Day 7: 1st Week Down

I thought I was becoming a photographer yesterday. Turns out, I actually began my training today. The DTS was split into different groups and moved all over the castle to learn different steps of the photographing process. I was happy to hear that I was placed in a group too. It’s exciting to learn something totally new. I spent the first hour of the rotation in the dark room with my pinhole camera. Unfortunately, it wasn’t finished, so I had to use an old one. I learned all about the process of setting up the dark room in order to develop photos. It made me happy to hear that it was one of the other student’s first times in a room like that too. If they would’ve tossed me in there and said, “go”, I would’ve been so lost. It’s a complicated process, at least to somebody who knows nothing about developing photos. You have to make sure the door is shut, but not only the door to the room. You have to make sure the door to the door to the room is shut. The lights have to be off in the first room before you can turn them off in the second, and then you have to turn on a red light. I would do the process injustice if I tried to explain it to you. Your best bet is just to ask Elliot or somebody else who knows more than me. It was cool to load the cardboard box cameras and take a picture then see it developed. Mine turned out to be all black, which meant that the camera I used had some sort of light leak in it. Oops. Oh well, it was still fun to see it happen. Next was learning about developing black and white film. Evidently film is different than developing RC paper, which is what I developed with the pinhole camera. Everything is totally new to me. It’s all probably really easy to understand, but I still feel lost in the whole thing. I like learning, though. After the film section, lunch came and went. After lunch, the toilets came. I don’t know if I’m just getting lucky or people aren’t pooping, but there is never poop on the toilets. That makes me happy. Cleaning toilets is something new for me, but I think it is revolutionizing my life. Or maybe it’s just the smells from being too close to the toilets. Either way, it is good to give back to the castle for all that they are constantly doing for me. Everyday, somebody different asks me what I’m doing in the castle. I tell them that I’m only passing through and that I’m a guest, not a student. Every single person that I’ve told my story to has told me that there is no way I’m going to be able to leave. They say that once people come to the castle, they never want to leave. I can understand why. I think that if I could, I would stay forever, but I can’t. My plans are to leave next Friday for Salzburg until school starts in February. I’m not looking forward to saying goodbye to the magnificent Watercastle, and the wonderful people living inside the castle. Saying goodbye to the castle will only be saying hello to Austria, though, and it’s a necessary part to the journey. I spent most of the afternoon again in the café talking to more of the people from the Pick A Pocket ministry. I talk to them everyday, and everyday I’m amazed by what I hear. I feel like what I’m writing may be a little boring for you, so if you ever feel like my writing is dragging on, just stop reading and go do something exciting instead. You won’t hurt my feelings because there’s really no why I’ll know that you did it. I don’t even really know who reads this rambling writing. The only way I know is if you leave me a comment at the end of my messages. Apparently, only my mom reads because she’s the only one who’s left a message. All of the rest of you must be too lazy. Just kidding, you don’t have to write anything, but remember, I’d love to hear how everything is going in your life; no matter who you are. That is unless your life is boring, but I don’t think that is true for any of you. Sometimes it’s hard for me to remember that I’m writing this and people are reading it. I usually write at the end of the night when I have nothing else to do, and I try to remember everything that happened during the day. Rarely can I remember everything, but I try. It’s something I enjoy. I tell the students that they can take photographs, but I like to write, even if it’s just about my unexciting day. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, my writing may not always be exciting or filled with information. It may be truly stupid and boring or useless, but it serves a purpose. It is very important for me. I like to not only let you know what is happening, but I like to make sure that I remember what happens for myself. Most of the stuff that I write about in this blog is also written I my journal, but I write much more personal things there. Writing is good for everybody. It is healing. It is relaxing. Writing is sometimes boring, but always necessary. Writing is thinking, and it is also an adventure. Somebody, I think from a movie, once told me that writing is a journey into the unknown. I really enjoy that statement. None of this may mean anything to you, but I think it is good for people to hear. I will step down off of my soapbox now and say goodnight. Bis Morgen.

