Home of the Brave

Today we had to leave at 7:30 because we had lots of places to go to. It is Lauren's 22 birthday, so she was a little bit homesick because of that, and on top of being homesick, we were visiting some VERY emotional places. However, we also were able to visit some really neat places too.

The first place we visited was the American Military Cemetery where airmen from WWII are buried. It was one of the most spectacularly emotional places that I have ever visited. I knew that it would be large because the Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest battle for America in WWII. However, there were 4 of us that were walking ahead of the group and as soon as we turned the corner to where we could see the cemetery, we all stopped and gasped. We had a guy who talked to us for a little bit about the shape of the cemetery (it is in the shape of the Red Cross because it allows for bodies to be buried that they continue to find) and different things to do with the war. Most of it was very encouraging, but some of it was also incredibly sad. There was a monument that read "To the silent host who endured all and gave all that mankind might live in freedom and peace." It really struck me how frequently we take for granted the freedoms that we have as RIGHTS rather than PRIVILEGES. Someone gave up their life so that I can live freely. How often do I stop and think about that? Someone lost a brother, a father, an uncle, etc so that we can live in peace. I was also really struck by the unknown graves. They read "Here lies in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God." It broke my heart to read that just thinking about the fact that no one knows who this person is, but it was so comforting to know that whether or not we know who that person is, God knows all of us and loves all of us, no matter what.

After that, we went to Dinant and visited a castle there. It was a sort of boring tour because the guy was speaking in French and English and he was really dry and boring, so I don't really know anything about that castle, except that it was pretty cool looking :) Then, we went down these elevators of death called Funiculars that were these lift things that were pretty much hanging by threads (apparently they were supposed to be safe?? lol)... but not really they were actually cables. I was just scared the whole time we went down and especially when we went back up because we had like 20 people in there and the thing was swaying... and I could see way down to the ground. Awful!

Then we went to Bouillon and toured another castle and watched a bird show. The castle had about a million rooms that were all interconnected and everything. It was really cool. I can't imagine having to go through those tunnels and everything with just a candle! How insane!

After spending a little over an hour at Bouillon, we went to Bastogne which is the actual site that the Battle of the Bulge happened, and there is a war memorial there. The memorial is in honor of the United States and the help that we gave to Belgium to make it through the war. The memorial was a star and it had all of the states written around it. I got my picture made with Florida :) Anyway, I guess that's the big news for the day. Tomorrow is a class day and we have to clean our room for room check. Then I have to speak at a girl's devotional. We are planning on having them every Friday, so the other R.A. and I figured that we should go ahead and speak pretty early on in the trip so that the other girls can get more acquainted with each other and feel more comfortable speaking. I better get off here and get some work done!

Good night! Love you all! :)