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.