Already Dead

Today as I was walking by a cemetery, I prayed that I might find a Rudolph grave stone in there. I thought it would be pretty cool, since my roots are from Germany. I have tried finding other ancestors in other cemeteries and I can’t say it was a success, another story for another time. I came up to the stone wall fence and looked across and saw someone with the Rudolph last name! Not only was his last name Rudolph but his first name was Richard! He died the same year I was born, just 2 months before my birthday. It was very strange and exciting to see your own grave stone. Many thoughts came to my mind, one in a spooky way I thought that it’s a sign that I will die in a couple of days, but better thoughts came as well. I thought right away about what Christ said when we are to take up our cross and follow him. We must die to self. That is the way we are to look at our lives, dead to self, but alive to God! We must see our own grave stone and follow Jesus to where ever and to whomever he chooses. I have been reading a book about the persecuted believers who were at one time Muslim in the book “The Costly Call”. At one point in the book a man is being beat day after day by the police and they told him that if he renounces Jesus that he will not die. His response was “I am already dead”, referring to picking up his cross and following Jesus. At this point they let him go because he was unbreakable. What an amazing testimony we can be to the watching world, for the glory of God, when we suffer or die for the sake of the Gospel. Christ died that we can glorify and live for him. We have one life to live on this earth, so what are you doing with it?

Getting our German drivers License

Today I took my German Drivers license test. It is one of the things on my check list that I am able to check off so I can move to the next thing. In order for me to get my license I first had to take a 2 and half hour class. On our way to class Julia wanted to take my picture with my book in hand. I did not want her to take a picture before I walked in, as she insisted, because I felt like it was my mother taking the classic first day of school picture with your lunch box and book bag in hand.

If you know German culture, you know that Germans don’t mess around with the rules. When there is a rule, you must follow it to a T. Julia and I went to our class room and I look at a sign that said, “no eating or drinking allowed in class room.” As I am reading the sign Julia is taking out her bag of almonds to snack on, and I quickly told her to put them away and showed her the sign. She did and then moved on to her classic water bottle that she carries with her. Julia then said something along the lines of “it’s probably ok to have water,” she then placed her water bottle on top of her purse. Class then started at 8 o’clock and in came the teacher of our class. A German gentleman, who’s English sounded like the classic German scientist from the movies that pronounce their English like, “zing instead of thing”. He looked as if he just woke up to make it to class with his beer belly hanging out of his shirt, which had the front untucked and his hair as if he just got out bed. When he came in he saw that someone had a water bottle on their desk and told her the rules and made her put the bottle outside the classroom. Then as he looked back he saw someone who was slouching on his desk and told the man, that if he wants to sleep, he does not have to take the class and can leave. At this point Julia and I looked at each other and she ushered her water bottle away in her purse so that she was not the next person to get yelled and deemed a rule breaker. We then had to fill out some paper work, as usual, and our teacher didn’t want anybody to fill out anything on the sheet ahead of him. Some girl had disregard his request and then was scolded by our teacher. She seemed to irritate him, because he would find something wrong with her paper work throughout our time of filling things out. Then came the great video of European driving rules we had to watch. It was hosted, not by David Hasselhof, but by the head of the German police force. The man seemed as natural of a public speaking as a Junior High boy who realized that his mom bought him girls jeans instead of boys jeans for back to school shopping, both very awkward. The music that was behind him when he was talking in very stiff English was music that you would find in a dance club or a rave someplace. I am not sure if this was supposed to inspire us to break out some German dance moves, or to make us think that Euro driving was best. Class was over and then I took my test 3 hours later and passed! Julia will take her test as soon as she gets her visa (waiting on our marriage license), but it was a great experience to have and to share with each other. We are loving every day and enjoying every moment. I can’t believe it has only been 3 week here!

Wie heist du? "How do you say?"

