Final Words...

Dearest supporting friends!

I’m sorry that I haven’t written sooner; my brother’s family of six came to stay for the week after I got home and I have just been trying to tread water, catch up, and plan the future all at the same time.

They say that third time's the charm... although I think that I've probably started this message more than two times this week. I know that I started it a week ago Sunday morning before church, with a short musing about the first time in seven weeks that I would be worshipping with my home church family.

[the message was finally written last Sunday. I've been mulling over corrections to said letter, and decisions, since. Mostly decisions. I haven't made any... notice the "mulling" comment. Read on.]

I also started Friday, thinking about how my (miniscule) German abilities are going to fade if I don't start working hard on that German course I bought. I have worked on it, just not as much as I would have liked to.

A Review of My Last Days in Germany:

The Monday after I wrote my last letter from Jena we went on a beautiful hike up the mountain behind the Panepinto house. I absolutely loved the flowers, and picked a sample of each one that was there, and took pictures of them to compare with the flowers on the wooden Christmas children/animals from Germany my mother has. The sight from the top of the mountain (about 4 KM up the trail) was spectacular, although I was a bit winded up there and afraid of falling off the pointy little top of it. It was an amazing view, but I was saddened to see the great, sprawling city of Jena and think about believers numbering in the low hundreds, among its population of about a hundred thousand.

Tuesday morning, I enjoyed sharing with the young mothers and one nice old grandmother in their Bible study. By now, I’d given up hope of keeping up with most conversations, but I understood that they were talking about different kinds of discipline, and how to use praise with children. I have to listen very hard to get anything out of a German conversation. By this point in the trip, I was confident enough to know that I could speak in German if I had to but humbled to the point where I realized that what I said might not make sense to most people. I tried participating in this conversation by myself, but eventually Caroline told me to tell her in English so she could translate. ;) I find that, though I understand less, I listen much more attentively when I’m in a German Bible study, because I want to learn the language… it’s easy to drift off in a study when language is familiar and you can safely assume the next word.


I attended another German Bible study that night. The point of the Bible study was really poignant for me, as it was partly about Psalm 127, which states that if God does not build up our plans, they come to nothing. Some of you know that I was engaged to be married in June this year. I couldn’t get the feeling that it was God’s will for me to settle down in that situation, and eventually it seemed better to follow Him to Germany. The plan to go to Germany was blessed… my attempts to make a marriage were just not blessed. I wanted marriage for me, I wanted to go do missions for God. In the end, working in missions made me incredibly happy to be alive… and happy to be single as well, because I appreciate so much the time I have to spend with God right now. It’s too bad that we learn that the hard way sometimes!

It was nice to have a chance Wednesday night to participate in an English Bible study with students who worked and studied at the university in Jena. There is not a huge Christian community in the town, but it is nice to see all these people from all over the world coming together in a common language. Rocco and I were (I think) the only native English speakers there, as many learn English in their school systems. In India, the kids often do school in English, instead of their native language. As I understand it, this is often because the native languages do not have a written form. Also, it is popular to send children to boarding schools, which are often run by catholic groups, and used English. So, these people spoke fluent English with the accent of their own nationality. I find it amusing that I sometimes understand German (Schwaebish German, even) better than English, at least when that English is spoken with a foreign accent! J But, they did speak English very well.

Thursday I traveled four trains, and I’ll write later about my most memorable experience from that. In Prüm, as in Berlin, I once again began to feel signs of wear and tear; and much anxiety over my coming trip home, with Trains, Planes, and Automobiles (part 2). Dirk and Annette Staudinger and their four children were very gracious and concerned hosts. I appreciated that greatly, as I seemed to have caught a bug in Jena, and they allowed me plenty of room to rest.

I ended up sniffling and coughing through the whole Bible study Thursday night. That was gross, but the Bible study was really beautiful. The most special thing I’ve noticed about German church communities is that they like to begin and end things with singing and praying… so they bring out the guitar for Bible study. It is really cool. I enjoyed seeing Sylvia Schilberg, who works at the church and whom I met the first time I came through Prüm with Mark and Corinne.
Sylvia led the youth group Friday afternoon after school; more specifically, she led a group of young teenage girls giddy with excitement over the last day of school and the birthday party the group was having. I give her a badge of honor for coming through this trial with flying colors and getting a program together where the girls could still focus on learning the Bible creatively. The girls are fascinating, good listeners, and I enjoyed being with them in all their silly energy, mature or not.

From then on, most everything focused on trying to figure out how I would get home, so I hope I remember all the fun things I wanted to share as I was experiencing them. I walked around Prüm Saturday while Dirk did some sermon preparation. (You have to drive to Prüm from their house, or to anywhere. It’s part of living in the Eifel, kind of like it’s part of living in the rural Midwest. You have to have a car to carry your food.) I bought a few small things to share with family, and started to ask for specific kinds of change when I bought things (as in, “I don’t have many 2 cent pieces and want to take some home to the US with me. Would you mind giving me more of those with my change?”) One lady was very kind and looked for special 2-cent pieces minted outside of Germany. They are all based on the Euro, but with different designs on the back determined by the country they were minted in. It is kind of like state quarters in the U.S., but the designs are on every kind of coin, not just the 2-cent pieces). She said I could remember her by that. It was very sweet.

