Author Archives: Danielle Rzepka

Question: What happens when two missionaries get lost in a foreign country with no map, a non-functional GPS, and no cell phone? Answer: God does what He wills. (Alleluia!) Last night, Amanda and I spent some time with all the fabulous folks from St. Tomas parish in Roermond (NL) for XLT. We had managed to get to the church no problem–even early, which is a feat in itself for us!–and counted it as a blessing from God, because we didn’t even have to turn around once. It was almost like our car

“A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord!” (Isaiah 40:3). Welcome to Advent, everyone (albeit a bit belatedly, but welcome all the same)! Advent is all about preparation; it’s a time the Church—in her infinite wisdom, guided by the Holy Spirit—has set aside for us to really reflect about how ready our hearts are to receive Christ, and to make them ready! Prepare the way of the Lord! We’re just about one week in, and I am really loving it so far. I’m noticing that

Let me tell you one thing about our life here: it’s amazing! God is continuing to show up in so many uncountable ways—I love it. Our life is about to become a whole lot busier (at least externally…I feel like we’ve been busy since we’ve arrived here!) in the next month or so, as God has given us a whole host of opportunities for reaching out and building community: a Core retreat for the team here in Süsterseel in November, an XLT at a parish in Roermond (NL), and two retreats for teens

I find myself in a rather odd predicament as I’m writing this blog: I don’t know what to say. Just to clarify, this is new and different. Words are a big deal for me. My life seems to revolve around saying things (or not saying them, or wishing they were said, or hoping someone will say them…etc.), and so I’m not exactly sure what to do with this feeling of being speechless. But I think that it’s good, and that God is actually trying to reveal a greater truth through this experience; in

We’ve had amazingly full days since we’ve been here in Germany; I’ve been a little surprised, actually. I think I expected to have to wait around more until things “got going.” Here’s lesson number one of missionary life: God does not wait. He wastes no time diving right in if you let Him! Part of the reason we’ve had such a full schedule, I’ve realized, is because we pray so much—praise God! (just for you Fr. Paul). I guess I never really noticed how much time we set aside for

The last time I blogged, I mentioned how much of a whirlwind our first day in Germany was; and it hasn’t stopped since! There has been so much to see, so much to do, so many people to meet, so much to pray about—I really don’t know where the day goes! Over this past week, I’ve been amazed at how beautiful this place is, how fun discovering new things can be, and how much God has really gifted me with being able to be here. I feel like every day I’m in a new episode of that cartoon “Dora

Hallo from Süsterseel! It’s been a whirlwind three days since we’ve been in Germany, and God has wasted no time in showering down His blessings on us. Dank sei Gott! (Alright, that pretty much exhausts my German vocabulary at the moment. But, if all goes well, we should be starting language classes next week.) There is so much to write about already! I’m going to have to break it up, otherwise everyone would be a little overwhelmed—pretty much how I felt when we first landed, actually.

“I just want to be in your heart, I just want to be in your arms, moving ever closer to your heart.” Miller was just playing that on the guitar (thanks, Miller!) as I’m sitting here in our converted classroom/conference room/office/lounge, and it beautifully sums up what I’ve been praying about this evening. I just want to love God. Really. That’s it. The more I know of God, the more I want to know of Him. Sometimes I feel discouraged, because I know that I will never be able to love

First off, an apology for this prolonged period of silence; time always seems to escape me here at Covecrest! I can’t believe I’ve already been here for 3 weeks; time seems to have fast-forwarded from when I left California. At the same time, there seems to have been so much packed into this small space of time that I’m just now starting to catch my breath. God (as is His way) is still showing me just how crazy and adventurous a life of following Him can be! This year has already looked so

Hello from Camp Tepeyac! It has been a crazy month of camp, but God is moving in big ways here. Glory! If you’re wondering how this Covecrest missionary ended up in Prescott, AZ, there is a one-word answer: obedience. Chris asked Carla and I a while ago how we felt about coming out to Tepeyac (one of Life Teen’s other camps in northern Arizona) for a month during the summer to help run camp; he had a vision of (in a nutshell) more closely unifying the camp experience across the country, of