[The following came in a message from Liza yesterday. I've made some comments in brackets for clarity--I hope! If you would like to respond directly to her by email: (removed because I don't like it being online- Liza) From the editor, Liza's mother Margery]
Well, actually I’m having a blast but I miss talking to someone - outside of my body - in English. [That comment is only fully appreciated if you are familiar with Liza’s habit of talking to herself out loud.] It doesn’t help that I’m still in the land of the Schwaebish dialect. I can’t possibly keep up with their conversations.
Fortunately, everyone here, though speaking only German, seems to know how to explain things to me so that I understand them. They change words often enough that I finally catch one or two and then can understand everything else that was said. When they talk to me like a little kid and go back and explain stuff, then it’s okay. I’m spending so much time learning the mechanics of the German language that I have a hard time catching all of the subtleties of a conversation. It’s amazing what it feels like to suddenly be able to share with and understand those around you. I catch most things that are said to me…what a blessing! But it’s so frustrating when I can’t! I can hardly wait to get to Berlin and speak a bit of English again. YEAHHHHHHH!
Soooooo, this is an update about the whole week of trips up to Saturday night, and then about yesterday and today.
First we visited in Pruem, near Belgium, where Dirk and Annette Staudinger are church leaders. I will be staying with them when I go back there in July. Dirk didn’t want to meet with us last week without a translator, but actually he was more fluent in English than some are. One of the purposes of these mission visits is to learn what kinds of outreach various ministries use, such as coffee times and Bible studies used at Pruem.
We went from there to see Randy and Katy Smelser, who have notably American names, and are American. They told about their work in a northern region which has a relatively strong evangelical background (for Germany). Their programs include game nights, English/German classes held in the church, and a general willingness to be the quaint, friendly American Christians who would do anything for anyone. Randy said something really insightful about not trying to be too German, because people expect a certain open, friendly attitude from Americans. Essentially, we can get away with more because they already think we’re weird. I found that really encouraging, and it has helped me to open up to the German people I’ve met in the past week. Really, they are very formal but incredibly good, open, and giving people (at least, they are in the church circles).
From Peine we went about 47 kilometers west to Hannover to meet with Helga and Eide Schwing, who coincidentally know the Wollin family [Martin Wollin lived with us in Berlin in the 70’s]. Their perspective was especially interesting because they were German missionaries to the USA in the 80’s and 90’s, so they could tell us a bit about the differences between the churches in the US and Germany.
We spent the afternoon in yet another Lutheran church, this time in Hannover instead of Stuttgart. The Schwings told us about how they adapted a philosophy of building leadership into bible study circles so that people felt like taking on the responsibility for the growth of their church. We did not get to spend the night at their house, but went instead to the family of a doctor that goes to their church. We had a lovely time, but only in German, after spending a day taking a break and speaking only English.The next evening was Saturday, and we were finally at Wattenscheid, the end of our survey tour. It was especially nice to see that church, because they are working in an 80% Muslim area of Germany, and because they have a service for international people—in Portugese and in German.
It was nice to see the unity they had in Christ but also to see their willingness to share through this international service, because a lot of the people that go there aren’t really believers. They had a dinner afterward, and we went around and talked to the people that were there. I had the good fortune to get to sit with a few old gramma/grampa folks that were willing to repeat things five times in that loud room for someone that hardly understood what they were saying. The lady I spent the most time talking to might have spoken some dialect. She was from the Ruhr area as far as I could tell, and I didn’t think that area’s dialect was supposed to have been hard to understand. Maybe she was hard to understand because of her advanced age of 83. The timbre of her voice was not that clear. It was a great chance for me to sit back and listen to opinions, which I rarely take the time to do, because I absolutely couldn’t debate with my limited vocabulary on so little sleep (and didn’t want to in the position I was in with the church).So then we drove four hours back to Wuestenrot. After getting home at half past midnight we were up and on our way to Steinheim at 7:30 am. In Schwaebish Hall we picked up Heather Akers from Goethe Institute, the language school, (jeaaaalouuus me. I want to be fluent-er!). Then we went to whatever town I’m in now. Steinheim by Heidenheim, I think. I think that was yesterday, as I’m pretty sure I’ve only slept once since I got here.
