What's mine is yours

One thing that's so nice about this little community of Nazarenes here in Busingen is how we share all we have (Acts 4:32-25).

Most everyone arrived with what they could carry in a few suitcases, or ship in a small container. Those who plan to remain indefinitely gradually pick up things here or there, like a vacuum cleaner, a bread machine, baking dishes, American or British cooking ingredients, DVDs, books, and the like. The rest of us do our best -- often in vain -- to avoid accumulating much more than we brought, knowing we have to fit it all into several suitcases for the eventual return home.

Therefore, in many cases, people like Andrew and me are dependent on what we can borrow or inherit as hand-me-downs from others.

We found out during our first week how eager everyone is to share with each other. After all, they remember what it was like to have empty kitchen cabinets, no TV and nothing to watch even if they had one, no car and few kitchen appliances.

That first week, I'd ask different people where we could find this or that cooking ingredient. People would say, "Oh, don't buy that. I have half a bottle and I haven't used it in a year. You can have it." Or, "I have some of that. I'll bring a little for you in a plastic container."

One missionary moved into a different apartment and the prior tenants left him their vacuum cleaner. So he showed up at our door with his old Dirt Devil to see if we could use it. Previously, we'd shared one vacuum cleaner with all the residents in our building. Yes, we have LOVED having a vacuum cleaner of our own! When we leave, someone else will inherit it from us.

Germans and Swiss don't use slow cookers, but one missionary has a crock pot and happily lent it to me so I could try out a new recipe for chili using pork tenderloin. Today, I borrowed a casserole dish from the girls' dorm to bake a berry pie.

One Sunday, I mentioned to an avid cyclist at church how much I would like to get beyond my usual routes and trails nearby to explore other paths farther away, but our car is too small to fit my bike into it in order to drive to a new area to explore.

"I have a bike rack. You can just have it. It's just sitting in our garage gathering dust."

I was so surprised. A few Sundays later, he left it by our apartment door. I'm so looking forward to driving out of this valley and into a new area to explore by bike.

My friend Isabell was wearing cycling shorts that had numerous pockets on them.

"Where did you get those?" I asked, pointing at her shorts. "I have to wear a fanny pack when I go biking to carry my keys, money and passport," I said.

"I have another pair. Do you want to borrow them for the summer?" she asked. So, no more biking with a fanny pack. :-)

Today, I asked a woman at church if she knew whether there was any place we could rent English DVDs. She said there was no place she knew of. We mentioned how frustrated we were that we could not even subscribe to Netflix over here, because it is blocked to subscribers outside the U.S.

"We have tons of DVDs," she said. "Why don't you come over and borrow some? We're going back to the U.S. for two weeks (and I'm getting more while we're there). You can watch them while we're gone."

I was so surprised, because we'd only just met! We arranged for Andrew and me to swing by tomorrow and go through their selection.

Living and working with a community of people from Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Great Britain, Canada, America, the Netherlands and more, we have found our friends' willingness to share a big help as we've settled into life in Europe.