Why Are We Here?

“The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.”

- C.S. Lewis

“The worst crime of the desert is knowing where the water is and not telling.”

- Unknown

“What are we here for - to have a good time with the Christians or to save sinners?”

- Malla Moe

It's been hard for me to describe my feelings the past few weeks. I often feel that my desire to share the Gospel is more intense than with others, and this is reflected in this blog post, which I wrote last Sunday. Since last Thursday, we conducted an English camp and a children's camp. I will hopefully have time to post about those tomorrow.

After I arrived in Heidelberg on Wednesday afternoon, 17. July, I joined the team to practice our rendition of the Lifehouse Everything skit. The plan was to perform the skit while doing evangelism on Friday afternoon. After a quick dinner, we headed to the neighboring town of Sinsheim to visit a refugee camp. The refugees, who come from the Middle-East and north Africa, have paid to be trafficked into Europe (Germany, in particular). Because the refugees are in the EU illegally, the German government herds them into various camps, where the refugees must live until their asylum cases are granted or they are granted "tolerance". (Given Germany's not-so-distant past, one would think that the German government would be less inclined to consolidate unwanted people groups into camps.) Until receiving asylum status, refugees cannot work legally. They are provided with food of debatable quality and 200 Euros "allowance". Asylum cases are difficult for the refugees, because many were told by the traffickers to tell certain lies to the government upon reaching Germany in order to increase their chances of receiving asylum. However, the German government searches for inconsistencies and asks very specific questions attempting to catch the refugees in a lie. For many of these refugees, deciding to follow Jesus can be a reason to receive asylum, and many will truly ask Him into their lives. However, local judges have the authority to rule whether these decisions are "genuine", and no amount of paperwork from a church or statements from German believers seems to influence the rulings. Rather, judges seem to rule on conversions based on the amount of previous inconsistencies in refugees' stories. An asylum case can be appealed once, and if the appeal is denied, refugees can be granted legal "tolerance", which delays their deportation. Interestingly, many refugees destroy their paperwork before coming to Germany. In this way, the Germany government cannot deport them, because the government does not know to what country they should be sent.

I can certainly see the government's perspective on the situation. People from foreign countries are coming coming to Germany with a foreign culture, language, and way of life. Most of them don't have any sort of identifying papers, and the German bureaucrats, whose entire existence revolves around paper-pushing, must attempt to sort them out. These foreigners take arguably about 500 Euros per month from the German social system, factoring in allowance, food, and space to sleep in the camp, yet they pay nothing in taxes. In spite of this, I must sympathize with the refugees. The journey to Europe often involves much thirst, rape, and death, as much for the men as for the women. Those who survive the journey arrive in Germany only to find that they cannot work legally and must live together in camps. Three people or a family live in a room of about 120 sq. ft. The restrooms are often are very disgusting, with water from toilettes above leaking down to the bathroom below. (Toilette is probably an exaggeration. A better description would be hole in the floor.) There are no soap or paper towers in the restrooms, because the government argues that the children at the camp would break them. However, Autobahn rest-stops always have soap and paper towels. Food provided for the refugees is often stale or otherwise not in edible condition.

A small Christian organization, SAM, works with the refugees in this area to provide extra food, German classes, Bible studies, and also to press German bureaucrats to improve the living conditions in the camps. It was SAM workers who took us to visit the camps. Afterwards, the girls left, and the guys stayed behind to pass out bread to the children. (It is currently Ramadan, and only the children are allowed to eat during daylight.) Unfortunately, the refugees' situation has created a culture of dependence there. The children swarmed around us and each took two or three bread rolls/pretzels/sticks each, despite our protests to only take one. Not one child said "thank you", and one even had the nerve to bring back a piece that was slightly burnt on the bottom and complain. We stayed around another hour or two and visited with a very hospitable refugee from Iran who had recently been very ill. Overall, I was glad I visited the camp, and I wish I could go back. (Fun fact: 21 out of 83 people groups in Germany are considered "unreached" by the Joshua Project. It is estimated that only 1%-2% of the total population has relationships with Christ.)

