EPIC Chapter pics -2008

Heading to Flat's Grill, yum!
Fondue party at the Testa's.
Bowling at the Union. Wearing protective gear is recommended, because when we bowl, the ball does not necessarily stay in the lanes.
Christmas party at my place. Note my first real tree ever. Isn't it pretty?

Making Salsa and Friends

This past Friday I had a chance to go bowling in celebration of Kristen Cambern's birthday. I was pleasantly surprised to meet a couple of German tourists who were visiting friends in the States and joined us in a couple of rounds of bowling.

In other news, the Garden Project had an open house this weekend so I was able to show people from the neighborhood around our plots. They had a lot of fun ideas for potential improvements to our garden including a compost pile, bee hives, and even a water tower! On Thursday I had attended a Salsa making workshop, so I was able to offer our visitors some homemade salsa and tortillas. Another benefit of the workshop was that one of the other participants invited me to her home to can with her. I am looking forward to learning from her experience.

The biggest news of the week, however, is that my new roommate has officially moved in. It is great to have her here.

The Barretts

Last night I returned from a long day of looking for work and studying for my psychology class to have dinner with the Barretts (the couple whose home I have been living in for the summer). We made a vegetable spaghetti sauce using produce from my garden and then went to see Wall-e in a nearly empty movie theater. As the evening progressed I enjoyed hearing their reminiscences about the city as it was 50 years ago. After the movie we had some soft-serve ice cream at Tasty Treat. Today we all helped a Chinese family to move and I got a sofa out of the deal. Mrs. Barrett also gave me a bunch of other items to complete my new place. I feel really blessed to have such good friends, it has made my transition back to the States so much easier.

Prayer requests:
-for a smooth move into my new apartment next week
-for my friend Sara. Her new baby is jaundiced and needs to stay in the hospital for a while.
-for my friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer, that they would get the best treatment possible and that they would come to have a personal relationship with Christ.
-that I would find a way to keep in contact with my friends overseas
-that I would find a satisfying role in the church here

Dog Days

This weekend I am taking a break from the job search and watching dogs for THREE families. From Friday to Sunday I am making a more-or-less continual circuit between the Cambern, Van Nada, and Barrett homes while looking after a total of 5 dogs. Since I love animals so much this is more a relaxing pleasure than work.

There was a bit of excitement this morning, however. I decided that each of the Cambern dogs would enjoy a bit of one-on-one time so I started by taking their Australian Shepherd out for a walk. A half hour later I returned and began to leave with their miniature Schnauzer. The other dogs, disappointed at being left behind, began to bark. Before we reached the end of the block I heard a sudden silence. Pleased that the dogs had calmed down so quickly, I went to turn the corner. Just as I did, the other 2 dogs ran up!

Somehow they had managed to get out of their fenced-in yard. Thinking that I must not have shut the gate firmly enough, I corralled the dogs back in their enclosure and, double checking the latch and placing a wooden block in front of the gate, I headed back out with Ike (the Schnauzer). Minutes later they were there again! Apparently they have somehow figured out how to open the gate. Now I am tying the gate shut with a leash when the dogs are out there and only letting them out when I am in the house and can see them.

Recent Happenings

This week has been very nice. On Sunday 26 people came to church. That evening I went to Dortmund with the Ford family to help them pack for their upcoming move. Innes and I were able to sort through a lot of things and I think that it was an encouraging time for us both.

We returned from Dortmund at about 6PM Wed. night for my going away party at Aachener Weiher park. The weather was nice and about 35 people were able to make it. We did not leave until after 11PM, which would normally be hard, as we have a prayer meeting at 6AM on Thursday mornings. Thankfully, Thursday was a holiday here and we were able to postpone the meeting until 8. Later in the day Martin, Daniel, Thomas, and Ramona came over to help move the furniture out of my room. I cannot believe how much stuff is still here even after moving out all of the large items!

Thursday night about 12 of us had a poker night at the Bonnet's house. Although this is the first time that I have played poker, I won handily at my first table. This was a result of getting some really great cards, but it was still encouraging. The only challenge was that we did not get home until after midnight and I needed to get up early .

Today I found out that my housing company found someone to take over my lease! After cleaning out my room a bit more I printed out and copied Bible study posters and Jenilee, Nathan, and I went through the dorms to distribute them to all of the mailboxes and bulletin boards. Tomorrow I expect to hang more at the University.

Family Tree

Around 10AM Tuesday morning Daniel and I headed to the Dusseldorf airport to pick up Pat and his daughter Christine. They were coming in on separate flights about 30 min. apart. Christine's flight came in without incident, but Pat missed his plane in London and would not be coming in until about 5 hours later than expected. Because of the cost of gas and to give Christine a chance to nap, we decided that Daniel and Christine would head back and I would wait for Pat before taking the train back. In the end we didn't get home until 8PM.

