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.
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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 -
