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Saying Goodbye

There are no words to really describe this feeling of leaving Berlin. These two years have definitely been hard, but also wonderful. It's very difficult to leave this place that has become home to me in so many ways. And maybe I'm biased, but Berlin is probably my favorite place in the world so far and I can't imagine any other place topping it. ;)

I could really use your prayers as it is really emotionally draining to be saying goodbye to so many great people that I've known here. You can also pray for my transition back to the states.

This will probably be my last post on this blog. Thank you all for keeping up with my ramblings on various happenings during my STINT in Germany and thank you for your prayers and support. If you aren't on my email update list, let me know and I'll put you on. From there I will keep you updated on my transition to joining staff with Crusade in the states. erin.keyser@uscm.org

Liebe Gruße,

Erin

Prayer Breakfast

One cool thing we did this semester was a prayer breakfast every Tuesday morning at 7 am. As early as it was, it was so fun and such a blessing to come together with a few Berlin students and talk to God together. Above is a picture of the regulars. Our last prayer breakfast was last week and next week is exam time. It's hard to believe the semester is wrapping up! And that means my internship with Campus Crusade is coming to close. It's been a wonderful two years launching movements in Berlin and I'm very excited for next step as I join full-time staff with Campus Crusade in the northeast of America. Please continue to pray for me as I close up life here in Germany. Thank you!

World Cup

One of the coolest experiences to have in Germany is living here during the World Cup. Now, I actually was in Europe during the 2006 World Cup and got to experience the craze that is football in Macedonia (my first summer project). We even had an outreach where we projected the championship game on a big screen. But even that interesting experience doesn't compare to what it's like here in Berlin. During the normal year, you hardly EVER see a German flag or any kind of patriotic paraphernalia. But once the World Cup starts, it's EVERYWHERE! Every balcony, every car, every bakery. And during the games, everything shuts down (even schools!) and every German packs themselves into every bar, cafe and biergarten around, often overflowing into the streets and sidewalks, to watch the game on big flat screens or projected onto screens and sheets (depending on how fancy your venue is). The cheers, whistles, horns, chants and fireworks that happen after a goal are almost deafening in the midst of these crowds. But it's SO fun. The excitement is just huge and it really bonds people together. I've had a few people just randomly talk to me about the game on the U-bahn. Yesterday, I even saw/heard a guy singing the German national anthem in his apartment above me while I was walking down the street and a girl in her apartment on the other side of the street joined in. (It definitely helps when the weather is perfect and everyone's windows are open!). Go Deutschland!

Culture

The more I travel and the longer I live in a foreign country, the more I realize I actually know very little about this phenomenon known as "culture". I remember in my several sociology and religion classes that we defined this word many times. The truth is however, that it is very difficult to define something from the inside. We are never outside of culture and the very action of defining it implies much about the "culture" this action is coming from. I just got back from Sardinia on Mon. and I'm always fascinated by Italian culture, their friendliness, hospitality and curiosity about foreigners. Their loudness is such a contrast to the German quietness, honesty and time/trust earned loyalty. And even as I've adapted to German culture, I'm more aware of my American-ness, the way I'm hypersensitive to awkwardness and my tendency to sugarcoat a negative comment. But I'm continually baffled as to the fact that every person, no matter their place of origin is SO different than any other. What a strange human race God has created!

Peacock Island and other mysteries

Berlin never ceases to surprise me.

In order to bring closure to my two years here in Berlin, I have created a "Berlin Bucket List" of things I want to do/see before I move back to the states. Included on this list was a visit to Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) in the south of Berlin. It was probably one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had. Really. And there's a reason for that. Some royal family in history decided they had nothing better to do with their riches than put a bunch of peacocks on an island and turn it into a menagerie of merriment and en escape from the "common people". The island included it's very own 30 peacocks, peacock castle, museum of elusive animal exhibits (totally fake, but presented like they were real), giant concrete acorns, ladders that go to nowhere, benches slanted into the ground, costumes, spinning tops with a whip, bowling, etc... It was kind of like a mix between the Twilight Zone and Lost. Yikes.

Speaking of mysteries, we just returned from our weekend debrief trip where we talked about how our years went and how to transition well back to the states. I call this transition a mystery, because it's so strange to me how we culturally adapt and re-adapt to our surroundings. There's all sorts of havoc that can happen when people have wrong expectations as to what it's going to be like to return to their home culture after a significant time abroad. But this is why we talk about it and prepare to deal with it before it happens. I'm so thankful we get this kind of training. I can't imagine how difficult this transition would be without it!