I had my first tutoring lesson yesterday, and it went great! Or so I think. I meet with Nick, an eleven year old whose mother insisted we study together three days a week, for one and a half hours. It sounds long, but really goes pretty quickly. Although our language is a tough one, and really has some inexplainable terms, it is an awesome opportunity to help teach language, as I seek to learn another one myself. I learn a bit of German while with him, as he knows barely any English. You have to give it to the boy; he comes from a Russian home, which speaks German, and he just transfered from a school that taught him French! I only wish that was my weak point- so many languages to decipher between!

I am constantly amazed at the barrier that stands between two people of different languages. You can want to communicate all you possibly can, but without the language, there is an end point that you just undoubtedly hit when neither of you can get your point acrossed. It can be very frustrating, yet is an awesome task that in itself shows me just another wonder of our Lord. His omnipotence to create such a diverse world, with so many beautiful people, places, and languages.

It inspired me to look back into His word to study the origin of all this confusion, and it was at the tower of Babel that it all began as the people came together to build what they said would "make a name for themselves," or else they would "be scattered across the face of the entire earth." As the Lord oversaw what was taking place, He saw that with one language, "nothing these people do will be beyond them." He then confused their language so they couldn't understand one another, and scattered them across the face of the earth."

Interesting isn't it, that just as we often desire to stick together in our comfortable common places and do "great things" that we miss the point of going outside of where we "belong" to accomplish purposes outside ourselves. In this case the people would have become so self absorbed and not accomplish what He desired. And so in the times we sit under the confusion of a language that is beyond us, we seek God for the strength that He created everything with, and ask that He accomplish through us, something outside of ourselves.

Seen as so amazing through creation and its counterparts, our God has a way of making His omni-potence, science, and presence,coincide so that nothing is impossible- even the transformation of our minds which He created.

US vs Germany

There are many things we love about Germany, and there are a few we are getting used to. Today we went to Ramstein AF base. I knew I was in some sort of US territory when I had a heater IN my bathroom stall. We are lucky if the heat is actually ON inside sometimes here:) As Americans, our conservancy is much lower than Germans in that we heat whole houses, turn lights on, and don't recyle quite as much. I understand this way of life, it sure saves money- but I can't say I was too disappointed to find a surprise heater in the bathroom.

One thing they sure beat the US on though is cleanliness; and preparation. When in doubt, the toilet paper will never run out. They usually stock it several rolls high behind or to the side. A pet peave of mine is to not check before I choose my stall and get stuck with no tp, and yet in Germany you are secret safe even when you don't check! Thank God for the German mindset- fully prepared, and ready for anything!

*We've even got a florescent vest in our car we are borrowing- in case we get stuck on the road at night. Fashion statement or not, we WILL be safe:)

First Fussball (soccer) Game

Today was a day that I will never forget. I went to my first German soccer game. There were 39,747 fans making their way into the Kaiserslautern Stadium, when it dawned on me that I had never in my whole life seen this many police dressed in riot control gear in my life. I then asked the people I was with, “why are there were so many police in swat gear.” By their tone their response was supposed to bring a comforting answer, they said, “because last time these two teams played there was about a 1,000 or more people fighting each other.” I responded with, “oh ok”, but my thought in my mind was, “great first game I pick to go to, I end up being beat by 10 opposing fans who hate me because I am wearing red, and end up in the hospital.” Of course the worst possibility goes through a Rudolph’s mind whenever we enter a new situation. As soon as I entered the stadium I got chills. The fans were going crazy; chanting cheers for their teams, waving flags, and holding up their scarves in their teams honor. I got caught up in all the cheering that I started chanting whatever it was they were, but with no real words, just sounds as if I fell down a flight of stairs. Then a thought hit me and went through my mind the whole game; what am I using my energy and life for? I love to watch my favorite sports teams, and get very into the games. I give all this emotion and energy for something I am really not even a part of, I am only a spectator watching others play. The thing I am apart of is the church. I am Christian and I am a participant in life. I am to live my life for Jesus Christ and count the cost to follow him wherever he asks me to go and do whatever he asks me to do. The question then is; what do I give all my energy for the thing I am actually a part of or the things that I am just a spectator in? I thank the Lord for the Gospel, and for making it possible for us to give our lives back to him as a spiritual sacrifice, so that we can give it all, because He gave it all.

