Hey all,
So I'm trying to decide when to update this. I don't want to update it so regularly that it's overbearing, yet I don't want to miss out on all the cool details of my stay here. I could easily write a blog entry for each and every day I've been here so far. Since writing last, I have...
* Attended a German barbeque (a member of the church I attend here brought me)
* Visited the city of Halle
* Saw the Monument to the Battle of Nations
However, it has not been like this all the time. There was a period of loneliness at the beginning, when I had no internet access and knew no one from LEC (Leipzig English Church). My first night here I actually cried myself to sleep because I felt so alone, but God was using the experience to break me of my desire for relationships unto themselves. I need to be His alone. Then He would be the one defining my rising and setting, my coming and going, my perpetual rejoicing, no matter who I come to know and who I leave behind. He will be constant.
On that, I have been getting into the Word more here. I've been reading a book by Dallas Willard called Hearing God, that really helps me be at peace about knowing God's voice. With that, it seems I've been hearing God more clearly here. Perhaps it's because there are less voices. But He just seems to prompt me more, to talk with certain people, to correct me, to let me know what I'm doing, what I should be doing, who I am and who I am to be... and of course, much more than me... He shows me this when I know Him for who He is. Also good in getting me to this point: Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest (epic...).
Among the the things He's shown me, I believe He may be calling me to missions. This time may no be so much about biochemistry research as it is about learning to live in a land that is unfamiliar to me. I do not know the language, and I am learning to live with believers from a variety of different backgrounds (at LEC, there are native Germans, people from the UK, Australia, Iraq, Pakistan, some university students, some teachers, one pastor who left his home country due to persecution). We'll see how God uses this experience for His purposes. I know He has equipped me with skills in certain academic areas, but I would not want to elevate those above the God who gave them to me and desires to use them as He sees fit. God, do what You will... really.
On some lighter notes, here are some observations about German culture:
- Germans smoke. All the time. And most anywhere. Asthmatics of the world, do not enter.
- Yes, you can spontaneously go out onto the side walk and open a bottle of champagne (or some other alcoholic beverage) to celebrate a lab success.
- German atheism is not antitheist. This region is especially secular, but it's more of an upbringing and a lack of questioning than a starkly opposed to all religion
- McDonald's kids meals here serve large salads as sides (yes, I wanted to never set foot in one of these again until stateside, but a friend I made at LEC from Hong Kong desired to go there)
- Germans knock on their desks at the end of lectures rather than clap
- Finish everything on your plate. Everything. *You missed a grain of rice. *Scrape until you get it. Good!
- Schnitzel (as I learned today) is not scary, but actually quite tasty (for whatever reason, I imagined some weird, native German dish composed of pig pancreas or something =P)
- ... and there seem to be extremes in heights (at least, that's my observation)
There's more I could share (e.g., praying with a homeless), but I will elaborate more in the next post. God bless you all, wherever you are in this world!
MJW
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