On Thursday, 18. July, I went with Jonny and Nicole to spend a few hours visiting with a woman from the CVJM named Silka. She fixed us a wonderful lunch, and I also played chess with her nine-year-old son. He was very enthusiastic about telling me how to play. I kept trying to set him up to win, but he insisted that he would not take advantage of my mistakes! At the coffee house social, we discussed morality. I don’t remember a thing that was said, but there were even few people there than the week before. After the meeting, we hung around chatting about how Nutella and peanut butter taste different in other parts of the world.

The Gospel tracts that I am currently
passing out. On the back is an explanation
of the Gospel in English.

On Friday morning, 19. July, I worked on the website. On Friday afternoon, our team was supposed to evangelize and perform our rendition of the Lifehouse Everything skit on the Neckarwiese. We were scheduled to work from one to four, but as is typical for the team, wespent one to two-thirty eating and they spent two-thirty to four chatting with each other on the Neckarwiese. (Unfortunately, Alan made me accompany him on a fruitless errand during this time, so I had no say in the matter.) At four, Alan and I returned with Mary, and we performed our skit twice over the next hour. I would estimate that about twenty people saw our skit, and most of them were interested. Statistically, nineteen and a half out of these twenty people are going to Hell; in spite of this stark reality, I could not convince any of our team, including Alan, to talk with these people afterwards. I wound up talking with two groups of people, four young adults (who had clapped after our performance) and a class of around twelve fifth graders. The class was particularly interested in my tracts, because they found the puzzle intriguing, and they had also just completed their first year of English. Each child took a tract, and one girl even took two extras for friends. Johnny came over and joined me talking to the class, and I asked him to share his testimony. He felt put on the spot but recounted in German how he decided to give his life to Christ when he was the age of these students. After talking to the children, Johnny and I joined the rest of the team, who had gone to buy ice cream. I shared with them about the awesome opportunity we had to share the Gospel with these children, but the group was more interested in telling us how one teammate had just frozen her lips to her ice cream bar. We had Friday evening off, but I decided to hang out with Ten Sing and spend more time getting to know the youth.

Saturday, 20. July, proved to be another stressful construction day. It started well, with Mary keeping us all busy, and we accomplished a good deal. She left after lunch, and everything went down hill from there. Alan kept us mainly standing around while he worked and rarely provided us with any jobs. I attempted to cut boards for the floor, but a teammate took that task from me. (This team member is very possessive of the flooring job, and has more than once referred to the area as "his" loft.) I gave up trying to do any work and just waited for Alan to tell me what to do. We eventually finished our flooring job and posed for pictures. I found this very upsetting; even though we did a small job for the CVJM, we wasted much time and money in doing that job. I feel rather ashamed to say I was a part of it, because it took a summer of work to finish something so simple.

I found out a few days later that the group went to our favorite local restaurant after work without inviting me. I wouldn't have wanted to go and spend more time with the group, but we have established a relationship with the restaurant's owner, and I (only I, unfortunately) have used that relationship to talk with the owner about Jesus. However, I was mainly upset because I wasn't invited. I know that sounds very childish, but our team has made such a big deal about being there for each other, loving one another, and spending time in "fellowship".

Meckesheim's state-supported protestant church

Sunday, 21. July, was a little better. Because the local protestant church service started before the CVJM service, I went to it to see what it was like. The music was very pretty, and I especially liked the organ. The church is pastored by a husband and wife who alternate Sundays. The wife preached on this particular Sunday about the Jesus healing the blind man in John 9. She made some good points in her sermon, but the sermon seemed rather fluffy. Perhaps that sermon is not typical of the church, because the members of the CVJM who live in Meckesheim seem to hold her in high regard. I was rather upset how very few people were in the service; by my count, there were no more than fifty. (However, I could not see who was sitting in the balcony.) Those in attendance were mostly senior adults. Petra told me this could be because there were about twenty parents and children who attended the church's monthly children's worship service. Still, this doesn't account for many more.

At the CVJM service, Nicole, Beth, Danjela, and I performed a skit to advertise for our then-upcoming English camp. During an open mic part of worship, Alan came up and said he had felt the Holy Spirit lay it on his heart that the church members were like sheep who all want to go in their own direction. He said that we must work together to accomplish something. I felt like Alan spent far too much time looking at me when he said all this. Still, the lack of a pastor and strong leadership combined with the tendency of some to be less-than-organized is a big problem at the CVJM. (Several people have mentioned to me that this problem caused a schism in the CVJM a few years back.) It was a good thing for Alan to say, and as passive as he is, it's good that he had the courage to say it.

