My mother sent this update. Reading it again, it doesn't make much sense. I'll try to edit. Updating on the go was a real headache, even though I thoroughly enjoyed being able to share, because it was hard to manage the German keyboards and do the editing, etc. She also left in some cheesy personal notes, so you can see that I was getting excited and touristy. I really tried to keep that side of me down, because I know that there's a reason (missions) that I really want to be there, but it was really nice to see things that every German class talks about. ;)
Run down:
Emotional time came the first time the whole US group was together Thursday eve, and shared our purpose and hopes in missions. I've never felt more alive or called to missions, or seen at one time how many of the things in my life could prepare me for that. It was awe-inspiring.
Friday we went to Steinheim in the morning to see what Karsten Maul is doing in his ministry there. His church is considered firmly planted and will be breaking free from Kontaktmission. He talked about the various methods they've used in Germany to get people in contact with the church, and it was all very interesting.
Then we came back to Wuestenrot, where we learned about a German pastor, Artur Schmidt, who worked in Lithuania and had a very different experience from Karsten. He told about how God moved differently in his church.Both Karsten and Artur spoke in German, yay for practice, and then that evening our German, French and Brazilian counterparts, arrived at the hotel. The seminar had to be translated into several languages. Fortunately, there were only two people who didn't speak English or German, so it didn't slow us down too much.
Let me tell you something about the hotel, which has been owned for many years by the Trefz family. The European KM director, Dieter Trefz, is one of the family members. So, we got a very nice hotel with rooms to hold the conference in for a very small sum. It's hard to describe how nice it is, but they have waiters for the meals and I believe that my lunch yesterday included tiramisu, calamari, and some sort of raspberry mousse or something.They've been doing this with Kontaktmission conferences over here for years. They had had a hard time coming up with a place, and then realized that they would have the resources and space at the hotel which was then owned by Dieter's parents. What a blessing from God!
All of the conference things have been very challenging, but very encouraging. Herr Trefz tells us that he hates to hear of missionaries whining about how hard missionary life is; ministry is always hard. But we were made aware of the challenges in very poignant ways. One thing that was especially moving to me was hearing the story of another American, Rocco Panepinto, who has been planting churches in Germany for a couple of decades, and whom I will be visiting in a couple of weeks when I am at Jena. It is the second to last church I visit. Anyway, he told about going to several German cities, and how he went from learning the language and culture in one city, to thinking he was ready for the entirely different culture in another city and finding he was not. He described the pain and frustration that can come when you compare work in this country to work in other countries where people are hungry and ready for the gospel and fill churches from the beginning.
It is all SO thought provoking. We said goodbye to the international convention-goers yesterday afternoon and went to Schwaebish Hall and looked around, after our church service in the morning. Today was travel day. My American counterparts have all left me and I am in the hotel for tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday nights.
The only time I'll probably get to see any of the American young people again will be Sunday [6/3] (That actually wasn't correct, we did see the group a couple days later, because our trips converged in Peine, where Randy and Katy Smelser are). That is the day I go solo visiting individual mission stations on my own. I really miss my roommate because she was incredibly outgoing and cute.
Brenden Lang asked if his friend John was here, and you should tell him that he was. One of my acquaintances from Lincoln Christian College music ministry brought his girlfriend to look into ministry. They became friends of mine instead of acquaintances. There was a couple from Manhattan Christian College that was also here, and they are going to Austria for a 9 week internship. Then there's a 38 year old guy that just graduated from Ozark Christian College that isn't sure where he is going, so they shipped him off to see what is happening in Morocco and Spain. The girl who is coming next week to Steinheim is spending the next four weeks at Goethe Institute in Schwaebish hall, so we transported her up there today, and we also took the OCC grad to Stuttgart to fly to Spain. (augh. flying... I'm glad I don't have to do that for a few weeks yet. Tiring to think of at midnight).
I only am interested in serving in Germany right now, so I have a separate trip with Mark and Corrine. If you're confused, so am I. I do know I don't want to miss out on these people and I hope we form a missions team together someday. They really were wonderful.
Today we were tourists and went to see some local sites. We tried a castle, but it was closed, and then we had a couple of hours to spend at the medieval city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The city is medieval but currently lived in. It's soooo cool! So you can shop there.They didn't have much going on, but it was cute. I was too tired of sightseeing from yesterday, but I did find a shirt, mom, that is white with cute girly sleeves and ruffles to replace that one that is falling apart. :)
I'm sleepy and we're going to Stuttgart tomorrow. I could write tomorrow night but I might want to sleep... we're going to Pruem Wednesday and I want to be able to be awake enough to speak in German all day to the director of that ministry, who apparently knows no English (Edit added back home in America-- he speaks English, like most Germans... he only says what he knows how to speak perfectly) That's good, though, because it would be best to know now if I won't be able to communicate with the poor guy for the whole week that I'm there later this summer.
I'm tired. Bye. Love you!
Liza
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