Time to say goodbye

Fröhliche Weinachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year) everybody!!

Wow, we really cannot believe December 28th is here already. After almost six months here in Jena, it's time to pack up and go home. Elyse and I have made so many friends and met so many amazing people in our time here, we're finding it really, really hard to have to say goodbye to everyone. First of all, we want to thank all of you for all of your prayers and your support for us while we've been here. We have been so blessed to be able to come here and work and learn for as long as we did. Most of you probably know that we are wanting to come back to Germany full time in the next few years, and this internship was the next major step toward that goal. God has definitely been working in our lives during this time, and we are more sure than ever that Germany is a place where we want to return. Speaking of returning, we actually have some news to share too! This spring, we will be returning to Germany to take part in a week-long conference/retreat for all of the Kontaktmission missionaries. We're really excited to be able to see some of our friends again so soon, but also to be able to continue building our relationship with Kontaktmission and other missionaries around Germany and Europe. We are also going to be helping lead a Kontaktmission trip this coming May. It is the same trip that we went on as students three years ago, and the organization has asked us to come back this summer and lead the trip! So, we plan on keeping this blog up and running for awhile. We'll share news about our progress this spring, and also some more stories from our time here in Jena as we process and reflect on all our experiences. Hope you'll stick around to hear what God has done and continues to do! For now, though, time to finish up the last bit of packing and cleaning the apartment - gotta leave for the train station in 5 hours!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

On Saturday we took the train up to a little city outside of Hanover called Peine. Randy and Katie Smelser are Americans who live there in Peine and started a church. Ryan did an internship with them 5 years ago for a summer! And then we both went to see them 3 years ago when I went on my first KontaktMission missions trip. We love them dearly and we so excited to be able to spend some time with them! This Sunday was the second Advent Sunday, and the Smelsers had a big open house Advent party- so much fun! And even more food! It really was great for Ryan and I to be able to have some festive Christmas fun :) Since we have no decorations, tree or gifts around, sometimes I forget Christmas is coming up! So, we made up for it this weekend with lots of fun with great friends!

Doesn't this just look amazing?! And check out all that snow out the window!


I polished all this silver myself! :)


Yum, yum, yummm....


On Monday we went out in the city for the afternoon to look at the Christmas market and go to the city church to see the Nativity Scenes from Around the World display :)




Christmas Market!


It was St. Nikolaus day, so this kinda creepy St. Nikolaus was out and about






Thank you Randy and Katie for having us!

-Ryan and Elyse


ps, some of you Lincoln people might recognize them... they were just in Lincoln and talked in a bunch of classes!

Cooking Class

It's hard to believe, but our time here in Jena is almost over! The time has absolutely flown by! We've been thinking and talking about that recently, so I thought I'd just mention it, but there will be time for getting all emotional and reflective later. We've still got five weeks left :)

Anyway, what the main point of this post is about is to tell you about an awesome event that happened last week here in Jena.

View Larger Map

Let's see, where to start...

OK, so there is another missionary who works with Kontaktmission on the western border of Germany named Dirk Staudinger. He is there with his wife and kids in a little town called Prüm. It is an area with a huge Catholic background. For most people, they are Catholic in name and maybe go to church on Christmas and Easter, but for the vast majority, Christianity plays no real part in the way they live their lives. Dirk is studying in a masters program right now in something like Intercultural Studies, with also a focus in theology - so, a missions program basically. As part of his studies, he had to do an internship in another culture (we know how you feel Dirk!), and he contemplated even going to India or other far-away places like that. But, with a family - and the internship only being about 10 days - that seemed to much. After talking with Rocco, he proposed to his overseers that he do his internship in Jena, and they accepted! It's a COMPLETELY different culture here than in Prüm!! So, what did he do here for 10 days? Well, first I have to tell you one more thing. Dirk is a church planter, but he also studied gastronomy and works as a chef in a four-star restaurant! So, his main project in Jena was to host a gourmet cooking course, as a way to meet people and share with them about what God means in his life.

Step One: Advertise -

Dirk set up a cooking station in the city center - across from Rocco and his weekly book table - and did live demonstrations with free samples, as a way to advertise for the cooking class.

Over the course of the day, he cooked up and gave away three giant pans full of "nasi goreng."

Along with a few people who signed up on this day, some from the church came and invited others too. About 12 in all, including Elyse and I.

