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Mission Report: Germany (2013 – 2015)

“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”- Genesis 1:3

My life of mission began in the summer of 2012 when I decided to take time off after graduating from Northwestern to serve campus mission instead of moving to Mississippi as a teacher. I believe God blessed this decision. By the end of the summer, Sam proposed and I answered him according to Ruth’s answer to her mother-in-law Naomi in Ruth 1:16b-17: “…Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” Like Ruth, I would leave my hometown, Chicago, and move to Germany, where Sam was from and where I would grow in my faith in God. The rest of the year leading up to the summer of 2013 was spent preparing for the final move to Germany. In preparation for marriage, my Bible teacher Annie and I had marriage Bible studies. Sam and I married in January 2013 in his church in Cologne, Germany, and we moved to Boston afterwards so that Sam could finish up his post-doc. We spent the first months of married life hosting many people in our home. 

Our family moved to Germany in the autumn of 2013. We moved in with my in-laws until our apartment was ready. The biggest adjustment to life in Germany was learning to adopt the Cologne UBF family as my own. In these difficult times, I prayed for God’s help and protection. God always straightened everything out without me having to defend myself. Our church in Cologne was studying Acts. I was particularly moved by the power of Jesus’ name as expressed in Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Since I was taking German classes again at the University, I met a lot of international students. We formed a Bible study group and called it “G-8” since there were eight countries represented in our group. Although most of these students went back to their respective countries, Sam and I were able to form a lasting friendship with one couple. 

After taking German classes at the University, God opened the door for me to do a practicum at UNESCO in Bonn. Through this four-month experience, I was able to figure out what I would like to do my Ph.D in and found an advisor at the University of Cologne. During my first week of classes, I met a Masters student. We became friends and eventually started studying Genesis together. In the summer of 2014 we had the European Summer Bible Conference. While preparing for the conference, I noticed that Cologne has many talented and formally music-educated musicians. So I prayed about putting together an Accapella group and discovered so much joy in working together with the Cologne musicians. At the end of the year 2014, after the conference, I became pregnant and delivered our son. 

I chose Genesis 1:3 as my New Year key verse for the year 2015. Through my life as a foreigner in Germany I learned how I would never be completely free from cultural, linguistic, and educational handicaps. Still, I also believed I possessed something that every German person needs. I possessed faith in God’s Word to bring forth light into our lives. I believed that the Word of God is the only thing and the best thing German people need. This conviction has helped me to finish Genesis Bible study with three people. God also gave Sam and me new Bible students. We invite our friends at work and at University to our home for food and fellowship. 

Germany is an exemplary country whose chancellor Angela Merkel is presently viewed by outside countries as an “Angel” because of her open doors policy towards refugees. But the real light of men is not found through humanitarian deeds or a strong economy. Our life comes from every Word that comes from the mouth of God. When I look back at the past three years, I can witness to the power that God’s word has to bring light into a human life – beginning with my life and stretching to our children’s lives and into the lives of campus students. I am thankful for God’s infinite love, patience and counsel towards a broken person like me. I am thankful for the prayers of all the brothers and sisters around in the world. And I am thankful for the privilege of God’s calling to Germany. 

One Word: Let there be light.