We arose early to attend church where Rick Dill is Pastor in Weimar. We arrived at the church and the choir had time to warm up and have prayer time prior to singing in the first service. They have two services and the choir sang at the beginning of both services. Following the first performance, many from our group joined the congregation while some sat outside in the courtyard of the church.
Today's first service was very special as Rick was to baptize four people. The baptismal appeared to be a small rectangular pool right in the floor of the sanctuary. After each person entered the pool, someone who had mentored him/her spoke about the person prior to Rick baptizing them. The congregation erupted in claps and cheers once they were brought up out of the water. The worship team led everyone in singing a very uplifting praise song between baptisms.
The excitement and energy of the congregation was so incredible! The first to be baptized was a boy who appeared to be 12 or 13 years old. Next were two girls who were both 12 years of age. The last person to be baptized was a man with whom Rick had shared Christ for the first time 12 years earlier. The service was so moving and was the perfect way to end our journey through Germany. Even though we did not understand the words Rick spoke in his sermon or the words of the songs we sang, we still felt like we truly worshiped God on this Sunday morning in Germany.
Following the first service, we were all treated to homemade cakes, pastries, and coffee. Everything we ate was delicious! It was then time for the Choir to sing in the second service. Following that performance we all loaded the buses and headed downtown to eat at a local German restaurant. The name of it was Gasthausbrauerei Felsenkeller. We had all chosen one of three meals prior to leaving for Germany. Our choices were Schnitzel, Beef Roll, or Goulash. It appeared that everyone enjoyed their lunch. We definitely did not starve on this trip! It seemed like we were eating all the time!
Following lunch, we loaded the buses and were taken to the downtown market area. Some tried to spend the last of their Euros, some got ice cream, and others just walked around. The Beards did all three!
Next we loaded the buses and headed back to Rick's church to prepare for the evening concert. Once we arrived at the church we had our devotional time which was led by Paul Stephens. We studied the song, "In Christ Alone" and looked at its powerful words. The words tell us that when we are in Christ we are surrounded by Him. When we are in Christ alone there is nothing else to distract us from our relationship with Him. All week it was the hope and prayer of the Choir and Orchestra that the people of Germany would come to know Christ alone.
After the devotional time, we set up for the concert. Like all the other venues where we performed, the set up had to be unique for the floorplan. The set-up team and everyone pitched in to move a grand piano and other equipment. Mark then warmed up the Choir and Orchestra for the performance. We began to get dressed knowing we would have a large crowd due to the early arrivals we'd seen. The sanctuary filled up quickly -- including the balcony. More chairs were even added to the foyer. The exact number of people wasn't given to us, but we estimated about 300 were there.
The enthusiasm was so incredible and the crowd seemed truly blessed by the performance. Everyone was then treated to a Texas BBQ dinner with ribs and pork chops. Many from the congregation had brought salads, potato salad -- even BBQ sauce made by Nancy Dill from a Texas recipe she had. It was so fun to eat with everyone from the audience and we traded email addresses with one of the girls who had been baptized earlier. Dinner was hurried since we had to drive three hours to Frankfurt, but we still had time to meet a few folks.
Once we were on the bus to Frankfurt it occurred to us that the trip was coming to an end. All the concerts had been performed and it was time to begin the journey home.
As we sit and reflect on the past 10 days, it is so amazing to see where we began in Schneeburg and ended in Weimar. Our lives will be forever changed from this experience and it is our prayer that we will go home with the same boldness in sharing Christ as we had in Germany whether it be through a smile, kind word or deed, or actually sharing how God has blessed us.
On a funny note, the bus ride to Frankfurt on Bus #1 was hilarious! You can imagine how funny Mark was on the microphone and he and Larry wore the neck pillows on their heads! These memories will forever be in our hearts and we are so grateful to have been a part of this mission team.
-The Beard Family (Eddie, Rhonda, & Natalee)
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