On Wed, Thur, and Fri. Pat, Christine and I visited archives in Dusseldorf, Duisburg, and Mulheim an der Ruhr. The archivist in Mulheim was great. She helped us find records for another generation of Pat's family, and was even able to find a hand written police report filed by Pat's Great, great-uncle (?). After her shift was over she took us to the street where Pat's family used to live and the site of the church where they were all baptized. To wrap up the day, Pat treated us to a wonderful meal at a Greek restaurant.

My evenings were also full this week with english conversation club, bible study, and a team meeting, among other things. All in all, however, it was a nice although overly full week.

Women's Retreat Pictures

Ramona, Diana, and I were able to spend a lot of time walking in the woods, playing board games, and just talking with one another.

Each morning we woke to the sound of recorded "convent"music. This was followed by breakfast, time with God, lunch, a teaching, coffee and cakes, breakout sessions, dinner, playing games, snack time (you may have caught on that talking with and about God and eating were the main activities for the weekend)

Here Innes, Chrisitne, Lori, Petra, and Ina can be seen waiting for breakfast to begin.



The grounds were immaculate with gardens that were overflowing with fountains, topiaries, and wildlife. To sweeten the experience, we were surrounded by forests littered with trails and a riding stable was just to the north of us. Here you can see Ramona and I enjoying a stroll to the bookstore run by the Diakonissen.









The teachings for the weekend, by Christina and Lori, centered around the idea of "holding on to the good".

Refrigerator Post

I was so impressed with something that one of my friends is doing that I wanted to share it with you guys.

My friend Clark has started a new business called Speedcast Productions. One of the things that they do is web cast auto races that don't make it onto the networks. Take a look at the clip below for a taste of some of the cool stuff that he is doing.

Geburtstag

Some friends bought the movie "Ratatouille" for my birthday and we watched it in German with 5 appreciative kids who were excited to stay up past their bedtimes. In the corner you can see Jonathan Bonnet showing off his new "magic" cards. Afterwards, I was able to visit the Ford family in Dortmund which included playing with their 2 wonderful kids and a very cuddly dog. All in all, a much better birthday than I had expected.
Deborah, a friend of the Goerings, asked me to take her around the city. Although I have seen the Dom more times than I can count, our visit was especially nice. A boys choir visiting from London sang in Latin and English. If this were not enough, as we were visiting the bell tower, the bells were rung for the first time since I have been here. We then took a walk along the Rhine and talked about God.

In the three years that I have been in Germany, my computer has suffered three major meltdowns. This has resulted in the loss of many of the pictures I have taken while in Koeln. Today, however, I found an old memory stick which held some long-forgotten photos of a friend.

Although he has never come to believe, as I do, that the source of all true meaning and friendship is God, Thomas Neumann has been a vibrant example of what a good friend should be, becoming one of my closest companions here. I met him my very first week in Germany at an English Conversation meeting. Drowning in clouds of smoke at the Shamrock Pub, we began what was to become an almost unbroken conversation that encompassed every topic imaginable.

Last summer we decided to take a photo tour of the industrial district (arguably the poorest part of the city and where I lived at the time) . Thomas is an accomplished photographer and can show incredible patience and determination in getting just the right shot. Here it was necessary to climb over a very tall fence to gain access to the yard of this abandoned warehouse complex. Thomas clasped his hands together and hoisted me up to a position where I could then help pull him over. For the next several hours we took rolls of color and b&w photographs. I've posted a few of mine here.

The Hunt is On

I stayed at Bob and Sara's house this weekend. Their daughter, Amelia, is showing her skills at the Riverview easter egg hunt.

Why I Love Being Here

Earlier this week I unexpectedly received a call from an old acquaintance (funny that I can now legitimately say that I have ''old'' acquaintances here in Germany).

She and her husband both exude a strong sense of intellectual competence. Both have studied philosophy at the graduate level, and very actively work to deepen their knowledge of all things philosophical. As they at one point said, ''we believe that all truth can be found inside of ourselves, we don't look to a being outside of our consciousness''.

All well and good, except for the recurring moments in our 6 hour conversation when I could hear the desperation and frustration in their voices because at the end of the day they could not accept that I had found answers to life's deepest questions and that these answers were available to anyone. Their world view was built around the touchstone that no one can have certainty about any truth. This, of course, because no person is perfect, so their conclusions can also never be perfect. The only solution, and the one which I believe is best supported, is that truth can be measured against an outside source, a loving creator who desires that we be drawn to and accept truth.

