Deutschland ueber alles!

This is Brandon making a cameo post. I felt the sudden urge at 11 pm to publish my thoughts and experiences of returning to the mission field that I left 5 years ago (wow, time flies). It's funny how all the good memories from past events stay with you and all the not-so-good ones seem to be locked away in your a memory archive where you can't retrieve them. Returning to the mission field in Frankfurt really opened the flood gates for my whole mission experience -- both the good and the bad.

First, almost everything looks the way I left it. I can still remember how to get to different places in the car without using a map (and enjoy doing so at 100+ mph on the Autobahn). I am mostly still fluent in the language and understand the culture. I love the people and their way of life especially the chocolate, doener kababs, apfelschorle, milk, knoedel and yogurt. :)




I wouldn't change anything about my mission experience, however, returning made me realize how glad I am to be back in the States. First off, it got very tiring to see Eurotrash-types everywhere we went. Seriously, this picture I found of the guy with the molester-stash and mullet is the "in" thing for most teenagers and young adults right now. Let's just hope it doesn't catch on in America. Also, I think I might come home with emphysema - I forgot how much EVERYONE here smokes. Everything stinks like cigarettes - the hotels, trains, streets, etc. And while we're on the topic of stinking, seriously guys, do we need to lower the price of deoderant so it can be a norm over here? I also forgot that Germans wouldn't know what customer service was if it slapped them in the face (except for the nice lady in the restaraunt on the train who gave us free chocolates after our lunch - bless you!). Lastly, I would die without college football - soccer just doesn't do it for me (and no, it doesn't matter to me that soccer is the most popular sport outside in the world, give me college football or give me death!).


Don't get me wrong, I'd like to think that I see more good than bad here and even though they practically had to drag me back home kicking and screaming after my two years were up, I'm glad I returned to my roots. I think as a missionary you are on such a spiritual high that you begin to view and love people the way God views and loves them (which is why maybe I didn't notice as much Euro-trash back then). Now I am just a normal American tourist - a spectator on the sidelines, if you will. I feel the urge to knock doors and do street contacting, but I know that there is a season for everthing, and that season has passed.

So far, this has been a great trip - a much needed trip to help me know that the people I came to know and love are still the wonderful, amazing and most interesting people that they were five years ago. In otherwords, I think I've been able to have"mission closure" - while creating lasting memories with my cute wife in the old stomping grounds.