It’s a small world after all

These past couple of days has been busy! Since it has been a few days, okay almost a week, since the last time I blogged, let me set the scene of this week. Travel is the main word for this week. While Monday I was planning out the devotion for next Tuesday, this Tuesday through Thursday has been traveling galore! Tuesday was a BBQ at the OM Headquarters with the board and all. I traveled there and back with a good time of stories, food, and companionship. I got to see a leader that I haven’t seen since the Albanian Camp at the end of May and got to see many new people! On Wednesday. M and I went to Bern for an international pastors conference and, again, I got to see many more people that I knew and even more that I got to meet. After the conference, M and I went to tour the Old Town of Bern where the cathedral, government buildings, Swiss bank, and older buildings are. After that, I went on to Interlaken and Luzern. After many delays of the train, people were starting to get antsy and actually started to talk to others rather than be on their phones, laptops, etc. I was able to meet people from India, New Hampshire, California, and, of course, Switzerland. They were all very awesome people who do really cool jobs or want to do really cool jobs. The people from India work in the financial state (I don’t know if that’s the right word) in India, the girls from California just graduated high school (how they have money to travel all throughout Europe astounds me), the lady from New Hampshire is a nurse, and the guy from Switzerland sells insurance. They were all very nice and were very talkative. We talked about anything and everything. They asked what I was doing in Switzerland and I was able to tell them and when they asked who I was with, I was able to share some gospel (they weren’t really specific about what ‘who’ they meant...). After the train delays, though I wasn’t able to see all that I wanted to see, I had talked to people from three continents. So yes, it’s a small world after all, indeed.

Thursday was a fun work day. All of HFZ was able to say goodbye to R as she starts her new journey. We all went to the river Rhine where we all got on a small boat. If you all know me, I am terrified to be on a small boat. I barely and rarely go fishing in a small boat let alone hours upon hours on a small boat in the river. However, I did it. I’m still terrified of the small boats, but I feel that if I can steer the boat, then I feel more comfortable in the boat. We all took turns jumping out of the boat into the river and took the time to help everyone get back in. Usually it was pretty easy to get people back in as there was a small ladder. All we had to do was make sure the boat was steady when they came in. However, I had never 1) gone into a river this deep, 2) jumped out of a boat, and 3) tried to get back into the boat. Needless to say, I was not successful getting back in the boat via the ladder. Luckily there was a shoreline nearby to where we could pull up and I could get in again. Also, one of our members just got trained in how to save people that are stuck in the water. Lucky me! All in all, it was a wonderful and fun filled time!! Even though I am still terrified of small boats, I might go back again, just without jumping.

This week was a perfect week to end June. Also, today is my final day for the project to be on the streets. I will finish up this afternoon and then do reports on it all. Only 3 more work weeks to go then I will be getting ready and leaving for Italy before going back home. So, until the next blog (and honestly I don’t know when that will be)!

Knock, Knock! Who's There?

Opportunity, that is who (a what really). For the past couple of days, I have been been able to share the gospel with people from various backgrounds and religions. On Wednesday, I was able to share the gospel with one of the interns I was telling you all about. Then, on the next day, Jehova's Witnesses came up to the door and we all had about an hour or so when I was able to use their own type of scripture against them and ask what they think it means and what I think it means. It was interesting to see how they would answer my questions. Today, when I went to Rapperswil, I was confronted by a lady who was a part of a Hindu type religion that worships the god Vedas. She came up to me and started to talk about Reincarnation and how our souls live forever. I finally asked her if Vedas could destroy the soul. She said that no one could destroy the soul. I asked her if I could tell her about a God that could destroy both body and soul. She said yes, and I started to tell her about God and then when I got to the part of Jesus, she knew where I was and who I was talking about. She then didn't let me talk much for the rest of the time. She did, however, allow me to pray with her.

Y'all these times are what makes my day and time here in Switzerland. I am here for a reason and this is that reason. Below are a couple pictures from my travels today.