Time with family

We just enjoyed the last several days with Jinner and Ken- Rich's parents. They flew in to continue travels for conferences and school speaking engagments acrossed Europe, and started out with us! Many times there were tight moments between train schedules while running to and from each train- many times a common denominator in our stories.

I met Rich with his parents the first morning after riding with the senior group from our church to the start of our tour on the Rhein river. It was a blast being snugly fit between these jolly elderly friends, whom were quite delighted to help heighten my understanding of their language. Grabbing me closely and speaking loud and clear, I learned a few new things, I think, and we spent much time that day conversing with those there who were diligent in persevering through our language skills, or lack thereof. We saw more beautiful castles than we could ever ask for, such an awesome sight, just like the fairy tales:)

We've also blessed to borrow a smart car sized vehicle for transportation for now, and have become accustomed to driving it on the ginormous hills that we must brave on our trek to work and back. Michael took us to practice with our new ride way up past herds of sheep and deer who stared at us as we practiced first gear time and again on the 45 degree incline. Thank God I've had the experience driving stick for a few years; and Rich has now got it down also, despite the ridiculous angles we have to get around, and the non fluidity the clutch can seem to give us:)

It was great to have Ken and Jinner zip around with us in our little "death trap" as Rich would say. After Ken spoke to our partner church in Kaiserslautern, we drove just over the border into France just so we could say we've been:) We enjoyed that church and their fellowship, as well as that of our own church team here in Kusel as Ken and Jinner hope to be a help to their ministry through this new mobilzation position they've taken with their mission board. We pray God may allow us to take part in His plan to let the nations know Him, and particularly through us here in Europe for this time.

What is God preparing you for?

God has a purpose for your life and is preparing you to do His work for His glory. We as Christians should never look at our lives as our own, but know that we were bought with a price. We also find joy in living for him, wherever and however He chooses. When we look at men and women God used in the Bible or in the history of this world, it is evident that he was preparing them before they were ever “used” for a specific task. We look at Moses’ life and it was at the young age of 80 before he was sent to free the children of Israel for the glory of God. His life up to that point was preparation for that great work that God was preparing for him. The same is with David, and not till later in his life that he was the king, but many events had occurred in his life to prepare him for that time.

Now I stop and think about my life as a Christian being in a foreign land that I did not grow up in, how did God prepare me for this? This thought hit me pretty hard last night, when I went to a men’s Bible study. The Bible study consisted of men that were well above my age and all of them spoke German besides the 2 people I went with. As soon as I arrived I thought I had found a time machine to my past. I grew up in a very German family, where you have a strong German last names like; Rudolph, Klotzbach, Schlogenhof, Bullwinkel, Deininger, Kopp, just to name a few. When I arrived I felt like I was at a Klotzbach or Rudolph family reunion. During the Bible study one of the men was dozing off in a lazy boy, which is a regular occurrence for my grandfather while we are in the living room at night. Then after we got done with the Bible study, this guy ended up talking about his job, which often happens around the Rudolph dinner table. Then the real flashbacks started, as soon as we got done talking in a circle, we headed to the dinner table. There were 2 different kinds of potato salads, 2 different types of wurst, a salad, and a melon. Potato salad and wurst are staples at every family get together we have ever had in my life! As I was eating I thought and laughed to myself, wow God prepared me for how the Germans eat by putting me in the Rudolph family. I don’t know many other families in which potato salad, kraut, wurst, and pickles are a staple.
It was a great time with the men at the Bible study, even though I know enough German to say a couple of things, make random odd statements, as well as incline my ear to the occasional understanding of pieces of conversations. We are loving it, and I know God continues to prepare us for the mission field…so what is God preparing you for?

Das gross Hugel

So we both agreed that we love the terrain here that is much like where we lived in PA. It is cold already like in PA as well, although we hope that may change before the winter actually comes! Kusel is in a valley between steep hills like the little town of Clarks Summit where the summit is like here, and over looks our little city. It is beautiful to see all the streets, church steeples, etc.

