morgan and I decided that writing notes for the packed lunch sandwhiches would be a good form of everday art.
Writing Workshop
One of my favorite activities of the week was the writing workshop. The person running it talked about writing and the history of writing for a bit and then had some prompts for us. We each shared our work in our tables and then there was a chance to share with the whole group. I’ll end this post with the writing that I did. The first prompt was come up with a definition of the word nudiusterain.
Nudiusterain – a religion centered around the practicalities of nudism, a nudist cult
The real meaning of the word is the day before yesterday. Now the third prompt had several options and I chose the one that was write a story based off of your definition for nudiusterain. We had about twenty minutes to write something and here’s what I came up with. It is from the perspective of a child.
I was born into a nudiusterain family. We live in a warm land, but not too sunny. My parents don’t own a television, I in fact did not even know what such a thing was until recently. We do on occasion read a fairy tail where people wore things, things like blankets around their frames. One story talked of a mom getting angry at her daughter for getting a stain on her Sunday dress. (I imagine a Sunday dress is like a fancy wearing blanket. Maybe like Grandma Archer’s family quilt that hangs on the wall.) It seems quite silly to me, why do you need a blanket while wading in the river?
I of course on occasion have worn a wearing blanket, but that is only on those rare winters where the sun hides away for a few days. Plus, my mom never gets angry when I wade in the river, she just makes me hose off before entering the house.
There stories of the “clothed” world are quite funny. Don’t tell my mom but my friend Janie showed me a picture of her parents at a beach before they became nudiusterian. You won’t believe it but they where wearing toilet cloths! Only babies ever wear toilet cloths and only indoors, so thy don’t make a mess in the house. Do clothed adults not know how to use the restroom? That seems incredible silly. Oh, oh and her mom had some kind of blanket over her chest. The beach, such a warm place for wearing blankets.
It snowed quite a bit overnight the otherday. I decided that was a good time to walk up death hill for the first time and it was actually a lot of fun and I got some beautiful pictures. Therefore, interspersed in this post about learning new things are my snowy walk picture.
Learning Dutch
One of my goals for L’Abri was to ask someone to teach me how to do something. I wrote this down in my journal during the first week as I reflected on what I wanted for this season of my life. I had something in mind like how to play the piano or guitar or make a specific dish.
However, as I was reading a loud the first paragraph of the dutch Chronicles of Narnia to my dutch friend, Rineke, it dawned on me that I had asked someone to teach me something… Dutch. I mean, obviously Dutch is so much more practical to learn, I can use it anywhere. It’s not like playing a musical instrument would be useful at all. (Read the sarcasm).
So much snow!
I have so much fun learning Dutch. From making everyone in hearing distance cracking up as I try to make the throaty noises to learning useful phrases like “you’re sweet my little bunny,” I really enjoy the process.
It was particularly amusing when another dutch person, Dave was here. Rineke and him where cracking up as they taught me to say lekker ding and konijntje. They told me these were ways to say hello; however, I could easily tell from their laughter that they meant something else. After much laughter and begging they told me the true meanings of these words. “Lekker ding” is telling someone they are hot or sexy and “konijntje” means little bunny. So if you ever need to find your sexy bunny in Holland, I can help you out.
A deer chilling at the top of death hill
No story about me learning Dutch would be complete without my favorite phrase “knutfel tijd” which when I say it sounds like knuffle tight. It sounds like something from a Dr. Seuss book and means hug time. I love it so much that I’ve been teaching it to all the workers and students.
Here’s a big thanks to my patient teachers Rineke and Dave or as I like to say konintkje fond mijn.
The Art of The Hitch
Hitchhiking in Switzerland, particularly in the mountains is fairly common and safe. It’s wild to my American mind, where perhaps the book In Cold Blood by Truman Compote canceled out any desire to take a ride from stangers.
However, here, especially at L’Abri where most people show up with lots of questions and problems and not very much money, hitching is just another transportation option. I’ve done it a couple of times and I’m always fascinated by the people who pick you up. The French couple in the minivan who made their kid move to the back, the immigrant from Turkey who was just out to wash his car, the ski instructor on her way home for work.
