Lynchburg and an Update

It has been a while since I have done anything on here...everything is in English and it throws me off...Things have been really crazy, so to catch everyone up I will give you just a few topics...some more important than others, but in no particular order.

1. Germany rocked my face off. I can't wait to go back! There are some pretty exciting opportunities that will be coming up in the near future. I will write more on that as things become more solidified...

2. I am back in Lynchburg and preparing to start class on Tuesday...mixed emotions on that.

3. My best friend (Jeff Hill) was married yesterday...it was a long time coming, but they finally tied the knot. Congratulations you guys!

4. VA decided to pass a law allowing police to issue speeding tickets up to $1,050 (I think that was the amount). This makes me sad...not that I speed that fast...it's the prinicple.

5. On a related subject...#4 and todays drive back to school made me miss the Autobahn very, very much!

6. Seeing as how I am no longer in Germany (sniff sniff) I need to come up with a new title...so hopefully that will not be too difficult.

I will try to post at least one blog a week as the semester progresses. If anyone has any questions or anything just email me...I would write my email address here...but I dont know how smart that is...

Home Again

I finally made it home yesterday morning and pretty much spent the entire day in a semi-conscious state. I suppose I'll start from Monday when I left. I had so much stuff that Joe had to lend me an extra suitcase. Benny and Korny gave me a box of stuff (antz merchandise, German books and magazines, which are pretty cool, some candy, and a potato.). The flight over was pretty uneventful, other than the fact that we were late leaving, and then took forever to get across the ocean. I did get upgraded to business though...that made me happy. I arrived at Washington Dulles International at 11pm local time (5am in Germany). When I got to customs the line for the citizens was about 3 times longer than the one for foreigners. After spending about 45 minutes waiting in line, I finally got to customs. They searched my bag and decided that the potato was a threat to national security and so they took it....it's a potato. Some random farmer is probably going to read this and then tell me how horrible I am for bringing a foreign potato onto US soil...oh well. Anyway, after spending a little over and hour in customs I finally made it out of the airport...and then realized that I pretty much could have stayed there as I had to wake up at 4:00am the next morning to go back to Dulles to fly home. Now my bag is lost somewhere between DC and here, so for all of you in Germany your email addresses are in the lost bag...so after I get it I'll email you.

This summer was absolutely incredible! I was able to learn a lot and have some great experiences along the way. The ministry there in Augsburg is absolutely incredible and I look forward to sharing more about it with you all personally! Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support! God bless!

Last Day

It is currently 2am and I have officially begun my last full day in Germany....not gonna lie, I'm pretty sad about that. I got to hang out with the guys from the band one last time...I'm pretty sure they think I'm insane...but it was a lot of fun. Thanks guys for putting up with me all summer! Tomorrow I have to do some cleaning and packing and all of the fun last minute travel stuff...I'm hoping whoever is behind the counter at the airport will bump me up to business class...that would be sweet.

Quick Note

I forgot to mention earlier that we will be leaving in the morning to go on another studio tour until Wednesday. Joe, Benny and I will be leaving at 8am. Just so you can keep it in mind.

Umleitung (Detour)

I spent the weekend at the Paskas house, because Joe was out of town, which means I had a weekend of great Hungarian/German cuisine (courtesy of Mrs. Paska) and just plain fun. Friday night the Antz performed at the music store that I told you about. And, as usual, they did a great job! They received good scores on the song that they submitted to the judges. I have attached some pictures of the concert below. On Saturday, I watched Johnny, Benny, and Robin record some things for the Antz CD. And later on, I got my butt kicked in soccer by Mr. Paska. Last night, Marph, Korny, Benny, and I went to a German Kino /Keeno/ (cinema). I actually understood more than I thought...which still wasn't all that much, but still enough to know what was going on. Besides, I had my own personal translators (a.k.a. Benny and Korny) so they helped to fill in the blanks. I was like one of those people that always pesters you about what is going on or what just happened, or who is that guy and what is he doing....you know what I mean.

Today, I was driving Joe's truck up to the supermarket to turn in some bottles (you have to turn in glass and plastic bottles after you are done so they can be recycled), but as soon as I pulled out of the driveway, I had to stop because the Polizei (police) were blocking the road for a bicycle marathon. After waiting for about ten minutes for them to pass, I was finally able to complete my errand. After the supermarket I drove to the recycling station to drop off some cardboard and some plastic...only to get stuck behind the aforementioned bike marathon. I was finally able to make the turn that I needed to go to the recycling station....only to find the road blocked yet again for the finish line of the marathon...which also included a gigantic party/cook-out/concert that just so happened to be exactly where I needed to go. So, after driving around about 4 times to find an alternate route in, I gave up and came back to the Center. The moral of the story...I hate bikes....

Berlin Pictures

I decided it would probably be good to post some more pictures so you can see a very small part of what we did these last few days:

The main recording room of one of the biggest studios in Germany. They were a domestic rep. for Universal Studios until Universal sold the studio to private buyers.


......Benny drooling over the mixer at that studio......


....a really cool, really expensive board at another studio,this thing will pretty much do your laundry....


mesmorized


one of the studios had a dog...we want one


Berlin has 6 dunkin' donuts...these guys know the exact location of each one...



after donut #137....




Me, Benny, and Joe in front of a part of the Berlin wall...those bricks that run along the bottom follow the path of the original wall through the entire city, even inside buildings.

Back From Berlin

Tonight we returned from Berlin. We visited something like 10 or 11 studios over three days. Several things were accomplished over the last few days. 1) The studio here is right on track. 2) It really helped me to visualize what the complete studio will look like. 3) It was incredibly encouraging. 4) We were able to get a few ideas to apply here. Overall it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about the studio and recording industry. Once the studio is up and running, the profit will be used to support the youth work here. There are many plans for the future here. The possibilities are endless. I know that's a bit of a cliché, but seriously it's amazing what can be done here. God has provided GO Ministries with an incredible location, facilities, and network. It's exciting to be a part of it.

In other news. The Antz will be one of three bands that were chosen to perform at Augsburg's biggest music stores 10th anniversary on Friday. It is great exposure for them. Keep them and the work here in your prayers.