Naturally, we will still choose to distort the truth given to us. Our sinful natures and the flawed views of life passed on to us from other less-than-perfect humans practically assure this. I would argue, however, that the core beliefs of Christianity as found in the Bible can be agreed upon by those willing to take a careful look.

One must be willing to allow the possibility of God into one's world view, however. And this, for many, is the greatest challenge to belief. I don't know if God used our conversation to help this couple find answers. I hope so.

I do know, however, that there is no place I would rather have been last night than in their kitchen enjoying their hospitality and willingness to discuss questions of importance.

The Good German

After English Conversation Group last night I thought that I would invite a couple of people to watch a movie at my place. Although I don't have a TV and my room was a bit messy, I figured that with such a small group, my laptop would suffice and we could avoid my room and sit in the living room.

The 3 of us began to head back to my place. On the way we met up with a student who lives nearby. She asked to join us.

As we continued on our way I got a phone call,
Voice: "Where are you?"
Me: "What?"
Voice: "is there a Bible study tonight?"
Me: "No, but we're going to watch a movie, want to join in?"
Voice: "sure, I'll wait in front of your building."

As we approached my building, there was no one in sight. Thinking that the man who called was running late, we proceeded upstairs. As I opened the door to my room, there were 2 men already there sitting on my bed! Apparently my roommates had let them in. So much for avoiding the mess. . .

In all, 6 of us ended up watching "The Good German", well at least six of us were in the room. The movie was a total dud and I think 2 people fell asleep half-way through.

Oh well, sometimes it just ain't meant to be.

Visiting Sally in Ukraine

I never have gotten around to composing my thoughts, so here it is from Sally:

Recap of Brandi's visit:

~Saturday: We went up to Kharkiv, went out to lunch at my favorite Italian place, and wandered around the city. In the evening, we stopped by the Yukhemetses' house to celebrate Vlada's birthday (which was Tuesday). Unfortunately, Spunky, the Y's little yappy dog, didn't realize that Brandi is actually fairly harmless, especially to dogs, and bit her on the arm. She's fine, although she ended up with a bit of a nasty-looking bruise.
[my note: only a small scar remains from this encounter with Spunky, who lived up to his name, and I don't hold it against him. I was actually more nervous about the packs of "wild" dogs and mangy cats that were seen everywhere on the streets]

~Sunday: The two of us, along with a group from our church, went down to Saventsi (about half an hour away) for the ten-year anniversary of the church there. We sang "You Are My All in All" in English [alone] and sat through a three and a half hour church service. (When Viktor asked me later why we only sang one song, I told him that we didn't want the service to go any longer!) However, it was a nice service, and encouraging to hear how the church has grown from 22 to 45 members. Which, for a village in eastern Ukraine, is awesome to hear!

~Monday: School was not the best--my 11th form slacked off, and I had tears in both my 7th and 8th form classes. The 7th form girl cried because she didn't want to sit where I told her, and the 8th form girl cried because Oleh Yukhemets had hit her. I don't know who or what started it. That night, Viktor, Nadia, and I all talked with Oleh, and he denied it happening. He's really being difficult lately, and it's frustrating for Viktor and Nadia. Prayers for him and them would be deeply appreciated.
[my note: in contrast to Sally's week with the kids, they were very nice to me, although I think that the upper form kids were a bit shocked to learn that they were all required to come into the hall in small groups and speak with me in English. I was presented with flowers, they sang songs for me and played with my on the playground (which I visited while Sally was teaching this day). Among other things that I remember about the school are the squat toilets and the school lunches which generally consisted of coffee, sweet bread, and some type of soup (Borsch) or potatoes.]

After school, we went over to the Y's to visit and do laundry. We played Uno and Go Fish with the kids. The kids, especially Oleh, really tried to use the English they know (I'm learning how you can be both disappointed in and proud of a kid all in the same day).
[my note: we also ended up singing various songs in English here, several of which the Y's asked me to do solo]

Yesterday and today, I've taught and Brandi's done her own thing during the day, and tonight we head up to Kharkiv and from there to Kyiv. If you think of us tomorrow, please pray, as Brandi begins her 33 hour bus ride back to Germany and I take the GRE!

[my note: other noteworthy aspects of life in Balaklia:
1. the shopkeepers use an abacus rather than a cash register to "ring up" purchases
2. milk, ice cream, sour cream, et. are all sold in cheap plastic bags
3. nearly everyone's house was surrounded by a tall corrugated metal fence, presumably to prevent theft and as a remnant of communist times when privacy was hard to come by
4. anyone who owns an auto seems to automatically join the ranks of professional taxi driver]

New Life in the New Year

For the past two weeks I was in Dortmund helping a couple who were expecting their second child. A healthy baby boy, Jordan, arrived on new years day. Here he is with his mom and sister.

