Samstag

Just a short note for those who are keeping up with us, today was our last full day of camp. There is so much to say but never enough time. I am hoping that we will soon have wireless internet and the opportunity to share more with you. Thanks for keeping up with us and caring about what we're doing here in Germany. Tomorrow we are on our way to Rodewisch and the sister church of Homer City UMC. Wonder what God has in store for us there?

Random photo day

Today is random photo day. The top left are Annika, Rebecca and Mirjam 3 of the German campers. Top right is the entire German and American staff minus Albrecht and his wife Andrea. The next two are from a regular day at camp. Look, Lisa is working, or maybe she's filling her plate to eat! Nexrt on the left is a look at some staff during a meeting and on the right is Eric with one of our guides in the Zeitz underground system. Bottom row left shows Ian and Kelli with Nancy, one of the German counselors. Bottom right is the tomb of the duke which we saw at the Catholic Church in Zeitz.

Today, Freitag, was another full and wonderful day. Tonight at etwas mehr the youth who have accepted Christ during the week were asked to stand so we could celebrate with them. It was beyond words!! There was clapping and hugging and jumping for joy! We then talked about what happens next and referred to Mark 8:34-35. What do you need to deny to follow Jesus closer? What does it mean to you to take up your cross?

Tomorrow, Samstag, is our last full day at the English Camp. Everyone has mixed emotions. We will be moving on to Rodewisch to a sister church of our W PA UMC Conference. We have been asked to share while there and we have decided to sing "Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone." Pray for us and the campers as this week ends and we head to our next stop in God's plan.
Tschüs

Mittwoch und Donnerstag

Hallo!

So even though today is Thursday I'll tell you about Wednesday (Mittwoch) too. Why? Because we have been so busy no one has any time!

Wednesday was our field trip day with all the campers and all of the staff. We left Droyßig at 9:30am by bus and headed to Zeitz. While there we toured one of the oldest Catholic Churches there. Housed in this church are the tombs (doms) of the first duke and his family. We then went to the subterranean system of the city. We walked where people sought shelter during the wars. We were at times 80 feet underground.

An inspection of the underworld leads us first into ton-like Gewölbe bricked with natural stone, which present themselves in different extents: in width and height up to three meters and more, in the length of approximately four dis to 30 meters! The rundbogen Gewölbe follow the actual courses driven in new red sandstone. It run either in the same ground level as „the Vortonnen " or, very many more frequently, over stairs to further floors down there or up.

In order to use the underground well, without endangering by weakening the stability of the buildings over it, one put on course distances broadly and not over two meters highly usually not many more than one meter. In addition they run often all over in up to three floors among themselves.

In work probably for many decades the old Zeitzer in the weak light of Öllatternen has the courses with hammers, Schlegeln and Pickeln into the new red sandstone gehauen. Numerous in an isolated manner from each other creative course plants during the Second World War for air protection purposes as well as provided with electrical light, protective doors were originally interconnected to that and partly with seat opportunities.

Even in earlier times of distress one used the course plants probably than slip angles. The main motive for the creation of the Tonnengewölbe and courses was however a completely different one. Certainly it was connected with the nutrition and the earning facilities of humans in the Middle Ages. At that time was missing an important food, which is to be hardly still excluded for us today: the potato. It became of the Spaniards only in the middle 16. Jh. from Peru to Europe memo-brought and common itself here only gradually. Since 1717 one began it in Saxonia to cultivate to which Zeitz until 1815 belonged, and since 1738 in Prussia. Differently than today for it the beer played a nearly irreplaceable role. It was not only people beverage, but basic food and basis of numerous courts, like the famous beer soup.

In other cities of east Thuringia and west Saxonia there is likewise low cellar, which is comparable after age, plant and purpose with those in our city. The Zeitzer of Gangsysteme is singular and unforgettable nevertheless regarding extent, expansion, preservation condition and aesthetic effect.

After our time underground we spent time above ground doing a little shopping. Instead of riding the bus back, we hiked through the woods and fileds on a beautiful trail. It was about 7 kilometers (do the math).

Today, Thursday, is my birthday (Lisa) and it started out so well. All of the staff and campers greeted me outside of the dining hall singing and then handed me a t-shirt that everyone had signed. My friend, Peter, and his daughter, Finja, drove 4 hours from their home near Aschaffenburg to surprise me. I got to spend the afternoon with them and it was wonderful.

At camp it was a "regular" day with English lessons, sports, memory verses and 'etwas mehr'. Our verse today is John 14:6. If you don't have it memorized I think you should look it up. Since Tuesday 9 German campers have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. God is doing a mighty work here and it's pretty awesome to be a part of it.

