just a note!

i have been hanging out with the monks for about 3 weeks now and to be honest i miss home most during friday night prayer services, which for some reason really make me crave pizza and a movie on the couch with all of you.

i have settled into a rhythm here and in spite of missing you i have found a way to live each day like the only one i have. i have had the opportunity to spend luxurious amounts of time lounging in god's presence, soaking in lessons about love and suffering and patience and trust. learning to leave self-absorption and turning my eyes to see god. it is really beautiful to be here during holy week. as i struggle with my lame issues and internal struggles i am amazed to realize that even as he suffered on the cross jesus would have cried out to me to lay my burdens on him. can it be? is he still so strong in his weakness that he could invite my heart to rest on him? he is indeed.

during the past few weeks, i have directed people to clean toilets, learned the german words necessary to instruct them in this complicated task, danced into the night with the girls i live with, met with a Spanish nun once a week who has fire in her eyes and wisdom in her heart, learned why german people don't like The Sound of Music, passed hours in the church singing and crying and daydreaming, sometimes listening so intensely to god that i don't realize the service has finished and other moments so bored that all i can think about is the choirs of people coughing during the ten minutes of mid-prayer silence.

my relationships with people here are developing naturally. as i hear their stories i am surprised at how few of the people who stay here long-term are committed christians. my ministry is my friendships, and i get to live it all day long. this seems the perfect way for me. some relationships are more mutual... i hang out with a finnish girl, whose shaved head and chain of cigarettes at first made me think we would have very little in common, and every day we can't wait to share what god has taught us about love in the past 24 hours. this sounds strange, i know, but it is good and right. god is working...

it was warm and beautiful here today, and tomorrow it will snow. feels like home.

i hope you all have a lovely easter.

you can reach me by writing to el.abiodh@taize.fr with "Lacey - America" in the subject line.

talk to you soon =)