The autobahn in Germany isn’t what i had imagined all those years when that Kraftwerk song filled my mind with an inane rhythm. It just looks like an interstate in America, except that interstates have a pretty, grassy median separating traffic. Most everybody seemed to be going around 120 – 140km/hour with the fastest being just when we entered from Holland with two Holland-plate cars seemingly chasing each other at around 200km. That is fast. The flatness of Holland gives way to gently rolling hills, and then more undulating countryside. It was surprising to see so much greenery in Germany, with lots of cornfields providing a gentle covering, pleasing the eyes.
After being shocked at knowing that the toilets along the autobahn are the same as the ones in Cambodia (grass and trees and fences), ((later told that this is not common in Germany)), we make it to the campmeeting held at a youth hostel in Rohn. After helping my ride friends set up their huge orange tent in the rain, i head for the main building where a room has been graciously provided – nice! There are 3 bunk beds, with an elderly man in one, a young man in another, and then me. This arrangement lasted from Sunday to Friday, when there were several South Americans who joined us. The two roommates are nice, but i can only communicate with the older one by gestures.
Food is served in the cafeteria, and it is surprising to see what looks to me like basically breakfast food – jams, jellies, sesame spreads, crackers, rye bread, sour bread, one fresh fruit, then a vegetable salad at the end of the table. There is a food item i have never seen before – little cups made out of flour, where you put in the jams and honey and spreads. Then you can just eat the cup (about as big around as a silver dollar, and 2cm tall). After filling my plate, i look out over the room for a place to sit. There is an oriental-looking man, so i gravitate towards him, half expecting him to be David Kang. My hunch is right, and he invites me to eat with him, and we have a good discussion, and i listen to his amazing testimony about spreading the gospel in China. This man seems to be as strong for Jesus as i have heard.
I wake up early and go to David Kang’s talk. Breakfast is served, being almost the same thing as the nite before, except instead of vegetables, there is a bowl of hot cereal. My Holland friends and a German friend i made at the Holland campmeeting are my eating partners, and we talk and look out the window over the beautiful rolling hills. We are quite high here, maybe 500m above sea level, so it gets cold at nite, and the fog doesn’t lift until after 8 or so. It is so beautiful and peaceful, just begging one to get out and take a walk. I oblige, and it is invigorating to walk down a nice green lane with woods on one side, and pastures with cows calmy munching grass on the other. There is no trash, no crows, no people – just peace and quiet. NICE! I had forgotten that places like this existed 🙂
I go to another David Kang talk in the morning. It is about the flood and how that prefigures the end of the world. He also talks about how the Kanji characters show the Bible story, and i feel very happy (pride?!) to be able to write them out on paper for a couple of people sitting around me. Next is Alberto Rosenthal’s talk, and a young man graciously translates for me. I have heard quite a bit about this man, and agree that he sounds to be the most sincere, dedicated speaker i have met yet. The meeting is supposed to end at noon, but he is still going strong at 12:25, and my seat is hard, it is stuffy, my stomach is calling, and my translator is flagging, so when someone comes into the room, i take the opportunity to slip out. It proves to be a good call, as i am halfway thru lunch before the audience comes upstairs to the cafeteria, after most of the food is already gone. Alberto publicly apologized to everyone several days later for always keeping them late in his meeting.
Lunch is the best meal of the day here – a hot dish of rice or pasta or gluten, with a hot vegetable, soup or hot topping for the entree, then a nice salad with various toppings. yum yum. Everything is vegan, and i guess i am not the only one wishing for more flavor, as after the first day they always put out the salt shaker near the salad. After lunch i enjoy talking to several people. Of course most of the people here are dedicated Seventh-day Adventists, but there are quite a number of split-off SDAs, and several people who appear to be searching for the Lord for the first time. It is an interesting mix, and while at first it seems like i have trouble meeting people (like always), by eating at different tables, and approaching some people, keeping a smile on my face, i realize by the end of the meetings that i have probably had personal conversations with over 1/3 of the people here.
Most of the speakers are from America, helping tremendously in understanding. There are a few meetings, most noticeably the afternoon missionary stories that are not translated, and the Spanish speakers’ talks are not translated into English at first, but are from around the middle of the week. I appreciate all the hard work by the staff here, and their thoughtfulness towards the listeners. They have internet in their office, but not prepared to let guests use it. Even so, they kindly let me try 2 times, without very much success. I call my German friend several times on the phone, encouraging me and giving me advice about what to do.
The young man in my room basically tells me i am lying when i tell him i had problems using the phone in the morning, as it ate my money without connecting me. I find out later he did not mean it that way. Should i have just let it go? If so, the following probably never would have happened – After this little problem, we become quite good friends. Perhaps even that was in God’s plan?! He was suspicious-sounding towards this Great Controversy book before this time, but afterwards listens eagerly, and buys 3 German and one English copy during the week!
