Peeps and Things

One late Sunday night after finals last fall (’09), God led me on a whim to look up on the interwebs “Christians in Freiburg”. I had been praying earnestly that I could quickly find a Christian outlet abroad, for I realized that if I weren’t intentional in my pursuit of Christ I’d be down and out before anyone could say “Hochgeschwindigkeit”. One of the first names I came across on my search was Ms. Helga Webb (not her real name), a long term missionary stationed in the city with Campus Crusade for Christ. That’s cool, thought I. I found her on Facebook and, rather forwardly, explained some spiritual concerns I had for the semester. I talked about the need for a protected heart in a college and/or cultural atmosphere that literally eats Christians by the dozens, and asked if she had any advice on how I could get plugged in to a Christian community. Eventually she emailed me back and agreed to meet once I landed.
Those few emails to Helga went a long way toward keeping up the intentionality of my pursuit as I got settled in. In early March I made it a point to get to know a student from Hope College, a girl named Carla (also not her real name), who was also studying in Freiburg. I had a hunch she might be praying about the same things. Through conversation I quickly found out that she was indeed. I told her about what I’d heard and she seemed genuinely interested in checking things out with me sometime soon. We met up with Helga for coffee not long after and shared who we were, what we were doing in Freiburg, and why we were bugging her. She humored us by inviting us to her church, Calvary Chapel, the next week. This turned out to be a very solid church that even offered English translation every week. I decided right away to go regularly, and happily Carla did too.
On Easter Sunday, Helga and her friends invited us over to their house for lunch and an afternoon of games. On top of the great food, that afternoon marked really the first time in the semester that I was comfortable being myself. The games were fun and the conversation encouraging. I remember specifically talking to a friend named Anna (I honestly couldn't tell you if this is her real name or not) about her recent mission work in eastern Europe, for example. Unfortunately nothing like this ever happened again with Helga. We think she forgot about us, actually. Schade…
During all this time the Lord was developing strong friendships between myself and my roommates, especially two American students, Jonas and Lena (nope, not their real names either). Through lots of prayer, religion became a common topic of our many conversations. Through even more prayer, discussions on the personal side of Christianity soon followed. Sometime in April Lena began coming regularly to Calvary Chapel with Carla and me. Our conversations, as well as our friendship, easily deepened. The three of us would regularly talk for two or three hours every Sunday after church. Our favorite place for these talks was an outdoor café just off the main drag. Because Freiburg was so cold this spring we often had to, much to our shame, utilize the Snuggie-like blankets this café provided. (They weren’t real Snuggies—they lacked the necessary armholes...and zebra stripes!)
One neat thing Calvary Chapel offers is an open tea bar the last Saturday of every month. I definitely hit this up at every chance. The bar gives 20somethings a chance to hit the town in some other way than the typical bar or diskothek (dance club). The church decorates a room with Persian rugs and cushions, and people just sit around enjoying endless chai tea and conversation long into the night. Carla, Lena and I met several new people at this “bar”.
Ahh, meeting new people. I was blessed to meet many, many good people during the semester. Two of the best were Lena’s tandem partner Rebekkah and her boyfriend Markos (both real), both of whom also actually went to Calvary Chapel. I should also include my German suitemates Paul, Phillip and Maryna (yeppers). Over the semester a neat friendship grew between our groups of friends over game nights, Bible studies, weddings, concerts, etc. They and their friends did not treat us as strangers, nor as if we were just some American students they would never see again after a few months. They shared with us about what was going on in their lives and welcomed it when we shared in return. Had I had to spend the entire semester without their uplifting friendship, I would have been very sorely off. They were intentional in sharing things—jokes, interests, unashamedly awful singing, challenges, prayer requests, teaching and genuine hospitality. It definitely made a great impact on my semester.
Next I’ll probably talk about my bike.