Taize

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to go to Taize, France.  It was part of our work as volunteers here, so there were about 70 of us from Germany that all went together.  Taize is a very small city with just a few houses and this place built to receive thousands of young people from all over for weeks at a time.  There are monks that live there and it is their mission to live simple lives and to share the gospel with young people who are searching for something.  They also have brothers that live in Africa and other parts of the world helping the poor and carrying the good news throughout the world.  The part of Taize where young people come is kind of like a big camping ground.  There are a few permanent buildings at the front of the land to welcome people and that serve as the kitchen and distribution area for meals.  There are then two big white tents nearby where you can meet as groups or eat under when the weather is bad.  In the center is the church which has been built onto several times to make additional room for the growing masses that visit each summer.  It is all very simple inside.  Besides a stage area that is set up with lots of colors and candles, there is a long aisle made out of plants on the sides to mark the area where the brothers sit/kneel during prayer.  The rest of the place is just open floor and more open floor in rooms connected with garage doors so that when there are not so many people there they can be closed and the feeling of the church being filled is preserved.  On the other side of the church is a gift shop where the brothers sell pottery and books and different kinds of artwork that they have made.  They do not take any donations but make all these things by hand and then sell them to fund their work.  Behind that are lots and lots of cabins and then off to one side is lots of space for camping out in tents. 

The week there was really good, but also not everything that I had expected.  I enjoyed the simple lifestyle.  The day began at 8:15 where everyone met in the church for morning prayer and communion.  That lasted about 45 minutes and then breakfast was around 9 every morning.  Every prayer time was ended when the brothers stood up and walked out, but everyone had the chance to stay longer and continue to pray if you wanted to.  The prayer times consisted of different chants being sung in all kinds of different languages, a reading from the Bible in English and another language, and 5-10 minutes of absolute silence followed by more singing. Every day for breakfast we got a roll, a pack of butter, and two little sticks of chocolate.  You also had the choice of hot tea or hot chocolate to drink, but there were no plates or utensils given out.  Towards the end of the week we figured out we could ask for two rolls if we knew the people handing them out.  After breakfast I had to meet with a group from my work here in Germany.  Our bosses wanted to meet with us every day to see how everything was going and if they could help us with anything.  It was kind of annoying to me, but I know some of the other people weren’t Christian and maybe didn’t go in embracing the ideas  or looking to be really involved.  It was just kind of a trip for them and I think our bosses also wanted to keep an eye on them to make sure they were participating fully.  After the meeting I had to start my work for the day.  When you arrive everyone is given a job to do in the community and a time to meet with a brother for a Bible input and then small groups afterwards.  The jobs ranged from being a silence keeper during the prayers to cleaning toilets.  I was very happy with my job.  I worked with two other people that were also from our group from Germany and our “boss” was a guy from Australia.  There are also young people that live there for 6 weeks- 1 year that are known as permanents who help to keep the place running and show the people there for a week what to do.  We were in charge of setting up the tables and lines that were needed to give out lunch, get all the food to the lines, recruit and supervise volunteers to give out the food, and then after lunch clean it all up.  It was really a fun job for me.  Most days I was in charge of cutting the bread.  We had to make sure we had all the numbers right and then figure out how much bread we needed to cut without going way over so that nothing was wasted.  Because we worked with the food, one of the perks of my job was being able to get as much as I wanted at lunch.  We ate after we were done cleaning everything up in a back room by ourselves.  We also got chili powder and some other extras that spiced the food up a little.  It was cool to see how everything worked.  Someone else had already brought the food to the walk in fridge or brought it to us hot from the kitchen.  We just had to count out the correct amount to match the numbers we had listed.  When we were cleaning up we just had to carry the dirty dishes to a certain station and someone else was in charge of actually washing them.  It made the work easier knowing that you just had to do this and this and you didn’t have to sit there thinking… oh man, that’s not gonna be fun to clean up later.  That was someone else’s job.  Our permanent was really cool, too.  He was very laid back and I think he was happy as well to have another native English speaker for a week.  We had lots of interesting discussions about the mission of Taize, Australia, and just getting to know each other.  Although we started work at 11 each day, we still went to the midday prayer at 12:20 and then went right back to work around 1:00 getting lunch served.  After we were done cleaning and eating I usually had a little spare time, about 30 minutes before I had to go to my group for Bible input.  Each day we met in a big group with one of the brothers who had a little devotion for us.  It was amazing how many languages the brothers knew.  They each had their native language of course, but then with each other they spoke French and then most of them also knew English or at least one other language fairly well.  After the devotion time was done we broke into small groups to discuss what was talked about or really just whatever was on our minds.  I was in a group with three French guys, one German girl from my group, and then 4 other Germans that we didn’t know.  We spoke English which was good for me, but the Germans had a tough time understand the French guys’ English.  One of the French guys and one of the Germans also had a tough time with English in general, but in the end we were able to communicate pretty well.  I was a little disappointed with my group, though.  Most of the people there were 18-20 and most of them were also not Christian.  It was not really what I was expecting.  I was looking forward to time with other Christians in Bible study but I felt much older than them and like I should speak up as a Christian voice which is kind of what I feel like I am always doing at work, so it wasn’t as much of a time of rejuvenation for me in that regard.   After the small group I had about 2 hours before dinner each day.  I spent that time very differently each day.  The first day I was invited to play rugby with all French people.  I wasn’t really sure of the rules or if I was doing something illegal, but it was pretty fun for the 15 minutes that I played.  I scored almost immediately after joining the game which I think really impressed them a lot.  I really just outran everyone; I never got touched, so it was really pretty easy.  After about 15 minutes though I was so tired and didn’t really want to get hit any more so I decided to quit.  There is a big difference in the impact of a hit when you are fresh and can deliver a hit yourself or are quicker and can move a little so the hit isn’t so hard and when you are tired and you just take the brunt of a hit because you can’t get out of the way.  It was really cool though, because the entire week after that the French people knew me and liked me just because I had played with them.  Other days I just took time for myself with God, checked out the gift shop, or went walking in the huge garden area they have with a little lake and trails all around.  Dinner was at 7 every night and then evening prayer began at 8:30 and went til about 10 or later if you decided to stay and pray longer.  At the evening prayer several of the brothers also got up and went to the back where you could go and ask questions or just talk with them about whatever.  There was also a room to the side that was opened where several brothers sat in chairs with an empty chair beside them that you could go to.  I thought they were there just for questions or prayer or whatever like the others so I went to one of these and turns out they were there for confession.  The monk that founded Taize was protestant but there are no divisions of Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, etc. in Taize.  They try to incorporate all of them in the worship services and then you are free to observe what you want.  They have some ikons in the church, they have water when you come in to cross yourself, they have a picture of Mary in the church, they have a cross that they bring to the middle during the evening prayer to pray before, and are accepting of all denominations.   On Friday night they lay the cross in the middle and all are invited to go and lay your head on the cross, as a symbol of laying your life/troubles/etc. on Jesus and his cross.  It is a celebration of Black Friday every Friday.  On Saturday they celebrate Easter by spreading the light of Jesus through the church with everyone lighting a candle, like what we do at Christmas services.  After the evening prayer service there is a building open that sells snacks and drinks and then everyone just hangs out until 11:30 or 12 when it is absolute silence until morning.  One night during this time I got invited by the French to play a game with them.  They asked me if my shoulders were strong and I said I guess so, not knowing what the game entailed.  It started out with myself and maybe six others huddled together with our arms on our neighbors’ necks and our legs crossed with our neighbors.  Then we rocked back and forth while they chanted something and then someone would run and jump on top of us, over the huddle, grab the waist of one of us and hold on with their feet on the ground and their faces in the middle of our huddle looking up.  We did that until each one of us had someone holding on to our waists.  Then we were supposed to rock back and forth and at a certain time all jump together to the right until someone fell.  It didn’t take long before someone fell, and luckily it wasn’t me.  It was funny seeing the differences between the French and Germans.  The Germans all asked me why did I play that and what was the point of it.  They just sat there and talked and watched while the French kept playing lots of strange games like that. 