I'm a photographer now

Today was the first day of class, and if I had to think of a theme that fit the entire day it would be something about stepping out and making yourself vulnerable. I woke up very early this morning to make DTS breakfast. They always ask me why I wake up to eat with them, but they don’t realize that they are the people I like to hang out with, even at 7 in the morning. So we ate weird nuts and berries instead of cereal again this morning, and then worship was after. I forget how magical YWAM worship is. If you ever get the chance to participate in singing songs and dancing at a YWAM base, take it because it will change your life. It’s just amazing how great you feel while standing next to 80 people you’ve known for 5 days and they’re all singing there hearts out. Just try it some time. After a short break, I joined the DTS on their first class. I made sure to check with the school leaders before coming in because I still don’t want them to feel like I’m trying to join the school. They are so nice and understanding though, and they were excited when I asked if I could sit in. Class was great. We spent an hour on introductions, and then we got to learn the history of Herrnhut and the YWAM Watercastle where we are living. Turns out that Herrnhut is a historically rich city, especially when it comes to missionaries. You should read about it because I’m sure that I won’t get everything right, but I will try to explain to you everything I heard. The little village began centuries ago when a powerful Count S. allowed all kinds of youth, Jews, thieves, and poor people to come live in the village that was his. He opened the doors for people who normally got doors slammed in their faces, and for that act of kindness, the people loved him. With the help of Somebody else, all of the outcasts now living in the village became Christians, and eventually the village sent out one of the first known European missionaries. They told us more about the history of the town, but I must’ve forgotten it already. I do know, though, that one of the major steps in the beginning of this YWAM base occurred at the grave of that man who was the famous first missionary. Some people from Stuttgart were visiting the small village a couple years ago because they had gotten a word from God saying that Herrnhut might be important in the future for YWAM. So they came, and they went on a tour. They ended up at one point in a missionary graveyard on the other side of town, and they all were feeling a little negative about the idea of moving to the small village. Just then, Jan the base leader here, looked down and realized that he was standing next to the gravestone of his hero, the first missionary from Herrnhut. He realized then that this was supposed to be the place for the base, so they started looking for a building. They ended up finding the castle here and found out that it was going to cost 2.1 Euro. They prayed again, and they offered the owner 250,000 Euro. In the end, the final price was settled at 270,000 Euro. Only problem was, they were all missionaries without any money. So they prayed again, and they split up to visit Dallas and a mega church in Korea to ask for money. Neither opportunity turned out to be a monetary success, but not long after the teams got back, an offer came in the mail to loan the money without interest. That offer didn’t give them peace, so they waited and received another offer to pay fully for the castle out of an old missionary’s inheritance. Again, no peace, so they turned down the money. Two days before the money was due, the man who offered to loan the money learned that he was supposed to actually donate the money, so he did. The castle was bought, and the first DTS began only a couple weeks later. It was an amazing story, and if you ever get the chance to talk to Jan Schlegel, take it. He’s an amazing speaker with an awesome story.

So we learned about the history, and then we ate lunch. After lunch, work duties were assigned to the students, but I thought it was necessary to be a part of the work duties too. I got assigned the guest/staff toilets. Luckily, nobody pooped before that part of the day. I offered to clean the girls’ toilets because they always tell me that they don’t poop, even though Megan and Lindsey have shown me that they do. So I cleaned the toilets, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the café. A little before dinner, the students gathered in the dining hall to start making their pinhole cameras. Oh yeah, I don’t know if I’ve explained that this is a photo DTS. They are all photographers; artists. They are all pierced, tattooed, dreaded, crazily dressed people from all over the world. They seem to be very creative and know everything about photography. I try not to let them see me taking pictures, and I try not to let them ask me questions about my camera. I also try to stay out of their photography classes, but this one was unavoidable. They were supposed to find a box around the castle in order to make a camera tonight before dinner. I explained that I couldn’t find a box, but one of them said they had one for me so I was bound to make a camera too. It was a pinhole camera, which is kind of old school. It’s just a box with a small hole in it that allows light in to make an impression on light sensitive paper. I take my first picture tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes. After making the camera and eating dinner, we came upstairs to have more coffee and cakes. I spent most of the night talking to some of the German students who don’t get the chance to talk to many of the other students because they don’t speak very good English. We spoke about the German education system. It’s confusing. I’m confused. I’m tired. I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow.