People with nice cars, super clean cars that make me regret my dusty boots, they stop too. People who are just passing through and have don’t know the area stop and then ask for directions to your destination.
It does feel a bit like awkward and like rejection as car after car passes you by. What helps is sometimes the drivers signal that their car is full or that they’re almost to their destination so it wouldn’t be a good ride anyway.
The first time I hitched we had to split into two groups and it took a couple of different rides to get to our destination. It was amusing passing eachother in cars or getting dropped off and then walking to a good hitching spot and seeing the other group. So if you ever are in Switzerland and you want to save your bus fair (it’s seven francs just to get to Aigle which is about a 20 minute ride), consider hitching.
Photo evidence for everything
Hitching tips: Stand somewhere the car can see you from a distance and where there is room for it to pull off. Major roads where everyone is probably going your direction are definitely helpful. Hitch in groups of two or three if possible, the more people the harder it is to get a ride. Having a girl in your group can be helpful. Oh and I’d say go with someone who’s done it before the first time.
Instagram Worthy Quotes
“Some things just have to be believed to be seen.” Philip Yancy, Disappointment with God
I like this quote because it turns logic on it’s head, it reverses the norm. It reminds me to question what I take for granted as fact and even question what I assume is illusionary. Our thoughts can lie to us after all… so perhaps we should make more space for uncertainty.
I have intended to do a post about Huemoz for a while… what is a blog entitled Life in Huemoz and Other Musings without some words specifically about the town.
Huémoz covered in snow
This town is a tiny collection of Chalets. There are no grocery stores, not even a post office. I believe I’ve been told that the town is about 300 people. One of the visiting lecturers said back in the old days when L’Abri was booming it was under orders to not exceed the size of the town. It’s hard for me to image L’Anri filled with so many people. Especially as this winter term has been particularly small. Consisting of between 15 and 30 students while I’ve been here.
Unique Chalet with windmills
I learned recently that the 10 pm quiet hour is actually Swiss law and not a L’Abri quirk. The Swiss love how charming their country is and many of the laws reinforce this. There’s this one little church in the town where the bell rings every quarter hour, with different sets of chimes to represent the time. I listened to a podcast once of someone being disliked by a whole town in Switzerland for trying to get the church bells not to ring.
The Huémoz Church
Really the only other interesting thing I know about the town is that before the middle ages it all sat in the valley beneath where Huemoz is now. However, the entire town moved to where it is now because of the plague.
The valley is to the left of this picture
Last but certainly not least, I should pay homage to the source of my contact with the outside world. The Huemoz Cafe… the only cafe where I’m brave enough to try out my French, order new things, and sit for hours answering emails and messages, and well posting these here blogs.
Left: Building that houses the cafe Right: the store front
An Embarrassing Moment with Sam
People in Switzerland are kind and tend to great eachother on the street. I can’t tell you the number of times it’s been 6pm or later and I have said bonjour (hello or good day) to someone to hear back in reply bonsoir (good evening), the much more appropriate response.
One time in particular I was sitting on a bench on the Panex road and I noticed someone was out for a run and coming in my direction. Seeing that it was the afternoon when my friend Carissa often runs and only taking a quick glance I thought it was her. I looked down at my phone until she got close, because no one wants you to watch them run. When I looked up I waved rather empatically, only to receive a quick bonjour and realize that the runner was a stranger instead if my friend. A stranger who must have thought I was an aweful friendly tourist.
Dairy Farm on the Panex Road
Prayer
Mondays at L’Abri are our days of prayer. This past Monday in particular was special because it was a day of fasting and prayer. We had no work crews and no lunch.
It was a quiet day, a peaceful day. A day where someone who I became close to while here was leaving. Thus in some ways it was a sad day. But also a day of thankfulness for the time we shared together.
Lovely last night at targets
What I realized throughout the day was just how beautiful this place really is… the fact that the workers can plan an adnormal day, a day that would seem so very strange in the normal world and everyone here just embraced it. We went for walks. We gathered in groups and shared what was on our hearts. For some inexplicable reason we even spent the day talking softly often in a wisper. It just seemed appropriate.
