Freedom In Christ

Hey friends and family,

Hope you all had a great January. This month has been full for our team as we have started teaching English lessons to many students of a variety of ages. We are also starting a book club with older teens and adults, and we will be reading Narnia. Along with English lessons Annika and I have been visiting seniors in the church and in the community, making meals for some families that are going through rough times, and joining in on youth and young adults. 

I thought I would give you an overview of my time here in the church that I am placed in. The church is a Mennonite church that was a church plant 15 years ago. Almost all of the members of the church came from Russia in the last 20-30 years. So the older generation speaks both Russian and German. Before coming to this church our team was warned that this church would probably be more conservative (skirts always worn by females, men on one side women on the other, more strict and more rules) than we are use to. But we were also told that this church was the least conservative Mennonite church in the area (that is why they started the church plant, as they felt that was a calling from God).

So it was interesting the first day before going to church I asked the host family if I would have to wear a skirt to church.  When the husband said right away "yes," I felt obligated to put on one of the two skirts I brought. My first experience of the church was that it was more conservative than I was ever use to, but it was also not as bad as I thought it would be. Though the women and men converse together you can defiantly tell that there are some separation between the two genders; there was definatly more sexism than I was use to. I knew that this was the church that God was calling our team to work in, but I didn't know why.

The third week of being at church I felt very oppressed and was having a hard time trying to adjust to the culture.  Then Saturday night I had a dream. "I was sitting in my room and suddenly my father came in and took all of my CDs and started breaking them, saying to each one that these are ungodly. He then walk over to all of my DVDs and also started breaking them saying that these would lead to hell. I woke up that morning not knowing what I thought but knowing right away that I didn't want to go to church.  I couldn't understand at that moment why I didn't want to go to church, because I really did enjoy all the people there. Then all of a sudden I noticed what I was looking at, and i could tell that I was glaring at it. My skirt. 

I knew right then that I didn't want to wear the skirt to church. So I decided to put on the best pants I had with a nice shirt and walked out of my bedroom. I guess I must have been nervous but my host dad just came out of his room looked at me and the clothes I was wearing and said "nice shirt". It was at that moment that I connected the dream to what was going on in my situation. I was so scared to be myself in this church thinking that everyone would condemn me for my thoughts or the way I wanted to dream or the music I wanted to listen to, that I was no longer living in the freedom that God had given me. It was almost as if God was giving me a confirmation that he wanted me to do all the things that I normally did at home (trying to stay in his will of course) and being myself at church in Bielefeld.

Few examples

1) I started wearing pants to church. I have even had a few conversations with some of the younger girls as they are starting to ask if it is alright to go to church wearing pants. Then one Sunday a girl was also wearing pants and one of her friends asked her where her skirt was and she just said "it didn't feel comfortable today." 

2) Here the women do all the cleaning and cooking. At times I get the privilege to sometimes have dinner at a families house, who have 3 girls and 1 boy. Every time after we are done eating the boy gets up to leave the table and I would ask him to come and help us clean up the dishes. The first few times I could tell he thought it was really weird and so did the other girls, but then I was at their house for dinner again and without me even asking before he left the table he took all of his dishes and the girls  put them in the dishwasher. That was so cool!

3) Their is a sport evening every Saturday where the girls play volleyball every other week and the boys play soccer on the opposite days. Two of the girls from the church told me that they wished that they could also play soccer and when I asked them why they didn't they said only the boys play. Well being me I decided to go to the guys and ask if we could also play soccer with them. Seeing their faces I could tell right away that they didn't really want us to play soccer with them,.But I wasn't going to let it go. Finally they agreed to let us play soccer with them once a month. But after the first time that me and another girl played with them, they told us we could play with them when ever we wanted. I guessed we proved that we could actually play.  Sadly the other girl is too shy to continue playing with the boys, but it hasn't stopped me, and though I might be the only girl playing with them right now the church is talking, and I think it is giving them something to think about.

4) One of my team mates, Jolene, was having dinner with a couple in their 50's when the woman asked Jolene if it was a sin to listen to rap music, because she enjoyed listening to it. I would like to say that this was a joke, but it wasn't.  The woman was serious in asking her question. 

Now though all these interactions have been interesting there are some people who are not always happy that I wear pants or that I am playing soccer. But the pastors of the church are supporting me so I guess that means I have the go ahead to continue. 

It is interesting how God works... This would not have been  the first church that I would choose to go to, but I know that God wants me here for a reason. I was talking to a friend of mine from Canada who lives here in Bielefeld. I was telling her that I'm not always sure what God is wanting  me to do here. She said that it was through  the witnessing of Canadian missionaries in her church that the thinking of the church people slowly started to change and they started questioning why they were continuing with some of their traditional ways.

I am praying for this church and that they can fully experience freedom in Christ, and that the body of believers isn't suppose to be a group that keeps rules, but a group that is living in the freedom that God has given them to expand his kingdom in their city! " It is for freedom that Christ has set us free" (Galatians 5:1). 

Praise and Pray Requests:

1) That I continue to stay connected to the Vine (God) for everything that I do.

2) That the church can experience total freedom in Christ.

3) Thank God that my German is getting better and that we are able to talk with young people about their walk with Jesus.