Sabbath

We are told to honor the Sabbath. Often times, people go to church on Sunday and say that it is that action which makes Sunday the Sabbath. The thing is, I don’t know if that is true. I know that we are supposed to honor the Sabbath in our lives in order to keep ourselves in optimal health, but I think that the Day of Rest is more than just going to church. I guess I don’t know that much about Sabbath, but from what I know, it is more like giving yourself one day a week to rest and do nothing else. That means no work; not even school. If that is true, then today was definitely the Sabbath. We did nothing. There were no events planned, other than meals and coffee break, so we spent most of the day just hanging out. I guess I should rewind to what happened last night before I talk about today. I got back to my room last night a little before I went to bed to find another guy in there. He was dropping his girlfriend off at the school, and he would be leaving the next day. He was German, and his English was limited. We spent most of the night laying on our beds talking to each other; he was speaking English, and I was speaking German. Neither of us was perfect, so every once in awhile, there would be a pause where the other person would fill in the correct word. It was great. He kept saying, “This is so funny: two guys from different countries speaking different languages while talking with each other.” When I woke up this morning, after he left, I found out that he had a little Frau Lehman in him, or maybe it’s just the spirit of Germans to give things to Iowans because I found 10 Euro placed under my computer. I can say that I’ve been treated very well since I’ve been here. It’s incredible how much hospitality I’ve received in just these short 5 days. People, including myself, could really learn something from the Germans I’ve met so far: be nice to guests. This morning, again, we had brunch. Castles have brunch. There were sandwiches and nuts. I guess that people eat mixtures of nuts with milk instead of cereal. I had oatmeal. During brunch, I learned more about Pick A Pocket, one of the ministries here. Every time I hear about it, it amazes me. You should check it out. Here are some websites: www.myspace.com/pickapockettour and www.pickapocket.net. They are planning on travelling around the United States later this spring to cities on the east coast while trying to raise awareness about extreme global poverty. It’s an amazing ministry dealing with people and places that most of us never think about. After brunch, I spent most of the day on the student floor getting to know the people more. There are a lot of interesting people here. Interesting, as in good, not bad. Nothing really happened other than telling each new person who you are and what you are. Dinner came and went, and nobody had any plans for the night until two girls came into the dining hall shouting, “We’re going sledding! Who wants to come with?” I was the only one who bit the hook, so the 3 of us headed out to the hill in the forest called Slow Death. It’s a really long hill that is really slow. It’s not steep, and it’s not short. Are spirits were so high on our climb up the hill, but we lost one of the girls because she was out of breath. So the 2 of us made it to the top, only to find out that it was too flat at the top to start off. Pushing ourselves down the hill slowly, we eventually took off after we had pushed ourselves halfway down. That little ride was great though. Lots of snow in the pants and very cold hands. It only took a couple rides down the hill and walking back up to wear us out, so we went back. I’m back here now, and the guys just left. I’m left alone on the student floor with all of the girls, so it’s time to head downstairs. Last night was a late night staying up talking with Matthias, so tonight will be early. Tomorrow, classes start for the DTS, so I will have to find something else to do. I hear that there is a giant tree swing somewhere hidden in the forest, and I also hear that there are wild boars out there that have attacked students before. I think I’ll try to find both. Forget about wolves, there are actually boars. Good night my friends, bis Morgen.

