9:50pm on the 29th of Feburary 2012, (I liked to think that leaving on this day would be lucky)...I left my home, my heartland, my friends and family to embrace a story waiting to be written in Werneck, Germany. People often say "I never thought the day would arrive", and now I understand why, though I only planned for 6 months, my final day in Australia always seemed so far away, and as though it may never actually come. Yet here I am, snuggled up in my new bed, in my new home, in a little bavarian town, with the window open and the stars shining brightly above me. God has brought me here, to this place, in His time, and He used my friends and family to get me here. I won't say I didn't have doubts and fears, but there was this incredible peace that would wash over me whenever I felt that tightening you get in your stomach, like just before the rollercoaster drops. I would never have had the courage to leave if not for the promise of home, for the fact that those most important to me will be waiting with open arms, and while I will be different, they will be different, I have no doubt those relationships will pick up where they left off. If I thought for an instant that these people (they know who they are) would forget me, I would never have left. And so...it begins, my year in Deutschland, a dream come true, a story that will change me and shake me and open my heart and mind more than I can imagine I'm sure...