The food was always very simple for each meal.  For lunch and dinner there was always a main course, a roll or two baguette slices, a fruit, a cheese, and a little cookie or some kind of dessert.  We got bowls to drink water out of, a plate, and a spoon to eat everything with.  The main courses were cous-cous, beans and potatoes, rice w/beans and corn mixed together, mashed potatoes and 2 chicken nuggets, noodles with tomato sauce, green peas and carrots, and I don’t remember what else, but always something pretty easy to make in bulk.  They had someone that knew how to season things, because even the stuff that I wouldn’t touch at home tasted decent. 

For me the week was good because it was a time away from work and all the distractions like TV, internet, etc.  I thought it would be more of a mountain top experience than it turned out to be.  I thought it would be lots of Christians coming together to live a week like the monks and there would be lots of encouraging and times to learn in all of the talks with the people.  There was a lot of learning about cultures and different ideas, which is also really good, but there wasn’t as much of a focus on learning more about God as I had hoped.  I also felt like most everyone was younger than me and not really in the same stage of their life as I am.  The adults (30 and up) had a separate program at the back of the land than the rest of us.  There were not many people 24-30, though, in the week that I was there.  I wish that we had more time in conversation with the brothers.  It was a good week though, and I would love to go back with friends or family.  The chants during prayer were very peaceful and when I understood the language also helpful in my prayer life.  Because they were almost all taken from Bible verses, it really helps to remember scripture.  I’m sure if you lived there like the brothers and learned what each song meant then it would be very helpful.  The chants were translated in the song book, but it takes a while to be able to sing another language and still understand the meaning in your own.  Being there with so many other people and nationalities and cultures also really made me want to travel again.  Luckily, I would find out the next week I was going to get to go to Romania for a week.  I’ll write about that trip in the next few days.

Romans 12:15

The past few weeks have been very busy.  They have also been cold.  There is still snow on the ground… it may be a white Easter for me.  I’ve been working more and more on English Camp, sending out flyers and trying to recruit staff and campers, as well as all of the normal programs that we have here.  I have also started tutoring two students in English, which I have found is much tougher than one might think.  I never was very good with grammar.  I never could remember what was an adverb or subject predicate or whatever all that is; I always read a lot and was always able to just guess the correct answer because I knew it sounded correct.  I can tell the students what is correct with their English, but I can’t tell them why every time, or the rules to follow.  Hopefully just speaking it a little more and me helping them where I can will be some help to them at least.  The past two weeks have been especially busy.  I had a seminar I had to go to last week and this past week we had a retreat with our kids that was from Sunday until Thursday.  The seminar was actually a nice break from work and the house we stayed at had a lot of really neat things to do during my spare time.  I was able to take a camera around the city and take random photographs and then got to develop them myself in black and white.  It was really cool to see and learn how to do that.  If it wasn’t so expensive it would really be a fun hobby to have a room set up for that at home.  The only bad part of the seminar was the time we had to be in class which was from morning until afternoon.  The seminar topic was politics and communication in our daily lives.  It had a lot of potential to be very interesting, but the teacher just was not very good.  I think that he usually does seminars for an older age group, although even then I can’t really see how his methods would be interesting to anyone.  I’ll give him credit because it was clear that he tried, he asked us several times what we wanted to learn about and what we wanted to do, but there weren’t many options and the few times I did answer it ended up being something he didn’t really know about so he kind of brushed it aside.  I got the feeling that he was hoping we would respond with the topics he knew about and which he ended up teaching about anyways. 