Step Two: Cook -

For the menu, we cooked and made a gourmet fall, "Wild" meal, with deer, squash soup, and a bunch of fancy things whose names I don't even know in English - let alone German. The evening was a real success and there were quite a few new people there who had no previous contact with the church. Elyse was content to take photos and eat, and I jumped in a little with the "cooking" doing things I could handle - peeling onions and carrots, and...well, yeah that's about all I had the courage to do; didn't want to risk messing up everyone else's fancy dinner :)

Step Three: Eat -

Step Four: Share -

While everyone was eating, Dirk shared a little about his own story: how he came to become a cook, about his work in Prüm, how he ended up in Jena doing this class...most importantly, he shared about God and what Jesus means to him. None of us knew exactly how this was going to go over. He didn't want in any way to push things on people or trick them into coming to a cooking class only for it to turn into a church service or something. We all felt it his testimony was amazing, though and well received. There are so many people in this atheist town who have never heard the true message of the Bible or maybe never even met a religious person who they also considered "normal." If that was the case for anyone there that night, then I think they got a chance to hear something special. Just a normal guy, with a normal job and a family, passing on this God-given gift of food, cooking and enjoyment, and sharing in a totally open, relaxed and friendly way about the life he has found in Jesus.

Step Five: Don't Forget Dessert -

I thank God for...

creativity, smiles, friendships, different countries, different cultures, and this time where we can all get together and get messy because it's fun! Here are some pictures that my friend Becky took at last weeks Creativity Night. We had a great turn out with about 8 people... we even had a story teller! It really is so much fun, and as soon as it's over I'm already wanting it to be the next Wednesday. Enjoy the pictures, I'll be bringing my own camera this week.

Also, stay tuned for another blog post coming soon about something SUPER awesome going on in Jena tomorrow. It involves a German pastor from the west of Germany and his internship here, gourmet food, and sharing about Jesus!

Creativity Night!

I (Elyse) have started a new little ministry program at our church- Creativity Night! With all the space that our new church building provides, we have all been thinking of good ways to utilize the space and all that God has blessed us with! Having a church building in the city center, right next to a university building has its advantages! So, in trying to come up with ideas I really took a look inside myself and tried to recognize some of the gifts that God has given me and how I can use them. A couple of my gifts for sure are creativity and hospitality. Also realizing that with the ministries that the church already has going, the creative young people in the city were not really being reached out to. SO.... thus was born, Creativity Night!



Last week we had more of a meeting type of night with a few of my friends who are also excited about having fun and crafting it up with some other people! Please be praying that God uses this as a great way to get people more familiar with each other as well as with the church, and what we're all about. I'm praying that through being creative together, maybe somehow they can see the One that gives them creativity is the One who created them!

"Friends"

Recently I came across the blog of a fellow worker in Germany. He works on media projects, and this certain video that he helped with spoke volumes to Ryan and I. It parallels with a lot of things we have been experiencing, and makes us feel all happy inside :)

Friends from Lava Lamp Productions on Vimeo.

Feel free to share your thoughts!

Refresh

Wow, what a whirlwind of a couple of weeks! We didn't want to advertise it much, but a couple of weeks ago Ryan had to head back to the States for his cousin's wedding, therefore leaving me all alone in a foreign country for almost a week...yikes! :) Everything went completely okay, and it gave me a chance to connect with this wonderful city I'm living in in a whole new way. When Ryan returned to Germany he brought a stowaway with him... His brother Cory!

We had a ton of fun while Cory was here, just the three of us. Cory had never been to Europe before so we got to show him just how awesome it is! He also got a good introduction to the Church in Germany and it's huge need for more workers... so we're praying maybe he'll come back to Germany someday to do ministry also! :) Anyway, After Cory's first few days in Germany we rented a car and drove to PRAGUE! It's funny seeing the drastic differences between the Czech Republic and Germany even though the border is only a couple hours away from Jena :) Anyway, the reason why we went to Prague was to meet my grandparents there!!!



We all had a ton of fun in Prague for a few days. We got to go to a Czech speaking church with the Mudrik's (the Missionaries in Residence at Lincoln last year) as well as do plenty of touristy things! My grandparents had also never been to Europe before! I'm so glad they came, it was so wonderful. Prague is a gorgeous city, absolutely stunning... and the FOOD IS AMAZING!




After our few days spent in Prague, we all piled into the car and drove back into our beloved Germany. Even after being in Prague for like a day, I already missed Germany :) I loved being able to recognize words and speak some again! Anyway, on our way back to Jena we stopped by Dresden to spend the afternoon doing some sightseeing. If you know anything about what happened to Dresden during WWII, you know just how heart wrenching it was to actually be there and see the city for yourself. In the book, Slaughterhouse 5, Dresden is described as having looked like "Heaven" or "Oz", but then it was so completely destroyed by the Allies bombing it that it is later simply referred to as "the moon". Being there are looking at some before and after bombing photos I couldn't help but weep, what a surreal experience. The city is totally rebuilt now and they have replicated some of the main original buildings and churches that were destroyed.



