Travel and Prejudice

Dear friends and family,
        I suppose it is quite characteristic of me to wait two, nearly three, weeks before posting my first update and for that I apologize. Please bear with me as I attempt to condense my time here into one short summary.

        Some nights ago, my roommate, Chrissy Pursell, and I were hanging out with a small group of people, one of whom was a local, German boy. As we were talking and getting to know one another he asked Chrissy a question. “When you think of Germany,” he said, “what is the first thing that comes to your mind?” Unfortunately, when I heard the question, I came up with the boy’s assumed answer, “Hitler”.

        In Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad, he said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice”. Since the moment I first stepped foot onto German soil, my presupposed idea of a severe, cold, and intolerant culture has been greatly challenged by the people’s gentle, warm, and unprejudiced spirits.

        The town of Neuenburg is just as beautiful as the people who inhabit it. It is a very quaint town boarding both France and Switzerland. It’s unique positioning allows for a rather mixed culture of Germans, Swiss, and French. Our apartment, Neuenburg International Church, and the Atomics’ baseball/softball club are all located within the town of Neuenburg. The Lord has blessed Chrissy and me with the most convenient of apartment locations. We are a three-minute walk to Neuenburg International Church, a ten-minute walk to town, and a fifteen-minute walk to the baseball fields.  The basement apartment in which we are staying belongs to the grandparents of one of our softball girls. Although they speak as much English as we do German, they have made us feel very much at home and welcomed.

        I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for my time spent here in Germany! 

- MG

P.S. Be looking out for my next post. I'll be sharing a little more about what I've been up to these last two, nearly three weeks.