Today is a semi-chill day. We leave tomorrow morning at 8am for Aidlingen, so that's going to be exciting. Yesterday evening we had the afternoon off, which here in Germany doesn't mean too much because there isn't much to do around the house (as in places to go or see), so I finished up some of my things that I needed to do for my presentations/teaching times and then I went with Simeon, Johannes, and Simeon's brother Micha around the lake (Wiseensee). Micha is here with us just for this outreach, he served with The Buzz for the past two years, but now he lives in the north(ern) part of Germany pursuing Firefighting School. He's coming to Aidlingen with us, too, which is cool.
Today we're finishing up details, preparing handouts, gathering all our materials for the trip, and packing up the bus. Christian is editing my Vortrage, so I'll have to memorize/practice them during the ride, but I'll have 3.5 hours to do so.
In other happenings, I was able to skype with Rita the other day and that was, to me, a great time to catch up a bit and to stay in touch with friends back in the States. Internet for me is, on a whole, so inconsistent so it's really nice to be able to talk to have the time and availability to talk to people. I also got to skype Will for five minutes, which was also fantastic. It's a good reminder to me that people are still around the world and they still care and I can keep in touch with them.
I was also figuring out some details for England. My parents helped me get my hostel booked, so I was figuring out my total costs and how far I am from downtown London. I'm exciting to go to England and to see London, but I'm a little bummed that I'm going by myself. I was sitting and it hit me--I'm going to a different country, where I don't know a soul, and I'm spending two days there. Talk about feeling little! It's me and the country of England, one on one!
So yeah, I'll be on the road from tomorrow (21st) until the 24th, when we'll get back to Muehltal. That's all for now--in reality, nothing exciting has happened lately, so there's not a ton to write about. There will be in a few days, after Aidlingen, but until then, things are on the DL.
May 20, 2010
May 17, 2010
In the Western Forest!
A lot has happened in the past 10 days!!! I've successfully travelled from Muehltal to Munich and am now in Stalhofen am Wiesensee. For those of you who wish to track my travels, this Friday we leave for Aidlingen (near Stuttgart).
Today was our first full day in Stalhofen. Yesterday we arrived from Munich after our Einsatz (Outreach) there. We were there for four days doing ministry and now we're back at one of our two home bases to prepare for the next outreach.
Outreach = awesome. I'll give the general basics here: We have a double-decker bus and on this bus we have a kitchen; we make tea and coffee and give it away free of charge to anyone who comes to the bus. Then we speak with the people about our faith, as well as their own faith, in hopes to tell them about Jesus. We were in Munich for the Ecumenical Church Days, but suprisingly, there were more non-Christians there than one would expect. A lot of "Rangers" come down to help out (much like the Boy or Girl Scouts) and they help out because they have ties to Catholic or Evangelical circles; regardless, a lot of these students aren't Christians, so it seems like a lot of people there were more curious than I expected.
Anyways, there is more about that on the way via letters or messages. Our next trip is to Aidlingen, and it's going to prove to be a serious challenge (at least for me). We're going to a Christian Family Camp for Pfingsten (Pentacost), and so we're not doing a typical outreach. Instead, we're going to be leading RockSolid Club for two days (Sunday and Monday of next week), twice a day, for two days. It will be for kids ages 10-12. Also, Juergen, our leader, will give two Seminars on how to share your faith with non-Christians.
Here is where the challenging part comes in. Juergen has assigned me to give the "Geschichte" at each of the events (four in total). This means that I have to share, for about ten minutes each time about the story of Joseph. Nuts.
I did the first one today--its been one of the most challenging things to do because I have to first prepare it in English and then translate it to German in a meaningful way, and then get it proofed, and then memorize the theme because my grammar gets all jumbled up when I speak without having a direct endpoint in the conversation.