Day 4

Saturday. Today was the first day of the DTS. Most of them have arrived, but there are still some on the way. A lot of them come from America, but there are also several Germans, Dutch, and one from Sweden, Australia, and Mexico. I’m happy that it has finally started, because I have people to hang out with now. When I woke up this morning, there was a brunch at 9 where everybody got to meet each other. Most of them had already met each other, but there were several new arrivals that were tossed into the crowd. It was good to eat with some people. Eating by yourself is good when you’re in a hurry; otherwise, it is a very lonely thing. Some people didn’t understand that it was a brunch and not a breakfast, so they kept asking, “Germans eat sandwiches for breakfast? Weird.” I sat down at a table with one staff member and a couple students, and we started talking about where we were from and what was going on in our lives. It’s amazing how many connections you may have with total strangers once you sit down and talk with them. Since I’ve been here, I’ve met somebody with a best friend who goes to UNI, somebody who lived in the town I’m reading about in my book, somebody who knows a good friend of mine from San Francisco, and many other people with similar passions and dreams. I think that’s just part of YWAM; so many people with so many similarities. So we got to know each other over brunch, and we were left with nothing to do until coffee and cake at 2. I had heard that they needed help shoveling a path to the fire because there was supposed to be a barbecue later on, so I headed outside to see what needed to be done. I opened the door to go outside with a shovel and almost stepped on a chicken. Apparently, they not only have (had) bunnies as pets (food), but they also have chickens (food/pets). It was a surprise to me to see a chicken just hanging outside the door, but I’ve come to learn to drop my expectations about this magical castle. Everyday I see something that surprises me; something that makes me ask myself, “Did that just happen? Was I the only one who saw that?” That must come with living in a castle in the woods surrounded by wild beasts. So I went out to shovel because it made me feel good doing something, and after making the path to the burn pit, I went back in to see if anything was going on upstairs on the student floor. I got to the 3rd floor and discovered something similar to the first day of my DTS. There were people putting stuff away in their rooms, but there were also people sitting together on the couches. Everybody was sitting there; nobody was talking. Haha. I thought it was funny, and soon conversation started picking up. We started this game called Loaded Questions, but it didn’t make much sense because the point of the game was to know the humor of each person. Oh well; it was fun to hang out with people and laugh. At 2, we had coffee and cakes; lots of cakes. Nothing really happened for the rest of the day until dinner, but it was still good to have people to hang out with in the castle. Tonight was the opening night for the DTS, so they had a barbecue/smorgasbord with lots of food and lots of sausage. All of the staff and students were there, so it was a large crowd of people in a small version of the Hogwarts dining room. After dinner was worship out by a fire where the meat was grilled, but it was so cold and windy that a lot of people (Southern Californians and other people from warm spots) went back inside to the warm comfort of the castle. Overall, I don’t have much to write today. I usually spend the whole day writing because I have nothing else to do, but I’m happy to say that I was occupied with something other than my computer and journal for most of the day. It’s been really lonely up to now, but I think things are turning around now that there are more people in the castle at all times. I’ve kind of been taken is as one of the new students. Everybody is so nice to me and treats me like family. It’s great. I think I will be sad to leave here in two weeks, but the good news is that I’m planning on visiting Salzburg between here and Klagenfurt. Salzburg, in case you don’t know, is where the Sound of Music was held. Hopefully I will be gifted with a musical talent on my pass through. We will have to wait and see. It is now time for bed. I think that somebody moved into my room, so we will find out in a little bit. Hope you have a great day wherever you are. Guten Nacht von Deutschland.

Day 3

I made it back last night just fine. No wolves. I did run into somebody in the forest, though, and it nearly made me pee my pants. I walked into town to see what was going on since nothing was happening in the castle. It seems as if there is nobody living in Herrnhut, or maybe it’s just that the whole town shuts down when it gets dark, which is around 4 pm. I did find a little penny market (kind of like a convenience store), and I got myself some necessities I had been lacking: body wash and a bar of chocolate. I decided not to venture too far into the dark neighborhoods because I was afraid my toes were going to freeze off if I got lost, so I made my way home.

