It's Tuesday, August 30. Day 28.

Thursday officially starts my second month here but already I'm reflecting on this past one. A lot has changed since I've come here. My flat mates both left, I got a new boss, and now I'm looking at starting school (I'm taking some german night classes starting next week). In spite of all of this life has remained pretty much the same. Evenings and weekends are fairly empty. I don't know the language and I haven't been able to find where German youth spend their time. I spend a lot of time in my room listening to music (God bless the iPod) and thinking and for the first time in my life, I'm starting to run out of things to think about. Work isn't much better. Chris, my first boss, was really good at keeping me busy, almost to a fault. He left this past week and Thomas, my new boss, can't seem to find much of anything for me to do. I spend a lot of time at work now sitting and waiting for a job. I guess I'm learing how to be still and do nothing. It's something I thought I was fairly good at before I came but I'm quickly getting better.

I've done a lot of wrestling with God this past week. Wrestling isn't the right verb exactly. It would be the right one if he would wrestle me back but so far he has only given me one answer. I asked him one night how my presence here is of any use to him when all I seem to do is sit and wait. He responded very clearly: "Wait and see." Not exactly the answer I was looking for. I guess if there's anyone who can make this turn out for his glory, he can. Now I just have to wait and see how it happens.

Come LORD Jesus, come. Amen.
Daviid

Greetings once again! It's been a busy week, I'm not really sure where to start describing it. Last saturday after Chris's party I took the van and trailer and headed south. Rachel had told me that she wouldn't get off work until 10 so I was planning on getting to Thomashof (where she lives/works) around 10 or a little later. I thought better of it on saturday though and decided to leave here earlier so I could get to Thomashof while it was still light. That was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Thomashof is a small Mennonite village northeast of Karlsruhe. In this village is a Mennonite retreat center also called Thomashof. To be fair, the village doesn't have much more than the retreat center, a church (which is connected), and a few houses. Still, the first time I drove through the place, I didn't find the place I was supposed to go. Luckily just past town is a parking area that gave me plenty of room to turn around and head back in. I found the retreat center and, after a while of searching, found a parking space big enough for my oversized vehicle. It was 7:30 and I had two and a half hours until Rachel got off work and could show me where I would be spending the next three nights. So I took a walk to kill some time and discovered the amazing beauty of southern Germany. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the van so I don't have any pictures 'but,' I thought, 'there are more days for taking pictures.' It rained the rest of the time I was in Thomashof. At 10 I met Rachel and crashed for the evening. There was a wedding at Thomashof that weekend and Rachel had to work every day I was there but evenings gave us some good times to talk and laugh and have a general good time.

Tuesday I left Thomashof and drove 20 minutes to Pforzheim where Chris was. The house is an old farm house that is falling apart and worthless. Chris and Claudia are renting it from three sisters and putting between 10 and 12.000€ of their own money into it to remodel and renovate. It makes absolutely no sense to me but here I am and here I'm helping. While I was there we gutted the kitchen and bathroom (they're about the same size).....(not small). In the kitchen we tore up what I thought was a perfectly good sub-floor and Chris had wood ordered to replace it. In the bathroom we took off all the tile, scraped plaster off the walls, cut out the floor under the shower where it was all rotten, and replaced all the plumbing. Chris readily admited that he didn't have much experience doing this kind of thing and I tried to offer a few helpful tips whenever I could but he's not the kind of guy to take suggestions easily.

Friday I traveled around to different houses picking up goods for GAiN. I am continually surprised by what the Europeans refer to as a passable road. A very narrow 10% down grade winding through houses for 3km is not my idea of passable but I made it safely and in one piece. After my last pickup at Oberamstadt I decided that rather than head to Weierhof, I would cut my trip short and go back to Giessen. I did this......well because I could. There were a number of reasons. First, I still didn't know whether anyone would be in Weierhof or if everyone had gone to Wintersheim and I didn't know if they were expecting me in Wintersheim. Second, when we finished loading at Oberamstadt I am guessing I was one and a half times over the legal weight for my vehicle not to mention my liscense and I didn't want to hang around waiting for the police to stop me and ask how heavy I was. Third, this was Uli's last week here in Giessen and I was trying to get back here to tell him goodby before he left. I didn't make it in time but I'm still glad I'm back. I have all weekend now to recover and work starts again Monday morning; it will be interesting to see how things change now that Chris is gone.