The children’s retreat was really a full week.  I got back from the seminar on Friday, had a day to do laundry, and then we left on Sunday for the retreat.  It had a little bit of everything.  We got to do a lot of fun activities with the kids.  Each morning we had a little play about the two men on the way to Emmaus.  The first day they were sad their friend had been killed, the second day they met a stranger on the road and had lots of questions about why God would let Jesus be killed, the third day they realized it was Jesus they had met and were filled with joy, and the last day they shared their joy with all of the other disciples and prepared to tell the world.   After the play we broke up into groups and went into the play a little deeper and after that we had different crafts or detective games because in the play a detective was trying to find out the truth about the Jesus people.  In the afternoons we also had different activities.  One day we went swimming and played in a gym and then did mountain climbing on a wall, the next day we visited a clinic for people trying to recover from alcohol and drug addictions, and the last day we went to a planetarium and saw a film about the different seasons of the year.  It was all really good.  I had to learn how to be the guy that is underneath and holds the rope when the kids were climbing which is a cool skill to have. The planetarium was a lot of fun.  It was basically just like seeing an IMAX film in 3D.  The clinic was hard.  We got a little tour of the place and also sat together with one of the guys who works there and he led a discussion about drugs and alcohol and let the kids ask whatever questions they wanted to.  The kids had a lot of questions and it was clear that 90% of them know about what happens to a person from personal experiences.  Some of them asked what you could do as a kid to get your parents help.  Each night we had a different program as well, and the night of the clinic visit was very powerful.  We laid out candles in the shape of a cross and let each person light a candle and say a prayer for themselves and their families.  The kids could also say something about their families or what to pray about specifically.  By the end of the time 90% of the kids were crying.  They were also comforting each other.  So many talked about missing their mom or dad or siblings that had been taken away to foster homes.  Some just cried and didn’t say anything, although I know several of their parents are drug or alcohol addicts from what they have told me at other times.  I ended up crying too because it was so heartbreaking to see so many loving kids crying and to know what they have to live with at home and all the time.  I stole one of Bighouse’s mottos and told them that our parents here on Earth are not perfect and they have lots of problems themselves but we have a Father in Heaven that loves us perfectly.  I just wanted them to know that they can go to God and be comforted and’ that He loves them so much.   The next morning one of the kids prayed before our breakfast and said “Thank you God that we could come to you last night and that you washed away our tears”.  He told me later it was good for him because he doesn’t usually have a place where he can just cry like that.  I understood a little better the verse in the Bible that says to weep with those that weep.  That was really all that I was doing.  I find it so hard to put myself in these kids’ shoes.  I can’t understand or imagine what it must be like to grow up with parents that don’t care or care more about drugs or alcohol than you.  It is hard for me to know how they see God as well.  I have found myself wondering what kind of comfort would it be to hear that God loves me and wants me to be his and will comfort me and take away my worries if I lived so alone without parents.  But I cried with them because I wanted to share their pain and sadness they have to experience.  And I think the kids realized that I really care about them.  I think that is why the Bible says to weep with those who weep.  Afterwards I felt like the kids talked with me and treated me much differently than before, I think they trust me.  It was a powerful night.  The next morning I kept thinking of the verse that says there is mourning in the night, but joy comes with the morning.  I think the kids did really enjoy that next day when we went to the planetarium and as the one boy prayed I think they did feel better the next morning, but I kept thinking that as much as I wished that it was the solution to their problems, these kids still had to go back to their normal lives on Thursday afternoon.  So many of the kids did not want to leave, and one or two were very sad about having to leave.  We invited all of the kids to come and bring their families on Sunday to an Easter service for children and adults so hopefully we will be able to reach out to at least a few of the parents then and show them God’s love as well. 

January 2013

Its been a pretty busy few weeks since Ive gotten back from Christmas break.  We have started having out sport afternoon every Friday and a youth small group/bible study every Tuesday evening.  We have also had to do two worship services at nursing homes here in Zeitz.  On the day I got back to Zeitz I went and ate dinner with Albrecht and was introduced to the English Camp director from last year and since then we have been much busier planning for that as well.  Aside from work, Matthias, the other guy that Im living and working with, has been reading this New Age book and asking lots of questions about his faith and at times bringing these views into our discussions with the youth or kids.  It has been a little bit of stress, and prayers for him are appreciated.  I know it is normal for someone his age to question the beliefs he was always told were correct, but Im learning how frustrating it can be and also how much patience you have to have or else you only hurt the situation.  I have also been busy with applications to Candler and all kinds of forms and interviews to begin the candidacy process to become a pastor in the UMC. 

Last weekend I did get to take a little break and went and visited Claudi at her parents house in Mildenau.  Sni was there from Latvia so we had a little IMT reunion with half of the team.  It was a really good and much needed break for me.  We mostly just chilled and played rummikub.  We watched a really good film that was based on a true story about two guys that liked to make movies in the GDR and who decided to visit America after the wall fell.  One of the guys wanted to get to San Francisco because he got birthday cards from his dad every year from San Francisco.  The movie was about all the differences and things they had never got to experience before as they travelled through America and then in the end we find out that it was a random guy sending the birthday cards every year.  The stasi had shot his dad and then told this guy he had to send birthday cards every year or theyd kill him too.  Stories like that make it hard to understand the people that come to our soup kitchen and other programs at the church and that continue to believe things were better in the GDR.  One guy spoke very passionately about it last week.  It was really an interesting conversation and I really wish I could have seen how things really were, like being a fly on the wall.  I think it is clear that he has something else going on than just the fact that he truly believes things were so much better then, but he makes a very passionate case.  He says that back then people would help each other out, that people were nicer to one another.  He believes that the West came in and shut down all of the factories, especially the one he worked in, so that they could sell their goods to the east.  He says that capitalism means that for him to have more then someone else has to have less and back then everyone at least got a more even piece of the pie.  Of course there are plenty of other people that say this is a much better place after the wall fell.  Using that guys argument, for him to get a piece of the pie then it meant freedoms were taken away from many, many other people.  Although, I do wonder what the real story is about the factories and all… the winners do always write the history books, and it wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened in this world.  However, like I said before, from everything Ive heard, its definitely not good here but it is better than it was for the simple reason that you can go where you want and youre not being constantly spied on by your government.  Anyways, we ate a ton last weekend.  We celebrated her granddads and a cousins bday and ate so many tortes, eclairs, and pastries.. it was delicious.  On Monday we went to a really neat toy museum.  It was a collection of toys from the early 1900s and earlier and really told the story of Erzgeberg, this area of Germany.  I think almost everything was carved out of wood.  They had lots of figurines that portrayed towns or castles or the work that took place in the mines in this area.  So many of the models had Jesus or something with Christianity built into them.   It was really neat.  One of the things they had was a huge model that had all these gears underneath and it the figures would appear and disappear and it told the entire story of Jesus.  It was really amazing to see how it all worked, and to know how old it was.  They also had plenty of raucherman (smoking men), pyramids, and nutcrackers which are all very traditional Erzgeberg Christmas traditions.