This morning I woke up after adjusting my alarm to go off a little later. I wasn’t going to make the mistake of getting up too early again and having nothing to do. I also wasn’t going to make the mistake of showering at the wrong time, so I may be a little smelly today. Oh well. Speaking of smelly, I got to help out around the base today. I was heading into the café to do a little more of nothing when a girl stopped me and asked if I wanted to help do something outside in the cold. I figured it was better than doing nothing, so I went with her without asking what it was I would be doing. She brought me to the little building outside of the castle and we went inside to what is referred to as the “coal room”. It was a room filled with firewood, coal, cardboard boxes, garbage bags filled with ashes, and old bunny cages filled with nasty hay and lots of poop. She told me that I could help her out by dumping the ashes into the bio-waste containers on the other side of the castle, sorting the cardboard boxes and taking them to the deposit place, and cleaning up the hay that was strewn throughout the room along with the poop pellets. The work was great. At the end, my snot was black, and my mouth was filled with remnants of ash, hay, and I think a little bunny poop. I may or may not have the black lung now, but I was happy to finally help the base. I’ve had a place to stay and free food without actually doing anything in return, so this helped me feel a little better. After the clean-up job, we had lunch without a lot of the new DTS students who are arriving. There are 42 of them in all, but only about half are here so far. The school starts tomorrow, so they are all coming soon. I am just blending in with them as one of the new people. Since that was my only job for the day, I am left again with not much to do.

Tonight was supposed to be the first night of activity because so many DTS students had arrived. I was invited to go watch Avatar with some of the students. We went out to dinner first at a Turkish restaurant. I sat down by one of the staff of the DTS who I found out recently came over from YWAM Afghanistan. It just so happens that she was in a city that I am reading about right now in a book by Greg Mortenson called “Stones into Schools”. It’s a book about building schools and relationships with people in Afghanistan and Pakistan for kids in those countries. He talks a lot about achieving peace through education; books not bombs. I shared my dreams about someday spending part of my life there while she told me all about the base where she lived. It was great because I got to talk about something I love with somebody else who loves the same thing, and I simply just got to talk. I don’t spend much time talking around here because everybody is so busy, and there are so many people. All day, people are moving from room to room, and new people are arriving and old people are going. It’s crazy how much activity there is, but I am very seldom involved in anything. I don’t want to infringe on the new DTS students’ arrivals, so I try to stay out of their way. That’s why dinner was good. I finally got to hang out with people and talk to them about our passions. I didn’t go watch the movie with them, though, because I felt like I was intruding on their first night here at YWAM Herrnhut. So here I am, back in the castle. It’s quiet because all of the staff are gone, and the students are still in town. I’m planning on going to bed pretty soon. Sleeping is what I do at night when I finally have no other options, and it usually happens around 9 pm. So, until tomorrow, I will write again. Feel free to write me too. Let me know how you are doing. I’d love to hear. Guten Nacht meine Freunde.