The dialect here is actually going to be a bit of a "hill" itself to get over, as it is different than the hoch Deutch that we've learned most of from the north. We've been told to ask people to speak this hoch or "high" German with us, so that we don't learn what they may not be able to understand, in the whole of Germany. To add to that twist, my friend I went shopping with last night actually speaks mostly fluent Russian and then knows German also, so we taught one another as we shopped because neither of us speaks even close to fluent of one another's language- it was so much fun! I applaud her for teaching me a language she dosn't even speak much, and told her I'm going to be speaking Russian on accident if I learn some of that from her as well!

I was a little curious how this shopping trip would go, but we got around great! Whenever we could not get our point acrossed, she laughed as I always resort to a shrug and the reply, "Ich weiss nicht?" Half the difficulty in shopping for me is not finding what I need, but also trying to read the nutrition labels, a whole other story in a foreign language!

Rich and I were both pretty tired sunday, and so the message at church was a little tough to retain, BUT we enjoyed the fellowship and then also a delicious lunch at one of the elders' homes. We also helped serve coffee, cake, and wursten at a soccer gathering for a local soccer tournament, very much the typical German cuisine on a day to day basis.

Das gross Hugel means "the big hill," and I am not sure how to say it in plural form, so those of you who know it can correct me. I just thought I'd take the opportunity to teach you some German along with us as we learn it!

Making progression!

We are highly encouraged after just four quick days here in Kusel. With a driver mentality, I love this!:)
We have completely painted three of our fours walls ORANGE, moved our furniture, applied to and just about clinched two great jobs. We have yet to finalize those, but the opportunities were very widely open for us, which was not necessarily expected.

We have learned a bit more of this beautiful area, which is always a mind easing activity. We love it more here day after day, as Kusel is a big town/small city feel altogether. Everything you need right at your foot, yet a drive one mile outside brings you to the hilltop overlooking the villages and as I said before, even a castle! We've got great running/biking/walking trails that go for miles, and very safe!
Rich points out Im so easily excited by these little things, but come on we're from the US where it seems much less exciting. Sorry friends, you'll just have to visit us to see this! Although I know the goal in life is not to be ultimately satisfied in your own comfort and enjoyments, I do believe the Lord changes the desires of your heart to become like his- so likely where He puts us when we are seeking Him we WILL enjoy- not matter what or where.

One of the greatest things about being here in a German church and less English speaking area, is our daily communication which turns into much laughing. It's like playing one of those games when you can't use the word you are describing, because you literally don't know what that word means, or visa versa. We have to use our descriptive abilities with those who know English yet still don't know all words, and with those who don't know much at all, we are stretched very much to think through all our vocab to paste together something to make sense. It helps to have those who speak both fluently help us translate when we must, and when they speak together we are able to listen as though skimming the page of a book, while catching several words and getting the gist of it all.
Many times Rich and I smile and nod as we try to think through what just happened. It keeps our attention in check for sure, as if you zone out you will really lose it. But we really encouraged, and love the laugh it brings when figuring out new things.

Our friend Adrian took us to discuss our jobs with the Army base today and spoke mostly German with us, which was awesome. We just went to drop off our applications but had to return so we stayed awhile at an eis cafe (ice cream shop), read, and translated the German newspaper with Adrian while Rich took notes in his new little notebook he now carries everywhere with him, and I got rescued from the bathroom from the man I ordered coffee from. He expressed in his broken English that he thinks I am a girl, and I agreed after realizing this and turning around myself. I'm not sure if his comment was actually "broken" English, or if he was just being sarcastic in stating "I think you are a girl." I'm not too worried about my misttaking people of this however.