Karsten Maul, the pastor here, interviewed me in front of the church yesterday morning. Oh, what horrors of grammar and vocabulary! I said something funny, but I think it was because I was trying to be funny. But I have not been too gehandicapped. I love the word gehandicapped! Karsten used it yesterday in the sermon. Heather and I cracked up because it was so... English? Well, maybe Ger-glish?
I got to meet a few members of the church afterwards at coffee time. Then Mark and Corinne and Heather, with their English speaking mouths, were taken away from me to Karsten’s for dinner, and I had to go all by myself to eat dinner with my hostess Christine, (Diddi for short, a name her brother gave her when he was very young). The dinner was cool. I got to know her sons and her brother and his wife that are only a few years younger than I. Her daughter was away on a scouting trip. We went for ice cream in the afternoon, and by the end of that outing I had exhausted my German.
It kicked back in sporadically last night when Karsten was taking me to see the church he preached at in Steinheim by Dilingen, in good old Bavaria. I got to know a couple of young girls and talked to them about their life goals and what our church is like at home. People are always very interested in that here. They want to know first how old I am, second how big my family is, third what my parents do, and fourth what my church is like. After they ask the church question we either switch to some sort of normal conversation or they continue the conversation and are completely surprised to hear that I, a 24-year-old, am not only already done with school but also have a job. They don’t expect that because of the differences in school systems here compared to the U.S.A.
Karsten had some good and encouraging things to say on the way home about what he saw in me during the worship service and in talking to people, because he thinks it’s good that I can show emotions so well. Apparently people in Germany are gehandicapped in that area, because he considered it a gift. I consider it a small amount of craziness. But he gave me some things to think about with my goals. And, yes, this conversation, like all but five minutes worth of conversation since the Americans left me, was in German. Apparently it’s easier for me to speak German than it is for them to speak English. I feel very sorry for them.Today I spent most of my time with the Hoster family. Silke Hoster hosted the play group that the church likes to do as an outreach program. Six mothers were there, five believers and one not. Silke did a really great job of telling the kids simple things like “God made you, God loves you.” She did a program and a Bible story using Lego people. It was so cute! She had a lot of great ideas. I can’t wait to see what the Wednesday play group is like. I had a hard time catching conversations between people but it really was a lot of fun. I just wish I had someone to share it with.
The rest of the day there were no church programs, but I had dinner and supper with Silke, and coffeetime [traditionally, coffee with sweets are is taken in mid- afternoon], and a bit of rabbit stew with a believing Russian girl who’s only a couple years older than I am and had a daughter in the play group today. Yes. I had rabbit for the first time, in the home of a Russian, in Germany—a truly international experience. Tonight we had choir practice for a program they’re going to present in a prison in July, and then I came here to try to remember all of this and write it down.
Now it is midnight, and I’m truly exhausted, feeling very much at home. At the same time, sometimes I’m lonely with no one to share my random thoughts with in a clear and straightforward manner in my mother tongue. But I’m not sad. Just really, really, really tired, like I’m on a week-long roller coaster. i.e.-- It’s exciting, but at times I feel as though I’ll die of fright as well. As for what is coming up, on Friday I’m supposed to go with the youth group leader to see her teach English to kids in Heidenheim. That’s going to be so cool!And then the people here are so generous that they want to give me a tour of Germany, and have no idea how exciting it is that they may be taking me to Neuschwanstein [the Cinderella-style castle] or to the Steiff teddy bear factory, and then the doctor’s wife fed us tiramisu
[an Italian dessert with coffee and liquor-soaked layers of sponge cake alternating with mascarpone cheese and chocolate]
again the other day... am I in heaven or what’s going on?!!
Liza.
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