The remains of Saint Martin's Chapel
Watchtower/alter

I spent the rest of Sunday hanging around the house. Somehow, I wound up playing school with Timm, Jan, and their two Grandmothers. In the evening, I went back to visit Saint Martin's Chapel again before we live. I took my Bible to read, but I wound up having to go into town to read due to the abundance of bees that have recently taken to the German countryside in mass. As I was on my way home, I passed a van of my teammates and young people from the CVJM. It turns out they had gone back to the lake and not invited me. I wouldn't have wanted to go, but it still hurt that so many people, including some from the CVJM, would go again and not even tell me. I decided to make them feel really embarrassed, so I waved and flashed a very friendly smile. They looked surprised and embarrassed when they saw me. They drove away, but I passed by them at the train station, and they invited me to come chat with them. We talked for a while, and them I went home and skyped with my parents for two hours.

The loft, with (almost) finished sub-flooring and insulation

The next Monday and Tuesday consisted mainly of website work, especially Tuesday, when I put in several extra hours to make the site presentable so Mary could preview it later in the week. Monday evening, we met at Saskia's parents' house for a barbecue and social time. It was fun to see everyone for a little while, but I enjoyed working alone on Tuesday. On that Wednesday, we hung insulation in the loft and prepared for the English camp on Thursday.

I have not really been sure how to describe the time since I have come back from Bremen. I have had a muddle of feelings regarding the team, ministry, and purpose in Heidelberg. I often feel as though we pat ourselves on the back simply for playing missions. I feel like there's no real passion here to reach the lost; rather, we seem to spend a lot of time going through the motions. More and more, I lay down at night feeling a mixture of disappointment with my team, anger that we don't take our task seriously, and loneliness in that no one seems to realize just how serious our task is. In addition, there is not really anyone I can talk to about the problems.

A typical example of the problems is this story, which I had previously omitted from my blog:

A Pioneers staff member from the US visited us for a few days at the beginning of the month. The only time she and I ever had a serious discussion was her last night in Heidelberg. I was excitedly telling her about the surveys and the tram evangelism. I made a joke along the lines of "The Germans don't really know what to think when we do this sort of stuff. Culturally, you rarely approach someone you don't know in public and speak with them. Certainly the last thing they would want you to talk about it Jesus." The staff member replied, "Well, maybe you should talk with Mary and Alan about finding a culturally appropriate way of ministry."

I sat stunned at how this staffer seemed not to understand the very Message around which her job revolved. The "culturally appropriate" method of evangelism in Germany is not to evangelize. Period. But that's the way it was in the first century. The first Christians died because of their offensive message. Many Christians around still die because of their message. We as believers claim to follow the Bible. However, there is not one red letter in that book that was culturally acceptable or polite. While tens of thousands around the world plummet into Hell every day, we as Christians remain silent because we don't want to be "pushy" or "rude" or because we are afraid of what people will think of us. We can forget about the genocides of Communist China and the Third Reich. The greatest atrocity in history is the Church's own apathy.

In conclusion, Satan has searched out every way possible to interfere with the Lord’s work here in Germany. I know that God willed for me to be working here with the CVJM this summer. I really covet the prayers of my Lakeside family. Pray also that the team and the CVJM and my team remain focused on our work in the three days we have left.

Bremen

“All believers are not called to be foreign missionaries, but they should struggle with the possibility.”

- Clifford Clark

“... if God has called you to China or any other place and you are sure in your own heart, let nothing deter you... remember it is God who has called you and it is the same as when He called Moses or Samuel.”

- Gladys Aylward

A view of Bremen's Altstadt distric

I’ve finally gotten the chance to visit Bremen! Christina Schifferdecker, an active member in the CVJM, very graciously drove me to Heidelberg’s main train station at 3:45 Monday morning. I arrived to find out my train would be seventy minutes late. (Ironically, I could have taken the train into Heidelberg had I known this train was so late.) With the help of a Deutsche Bahn employee on the train, I was re-routed and arrived in Bremen around noon. I then checked into the youth hostel I booked. It is conveniently in the old part of the city, which stays very busy and thus provides many opportunities to share the Gospel. As I was unpacking my belongings, a young Indian guy was packing up and getting ready to leave. Before he left, I was able to share the Gospel with him and give him a Bible.