Then, eventually, we made it back to little ol' Jena. We loved having Cory and my Grandparents with us at our new "home". We spent most of our time eating waaaaaay too much! Perfect :)

We also got to go to an old WWII concentration camp located about 45 minutes outside of Jena. Buchenwald is particularly unique because it was the very last concentration camp to be liberated during WWII. It was of course chilling and surreal to be there, but I'm glad Cory as well as my Grandparents were able to experience visiting such a place. For Ryan and I, it was the second one we have visited. I believe that it's such a life changing experience that everyone should try to visit one in their lifetime.


The rest of our time in Jena was filled with more and more food, helping around at our Church a little bit, having to say goodbye to Cory (and trying to not envy him too much as he headed off on his European adventure), having my grandparents come to church with us (they were able to witness 2 baptisms!) and then eventually having to say goodbye to them as well :( All in all, having all of them here was a time that we will never forget and we loved every moment of it. Thank you to Cory as well and my wonderful Grandparents for coming to see us! And a VERY special thank you to my Grandparents for spoiling us so much while they were here!!! We love you!


So now here we are all alone again, back to real life. Actually Ryan has been at a conference in southern Germany the last couple days, so I've been on my own again :) It's been kind of nice to have some downtime alone though. I will be blogging again soon with some more ministry related things going on here in Jena! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers!

-Elyse

A new chapter

As of last Friday, Ryan and I have been done with language school. Going to language school was one of the hardest experiences of my life, but now that it's over... I miss it terribly. When we first got to Jena and kind of figured out our schedule and the price of school, we decided that we would do 3 months in language school and 3 months not, so that we could focus on other things. We knew that we would greatly improve our language skills through this process and meet a lot of people, but I don't think we really expected the great joy that this opportunity would bring to us. Through our German classes we have met so many amazing people, and God has blessed us with some awesome friends through this experience. They are from all over the world, maybe speak English or German :) and are just so wonderful.

It's exciting to have more time in our day for other learning opportunities now, but I already miss being in the classroom with my friends, learning this crazy language. We're praying that God allows us to continue these friendships even outside of school. And of course that our German can also keep improving. Would you pray for us for those things also? It is so hard to believe that we are already half way through this internship! But we are excited to see what this new chapter has in store for us.


These pictures are from the 2 birthday parties my German class had while Ryan and I were still in the school. No, we didn't have a party and eat cake EVERYday :)

It's official!

We got our visas a few days ago! Now we're officially allowed to be here after the next couple weeks :) We had been told horror stories about how strict the German government is about all of the paperwork necessary for getting your visa, and how you never seem to have everything they want from you, but we didn't have any problems! Neither Ryan or I have ever had a visa before so we're pretty excited about how fancy they make our passports look :)


I'm trying to think of anything new that has been going on.... oh! We're done with language school in a week and a half. While we were in the middle of it I know there were times where we longed for our classes to be over (at least I did anyway), and now that they're coming to a close, I wish they weren't! We have made so many great friends through our German classes and have learned so much. I'm afraid that I wont see those friends anymore or be able to keep on improving my German. Of course I know God will provide the opportunities for us to stay connected with our friends even after we're done... and there are still plenty of opportunities to learn and use our German, it's just a bit sad to know we're done soon. BUT not having our classes everyday will allow us to do so much more with the church, which is also very exciting!

Blessings to all of you and thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Why are we here again?

Last weekend, we had the chance to join Rocco and his family at an all church day near Schweinfurt, Germany. During their 30+ years in ministry here, Rocco and his wife Karoline have planted three churches. This church in Schweinfurt is one of these churches from before their time in Jena. Each year, they hold this all-church day at a retreat center, and they always invite the Panepintos to come back and join them. So, this time, we got to come along too! It was a great chance to practice some German (there's something about meeting a whole new group of people that gives you a little more boldness to try it out, I think). But mostly it was great to see a bit of the legacy of Rocco and Karoline. They started this church in Schweinfurt from the ground up, and now, it's a vibrant, relatively large for Germany standards, community of believers. In fact, the reason the Panepintos left is because the church got to the point where it could support itself, and they moved on to another area that was in huge need. During part of the day, Rocco shared what has been going on in Jena the last year, and Elyse and I actually sang a song! We had already sung together once for the English/German service last Sunday, but we didn't know they were going to ask us to sing there too until just before we went on! I wanted to share two stories from this trip that really hit home to me once again, why we're doing what we're doing. Maybe they can help give you a better picture of the situation here too.

