a suggestion....
Well, I have some advice for all of you who sometimes find bible studies boring....try it in a different language....uh-huh....then you'll appreciate them a whole lot more!! What makes me say that? Well........
I went to a youth group thing on Saturday night called "Gegenwind" (it means headwind...) and it was pretty cool really. We started off with some songs, oh no hang on, the first thing, is that everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, shakes hands with each other and says some form of greeting (which is not the unusual thing, obviously, it was the shaking hands bit......) anyway.......the songs..... One of the dudes played guitar and we all just sang along, it was quite cool! We even sang some english songs, that I knew!!
I also had to introduce myself, my age, where I was from and what I do. I think I handled that quite ok, seeing as I'm shocking in front of groups, and this was in German! Yeah!! Bit of a confidence booster....despite the fact that everything I said was relatively simple to say....anyone could learn it in a matter of moments, but hey...... :P
After the songs, we split into groups and read the bible text, which was in Revelation, and in German, it is something so totally different! It's not like Lukas, where you could guess half-heartedly that it's Luke and you'd be right. Oh no....it's Offenbarung!! Pft! Anyways. Lucky I had my bible with, otherwise I would have had no clue as to what they might be talking about! Some of the questions and discussions that followed, I could vaguely understand, but on the whole, I was concentrating a whole lot more than I was getting out of it! So, that part of the evening went from about 8:15ish to 9:30.....just a short stint.... ;) then we all came back together and talked a bit more about it all. Then, it was prayer time. We went around the circle and if you wanted to, you said something you were thankful for and/or a prayer point. There were about 30 of us, so this took a while! We then split into 3 groups again, and had prayer time. After prayer time, a few more songs! All over by 11pm! Apparently, it has the tendancy to go longer, that will be...um...interesting :P
All of that was good. Ok, I didn't get much out of the bible study itself, but I was saturated with German conversation, hopefully some of it sank in.....and, it made me want to be in a situation where I could say something if I wanted to. (That's where the reference to bible study appreciation comes from.) Cos right now, I could go some english bible discussion.....anyways.
I chatted to a few people afterwards, which was really cool. One guy, who I chatted to for a while, was called Elias - no idea if that's how you spell it! But, it's a weird name nonetheless! Hehee.....I definitely got to practise my German then! So, that was good. Then, when you leave, again with the handshaking.....uh-huh.....it was simply....dignified! Makes you feel, hmmm......grown-up??
All in all it was a good night. I'm looking forward to getting to know a few more people, cos they're all around my age. It's on every Saturday night, so hey, I can't come to any Saturday night parties, sorry. :)
The other thing lacking on the spiritual side of things, is Communion. I had it for the first time on Sunday!! Wow, I appreciate so much more the fact that we have it twice a month at home!! It was explained to me, by the same learned and trusted friend as I referenced in an earlier post, that in the early days of the church, they only used to have it every so often, so that people would appreciate it and not take it for granted. Well, however much they believed that to be right and good, fair enough, but I think it's quatsch! (rubbish) Hmm. Who knows when I will receive it again....
Ummm, what else.....oh, yesterday, in my language course, we had an "Abschiedsfest" - a farewell party. One of the dudes, Paulo, is going back to Portugal, because his work situation has changed. He was cool, bummer I won't get to talk to him a lil more. But, the food was all very interesting and different! Turkish, Russian, Hungarian, Polish....like I said, interesting :) Mostly all very yummy, and I have to admit that I tried every single thing......I was full as a goog! But it was cool. Here's a piccie:
Yep. That's our group (the kids don't normally come....). Just one person was missing. Anyways, that was good fun. Good practise too!
I've also been feeling a lil under the weather lately. :( End of last week and start of this week I was feeling pretty lousy. Now, I feel better, (the headacheyness and nose-stuffyness have decreased considerably), but I have an annoyingly nasty cough, which requires throat-clearing every two minutes!! Garr!!! But, at least I am feeling better.
I have some other photos to share, but there's too many for here, so if you want to see them, email me :)
Well, it's about beddy-byes for me, so I'll be off....
Ciao ciao!
Love and God's blessings,
Vivien
PS I apologise for any grammatical errors; since being here, my English skills have begun to diminish, therefore, some things may read a lil strange......what can you do......?
