Long Walk with Benjamin

This past weekend I visited Dresden, and boy was it a wonderful experience!

The biggest reason I wanted to go to Dresden was because I wanted to visit the Drechsler family. I was due to go to Germany on Project Timothy in high school, however, the country was closed at the time to visitors. And because I didn’t go on Project Timothy to Germany, I jumped at the opportunity given me through MLC to finally go to Germany. This was also one of my personal goals: to meet Pastor Drechsler and his family, since my German teacher in high school was a very good friend of his.

However, the family was hosting another pastoral student, like me. He approached me right before the church service, and we struck up a conversation. His name was Benjamin, and he was in his third year of study, and Pastor is his mentor. After the service, Mrs. Drechsler needed time to prepare a meal, and so Benjamin and I went on a very long walk. Side note: This is a very common German pastime, and I will say that many German cities are perfect for long walks. Usually, these walks have no end goal in mind, just a way to clear the mind and get some fresh air.

As we walked and talked, we discussed things that not everyone our age is able to relate to, such as the serious nature of our future work, yet also the beauty of it. I asked the big question: Why made you decide to become a pastor? He began with his experience of the issue many have had: what to do with their life. He grew up going to church, and after he met another pastor at a Bible Camp who told him to try the public ministry, he decided to give the ministry a try. I think that with Pastor Drechsler as a mentor, Benjamin will make a fine worker one day, and I hope to meet him again someday because he was a very insightful man and really smart, too. Of course, we connected over the difficulty of the languages but also, maybe not consciously, reminded each other of the nature of our work. This is done at SPaM meetings at MLC, and since I am missing the meetings this semester, it was awesome to have a small one of my own.

I am super happy to have meet the Drechslers finally, they are truly a wonderful family.

Here are some picture fromLondon and Dresden