It's Time...

You can end that statement with ", Simba" or "to begin." We always want to know when the time for something is. For example today, I was at OM base for a four-hour prayer meeting, and when I got to the door, I saw a schedule of who was going to speak, when a break was, and when lunch was supposed to begin (yes, I read this in German through Google Translate). We always have the time to do something or the time for something to happen. You might be thinking of a song from a few decades ago by now by The Byrds. Such a song, based on Ecclesiastes, talks of time for everything. A time to live, a time to die, a time to gather and a time to sow. In all of these times, God is in control and has his hands are on everything in this world. HFZ is ending and everyone involved is in a time of transition. Today during the time of prayer, we read out of Psalms. We read Psalm 105:1-11. Below is verse 8:

8 He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded,

for a thousand generations,... 

What is this verse referring to? Well, it is referring to the land of Canaan as it states in the next couple of verses. We can also take hope in this. His covenant with us he still remembers. He remembers what his son has done. He remembers the cross and all of us that partake in this salvation.

For the last couple of weeks, HFZ and I have been praying for peace and comfort during the time of transition. We want peace and assurance not because God has forgotten to help us out, but that it is something that we do not always feel both of these things. However, it is in these times that we can truly bless others. Even though HFZ is ending, we are able to share the gospel with people in the Quartier (area) that we are in. We are being used because God remembers. He remembers what it was like when we were down on our knees begging for him to be with us. He was with us when we looked to the heavens and screamed at God himself because of all the evil in our life and world. We cannot and will not understand the thoughts of God, but we have to trust in him that he will give us what we need at the moment that we need it. Why do I believe this? It is because God REMEMBERS! He remembers us in our darkest times, in our lightest times, in our highs and in our lows. He refines us like silver. Silver is only considered refined when the person refining can see their reflection in the silver itself. That is what God is doing with us. He allows us to go through the fire of refinement and he will continue to do so until he sees his likeness in us. 

There is a time to mourn and a time to rejoice. We mourn that people are leaving OM, but we rejoice in the work that God has done and what he will do. We worry about the future, but it is already known. We act as if when God doesn't move mountains one time that we need him to move instantly. However, we have already seen him move mountains, and as the song goes, "and I believe I'll see you[God] do it again." He remembers folks. What are we doing about it? Are we sitting in our last days like there is nothing to do, or are we passionately working till the final minute? 

A Little Bit

I have now been in Switzerland for a month and three days. It still makes me laugh when I ask if people know English and they say "A little bit" and then go on to have a 20-minute conversation with me in English. Their little bit is still way more than my little bit. But it also got me thinking about what "little bit" actually is. How much is a little bit? Is it like a pinch and a dash that no one, at least in the Southern United States, knows the exact measurement, or is it an exact amount?

If you know me, then you know that I am more of an observer. When I am walking the streets of Hirzenbach, I observe what I am walking into, on, and around. I see a little bit of gravel, a little bit of grass, and a little bit of people. I also see a little bit of churches here and there. I see a little bit of gates and a little bit of community.

What I can't help but think is that all of these "little bits" say something. I work with the reformed church here, and they have a very open area. To me, that says that they are open for people to come in and to be a part of the body. However, just a few blocks up the street, there is another church. This church has gates in front of it and does not have as much open ground to it. Now, the open ground can be said of where they are in the town. They weren't able to purchase a bigger plot of land, that's fine, not all churches have to have big plots of land or any land for that matter. But with its gates, most of the time shut, I feel that it is closing itself off to the community more so than not. I could be completely wrong in my observations, but how we are building our churches says a lot about how we want to interact with the community. Today, there was a little bit of opening in the gate and to me that says that the church is a little bit of open for the community.

I know this might sound like me reading too much into designs, but if I feel that vibe, then what do the people of Hirzenbach think? How can we be more open if we are still a little bit closed off? We are always just a little bit something. But what do our little bits say to those around us? What do they say to us?