Our W PA campers are awesome! All of them are participating and contributing in ways that would make their families proud. Allison wins the biggest high five today though because she spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen cleaning and helping to prep dinner. She rocks! Ian helped organize ultimate frisbee and the campers loved it. That boy sure can drink pop! Kelli is great with the young kids who are here with their parents, she has so much energy. Eric is still the man of the hour for the tea he makes and his composure in all situations is a great example for others. Jill has such insight when it comes to the scripture and also works hard when she has kitchen duty. Yong and I are so pleased with this group, you just have no idea.

It's hard to believe we'll be moving on to the church community in Rodewisch in just a few days. Can't wait to see what God has in store there.

Dienstag

Today I thought you might like to see some more pictures.

The first picture is from our visit in Leipzig with Thomas and Anita. The last picture is from the Methodist Church in Zeitz with Albrecht preaching and Abe translating.

The photos in the middle are the campers, American and German. They have been split into teams for the week. Each team is a different color: blau, grün, lila, und orange. They had to come up with a team name, song, and banner. On Monday night they presented all three for the mitarbeiten (staff). The Orange Octopi won for best design (our own Allison painted it)! The Green Mars Männchen won for best song. Jill and Ian are on the Purple Submarine Team and Kelli and Eric are on the Beastly Blue team. These teams compete at sports, Bible verse memorization and other tasks.

Today's verse is Romans 3:23. Do you have it memorized?

Montag

Today's Bible verse is John 3:16. It will be the verse that is woven through all we do today from the English lessons to devotion/small group time, to worship. As my (Lisa) small group met this morning we broke the verse down into fragments and discussed each piece individually and related it to our lives. We then took the whole verse and summarized it in our own words with our own understanding. When is the last time you really thought about this verse? It is one that is so familiar that we often say it without considering its meaning. We concluded that "God loves us, wherever we're from and whoever we are, enough to sacrifice His son for us, even for those who might not even know Him yet. So, we must share this news with those who don't know Him so they can have life eternal too."

Jill handed out her bracelets as the campers arrived yesterday and Albrecht was SO pleased. He thought it was a wonderful idea. Today I see many wearing theirs.

It is now 3:00pm here, time for our afternoon (nach mittag) snack. It is very common in Germany to have this time for snack. Today we are having authentic German cakes baked by the ladies of the Methodist Church. I wish I could bring some back, but they would spoil, so we will eat your piece for you. Tschus.

Sunday - First Day with Campers

We started this morning at Albrecht's church in Zeitz (Methodist Church). What a joy to worship with our brothers and sisters from our sister conference here iin eastern Germany. lisa brought greetings from W PA and shared the old Avery and Marsh favorite with them, "I am the church, You are the church" (Ich bin die kirche, du bist the kirche, wir sind die kirche zusammen). No matter if we are American or German Christ is our center and our foundation.

The church treated us to delicious cakes afterwards and then we had pizza for lunch (mittagessen). The toppings were quite unique: kidney beans and corn; eggs and lamb; and salami and pineapple.

We returned to the schule to get ready for the campers. Each of us had a different task to prepare. And then, they arrived. What a blessing to see 30 teenagers, some nervous and shy - others ready to explore. We met together as a group for "etwas mehr" and played some ice breakers (no 'I have never' or trash can game) and then heard a message.

As I type the campers are getting ready for bed and the busy day ahead. God is good and He is present here in this place. I pray He is with you also.

Early in the morning, we took a charter bus to Lutherstadt/Wittenberg. The day and the city have been beautiful. We got to tour Martin Luther's church where he preached for 30 years, his home which is now a museum, and the seminary where he taught. We also visited the famous schloß (castle) church where he posted the 95 Thesis (the proclamation or protesting, hence the Protestant or Reformation Movement) against the established Catholic Church. Albrecht, our host pastor treated the group to a delicious mittagessen (lunch) at the Brauhaus zu Wittenberg. We should add that we had the Mayor of Zeitz (former mayor of Wittenberg) as our guide. Guides like him have added to this wonderful trip. We are grateful that people are interested to share about their history and culture. It would be great to maintain good relationship with German and Californian friends.

When we returned to homebase, or camp, we had a cook out of various German meats with salad and many breads. Our worship this evening was short because we have much to do tomorrow and should get a good night's rest.

We will go as a group to worship at Albrecht's kirche (church) in Zeitz. Lisa will speak on behalf for our Western PA Conference of the UM Church. After worship, around 5 pm, the campers will begin arriving. I am not sure how much time we will then have to update this site, but will try to add something as often as we can.

We have included some photos from the day's excursion.

Please pray for us and especially for the campers who are coming for many do not know Christ. Danke.

The top left photo is the Theses Door. The top right photo is the church where Luther preached for all those years. The windmills were seen on our bus ride to Wittenberg.

The bottom two photos were taken at the camp, one outside and one inside.

Photos and info from Friday.

The kirche (church) to the left is St. Thomas where Bach is buried.

