Stuttgart and Auerbach and more…

I Will Be Here

Steven Curtis Chapman is playing in the background as I face down the computer screen trying to figure out how to possibly condense two weeks of mind boggling travel and conversations into one “not too long this time” blog post. The lyrics always get me, as few songs can…it’s a love song that feels like it really fits us, Cal and I, and yet I can also hear it as a promise from God. Look it up and listen to the whole song…here’s a taste:

Tomorrow mornin', if you wake up
And the future is unclear
I, I will be here
As sure as seasons are made for change
Our lifetimes are made for years
So I, I will be here

The future is certainly unclear. The present was supposed to make it clear: we would come to Germany with the introductions we had made via email and Zoom calls, meet those people (and maybe a few more) in person to establish trust, do a little teaching/coaching, and see whether God opened any doors to return possibly next year. Sounds relatively straightforward. It has been anything but.

To be sure, we have in fact met the people we contacted from the simplicity of home in Minnesota and we have in fact done a little teaching and coaching. But that’s like saying a flower garden is colorful or a zoo has a lot of animals—or like the feeling you get when you stand before a stunning mountain view that takes your breath away and then look down at the photos you couldn’t resist taking and sigh because they don’t begin to capture the height and depth and majesty of the real thing. Words are truly failing me today.

Every person we have met has an amazing story and we feel privileged to be their audience, and to be invited to share our stories in return. I will try to share a few glimpses from the past two weeks.

Stuttgart – Stadthafen Kollektiv, Café Luv and schweinhaxe

Our first visit to Stuttgart was the weekend of October 4-5. Pastor Raphael is on sabbatical and was out of town with his family for the weekend, but generously offered us their apartment for two nights, complete with Swiss chocolate and weißbier. From the living room window at dusk we watched the light show created by carnival rides at the Cannstatter Volksfest, Stuttgart’s version of Munich’s Oktoberfest. Think Minnesota State Fair carnival on steroids, plus five giant buildings they insist on calling tents serving beer by the liter, delicious schweinhaxe (mein neues deutsches Lieblingsgericht), and costumed locals standing on wooden tables singing along at the top of their lungs.

Saturday Pastor Kathi greeted us warmly and invited us to their apartment where husband Freddy cooked us our first German dumpling meal: maultauschen two ways—whole dumplings in soup broth and sliced dumplings fried a little crispy—both delicious! They both smiled when they talked about the early days of “not quite dating”—a very German phenomenon where couples talk, take walks, hang out, but avoid labeling the relationship. They are now in the thick of building their own family life from their different faith journeys and cultural influences from Germany and Ghana. The shining star of their life is their sweet, beautiful, busy and very talkative little girl! (It was a good reminder for us of that wonderful and exhausting season of life where couples balance jobs, kids, home and finding time to invest in each other.)

Later that afternoon we headed over to Café Luv in the “Old Town” area where we sipped cappuccinos in comfy armchairs with several church leaders, starting to put names and faces and stories together (still a work in progress today). One lovely couple was close to our age and brought their little dog (which of course made me miss Murray); everyone else was from our kids’ generation or younger. Such warm inviting people—it became clear that they are reflecting the love of Christ to their neighborhood and the café is one of their key tools to do so. Even though the café is not open every day (due to everyone’s busy work schedules—it’s run by volunteers)—they are well known and loved in the community. One of their regular weekly events is a family-friendly coffee time, which attracts many parents with littles since noisy busy children are not so welcome in most other coffee shops.

Sunday the church (Stadthafen Kollektive) gathered back at Café Luv for their every-other-week Gottzeit. Cal had been asked to preach this week (Germany’s “Harvest Thanksgiving” day); this was his first time ever being the Sunday morning preacher, another milestone for this trip. He prepared notes and slides to talk about learning to trust and hear God’s voice through his health journey. Then he just launched into the story never once using the notes, and despite the slides not really matching up, several people had enough courage afterwards to tell him how it touched their hearts. Like any good family, most of the church stayed around for lunch (which everyone quickly procured from the many shops within a two block radius). Need I mention homemade desserts and more coffee?

