Big Update

Sorry that I haven’t written in a while. I’ve been slacking off here, so that I so don’t slack off elsewhere. So, I’ve decided to just make this entry a general review of how my different activities have gone in the last month.

English Course
Krista and I have continued to teach our English courses at the church, and it has gone very well. In particular, Krista’s group is very large and includes a number of newcomers to the church and old members who are returning after being away for while. My group has also been interesting with an age-range that varies from teenagers to retirees. We have seen both groups improve in their knowledge of English, as well as their confidence. These classes will continue until the school summer break begins in July.

Preaching
I recently reached the milestone of ten complete sermons in German, following two different sermons this week. From the feedback that I have received, I think that preaching has continued to be one of my greatest strengths. I am excited that I get to preach on Good Friday this year, which is a major holiday in Germany. I even get to preach on my favorite text—Isaiah 53.

Kinderunterricht
For the last month, I have become the leader of the children’s Bible class every Wednesday. This week I even taught it without any assistance (Pastor Rehr was out of town). Kinderunterricht has been a very up-and-down experience. When it works well, it can be very exciting to teach our group of a dozen kids, ages 7-11. They love to sing, and they know their Catechism very well. However, it doesn’t always go well. From my experience (and Krista’s, too), it seems that German children are exceptionally unruly, inattentive, and rough. If I have to pause for a moment to think of the right word in German, then I’ve lost them. I usually count it a success if no one gets hurt. So, it has been a real challenge for me, and I’m going to keep trying.

Fun around Dresden
We’ve been enjoying our time here in Dresden. In particular, we have had a lot of invitations lately. German hospitality is really incredible—when you get asked over for afternoon coffee, expect to spend the whole day and to eat two to three meals. The members of our congregation are very friendly and interested in our lives, and we have had a great time getting to know them and experiencing what life is like in Germany.

We’ve gotten out a little bit more as the bitter winter weather is replaced by a lovely spring. We’ve gone on a number of very scenic walks in the area. This weekend we went to the Frauenkirche, and we attended a mid-day devotion to see what that beautiful church is like in worship. We’ve also resumed Sunday soccer, and I have the aches to remind me of it.

Also, we’ve had the opportunity to sample some of the restaurants in the area. Krista and I went out alone to a restaurant for the first time this year for a late Valentine’s Day celebration. We went to the “Kartoffeln Keller”, which has a menu entirely devoted to potatoes. Krista had an extra spicy potato goulash, and I enjoyed a delicious potato casserole with cheese and spiced pork. We wanted to sample the curious-sounding potato ice cream, but—alas—there was none left. Also, last week, Krista and I joined up with a few of her friends from her language course for an all-you-can-eat Sushi buffet. It was my first time to eat raw fish, and it actually wasn’t too bad. It helped that Krista’s Japanese friends could be our guides.

Upcoming Plans
We have a couple exciting weeks coming up. On Friday, the Mummes are coming to visit us from Tübingen. We are excited to see them and show them around Dresden. While they are in town, we are taking the Mummes and the Rehrs to see Krista’s choir sing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. That should be a lot of fun and a really excellent piece of music. Then, on Palm Sunday the director of Lutheran World Relief and Human Care, Matthew Harrison, will be visiting our church and preaching (with translation by Jonathan Mumme).

Then, in the midst of Holy Week, Krista’s parents arrive for a two week vacation. They will see Dresden, Berlin, some villages around Hannover, a couple Luther sites, Trier, and the Mosel Valley. Krista and I will be with them through most of those adventures. I’m excited to finally take some vacation time and see more of Germany. So, stay tuned for more pictures and stories.

In which I get to speak English...

As always, much has happened since I last wrote. We had a very pleasant experience celebrating Christmas in Germany. We also got a taste of German New Year’s Eve, which involves at least as many fireworks as a 4th of July celebration. We got to enjoy these with some of the college students in our congregation, as we watched from the church tower. January has been back to something of a routine, though we certainly haven’t gotten into a rut. Also, in our free time, Krista and I have become serious opera goers, having now seen 3 of the 4 operas in Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Having seen 11 hours of this 16 hour work, I have to say that it is impressive but about twice as long as it needs to be. So, at any rate, here are a couple of the more interesting items, as of late:

English Class
In planning this vicarage, an important aspect was teaching English as a diaconal service project. Unfortunately, this was delayed by my own language training, the Practical Theological Seminar, and then the Christmas rush. As the new year began, though, we were ready to begin. We encouraged the members of our congregation to participate, and I canvassed the neighborhood with invitations for free English lessons. Then, we waited eagerly to see who would arrive for our first meeting. Pastor Rehr was feeling very realistic, and so he started by only setting up one table for the students. A few people trickled in, and before long we had filled the first table and set up a second. Then, a whole rush of people came at once, and we set up a third and collected extra chairs. By the time everyone had arrived, we had over thirty interested people, a third of whom had come from outside the congregation. It was a relief to see that our English course would be a success.

So, we divided the group in two. Krista teaches the complete beginners, and I have the intermediate learners. Krista and the beginners got off to a good start, learning greetings and other basics. An hour and a half is pretty intense for people who know nothing about English, but they seem to be willing to learn. My group is interesting because we have many different levels of skill and many different age groups (ranging from teenagers to retirees). We started with a mixture of grammatical review and conversation, and they have given me good feedback so far. I’m also pleased that the new people are getting along well with the members of our congregation, who have been very welcoming. Hopefully, this positive contact with the church will develop into something more.

Retreat with the Kirchenvorstand
I just returned from a weekend retreat with the Kirchenvorstand, which is something like the church council. The seven of us went to the German-Polish border, near Görlitz, to a small monastery called St. Marienthal. We spent our time studying, discussing, and also having a good time. We also took up the hobby of “Nun-Spotting,” though not too successfully. Even though we poked our heads in a lot of places, we did not spot a single nun. Our subject of study was Luther’s Smalcald Articles, which we read and analyzed in their entirety. I was responsible for explaining the historical background to this document, which went pretty well, in spite of my miserable grammar. We thought it was very ironic reading the article that equates the Papacy with the Antichrist, while sitting in a Catholic cloister in a room bearing a prominent picture of Pope John Paul II. Other than that, we toured the monastery, went on a hike, ate good food, and had lots of time for talking. It was pretty fun, even though it is always nice to come back home.