First, a short story about a conversation that Elyse and I had with one of the church members. Rocco had already told us some about the church and about how great it was to see these people grow up. So many of them were teenagers when they started the church. They grew up, and Rocco married them, and was there when their babies were born, and now he comes back to see these people's kids as teenagers! While we were talking to one of the ladies from the church, she was asking us what our plans were for the future. When we told her we wanted to come back to Germany and help start churches some day, she was so excited. Of course I'm excited about people from the US deciding to come to Germany, she said, look at all these families who's lives have been dramatically changed because of Rocco's decision to come, including my own! I've heard a few times, that Germans - even some German Christians - don't like the idea that people come to their country as missionaries. Maybe they feel like those who come are condescending or that they come because they think the Christians in Germany aren't good enough. Well, that's not the case at all, and this lady was a great reminder to me of why we are doing what we're doing.

Second, I story that Rocco told about something that happened in Jena - There was a man Rocco met one time who had been a total atheist, during the time of the communist GDR in the East. This man was diagnosed with brain cancer, and the doctors gave him no hope of recovery. As a last ditch effort, they said they could try to do surgery to remove the tumor, but there was almost zero chance that he would even survive the operation, and it was almost guaranteed that even if he did happen to live, he would be in a coma and never come out. In despair and in the face of the end of his life, this man turned to God. At least, he wanted to, but he didn't know anything about God. All he could think to do was to go to a church - maybe God would hear him in there. He asked God to help him - to heal him, or to bring him safely through this operation. The day came, the tumor was removed, and the man lived! His face was disfigured and he lost one eye, but he lived to have a normal life. He believed God had saved him and was always thankful, but for him it was thanks to an "unknown God." This story was much more dramatic when Rocco was telling it in person :) , but that's OK because as amazing as that is, the real point is this: One day, 20 or 30 years after this event, this man happened to run into Rocco in the town center with his book table. Seeing some of the signs and the books that Rocco had out, the man ran up to him and asked urgently, "do you believe in God!?" Of course Rocco said yes, and he explained to him that he was a Christian. The man told him the story about how he miraculously survived the cancer, and was so thankful to be able to talk to Rocco. For his entire life, he had been thanking this God that he knew had saved him, but he had NEVER met anyone else who believed in God and could actually explain more about Him. That day, his faith was able to go from faith in a mystery god to faith in the God of the Universe.

I hope these stories help give a better picture of the situation here in Germany. There are definitely bright spots, and God is working and changing lives. The fact still is though, that overall, it is a dark place. Especially here in the east, atheism is the default mindset, and people of any kind of faith are the exception to the rule. Please continue to pray for us as we learn what it's like to minister here, and for Rocco and the church as they reach out to this city. Speaking of the church, I promised some news, so even though this is a lost post already, here it is! - After two years of searching and trying, the Hausgemeinde am Jenzig has finally found some rooms they can rent to use as a church building! This will be a huge blessing to them, as they've totally outgrown the space in the Panepintos' home. We are excited to be here to help them as they get set up and settled in!

A Day in the Life of Ryan and Elyse

How can it be two weeks already since we last posted!? The time goes so fast! Anyway, I thought we would let you know what our typical day/week looks like for those who might be curious what all we're doing here. So, here goes...Monday Through Friday

