Earthly Work & Heavenly Struggles

"Finally, let the mighty strength of the Lord make you strong. Put on all the armor that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil’s tricks. We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world. So put on all the armor that God gives. Then when that evil day comes, you will be able to defend yourself. And when the battle is over, you will still be standing firm."

-Paul, Ephesians 6:10-13

Waiting for more building materials to be offloaded
Left to right: Nicole, Beth, & Alan

I apologize for the long time in between posts. We have been extremely busy this past week and feel physically and spiritually drained. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and yesterday have been work days at the CVJM. We are slowly making progress laying the floor for the loft. Between two days, a few of us carried up over 5500 sq. ft. of plywood and subflooring material. I hope that the entire job will be finished by late July. The spiritual warfare here is very discouraging and leaves me frustrated and angry. Please keep this in your prayers the next few weeks. I know Satan wants Heidelberg to remain in the complacency of uncertainty.

On Wednesday, we spent a few more hours conducting the surveys at the University of Heidelberg. Students seemed to respond in a more positive way when I conducted the survey in German rather than English. Still, out of the maybe fifteen students I interviewed between two days, only two said they already had a personal relationship with Jesus. Twelve others said they would be interested in this relationship, and I'm kicking myself for not having then shared the Gospel with them. (The primary purpose of the surveys is to start students thinking about the big questions and generate interest in our coffee house social this summer.) I had to clarify to at least half of these students what it meant to have a personal relationship with God ("knowing God as though He were a human"). Still, many had trouble understanding the idea, and one student told me he would not want this sort of relationship. It is evident that the Devil is doing all he can to keep these students in darkness and not allow them to question even the basis of their existence. Please pray that the Lord will work through us to impact their lives.

The coffee house social kicked off Thursday night. There was a total of about twenty people who showed up between the CVJM members and their Christian friends. Despite being an all-believer group, we compiled a long list of questions our non-born-again friends would ask. I'm excited to see what God has in store for these next few weeks. I pray that He can use these weekly meetings as a time to bring nominal Christians, atheists/agnostics, Muslims, etc. to Him. We will start our first apologetics session this Thursday night exploring the topic "Mere Christianity" which will be roughly based on the C.S. Lewis book. I'm sure the angels of Hell will do all they can to prevent people, especially non-believers, from coming; however, our God is more powerful than any force of evil, and I trust He will provide according to His will.

After the construction work yesterday, some of the younger people in the church cleaned up and met for homemade dinner (bacon-wrapped pork kabobs, steak, small sausage links, tomatoes and mushrooms, and bread) followed by dessert (birthday cake made entirely of gummy candies and marshmallows). (I'm not quite sure if this is a typical German dinner, but it was nonetheless delicious, although I'm starting to really miss vegetables.) Afterwards we went to a neighborhood park and socialized. It was quite a fun yet relaxing evening! I really needed that after the exhaustion of last week.

The neighborhood park where we hung out last night

Right now, I must hurry to church. I'm helping teach the kids this morning, and I'm not sure what we're doing. This afternoon should be relaxing. I'm planning to go to the lake with a few of the young people from church. Because of how stressful this week has been, Mary has given us tomorrow off. I think the day will consist of Jörg and me sleeping in and then leisurely enjoying the day at home. I definitely need some time to pray about this next week and about the spiritual warfare we will certainly encounter.