                I really cant wait for it to warm up here.  We had two days where it was relatively warm and I realized how big of a difference that makes for my mood.  Just walking outside and feeling the sun instead of a cold wind and snow or rain really made me happier.  Besides the weather, I also get annoyed much easier when I have to walk with other people because they don’t realize its cold outside and walk so slow.  I know Matthias probably thinks Im a jerk, but some days I just have to walk on ahead.  Its like when the speed limit says 20 on some roads and you try to go the speed limit but it just doesn’t make sense to go that slow so you finally speed up just to feel like youre moving. 

And Alabama won the National Championship and had the #1 recruiting class, again.  In case some of you hadn’t heard yet.

Coming home soon!

From time to time I like to imagine my life as a movie, or at certain times at least, I imagine that something I’m doing or experiencing would be or is like a scene out of a movie.  I just experienced one such moment.  As I finished working at our booth on the Weihnachts Markt, I bought a gluhwein and a bratwurst and thoroughly enjoyed them as I walked home through this small city lit up with Christmas decorations and a light snow falling.  It was the perfect scene for either the opening of a Christmas comedy where soon after I would get hit by a car or come back to find my apartment turned upside down with a note from my (now) ex-girlfriend saying she and the neighbor had gone off to Mexico together, or the ending to a drama where the town had just come together to save my tiny (and the last of its kind) handmade, wooden Christmas toy shop.  All that was lacking was the music to play with your emotions and make you feel like the director wanted you to.  And the aerial camera view to really capture the entire scene.

Whatever, in case you didn’t catch it before, I’m working at our booth on the Christmas Market here in Zeitz this week.  It has been very cold, but also a good time.  I have gotten to watch everyone in Zeitz walk by once or twice and since one of my hobbys is people watching it works out pretty well.  I have also gotten a very small view from the other side of the Christmas shopping season.  Since I have never worked in retail, this is the closest I’ve come to being the person that has to stay in one shop the entire day and sell things to people that are just looking for a deal.  The Weihnachts Markt is much prettier and “magical” when you don’t have to look at it from the same booth all day.  And much more enjoyable when after you have strolled through all the booths you’re able to head home to somewhere nice and warm. 

I haven’t written in a while, but a week or two ago I got to have a very interesting conversation with two older ladies.  I am sure that one of them is Russian and was married to a German man, but has only lived in Germany for somewhere around 10 years.  The other woman I am not 100% sure about.  They speak to each other in Russian, and I think the other woman is German, but lived in Russia until sometime in the last 20 years or so.  Anyways, they both have some very interesting life stories.  You could probably make blockbuster hits out of both of their lives.  Well, at least out of one of them.  I couldn’t actually understand the other lady well enough to say that for her, but from what I could understand, it’s probably true for her too.  The woman that is German (or so I think) and that lived in Russia for a while has definitely experienced a lot.  She told me that she lived in Russia during the war and that afterwards it was very difficult for Germans.  At some point she was sent to a kind of internment camp in Kazakhstan because she was German and had to live there for 14 years.  She said it was only because of Jesus that they survived.  She said that if you were German then you were treated especially rough and that they barely had a thin blanket to cover themselves with during the cold, winter months.  She said things got better for them after Stalin died.  I really wish I could understand them better because I feel like they probably have a lot of very interesting stories and wisdom to pass on.  I find it fascinating to hear these kinds of stories about things we learned about or heard about in school, but could honestly never really fathom or understand what it all meant to the people who lived through it.  I think that hearing firsthand accounts like this really makes the history that we learned with all of the numbers and statistics much more understandable and touchable.  I think our lessons would be much better learned (so that we don’t keep repeating our mistakes) if we were able to, or took the time to listen to people that lived through all of this history and especially ones from different parts of the world than ours. 

Anyways, I don’t know what else to update on.  I’m headed home for the holidays on Wednesday, so I’m pretty excited about that.  The past few weeks have been pretty busy with a seminar and then lots of special Christmas programs at the church.  We had soup kitchen for 4 days in a row and now we have a booth at the Weihnachts Markt.  It’s been good, but I won’t be sorry to leave this cold behind for a little while.  I also got to speak with some foster parents that are in our church here in Zeitz.  It was really interesting to hear about a different system and compare the similarities and differences between what I experienced in Opelika and how it is here.  They get a lot more financial support here in Germany for foster kids, but the biological parents also have a lot more rights than they do in Alabama.  That might sound like a good thing, but I don’t think it is when the parents are so messed that sometimes they cannot even take care of themselves.  Clearly there is not really an ideal situation in regards to this, but I think that it is better in Alabama where after a certain period of time for the parents to try and get things together and when they clearly just are not able to provide a safe environment for their kids that their rights are terminated and their children are then able to be adopted, as opposed to here where the parents have to say they don’t want the rights anymore and before that can always decide they want to take their kids back, maybe for a year or two, and then decide they are not quite ready and put them back into the foster system and continue that cycle for as long as they want to.  It was also sad to hear that, at least in this area, the social workers are also way overworked and there is no more room in the children’s homes so that sometimes children that should be are not always immediately taken out of a dangerous situation.  I had wondered why several of our children from the kids afternoon programs still lived with their parents, but I suppose that is why.  I am hoping to start at least one or two of the Bighouse programs here in Zeitz in January to help out some of the foster families.  I think it will be good to raise awareness in the church here and hopefully also in the city about what is needed and what small things everyone can do to help out.