- Get up between 7:00 and 8:00 - depending on what we have to do before school, like finish homework maybe :)
- Our language classes start at 9:00, but fortunately, the school is only about a 10 min. bike ride away from our place.
- Class until 1:30 in the afternoon - we do get a few breaks during the day, but whew! it's a lot of German
- After class, rest our brains!!
- Afternoons, we have time to work on our homework, maybe do some reading, keep of with correspondence, go grocery shopping, whatever we need to do that day.
- Evenings we have quite a few different things going on:
Monday nights - English "Stammtisch": a group of people who meet regularly to practice their English. (More on this later)
Tuesday nights - Bible study at the church
Wednesday nights - Our weekly mentoring meetings with Rocco are late afternoon, so by Wednesday night, we're pretty tired :)Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights - so far, we don't have anything regular on these nights, but we've been able to do a lot of different things: visit new friends, practice music for Sunday, invite people over to our place...
So, that's a little general, but hopefully it gives you a good idea of what we do here in Jena each week. Since we just went to the English "Stammtisch" last night, we thought we'd let you know a little about it. "Stammtisch" in German just means something like a table (Tisch) for regulars, a reserved spot for regular customers. This particular Stammtisch is one that Rocco has already been going to for awhile. It's for people who want to come to practice their English. There's some other native speakers there - us from the US, some from the UK or Australia - and LOTS of people from Germany and other places who come to speak English. They actually have a "hat of shame" that somebody made, which you have to wear if you get caught speaking German!! So, every Monday night from about 8:30 until 11:00 or so, we go to this Cafe and get to speak English. It's refreshing to be able to speak English and know that it's not a hassle but it's actually what people want us to speak with them! The Cafe is located in an old train station that's not far from our apartment.
It's not used as a train station anymore, but it's now know as the "Kulturbahnof," the culture train station. Along with the Jazz cafe that's upstairs, they also hold dancing nights, art classes, and sometimes have crazy artists come in and do art installations downstairs. Rocco said that the week before we arrived, there was some art piece there that involved little swimming pools filled with water and people standing around looking through telescopes! So, that gives you a little bit of an idea of the feel of the place :)We've found that the Stammtisch is a really great place to meet people. Many of the same people come each week, but there also seems to be a constant flow of new people in and out as well. We get to hear about all the things they're studying (seriously, almost all of them are Masters or PhD students working on research or writing their theses). And of course, they ask us what we're doing in Jena, so we get to tell them a little about the church and why we're here. It's been nice to really start settling in and even making some friends outside of the church too!
Well, I think that's all for now. We'll be back tomorrow or the next day with some more pictures and some news about the church.

Our First Month!

Sorry it's been so long since our last update. We promise to be much more regular with our updates now that we've got steady access to internet :)

It's hard to believe we've already been here in Jena for a whole month! How the time flies when you're trying to learn German. There's so much to tell about our first month, so I think I'll spread it out a little bit. First things first: we are spending a LOT of time in language school. We knew that would be our main task for this first part of the internship, but it's still surprising just how much work it is and how much it can wear you out! Shortly after our arrival, we went to the language school to take a test to see which class we could get into. Luckily, Elyse had already been practicing her German and learning some vocabulary, because she scored high enough to get into a class that had already started a few weeks earlier. Even though it's a beginner class, it's amazing how much you learn in just a few weeks, so it was great that she knew enough already to go ahead and join that class. Since I (Ryan) had already learned some German, I was also able to test into a class that was already going. The teacher told me I scored actually between two different levels, so I was a little worried I wouldn't find one that fit well. But, it actually worked out perfectly: I tried out a slightly lower class in the beginning, and that let me get some practice in and review of some basics. After a few weeks though, the next higher class came back from their summer break, and I was able to jump in with them! It's definitely a better fit, but also definitely much more challenging. We're both just wishing so badly that we could just speak fluently right away! Oh well, I guess that's just the way it works; you have to start somewhere and build from there :)

Thank you so much for all of your prayers! We, of course, need continued prayers for our language learning and that we would continue to be encouraged and remember why we are putting in all this effort. Another thing that urgently needs prayer: we can't go into much detail here online, but there is a member of the church who's family is trying to escape their country and come to Germany as political refugees. They were stopped at a border (not Germany) and are now in jail waiting for something to happen. It's a potentially very dangerous situation. Please pray for this young man from the church, for peace and faith as he feels helpless just sitting and waiting to see what happens. Pray also for the family, that they would be let free and have a safe passage to Germany.

OK, I think that's enough for one post. More about our first month soon! With pictures!

Send us some mail

Here is our address, please send us a letter, a drawing, a postcard, a picture.... anything! We need some glimpses of familiarity in our apartment :)

Ryan und Elyse Dillon
Spitzweidenweg 85
07743 Jena
GERMANY

We're Here!

Hey everyone! Thank you all s much for your thoughts and prayers over the last few days! We made it to Jena, Germany without any problems! We love the city here and the people. Our internship mentor is great and we know that he will challenge us. Right now we're trying to tackle getting a handy (cell phone), internet, language school and some other things worked out. So, sorry if we are not online very much in the days to come, we should have internet soon.

Again, thank you for all of your prayers! Keep praying though! Please pray that language school works out and that we can be able to afford it.
Thanks everyone! Talk to you soon!!!!

say whaaaat?!?!?

WE LEAVE FOR GERMANY IN 9 HOURS!!!!!!!!!

Danke!

Danke (thank you) to everyone who showed up to our party last Monday night to hear about our Germany internship! It was so much fun for both Ryan and I and just a great experience for us to be able to share our hearts with our loved ones who don't get to see us that often anymore! We truly hope and pray that everyone who came had a great time and were able to feel just how much it meant to us that each and every one of you were there. So thank you again. Here are some of our favorite pics from the night!