I spent the afternoon with Sylvia, a surprise because we both had thought we would be too busy to see each other before we left. It was really neat to see how God is providing for her as a single woman in her ministry to her church, and to share each other’s excitement for missions. It was touching--one of those things I can’t put into words that would convey what the event meant to me.

Sunday services were beautiful and bittersweet because I hated to leave Germany. I learned my favorite German praise song, which is, “Gott Baut Sein Haus” (God builds his house).. a song that is kind of about how we are built together as a Christian community, and grow according to His will. It is a very beautiful melody. They played it on guitars, and I snuck in a cute video recording of it that I played here at home on the computer for a half hour straight. I love that song. There are several really beautiful songs that either aren’t in English, or which I’ve never heard in English, that I really enjoyed over there, so I bought a couple of songbooks from the church library to bring home. That song in particular, though, was playing in my mind from Germany to Chicago… I hated to leave Germany and I wanted the language playing over and over in my mind. So, it was nice to have that particular thing stuck in my head. After a week, though, I decided I had better stop wearing it out.

We had dinner after the traditional German after-church coffee break at the house of one of the families in the church. Lasagna…which is not traditional German food! But, it was absolutely wonderful lasagna! They all accompanied me to the train station after dinner, and off I went again… three or four trains to Stuttgart airport, where I spent the night trying to be awake and interested in something.

I journaled a bit. I tried to take a picture of myself with the German black eagle logo. In this process I managed to fall off of a chair, dropping my nice new digital camera and breaking it (genuine Liza). I cheered up a slight bit after this when I went to the McDonald’s for a late supper and an early breakfast. I was thrilled with my happy meal toys, and I think that I should have gotten more of them by eating happy meals earlier in the trip. (They are Shrek characters that speak German and I wish I had one for everyone!)

Here follows the story of my long trip home, a trip that I wouldn’t want to repeat no matter how cheap the flights were.

I flew out from Stuttgart to London (too tired for conversation, no seat partner)… waited around in London, bored but overwhelmed with check-in procedures that are so complicated there…flew to Chicago, no incidents…in Chicago, a thunderstorm was delaying flights. (I am thankful that we were able to fly in around the storm, before it had even rained). I met other interesting passengers who were also delayed in getting to Minneapolis, but I’ll spare you a story for some other time. It was also a good time to share what was going on in the trip and how I saw God moving over there. One lady offered to watch my bags while I slept, because I had only slept a couple hours on the plane.

Anyway, things were delayed, and I got to Minneapolis late, missing my flight back to Des Moines by only ten minutes. They gave me a new ticket for a flight to Des Moines the next morning, and (yay) I got to sleep in an airport again.

I cried like a baby. I hadn’t slept more than a couple hours on the plane, etc… and I don’t sleep well in airport terminals. Besides that, I had to figure out where my luggage was, and whether it was safe… I looked for it on the baggage claim, and cried again. I was exhausted, or I wouldn’t have been so childish.

But, I toughed it out, and ended up being able to help an older gentleman get his morning coffee and donut from the other side of the airport before our flight out. He was diabetic and had trouble walking, so I enjoyed being able to do something to help. It made it all worthwhile.

Then we flew to Des Moines, where I looked forward to rest. Instead, my parents picked me up and took me shopping for six hours for bathroom appliances, office supplies, and groceries. How nice of them. J I slept during the next fourteen hours after coming home and got to help with normal gardening chores the next day (my parents are vendors at farmers’ markets).


As I look back over the trip, I am amazed at how everything fit together, from train rides to airline flights to the ministries I visited that taught me so much about ministry and passion for the Lord. It seemed like the connections from place to place provided me with an opportunity to draw from my experiences in Germany, sometimes even perhaps participating in the mission.

Example:

As I was leaving Peine, I was exhausted and not exactly looking forward to the start of another train ride through a strange land where I couldn’t speak the language. But, just as the train got there Randy said, “Hey, if you want to talk to someone, I know the girl in that window… there.”

So, I went in and introduced myself. Turns out, she was a member of one of their community outreach programs (an English conversation group) and wanted to teach and practice English. So, I had an opportunity to tell her that they are trying to get a new thing started on Monday night with the same group and are looking for more people to show up. Now, she has class during that time, but she did like the conversation group so now she knows…

Lame example. You had to be there.

Better example:

You may remember that Nathan in Jena was eager to tell me about how his life was changed when Christ became a part of it as he converted from life as a Hindu. He constantly was encouraging me to witness to people I came in contact with. As I was leaving on the train in Jena, I heard an old man get on the train speaking English. Later, he was trying to ask the conductor in English about the connections to get to the Frankfurt airport. The conductor seemed confused by his question, and it just so happened that I was taking the same connections. Actually, it just so happened that I happened to be on that train because Rocco had found that it did not take as long to connect to Prüm as the train that I had been on before.