L’Abri has been such a place of rest for me, a place of shelter, a place of healing. A friend asked me at the beginning of the year if I had any new year’s resolutions. My response was “I just want to live a life where it’s not so hard to be ok.” A melancholy resolution born out of the struggles of grad school, depression, and post concussive syndrome.
In some ways the fullfilment of that resolution has snuck up on me here. I realize that the times where I have to repeat a mantra to myself a fewer and farther in between. I used to repeat over and over to myself Lord your grace is sufficient for me… willing myself to believe it, wiling my breathing to stay steady and my emotions to stay under control. Now, now I feel at peace most of the time.
When I go to bed late or can’t sleep, I don’t worry so much that it’ll send me to a dark place of anxious feelings. Maybe that’s because I can nap so easily here, but also maybe it’s because I’m not so tired. Despite the fact that I have no clue what my next step in life is I feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be and I’m ever so grateful for that.
One of the few large group photos we have taken
I will end this blog post with a prayer request. If you’re reading this and will join me and countless others in praying for L’Abri. Praying that people who need L’Abri will find it. People who have questions and are seeking answers and people who are seeking rest. Also praying for L’Abri’s financial needs. L’Abri survives off of small student fees, clever budgeting, and donations. L’Abri recieves both donations and students purely by word of mouth, no advertisement. It’s faith in action, a beautiful thing.
Thank you for reading and for listening. Love you, bye
Farel house is cold and drafty at night. The first floor is the chapel. It’s a bit of a long and narrow room. There’s a grand piano at the front, along with lots of plants, and a big old wooden podium. There’s tables with an assortment of well worn and mismatched chairs lining the wall of windows.
The other wall hosts filled bookshelves and a big stone fire place. Rumor is the fireplace hasn’t been used since the days of Francis Scheuffeur because one time a student while cleaning vacuumed up the ashes, which later after the student had left the building started a fire. (Sometimes you have to enjoy the history of this place.) There’s two old black leather (fou leather?) couches and a black chair to match. One evening a group of students wonder down. One of them is rather skilled on the piano, and the other brings his guitar. The rest of students were told they’d be playing worship music if we wanted to join.
Picture from Farel Balcony
It’s pitch black outside because it’s 8 o’clock in the winter. The five or six students sit around in different spots, most covered in blankets. They sing their hearts out or pray silently. Occasionally someone requests a song.
Some of the songs are familar … there is something magical when Pedro from Brazil sings along in Portuguese while the rest of the students sing in English. Personally, I left that night with a full heart. It was early on in the term. All I knew about my fellow students was the various places people were from… Brazil, Canada, England, Holland, ect. However, that night all that mattered was that we shared a common faith and a common goal of worship.
Vevey
The Lake in Vevey
Most of the workers go to All Saints Church down in Vevey. It’s an anglican church filled mostly with expats from England.
Normally on Sunday’s one of the workers holds a Bible study for the students and then we have the rest of the day off. However, on this day the workers had arranged to give us rides to their church.It was exciting to be able to see a new city and go to a church in a foriegn country. Also the thing I miss most about my a regular church is the worship music so I looked forward to this aspect of the morning service.
The outside of the Church in Vevey
We arrived there on Sunday morning and filled up a few pews. The Church itself has stained glass windows and a beautiful arched wooden ceiling. It is a narrow building that words easily echoe through. Even the pews are narrow and squeeked whenever you moved a millimeter or honestly with each breath.
The service began and the songs were familar to me. My heart welled up as I heard all these British accents singing the very words I sing at home. There’s something transcendent about that.
Church used to always be a requirement for me, a guilt trip… It meant uncomfortable clothes, smiling at strangers, and booming voices from the pulpit. In all honesty, it sometimes still feels that way. However, some days, like last Sunday it means getting to worship with my friends. It means seeing the workers greet their friends in the church and proudly show their church to us. It meant feeling like I belonged within this new experience. It was a reminder of how thankful I am for this time in Switzerland and for my L’Abri family.
Some of the L’Abri Group
After church we walked around in Levey. There’s a gorgeous lake with this weird fork. My friend Melody who I met last time I was at L’Abri is visiting this week. It felt like something from a movie walking arm and arm with her around the lake. (The poetry definitely ended later in the day as my feet began to hurt from the shoes I choose for church… but you know that’s life.)
