I'm living in the Bible belt of Germany, if there is such a thing. When I came here I was really surprised at the amount of Christianity I found here. For years I had been under the impression that Europe was largely post-Christian but my first few months here seemed to dispell those fears. I would read about how churches are dieing and people are turning away from their faith but here in Gießen and, from what I hear, in most of Hessen (my state here in Germany) Church attendance is holding steady if not slowly increasing. This past weekend I learned a bit more of the truth.

In Groningen in the north of the Netherlands there was a gathering of Dutch and Northern German Mennonite youth. It was, if much smaller and in a different language, very much like a youth gathering in the states. There were worship times with singing and speakers. We had breakout sessions to discuss the topic of the day and workshops to do other related things. It was by and large a good time....with one small exception. The second (of three) speakers, Piet Visser, is a professor of Anabaptist history at the Mennonite Seminary in Amsterdam. His speech and all of his arguments in the breakout sessions (I was in the same one as him) and everything he said in during the panel discussion focused around the idea that Jesus doesn't matter anymore. He would argue that it's not important to have faith in Jesus as long as you live a good moral life. Indeed, Islam and Buddism have just as much claim to salvation as Christianity does. I would have dismissed him as an outlier if it weren't that most of the youth supported his points. He would argue that, although the teachings of Jesus are very good and a good model to follow, making Jesus a requirment for salvation would serve to exclude people of other faiths and in turn people would become hostile towards Christianity and we would cease to be a community that is welcoming to all peoples. It was encouraging to see young people in and excited about the church but if this is the foundation of their faith I worry about the future. It's much easier to convert someone to Christianity than it is to convert them from being "Christian" to following Christ.

The conference was not entirily depressing. There was one speaker who argued strongly that Jesus should be the center of the church and of our lives. Tim Folley works closely with MMN in N. Ireland leading a church and helping to tear down the hatred between Catholics and Protestants. I was able to talk to him extensively throughout the conference, indeed, I talked to him more than everyone else combined. It was refreshing to hear of his unflinching faith after what Piet had said. Turns out he knows Dell Hershberger (a family I know quite well from Hesston) quite well along with several other people from the area. Mennonite connections are always fun and (seemingly) unending.

Now I'm back. Now starts real life again. My deutch class resumes tomorrow and work is staying busy. Tonight (in 5 minutes) there is a student gathering here. They have a bible study that meets on Monday nights during the semester and tonight is their opening night. Oh well...I can wear dirty clothes for a few days.

Rest and strength
David

So it's been a while and I do appologize. This past week has been fairly busy and most of the time I haven't been in Gießen. On tuesday I left early and drove to Hamburg. Klaus bought some pallette shelving for the warehouse and I had to go pick it up along with some school bags and other stuff. I was expecting a nice 3hr drive each way and I would be back at a fairly decent time in the evening. Turns out it's almost 6 to Hamburg. That was a long day. I was on the road for about 14 hours. I've really been enjoying driving though. A few of the guys here have a second job driving truck on the weekends and it's got me to thinking about getting my CDL when I get back and trying to find someone I can pull for one or two weekends a month just for the heck of it and a little extra cash. It's probablly not worth it but it could be kinda fun for a while.

Wednesday and thrusday were pretty normal unloading and general warehouse days. They're finding more things for me to do now so I'm never bored anymore. That's a blessing and a curse but it's nice for a change.

On friday I went to Darmstadt and Ober-Ramstadt (just south of Frankfurt) to pick up some more things. I had planned to go to Worms and then Weierhof (there are 4 other trainees in the Weierhof area) for the weekend but after leaving Darmstadt my van and trailer were completely full so I came back to Gießen. It turned out for the best. On friday night Maria and I went to the house of one of her akademy friends and watched Simpsons episodes and had a general good time. I was glad I was back. On Saturday morning then I took one of the Campus cars to Worms to pick up some school bags and then I went to Weierhof for saturday and sunday.

When I came back I brought Micah and Brian with me. Tomorrow morning they're flying to Greece for two weeks. I'm back here in the grind of another busy week and that's kinda hard to chew but I have a certain two weeks in January to look foreward to when my family comes.

All in all it's a pretty normal life. Next weekend I go to the Netherlands for an international Mennonite Youth conference but I'll tell all about that when I get back. Until then......

