We were on the bus at 9 am After a devotional time, our first stop was in the village of Modlareuth. We toured the museum of the "Little Berlin Wall" dedicated to the local wall erected by the communists. It was the only town, besides Berlin, that was divided after WWII. We saw a brief movie where we learned that when the wall went up it first was barbed wire, then a 2-meter fence was added, and finally (in this village) a wall was made of concrete blocks taken from the autobahn. As it went through the village, it divided neighbor from neighbor and families from one another.
We walked through a reconstructed area and saw actual guard watchtowers. As we walked through the 'verbotten' area where the land mines were placed, we sensed the reality and terror these people had been a part of. We saw an actual Russian tank and helicopter on the property. Our thoughts were somber, as we realized the plight of even the Pastor himself. He shared how his family was separated for so long.
That afternoon we went into Plauen and were free to eat, shop, and see the sights. Some chose the lace shops, others ate a 'real' German meal, and still others read through the brochure and visited the historical places in Plauen. With each new town we have become bolder and bolder. At lunch our waitress was invited to our concert and she said she would come with her mother. At nearly every shop we invited people to come to the concert. When we arrived at the historical Catholic church we found our Heart of Texas poster telling about our concert.
Several of members rested at the Baptist church. While there, Joanne Stevens admired a lace table runner. The church ladies then took Joanne to several lace shops where they found the runner. Dinner was shown at the Baptist church and we were shown slides of that building's restoration. It was a great dinner, including red cabbage and potato dumplings! Because there was not much space in the sanctuary of this friendly church, the Pastor arranged for the concert to be held at the larger Methodist Church. It was a beautiful large church with a tiny choir loft. Flexible as always, God showed us how to be arranged. With the brass playing from a pew and choir members filling the stage, we went through the setups and got ready, prayed, and praised God. It was a good, but older, crowd as many young east Germans have moved to the west. They clapped with the songs, when invited and they really liked the door prizes.
Judy Pruitt's testimony of finding Christ after being raised in a church by looking for God through the scriptures prepared the audience for the German Bibles they'd receive. We were thankful that so many at FBCG had given money for these Bibles. The crowd listened intently to all parts and some were brought to tears. One interesting fact we found out after the concert was that the winner of the cowboy hat had come to the church to learn the German language. Her 'GSL' teacher had led her to Christ!
A very hospitable church, they presented each of us with a candle representative of the city of Plauen. We pray that God will work in the hearts of those who have lived in fear for much of their lives and that God will give the German Christians a desire to reach out to many who need Him with the word of truth.
-Becky Allen
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