To all of you: Health and strength and joy for the journey
David

It's been a quiet week in Gießen, Germany, my new town. And, indeed, it has been quiet. I don't have anything to say about what has happened but I would like to let you know a little of what will be happening. This is Chris's last week here at GAiN and so Saturday afternoon we're having a party for him at his house (it seems kinda odd to me but that's the way Germans do it). As soon as the party is over I'm headed south with a van and trailer load of his things. On the way to his house (I haven't confirmed this yet but hopefully) I'm stopping in Karlsruhe to visit another trainee who is working at a retreat center there. The job is one of my possibilities for next term and its a good chance to spend some time somewhere else. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I'll be at Chris's new house helping him finish the inside and move in. Friday I drive back toward Frankfurt to pick up a load of goods for GAiN and then Saturday and Sunday I'll either be in Weierhof or Wintersheim visiting other trainees.

I guess my point is that for the next week while all of you are starting school and buckling down for the end of summer, I'll be off trotting the south of Germany :) I like how this works out. But seriously, If you need me....tough. I'll be incommunicado from saturday through the following 9 days.

enjoy!
David

After I posted last night things got interesting, in a good sort of way. Chris had some things to carry home with him and he didn't want to do that on his bicycle. It was also raining. So I took the van and took him home. Any foreigner's first experience on the autobahn is fairly enlightening to the speed the human body is able to travel without serious injury. When your first experience happens to be while you're driving, it's just scary. I made it there and back safely though which is good because in two weeks I'll be driving alone to a collection center about 45 minutes south of Frankfurt (I just found that out last night too). The amount of trust these people instill in a person they've only known for a week is amazing but I guess that's the way it goes.

The other part of the evening was Tanja's party. Tanja is from Russia where Christians are not allowed to drink. She tried, therefore, to have a dry party and only succeeded in reducing the amount of alcohol there. The really interesting part though was that of the eight of us at the meal, there were three germans, two sweeds, a hungarian, a russian, and me. Globalization certainly has made its mark on this place. I guess when you're working with an international organization that happens.

Love and health
David

It's been a week now at my new job. And what a week it's been. On thursday we loaded a truck with supplies to go to Ukraine, I think. It was a 10m truck and a 10m trailer behind. Not bad if everything is on palletes, but, of course, it wasn't. The european equivalent of our apple box is a banana box which is about the same size except only half as high. The entire truck and trailer were loaded with these along with school bags, garbage bags full of clothes, tables, windows, a bath tub, school desks, and miscelaneous other items that we found in the warehouse. It took almost all day to pack that many small objects into that much space but finally, it was finished. Which is good, because I was finished. Contrasting that, today I spent most of my time sitting at a computer copying names and addresses from a web page to an excell table. It's incredibally mind-numbing work and I'm not sure I was awake the whole day but sleep didn't seem to impede progress so no one complained.

Tonight we're having a party for Tanja, one of my house-mates. She's from Russia and is going home this weekend. Today was her last day and so everyone was talking about how she was going to be missed, and, indeed, she will. She enjoys washing dishes and cleaning so now Uli, my other house-mate, and I will have to start doing more of that ourselves. I'm not sure what it will be like in the long term, but right now our house population seems to be fairly fluid. Tanja is leaving and in a few weeks Uli will be as well. Sometime in there Wande is moving in. I hope that eventually that will slow down so I can get to know some people better but I guess this way I get to meet more people and, maybe, Wande won't speak as good of English as Tanja and Uli do which will force me to learn German faster and better. Who knows?

This posting is a milestone in my time here, though. Ever since I've been in Germany I have been searching for the question mark on the keyboard. Tonight I have found it and celebration is in order.