Reformations Day

Happy Reformations Day! Im gonna try to catch everyone up with what all’s been going on since September.  Im doing an FSJ- Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr (I think most of you can translate that pretty easily), with the local Methodist Church here in Zeitz, Germany.  Zeitz is in east Germany and has really gone downhill since the fall of the DDR.  The church is called the Lighthouse congregation and they have several outreach programs like a children’s afternoon two days a week and a soup kitchen once a month.  Zeitz is kind of a rough city.  The first few weeks I was here it was really depressing.  The city is a mess.  The people in the church told me that 50000 people used to live her and now only 20000 live here.  There are empty buildings, shops and apartments, all over the city.  Many of the buildings look way out of date and run down with broken glass or chipped walls and there is trash all over the city.  I have had to walk over glass shards on the way to work every day for the last two months and that is when I am walking through the nicer city center.  They told me that many films come to shoot war scenes here because all the buildings already looked like they were recently bombed.  I think the environment here has a pretty big effect on the people too.  I have met a few other people and seen some different things now, but as recently as a few weeks ago I still would’ve sworn that almost everyone in Zeitz had some kind of problem, or was not quite so normal.  It was almost like the buildings reflected the people of the city, and I thought to myself that this was a kind of city where the rundown and outcast must come.  I see a lot of people with physical problems on the street and there is a ton of alcoholism in this city.  There are barely any young people around my age here.  I am pretty sure once they got old enough, they left for a nicer place.  It seems like just about everyone has a rather negative view of their city.  When asked how I liked it here, everyone was surprised or would tell me I could tell the truth when I answered it was nice… I was mostly just saying that to not offend, although now I have found some parts of Zeitz that are actually nice.  The people here seem to always be making a joke or a comment about how dysfunctional or messed up it is here.  There are also many people without work here.  I have talked with several of them at the soup kitchen and they all miss the DDR and say it was much better times then.  There are also several assisted living senior citizens homes here and also several different children’s homes.  It is hard to imagine in a city this size that there could be so many children’s homes, but I think so many of the parents here have lost hope and turned to drinking and drugs.  It is really sad, but also an amazing opportunity to be able to bring Gods love and some hope back into the lives of the people here. 

There are 3 or 4 churches here in Zeitz, but I don’t think any of them have more than 50 people or so.  That means there are about 200 Christians or at least people that attend a church in a city of 20000.  I suppose the numbers could be worse, but that’s a huge difference from what you would see in Trussville, for example.  The church I am working for has about 20 or 30 people each Sunday. 

That’s kind of the background for where I am now.  It is good to know to better understand what I’ve been doing here since September.  The first few weeks were pretty long for me and boring, which also meant more time to think about people and places that I missed.  Luckily I have a really awesome mom that got online as much as she could to keep me company in that time.  I was not entirely certain what the pastor had in mind for us( Matthias and I, the other guy doing the same work as me) when he signed up to have two FSJ-lers here in Zeitz.  The church does have a few outreach programs, like I said before, but there was still a lot of free time in our weeks when there was really nothing to do.  The first few weeks looked like this:  Monday- our day off… although sometimes we were asked to go to a meeting or pick up donations from a nearby city, Tuesday and Wednesday- Childrens program in the afternoons and preparing for the program or taking care of visa/bank/insurance stuff in the mornings.  Thursday morning we really didn’t have much at all to do and afternoons we go to a Book Coffee or one time a month a Bible Coffee.  The book coffee is kind of dead.  The two ladies who work in the Lighthouse programs would make tea and coffee and have a few cookies out or something and then one of them would read a book to whoever would come, usually only one older lady and at most three older ladies.  The Bible Coffees were better attended because they would serve homemade pastries or cakes so a lot of people from the Soup Kitchen would be there for that.  After eating then we read a Bible passage and the pastor says a few words about it, which is usually pretty good.  Fridays we didn’t have anything except at night we have a prayer evening.  The first time surprised me a little because the first hour was praying for Israel and they had a menorah out and Israeli flags out, at one time the pastor picked one up and started waving it around as we sang a Jewish song together.  They are very big into Israel and I have not had the right time to ask too many questions about it just yet, but I think it has something to do with their history here as well.  Saturdays we don’t usually have anything except for youth group at night and then Sundays we just have one worship service in the morning.  Reading all that may seem like a lot, but it really is not much at all.  The children’s program is only one and a half hours and we always eat and sing some songs to begin which takes up at least 30 minutes usually.  That means we only have to prepare a short devotion and maybe one or two games or something like that and then our time is over.  That also means it doesn’t take forever to prepare for it.  So those first few weeks I did not have much to do at all.  We did start talking about some different, new projects that Matthias and I could start on our own.  Now, we are finally beginning to really start some of those projects and I feel like my week is much more productive. 

We have several ideas for new projects and some of them are farther along than others.  One new thing that I am in charge of actually starts on Sunday for the first time.  I really stole the idea from Barry from Chemnitz, but I am starting an English Language Fellowship here in Zeitz, which is basically a worship service once a month in English.  There are clearly not as many people interested or that know English here in Zeitz as there were in Chemnitz, but I also went to the universities in Leipzig and advertised a little bit there so hopefully we will have a decent turnout.  A lot of the people that came to the service in Chemnitz I would not see at the regular Sunday morning service but they were interested in practicing their English and so Im hoping it will work out here too.   Another project that we have lined up is a sport afternoon for kids in the city.  We went yesterday and looked at a gym that I think will be perfect for it, and have a kind of test run one Friday in November.  We will start meeting regularly every Friday in January to just play sports and games with kids and then maybe have a little snack at the end.  We really just want to use this time to develop some relationships with different kids and have fun and provide a good place for some running around and staying fit.  We have also spoken with the mayor, who helped us with the gym, about two other projects that were waiting for a response about.  One of them is just a big trash clean up project.  I had actually envisioned a weekly kind of thing when I first got here, but it is evolved into hopefully sometime having one day where we recruit as many people as we can to come and help clean up a park in the city.  It is always covered in alcohol bottles and trash, but also has a nice playground and where we see many of our kids from the children’s program playing when were out and about.  The other idea is to go into the schools and help tutor kids in English or Matthias will help with German or Latin.  We really just want to develop some relationships with some of the teens in the area and hopefully we can slowly turn homework help into a real relationship and then maybe get them to come to youth group with us or at the very least let them know we are there to talk with or help them out whenever they need something.  We have also applied for some grant money so that we can buy some new toys for the children’s program as well as building a really cool tree house behind the church for the kids.  This past week we also had what I find to be an awesome opportunity that I think we should definitely take advantage of as soon as we get a schedule down for one or two of the other projects weve already been working on.  Last week I went to a big apartment complex where only foreigners live to pass out flyers and invited them to the English service since most of them do not speak any German but at least a little English.  While we were there the lady in charge of the place asked us if we would be interested in giving German lessons there at the house for whoever wanted them.  I think that would be great and its something that we actually know there is a need for.  Several of our ideas we came to this city with, and although I think they will be well received and helpful, we know beforehand that this is something that is really needed here, so hopefully we can get that started as well.

