This time I’m not sitting at an airport and Gail has not
gone shopping but I seem to have come across some time with which to bend your
ear.
Last time I told you all about our time in Ireland and how
we started our time in Germany and since then there has not been a moment I
could spend time with you. I am sorry for the neglect because I know by some of
the comments I receive that there are some of you who actually read this stuff.
So without further ado, here I sit once again at my key board trembling in the
fear that I might once again bore you to tears.
After I posted the last blog we traveled on into Germany to
at city called Neumunster where we visited a Betel center called Casa Betel.
Now before I go any further let me explain to those of you who are not aware of
the Betel ministry just what that is. Betel is a ministry under the WEC umbrella
that ministers to the lost and broken people, of many nations, that are
addicted to drugs and alcohol. At Casa Betel we were amazed at the way God has
worked in the lives of many of these broken people as well as in the lives of
the entire staff, and the lives of the churches and the people of that area of
Germany. When we arrived, there were seven clients in the men’s house there and
while we were there two more arrived. The ministry is supported by its very large
used furniture store and by many local donors who feel that they benefit from
what Betel does. We were told how God has miraculously provided the store along
with the warehouse, the men’s house and the women’s house. This is a ministry
needed everywhere in every city in every town all over the world. Even where
you are, one need only to look around, with open eyes to see the need, with
open hearts to feel the hurt and with open hands to help. The staff at this
location, and it’s the same at all Betel locations, is worked hard. They work
24/7 with these people and in these stores and in the offices. But if you asked
them they would not trade it for anything else. You see it’s not for the money
of which there is little, it’s not for fame of which the is none, it’s for the
joy they feel when they see even one of these lost and broken people come out a
survivor, re-enter the world as a new person, reunite with families and loved
ones. But even more than that it’s the overwhelming, unexplainable peace and
joy they feel when one of these lost and broken people have an encounter with
Jesus. To watch Jesus work the miracles in the lives of these people is all
they need to carry on. If you are considering a life as a missionary, that is
my desire for each and every one of you, and someone has convinced you that we
missionaries are all on a lifelong holiday then Betel might not be where you
want to go, but if you are looking for fulfillment and joy, if you are looking
to experience real revival or to see a church explode into existence before
your very eyes run, don’t walk, to your nearest WEC Sending base and tell them
that you want to work with Betel. Ok, enough preaching. I can’t tell you
anymore about our time in Neumunster Germany except that it was the experience
of a life time.
From Neumunster we went to visit Jonathon. Now, once again,
for those who don’t know Jonathon, he is a young man from Germany who came and
worked with me as a volunteer at Gateway. He invited us to spend some time with
him and his family at their home in Freudenberg. We did just that, it was an
awesome 3 days. On Saturday, Jonathon, along with his mom Elvera and his dad
Martin, took us to the absolutely most awful, the most morbid, the most
unbelievable place I have ever been in my life. It was to a place called
Buchenwald. It was a concentration camp in East Germany. A place designed and
constructed for the sole purpose of causing death in the most excruciating and
humiliating way, conceivable to the human mind. While we were traveling there
it was a reasonable day, some sun along with a smattering of rain now again but
when we arrived at the place a fog descended on it. A fog so thick you could
hardly see from one destroyed foundation to the next and there were many of
them, each one a memorial to the lives destroyed there. A crematorium still
standing with 8 large ovens, that were not enough to keep up with the death
that occurred by the moment. An infirmary where the only reason you went there
was so you could be injected with a fatal disease so they could try to find a
cure and most the time they didn’t succeed. Yes, the fog was appropriate for
the place and time; it brought to reality the evil of the place. From there we
went to a castle, of course, on the top of the highest hill in the place but
the significance of it was that it was the place where Martin Luther spent time
translating the New Testament from Greek to German, an event that was
significant to the complete reformation of the church as it was at that time.
The most wonderful thing about that visit was that the sun was shining most of
the time. God provided such a contrast
so we could appreciate both. Sunday morning we went to church, an Evangelical Free
church, all in German of course,but with some translation by Jonathon we were
able to grasp some of the message which was “We know that Jesus cried, but did
he laugh?” Someday I’d like to hear about it in English. We then walked around
just one of the many old cities of the area with streets not much wider than a
broom stick and some houses older than any building in Canada and still
occupied, even in some cases, possibly, by descendants of the original
builders.
We traveled along Autobahns (freeways) at times at speeds in
excess of 140 kms per hour while BMWs, VWs, and Mercedes Benzes passed us like
we hadn’t yet got started. Monday
morning we left Freudenberg to drive to the WEC sending base in Switzerland where
we are now. So once again I bid you a
fine farewell.
God Bless. With love
Erwin & Gail
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| Amsterdam from the air |
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| Ya that to |
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| Casa Betel Neumunster Germany |
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| Our Hosts Raul & Mieke |
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| Womans house A gift to Betel |
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| Our Hime in Neumunster |
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Our hosts in Freudenberg, Jonathon
with Mom Elvera and Dad Martin |
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| Our Home in Freudenberg |
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Writen on the Gate to a consentration
Camp "TO EACH HIS OWN" |
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| The entrance from the outside |
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| And from the in side |
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| What it was like |
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| Believe it or not it is true |
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| The cremitorium |
The ovens |
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| The castle on a hill |
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| Same castle |
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| The main hall |
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Where Martin Luther translated the
New Testiment |
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| View from the Castle |
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| What goes up must go down |
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| Church |
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| View of a very,very old town |
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Headed to Switzerland and
at 143 kms per hour we are almost able
to keep up with the trafic |
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| Theres Switzerland |