It also just so happened that he was a professor from India and was a Hindu like Nathan had been. I wanted to share with him about Nathan’s excitement, but I didn’t know the right words to use, so I showed him the testimony of the conversion of yet another man who converted from Hinduism in the 30’s and started a large ministry in India. Nathan had given it to me, as this man in the testimony was very influential in his own conversion. The man that I met on the train was very eager to say that he was sure that some sort of god had led him at some point in his life, and I was eager to tell him about many different things I had seen in the recent past. I told him I thought that it was God’s will that we meet on the train and that was why we both accidentally left one train earlier than the schedule we found online (because we were at the train station early, and because the earlier train was just late enough). I shared with him about my excitement to see God leading me on the trip, and about Nathan’s life. It was a fascinating conversation. He seemed moved and thoughtful as he read that account.

I look for God-appointments and am amazed by the way that things can work together. I mean, Randy did not know that Anika, the young woman my age who was not from the church community, who might be interested in the English program they were just starting, would be on that train. Did Jessica Kübler tell me what trains to take from Aalen to Berlin, in order to get to meet a state-sponsored Lutheran minister who believed in a died and risen Savior and was eager to hear that God’s word was spreading in his home country? I don’t think they could plan all of that. There were too many different people, too many different opportunities, and I feel that God was trying to give me a sense of the “fields white for the harvest,” and His own passion for missions.

As he was leaving the train, this professor gave me his card and told me to email him if I was ever in the town where he teaches in India… so yes, I have the opportunity to use that email address to encourage him to see more of the true Christ. I have the opportunity when and if I get my brain around what he thought my motives were for talking to him. I suppose the only way to do it is to write him. I’m a chicken now that I’m home… conversations are so much easier for me to use for witness than writing, because I don’t have to sit there, thinking about what I should add to or delete from my testimony, which may be their only chance to hear the Gospel. I just talk.

But, it is hard to feel like the missions girl sitting at my computer at home in the country far away from large populations. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that you are still on the mission field even in your home country… or that you are still studying for missions even at a public university… that you are serving God even at your job in the secular world... or whatever. I am back in normal life, but trying to keep that focus here at home, and I am still amazed to feel and see and love God. I hope you catch the energy of this as well. With His will, this will continue and strengthen for all of us! I think that this was the most spiritually satisfying time of my life. It provided me with a blessed hunger to see and know more about Christ working in everyone’s life.

I wish I could tell you everything. I’ve tried. I just can’t. I reread what I’ve written in my past updates, and it catches a lot of the excitement I had about the pretty places, but I wish I could let you catch the feeling of the spiritual growth and learning and grace that I experienced. I can only say the missions cliché,

“Thank you so much for your support and prayers!”

Prayer requests:

Decisions, decisions—Wie geht’s weiter? (where do I go from here?)
· I have a lot of preparation yet to do with Bible study. I did go to Lincoln Christian, but sometimes was focused more on what I could do as an occupation and not as interested in preparing for ministry and knowing the Word. I do like Bible study, but I need more background in it. I have yet to decide whether I want to do online classes while working here at home (probably through Dallas Christian College), or be on-site in a college, and find a new job in ministry around there. There are different reasons for different options, and I’m having a hard time wrapping myself around my reasons for wanting different options. If I want to enter school this fall, a decision has to be made soon after I write this letter. I am mostly considering LCC and CCCB. If you are outside our Church of Christ community, you probably are not familiar with them; they are small. Lincoln Christian College, Lincoln, Illinois, is where I attended before, and Central Christian College of the Bible is in Moberly, Missouri. CCCB offers a lot of opportunities, including a tuition-free plan. Lincoln is familiar and near a lot of people that I love. Online classes with Dallas Chrsitian College would provide me with the opportunity to continue to work at the public school I am currently at. Central is less familiar but with a few people I know in the area (one who was with us at the gathering at Wüstenrot). Moving away to college adds not only tuition expenses, but the need for a new job and providing my own housing. I must evaluate whether the job I am in now provides for my needs. God will provide, but I still have to make wise decisions.

· I need to get up the courage to ask one of the places I visited in Germany if I may have an internship. Or, if need be, find somewhere else that’s never heard of me, if none of the places wants me! I have one preference in particular, based on my personality and the kinds of people that I think I am good at working with. I am going to take some time to pray about this, though, because I fell in love with each place, and I know that I would be blessed anywhere. Wherever I choose to go, I will be leaving behind four other beautiful communities of faith. There are some areas which are easy to turn down, because I see that they need qualities I don’t have, as much as I would like the work. There are others that I think would fit almost as well as my one particular preference. I don’t want to mention it until I feel confirmed that this is the right path

Even though I may not be especially needed in a place where I end up serving an internship, there could be a lot going on that could train me for the various talents needed in ministry in Germany. Pray for guidance. I don’t want it to be about me being comfortable; it needs to be about service, and I do still need to figure out what my talents can be useful for. After the internship, I would have to find a long-term placement using the talents I developed through that internship.

· Preparation and naming of a website: kind of website, how to develop it, and how much it will cost, as a point of contact with U.S. supporters.

· Pray for the timing and courage to work through the details of fundraising for an internship that I don’t yet have a location or timetable for. Many churches are missions-minded but support so many missions here and there that there isn’t much room in the budget. I am praying to find churches and/or individuals that are ready to support a new worker. As I am preparing for full-time service, there are many opportunities for our spiritual enemy to come in and try to distract me with worries about offending people and funding shortfalls. I need wisdom and humility in the process.