After exploring the old part of the city, I went to a local park to talk to people and pass out tracts and Bibles. Alan’s told me before how critical it is to work alongside others in sharing the Gospel, but I never really understood what it’s like to do missions alone until this trip to Bremen. I felt so nervous approaching people in the park without any of my team nearby; I only spoke to those who were by themselves. I went to speak to a homeless woman living in some bushes, but she made it clear she was interested only in my money and not in the Gospel. However, she was very happy to take a Bible. Trying to be a good Samaritan, I brought the woman some water and yogurt from the grocery store. She was very grateful for this, but then she lectured me about how we all have our own ways to God. I reminded her of John 14:6, but the woman insisted that it was simply part of “my way” and that she already knew the Bible. She also told me that she is in the process of writing a book about the many paths to God and promised to mail me a copy when it gets published. (I’m still not sure if the woman had a mental illness.) With that, she turned away and went back up into the bushes.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been speaking with Wilfried Schloo, a believer in Bremen. (Lisa, a CVJM intern from northern Germany, got me in touch with him.) Wilfried was planning to show me around his church and introduces me to the church’s youth minister, who is very interested in meeting me. Last Thursday, Wilfried had called me and explained that right now is not a good time to visit, because he has fifteen children and grandchildren visiting him at the moment, and because many members of his church are on vacation. He suggested coming on the first of August. (With this news, I was very surprised that I was still allowed to go to Bremen.) I called Wilfried Monday evening, explained these few days are the only time I could be in Bremen and asked if anything had changed. He told me that he understood about my schedule and despite his being very busy this week, he would like to meet with me briefly. I was so excited to realize that I could in fact meet with someone on this trip!

Dinner Monday evening was an interesting experience. While wondering around, I had spotted a restaurant with good prices located in the cellar of the Bremen city hall building. I headed back to the restaurant. Once inside, I realized that despite the low prices, it was expected that guests dress up. Upon seeing me wearing a ball cap, a stained t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes, the host seemed less than happy to seat me and decided to simply point towards a table. However, I did get my food in less than ten minutes. (I guess the staff wanted me to leave as soon as possible!) The dinner was supposed to be traditional Bremen food: mashed potatoes with tiny bits of corned beef stirred into it, pickled herring, a fried egg, and a pickle. I did not know that pickled herring is raw, which I find rather disgusting. Keeping a missionary mentality, I decided to still eat the fish and swallow it with as little chewing as possible. I was not quite sure how any of these foods fit together with each other, but it was good to experience the food and also the fishing culture, which has been a large part of life in Bremen for centuries.

A statue of Bremen's famous protector,
Roland, located in the Market Square

That night, I was in the hostel lounge attempting to post to my blog when a guy appearing to be in his early twenties struck up a conversation with me. He was from Holland (which explains the chattiness, a German would never initiate a conversation with a random person) and waiting for a flight to Spain early the next morning. We talked about our cultural backgrounds, and the man mentioned how he would like to make a road trip across the United States, so I told him about the geography and attractions in Birmingham. I also told him about my team’s work in Heidelberg. Come to find out, the man was a believer, and so we discussed how man must always trust God and follow Him no matter what.

Tuesday, I started the day off with a quick breakfast at McDonald’s. This gave me an excuse to leave a few Bibles on coffee tables scattered throughout the restaurant. Afterward, I met with Wilfried for about thirty minutes. He told me how excited he was to meet someone wanting to spread the Good News in Bremen. He said that there are many churches in Bremen, but most either preach what people want to hear or have no interest whatsoever in reaching out to the city. Wilfried explained that many people had come to know Christ in his generation, but was long ago. He wanted to see another revival in the city. He then said that he found the story of my calling to Bremen very encouraging and would like to use it to motivate others in the city’s churches. Unfortunately, Wilfried and his wife had to go to a doctor’s appointment, but we did meet up briefly a few hours later. He gave me a stack of German gospel tracts and encouraged me to consider coming to a seminary in Germany where he had worked for over thirty years. We parted ways with the promise to staying in close contact.