Personalities and Music

Today, I was out on the street with my project. I went out in the morning for about an hour and a half and again in the afternoon for about another hour. Not many people were too interested in it today, but like I said in the last post, I am okay with that because I still do the Patch Adams thing. This seemed to work like a charm!

During my lunch break, a couple of my housemates and I were talking about the Enneagram and the Myers-Briggs personality tests and talking about what they all mean. It is interesting to hear each other talk about our own personality test results (I am an ENFP and a 9 wing 8 by the way). We talked about what the letter and numbers meant. E for Extrovert, I for Introvert, N for intuition, S for sensing, F for feeling, T for thinking, J for Judging and P for Perceiving. The numbers are listed below:

1. The Reformer (The rational, idealistic type) 
2. The Helper (The caring, interpersonal type) 
3. The Achiever (The success-oriented, pragmatic type) 
4. The Individualist (The sensitive, withdrawn type) 
5. The Investigator (The intense, cerebral type) 
6. The Loyalist (The committed and security-oriented type)
7. The Enthusiast (The busy, fun-loving type) 
8. The Challenger (The powerful, dominating type) 
9. The Peacemaker (The easygoing, self-effacing type) 

Each of these tells us how each other function more times than not. We all agreed that it helps us know how to interact with others that can seem a bit more difficult to understand. These are great tools to use in ministry but need to be looked at as tools and not divisions or the end-all. 

After this, we switched topics to music and was trying to find out what the name of a specific band was. Finally, we found out that the band we were looking for was Linkin Park. we then listened to a few songs on the Bluetooth speaker. We ranged music from Linkin Park to Panic! At The Disco to Fergie to JD Sumners and many more! It was a good lunch break with my housemates! 

The Patch Adams Project

This morning, I woke up to my sister tagging me in a post on Facebook. This post was about a mall that was flooding and the band that was there was playing "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie Titanic. I thought it was funny, but considering the Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage, I could not help but think if my project would do the same on its first time out. So, that is what I did today, I set out on my maiden voyage for my project. It was a bit bumpy at times, but it went pretty good.
Many people see this area as a family. One person admitted that it is like a family but it is hard to be one because of all the cultures that are colliding in this area. They see C&D as the community center for this area.

I talked to one guy as he was waiting for his taxi to go to the airport. He was new to the area and hadn't really explored it too much. Turned out, he is the Director of Finance at a luxury hotel chain that originated in the United States. I did not use my project to talk to him as it takes some knowledge of the area, however, I was able to talk to him and spend time with him until his taxi arrived. I really hope that this happens more often than not during the time of my project. It was refreshing to talk to someone just on normal things and to get out of my comfort zone to do so.

I gave this post the title of Patch Adams because if you have ever seen the movie, Patch (played by Robin Williams) has a project where he walks the street and tries to get everyone to smile around him. He breaks the system of where people go from point A to point B without anything interesting happening. He would hang from light poles, say hello to random people on the streets, and then have hours-long conversations with wrong numbers on the phone. This is what I am trying to do here and what M does all the time when he walks the street. I walked the street and said hello to almost everyone that passed me by. A lot of them smiled and said hello back. It is with this that we can all do and bring back humanity even more from the little phones that keep us distracted from the people that we pass by all the time.

So, this Titanic did not sink on the first trip. Here is to many more trips this next couple of weeks.

Testing... Testing 123

What?! Two posts in one day?? Yep, I know I signed off the last post with saying that that was all for today, but apparently, it wasn't. Today, I was able to test out my project with a couple of the other people in the office. I need to tweak some things on the project, but minor things that will only help communicate the vision of the project better. I have already started to work on the things that needed to be changed and I am now waiting on the glue to dry overnight to make sure everything sticks (pun intended).

