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.