Fast forward to the following Saturday, October 11. We were back at Café Luv for a one-day couples workshop where we talked honestly from Cal’s counseling expertise and our shared life experiences. About nine couples crowded into the Café living room (same place they do church) and it was a delightful day of teaching, telling stories and seeing how well they all engaged with the challenging topics. They were the ones coming to invest in their relationships, and we were honored to be a tool in that process. Later that evening another not-yet-engaged couple from the Kollektive hosted us for a lovely dinner at her apartment. If not for the looming 2 hour drive, we would have lingered there much longer. This little church is really capturing our hearts!

To Auerbach and Beyond!

Between the first and second trip to Stuttgart we did a road trip to a little town near the Czech border in the former East Germany called Auerbach (in Vogtland). The expectation was simply to meet a couple doing mission-focused work there; the connection came from a member of a men’s group Cal serves with in Minnesota who heard we were going to Germany and suggested that we meet his friend and former roommate serving here. Once again God was at work weaving the threads of many lives together--we just can’t visualize the full tapestry yet. Adam and his lovely wife welcomed us so warmly, and hosted us for two nights in the Middle East-themed room in their pension (the German version of a US bed & breakfast). It’s part of a large centuries old building just a block from the town square which she inherited and has transformed into a beautiful oasis welcoming world travelers and sharing life and love over breakfast. It also holds several apartments that sometimes house helpers and sometimes those needing help. Adam has established a reputation for teaching English and sharing his love of travel and literature. Both are involved with a relatively new local church, born from the merger of two struggling youth groups, that is now thriving with over 100 attendees. Mitch Albom (of Tuesdays with Morrie fame) once wrote, “Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” This is exactly what Adam and Annett have done here. We felt privileged to learn from them.

Adam took us for a drive in the afternoon and in addition to showing us the city, he drove towards the Czech border, then up a small mountain road into an undeveloped park-like area and turned off the van. We walked in rain-squishy grass past a long-overgrown sign warning “Privatgrundstück: Betreten Verboten” (“Private property: No entry”). Camp-style concrete buildings—or ruins of them—popped into view as we walked, like wild creatures lifting their heads to see who was invading their space. We were walking through remnants of a summer holiday camp used by an organization known as the "Young Pioneers": the political mass organization for children in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1948 to 1990. The group was firmly integrated into schools as a political children's organisation and part of the uniform socialist school system in the GDR. It formed the precursor to membership in the FDJ (Freie Deutsche Jugend). Most of the buildings were very plain, but on the walls of the cafeteria three brightly painted murals depicting life in an idealistic society were still in strikingly good condition. I can’t explain exactly why, but this short excursion still haunts my memories of our Auerbach trip.

Everything In Between

There is so much more to tell about all the places we saw in these past two weeks: a few hours in Old Towne Nuremburg, a brief drive through a corner of the Czech Republic (just to say we did), stopping at the Flossenburg concentration camp memorial where Bonheoffer was executed, seeing the massive Augsburg cathredral and the smaller St. Anne’s where Martin Luther was questioned by an emissary of the pope, and taking a picture of the world’s largest cuckoo clock in Triberg. Sobering, challenging, inspiring, and even silly.

I won’t even begin to mention the new connections we are also making here in the Freiburg area, warm invitations to get to know families from Calvary Chapel and each of their amazing stories. That will have to wait for another blog post. We have so many threads in motion right now that it’s hard to even guess how God might weave them into our plans for next year. Please keep us in prayer as we try our best to keep you all posted!

I’m reflecting on how different everything feels when you finally meet people in person. What has been abstract suddenly feels real. Conversations are richer. Eye contact matters. And you realize how much warmth there is even when you're still technically strangers.