Kein Englisch Mehr!

"When I am with the Jews, I live like a Jew to win Jews. They are ruled by the Law of Moses, and I am not. But I live by the Law to win them. And when I am with people who are not ruled by the Law, I forget about the Law to win them. Of course, I never really forget about the law of God. In fact, I am ruled by the law of Christ. When I am with people whose faith is weak, I live as they do to win them. I do everything I can to win everyone I possibly can."

-Paul, 1st Corinthians 9:20-22 CEV

A view of the street where I'm staying

I have been spending the past two days adjusting to life in Meckersheim, Germany, which is in the countryside surrounding Heidelberg. After our arrival in Frankfurt on Friday morning, Alan, one of the missionaries here, picked us up in the church van.

The church is rather unconventional in that it operates as a ministry called the CVJM, which stands for "young people's Christian club." It is similar to a small YMCA. Unlike the YMCA, however, the CVJM makes a continuous effort to reach out into the surrounding community and lead locals to Christ. In addition to Sunday worship, Friday evenings feature drama and musical activities for students from preteens to early twenties. The group is known as "Ten-Sing." This summer, the CVJM will also have "coffee house socials" where students from the surrounding towns and particularly from the nearby University of Heidelberg can come to hang out and discuss basic life questions, such as "Why are we here?" or "What happens after we die?" The CVJM discussion moderator will use this time to present the Biblical answers to these questions.

After our arrival in Meckersheim, Alan and Mary, his wife and also a missionary here, gave us a tour of the church property and showed us some of the construction we would be doing. (I found out that the church also operates a Christian bookstore!) Afterwards, I met my host family, the Hofmanns, who live about a quarter mile from the CVJM. They are very polite and keep insisting I make myself at home. (I'm sure they wouldn't say that if they knew that making myself at home means wearing no pants and eating all their food.) The parents, Jörg and Petra, speak a little bit of English, but I mostly try to speak German because I want to learn the language better and they insist my German is better than their English. They have two elementary-school-age sons, Tim and Jan, who follow me around the house where I go. They are typical little boys, constantly on the move and teasing each other whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Playing ninja

Heidelberg castle garden fountain

Friday evening, we met with Ten-Sing and sang, danced, practiced a play, and played Ninja. Saturday, I went into Heidelberg with my four American friends and new Croatian friend, who is working with us for a month. We visited the castle there and wondered down the main street taking in the sights. Although we didn't get on the right train back to Meckersheim, I still made it back in time to go to a monthly worship meeting with Jörg and Petra. There were probably about forty people at the meeting, and they all came from different churches around the area. Although I didn't understand all that was going on, it was a blessing to be there, plus I learned some uniquely German praise songs. On our way there, we had passed a castle in the countryside, and I had remarked how much I like seeing the castles in Europe and how most things in America are relatively new. As a surprise after the worship, the Hofmanns took me to the castle and we walked around. There was a beautiful view of the villages below.

The vineyard and villages below the castle.

This morning, I woke up and got ready for church at the CVJM. I had the opportunity to help lead worship, and although I was asked to do it with only ten minutes to practice, I felt my singing wasn't too bad. The songs were mostly in English, although one whole song and another chorus were in German. I noticed they have a wide variety of English worship songs published with German lyrics. I know of about forty songs like this, but there were several of which I did not. After the service, we all ate a meal together and visited. However, I was starting to feel sick (probably from dehydration and lack of sleep), so I walked home and took a nap.

At the dinner table tonight, Petra mentioned her disapproval of a mother who allowed their preschooler to wear a shirt saying "I'm a little devil." It opened up a conversation with Tim and Jan to discuss who Satan is and why I am here in Germany. I'm hoping it can lead to further conversations about the Gospel with them. It's certainly never too early to share the Good News!

I'm hoping I can get over jet-lag soon. I've napped every day I've been here and intentionally skipped breakfast to have more time to sleep. I've also never been hungry. I'll eat perhaps one and a half meals each day instead of three, but I never really feel like I need to eat something. I need to start joining my host family for meals, however; if I keep up this not-eating pattern, they may start to think I don't like the food here and be offended. In reality, I love the food. I just never want any for some reason.

I am very blessed that I have not really had culture shock these past few days. The strangest thing has been adjusting to speaking only English with my teammates and only German with others. It's also rather strange that I can only understand about half of what is being said in German. The people speak so fast, and many have heavy dialect flavoring. These small adjustments are the inspiration for the blog title "No More English!" However, I do like that the sun sets around 9:30 P.M.

I would appreciate you prayers today. Tomorrow, I'm taking a placement test so I can begin an intensive German language course. It will last four weeks, and class will meet weekdays for four hours. Most importantly, this class will have people from various backgrounds and presents the opportunity to share about Christ with unreached people groups.