I think that’s about everything that I do here.  Ive found a few other things to fill my spare time which is good.  On Tuesday nights I go to a bible study at the church, although it is only old ladies, Matthias, and me.  On Wednesday nights I go to play volleyball with a group that is made up of people from several of the churches here in Zeitz.  It is really good to be able to play a little sport and we also have a short devotion to start off.  I guess that is really everything so far.  I have gotten to visit my friends in Chemnitz a few times which is always good and while in Leipzig handing out flyers for ELF I met an Australian guy that works for the English church there so I may try to go and visit them sometime or have some tea or something.  The only problem is it costs so much money to take the trains to either of those cities, so that’s kind of a bummer.  The Australian guy invited me to a bible study for international students on Thursday nights which I would love to go to, but Ill have to see if it works out with time and money and everything.  I finally got internet for my laptop last week too.  I felt bad for using Matthias’ internet the first two months and it was hard not being able to get online whenever I felt like it to chat or check an Alabama score.  Matthias and I live together as well and that has been tough, although it is getting better and better now.  He is 18 and just graduated high school but he is also really tall (that might seem insignificant, but for whatever reason, because he is so much taller, sometimes Id forget he was relative young still).  He also likes to talk a lot and will give his opinion even if no one asked for it.  He is super nice but at first I just found it annoying.  All of those things together made him really annoying to me for a while, although thankfully we have gotten to know each other a little better now and it doesn’t bother me as much now.  Its also been a good time for me to learn a lot too.  I have to learn to communicate better and realize that he doesn’t necessarily think like I do so its not always obvious that we should do this or that.  But yea… that’s basically what has been going on around here.  Now that I have internet I plan to blog much more often and so hopefully I won’t have to write long overviews that aren’t always very specific.  Also say a prayer for my uncle tomorrow, he is going for a biopsy on a tumor in his brain.  Thanks.

Herzlich Willkommen

Im finally able to blog again.  It has been a very interesting first two months here in Zeitz, and Im debating on whether or not to break up the recap into three or four different blogs or just give a very broad overview of what alls happened and how its been.  Im just gonna write and see how long it gets before I decide.  Im thankful to finally have internet with my laptop, but that story is really getting ahead a little bit, so Im gonna go back to the beginning and start there.

I got to spend the weekend before I left with lots of close friends at the lake, just hanging out and watching football.  It was a really fun weekend but I started feeling kind of sick while I was there.  My throat was hurting and my nose stuffed up and I was really hoping I didn’t have mono again.  I was flying out on Monday so I left the lake early on Sunday afternoon and went home to finish packing and be with my family a little longer.  I didn’t feel like finishing packing though.  I went on to bed pretty early and woke up in time to try and be the first patient at the doc-in-a-box to see if it was anything serious or if he could give me something to knock it out.  Im glad that I went but it was not fun.  We ended up being the 4^th or 5^th patient there so I had to wait a while before I was taken to be seen.  Once I was back there I told them what was wrong and they decided to test my blood and check out everything and then decided to give me two shots to knock out what they diagnosed as a sinus and ear infection.  The only problem was that I don’t really do needles and shots very well.  So of course I told the nurse that came to take my blood that it was very likely I was going to pass out or at least come close, and she acted like I was a wimp and told me Id be fine.  I said Ok, but in a tone that really said “Ok, youre gonna have to catch me in about 20 seconds and Im gonna be happy to tell you I told you so”, and then felt fine… well I didn’t dare move my arm too much or look at it and risk thinking about it again, but I didn’t feel woosy or anything.  Nurse 1  me 0.  Well I suppose I won too, but now they just thought I was a wimp and was a little too worried about passing out.  So, after waiting for a long while they finally came to give me the two shots, one in each butt cheek/upper thigh.  This time I didn’t dare say anything to the nurse about passing out.  Instead I stood up and did like he told me to and prayed for it to be quick and painless.  He gave me the first shot and I immediately started to feel faint.  I thought about sitting down or saying something but he had the other shot ready so I just tried to fight it long enough for him to get both of them over with.  He gave me the second shot and told me I could go as he was walking out.  I told him I thought I needed to stay there for a little while as I basically fell onto the table and rolled over so I was laying on my back.  Im not sure how long I layed there, but at some point he came back to check on me.  By then I was feeling a little better and didn’t think I was gonna black out but thought it was best for me to stay there a little longer before I tried to walk out.  I finally decided I should just go and didn’t want any more of the nurses to come by and see me.  I made it to the car and as I sat there waiting for my mom to come out, was really hoping the tradeoff of having my infections knocked out would be worth the really sore butt I was going to have to use in a couple hours to drive to Atlanta and then fly for 8 or 9 hours.

