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| It has been a long time since I have even looked at xanga...
I don't ever feel like typing a lot, but then I thought...you know I don't really have to. So, I just want to say may the glory be to God for all the incredible things that took place in Brazil...even the things that we considered not incredible. The Lord works for HIS good purposes.
Brazil was a small glimpse of the hopeful future! Oh send me out Lord!
In Him,
Monica
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| FUN STORY!!!!
Wow okay so an update: As some of you know I went paragliding last Friday... and as most of you know how clumsy I am....put two and two together and what do you get ? A paragliding accident! Yep its true, I wish that I could say otherwise. When paragliding you are supposed to run down this ramp (aka: steep hill on the topd of a mountain!) but when I started running som how my instructor and I went tumbling down the mountain! It was pretty ugly of a fall. In the picture below you can see two white parachutes at the top of the mountain, I am the one on the far right and then you can see the tree line down at the bottom....that is where I landed. If you look closely you can see some large white rocks. I landed right in front of the tree line on the far right. I tumbled at an angle.
It hurt really badly. I thought at first that I had broken my leg, but
yesterday I went to the hosiptal to get some xrays and all is fine--no
broken leg! But i do have bruises galore all over my body. Its fun
because everyday I find a new one! In the last five meters of the fall
Walter and I were tumbling inside of the parashute and then finally
stopped inside of a stick bush hangind upsidedown! I had to use my
hands to hold myself up so not to fall further down the mountain. On
the way down I lost my helmet so luckily I never hit my head and I
don't know how that is possible other than by the grace of God! A man
ran down the mountain to help us get out of the mess, he had to hoist
me out of there, but the parachutes strings were all wrapped around my
neck, so it took a while trying to untangle everything. Luckily Walter
wasn't hurt that bad because I broke his fall but he was trying to not
fall on me. Sadly, I was trying to fall on him rather than the rocks
but it didn't help so well. Oh and guess what went down with Walter and
me?! My camera! Yes my Nikon D50! But its a tough solider of a camera
because there wasn't a scratch on it! Which is a miracle. Well after
the fall and after the two men pulled me up, Walter carried up the
parachute, luckily there was no damage to it. THen they offer for me to
try it AGAIN! So I did and it was amazing!
 
This was the view and below is me after the flight safely on the ground!!
Overall, I learned a couple of lessons from my paragliding
experience...1. I am very blessed to not have been hurt worse from that
fall. 2. The body if very FRAGILE! 3. I saw a picture of Christ up
there when I was flying....Let me explain....
When i was in the air
all the pain that my body was feeling completely faded away admist all
the beauty and comfort of sitting thousands of miles from everything.
It was like this complete trancendence of heavenly peace. I was
relaxed, comfortable--no fears crossed my mind. I was sitting in this
chair lookin out on everything that God had created! It was so
incredibly cool. Thats when it made me think of all the pain that
Christ was put through ("falling down a mountain") and then going to
rest in heavenly peace with his father ("the chair")! How cool is that!
All the wounds, tears and fears are completely washed away once in
heaven because we will be with our father!!! Ugh! I know that my little
experience is nothing comparable to that of what Christ went through
and what heaven will be like but its a tiny glimpse that I got from the
whole thing. Its comforting to have a glimpse rather than nothing! It
helps me not think about the pain, when there is blisse to look forward
to! Well i love you all! I hope all is well back at home! I promise
that I will make it come, just hopefully still tackfully in one piece!
Love ya'll! In Him, Monica
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| Okay so...I am here in a wonderful city...there has already been a few challenges. Our group is small and so is the diversity. I have spent most of my time walking around the city and watching. I am seeing so much more than I ever thought I could. There is such a huge need here! Incredible...so many people...it's wonderful how they actually look into your eyes. I think I see more that way. Many people it seems are suffering. I see it in their marriages, their faith, in their health, and in their expressions. It bewilders me that there could be such a culture that people are so closely connected through heritage and yet so far strung from one another. There seems to be less communication here although that could very well be the same in the states. I guess when I am surrounded by my own culture I don't notice much either. I am beginning to notice more about my own culture from being here....interesting how that works.
Well God has definitely been good...last weekend I just about had every prayer of mine answered! It was so cool. We went to Salzkammagut, which hopefully I will be back to paraglide. Well see how the purse strings are by then! But yeah then I went rafting...IT WAS SO COOL! and cold! But I got to meet locals and ...yeah it was cool! AHHHH....gotta go....internet...shutting down.....love ya! In HIm, Monica
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| Hey sweetheart. Yes this is me, your amazing boyfriend, signed onto your xanga writing you a note for the world to see! I love you. And I miss you. I really want to talk to you all the time, but I don't want to be a huge distraction while you are in Austria. I have been waiting up just to get to talk with you and its about 2:45am and I just realized that you probably won't be online for maybe even another hour... I don't know. Anyways... I will do my best to stay up and wait for you but if I don't make it I have proof that I tried now :) You are the best girlfriend in the world. I mean that. I love you so much. I would give the world to be able to be in Austria with you right now... to be the guy sitting behind you, holding you in his arms as you sit down by the water taking pictures. We could have a basket of fruit and some bread with us to snack on and it would be great... we could just sit together and I could hold you and you could take pictures and it would sweetness. OH.... sorry everyone I forgot this is a public post for a minute there. Anyways.. the point is that I am daydreaming about being with you everday! These day dreams might possibly be the only way I get through this semester... along with the blessed times of talking with you. Yay.. you just signed in so I'm ending the post right here... love you.. talk to you in a minute!
clint
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| Hey here's my address if you need it:
ATTEN: Monica Modesto
Salzburg College
Ursulinenplatz 4
A-5020 Salzburg, Austria, Europe
well things are going well, more than well! i love my family and i love austria. when i first arrived i thought "this isn't pretty," but now i am seeing the beauty. i can't wait till class is over today (i only have one, then a field trip later) so that i can grab some fruit and just sit by the water and take pictures of people. I love watching people! but yeah. well i have a million things to do on the internet before class so i'll post hopefully soon. maybe once a week or something. oh yeah i posted pictures on facebook finally take a look. k well i love ya'll and God bless!
in Him, Monica
ps: TO LAURA: thanks laura for the card!! i got it yesterday in the morning - it was my first day too!! having mail on the first day was an incredible feeling! it made my day! everyone else was jealous of my card! you are amazing! love you!!
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