· Along those lines, I need wisdom in financial choices in all areas, as that affects my future needs. What I buy right now affects what fundraising I need to do in the future. I need to have a humble heart focused on where I’m going and not on things I would like to have. On the other hand, I think I do have needs and I need to make wise decisions about them. Your thoughts and responses concerning any of these matters are welcome.


I do not have any need for financial support right now. Once plans for an extended internship or term of mission service are firmed up, I will again seek pledges. What I would appreciate would be if you would take time to note the prayer requests above concerning the future. I hope to have personal, written Thank You’s out to everyone as soon as I get my bearings (PTL, I am done writing this report!) at which point I hope to have pictures and the story of my trip up on a website, so you can see it. I am not yet sure if I can hack all of that (That phrase will translate funny. It is based on chopping a lot of wood and not knowing whether you can get through all of it because there is so much).

I’m grateful for each one of you and would love to hear from all. I might be slow in responding during this transition time of resuming work and establishing future plans. I’d like to write my German friends before they forget me. It’s already been a couple weeks. Mom sent me some of the notes you sent her, and I was blessed by them while I was in Jena.

Girls in the area who like to scrapbook: I have lots of pictures to scrapbook and might be willing to collect friends for a scrapbooking party. Let me know... :o) I am not sure if Mom is willing to host it. Maybe if I end up living out on my own due to job/college situation it won't depend on that. Nothing is sure right now. How exciting! :o)

It was a wonderful trip, and I was thankful for the experience. I now am quite sure that I want to start out with a one-year internship to see if that can go about as well as this trip. (Granted, without all the newness and the adrenaline it won't be the same experience. It will still be a blessing.) I hope to do this internship in about a year, but will try to get some schooling at one of the aformentioned Christian colleges during the time I still have in the US (which I need for fundraising, etc.). Lord willing, the internship will branch out into a full-time ministry in Germany at its close.

Anyway, I will try to be in touch with all soon by snail mail. Not that this email was timely. I am working on it. ;o)

In His service,

Elizabeth DeVilder.

Greetings from Germany! July 2, 2007

I suppose that the best place to start is where I last left off, in Berlin.
Berlin was a hard place for me because I was tired. I was really excited the first night I got there, because it is something I have dreamed of seeing, a part of my family's life before I came on the scene. Mom and Dad really did live there and I wanted to make it real for myself.

When I got there the first night I was exhausted from six and a half hours of train travel. I still wanted to see everything, so at about 10 at night, when almost every grocery and restaurant in the country was closed, I was hungry for a coffee and so was Lance, the guy next door. I asked if he thought that Viktoria Luise Platz would be a good place to stop, so that I could have an excuse to see Mom and Dad's apartment. Barbara Mallory hadn't recommended going out there alone after dark (and I was too scared), so I figured Lance would look more intimidating than the skinny blonde.

At Viktoria Luise Platz I realized that I had no idea which of the streets adjoining the little ring around the park was Münchenerstrasse, Mom and Dad's street. I knew we should go south, but it was the middle of the night with no north star visible and no sun. So we picked a direction (which turned out to be North), walked over to see what street we were on, found out it was the wrong one, then walked around until we found the right street. When we finally reached house #6, I was happy...and then sad, because there was no Mom and Dad, no little Ria who cries because it isn't her turn to crank the ice cream, no little Rachel telling Krista Mallory stories into a tape recorder to help her get over being sick, and no Danny playing soccer in the park with Ross Mallory. It was just a quiet street in the middle of the night, only vaguely familiar from pictures I had seen.

There wasn't any way to get inside, so we walked back to VLP and took the subway to wherever Lance thought there would be coffee. As it was, we ended up at Potsdamer Platz, which used to have the infamous wall running through it. We walked along just inside what would have been the East German border on the way to the Brandenburger Tor in the direction where Lance was sure we would find something to drink, and we did. We had some good conversations, and like I said in my last update, he asked me about my goals. People here are so passionate that it inspires me to make a decision, but I am still not sure where God is planning to use me--more on that later. He was very definite that he plans to work with the Kurdish population (Islamic people, usually of Turkish descent) which is very prevalent throughout Berlin and especially in the area with the guest house where we were staying.

I know that it would be good to be able to reach out to such a needy people group in a relatively stable place like Germany, as opposed to a country with an Islamic Government that would oppose Christian education. And even though I can appreciate the cultural differences regarding modesty, I am not sure that I could handle the secrecy that Lance said was necessary for working with that people group (for their own protection). I like to be fairly free-spirited. I can just see myself saying the wrong thing at just the wrong time and feeling very bad about it, even if it didn't put anyone in harm's way. Not for me! But I really am glad to see people working there! Dale Mallory took me sightseeing the next day. We went back to Muenchenerstrasse 6 and actually did get in to see what it was like. We went up the stairwell and Dale pointed out the layout of the building so I could get an idea how huge the apartment had been. They have added an elevator to the outside of the building, would have been nice for Dan and Dad to have when hauling coal upstairs to heat the house back in the 70's!