While I was waiting for things to print and for the glue to dry, I was able to cut both the front and back yard. Now, "yard" is not really the word I would use, they are more like plots or patches, but I got to mow them either way. You know how long it has been since I have mowed a lawn? It has been a couple of years since I have had a yard to cut. It's a small thing, but something slightly enjoyable.

Tomorrow wraps my fourth week in Switzerland. Only six more to go then a week in Italy. My time in Europe is flying by! I get my first intern on Monday (hopefully) and then I get another the following Monday. I get to go to Bern for an International Pastor meeting in two Wednesdays from now. After that, I finish my project and start off July. It is all so close and I am getting more and more excited about it!

So now, that is officially all for today. Until next time.

Doppelgängers, doppelgängers everywhere!

Y'all, I am telling you that everyone's doppelgänger is in Switzerland! Last night, I went with an English speaking group to the RLD and it was strange because I saw the faces of my friends and some family from back home, but I know that they are not even close to Switzerland. I am actually surprised that I haven't encountered myself just yet. This group was a bit bigger than the other group that I went to the RLD with. There were many things that happened that showed me that this type of ministry is not really what I need to do. I am talking about the RLD, here. I can see the uneasiness as I walk into places or walk o the sidewalks. This is because I am a guy and if it makes people feel safer and more comfortable to not have a guy present, then I accept that and need to move on. I will still talk to the other people to see what they think and I am still praying about it. 

Sometimes, the ministry needs to be about comfort to the people that we are ministering to and not our personal preferences. I completely understand that as we can sometimes be overbearing when we talk Gospel to people who may not have heard it before. 

For the next two weeks, I have meetings and my project for C&D. I will travel to Bern at the end of the month for an International pastor meeting. I have my interns during these two weeks that I know nothing of other than the range of age that they will be. I am nervous and excited about this and I can't wait to finally meet my first intern on Monday! 

That's all for today! Until next time! 

Does Everyone Know What Time It Is? That's Right It's Tool Time!!

Today I finished my project for testing. Seeing a project come together is really nice. Though, when I had to use the jigsaw and drill, I felt like I was Tim the "Tool Man" Taylor from Home Improvement. Not only is that one of the shows that I absolutely loved to watch at 3am when I woke up in the middle of the night (that and George Lopez, of course). It was almost relaxing to cut the holes into the board to make sure that the buildings fit. It was my plan coming together. Yes, I know how that sounds. I believe that God is going to do something with this project, even if it is to talk to my interns for the next two weeks.

I have also started on a video for my time here in Switzerland. It is looking pretty cool, but it will not be finished until the end of July. Just watching the video as it progressed showed me how far I have come already! I can't wait to see what else happens this summer!


So, that's all for today! Now, remember, keep your mind sharp and your tools even sharper (probably something Tim would say).

So, How’s The Weather?

It’s days like today that remind me of living in Alabama. Today especially reminded me of a day when my family and another family from down the street we’re going to have a cook out. This day was a beautiful, sunny day without a cloud in sight. My sister and I were sitting on the couch waiting for the other family to come and mom had just opened the front door so that the other family could come on when the got there. All of a sudden, mom slams the door and tells us that we need to go downstairs. She said that she would get our dog Sam. Within a minute, the hail started and a tornado had sprung up. When we had reached the basement, can’t remember if we had helmets on or not, we heard a banging on the garage door with someone screaming “Let me in! Let me in!” It was the other family they were walking up the hill when the hail started! We let them in and within minutes the tornado had stopped and the weather went back to how it was: sunny.

That is how it is in Switzerland, albeit not as severe. Today started out as a beautiful sunny day, partly cloudy, and then it turned into a steady, firm rain. It wasn’t until right now that it has let up. But that is summer here. The highs are up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the lows are 40 degrees Fahrenheit. It rains as if we are in London, but we have a lot more greenery here. I think I now understand the image in my 7th grade science book of the mountains. On one side of the mountain is rain and it is green (Switzerland). On the other side, it doesn’t have as much rain and it is dryer (Italy). I love it here though. The weather is perfect for me (I have built in insulation as you all know).


