Hello, Everyone!

It looks like it has been two weeks since my last update on the 12th. I lost track of the time.
The past two weeks have been a picture of German travel...instead of planes, trains, and automobiles, it’s been Bahn, Bus, and Autobahn! I have had some lovely opportunities to sightsee, done a little bit of shopping, and observed wonderful pictures of how God is working here in Germany to bring people to Him. I will now commence a chronological description of my time here.
I had another opportunity to see a children’s play group, led by Doris Maul, the wife of the minister in Steinheim, Wednesday morning. Last time I told you how Silke Horst had led her play group with the story of Jesus and the little children using Lego people. This time Doris discussed the creation of fish and water creatures, using a big bowl of water and toy fishes. I’m sure you can imagine the fun that children under 2 can have with something like that on the living room floor! This group included a large majority of non-believing women, but love and joy were evident in the group. I was really happy to see that. While there I met an English-speaking woman that invited me to dinner Thursday night. How much I looked forward to that dinner!
Wednesday afternoon Rosi took me to see the Steiff Museum, which is a pretty important little shop in the area, in Ginghen. I felt kind of guilty about this, as it had nothing to do with church, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was very amused to see her two foster sons, Michael and Yalcin, who were 10 and 8, wide-eyed with amazement at the talking teddy bears and the animatronic stuffed animals. It was really very cute and entertaining, even though my understanding of what was going on was limited by my slow brain and tiny German vocabulary.
We were late getting back from the museum, unfortunately, and had a little bit of trouble figuring out where the scout troupe was meeting on the nature preserve next to the church. The scout troupe is an evangelical one, like a mix of Awana and traditional Boy and Girl Scouts in America. They have a regular prayer time and a bible story in each session. The kids do orienteering games in the woods and such. I was tried to play the last game with the kids. We were supposed to play tag with one arm wrapped around the other, outstretched arm... I mean, with our “trunks” out. I felt awkward running around as the momma elephant--which meant that I was “it.” At least I wasn’t “it” much! I have learned a new word in German that I have the opportunity to use a lot: Tolpatschig (awkward, clumsy)! Thursday after lunch I accompanied a church elder named Kalle and his wife Gabi to the “50 Plus” group meeting for coffee time. The German specialty of that meal was Quark, which is a cross between cream cheese and yoghurt. It is often replaced in recipes by ricotta cheese, I am told. They had a lovely presentation that afternoon on Elizabeth of Thueringen, who was big on starting hospitals and caring for the poor and imprisoned. I had a hard time keeping up again, because it was a presentation with no illustrations, spoken in German at a normal German pace.
That evening was the much-anticipated dinner. The host couple had spent a lot of time in the US and Ireland and speak practically perfect English in an accent which blended the two countries’ accents. Most Germans speaking English in class come up with an accent somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic, never planting a foot on either shore!

After enjoying talking English all evening, it occurred to me how much I had been missing conversation. I had been trying to participate in everything I attended, but it was hard.Friday was wonderful but busy. The morning was spent with a member of the church, helping her as she taught classes in Grundschule (elementary). It was a Lutheran school, so she could pray with the kids in class. I was happy to see yet another place where God can get his foot into the door in this country! Her first classes were fourth-year English (kids aged 10 or so) and they did very well. I did a lot of explaining about Iowa in German because they are still beginners. I got asked a lot of interesting questions, my favorite being, "Are there lions on your farm?" I am not sure if this question was in earnest or just based on the need to ask a question with the vocabulary that the girl had! I also helped with a second-year class. They were doing crafts, and I had a hard time understanding their specific questions--no easy out there, because I could not switch to English with them! They were sweet though, and I did what I could.That evening, I observed youth group activities. First was the Bible instruction class, part of two years of special instruction. Young people are encouraged to make a free will decision in this church; it resembles Evangelical Free in most respects. It was similar to, but not quite like, Lutheran or Catholic confirmation.

Then I attended a girl scout group. They were teenagers, and just adorable. I find the German children to be very mature. A lovely 19-year-old believing girl led the meeting. She seemed to have a lot of concern over the politics and relationships among the girls in the group, and I was very impressed with her care.

The last event of the evening was youth group of about ten youth. We mostly played a game based on realizing the unity of the parts of the spiritual body. It was a good picture of what I am seeing in the churches over here, with many programs an gifts being exercised. I feel my best role is showing people that I love them.
Saturday was the day I went to the castles with Jessica, the teacher who took me to her classes, and her husband Sven. It was another opportunity to speak English, but I should have tried to speak German more, because they are truly German, and had wonderful accents. I did practice making German sounds and was quite happy that I was at least capable of them (although I rarely get them right the first time. I have to hear and repeat and hear and repeat).

We did go to Neuschwanstein, and the outside of the castle was stunning! The inside was decorated in great detail and beautifully. But it was sad to see evidence of the moral depravity and emptiness of King Ludwig, who died of a possible suicide before the castle was completed. The work on the castle was immediately stopped because of cost, so it is kind of like a snapshot of an empty, lonely, unfulfilled life.

We also visited a small castle near Oberammergau, and also along the Ammer River. It is called Linderhof. It was also very pretty, but so empty. The builder created a manmade cave with a lake inside of it, so he could be taken around in his boat there. There were many other things just for visual enjoyment in the garden--much to fill the eyes and bring pleasure, but nothing that could fill the heart.We drove through Oberammergau, which fulfilled my desire to see all those houses with the pictures painted on them. The next day I was also with Jessica and Sven, at Sven’s parents’ house, and we had a lovely, lazy, German Sunday afternoon. In the evening, Sven and his dad and sister Melanie took me to Neresheim Abbey, whose beautifully painted ceilings gave me pause to ask what kind of hope the artist may have had. I have never seen a more beautiful depiction of Jesus triumphing over death!That takes me up to Monday, when I had my first experience with the German train system and left for Berlin. I had a lovely conversation on the train with a minister who serves one of the state churches and who actually believes in God. He was amused that I asked him if he believed in God, but he knew why I asked. He was excited to hear about all of the things that I had seen in the growing and loving churches I have visited in Germany. He has a heart for seeing people believing in God, instead of in tradition, religion, and beautiful buildings. It was encouraging to talk to him.In Berlin, I didn’t go as many places and had more time to myself, because I was living in a guesthouse and preparing my own meals. I had a good time getting to know Dale and Barbara Mallory, who began serving in Berlin with EuroVangelism at the same time as Mom and Dad in 1972. I visited the areas where my family lived and where they held their meetings. Part of the week I was not feeling well, but I did get to help sort books at the Christian Resource Center that the Mallory’s are helping set up in Berlin. After several years of planning and fund-raising, a location has been found and furnished, and books and other media are being catalogued and shelved. The grand opening is scheduled for September.

While in Berlin I became acquainted with a guy who is considering work in the heavily Islamic areas of Berlin, and it was good to hear his perspective on the various people groups. I had to admit that I had no answer for him regarding where and with whom I want to work. I am keeping an open mind while I am observing the variety of work here.

Until later,
Liza