Exploring Vevey (Second pic is my friend Melody!!!)
Instagram Worthy Quotes
Amelia, one of the workers, led a lecture using poetry and meditations from Christian Wiman’s book A Bright Abyss. This lecture is maybe my favorite from L’Abri so far in that as we read through the different passages I felt a kindred spirit it Mr. Wiman. The poetic language used captures the complexity of life without being superfluous. It’s the kind of poetry this mathematician can get behind. Moreover, the discussion we had on each passage encouraged me to actually explore the meaning of the lines… which in all honesty I normally find tedious and pointless; however, I found this discussion helped me enjoy the poems more as well as find them challanging.
Recent Snow in Huemoz
Here are of the lines I loved, identified with, or made me think.
“You know the value of your doubt by the quality of the disquiet it produces in you.”
“He is everywhere in the world we are too dispirited to love.”
“Live long enough in secular culture, long enough to forget that it is secular culture, and at some point religious belief becomes preposterous to you. Atavistic Laughable (…) It took radical disruption of my life to allow me to see the sanity and vitality of this strange ancient thing. There was no bolt-from-the-blue revelation or conversion or any of that. My old ideas simply were not adequate for the extremes of joy and grief that I experienced, but when I looked at my life through the lens of Christianity-or, more specifically, through the lens of Christ, as much as Christianity seemed (and still seems) uselessly absurd to me – it made sense.”
I often use the views as an excuse to take a break from walking up a hill
Amelia left us with the challange to write our own meditation and to be willing to let ourselves be shattered.
Conveniently, I’ve written a few poems that correlate to the theme of my tattoo. I think I might share them. Reading my poems in person isn’t something I normally do, but L’Abri is in part about personal growth afterall.
Well in the words of my grandmother, “that’s all I know.” Love you, bye
Last Thursday a rather large group of L’Abri people spent our day off visiting Montreux. I honestly don’t have much to say about it other than it was gorgeous… so this post will be mostly pictures. Sorry, not sorry.
We had plans to walk around a castle which was about a 30 minute walk from the trainstation. It was kind of a long walk, but also super gorgeous.
I mean the Swiss manage to have beautiful gardens even during the winter.
The other advantage of this day trip was that I wasn’t alone. Thus I have actual pictures of myself and the kind people I’ve been getting to know.
When we finally made it to the castle we met up with a group of people who had hitch hiked. (Which is apparently fairly safe in Switzerland). We decided we were hungry and sat down on this dock to eat our packed lunches from L’Abri.
The dock we ate lunch on
It was a pretty idealic lunch, except for the huge swans who wanted our lunch. Next we toured the castle, which was pretty cool.
We then walked the 30 minutes back to Montreux and went to a grocery store.
Part of the chocolate section in a normal grocery stoye
We stopped at a cafe after the grocery store to get a caffeine pickme up. Switzerland is a weird place where you can buy good chocolate for a dollar, ok wine for three dollars, but a small black coffee costs four bucks.
One of the group members dreams for Montreux was to stare out at the lake while drinking wine. She purchased a bag of potato chips and a bottle of wine and we shared it on some steps.
We then caught the train home… well we got on the wrong one at first, which meant we missed our orginal bus. However, the bus comes ever hour so we just chilled at the train station. At which point I was asked if I knew which bus went to Villar, a question I could actually answer. Do I win brownie points for being asked directions in a foriegn country and knowing the answer?
Not so Idyllic Things
Just to even out this post a bit, I thought I’d mention some annoying things about L’Abri so no one gets too jealous looking at all the gorgeous photos.
The Chalets are pretty drafty. This means that sometimes when I’m studying my hands get super cold and I have to take a break and hide under my blanket.
Pretty much every floor squeeks and the walls are super thin. This means getting dressed without waking up your roommates is super hard. Also there’s a pretty strict quiet time after 10 pm.
There are hills everywhere and I’m pretty sure my calves haven’t stopped hurting since I got here. The mountains are beautiful, but sometimes I just wish I could walk on flat ground.
Switzerland has super hard water in the mountains and since we air dry everything all the towels are stift and crunchy.