So that’s what it is for today. An anecdote from my past and the comparison to my present and future of this summer!  

"Will You Meet Me Here Again?"

Today, in Switzerland, was Pentecost. This was the day that the Holy Spirit came down to the Apostles and where they started to speak different languages. At church, we celebrated the Spirit and thanked him for coming down to comfort us and to fulfill God's promise when he said that he will be with us till the end of the earth. That is one promise that we can have from God. He gives us many promises, but sometimes those promises are not seen until days, weeks, years, or even death. This promise is that of from the day you surrendered until eternity. Elevation Worship has a song called "Here Again" and it says that "not for a minute was I forsaken." This promise is to us all. We may be mad at God, trust me I have been there and I have done that. We are able to be mad at God. We are able to even scream at God, he doesn't mind. He loves to talk to his children even if we raise our voice. He will always answer us, but sometimes we do not like the answer to our yelling. The key is communication. All we have to do is communicate that "I'm not enough unless you come" and he will come to us! He will meet us at any point in our lives. Whether that is in our lowest of lows where we have a knife or rope in hand or the highest of highs where everything is going good for us, he will meet us. He will meet us in the valley where the soil is the most fertile and grow us and lead us to the mountain top where we see all that he has created to encourage us when we walk through the next valley. He is the God of the hills and valleys. He guides us so that we would not have to fear evil. HE IS WITH US! THE LORD IS IN THIS PLACE!

Come Holy Spirit! Dry Bones Awaken!!! Lift up your heads the weariest of sinners to the one that gives you rest. Come, those who mourn for you will be comforted. Come to the Father those who are fatherless. You are not forsaken, not even for a minute. He gives us the space that we ask for, he gives us the time, but he also gives us the choice to surrender and ask him to be with us. We are not enough until he comes and we will never be enough. It doesn't matter how many months you have dedicated to your cause or how many people have adopted you as your own truth. There is only one truth and that is of King Jesus. His truth says, "Deny yourself, pick up your cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Just because everything is available to us does not mean it is beneficial to us. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 6:12. We try so hard to be our own person and that is great, but we need to use our differences to see how they can benefit the Kingdom of God. We to be in unity, not uniformity. This means that we take what has happened in our lives, our feelings, attractions, past sins, etc. and turn them over to God and say, "Take this and do with it what you will." He will tell you to use these experiences, these struggles as ways to communicate with those who are going through the same or similar circumstances. He will never forsake you or lead you to something that will harm you, but he will guide you to make disciples for his Kingdom.

What can you bring to the table, oh broken people? I know what I have and I know what I have been asked to do this summer, but will you call to God and ask him about yourself? How can you be used for the kingdom of God? Will you join the Kingdom? From personal experience, this relationship with God is better than any relationship I have been in. It completes me and makes me whole. This doesn't mean that I don't have dark days, but they are few and far between then what they had been. God has healed me of some things and lets me struggle with others for the benefit of my ministry to the outcasts. I am not perfect and I am not enough, but with God anything is possible. "Cause all I want is all you are" God. "Will you meet me here again?"

"Of course, my child. I have always met you and I always will."

"There are no mistakes, only happy accidents."

I chose the quote from Bob Ross as my title because of the project I am doing. I am not the artist in the family (that would be my sister), but I try my best. This project requires me to be a bit more artistic in making buildings, painting them, and adding fine details (gravel on roof, store names, etc.). It is not the perfect thing to look at but it is coming together! I hope to have this finished by Wednesday of next week with a couple of practice runs by the end of the week. It is coming up fast, and I am now becoming more excited about this project! As you see below, these are the buildings/places that I will be using in my project. They are not the prettiest, but that is not the point of the project. So, it is not a mistake, only a happy accident. God did not call me to be an artist, but a missionary. I do not know where that will lead me, but I do know that I am here. So, is this project perfect? By no means. This project is to bring glory to God and not myself.