Trucking along...

Time is just flying by faster and faster. I'm amazed it's the middle of May already! Let me quick update you on the cool things God has been doing:

Fire-Abend: Our first attempt at a new style of this city-wide student meeting (every other week) went splendidly last week. The topic was the question of an absolute moral truth - heavy stuff. Amanda gave us a nice intro to the topic with various thoughts and ideas, plus a little blurb about how this topic has affected her life. We then broke into small groups to discuss. We had 11 students come. Not huge, but not small, and we praise God for who He brought and some good conversation and hang out time with some wonderful students. I'm continually amazed by their willing hearts and desire to know Jesus better and better.

Purdue May trip: Last Thurs., 10 students and 3 staff arrived in Berlin for a 3 week 'summer' project, helping us reach German students for Christ. One of them happens to be Emily, one of my teammates from last year, and it's been a joy to have her back in Berlin. For some of these students, it's their first time out of the US. I am so impressed with how they're relying on God for courage and strength to talk to students about spiritual things. Today, we went to talk to students at the FU and I was so pleased to hear about our American students' exciting conversations with German students who wanted to know more about God. The conversations I had as I went sharing with one of the Purdue students were really good. One student we talked to even said, "You've inspired me to think about this more." So great.

It's so true to remember that, after all those hard conversations with students who don't care, think I'm weird or stupid, or have strong beliefs in something else, when you have a conversation with a student who says "Thank you for asking me these questions and making me think about this" or "I've been waiting for someone to talk to me about God", it makes it ALL WORTH IT.

Knut Fail

We went to the Zoologischer Garten for some "team fun" time on Fri. This Berlin zoo is one of the most famous in the world. One thing that makes it such is it's famous Eisbär (polar bear), Knut. Well, sadly somehow we missed seeing Knut. We saw three polar bears and just assumed one of them had to be Knut. It was very disappointing to hear that Knut had his own cage and we didn't actually see him at all. Woops. But the rest of the zoo is truly great and definitely worth seeing.

Leadership Dinner

Another reason to love my job: student leaders. Last Fri. night, we had 10 students come to the Keltner's apartment to find out more about Campus and how they can be involved. We cooked dinner for them, Matt gave a presentation on who Campus is and what we're all about, we broke into small groups to discuss various aspects of what we're doing this semester and then came back together for a "STINT-imony" from Michele and a summery of our small group discussions. At the end, we prayed and had the students fill out a response card where they could indicate what they wanted to help with this semester. It was awesome! We had great discussions and the response cards show a high level of student interest to get involved! This is big!!! It felt to me almost like a culmination of my time here in Berlin. This is what we've been working towards for so long (student ownership and involvement). I now feel very confident that as I leave my post here in Germany, I can see (by faith of course) how God is going to continue to feed this movement and do cool things here in Berlin. It's an incredible feeling, to be a part of something like this and to get to see fruit in a very tangible way. I'm very thankful.

This is why I love my job...

To be honest, it's been a bit hard to begin the semester and get back out there on campus. Initiating spiritual conversations can be exhausting and encountering the same overwhelming sense of spiritual apathy from person to person can be disheartening. This is why I'm convinced that God has given me two moments in the past couple of days that show me without a doubt that He is really working and He is pursuing students here.

On Tuesday, Amanda and I talked to a girl on the TU courtyard who, when asked about what she thinks happens after death, told us that she's honestly never thought about it before. Growing up in East Germany, she doesn't have any sort of spiritual background, just atheistic assumptions about the world. But she was so open and friendly and even though she's never thought about God before, after talking to us, she said now she probably will. I was able to share a bit of my testimony and the gospel with her and she honestly spoke of her fears of having something else control her life. But she really wants to meet up again to continue to discuss these things. I praise God for her openness and desire to seek the truth.