I went to a youth group thing on Saturday night called "Gegenwind" (it means headwind...) and it was pretty cool really. We started off with some songs, oh no hang on, the first thing, is that everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, shakes hands with each other and says some form of greeting (which is not the unusual thing, obviously, it was the shaking hands bit......) anyway.......the songs..... One of the dudes played guitar and we all just sang along, it was quite cool! We even sang some english songs, that I knew!!
I also had to introduce myself, my age, where I was from and what I do. I think I handled that quite ok, seeing as I'm shocking in front of groups, and this was in German! Yeah!! Bit of a confidence booster....despite the fact that everything I said was relatively simple to say....anyone could learn it in a matter of moments, but hey...... :P
After the songs, we split into groups and read the bible text, which was in Revelation, and in German, it is something so totally different! It's not like Lukas, where you could guess half-heartedly that it's Luke and you'd be right. Oh no....it's Offenbarung!! Pft! Anyways. Lucky I had my bible with, otherwise I would have had no clue as to what they might be talking about! Some of the questions and discussions that followed, I could vaguely understand, but on the whole, I was concentrating a whole lot more than I was getting out of it! So, that part of the evening went from about 8:15ish to 9:30.....just a short stint.... ;) then we all came back together and talked a bit more about it all. Then, it was prayer time. We went around the circle and if you wanted to, you said something you were thankful for and/or a prayer point. There were about 30 of us, so this took a while! We then split into 3 groups again, and had prayer time. After prayer time, a few more songs! All over by 11pm! Apparently, it has the tendancy to go longer, that will be...um...interesting :P
All of that was good. Ok, I didn't get much out of the bible study itself, but I was saturated with German conversation, hopefully some of it sank in.....and, it made me want to be in a situation where I could say something if I wanted to. (That's where the reference to bible study appreciation comes from.) Cos right now, I could go some english bible discussion.....anyways.
I chatted to a few people afterwards, which was really cool. One guy, who I chatted to for a while, was called Elias - no idea if that's how you spell it! But, it's a weird name nonetheless! Hehee.....I definitely got to practise my German then! So, that was good. Then, when you leave, again with the handshaking.....uh-huh.....it was simply....dignified! Makes you feel, hmmm......grown-up??
All in all it was a good night. I'm looking forward to getting to know a few more people, cos they're all around my age. It's on every Saturday night, so hey, I can't come to any Saturday night parties, sorry. :)
The other thing lacking on the spiritual side of things, is Communion. I had it for the first time on Sunday!! Wow, I appreciate so much more the fact that we have it twice a month at home!! It was explained to me, by the same learned and trusted friend as I referenced in an earlier post, that in the early days of the church, they only used to have it every so often, so that people would appreciate it and not take it for granted. Well, however much they believed that to be right and good, fair enough, but I think it's quatsch! (rubbish) Hmm. Who knows when I will receive it again....
Ummm, what else.....oh, yesterday, in my language course, we had an "Abschiedsfest" - a farewell party. One of the dudes, Paulo, is going back to Portugal, because his work situation has changed. He was cool, bummer I won't get to talk to him a lil more. But, the food was all very interesting and different! Turkish, Russian, Hungarian, Polish....like I said, interesting :) Mostly all very yummy, and I have to admit that I tried every single thing......I was full as a goog! But it was cool. Here's a piccie:
Yep. That's our group (the kids don't normally come....). Just one person was missing. Anyways, that was good fun. Good practise too!I've also been feeling a lil under the weather lately. :( End of last week and start of this week I was feeling pretty lousy. Now, I feel better, (the headacheyness and nose-stuffyness have decreased considerably), but I have an annoyingly nasty cough, which requires throat-clearing every two minutes!! Garr!!! But, at least I am feeling better.
I have some other photos to share, but there's too many for here, so if you want to see them, email me :)
Well, it's about beddy-byes for me, so I'll be off....
Ciao ciao!
Love and God's blessings,
Vivien
PS I apologise for any grammatical errors; since being here, my English skills have begun to diminish, therefore, some things may read a lil strange......what can you do......?
posted by viv at 7:06 am
1 Comments:
I didn't seem to notice any grammatical errors! :) Sounds like your friend knows a lot about the history of the Lutheran Church....
I hope you get to receive Holy Communion again soon.
John
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