Day 2

I don’t plan on writing everyday like this, but I really have nothing else to do. I woke up this morning at 7:30 to my alarm. I had been sleeping since 8 pm the previous night, and when I woke up, I was still tired. First thing I did was go to the bathroom to shower. There is something you should know about the bathroom here. It is not like it is back home. I’m staying on the staff floor and using the staff bathroom. There is one room for the toilets and another for the showers. There are both girls and boys toilets in the one room, and there are only two showers in the other room along with washing machines. What that means is that there is a chance that somebody else may be using the bathroom at the same time as you, and that person just might be a girl. Every time I go in there, I check first to make sure there is nobody else in there, because I’m not quite sure on the rules. This morning, I had to shower, and I figured nobody else was here because I’m one of the only people who stays in the castle overnight. So I went in and showered and was about ready to get out when a lady came in to change her laundry. I thought that this must happen often because I had shut the door behind me and she had to have heard the shower going when she came in. I dried off and put the towel on to step out, and she looked at me in shock. The women quickly scurried out of the room, leaving me to feel like I had just done the worst thing ever. It was a good start to the day. I spent the next hours in search of breakfast, but apparently the kitchen is out of food because the DTS doesn’t start until Saturday, so I accepted the fact that my first meal would be lunch, in 5 hours. Staff members started arriving to the castle around 9, and the café opened up. I spent the morning in there reading and writing, talking to some of the new students and staff members. We talked about where we come from (everybody from the US), what music we like, and our own DTSs. They allowed me to eat some of their food, which they normally sell, and you can imagine how grateful I was to eat after thinking I wasn’t going to eat for 4 more hours. I spent most of the day in the café because I really had no clue what else to do. I didn’t want to come here just to bum around and take advantage of a place to stay, but there is all sorts of craziness happening in the castle this week because of the arrival of new students. After lunch, I washed the dishes, which reminded me of being back in San Francisco YWAM. It felt good to finally do something semi-worthy of paying the people back for all they had done for me so far. The dishes only lasted an hour though, so I was again left with nothing to do. I went back up to the café to write more. My journal is filling up fast. Around 5 pm, the staff left and they took all of the students with them into town. I was left alone in the castle again. I told myself that I wouldn’t eat dinner until 6, so I had some time to fill. As I was walking towards the café, where my new food is, I was stabbed in the chest by a foam sword. A little girl attacked me out of the dark and through a sword towards me, which I was supposed to defend myself with. I would’ve been a little more frightened by the jabbing had I not seen that the culprit was an 8-year old girl. We fought for about 10 minutes, the whole time she was actually trying to hit me while I was asking her questions that she refused to answer. After I told her I had to cook dinner, she let me proceed on my way to the kitchen. I checked out what was available for me to eat; it wasn’t stuff that I would normally get myself, but since it was given to me, I took whatever I could. I found in the refrigerator bread, chicken, tomatoes, Swiss cheese, tuna, butter, Gouda, peppers, caramel, and nutella. I made myself something I’ve never had before: two sandwiches
1. Bread, Swiss cheese, chicken, sliced tomatoes, caramel, and nutella.
2. Bread, Swiss cheese, caramel, and nutella.
Tasty. A real German diet, I’d say. We’ll see how I feel from eating the strange mixture in a little bit. Now, dinner is over and I’m again left with nothing to pass the time. My Internet time is limited, so I to ration it everyday. I think I might go through the woods again, now that I know the path. There are a couple old hidden bridges that are pretty neat. It’s pretty cold outside, but there’s nothing to do inside. I’m pretty sure there are wolves out in the forest too; we’ll see.

Willkommen

And so it begins, the great and terrible adventure of my 22nd year. As I’m sitting here waiting to board the United plane to Frankfurt at gate C16, I hear a voice I’ve grown accustomed to hearing over the past 7 months. It’s the voice of Aaron Weiss and his friends; singing about existence and the beauties of God. It’s the words that he’s saying that have shaped my life immensely since I came home from San Francisco last year. How appropriate that I continue to listen to those same words as I begin my time away once again from everything that I’ve known for so long. I’m sitting here on the bench alone, but I do not feel lonely. I feel excitement coming from somewhere deep inside of me. It’s that excitement which disguises the sadness and fear. I know some things about what is in store for me in the next six months, but there are many more things that I do not know. I don’t know logistical things like train schedules to the places I’m staying, and I also don’t know who I will meet. I don’t know where I will travel to, and I don’t know how I’m going to feel when I lay down to sleep in Herrnhut tomorrow night. I don’t know a lot of things, but that’s ok. For now, as I sit here waiting, those things that I don’t know don’t really matter. Some of the unknowns will be fun and exciting, but I’m sure there are some that won’t. I guess it’s all of those unknowns that are going to make this chapter both great AND terrible. So for now, I will continue waiting in anticipation for what is about to come. I have no clue when I will get the chance to write again. Until then, smile when you think of me because I can assure you that no matter where I am or what is going on, I will be growing....