Adrian also spent most of the day with us painting our apt this week. My favorite conversation that day was asking him for a hose, of which after him not understanding this word we went into describe it as "a long tube/rope with "sshh" water coming out?" He was so confused. This is just one small example of how silly it all sounds- but we love it. Glad we can laugh!

culture change

As we head to bed now almost 2am here, my biological clock is a bit confused while it is still only dinner time as our bodies know it. After staying up way longer than we felt like we could, then finally crashing for twelve hours, unfortunately we still recall the second night is usually the hardest. I only regret the futher sleep cyle it will throw me off into.

Other than that, it is so great to be here already. We've almost unpacked all the belongings we could cram into two bags of 50 pounds each; in addition to the carry on that carried over half that in weight:)

We have enjoyed much company of the pastor and his family that we will be working with. They've offered so much to us already, by way of rides, shopping, and entertainment; i.e. we enjoyed our first German soccer game at their house this evening, of which by the way they won by four.

Michael and his wife Li, he a German and her Swiss, are extremely hospitable as they continually either house young interns, or at least serve them for meals with their family. We love our little apartment attached to the church, but it is always nice to be accompanied by friends in a new place. I already know by the time we leave we will miss this little town, which looks much of what you would think a little German town may look like if you could imagine. There is a castle in the distance, and a variety of old and new buildings, most of which follow some form of European structure, and the little cars as well as mopeds speed down the streets, weaving in and out.

We have spoken to those in charge of employment through the military base, and received hard copy applications which we will turn in once we locate every peice of information on paper that has ever been recorded of us. THEN, we may just land a job if nobody at the top of the list falls into place; those being the actual family members of military officers. We do not worry though, as we have literally been here just over 24 hours, and have a few things to finish before we'd like to jump into full time work. God has a plan, and our jobs are in it!

We love listening to the German language, as our God created it, and so we believe he will enable us to conquer whatever he wills. It sounds quite far from our ability to mimick as eloquently as we hear it, but we are however feeling encouraged as we listen and pick up at least bits of understanding. It is a fun challenge, and we are excited to face it, one day at a time.

You may wonder what 'glauben sie' means? Well clearly not English, you may not be surprised to learn that is is actually German, and means "do you believe?" I actually intended it to somewhat throw out there the question "What" do you believe, but I named it before I knew exactly what I was writing, and therefore will keep it the way it is. It is basically as simple as it sounds, intending only to ask others of their beliefs, in general. The actual meaning "DO you believe" makes it a little more pointed, and I guess you could say it sounds a little more dogmatic in question if meant in regards to religious beliefs, of which we do make much of our focus. But we will leave it as simple as it sounds, as we do state the things we believe on this blog, in regard to the world around us, both here and abroad wherever that is. Nothing is new under the sun, so it won't be anything profound, but just that which God has enabled us to learn through the years he gives us on this earth. I find it makes for great conversation when we learn new things and share them with one another. So share with us too; if, what, and how you've come to believe what you do.

1st day at the fair!

The first day in Germany was great! Julia is going to write later about the trip over, but I am going to share about our first day experience.

The pastors family that we are working with decided to take us to a local town fair. It was right down the road from where we are staying so we walked down and went through all the booths until we came to the rides. Now these German rides can only be dated by the ride displaying "Kid and Play" on the backdrop.
The first ride that we went on was one of those pirate ships that swings you upside down and around many times until you almost throw up. After I got off the ride I was given some peanuts and gingerbread, and then talked into another ride. I should have stopped because this ride was a crazy spinning one which went faster than any one I've ever been on in the states. As Julia and I rode with our friends, I started to realize that this ride seems to be longer and faster than usual.
At this point I started to feel my stomach sloshing back and forth. I knew at this point that I was going to throw up and asked Julia for the cup from the water that she had thankfully just gulped down before we got on the ride. As she gives it to me I start hurling in the cup, and as it spun from side to side I started missing the cup and throwing up and hitting everyone on the sides.

The ride finally ended, and as I got off somewhat spewn on my arms and legs, I waddled through the fair and back to our apartment. I felt so bad for the people that I hit, but I was comforted by the fact that this must happen to them all the time. Yet I wonder why would anyone stand by this ride.

Things are going great, and Julia will write later because her writing ability surpasses mine!