To Tent or Not To Tent?

Sorry to everyone who has been waiting for me to post. We have been so busy here in Munich for the past few days, and only now am I able to share the details with you! Our trip from Cesky Krumlov to Munich was fast and easy. I actually met a couple on one leg of our trip who was from Arizona, and the husband just happened to have coached my high school counselor while she was playing volleyball in college! That was definitely another reminder that this is a very very small world.

We arrived in the Munich train station where Jeff's friend Felix picked us up. Felix had lived with Jeff and his family while he was in the States doing community work. Apparently, guys in Germany need to do community service or military service, and Felix went to Grand Rapids to do his. Felix drove us to our hostel, Tent Munich, which was near the Zoological Gardens. It really just was a big tent with lots and lots of bunk beds and lockers inside. There were some cool sitting areas outside and a fire pit nearby. We dropped our stuff off and headed to Felix's house to meet his family, his mom Christel, brother Chip (his real name is Niclas) and his mom's boyfriend Klaus. It was so nice to meet people living here, and to be in an actual home. His family was really nice, and we spoke English and desperately tried to understand the German they spoke to each other. Surprisingly, I caught on to their German relatively quickly, understanding some of what they were saying. We ended up running to the market to grab some things for dinner and Jenn and I made pasta for everyone when we got back. It's always a lot of fun cooking with her, a good time for conversation and doing something together. Afterwards, we returned to Tent Munich where a lot of people were congregated around the bonfire, drinking and talking. We were all so completely exhausted from our active day of travel and hit the sack, underneath the 4 wool blankets they gave us, bundled up in our warmest clothes, and making sure to put our earplugs in. Apparently, people were so loud and drunk that night that some people actually got kicked out for being a disturbance.

We determined to meet people and see if we could hang out with anyone the next day, but everyone had their own agenda, leaving early or sleeping off their hangovers. Surprisingly, for as many people as there were staying at the Tent, there were few people who stuck around and were willing to socialize. Jeff went off with Felix to hang for the day, and after a couple of hours sitting around, talking to a few people in the cold and rainy weather, Jenn, Justin and I decided to leave and see downtown Munich. We were all a bit frustrated with the people situation, but I guess God had a different plan in mind. We enjoyed a nice day walking around Munich, going into some shops and sitting in Coffee Fellows, a sleek cafe near the train station. It was so enjoyable to people watch there, because I had chosen a nice leather chair looking out the windows. I wish I could have spent more time there, but the others were ready to go back after snoozing in their chairs for a while.

Once we got back to Tent Munich, the weather was nicer, with the clouds moving away and the sun peeking through. We talked with Dan, a guy from Indiana who was going to West Point in the fall, and Steven, another guy from Florida who was basically just hanging around Europe for a few months for the heck of it. There were no serious faith/God conversations, but we were able to tell them about Wheaton and about our own lives. It was disappointing being at Tent Munich, because it was basically a party hostel and we couldn't get to know anyone, and we felt God leading us to Felix and his family.

So we ended up canceling the 3 extra days at Tent Munich and headed over to Felix's house where we were welcomed to stay for the remaining time.They were so hospitable, giving us big comfy blankets to sleep with (we basically took over Felix's bedroom in the basement), letting us do laundry (SO EXCITING!!) and letting us use their phone to call home. Jenn and I made sure to pick up a bottle of Merlot to give to Christel for allowing us to stay, which she ended up really liking.

Yesterday, Felix took us to Dachau, the first concentration camp, which we were all really interested in seeing. I found myself so surprised at how detached I was from it all. It was as if I were merely walking through, observing, but unable to feel anything. It was a large, expansive gray area. Gravel was everywhere, and even the buildings lacked color. The ironic thing about it was that the sun was shining beautifully through some puffy clouds, and the wind was rustling through the forests surrounding the camp. And then there was one row of beautiful trees lining the camp road that was between all the barracks.It was these same trees that had so many memories. If trees could talk, these ones would speak of the atrocities committed there, under the motto of Arbeit Macht Frei, "Work will set you free". They helped judge the span of time, in all the pictures they were small and young, yet now they towered above the buildings and gave large amounts of shade from the sun. It seemed so strange to me that a row of trees so beautiful would be planted in such an ugly place, either giving hope to the hopeless or merely mocking the fact that they had no freedom.

And then we got to the end, and entered the gas chamber and the crematorium. That was seriously a chilling experience. Not only were these buildings the coldest because they were the only ones made of brick, there was a tangible air of revulsion and horror. It hit me, shocking that human beings actually put other humans through this terror, locking them up in a room to be gassed to death and then just carting their bodies to the next room to be cremated in the ovens that were made exactly right to hold a body. How a human could do this to another is just beyond me, violating all ideas of decency, respect and dignity. As I mulled it over, though, I began to realize that we are really no different. We could have been the killer just as easily as we could have been the victim. Felix kept saying how he hating having this in his German past, being associated with it, but honestly, it could have been anyone. It was me standing there, carrying out the orders to place the poison in the room. It was also me standing there in that room, terrified, yet going to meet my death. It was me in the guard shacks, the barracks, the kitchens and workyards. I am a sinner, separated myself from a loving God, determined by my own mind that I am superior and deserve better than others. How incredible is then, that God has fallen so in love with us that he desires for us to live with him for eternity. Even with the deprivation, all the questions asking how did we get to such a place? How did humanity become this way? We have been given a way to freedom, completely undeserving. So utterly undeserving. I guess we reject God when we think we have it all under control, when we are so sure that we are doing it the right way. But really, we can't truly experience grace until we see how low we are. So how different are we from those who carried out everything in the concentration camps? Have we not also hated and murdered in our hearts and minds? Have we not also become comfortable in the idea that we are superior to others? We must keep in mind though, that God doesn`t ask for us to become perfect before accepting his grace and salvation. He`s the one who fixes us, we can`t fix ourselves before approaching him.

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; Not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
1 Corinthians 1:26-31