David

Hello everyone!! I must appologize for not writing more on my last post. Time was short and internet was expensive. Anyway, most of us arived safely in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning. Because of the plane crash in Toronto, two of our number were delayed in Chicago and Philly and weren't able to make it in time for our flight out. I think they're both here now but I'm not really sure.

Our conference in Elspeet in the Netherlands went very well. We were in a remote area at a Mennonite retreat center surrounded by other North Americans. It didn't feel like we had left home at all. I'm still not sure of everyone's name but it's getting better and there is always time for formalities later. The last night there we had a party to kick off the year and I must admit, I never knew Mennonites could dance like that. I have a five second video that I might be able to upload later once I figgure out how to use these German Mac's :) Ryan, you would love it here. Saturday morning the whole German/Swiss group got ready to leave to take a bus to the train station. And we waited....and we waited.....and we waited....finally we were able to contact the bus company to find that they had marked our schedule down wrong and the bus would, in fact, be late(er than it already was). By the grace of God we made it to the station on time. The train arrived just as we were reaching the platform and everyone, fortunately, made it on.

We traveled to Frankfurt together and then split onto seperate trains. I must say, standing on a train platform alone, not knowing the language, and not knowing what awaits you at the other end of the line is one of the lonliest feelings I have ever experienced. I never found my seet on the train but I found one that wasn't taken and took it.

Tomas Steffan picked me up at the train station in Gießen and took me to my appartment. It's on the third floor of the Campus für Christus - Zentrale Deutchland (Campus Crusade for Christ - Central Germany) building which also houses the GAiN offices (they are, in fact, the same organization). So....for those of you who have my work address and want my home address....it's the same. For those of you who don't have it but want it:

David King
c/o GAiN / Campus für Christus
Am Unteren Rain 2
35394 Giessen
GERMANY

I'm sharing the appartment with Tonja, a sweet girl from central Russia who is leaving in a week, and another guy whose name I have yet to pronounce let alone spell. He's from Germany and won't be staying much longer although I'm not sure how long that will be. And I just found out today that there may be another girl moving in but I don't know her name or anything about her. The appartment is really more of a college dorm type arrangement. There are four rooms that share a common kitchen and bath but each bedroom is locked seperately, the main door is rarely locked. There is a phone that all four rooms share and if you want that number it's 011-49-641-97518-16 the 49 is the country code and it might need one or two zero's in front of it. The 641 is the city code and it might need a zero of its own but I don't think so. If you want to call, though, wait a few days until I get a handy (read cell phone). Chris (Tomas's boss) heard that I didn't have one today so tomorrow we're going downtown to get me one and register me at the city offices as a foreign resident.

Tomas (the guy from the train station) is my direct boss and he and his family have somewhat adopted me. I went to church with them on Sunday morning. It's very similar to South Hutch Mennonite only smaller, in German, and in a building that's being renovated (wait.....that's the same). They normally have lunch as a church afterwards but most of their members were out of town on vacation and so they didn't do the meal part. Tomas and his wife felt so bad about that that they took me out to eat (around 2) and then in the evening we went to an ice cream party. I'm not sure who was hosting it or why but it was fun none the less.

This was my first day at work and while I thought there might be some people here who spoke english.....I was wrong. Everyone speaks it and Everyone wants to get better at it. I fear that my grasp of German might be a little further away because of that but Tomas says there are some night classes in town and he thinks they offer German as a second language there. Other than that it was a normal first day of work. I didn't get much of anything done and I kept other people from getting their stuff done. Oh well....such is life.

I would love to tell you more but I have to go cook supper. I find that I eat less when I'm cooking for myself. I would like to cook more but there's no one to help me eat it and so it's not worth making something big just to have it go to waste.

I love you all.
David

Greetings from Germany!! I don't have a lot of time to write but I wanted to let all of you know that I arrived safely here in The Netherlands (after some interesting and scary happenings). I've been at a conference in Elspeet just south of Amsterdam since I've been here and today all of the trainees are taking the train to our placements. Hopefully internet will be cheaper there so I can write more.

Until then....I love you all.
David