Before I could do that though, I had to go home and finish packing, then to Granddaddys for his birthday breakfast and to say bye to everyone there.  Saying bye this time around was much harder for me.  I don’t know if it was because I had only been home for a month or what but I didn’t feel quite as adventurous as last time around.  Mom drove me to the airport and I got all checked in and got to eat some Varsity before I left.  On the plane I got stuck between two guys and behind a guy that put his seat alllll the way back.  I really felt cramped.  And my butt was still sore.  I was not able to sleep at all which I was really hoping to be able to do.  I left Atlanta around 6 or 7, I think, and then got to Germany around 8 or 9 in the morning, I think, and knew I was going to have a long Tuesday, too travelling to east Germany and then to a seminar I was supposed to be at on Monday, and lugging around a year’s worth of luggage.  So after everything on Monday and looking forward to Tuesday I was really hoping to sleep some on the plane but it just didn’t happen.  The guy I sat beside probably played against my dad in high school though, so I guess that was interesting.  He played at Mt. Brook with Major Ogilvie.  Anyways, we got to Frankfurt a little bit late so I had to really hurry to catch my next flight to Dresden.  By this time I was needing to take my medicine which I was supposed to take with food and was super tired and just kinda weak.  I got to my gate and saw that my flight had been cancelled so I walked to the nearest Lufthansa customer service desk and realized there was more than just my flight that had been cancelled.  I went to the end of a very long line and as I stood there saw a tv in the airport talking about Lufthansa employees striking in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Munich.  I waited in this line for over an hour anxious about how I was going to take my medicine, wondering about how late I was going to be since I could not let the people that were supposed to pick me up know I would be later, and hoping I would get my money back or at least not have to pay for another flight.  I did try to use my kindle and email the lady I had been emailing with about all of these plans, but I had no idea if they were being read or not.  I never did get even close to the counter to talk with someone, the line was so long.  They did put out some kind of granola bars and water which was better than nothing at that point and I finally went and talked with a lady that was just fielding random questions towards the end of the line.  She told me I could go to another part of the airport and theyd help me get a train ticket to Dresden instead of flying.  I figured Id go check it out since it was clear Id be in that line for several hours just waiting to try and book another flight.  I spent the next thirty minutes walking across the airport and after being sent to a few different lines, finally found the one I was supposed to wait in.  I asked two or three different Lufthansa employees and they all told me something different, I think they were a bit under pressure too.  I waited in that line for 40 minutes or so, stocking up on water and granola bars for later in the day.  I finally made it to the counter and they gave me a train ticket voucher and told me my luggage would be sent to me in the next few days.  I wasn’t bold enough to really raise a stink and they didn’t offer to give me any money back, so I just took the ticket and left.  I then had to walk to the train station and wait in line there to book a train ticket for where I needed to go.  This part actually worked out for me.  I didn’t have to lug around my huge bag and with the train I was able to just go directly to the train stop where I was supposed to meet the people who were supposed to pick me up at a certain time.  Luckily I was able to sleep some on the trains, but did have to change trains several times and one or two that I was on were late and then I missed the ones I was supposed to take.  After all this I finally made it to the little city where I was supposed to meet the people and no one was there.  I tried several more times to email the lady and even walked to a hotel twice and used their phone to call the only number I had from the people but never got an answer.  I really didn’t know what to do.  I figured they knew I was supposed to be coming that day so maybe they would at least come back later and see if I ever made it since I was later than the time we had agreed on.  I waited 4 hours outside the train station until it was dark and I was starting to freeze.  No one came.  I should have planned for emergencies a little bit better, but I also didn’t have many Euro with me because I was planning on converting my money in a bank when I got there since Id heard Id get a better exchange rate that way.  So, I was really starting to get hungry and tired and decided Id try to figure out a way to get to the little town where I was supposed to be.  I saw a taxi nearby and went and asked the taxi driver if he knew where that little town was.  He was super nice.  He was not sure exactly so he tried calling for me and searched a few maps and then around his office to see if he had another number for the place I was supposed to go.  Another couple came up with money so he drove them to where they needed to go and then came back and helped me out.  He ended up driving me to the town and asking where it was that I needed to be and luckily we were right there by it.  He took 20 American dollars and told me to come back and exchange it when I had Euro, so he was really a blessing that night.  I didn’t want to seem like a jerk when I got to the seminar, so I went by and said hey to everyone for a few minutes and then went and showered and went to bed.  I thought I had survived.

Because my luggage didn’t get there until Thursday, I didn’t have any fresh clothes or winter clothes and it was cold where we were.  I also didn’t have a towel, but luckily had brought the blanket they give you on the airplane and used that.  It wasn’t the first time those airplane blankets had helped me out.. but that’s another story.  I also woke up the next morning and my mouth was hurting pretty bad.  I emailed my mom and asked her if that was normal or what should I do and she thought I had a yeast infection or something caused by the steroids and other shots I had gotten for my sinus infection.  The entire week of our training seminar I felt like crap.  A few times I just stayed in my bed and slept instead of going to “training”.  I was sick and jet lagged and cold.  And I missed everyone already.  It was rough.  We came to Zeitz and I really still am not sure how I did it, but we walked from the train station to our apartment and I was mad that we didn’t take a taxi.  I had not been able to really eat much cause my mouth hurt so bad and also still had a sinus infection and had to carry my backpack and wheel a medium sized bag and then my huge bag that was somewhere around 70 lbs. Sometime during that weekend the pastor here sent a doctor to me and she told me I now had a viral infection in my mouth too and that’s why it hurt so bad and I couldn’t eat.  Anyways, sometime around Tuesday or Wednesday I finally felt well enough to go out and visit the church and all.  It took me another week before I really felt well, but thankfully everything is good now.   I think this is long enough for one blog, so Ill write another one tom about my work and the city and whats been going on since I got here.  I hope this one isn’t too depressing.  It was def a rough first couple of weeks, but Im healthy now and God is good. 

Spain and beyond...

Like most of my posts lately, its been a while since my last one and I hope that I remember everything that I should, but Im relatively certain that I wont.  IMT ended.  It was very bittersweet.  I think all of us were excited to be leaving to go home and see friends and family, but at the same time I think we were all sad to be leaving our team.  The week after IMT was over I went to Spain with two of the youth we had worked with this year.  I went back to Chemnitz for two nights to do some laundry and finish packing, and as I was there alone where we lived, I really missed the girls.  I was eating dinner and just sitting in our little kitchen and started thinking about the past year and all the memories we had made.  I apologize for getting all sentimental here.  But, it was really strange knowing I was the only one there.  I half expected one of the girls to come in and sit down with me to eat.  I think I have watched too many movies in the past year, but my thoughts were really just like a movie montage with one memory blending into the next. 

Anyways, the week before in Spain was really a lot of fun.  We flew down there with no real idea of where we were gonna sleep.  We had a tent with us so we figured we could set that up somewhere if we really had to.  Luckily we found a pretty nice campground about 30 minutes by bus from Barcelona and it was not too expensive.  We stayed there for two or three nights and in the daytime walked around Barcelona seeing all the sights or just chilled on the beach.  One thing I really enjoyed was travelling with Germans.  Because we spoke German to one another and clearly the other two people I was with are German, everyone assumed that I was also German.  This came in handy for more than one situation.  There were several times when we were around Americans or English speaking people who clearly believed we were German and did not understand what they were saying.  I love to eavesdrop on other peoples conversations as Im travelling and I was able to listen to everything because the other people talked like no one could understand them.  The other times it came in handy was when people wanted to sale us something.  Because Barcelona is such a big tourist place, there were tons of people trying to hand out stuff or to get you to buy something.  They all spoke English assuming most tourists speak at least a little English.  Several times I just acted like I didnt understand what they were saying and instead spoke German with my friends until they left us alone.  It was fun. 

