From a young age, Stephanie has been faithful to follow where God leads her and she has experienced that being a Christian is 'cool' …
Giving my life to Him when I was young
I grew up in a Christian family and our church was a Baptist church. I went there every Sunday and it was "normality" for me. My grandparents are Christians, too. They are examples for me. I often went with them together for holidays when I was little. I learned so much. My granddad is blind and I'm amazed how he deals with it and how he loves the Lord. When I was seven years old we had a children's evangelisation in our church, which was called "Rainbow Street". It was with hand puppets and I loved it. There was one lady, aunt Hanni, who told us about Jesus and about giving our lives completely to Him. It became so clear to me that this is what I should do so I asked her what I needed to do and she prayed with me and I gave my life to Jesus. So when people say, children are too little to understand - I know they are not. I went home this day and was crying and I told my mom the wrong things I had done. It was very important for me.
Telling others
A few years later when I was 12 years old I took part in a Christian summer camp called the "Kings Kids". We learned several dances and performed them at market places or in churches. We had a lot of preaching and they told us to live radical with Jesus. This camp was an important point in my life because it influenced me in a positive way. It encourages me in my faith and challenged me. When I went home, we started a dancing team in our church. We even had a performance in a prison once and we had the chance to give our testimony.
My classmates wanting to know more
I took part in the church youth group and I loved my church and the people there. My class at school noticed that I was Christian and their behaviour was absolutely cool. They asked so much - always wanting to know what a Christian is allowed to do and not do. They noticed how important my faith was for me even though I'm not perfect - and they admired it. So I started a meeting in school with a friend one time a week to read the bible, pray and talk. You know in Germany this is not that normal and often people think you are part of a sect and they are afraid that you want to evangelise them. Our headmaster even allowed us to hold a service in school, which was pretty good. So I went to school for 12 years (a-level in Germany) and got a good certification.
Caring about kids
After school I was thinking about my next step. I did a voluntary year in the Salvation Army in Chemnitz in Germany. The Salvation Army there works together with the "Jesus Freaks." I was in touch with the "Jesus Freaks" in my hometown because it "fits with my lifestyle". This year was absolutely good and I learned a lot. We started a sidewalk Sunday school called "McTurtle" in a part of the city with a lot of social needs. Once a week we visited kids and their families and a second time we did children's program. It was so good for me. I love kids so much and I got in contact really fast. Our goal was to build relationships with the people. So they started to trust us and the kids came to the program. The parents noticed how we cared about their kids and so some parents started to tell us their problems. This work is still going on and it is great.
Reaching out to those who are handicapped
Once a week we had a meeting with handicapped people. They came to the Salvation Army to have coffee and cake and every week I prepared something nice to do like creative things, birthday parties … really cool! I loved my volunteer year, my work there and the people. It was a formative time for me.
Wanting to work in the ghettos
Since I was 15 years old I had a dream to go to New York and see this big Sunday School working there in the Ghetto. I wanted to work with street kids since I was 12. Metro Ministries International seemed to do good work. My captain from the Salvation Army noticed my desire to get to know this organisation. His sister worked there for two years and so he had the contact. He simply put my application. I had some difficulties obtaining my documents but it all went well and I went to New York. I was really nervous.
Working in the Bronx
One big problem for me was my voice. I should not strain it and I had to talk, sing and sometimes yell. I prayed earnestly about this and my whole time I had no problems with my voice. We had class there and learned about Sunday school. We visited kids and my team worked in the Bronx. Our day off was Monday. It was a tough time but I loved it and felt so blessed and I was a blessing for others. Most of the kids have so many problems and almost nobody cares about them and their lives. Every Saturday we picked up the kids from Brooklyn for Sunday school. There were three services each Saturday and I went with different buses to pick up "my" kids. In the bus I had to count them, sing with them, play games and so on. They asked me to stay on and work there but I knew I eeded to study. I went back to Germany and until the start of university I worked again voluntarily in the Salvation Army. I did a job with the deaconry to earn some money. I cared for an old lady most of the time.
More study
In October 2003 I started to study in Dresden, a beautiful city in the east of Germany. It was a hard time for me because I was not sure if God wanted me to study social work, as I wanted to study medicine. I love the city; the people and I found such a great church here. Sometimes it is still hard to study but I feel God wants me to do this. My problem is that a lot of stuff we learn is so theoretical and hard to realize. But I hope and pray that I will become a good Social Worker. I already did one internship program during studying. In March I will start to work for half a year in another social institution. It is our semester we have to do an internship. It was the first time I really could not decide between two social institutions. So I prayed and remembered what the bible says about Israel, they "draw lots" to get to know god's will. So I did ... and took a decision. Now I trust in the Lord that he will bless this coming time.
Working with teenagers
Right now I have so much to do at school. We will have exams next week and I need to learn a lot! After exams I will have some days off and visit a friend in Spain and a friend in Norway! I'm exited because I have had no "real" holidays for a long time. The last few summers I had summer camps with kids and teenagers. These are really good camps where they hear about Jesus. Last summer I managed one group with 26 teenagers together with five other workers. In my church here in Dresden I work with kids who are eleven to fourteen year olds.
Learning to be frank and open
I really love the Lord and I'm blessed with a firm faith. Right now it is hard for me because in the university where I study they have shaky theology. The opinion many have is that "there is no hell, God wouldn't send people to hell, Jesus was just a man, there are no absolute values" and so on. It is harder than before. I think I needed to learn to be frank and open with people and with God again.
Let God be in control of your life and you will never look back …
Stephanie