So for the next three days I will be preparing these Vortrage and then I will be giving them next week, so if you remember to, please pray for me because I need extra grace to make these good and understandable to the kids. The them of Joseph over the four days is (1) God speaks to people, (2) God is with us in difficult times, (3) God brings people back together (through Jesus), (4) God has a purpose for our lives
Those are the four points, and hopefully I can get them across clearly to the kids with my poor grammar and my accent.
In other news, I cleaned all six bathrooms here this morning, and then Christian and I went on a walk through the Wald (forest) and we found this crazy WWII bunker (maybe) and this old abandoned Forrester House. It was pretty sweet. Stalhofen is the Westerwald region of Germany (Western Forest, is what it means) so it's very forrested here and there are tons of little Dorfs, basically equivalent to a village, and so there is a lot of free space, grass, forests, and it's really beautiful out here.
So going through the woods at night or walking around the Wiesensee is a really great way to end the day and to think about things or to pray--its really pretty here and it's a great place to calm down, work quietly, and relax.
We're here until Thursday, then Aidlingen on Friday til Monday, and then back to Muehltal! I have wi-fi here in Stalhofen, so I might update more here while I can! Mach's gut!
Today was our first full day in Stalhofen. Yesterday we arrived from Munich after our Einsatz (Outreach) there. We were there for four days doing ministry and now we're back at one of our two home bases to prepare for the next outreach.
Outreach = awesome. I'll give the general basics here: We have a double-decker bus and on this bus we have a kitchen; we make tea and coffee and give it away free of charge to anyone who comes to the bus. Then we speak with the people about our faith, as well as their own faith, in hopes to tell them about Jesus. We were in Munich for the Ecumenical Church Days, but suprisingly, there were more non-Christians there than one would expect. A lot of "Rangers" come down to help out (much like the Boy or Girl Scouts) and they help out because they have ties to Catholic or Evangelical circles; regardless, a lot of these students aren't Christians, so it seems like a lot of people there were more curious than I expected.
Anyways, there is more about that on the way via letters or messages. Our next trip is to Aidlingen, and it's going to prove to be a serious challenge (at least for me). We're going to a Christian Family Camp for Pfingsten (Pentacost), and so we're not doing a typical outreach. Instead, we're going to be leading RockSolid Club for two days (Sunday and Monday of next week), twice a day, for two days. It will be for kids ages 10-12. Also, Juergen, our leader, will give two Seminars on how to share your faith with non-Christians.
Here is where the challenging part comes in. Juergen has assigned me to give the "Geschichte" at each of the events (four in total). This means that I have to share, for about ten minutes each time about the story of Joseph. Nuts.
I did the first one today--its been one of the most challenging things to do because I have to first prepare it in English and then translate it to German in a meaningful way, and then get it proofed, and then memorize the theme because my grammar gets all jumbled up when I speak without having a direct endpoint in the conversation.
So for the next three days I will be preparing these Vortrage and then I will be giving them next week, so if you remember to, please pray for me because I need extra grace to make these good and understandable to the kids. The them of Joseph over the four days is (1) God speaks to people, (2) God is with us in difficult times, (3) God brings people back together (through Jesus), (4) God has a purpose for our lives
Those are the four points, and hopefully I can get them across clearly to the kids with my poor grammar and my accent.
In other news, I cleaned all six bathrooms here this morning, and then Christian and I went on a walk through the Wald (forest) and we found this crazy WWII bunker (maybe) and this old abandoned Forrester House. It was pretty sweet. Stalhofen is the Westerwald region of Germany (Western Forest, is what it means) so it's very forrested here and there are tons of little Dorfs, basically equivalent to a village, and so there is a lot of free space, grass, forests, and it's really beautiful out here.
So going through the woods at night or walking around the Wiesensee is a really great way to end the day and to think about things or to pray--its really pretty here and it's a great place to calm down, work quietly, and relax.
We're here until Thursday, then Aidlingen on Friday til Monday, and then back to Muehltal! I have wi-fi here in Stalhofen, so I might update more here while I can! Mach's gut!
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