We found a mall where I bought some less American-looking shoes. I also got a picture card for the inexpensive, but very nice, digital camera that I had bought at a secondhand store near the guest house where I stayed. I even go bargain shopping in Germany! :o)Danny, I did get a currywurst in the Ku-Damm area, but the street isn't very long and you can't find very many stands; I hope that I got it at the right place. Sadly, it seems that the Döner sandwich fad has taken over and demoted the legendary Berliner Currywurst. The currywurst stand was right by the Kaiser Wilhelm church, to give you an idea which one it was. I am a big fan of curry, so it was really good regardless of where it was.The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was pretty cool. There was a picture of it in a puzzle of Berlin that we have at home, so I was really surprised when we stopped at the Ku-damm for the wurst and saw the church. I made sure that Dale got a picture of me in front of it on Jessica's camera that she lent me when I ran out of my other rolls and rolls of film (thank you Jessica! But, I did break down and buy that digital camera in Berlin because I needed it anyway!)

The rest of the week was spent mostly at the library. I liked the work there, because it was easy and I could keep up with what they were trying to catalog. I like working on computers. They have a plan to turn the place into a kind of a coffee house, and so there are all sorts of projects that go into the preparation for that. They have to figure out a way to balance the coffee house atmosphere with the atmosphere for the children's area, which will be used for weekly Bible lessons with area children. Each week, they plan to alternate between teaching in German and in English, so there will be the added attraction of a place where children can start to learn a foreign language. German children are required to start learning English, or French if they are close to the French border, from the time they enter primary school. Parents tend to be very diligent in offering their children varied cultural opportunities. A great selection of books has been donated, in both English and German.

It will be really nice when they get more German books donated or bought. For instance, with my limited German capabilities I might be interested in reading a particular book in German but then worry that I could not understand what it was about. I would be intimidated by the amount of vocabulary that I didn't know, so I would tend toward the English section. I can imagine a German with limited English skills preferring German books. There are quite a few books in German, but there are so many good ones in English that it would be a shame for people to miss out on them. So, pray for the acquisition of more books in German language. There are a lot of challenges in acquiring them, as Germans are much less likely than we are to have extras of great Christian reading lying around waiting to be donated.

Katie and Jamele, the two girls who have been doing a lot of the setup work in the Library, are very competent and doing a beautiful job of sorting what they have. Some of the books will be sold to benefit the costs of running the library, and others need to be catalogued and shelved. They have the tremendous job of sorting and figuring out how to number the books in a way that people can find them easily. Dale and Barbara are doing a lot to help organize the library, because it is their dream, but they don't have the time and resources to be in charge of it. Praise God that they were willing to get it going!

I attended church activities with Dale and Barbara-- actually, several different kinds. Wednesday I went to the ladies' group. I was once again too embarrassed to admit when I didn't know what was going on, but I did get to do some Bible reading to participate in the group. One thing that did stick from the lesson on patience was the term "Zurueck bleiben,” which means “stay back” and is often heard in the subway stations as the train gets ready to depart. It is kind of another word for patience, and I was reminded of this lesson often when I was on the train. There is a cute story about Ross Mallory as a child getting separated from Barbara in the subway, because he rushed in right as the doors were closing, and Barbara used the story to illustrate "zurueck bleiben.”

It is always easiest to speak to the older people in Germany, because they speak slowly and with a certain distinction, and I was glad to get to converse a very wee little bit after the meeting. Only a little, though--I wore out most of my German in the first couple of weeks! :o)I felt kind of bad because I skipped Dale's conversational English session the next night, but I was so tired from all the running around (Oops, I think that was my fault!) that I just wanted to stay home and rest for a while. I still haven't started feeling quite as energetic as I was at the start of the trip, but I continue to enjoy myself. I think, though, that my adrenaline ran out as soon as I had seen Mom and Dad's apartment, because it was a kind of a climax to the trip, even if it wasn't a goal. I am still fueled by excitement about what is going on, but in a different way. Regardless, this is when I started to feel sick and I spent the weekend recovering and resting up for the next part of my journey. Which means, of course, that I really messed my sleep schedule up by sleeping in.

Thursday, I got to see the John F. Kennedy School that brother Dan attended. The availability of this school, where classes were taught in both English and German, is one of the reasons my parents chose to work in Berlin. There have been additions to the school since he was there. Now I have a picture in my head when someone says "JFK School."I had Saturday free to go to the Kurdish flea market. There was a bit of culture shock during that experience. I was making a few pictures to show Mom and Dad what it was like compared to our farmer's market, when some guy started yelling at me to stop, because I had to ask permission to take peoples' photos. I think it is considered a sin to have a picture of a person in some forms of Islam, but I am not sure. I was embarrassed (contributing again to my feeling that maybe I shouldn't be working with this particular population) and stopped videotaping and started to delete things. I am glad that I didn't finish deleting, because the pictures were so cool. Then one guy gave me permission to take a picture of him. I got a picture of him visiting with the guy who had been yelling at me. He asked about what I was doing in Germany and how I liked Germany and if I wanted to go out for a drink that night. I told him why I came to Germany and that I was very happy to be there and no.

I did buy some interesting things, like a tunic shirt in a style that a lot of the Islamic women wear there, zip-leg pants that seem to be popular in some parts of Germany right now, a cheap belt (because the pants we bought in Iowa for the trip turned out to be way too loose), some cheese from Turkey or Bulgaria or somewhere, some cheap fruit which spoiled the next morning, bread, slipper shoes, and some necklaces—cheap, worthless, fascinating street merchandise. Emphasis on “cheap.” I am trying to watch what I spend, even though it is all so fascinating!

