ETM in Gemünden, Part I

Now that I'm much more awake....

I first want to thank the ladies from Mothers of Missionaries (MOMs) for the nice card they sent me. The card arrived sometime last week while I was gone, so it was a welcome surprise waiting for me when I got back. Thank you for thinking of me and for praying for me and for the work in Bremen.

It's hard to believe it's already been five days since we got back from Gemünden. This week has flown by. The first ads for English conversation (part of the campaign that starts next month) were published in a couple of the newspapers here in town on Wednesday. I'm the one taking the calls for the next couple weeks, and I'll admit the past couple days for me have been nerve-wracking waiting for someone to call. Elsa gave me a "script" that she used in previous years, and I tweaked it a bit to better fit my personality and the circumstances of this year's campaign.

And...I'm thrilled to announce that about 15 minutes ago I hung up with the first caller, and after talking with me he is still interested in participating! Yay! :) Since the Munich congregation had success with a similar program WITHOUT initially telling callers that the Bible would be used as a text and starting point for the English conversations, Elsa and I debated about whether or not to do the same with our callers. I decided to go ahead and tell them so as to be totally up-front and honest with them and to avoid later surprises and frustrations. I figure that we're offering a free service, and if they have an issue with the Bible, then they can say "No thanks" and that's that. They haven't lost anything but the few minutes they spent calling. We've been praying that God will prepare the hearts of those who call and that He will send us those who need to participate in this program at this time. The man who called a little while ago said he went to a Catholic school and had no problem with the Bible. Whew! Thank you, Lord, for hearing prayers and making the first call an easy one.

I've also spent time this week working at Elsa's. I'm slowly working my way through the books, deciding to get rid of some and assigning the others to broad categories within Jim's classification system. Last week I told Larry Sullivan, the American missionary who taught the ETM intensive week, that Elsa does not want to keep all of the books, and he asked me to look for a few books that he is needing for his work in the congregation in Chemnitz. Yesterday I found a Hebrew Bible, which Larry is needing, so Elsa said we can send it to him along with other books he might be able to use. My hope is that we'll be able to supply other missionaries around Germany (and maybe in other countries as well) with resources they might need for the work in their respective cities. 8,000 books can stretch a long way, and I'm sure there's something for everyone among them.

Now, to the ETM intensive week. It was stressful at times but overall wonderful. After doing projects at home for two weeks, I enjoyed meeting the other people who had been doing the same work I had. Of course I already knew Sergej and Liesel since they live in Bremen, but of the other 11 participants I had only met two of them before at the ladies' retreat in Neckarzimmern last year. Members of 3 congregations in Germany and 3 in Switzerland comprise the group, and, probably more surprising to me, 6 nationalities are represented: German, Swiss, American, Russian, Czech, and Hungarian. We range in age from 23 to 69 with a wide variety of education levels. This year's group is the largest they've ever had, and I don't believe the group has ever before been this diverse.

Basically we spent 6 to 7 hours a day in a lecture format and doing small group discussions. Before arriving we had done assignments that I talked about in a previous post, and we discussed those together. We spent a lot of time elaborating on the importance of prayer and then walking step-by-step through the Lord's Prayer and fleshing out the details of each of its six components. The prayer notebook project is meant to continue for the next 6 weeks, but the ultimate goal is to help us become a people of prayer who daily devote time to prayer, making it a priority in our walk with the Lord.

We also spent a great deal of time discussing talents, interests, and spiritual gifts. Before we went to Gemünden, each of us gave a copy of a survey to three different people. Each of those people answered the questions as they applied to us, and they then sent them to Elsa, who entered them in a spreadsheet. At the beginning of last week, each of us then filled out a similar but MUCH longer survey about ourselves. All of the questions required us to rank either how much we enjoy; can see ourselves participating in; or already do a certain activity. Elsa then entered those results in the spreadsheet, and the resulting printout was very interesting. During the week we discussed 11 different "non-miraculous" spiritual gifts as described in the New Testament:
1) mercy and compassion
2) serving
3) encouragement and counseling
4) evangelism
5) giving
6) helping
7) shepherding
8) teaching
9) leading
10) speaking
11) differentiating between spirits (i.e., good and evil)
Elsa's printouts included a graph showing which gifts we possibly have based on the answers we and our friends gave on the surveys. It was fascinating to see some of the differences between what we thought and what our friends thought. For example, my answers indicate that I think I have the gift of "helping," but answers given by those to whom I gave the surveys scored highly under "serving." Elsa's explanation for this: they're all seeing the same things that I do, but we're categorizing them in different ways. While I tend to see my activities as helping someone else accomplish something, other people see them as taking responsibility for serving others. The point was to help us all examine ourselves and identify the gifts and interests God has given us and then to see how we can better use them to serve Him.

Probably the hardest discussions for me were about setting goals and creating a life vision, all of which should be based on implementing our God-given gifts and interests. I think I had such a hard time with it because that's exactly what I've been working on lately with deciding whether or not to stay longer in Germany. Disassembling your life and taking a critical look at the pieces and then putting them back together to decide where you're headed and if it's in the right direction is not always a pleasant experience. As a matter of fact, it hurts. But it's necessary if we're going to make the best use of the time God's given us on earth.

Part II coming tomorrow....