After a few days in Barcelona I talked them into going to Pamplona with me.  Im not sure it was the best decision, but they told me later they did enjoy it, although I thought they were a little bored, and I know I was sometimes too.  It all worked out ok for us, but I had thought the San Fermin Festival (running of the bulls) was always the first week of July.  Turns out its the second week of July.  We got a bus ticket and got there late the night before it started, although I had thought we were getting there on one of the last days of the festival.  Last time I was there I showed up late one night, saw an awesome fireworks show, ran with the bulls in the morning, and then caught the next train I could to Madrid.  Since then I had read more about the festival and learned that there was much more to it than just the running of the bulls.  Because my time there had been so awesome, I assumed the entire festival would be really great and wanted to see some of the things I had read about (mainly the parade of giants).  I had also seen a ton of people with tents and stuff just camped out wherever they could find space.  Because of this, we camped out in this big grassy area the first night that we got there.  Sometime early in the morning we were woken up by a police man opening our tent and telling us in Spanish and a few words of English that tents arent allowed in Pamplona.  So we packed up and went into the city to wait for the start of the festival.  I did not realize even during the daytime there would be so many people there just to get drunk.  It really changed my perspective on the festival.  There was definitely something for all ages, and it was clear that for the Spanish people it was also a big thing for the family.  There were all ages of people there and I believe a lot of the parades and rituals really do have meaning for the Spaniards, but I was also really disappointed about how many people were there just for a party.  I had seen how big of a party it was in the night when I was there last time, but I had believed that was just the nighttime and that during the day the parades and all would be more of the focal point and attended with respect or at least more like a parade or festival would be attended anywhere else.  I was wrong.  The place was totally trashed the entire day and people were totally trashed the entire day.  There was no break.  People were peeing wherever they felt like it.  The parades were pretty lame anyways, but I think it wouldve been better without drunks everywhere and the threat of sangria being poured on you at all times.  I know that this festival must bring tons of money into Pamplona, but I really wondered how the city and the people that live there felt about what happened there.  Anyways, we spent most of our time just hanging out and watching everything around us.  That second night we thought tents werent allowed so we just slept outside in our sleeping bags.  It wasnt that bad, but Ive definitely slept better.  We woke up early so we could take Julia to the stadium and then Philipp and I could run with the bulls.  As we walked to the course we saw tents everywhere, so that was really cool.  I guess the police had other things to worry about at that point.  Everything worked out well until about 30 minutes before the running started.  Well, at one point they drove two huge street cleaning trucks into the crowd of us waiting to run.  There was literally no room to move and yet the drivers werent stopping.  It was intense.  After waiting an hour and a half Philipp told me he couldnt see and had to get out.  I wasnt sure what he meant and just said ok... as he pushed through the crowd and got out of the course.  I waited for about fifteen minutes and then decided I should go find him to make sure he was ok.  As soon as I got out of the course, he walked up, and then by that point the cops wouldnt let anyone back into the course.  I was a little upset, but glad he was ok.  He said he needed water.  We couldnt even find a place to watch the run from because there were so many people and all the spots were taken.  It was a pretty big bummer.  After that we went back to Barcelona and just chilled on the beach the next day.  I got a really good sunburn.  I found it interesting that the Germans idea of fun in the sea/ocean was to swim out a good bit and then swim back.  I just wanted to jump up and down in the waves and hang out.  I assumed that had something to do with the fact that they go mostly to the Baltic sea for vacation, which is probably much colder than the Gulf of Mexico, and where you probably have to move around a lot or you get cold.  That night we went back into the city for tapas and a light show but missed the light show by five minutes.  We had heard there was not a bus that went to our campground at night, but we assumed they meant there wasnt a bus that went directly to it like the day bus did.  So we jumped on a night bus and waited until we saw something that looked familiar, but never saw it.  We rode to the end of the line and the bus driver kicked us out and then picked us back up ten minutes later.  He spoke a little English so we tried asking him how to get to where we needed to be and he said our best bet was to take a taxi.  I asked him if he would let us know when we were at the stop that was closest to our place, but Im not sure he understood that well.  We rode back with him for a while and then he told us to get out because he saw a taxi we could take.  We thought it was also the stop nearest our place and decided we could walk back.  About 2-3 hours later and several jumped fences we made it back to our campground.  It was quite a night excursion.

On the day that we were travelling back to Chemnitz I got an email telling me the church in Zeitz had raised enough money for them to take me and the other guy.  Ill be heading back to Germany on September 3 and staying for an entire year this time.  I think it is really an answer from God about where I should be.  The pastor was really surprised they had raised the money.  Since then Ive travelled back to the US and spent a few days in Atlanta and am now in North Carolina with my brother and his family for a week.  Zac is here as a delegate to the SE Jurisdictional Conference for the UMC, or something like that.  Ive already been introduced to so many people I have no idea who they are.  Im trying to stay open and positive to what goes on here, but it feels like a very different world than what I had kinda expected or maybe would wish for.  I need to see more of it, and get to know the people better before I really say anything, but im a bit wary of all the "politicing" that goes on here.  We'll see.  Im here mostly for vacation anyways.  Zac and I played golf today and a black bear walked out behind us on the 16th about 20 or 30 yards away.  It was pretty cool to see. 

Like I said before, I feel like Ive forgotten a lot of things I had planned on writing about.  Its prob not important.  It is strange being back here.  Sometimes it feels like I was never gone, and then other times it feels like what in the world is this?! A day or two I felt like I was just kind of watching everything happen but not really feeling or really living it.  That was really strange.  Oh well.  Ive got a few more weeks before I go back and I think they are gonna be jam packed with hanging out with everyone and taking care of different things like going to the dentist and eye doctor.  Hopefully it wont go by too fast.