While shopping at the flea market and a few other places in that sector of town, I did notice a couple men avoiding my eyes. That is a traditional Turkish trait, and I am glad Helen W. had told me about it, because I could look away quickly and still speak my thanks. The guys seemed to appreciate it because they were a lot more friendly selling things after I started avoiding their eyes.

Saturday night, we visited a worship service of a group that has a connection to “The Rock,” one of the campus groups I was involved with when I was at ISU. My friend Naomi's parents work with this campus group in former East Berlin. I like The Rock group and felt like they had the same quality of people here, though not the same quantity. They were having their regular church worship services in the middle of a big festival of different churches from that area of the city. You could get an idea of what was going on in that sector. It looked pretty good, although it is hard to get a picture of what their faith/lives are like from seeing the pretty displays at a street market booth. Then again, some of the booths had nothing at all to do with church... some of them were just there to sell flea market merchandise. It was like farmer's market, church style!

The church that Dale and Barbara attended Sunday was well attended, a very large room that was very full of people. It was encouraging to think of the possibilities for Berlin.
I did not get to see anything of the Russian church that Kontaktmission works with, but I see that there are good things going on. While I am happy to see these things, I feel Berlin is still not the easiest ministry environment in the world. Mark Wilson, was it you that told me that Berlin is known as the city that kills missionaries' enthusiasm? It certainly isn't the hardest place in the world, though, and God is at work there.

I helped in the kitchen after church; it seemed like a way to be useful without having to talk much. I feel a little less like an idiot when I am being useful and making fewer language mistakes. Then I attended dinner with the family of an elder at the church (whose trademark is that he travels by unicycle), and a lady who had worked in...Kenya? ...in Africa. We shared philosophies about missions in Germany and I heardabout her experiences dating cross-culturally with a guy from down there, about different work ethics, so much to do, etc. Volker (Mr. Unicycle), said that a lot of missionaries offend the Germans because they come with families, spend most of their time with their families, and never learn the language. So he recommended that I come while I was single and marry a German. I found that a little amusing, but at least I have some language. He said I was okay, because I can already speak German. I would hate to know how bad a person's German would have to be for him to say that they couldn't speak German, because I am pretty bad at it. They spoke a lot of German at the table, even though all of them spoke English pretty well.

Volker's wife was the most nervous, so she stuck with German. But they were all good. I spent the afternoon looking through my belongings and through the garbage for a universal ticket to the Berlin transportation system that I had borrowed from Mallorys. I thought it would cost 650 Euros to replace, or about $870. We had a good laugh at my expense the next day when I found out that it would only require 40 Euros to replace...a lot, lot, less but a shame to have lost it nevertheless. Long story. I will tell it when I stop being embarrassed about it.

Monday I got to hang out with Yvonne, whom I met in Steinheim while she was on a trip with her Gymnasium class. She is close to my age. Gymnasium refers to the college preparatory schools, sort of a combination of high school and junior college. It was interesting to talk to the members of the class. One of the guys was eager to have a conversation about what we thought about scripture. He said he wanted to talk to someone with a different point of view from that of his friend, because his friend was too much like him. He was a “discordianist” (his word), some sort of cross between an agnostic and a nihilist, which means that he believes that everything is true and possible, but you cannot be sure that you have experienced anything. [Editor’s note: Internet search into the term found this description of Discordianism: modern, chaos-based religion founded in either 1958 or 1959. It has been described as both an elaborate joke disguised as a religion, and as a religion disguised as an elaborate joke.] We can pray that some seeds of the gospel were planted in that conversation; it was a really neat opportunity. Also, I got to talk toYvonne alone and walk the Ku-Damm again with her. She had her son with her. It was through a Christian woman taking care of him and through getting involved in one of the play groups at the Steinheim church that she has come to be a believer. One reader asked if I was excited about the play groups because I like working with little kids. I am more or less just excited because I know it is a great service to the mothers, and an incredibly meaningful ministry.)

I took the train home alone in the middle of the night, so I stopped at a few train stops to see some more meaningful things and take some pictures before I left for Peine the next day. I actually got lost because I got off at a train station I had only been to once, and didn't turn the right way, so I went a ways up and down the street in the middle of the night, hunting for the right place, feeling scared to death. I finally asked directions at the first business I could find open at one in the morning, where the guy seemed confused as to why I wanted directions by foot instead of bus. I took a different turn when I was in the neighborhood and found out where I needed to be.

By Tuesday afternoon I was in Peine with Randy and Katy Smelser. We went to Hannover in the evening on Tuesday to see a conversational English group and to attend a Bible study. Randy shared a lot of things, like he does the English class to connect with people and to have fun outside of the church. You can see the same good old German hospitality in those coffee circles. Randy lets church topics come up as they will, and has good rapport with the whole group. I think that in a conversational English group, as always, it is good to be a servant to all whether or not they are believers. I was not supposed to let on that I knew any German, but found myself participating in response to questions posed in German. Oopsie. It was a riot!