I spent the rest of the day (trying to) talk to people in the park or on the street about Jesus. It was rather nerve-wracking how many times I would say to someone “Excuse me, may I tell you about Jesus?” and the person would respond with “Nein!” and a glare. Eventually, I just started leaving tracts with everyone, because only a few people would let me talk to them. Not so many people wanted Bibles, either. I still had about ten left, so I left them in a few phone booths, another McDonald’s, and in the hostel lounge. I actually found it rather funny to do in McDonald’s; there were not too many people there and the staff could easily tell what you were doing. I felt like a peaceful "terrorist" for Jesus, sneaking around and leaving Bibles at very well-timed moments.

I left Bremen at ten o’clock yesterday morning. I’m glad I could make this trip and get to know the city better, but part of me feels that I did not do enough missions work in my two days there. Regardless, I’ve made the contacts and learned some about the city’s layout, culture, and attitude towards the Gospel. Perhaps I can return to Bremen for a longer time next summer.

The Long-Overdue Post

"Would that God would make hell so real to us that we cannot rest; heaven so real that we must have men there, Christ so real that our supreme motive and aim shall be to make the Man of Sorrows the Man of Joy by the conversion to him of many."

— Hudson Taylor

"The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time." — Carl F. H. Henry

I feel like I'm having to say this with every blog post; I'm sorry that this post comes so late. When I have the energy to write, I don't have the time. And when I have the time, I don't have the energy. I think I will start posting only once or twice per week.

On Wednesday, 3. July, we replaced our Thursday evening coffee house social with a special presentation from Dr. Henry Schaefer, a world-renowned quantum chemist as well as a personal friend and supporter of Alan and Mary. Dr. Schaefer has been a visiting professor in Munich and agreed to make the two-hour trip to Heidelberg to speak to the CVJM coffee house group. The topic for the evening was the relationship between science and religion. Dr. Schaefer showed the favorable views of science towards religion in addition to discussing why he believes that scientific facts ultimately point to a Creator. From there, he began a logically-progressing presentation of the gospel, starting with God as the loving Creator who desires a relationship with His special creation and ending with Jesus being God’s ultimate sacrifice to bring man into communion with Him.

Our team had advertised the event at the University of Heidelberg, and many students and professors where in attendance. (In total, I would estimate that about one hundred people came that night. Although that is not very many for the type of event and speaker, it was incredible that such a large amount of people could hear the Good News from such an influential person.)  Before the presentation began, I was able to make small-talk with a quantum chemist from the university. Before Dr. Schaefer began speaking, I gave this man a Bible and a Gospel tract, although I regret now not sharing the gospel verbally. (Thanks to the Lord and my sponsors, I’ve been able to purchase complete German Bibles to give out. In addition, each Bible only costs about $2.50!) In the Q. & A. session following the presentation, this man seemed upset that Dr. Schaefer believes there is a God. I afterwards found the Bible and gospel tract left in the man’s seat. Clearly, Satan wanted to use everything he could to keep the man’s heart sealed tightly.

My mom at "T.K. Maxx"

On Thursday, my mom and I explored more in old Heidelberg, going Nutcracker shopping and also checking out a store called T.K. Maxx that is very similar to its American counterpart. We ate a dinner consisting of two ice-cream bars each, a foot-long German pastry with honey and crème swirled inside, and a Döner. (I gave up on my summer weight-loss plans a long time ago.) While eating our unusual dinner, we enjoyed a last hour together, thankful for finally fulfilling a small part of our dream of exploring Europe. After saying good-bye, I met the rest of the team at an American restaurant in town to celebrate the Forth of July. I spent a lot of this time talking to Jonny, our newest teammate from North Ireland who had arrived a few hours earlier.