At near right are the youth, Eric too, with Anita our wonderful guide and new friend.

The church just to the left is St. Nikolai Church where the reign of the GDR began it's fall.













Today, Freitag, has been a day of work. There has been so much to do to get ready for Sunday and the arrival of the German youth. Yong spent some of today doing lesson plans for one of the English classes. Lisa spent 4 hours (that's right, 4) at the supermarket with the woman from CA who will be preparing the meals. Lisa spent most of that time helping to translate signs, foods, etc. The youth have been moving supplies, decorating, setting up rooms, and making bracelets. I think everyone here has had a very busy day. We will soon have our worship time. We will probably have an early bedtime tonight because tomorrow we will be going to Lutherstadt/Wittenberg to tour and see the famous door (well, the sight of it anyways because the original caught fire and burned).

Finally a picture

Just in case you have forgotten what we look like, here we are before we left PIT. There is Yong, Kelli, Lisa, and Allison in the back and Jillian and Ian in front. We met Eric in Berlin. He is really with us. Today he has made American sweet tea for everyone and they LOVE it! I think this might be his job all week!

We have limited ability to add photos since we don't have access to our own computers so I will add a couple others now of our visit in Leipzig.

Day 2

Today we finished with our time in Leipzig with some shopping (everyone liked it, even the boys). We then boarded a train and headed south to Zeitz where we were met by Pastor Albrecht Weisbach's son. We were taken to Droßig, to the site of the camp where we will be until August 14. We had an afternoon snack with the rest of the staff (both German and Californian) and American youth.

We are staying at Christopher Schüle which was build to educate the privileged so they could teach the poor. It was then a convent. Beside the schüle is a schloß (castle) where the man who designed the schüle once lived. It was in the 1850s and he was then a Duke.

Everyone has gotten settled in their rooms, some like dorm rooms others more like classrooms. We had our abendessen and then joined in worship with the whole group. There are 33 of us wating and preparing for the German youth who will come on Sunday to learn English but more importantly, hear and live the word of God. The worship service was powerful as we sang, "Light of the World" together in English and then sang a hymn together using both the German and English lyrics. God doesn't care what it sounds like because to Him it is always a melody to His ears. We closed our evening with a reading from Psalms 46:9-10: "He stops wars all over the world; He breaks bows, destroys spears, and sets shields on fire. 'Stop fighting, ' He says, 'and know that I am God, supreme among nations, supreme over the world.'"

So with that we bid you a gute nacht.

End of Day 1

We arrived safely in Berlin and took a taxi to the Hauptbbahnhof. Three youth;Ian, Eric, and Jillian chose good old McDonalds for lunch while the rest of us decided to go with something a little more native. Kelli did eat, but shoe shopping was her first priority.

We arrived in Leipzig and found a man, Pastor Thomas, holding a sign that said "Lisa Doutt." Hooray, someone wanted to pick us up. Thomas is a pastor of the Methodist Church in Leipzig. He brought, Anita, one of his parishioners along and she was a WONDERUL guide. We toured the city center going to St. Nikolai Church and Thomas Church. St. Nikolai is where the end of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) began. It started with a group of women who got together on Monday just to pray. The secret service officers found out and tried to stop them from praying but God prevailed. More people came and more until they were inside and outside of the church praying while walking around it. And soon change came as in October 1989 the wall of separation and repression cam tumbling down. Anita has lived in Leipzig her entire life and her stories of before and after were riveting.

At Thomas Church we learned that Johann Sebastian Bach had been a member for 38 years of his life and we saw where he is buried, right inside the church.

Thomas cooked a suppe of gemüse und fleisch for our abendessen and then we walked for a few blocks and found ice cream for dessert.

What a joy to come so far and yet feel so much at home. God is good everywhere.

Day One

It's Wednesday, Aug 3 and we're sitting in the Charles DeGaulle airport waiting for flight to Berlin. Flight from PIT was uneventful. Some slept, others did not. We are anticipating meeting our last member, Eric, who is joining us at Tegel airport.

Please continue to pray for our group as our work/ministry will soon begin.

Tschus

Lassen Sie die Reise beginnen

One more day until 5 youth and 2 adults from Western PA Conference of the United Methodist Church board a plane for Berlin. Once we land we'll hop a train to Leipzig and be met by a couple from the Zeitz ministry team. Then it will be full speed ahead, well maybe not since we'll be sleep deprived, to the German English Camp in Droyssig.

We will be participating in a ministry developed by Rev. Albrecht Weisbach and the Methodist Church of the Eastern German Conference. We will be in ministry not only with our German brothers and sisters but a team from CA as well. The opportunity to share Christ's love with a group of German teenagers is exciting.

Please pray for us as we begin this journey.

Stayed tuned for the stories we'll have to tell.