We went to a Bible study after the English class. They like to bathe this particular Bible study in prayer. It is the main contact point for fellowship for at least one of the men, and there has been strife between part of the group and another participant, who wobbles in her commitment to what she says she believes. Fortunately, they all seemed excited about the Word that night, and you can pray that they have as good as a time this week as well. Last week, their intern, Cory, led the study, and I think that it will be Randy's turn this week. Cory has been in Germany for only a year and has gone from talking like me to being fairly fluent... so maybe there is hope.

Wednesday we had breakfast and good fellowship with other missionaries. Someone was trying to get rid of kids' books in German. I think that was God's timing, because I had just come from the library and was ready to say, "SAVE THE BOOKS!" So, Mallory's project will be getting another donation soon. I hope Katie enjoys going through them. Cory and I spent the earlier part of that afternoon playing with a little boy named Erik whose parents are moving to an English speaking country. We were trying to get him to play with us and learn in English to prepare for the coming move. He did a really good job for only being 7. It was really cute. I have been to so many Bible studies this month; I have learned a lot but can't share all of it. At Peine we had a thought-provoking discussion about discovering your strengths in ministry. Randy gave me the assignment of asking people what I'm good at because I said I am better at figuring out what I am not good at!

Thursday was my day off. I slept in because I had stayed up late... I liked that bed Thursday morning and I had nothing to do until I left for Jena. I started for Jena about noon and got here about 5:30. I started to get better acquainted with Rocco and Karalina and Miriam and Joel and Kamilla and Jaron Panepinto. Rocco and Caroline's oldest is in England for a year, per a requirement that all English teachers here have to have lived in an English-speaking country for a year. Rocco is American, but Karalina is German, and they only speak German at home. The older ones do know English from school, Camille is really cute with what she tries; she's only 10. Joel is 16 and lends me his computer, and Miri is 20 and preparing to return to her position as an Au Paire in Australia (her English is excellent, but certainly NOT American!). Jaron is 2-ish and CUTE. I spent the evening watching German TV with Miri and Camille, and so I got my language practice in that way instead of by speaking German to all of them (lazy, yes, but I like to be able to communicate).

Friday morning I went with Caroline to read the Bible and discuss the book of Matthew with a Muslim woman who has been in Jena for eight years as a refugee. She is still stuck in the refugee camp and very frustrated with the process, but this may be leading her to be open to the gospel. She was very glad to hear that people in America often go to church and believe in God, because so few people here in Jena do. It is one of the most spiritually impoverished areas of Germany. It was in the East German sector, and you can tell. But unlike a lot of Russian/Slavic areas, there is so much history of atheist philosophy in the area that people just aren't willing to hear the gospel. They look like jaded Americans when you want to talk about scripture with them. Others, though, seem glad to hear it, and haven't ever really had the opportunity to pray about it.

Friday night, Miri, Joel and I went to the local youth group. It was very small, even with all of the churches in the area bonding together for it. There were probably 40 people there from all of the churches in Jena, and many of them participate more for tradition than faith, according to Miri. I did enjoy the service, but I was discouraged to think that a lot of the people were going through the motions of faith without the joy of a relationship with Christ! It is really hard to tell, but I am sure that many of those there were searching, so I was still encouraged. I have a tape of us singing a praise song in some African language, but Miri thinks she knows the guy that was leading, and wasn't sure what he believed. The church building was in sad shape, because it had been in East Germany. Like so many other things there, it has just fallen apart. It doesn't seem to have been dusted in a year, and the relics and memorabilia on the wall can't be read because they are covered in a thick layer of grime. Things are peeling off the wall, and the only colors are shades of gray with a bit of gold. SAD! I think it would be depressing to worship there, especially since the pews are uncomfortable.

I wanted to go to a bookstore to get my German language learning tapes, and I thought about trying to get a German Bible on CD while I was here (to listen to while reading the German Bible to aid my language learning). Ordinary Jena bookstores don't have a religion section. Period. Not even for Esoterik (New Age adherents). There is a Christian bookstore in town, but I think I found it, and I don't think it is open very long hours or many days a week. I think that pretty much sums up how desperate the situation is here and what the need is, because you really can't find a Bible very easily. I got my language program though.You can't even buy a Bible in Jena very easily. So, enter a regular program that Rocco likes to do in the city--the free book table. Rocco, who has the heart of an evangelist, has a wide variety of Christian books that he gets at low cost, with Christian topics. Then, he gives them away to people that come by. If there is a really good book that he’d rather not give away, he will lend it out, but the service is free and the books are very tempting reading. This weekend, he had an even greater opportunity to do this, because this section of the town was hosting a 750-year celebration of its founding. They had a stage, and a parade, and a street festival; so he set up his booth at the street festival, and I went along and saw some of the people who were coming. At first, I was really discouraged, because it was a great idea but it seemed like no one was coming. I was glad when I realized that some of the people who did come did seem to have hearts prepared for fellowship, even if they weren't ready to talk too deeply about spiritual issues. One man came by Sunday and asked to do the survey for a free drink--he wanted a drink of beer--but the end of the story is that Rocco got to have a great conversation with him. I don't know if he got his beer.