Sally's visit

Sally really can sniff out a book anywhere!

Mood: hectic
What I'm Reading: Heinrich Böll in German

Last week Sally took a break from Ukraine to visit me in Köln. Highlights included a visit to a Jewish mikvah that was over 1000 years old, a dinner party with 12 people from English Conversation (which included real pumpkin pie!), and an attack from pigeons with a case of indigestion (ask me about it sometime). Check out Sally's Pictures of her visit.

Summer of Music and Arts Festival

This past weekend my friend Tom invited me to the Summer of Music and Arts Festival in Koeln. After walking through 30 minutes of torrential rain Friday night, things took a turn for the better. Although the festival was billed as focusing on electronic music, we heard everything from Regge to Eastern European rock. Afternoons were packed with juggling acts, comedians, and lots of stuff with a new age feel. The Balkan Beat was my favorite group, despite their strong anti-US tirades between sets. The other highlight of the weekend was that Tom (an avid cyclist) fixed the bike that another friend had given me. Now the breaks mostly work and it also has a functional light, which is required in Germany.

Quick Update

Since I last posted I have been super busy.

Last Thursday was a good day for our English conversation group. We had at least 8 visitors despite the fact that the University is on break right now. It seems that your prayers and our posters are working. Please kep praying that people would consistently come, and that we would be able to develop good relationships with one another.

On Friday I spent three hours preparing a meal with a group of friends split equally between Japanese and Spanish nationality. The Japanese influence contributed a main dish of ginger, cabbage, and chives blended in a thin dough and fried, a side of pickled eggs and a pot of seasoned and stewed pork. The Spaniards made a huge pot of Sangria, which is a mix of wine, orange soda, freshly squeezed juice, gran marnier, and a variety of thinly sliced fruits. It was great!

Saturday was spent renovating my friend Tom's apartment. After arriving for a quick breakfast at 9AM, we began work which lasted late into the night. Two friends from church in Dortmund came to join Thomas Lobe and I in helping Tom to get his apartment ready to move. (Which, in Germany, involves taking down wallpaper, re-painting, and removing the kitchen and all light fixtures) The next day Tom said that it was the best ''renovation party'' he had ever made because people had gotten along so well together. I think the day made the rest of us feel really good as well.

Sunday I was forced to say goodbye to my friend Sophie. Her family lives in Israel, and she needed to go back home after more than a year in Germany. I traveled to Bonn where she is living now, and we spent the day packing things up and exploring the city together. Please pray that she and her family will remain safe during this time of unrest in her land.

Snapshots

Mood: good
What I'm Reading: Visioneering by Andy Stanley

Snapshot 1: My friend Sandra turned 29 today. Uncertain of what to get her, I hovered over the florest's stock long enough to make her figit. Knowing that flower color often has cultural significance, I wanted to make the right choice. Finally, I settled on some yellow roses and headed home to begin baking. I made apple spice cake and blueberry muffins for my class of 25. Unable to find regular birthday candles, I plopped a huge orange candle in the middle and called it good. We all sang ''Happy Birthday'' in English (as is common in Germany).

Snapshot 2: Several newcomers had joined our English group. I sat across from an older man who was deep into his explaination of why no person should be required to work. This well-spoken Political Science major explained that full State support for all ''necessities'' is the right of all individuals. He also felt that private property and all forms of capitalism were immoral. At least I cannot say that he is hypocritical, since to this point (early-40s?) he has not broken his convictions by getting a job.

Snapshot 3: Following a time of worship on Saturday, we invited friends to BBQ with us. The 9 of us discussed politics, religion, and German culture, among other things until late in the night.

Translations

Mood: tired
What I'm Reading: The Left Behind series in German (and a dictionary, my new best friend)

The last couple of days have been really full. On Friday I met up with a group of friends from my German class to go swimming. At the pool we were surprised to find ourselves being (unwillingly) photographed by the local paper for a story. Later we grabbed dinner at Subway and headed to the theater to watch an indi movie about a couple of women struggling to make a living in Berlin (which has close to 20% unemployment). Finally, in the small hours of morning we headed to a pub to talk about deep questions before heading to bed.

Today I spent several hours talking with a friend about how we should respond to our enemies. Germany tends to be highly pacifistic, so this is a hard question to answer here. They believe that even enemies should be valued because of their humanity, but they see that they are not able to genuinely realize this ideal in their day-to-day interactions with the people around them.

My answer: Deep love for our enemies only comes through our realization that God has loved us even though we have treated Him as an enemy. My question: How do you communicate this truth to someone who does not trust God? Sometimes translation work goes so much deeper than a simple expression of words.