This evening i eat again with David Kang, and he asks me why i am so interested in this 1858GC book. I show him a few things, but when he comes to the part showing the Bible was “dictated by the Holy Ghost” he smiles, and says surely i don’t believe each word came directly from God. I answer in the affirmative, and he gets serious and asks me if i believe where Paul asks someone to bring his coat (2Timothy 4:13) is inspired by God. I answer in the affirmative again. He then asks me to explain why the 4 gospel accounts of who went first to Jesus’ tomb don’t agree. I said that they do agree, because God doesn’t make mistakes, and he dictated what was written. Later in the evening he gives me a quoute from 1SM saying that the words aren’t dictated.
I pray earnestly during the nite, but strangely enough, most of my praying time is for God to save my friends in Japan… I too gather some quotes, such as the one in 26OT saying: “The scribes of God wrote as they were dictated by the Holy Spirit, having no control of the work themselves.” I show this to him in the evening, and he takes me down to the book store where John Davis of Orion Publishing is. He shows this quote to him, expressing his surprise not only at the quote, but also at the fact there is a volume 26 of the Testimonies. John Davis knows about this, and after reading it, says that each writer wrote the words as best they saw fit. They both tell me that all the scholars have settled this issue long ago, that verbal inspiration is wrong, and i am in danger of falling away in the future if i continue to believe this. God gives me words to speak, and i take around 30 seconds to ask them what will happen when we are in a court of law at the end time for keeping the Sabbath, and they ask why we refuse to keep their laws. If we say: “Because it is written in the Bible”, they may laugh at us repeating these words of ours saying that we don’t believe all the Bible is correct. Will we be able to stand on this foundation? They were silent, then said that i would come up against a wall one day believing this way, and the whole 2 minute conversation ended calmly. Thank you Lord for giving wisdom in what to say.
The burden on my heart has been lifted, and i feel much freer in talking with people and introducing the book. I brought 10 German 1858GCs from Holland, and while not given space in the book store (room), i do take the opportunity to put them on the table going into the main meeting room, and after selling one to an elderly lady, she gets busy spreading the word to others arriving for the meeting, and 3 are sold in no time. Sure wish i was better at PR, but there is a saying in Japanese that God does not give 2 gifts to the same person 🙂
The next afternoon i am invited to go to the town of Fulda with my young roommate and his friend, so we have an exhilarating drive thru the German countryside. In town we sightsee around, especially inside the big cathedral, then one other smaller church. My friends give some pamphlets to people there. It was sad to see an elderly man bending down again and again on one knee in front of the Mary grotto. My friends were right – there are occult symbols galore in these churches! Sure hope and pray the people can escape the snare Satan has laid for them, and come to Jesus Christ. Same goes with the African Muslim men we met at the international telephone shop. While i was talking to my brother (and for 30 minutes after), my friends discussed true religion with these men. They gave us some book saying that the Bible supports Islam, and we gave them a German 1858 Great Controversy. Please may they read that book, and be converted, Lord. The one Christian African that was among them walked with us a bit afterwards, and was very happy when we prayed together.
The internet at the train station was London-style expensive – 50c.euro (62c/usd) for 10 minutes! 17 times the cheapest ever – 10rupee/hour in India (22c/usd). Looks to be set up for sex seekers. Speaking of, there seems to be a lot of that around Europe, but not too surprising considering the way people dress (don’t), and the general lack of calling anything “wrong”.
It is very peaceful and amusing sitting in the room looking at the green pastures, green leaves on the trees with black and white cows stretching their necks and long tongues like giraffes to get at those green leaves, black and white dogs walking by the barn, and even black and white cats slipping thru the fences. Only the owner of the place appears to be all one color.
More and more time is being spent talking individually with people and with hiking rather than going to meetings towards the end of the week. I do take in some Emily Waters’ talks, which are nice, and give a good lesson, but ramble a bit much for me. The Spanish people are speaking more, and looking around in the evening meeting, i notice that i am the only native English speaker in the crowd. A “nature-guy” volunteers his translation services, and he is a lot of fun to talk with. Most Germans are very stiff, shocking me that you can talk with them one day, and when you see them the next day and cheerily say “guten morgen” or “morning” or even “hello”, many of them will not even recognize your existence. Especially this is true of the younger people. My new translator friend tells me that people from his generation down don’t know how to act towards others, so they choose the safest route – do nothing. It is nice to see tho, that some people are genuinely friendly.
