Just wanted to send a quick hello to the Band of Brothers. As I write, it is 5:45 on Friday evening, and Beth and I are enjoying our first extended stretch of free time since we arrived in Germany last Friday.
For those of you who don’t know, we’ve been in Leipzig, Germany conducting interviews with non-Christian East Germans. The experience has been profound in many ways. We have built relationships with our German counterparts as they have been helping us conduct the interviews. Our combined team has spent almost 150 man-hours interviewing thirty-five young men and women from East Germany. We’ve been exposed to a variety of perspectives, gained deep insights, and received a privileged look into German culture which few Americans ever get to see. In addition, the simple practise of listening has given several of our team members truly unique opportunities to dialogue with persons holding vastly different outlooks and world views.
In the coming weeks, I look forward to sharing my thoughts, reflections, and insights. I would imagine that Ryan will also have much to say as well. Until then auf wiedersehen! 
[...] For better words than mine, one of the team members provided an update to his small group at the following link Band of Brothers. [...]
Guten Morgen, Michael!
I wanted to hear what “Michael” had to say about the German interviews. When I finished, I took a better look at the picture at the top of the screen. I burst out in a smile when I realized, “OH! THAT Michael!”
I’m so glad you’ve had the opportunity to go to Leipzig! David Kendall is the only person I knew who would be on the team. I’ve been trying to keep track of God’s movement in the “Vaterland” - most recently through Mike’s blog site. And that is how I got here. Point and click.
I look forward to reading the interview responses and your reflections on them! In college, I had to write a profile on the German people for an international culture-type class. The people I intereviewed were former West Germans, so it will be interesting to contrast and compare values, etc. with what your team finds.
My parents are coming home from THEIR Germany trip on Tuesday. I’ll hear their “take” on how things have changed since their last visit, although their read on the spiritual temperature is limited to my aunt’s church in Hamburg - which sounds a lot like Fellowship, actually. (It is always encouraging to be reminded that the land of Luther and Boenhoffer is not totally devoid of dynamic spiritual life.)
On this trip, my parents ventured back to Poland - to the separate villages where they were born and spent their childhoods. I think this is the first time they’ve been back since their families were driven from their land during WW II. I will be curious to see how their impression of Poland line up with Leipzig interviews. Although both the Poles and East Germans lived under communism, I wonder if the strong Catholic influence in Poland (and their history of foreign occupation) buffered the spiritual effects of communism in that Eastern country. Hmmm!
Take care!
Heidi