Jonny and I painted part of Boris and Julia’s house on Friday, 5. July. Afterwards, I went to Ten-Sing, where nothing notable happened that I can remember. However, I did realize how much lip-syncing I would be doing in the concert the next week, because our team had barely had time to learn the music for the concert the next week. Saturday was a work-day at the CVJM, where I hung the external insulation around the larger CVJM building. That evening, the CVJM hosted a weekly youth worship service. The service is hosted once per month by a group of local churches. I heard there were several decisions made to follow Christ, but I (nor anyone else, to my knowledge) do not know what became of those youth or whether they are connected with a church and being discipled. Not knowing this really irks me. Jörg has told me before that it is typical for someone to make a decision to follow Christ at the CVJM but then go to another church. Saturday evening also brought an end to a lot of intra-team drama and bickering that will not be detailed here.

The CVJM has one service per month in the evening. For this month, it was Sunday, 6. July. Having a free morning, I went with Petra, Timm, and Jan to a local public pool. We enjoyed some time in the water, and afterwards, I layed out in the sun to warm up and dry. This relaxation time did not last forever, as Timm and Jan had begged me to play with them. At the moment, that meant pumping water as fast as I can at the pool’s water playground. It was actually rather amusing. The boys attempted to fill up a small container by directing water through various troughs. When the container was full, it was emptied, and the cycle began again. What I found comical was the life-or-death seriousness with which Timm and Jan viewed my pumping. On the way out of the pool, I passed a lady who was selling old books for two euros each. Somehow, I got her to take two of my Bibles and tracts to give at no cost to whomever would like one. Nothing eventful happened at the service Sunday night. It was very awkward for me to see my teammates because of the recently-ended drama, but that’s about the extent of that evening.

I worked on the website for a few hours last Monday, and then ran errands in Heidelberg. That night, the team met for a time of fellowship and grilling at Klaus and Trude’s home.  This was also a time for teammates to re-bond with one another. I also got to get to know Klaus better and talk with him about his growing up in post-war Germany. To cap off a wonderful evening, Klaus showed us again the petrified cat that lives in the loft of his barn. (NOTE: The cat was already petrified when Klaus bought the house. He maintains he did not kill it.)

On Tuesday, the team worked on the CVJM building again, installing more subflooring in the third story. Wednesday morning consisted of website work and planning the upcoming English camp for the youth eleven to fifteen. In the afternoon, the team went down to the Neckarwiese to sing, conduct surveys, give out water bottles and candy, and to talk with people about Jesus. We distributed my gospel tracts to whoever would take one, and I used that as an opportunity to talk with these people about the Good News. Germans don’t really like when random people want to talk with them, but some people with whom I spoke were rather interested. One man even took a Bible from me. Others were rather rude. one in particular told me he was not interested in Christianity, Jesus, or Mary. Another two people were annoyed that I had interrupted their conversation to offer them water. A woman with whom I spoke insisted that she has a relationship with God because she is Catholic and prays. She was rather upset when I asked her if she followed Jesus, because in the German language, this question points directly to Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship and the German protestant church. I found this reaction rather strange, but even stranger that someone would not what to commit their life to Christ on grounds of being Catholic.

Discussion at the coffee house social

On Thursday, Jonny and I went to Boris and Julia’s house to unload scrap wood from a trailer and sort it. This was a good opportunity to get to know Jonny better. That night, I played soccer with the boys before the coffee house social. Since I had no responsibilities at this meeting, I simply enjoyed the time of discussion and talked with people afterwards. I also prayed with Abraham, a young man I met the week before. We prayed for Abraham’s friend, who is thinking about whether or not to follow Christ.

After about an hour of construction last Friday at the CVJM, the team canoed up and down the Neckar for fun, only docking once to buy ice cream. With the Ten-Sing concert on Saturday, we practiced that night, and many of the youth stayed overnight at the CVJM, and I stayed with them. In hindsight, it was a bad idea, because it did not result in getting to know the youth any better. On Saturday morning, we again practiced, and that evening, we performed the concert. The concert went well, even though I was lip-syncing or making up parts for many of the songs. The play went well, despite finalizing the plotline that morning. It is actually rather funny, and I’d like to post it on this blog soon. After all the time I spent with the Ten-Sing youth over the past two days, I went home after the production and enjoyed peaceful alone-time.