Then, just today, Jennie and I had a conversation with a student in a HU mensa who had a very similar background - no religion, no reason to believe there's anything other than what we can see. But she told us that through going to church with a friend and thinking about it, she decided she believes in God and wants to learn how she can know Him. She so honestly and sincerely told us how she thinks the way to get to Him is out there, but she has so many questions about all the different world religions and wonders how she can know which one is correct. We had a great conversation as Jennie shared about who Jesus is and what makes Christianity different than any other "way" out there. She's anxious to attend some of our events this year, especially Fire-Abend and the HU Bible study once she returns from a month trip in Turkey in India. I'm amazed at how God has put that desire in her to know Him personally and to seek the truth on how to do that. And then put Jennie and I in her path on this journey so we could relate to her and honestly converse with her over her doubts and questions. And of course to encourage her in her search, as we know that being a student can cause you to put so many things first before spiritual questions. I'm excited to see her again and am praying that she'll really think about these things during her trip. (Also, I was able to give her a German "More Than a Carpenter" book that discusses the person of Jesus.)

Awesome. :)

Alle Schöpfung beugt sich vor Dir, dem König

Spring in Berlin is so great. The sun's out, the temperature is warm and even the people are friendlier. I bought myself a new orchid (I had been denying for the months that the one I bought in the fall was going to come back to life). It's picture to the right. I'm so determined to keep this one alive. :)

Last Thurs., I went to a German Maundy Thursday service, which was really cool, because I got to see a lot of German tradition mixed with remembering the Last Supper and Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. There's this one ritual where you take nails on a table and place them on the ground. It seems so simple, but it has quite a complex and deep meaning for the German Christians. I had a German try to explain it to me and he started to, but then realized it was too complicated to tell me in English. So I don't quite understand it, but I think it's cool anyway. I had a birthday/Easter combo this year and it was a nice, relaxing day.

The new semester finally starts this Mon. After a month of being more out of country than in country (seriously, I counted the days: 17 in Germany, 14 somewhere else in Europe), I'm very glad to be starting up some sort of routine again. I'm especially excited to see my students that I meet up with regularly. I've been praying hard for them over this semester break and I'm looking forward to see how God has been working in their lives. Please join me in praying that God would do big things this (my final!) semester in Berlin.

busy busy

Sorry that it's been so long my last post! It's been incredibly busy around here, which on the surface sounds crazy, because it's currently the semester break. But, as I will explain, we've had plenty to do.

At the end of Feb. was the UniMat, which is the conference for all Campus staff involved in university ministry in Germany. I really love being with this very international group of people, all desiring to see students coming to know the Lord and grow in their faith. It's fun and encouraging, especially interacting the German interns. They're just like me, only German!

After this was the student conference, Campus Meets Berlin. This may have been one of the most significant times of this STINT year for me. It's so encouraging to see students sharing their faith, many of them for the first time. These students give up a week of their semester break to come all the way to Berlin to learn about evangelism and to try it out for themselves on the Berlin campuses. So cool. It was also my first time going sharing with a German (in fact, a student studying in Berlin!) - an incredible experience. I realized how blessed am I to be a part of this! It was also a very challenging week, trying to keep with the language. I understand much more than I ever thought I would and can even respond in simple sentences, but it takes much of my concentration and is often very exhausting. I so wish I could speak German better, but it seems to be such a slow process for me - definitely something for which I often need to rely on God. It was very sad for me to say goodbye to this group of students and staff I had become so attached to in just these few days.

Shannon and I then had the opportunity to head south to Milan, Italy for a spring break week of people from UConn, desiring to meet Italian students and gather information about preparing a way for there to eventually be a STINT team in this city. I love learning more and exploring more of Milan. It's a really cool and unique city with a charm of its own. Of course it's a major cultural shock as German and Italian cultures are so very different. But Italian students are so wonderfully friendly and it was a joy to meet them and learn more about the spiritual climate of the university campus in Milan. And sadly, like most other European cities, it's very dead. It was fun week, though and I really enjoyed getting to know the group from UConn and return to this great city for a third time. The picture above is of the group on the roof of the Duomo.

The new semester starts in April and I'm super excited to see what God has in store for us and for the movement. One thing we're hoping for right away is to do a short leadership retreat for the students who could be key in growing this movement. Casting vision and learning their ideas to reach their peers will be a major part of this retreat. It will be really exciting to take this critical next step in the ministry here.

Many blessings during this Easter season!

more crazy stories about living in an apartment in Berlin

Back in September, Katie and I were offered a free mini-fridge (you know, with the tiny brick-sized freezer in the top corner). In order to save money and avoid the hassle of finding our own refrigerator, we took it. We soon discovered that there was something majorly wrong with the temperature inside the tiny freezer as frost built up over the entire thing. Well, Katie and I were already learning how to get on without using a freezer so it didn't seem like a big deal. That is, until the frost starting building beyond the freezer walls and making it so the door wouldn't close. Problem. Since then, Katie has been going at it once and while with a knife to break it up. This results in an icy, snowcone-like mess across the fridge and floor. We had kept talking about just defrosting it and starting from scratch and finally today, we decided to just do it. In order to keep all the food we had in it still cold, we put it all in a small cloth bag and right now, it is literally sitting outside on our tiny windowsill in cold winter air with the window closed on the handles to keep the food from falling three floors to its death on the courtyard ground.