Love and health
David

It's six in the evening here and I'm sitting in the office waiting on a truck that is 70km away in a traffic jam. He was supposed to be here this morning to pick up a load of baby foor for Latvia....well....at least they had good intentions. I don't really value my friday evenings that much anyway but I feel sorry for Klaus who is still here waiting as well. I'm not sure that it makes him much difference though since half of our staff is still working. I guess I'm the only one who has a 5:00 end to the day.

I've been craving intelectual discourse recently and, not understand the language, I haven't been getting much. Living with two students should help that but so far we haven't gotten into too many discussions of the type. I did stop by a bookstore yesterday evening and to my delight they had a large selection of english books. I picked up a copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring" (I can't underline for some reason). It's the first 500 pages of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and in the past day I've finished half of it. The story line isn't all that intelectual but it is a great story and it keeps me occupied.

If you haven't figgured out by now....I'm trying to ramble to waste time. Normally that isn't very hard for me but for some reason it's not happening this evening. I think I'll go rejoin the hobbits on their adventure.

Happiness and grace
David

I should write a long entry tonight since a lot has happened since I wrote last but I really don't feel like it. Here's the breif....

Last weekend I was in Marburg (25 mins N) for their yearly celebration. GAiN had a booth and I helped set up and tair down on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. In between I spent my time randomly strolling through the city and eating a lot of brotwurst and waffles.....the two traditional German foods. Marburg has a really nice old town but, quite frankly, I've seen enough old towns for a while.

Maria, my other flat mate, moved in today. She's a mennonite from the Kaiserslautern area and thus knows Derek Swarts (he's the trainee at the farm I would really like to go to next). In August she got back from a year stateside living in Harrisburg, PA working in the YES office. A good friend of Shane Miller as it happens. I love being mennonite.

Life is good, they're keeping me busy now but my deutchkurz is on a three week holiday so I have some more free time in the evenings. It's a lot better now that I have people around and I know of things to do in the area.

Happiness and rest
David

One more month has passed and now the year is officially 1/6th over. At times saying that makes it seem like my time here is almost over and at times it seems like we've only begun. I just got back from our midterm conference in Mekesheim and, to be honest, it doesn't seem like we've been here long enough for that. It was really good though to hear about other placements and realize that I'm not the only person who, at the same time, struggles with and loves the life I have here. It also got me excited about some of the possibilities for my next placement. I think the main excitement stems from people talking about how wonderful of a cook their host mother is. I'm quite certain that they don't compare to my own mother but I'm also quite certain that they are worlds better than me. Some of the work also sounds like fun and hopefully I can land myself on a farm here and get back to the work I grew up with.

Mekesheim is a short train ride outside of Heidelberg and so one of the afternoons we took off and went into town to see the castle, church, people, river, stores, beggars, and all the other tourist attractions. It was raining but we decided to brave it anyway and after ariving in Heidelberg, went as a group up the mountian to the castle where we got a wonderful view of the fog that was covering the city. It was still fun to be there, however, and after that the group split. A few of us decided not to pay the €1.50 to take a tour of the castle that we wouldn't understand anyway so we started exploring some of the other ruins outside and, upon tiring of that, we followed the exit signs out. I don't know what the rules for exit signs are in Europe but I do know that they didn't lead us out. As we went, we began noticing that doors were locking behind us and it seemed that we were going deeper into the castle. Eventually we found ourselves in a passage that, if we went straight, would lead us into what we think was the dungeon, or, if we turned left, would lead us into a courtyard. We chose the courtyard and after waveing to the tourists standing at the top of the wall, proceeded to find an exit. Our proceedings failed and we realized that we were trapped. Eventually someone on top of the wall realized that we weren't supposed to be there and told security. They came looking for us and gave us a stern lecture in German. I think they were telling us not to follow exit signs but I can't really be sure. It was fun while it lasted though, and now I can say that I have passed through the embattlements of a castle and invaded it without anyone else knowing. How many people have done that?

The rest of the weekend was fun as well. We sang and talked and played rook and had a grand old time. Then it was time to re-enter real life and here I am. It's monday and it's a holiday. I cleaned out my kitchen before I left so that food wouldn't spoil and now all the stores are closed. Oh well...after all the food I ate this weekend it won't hurt me to eat meager for a day.

Enjoy what you have and make the most of it while you have it.

Courage and wisdom
David