Germany is very clean and orderly. There is very little trash anywhere, and some people seem to get excited about separating trash, much as the man of the house where i used to live in Japan. But where we lived it was basically just aluminum on Wednesdays, big trash once a month, and everything else all together every Tuesday and Friday. Here i am told that there are several categories, and the truck only comes around perhaps once a month to get that particular kind. It is a bit amusing to me to see that to “save the environment”, the people have made laws forcing themselves to all get a row of big, plastic garbage containers. Hey, i am all for saving the environment; riding bicycles, not taking plastic bags from supermarkets etc., so it IS nice to see others concerned too 🙂
While the towns are orderly, and it is nice to see an organized approach to town planning, it is extremely boring after a while. Like it is nice to go to a museum, but you wouldn’t want to live there. I never see anything approaching the raucous, gaudy love hotels or pachinko parlors in Japan, or just the funky-looking buildings you see once in a while travelling around SE Asia, seemingly done on a whim. Towns where there is a convenience store next to a house next to an office building next to a park next to a school next to a car dealer next to a restaurant next to a church – that’s what i like – bold, active life! (Yes, i know, i have no taste – ha!)
There are probably over 200 people at the campmeeting on the last Sabbath. Not feeling so well i spend most of the time studying the “Sealing”, resting, and then taking a short walk in the afternoon where i can look out over the gorgeous green countryside. I had hoped to walk up to the top of the rock where they say you can look out way over the countryside 360 degrees, but my stomach does not approve, so after an hour or so of quiet and peace, head back down to the youth hostel for the evening, and last meeting.
But i should back up. Friday afternoon i had asked the young man of the father holding this campmeeting if food would be served in the cafeteria on the Sabbath. He gave me a funny look, said “Yes”, and turned away without saying anything after i said “That’s too bad.” I found his father soon in the cafeteria, and asked him the same question half expecting a similar response. His reply was very humble, saying they hadn’t thot of that, and he would see to it right away. Well, Sabbath morning he found me, and started explaining what happened. The young roommate also came up and joined us. He said he was very sorry, but that he had contacted the kitchen staff too late, and they had already bot the food and made preparations to serve the following day. But he was so thankful that i had brought this up, and promised that in the future they would attend to it, and asked my forgiveness (not mine to forgive, but a wonderful gesture), and then we all prayed for God’s forgiveness for this oversight. It moved me like no prayer has in a long time, and i couldn’t stay long with them afterwards as my eyes were blurry. There is nothing, absolutely nothing like a good, heartfelt prayer to God asking forgiveness, and confession of sins to each other (Colossians 3:13). Praise God!
What to do and where to go when the campmeeting ends on Sunday??? A man mentions his pastor friend near Berlin who may be interested in this book, but when he mentions the pastor is Reform SDA, it raises a caution flag for me. Later when he says that i must be willing to have this pastor tell me about Reform, i know this is not where i should be going…… Then the new translator friend says i might be able to go with him to Mittelsinn, a little village a bit south, for awhile. He himself is not certain about it tho, and when i wake up Sunday morning, i still don’t know where i am going. To complicate matters, my stomach has been bothering me since Friday. I still don’t know what happened – the cold nites, bad water, one yucky spoonful of soy yoghurt? It lets me eat one or two meals a day, but not my normal genki self.
People are leaving, my friend has not decided yet, i’ve been praying for him, especially when i found out he has never been baptized, what to do? He is considering one other place to go to. He tells me whichever he first meets today of these two people who have offered, he will go with them. He meets the lady taking him to Mittelsinn – Thank you Lord! ut-oh…He is still undecided. He remembers his word, and somehow four of us with a lot of luggage cram into the little car, and after pushing it down the hill and popping the clutch, we are on our way.
We arrive at the house in Mittelsinn in the afternoon, and after the others eat some watermelon and bread, i show everybody some things about the GC book, and then they drive off. My friend has been here before, so knows where things are, but has no key. We talk and walk and pick some tomatoes and greens from the garden and sit outside in the shade from the setting sun overlooking the beautiful village – nice!
We make some room in the garage, and are just getting ready to lay down for the nite when the house caretaker’s car arrives. How will they react to me – an unannounced guest? Very nicely – giving me a nice bed in one of the rooms. The place is set up for a training school, so there are 4 rooms for guests, with a total of probably over 20 beds. Most of the time spent there saw 6 plates set for meals. I find out later that the lady who drove us there had called and told them, so they were not surprised:) Thus starts an excellent heart-and-soul rest that was to last 3 1/2 weeks.
The caretaker mother is from the Hungarian-speaking part of Romania. What a heart of gold. She and the youngest daughter there are two of the most humble people i have met anywhere. They eagerly read Ellen White books, and were very happy to read a chapter every morning for worship out of the 1858GC book. The mother told me that no one had ever had the patience to teach her English before, and she was so happy that i would teach from ABC without getting upset. Interesting how God has prepared me, honing my patience with many hours of teaching English in Japan.