In similar news, my bedroom heater is still shutting off on me randomly. I especially feel bad when it happens in the middle of the night and I have no choice but to wake Katie up with the sound of the hammer smacking against the metal pipes. But it does make for a continuous hilarious story for the both of us...

"You haven't converted me yet..."

... Tim said cheerfully as Stu and I chatted with him over lunch in the mensa (campus cafeteria). After striking up a conversation with him, we proceeded to talk about life, religion, Christianity and truth. Tim told us he grew up atheist, but is curious about Christianity and often thinks about the bigger questions of life's purpose and the existence of God. After sharing with him the gospel and what we're doing here in Berlin, he told us about his experience with friends who are Christians and his times at church and that he's listened to what they have to say, but in his own words: "you haven't converted me yet...". These kinds of conversations are actually very encouraging to me, because they show that God is really working and placing a hunger for truth and understanding in the hearts of students. :)

Mid-year

The last week in January, we had our STINT mid-year conference in Nerja, Spain. It's such a great time to relax, be encouraged and refocus our hearts on minds on the real purpose of why we do what we do. Last year on our day "off", I went to Gibraltar, so this year I went to the Alhambra in Grenada. The picture above is of Jennie and me by one of the many intricate parts to this amazing palace. Unfortunately our tour guide, though very knowledgeable, wasn't very good. He was very quiet, seemed flustered and confused and his cell phone kept going off. And he kept apologizing for it being winter right now and telling us that we should come back in the summer. Anyway, the actual grounds of this city/palace were awesome (even in the winter!). The thing that was most striking to me was the smell, which seems strange, but it was so fresh, sweet and piney. I don't know how to best describe it, but it was very distinct. No wonder the richest and most powerful lived there! It was also interesting how, as the palace went from being controlled by Muslims to Christians, the architecture was changed or added on to in a very different way. I also learned that the word "grenadine" actually comes from Grenada's pomegranates of the gardens of the Alhambra. Who knew?

It's exam time right now for Berlin students. As you walk on campus, you can just feel the stress in the air. The semester ends next week and we'll soon be evaluating and planning for the next semester. Please pray that we'll be able to evaluate and plan well and really seek after what God wants for this city.

Praises

Michele's arrived! We are so thankful that our teammate from Brazil is finally here in Berlin with us. Please continue to pray, though, as we still need to figure out how to get her a visa while she is here in country (probably a student visa). And pray for her adjustment to Germany and to us (as a crazy group of Americans, haha).

Also, praise God for a good week of going sharing on campus. I feel like I had several really good conversations this week, being able to share the full gospel several times with students who really wanted to listen. I am so thankful for the ways I see God working here!

Christmas and Silvester Freizeit

Christmas is so lovely in Germany. I can't imagine a better place to be for it. After a candlelight service at my church on Christmas Eve, we gathered at the Kent's place in south Berlin for some Christmas dinner and gift exchange. On Christmas day, we as STINTers spent the day at my apartment with dinner and games. We also took a quick trip to the hospital to visit a German friend of ours who broke his arm falling on ice a couple days before. He needed surgery and they kept him in the hospital over Christmas (so sad) so we totally needed to bring him so leftover Christmas dinner and cookies. :)

We just returned from our student conference out in the Erzgebirge of Saxony towards the Czech Republic border in a tiny town called Pockau. This was one of my favorite things we did last year and this year could very well be the same. It's such a great experience to see German students break away from their lives as students and really focus on their relationship with God. The theme this year was "Original" and they had talks and seminars on our identity in Christ. The students are so great and so fun. It was especially great to do worship songs right into the midnight on New Year's Eve. Max, one of the German Campus staff in Leipzig, challenged the students to really follow after God, take a step of faith and do whatever it is He is calling them to do. So special. We then had a hike with torches through the forest right up into a little dilapidated castle! These are the moments when I'm like "this is my life?!". So cool.

The picture on top is of me making salad during the Silvester conference and on the bottom is the STINT team in Dresden.