Two showers a week isn’t horrible, but if you time it incorrectly you can end up sweating a lot post shower and feeling gross for three days. Also Not having access to internet consistantly can be extremely frustrating, especially if you’re cheap like me and didn’t buy a phone plan. It has made me realize how addicted to my phone I am. Often when I do get wifi I end up feeling really stressed out and wished I had just stayed off of it. Maybe there’s something to a no phone life…
In all honesty I find most of these things charming or quirky. I love it here and am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be here.
If you watch the Office you have probably seen Jim and Pam look at eachother during a sweet moment and make a motion symbolizing taking a picture. They do this for moments they want to savor but can’t exactly be captured on film. There’s a lot of those kinds of moments here at L’Abri for me and I thought I’d spend a post describing a few.
The Lounge
Imagine a good sized room. In this room there are about five couches, a dinning room table, multiple coffee tables and inn tables, as well as a variety of chairs. Everything is well worn and a few things match each other, but nothing matches everything. One wall is filled with windows. The others with bookshelves and maps and paintings. There’s a piano and several guitars. The floor and ceiling are both made of wood and the walls have a dark wallpaper.
This place is the lounge. It feels the ebb and flow of the community. Sometimes it’s teeming with people. There’s someone composing a song on the piano. There’s several people scattered throughout the room reading. There’s a group in the middle playing a card game. There’s a few students to the side deep in coversation.
Oh the conversations these walls have held. Conversations about God and faith and life. Conversations about peoples’ backgrounds and their stuggles to find their place in the world. Light conversations too, small talk about how did you sleep, what is the best kind of chocolate and what’s the best route to Villars.
Oh and laughter, the lounge has seen it’s fair share of laughter and some tears as well. Some days the lounge hosts meals. Meals that are revamped and comprised of the leftovers from the week. Some days the lounge hosts lectures or prayer meetings. Some days the lounge is a place to sit and listen to a book being read allowed or watch a movie and eat popcorn.
The thing about this phone free space, this place that welcomes people from all around, is that people connect. They look at eachother, they talk, and they listen. People learn from eachother and they bond.
View from Targets
Targets
No, I didn’t pluralize the store that so many people know and love. In fact in my mind, targets is even better than Target.
Targets is a location on top of a hill/mountain that works well for watching the sunset. It’s an actual shooting range one day out of the year, hence the name. However, it’s probably more often used to hangout. There’s one bench and a fire pit (which technically isn’t supposed to be used without a permit).
It’s like something from a postcard or a movie
The view is incredible and althought I have many pictures they don’t do justice to the feeling of being out under the stars, probably passing around wine or chocolate with your L’Abri friends, and either talking or just existing in amicable silence. It’s beautiful.
Our group at Targets
Story Time
One evening we had high tea in Chalet Chezelet. This Chalet has a fire place and that night a fire was going and we were served chicken, and veggies, and homemade bread. It was delicious and oh so homey.
After dinner and dessert, P.O. pulled out a story book. He’s Danish and these stories were read to him during his childhood. He reads in a steady soft voice in the dimly but artfully lite room. We adults, from various countries, in various stages of life, all sit around the living room and listen.
There’s something serene and quieting about being read to. There’s something timeless and wonderful about dimming the lights, hearing the crackling of the fire, and sharing an experience. There’s something to simple living.
Instragram Worthy Quotes of the Day
One of our speakers Ellis Potter defined meaning to mean relationship. Nothing has meaning without relating it to something else. This idea to me was like a breath of fresh air in the midst of a culture that constantly says dig deep and find meaning in yourself. Interestingly a similar concept was quoted from Mother Teresa in another book I was reading “If we have no peace it’s because we have forgotten we belong to eachother.”
The stack of books I’m reading on a table in Farel house
Another interesting thought that rings true but is pretty counter cultural, I found in the book The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. He wrote “As I read scriptures about how the last will be first, I started wondering why I was working so hard to be the first.”
My final quote of the day comes from the human tendancy to catastraphize. “We can’t prevent storms from coming, but we can decide not to invent our own.” Emily P. Freeman – The Next Right Thing
My Life in A Variety of Places 