The weather in August was terrible – rainy and cold. It got below 10C some nites! My stomach still was not right, and after one week of on again off again eating, and the mother giving me advice AFTER eating something, finally i told her to take control and i would just do whatever she said. After 2 days like this with no change, i started a 48 hour fast drinking herbal tea and charcoal only. At the end i drank some green clay drink also. This cured me, but neither of us were thinking about the end (literally) result. What goes in must come out! Charcoal and clay together form concrete in the colon. It seemed like such a shame to me to put everything in natural this far, avoiding doctors, and then have to have a doctor take it all out in the end, but thankfully after a 3 hour battle, everything came out all right – whew!
Rainy days found me mostly working on the internet – getting my blog spiffed up etc., or talking with (more specifically, “listening to”) my friend. His intellectual skill is remarkable, but tends to get sidetracked very easily, and even says himself that he is borderline schizophrenic. I tried my best to always point him to the solution of all his problems – the only way to receive true heart peace – Jesus. He was raised in a SDA family, and still likes to be around SDAs, with a head knowledge of the doctrines that would put most Laodiceans to sleep again, but does not have that mustard seed of faith. Near the end of his stay he seemed to have found some promise of finding that faith in God, but still on the last day told me about some intellectual friend who believes the earth was populated by aliens etc. etc., and that he thinks her idea might have some merit… I am still praying for you, and thank God for putting us together those 2 weeks. May you find God in Portugal 🙂
The caretaker is a bit famous in the village as the “garden-woman”. There is a plot of land where villagers can grow stuff, and several have let her use their space, so she now has 7 plots. Her bean-stalks and corn are the tallest, her tomatoes the fattest, strawberry plants the runningest, the weeds the most scary-looking. Only her potatoes don’t do well. I was so happy for her when one day a fellow-gardener asked why her garden was doing so well, and she gave all the glory to God. She was also able to witness to the Protestant pastor in town, all because of how the Lord has blessed her garden. It was a great experience for me too, hoeing, picking and crushing potato beetles, picking beans and blackberries etc. Should have been smarter when young and helped my parents in the garden more. I only remember planting and digging up potatoes, radishes, carrots, and picking a few other things. No hard work like hoeing for me! But then i do remember my folks using a roto-tiller for the weeds, and that monster was enough to get me running the opposite direction – ha!
Let’s see, gardening, recovering, eating, worshipping, talking about God, computing, teaching English, it seemed like something new was happening every day, with someone new coming or going, making this little spot quite interesting. The most interesting guest was Chris Pffeifer (spell?), a speaker invited from America. In morning worship we studied 1858gc chapter 32, and there was something that made him think. It was nice to see his reaction – not doubting or “yes but”, but saying he would study it more – that’s a good Berean! Later in the day, just before leaving, he told me that some man in Idaho had seen the English 1858gc i had printed in America in 2002, and had used the same cover printing up 50,000 copies and sending them all over Idaho. WOW! That is just too amazing. Who knows how far these ripples will travel? Lord, may your prophet’s words be spread far and wide, and don’t let me get proud, but always keep all the glory for you, so people will come to Jesus and be prepared to stand in the soon-coming Time of Trouble. Makes one wonder what else has been going on with this book that i don’t know about….Oh yes, i did hear from another man who has stopped by, that this book, as printed by Verne Bates, was given to all the trainees at MEETS Ministries before they graduated, and he has it with him! He had thot it was about like the current Great Controversy, so had not read it, but was quite surprised and happy when studying it.
The weather, fickle thing, decided to turn warm on the first of September – nice! Garden work just got that much funner. It feels good bicycling down the hill, thru the village, and to the garden, then bicycling back again. The hill reminds me of good times in Japan. One afternoon i make the caretaker laugh as a sudden squall comes up and i run for the shelter of an eave from a nearby pub. She takes it all in, rain, sunshine, everything. It is interesting to see her eat; for breakfast a bowl of blackberries, 3 apples – some of them grated, a peach, some little pears, maybe a banana, and maybe just a bit of hot millet or wheat. Lunch is a huge mound of tomatoes with other vegetables, then the main dish. These people are on a 2-meal-a-day plan, whereas i’m on 3, so sometimes i start eating lunch before the others. It is so friendly and nice to see everyone get along well, making it a sad day when i have to depart.
Sayonara from a podunk-town train station with a mother and 2 daughters waving goodbye, and two of them teary, sounds like a black and white movie, but it was fact in my life on Sep. 6. We had read chapter 28 in the car on the way, and the power of the message coupled with the parting made a powerful impression on my mind. Yes, i know that it is usually those who are poor in things of this world who are the most generous, but to have it actually occur to you physically, in a tangible way in the form of a train ticket, ohhhhhh, it humbles the heart in a mighty fashion. May i ever have such a humble heart, seeking the betterment of others over myself. Please bless that dear family God, and may our mansions be in the same neighborhood in the earth made new. Five train transfers later, thanks to a young man who led me to the correct platform at one stop, i am in Switzerland.
NOTE: Post written Sep, 27, 2006