I made it to Frankfurt. Our flight took off on time, we had no stops, there were no problems, but we got here 45 minutes later than expected. I don’t really know how. So I ran from my gate of arrival to my gate of departure, thinking it was only a 2 minute distance because of what the flight attendant told me, going through a passport checkpoint and a security check, only to find out that the plane had already left when I got to the very last gate in the airport. Feeling a little defeated, I was sent to an information desk that I had run past earlier to find out that the next plane would be leaving in 2 hours. At least there’s free coffee from a little machine that looks quite powerful with 12 different drink selections to choose from. I guess this is what I expected, to experience the unexpected....

I'm finally in Herrnhut, in a castle. It's been a little crazy since Frankfurt. The flight to Dresden was only about an hour, so I landed around 10:40 into a place that seemed to have nothing. There was no place to exchange currencies, no Internet, no phones, nothing. Maybe it was because I hadn’t slept in awhile, or maybe it was because everything was in a different language, but I felt completely lost. I was supposed to be in a city called Loebau at 11, but I couldn’t find a ticket to get on the train that was going to take me there. Eventually, I got a ticket on a train that left at noon and would arrive at 1 pm, but I got kicked off the train after three stops because apparently the ticket I purchased was only for people with a certain train pass, which I didn’t have. In fear of a large fine or getting arrested, I jumped off at the next stop only to find myself somewhere in the suburbs of Dresden. At this point, I was worrying about the lady who was supposed to pick me up. What was she going to think when I didn’t show up and there was no way for her to get a hold of me? There was no way I could reach her either. Nobody seemed to have a cell phone, or maybe they just didn’t want to let me use it. Aside from the fact that I wasn’t in Loebau, I was also at a train stop in the middle of nowhere with no real idea of where to go. I worked my way across the tracks to find myself a new ticket, this one being the correct one, which would be leaving for Goerlitz in 10 minutes. An old man with one arm helped point me in the direction of that one. So, at 12:16, 75 minutes after I was supposed to meet a person from YWAM, I boarded a train that would take me over an hour to get to Loebau. My nerves were raised when the ticket lady came around, but this time she just gave me a stamp of approval. I asked several people to use their “handys”, but I guess nobody has cell phones. The train ride was beautiful. We went through the countryside of East Germany. The area that had once been occupied by Soviets still seemed as if it were lacking something. Small villages of one-room houses crowded the tracks on both sides, but then there would be picturesque neighborhoods of old rectangular shaped buildings. German shepherds could be seen in the back yards of several places, racing along the fence to catch the train. We went through forests of tall naked trees clothed only with snow. Around 1 pm, I got off the train at a small station in Loebau (Sachs). Again, I asked to use phones, but nobody would let me. Not even the pay phone worked, so I started into town in search of a business that might be so generous as to let me make a call to my host. I was looking for Internet cafes and churches; two places that would be sure to have what I needed. Instead, I found a little old lady named Frau Lehman. She led me to an empty church, going right inside even though the sign said closed and then to a music school. I told her where I was from and what I was doing, and she told me about the effects of the post-war DDR on East Germany. She showed me signs of economic decay throughout the city, and told me about her lack of hope in the youth who could be seen crowding the streets smoking cigarettes and snorting comments at us as we walked by. It was in the music school that I found a phone to dial Carolin, my contact. She said that she had already been in town to find me, but when I didn’t show up she went home to contact the trains about my whereabouts. We agreed to meet back on the other side of the city Frau Lehman had just led me through at the train station. Frau Lehman led me halfway, but then stopped to say goodbye and good luck at a store she had to visit. I found my way back to the station, through the crowds of teenagers recently released from school. Just before Carolin arrived, somebody else came to visit me. It was Frau Lehman, and she came with 10 Euros and the advice to take a taxi next time. She said that the money was for a phone call should I need to make one, and wished me good luck again. Carolin got me and drove me out of Loebau through more countryside to a little town called Herrnhut. We drove through more woods, and eventually ended up at the grandest YWAM base I’ve ever seen. It’s an old castle, and it houses a lot of people. It’s here that I sit now writing this post, in a large room to myself drinking some kind of tea while looking out the window at the surrounding woods. Great and terrible today and yesterday have been. But to think, this is just the start.