On Sunday, I was asked to be a part of a two-man prayer team for the worship service. The prayer teams are available during the worship time if someone wants two others to pray with them. We prayed for one person, but it was very hard to hear anything being said, given that we were on the second row. After the service, the Hofmanns had a cook-out for lunch and invited the Shifferdeckers, a family of six in the CVJM that also lives in Meckesheim. It was good getting to know them all better, especially the two oldest children, who have been in Ten-Sing, but I have not really gotten to know. While eating, I was talking about the trip I’m taking today to Bremen. I mentioned that when I booked my train ticket, I did not realize that I could not get from Meckesheim to Heidelberg’s main train station without taking the midnight train and waiting four and a half hours for the long-distance train. When the mother of the family heard that I would have to do this, she very graciously volunteered to drive me to the station at 3:45 A.M. I was very grateful she could do this for me! After lunch, I met about fifteen others from the CVJM for a soccer game. It was a good opportunity to fellowship, and also to make me tired enough to go to bed early. After final good-byes to the team, I went home, packed my bags, and went to bed.

The Harvest

"Later the Lord chose seventy-two other followers and sent them out two by two to every town and village where he was about to go. He said to them: 'A large crop is in the fields, but there are only a few workers. Ask the Lord in charge of the harvest to send out workers to bring it in.'"

-Luke 10:1-2 CEV

"'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face-whose mercy you have professed to obey-and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.

-William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

The harvest fields of Heidelberg

I've been reading through the Gospel of Luke this past week. Two statements stuck out to me. The first is the endings of the two stories when Jesus calls Peter, James, and John and when Jesus calls Matthew. Luke concludes each story saying those called "left everything and went with Jesus". For the fishermen, they left their families, their jobs, and even the income on which their families must survive. For Matthew, he left his profession, his likely lavish lifestyle, and even the tax money sitting on his table. The second statement in Luke that stuck out to me was when Jesus sent out seventy-two followers to spread the Gospel. Jesus said, "A large crop is in the fields, but there are only a few workers. Ask the Lord in charge of the harvest to send out workers to bring it in."

These two statements have left me thinking, what wouldn't I do for Jesus? Additionally, why don't more American believers give up everything for Jesus and take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth? The former question is certainly puzzling and seems as though I would learn too much about myself answering it. This partial explanation seems to also answer the latter question. Ingrained in American culture is the idea of comfortable, no-strings-attached Christianity. A lot of American believers seem eager to follow Jesus conditionally. However, leaving everything implies complete and total surrender to God, never looking back. I believe that the more we examine ourselves, the more we will realize our call to give up our relaxed American lifestyles and take the Gospel out to the dying world. The harvest is larger than we could ever imagine, and there are far too few workers.

View from the castle above Heidelberg

It's been a week since my last post. I'm sorry about the delay, but on the nights when I've had time to write a post, I've been too tired to do so. On Wednesday morning, I started work on my primary assigned responsibility, rewriting the missionaries' website. The way the site works right now, they are tied to a single hosting provider, and in the long run, it is cheaper to make an identical site that can be taken from one provider to another. Wednesday evening, I played another game of soccer with Tim and Jan. Jan likes to be on my team and stay in the goal while Tim and I play one-on-one style. My aim is getting better; I'm only kicking the ball over the fence into the neighbor's yard once or twice per game now.

On Thursday, I worked on writing about my calling to Germany to share with the church on Sunday.  Thursday evening, we had the third coffee house social with the topic of world religions. There weren't quite as many people there, but the Germans stayed very engaged in the discussion, particularly when talking about Islam. (There are many Turks and Middle-Easterners in Germany with varying degrees of Islam. I've talked with a scantily-clad Muslim woman at the public pool in Heidelberg, and twice I've also seen a woman walking down the streets of Old Heidelberg wearing a full burqa.) In typical fashion, the Germans made known their questions and opinions, which included "How is Islam a peaceful religion?", women's rights in the Middle East, and suicide bombers. I was very surprised at one point when talking about Judaism. When Mary, who was the moderator, asked how many in the group knew a Jew. I saw only one of about twenty Germans raise a hand.