He did get a book about Jesus being our "Schicksal" (final destination, goal?). When he got the book, a Ugandan man named Francis who is currently studying in Jena invited him to come to the church. The man seemed excited about it in a way. But there aren't many that want to talk. Most of the time, they just give little books to the kids about airplanes, trains, etc., and the books have clever ways of just happening to refer to Christian concepts. :o) German people like for their kids to know things, and the kids are excited to get the books.

While at the book table, I also got to talk to a native of India, a former Hindu named Nathan, who has been coming to the Panepinto's church while in Germany for the past 3 months or so and who has been a believer for two years. He is emphatically passionate about seeing those who believed as he used to come to know Christ. The turning point for him was when he finally realized that Jesus is the God above all other gods, and that is what changed his life, his goals, and his purpose. Every question that he asked me made me think about what I am doing and how I am witnessing, in his words, "To people like me who are Hindus and Buddhists,” because they believe in many gods but can be freed by knowing that Jesus is the true God. He definitely has retained the passion of his first love so far. Seeing that encouraged me to talk more specifically about faith with a Hindu woman that came by the book table shortly after my conversation with him. I talked to him about some of her responses to my questions about faith, and it taught me a little bit about witnessing to people from Eastern cultures.

Nathan is also adamant that people need to be constantly in prayer; he particularly likes to pray while kneeling. I don't think it is necessary (required) to kneel, but I understood that it matters to Nathan because Daniel was strengthened when he kneeled toward Jerusalem and prayed three times a day. I do not have that much passion in a lot of areas in my life. It was a blessing to see, but I am trying not to get too caught up in making that into a "formula for the perfect Christian life."Church this weekend was in the living room, and I don't think that I have ever really had an opportunity to do that before. Maybe when Ria and I were little and playing church, or when we were stuck somewhere and worshipping as a family, but not as a church. It was cool. I think there were probably at least 25 people there, but then, Jena is a town of a hundred thousand. Just think, they have been working here for about 6 years and that is how much encouragement they get from numbers. They have successfully planted two other churches, but in other areas of Germany. Still, they are servants who are loving people and continuing the work of the Lord. What awesome passion!

I have had this window open, typing for five (I think) of the past six hours. This should bring you up to date, because that is all I did today besides organizing my bags so that everyone can watch TV in my room. I think I will go finish that now. Oops, nope, Rocco says now is a good time to go sightseeing. BYE!

[Editor’s note: The following post script came today, July Fourth]

We prayed Sunday for peoples' hearts to be opened to hearing the gospel during the Brueckenfest. I am not sure if I mentioned the Egyptian girl who took a Joni Erickson Tada book and another book of testimonies of Christianity. We were praying last night at Bible study for the people with whom we had made contact at Brueckenfest, and during the study she called and talked to Karolina and said that she would like to have a Bible in Arabic! We are praying for her.It is hard for many of the Moslem immigrants in the area to comprehend German atheism. Even those who are not devout Muslims are surprised that there are so many people that have no concept of God. Last week, we were reading the Bible in German while a Moslem woman was reading in her own language (whichever it was, I forget...), and afterwards, she was really eager to hear that people in America believed in God, even if they were Christians and not Muslims. She had been closed to God for the first few years Karolina talked to her, but now that the woman’s friend is reading the Bible with Karolina, she started to as well. They just discuss it and leave it at that. It was a good time. So that is another good opening.

Trains... I have to look up what trains are supposed to be running tomorrow to get an idea how I will be able to get from here to Pruem. There is a strike by train workers, and it is just getting worse and worse. But, from the looks of it, you can get where you are going, but maybe not in time for a plane flight. Miri's flight to Australia leaves today, so Rocco may have to drive her down to Frankfurt so that she can get there. I still have to find out what my weight limit out of Stuttgart is per bag... and hopefully they will patch them all through to DSM... on the other hand, I almost like doing it myself better, because I know where my bag will land... with my plane! I'm used to dragging that coffin...er, Koffer…around by now so it won't be bad either way I choose to do it. [We have given thanks for the safe and timely travel Liza had on her way to Germany and the safety she has had while there. We are praying the railroad strike will not interfere with timeliness and safety on the way back to the US next week]

Happy Fourth! We in America who are Christians celebrate our freedom to worship on this day, the freedom that we have because of those who fought for us. People outside of America, and people who are not U.S. citizens, can easily be led to believe that we are worshipping our own country with our patriotism. We belong to a God who transcends the world, which is full of evil and corrupt politicians from every walk and even every faith! Our freedom comes not from men, but from God. We thank him today that the US is one of the places in the world where we can do that with the most political freedom! I am thankful that many people praise God for that instead of men.How much more thankful should we be that we have a God that is true and can be worshipped no matter where we are or what the government thinks! Praise be to the God that created the world on which we portion our land, that holds it in his hands, Who supercedes and overcomes every national boundary in the world! Amen?For there is no longer either Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, slave, free...and I feel so free when I can just love people and not worry about their political orientation or how they affect my country's politics. Politics matters to me, but people should matter more, and I am glad that I have an opportunity to participate in something like this.

Everyone has been so gracious about my long-winded updates. I am not sure if I will get another one out before next week when I fly home (ALREADY????).I am still enjoying myself, but I will be quite happy to be home [July 9] as well... there is something nice about sleeping in the same bed for more than a week. Plus, I have so much to share with everyone there and a new German language course that I can upload to my computer at home. --L