I now have a long weekend due to Pentecost. I can rest, hike, and worship through it all. Until my next post, may God bless you all.

Jack's Project= Projack

This month, I am able to work on the project for C&D. My plan is called Holes. This is not to be confused with the movie or anything else with this title. The reason behind my project is to get C&D recognized within its own community. I am using my "newness" to do this project. The idea is that I have a map of Hirzenbach (the community where I live and where C&D is) and cut out holes of specific buildings that people would recognize were missing. Places like the school, Coop supermarket, C&D, the soccer fields, etc. I have great support behind me here for this project and I know that I can do it. It is starting to get real and the dates are approaching fast. I have my plans and to-do list, but it is getting really interesting to see all the pieces finally coming together and out of the thought processes.
Another great thing is that in the two weeks that I will be running my project, I will have one intern each week. Their schools here have the students do internships (Practicant) within what they want to do. These two students (each around the age of 14/15) want to do social work and they have been paired with C&D who paired them with me. So, within a couple of weeks, I will become a teacher instead of the student. This is really exciting for me! I hope that I honor God in this as I do not know if these students are Believers. This project is not, in essence, an evangelism project but more of a business project.
I hope that people are able to find C&D and, with the subtle questions inside of the map itself, I hope that people can see God in a new light. This goes with my song for the summer (link in bio) by Casting Crowns. I don't care if people remember me or this project for the matter. I only care that through me, the project, my colleagues, etc. that they will remember Jesus and only Jesus.

A verse that Hope for Zurich went through this morning struck me that we should live in peace. I pray that God gives me peace at the time of the project. People may not even stop to engage in the activity, but that is okay. I pray that I do not get discouraged in the people passing by, but that I get encouraged by those who actually stop and by those who are with me.

Though this is talking about marriage, I believe that we can take hope in this verse as well.
1 Corinthians 7:15 (NIV):

But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The man or the woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 

We are not failures if people walk away from us. Instead, we need to pray for them, forgive them, and be at peace with them.

God bless all of you!

From Guten Tag to Bonjour and Back

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go to St. George (near Geneva) to help out with an Albanian family camp. Now, Switzerland is divided into different regions of different languages. St. George is in the French region (there is also the German region [Zurich], Italian [near Italy], and the Romanish [in the Alps]). It was an interesting weekend where my and R co-led the teen program and Saturday afternoon sports. This weekend was deeply needed. I saw the happiness of the people there who had left their home country for one reason or another and they still worship God with such force!

The sites there were extremely beautiful (pictures below)! Friday afternoon, everyone at the camp had free time, so I and a few others went to a small town that was on Lake Geneva and had some Roman ruins. After a quick tour of the town, we all headed back to the camp so we could all prepare for supper and the activities for the night.

I know that I keep bringing up the languages here, but this weekend was truly amazing! we had translations galore! People spoke Albanian, German, French, English, Greek, and I think one more language. We were all working together and trying to help each other communicate with each other. Man, it was an experience in worship with all these languages. I tried my best to sing in Albanian (though I did not know what I was singing) until I figured out the tune and sung the English lyrics to them. Everyone was together worshipping in their own language. It was absolutely amazing! At the beginning of the weekend, the leader had us all make a collage of sorts for our family. Well, let's just say I had a lot of red, white, and blue on my poster. I basically drew the southeast and mapped out where my family is (granted Switzerland is smaller than Tennessee). It was pretty cool to meet so many people there and to hear people's stories. It gave me the boost that I needed.

More of the Alps.

The Alps in more daylight. 

Can you tell I like mountains? This was from the inside of the wood pile. 

No really, I love mountains!

Duck in the lake. 

From the campsite hiking trail. 

Lake Geneva 

On top of the castle (below) looking at the lake.

Nice Castle. For sale $1.5mill Francs. 

Here's that poster I mentioned. 

The small town with the Alps in the background. 

This is what they call a BBQ. 

Last night at the camp.