Friday morning, Sakia, Nicole, and I met up with a Ten-Sing participant and university student, Domi. We stood outside one of the university cafeterias and distributed flyers about the Coffee House social event tomorrow night. (There's a world-famous quantum chemist coming to talk about intelligent design!) Most people didn't want to take the flyers, but one student did and then gave a loud, ferocious dog bark at Saskia. At Ten-Sing that evening, we planned the details of the drama production we will be doing at the concert in a few weeks. Additionally, I feel we may be making slightly better relationships with individuals, but it is hard, because most don't seem to want to interact with us.

On Saturday, we had a shortened workday. We cleaned chairs to prepare for the Coffee House social tomorrow night. I then went to pick up my mom from downtown. (She's on her way back from a mission trip to Ukraine and is visiting Heidelberg until Friday.) Because her flight had been delayed and I couldn't find her bus drop-off for an hour, we found each other later than planned but with very little waiting around. She came to dinner at the Hofmanns, and then stayed one night in a bed and breakfast in Meckesheim.

At the end of the service Sunday morning, I gave shared with the congregation about my calling to Germany. Here is the video, complete with English subtitles.

My mom and I from the Ernst-Walz-Brücke over the Neckar.

After church, my mom and I went to the Neckarwiese, a grassy area on the bank of the river here in Heidelberg. It was very relaxing just to layout in the grass and catch-up with what had been going on since we last talked. After a nice dinner at the Marktplatz, we fetched my mom's luggage from Meckesheim and went to the main train station, where we met the father of the family with whom my mom will be staying until Friday. The family is very nice. They're even letting her stay rent-free! It was rather funny meeting up with the father, Clause-Jürgen Dietz. We had spoken on the phone and had had a misunderstanding about what time she could come. I called the Clause-Jürgen, and he said in English, "We have a Bible." I found that was odd and was thinking to myself, "Um, OK... I have a Bible, too." Claus-Jürgen then said, "We carry the Bible." I was again thinking, "Well, um... I carry my Bible to church." I couldn't figure out what this conversation could mean; I thought he was perhaps saying that my mom could stay with them because she is their sister in Christ. It turns out, Claus-Jürgen brought a Bible to the main train station as a sign of who he was! (I almost walked past him standing outside the train because I thought he was peddling something.)

Saskia, Nicole, and I all went to Boris and Julia's house yesterday. They are the son-in-law and daughter of the CVJM secretary and active members in the organization. To give us language experience, Mary asked that we only speak German. Nicole looked after Boris and Julia's baby while Julia ran errands; Boris, Saskia, and I worked on putting insulation in Boris's attic. After a hour and a half, we had hung as much insulation as we could stand, and we had a spaghetti lunch with the secretary, his wife and son, and Boris and Julia. I had to leave quickly and catch a train to Heidelberg.


I met my mom in Heidelberg, and we went up to the castle that overlooks the old part of the city. It was a beautiful place that offered an incredible view of the city. We attempted to visit the Königstuhl, the top of the mountain towering over Heidelberg. While we didn't ever make it there, we did get a one-hour bus tour of some older neighborhoods in the city! We split a Döner (Turkish lamb-taco popular in Germany) and then headed to our homes.

On the train ride back, I briefly talked to the teenager sitting across from me. Like most Germans with whom you randomly converse during train rides, I did the vast majority of the talking. The conversation did give me an inroad to talk to him about the Gospel and give him a German gospel tract. (The tracts I ordered are basically a credit-card-sized piece of cardstock.) For the whole ride back, the teen kept flipping it over and over and looking at both sides.

The local state-supported protestant church.

Today, my mom and I visited the local protestant, state-supported church. It was extremely beautiful inside. Emily, my coach from Pioneers, arrived today. We are her last stop visiting the Edge teams in Europe. We socialized with her at the local Greek restaurant. I also met a German couple there, and after talking with them, I found out that they live just a block down from the Hofmanns. We're meeting for coffee on Friday, and I'm invited to a wedding on Saturday. I'm not quite sure whose, but it will certainly be fun. I believe both have a relationship with Jesus, but I'm not quite sure. I believe that is a topic for Friday.

I'm very thankful that I have so many people praying for me back home! It really means a lot to know that they are supporting me as I do God's work. It gets very frustrating and discouraging sometimes due to circumstances here. I would ask for prayers that our team goes out everyday with renewed focus on Christ. Pray that the Lord use us to reap His harvest.