Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

Well, I don’t know if anyone will still check the blog, since we have returned, but I thought I put some closure to our trip since we were not able to get a post up the last several days we were in Germany.

On Friday of last week, we went out to hand out the tracks for the last time and finished all 20,000. It was a blessing to be able to help this church by handing these out. We celebrated afterward with some ice cream. That night, we met at Treffpunkt 180 for the weekly outreach meeting. Chuck, Grant, Natalie, and I all shared our testimonies of how our hearts were turned to Christ and we also sang many songs in German, which is always a humbling experience. Chuck was able to have a conversation with a man named Christof. He has been attending the meeting for two years and yet is not a believer. Chuck’s testimony sparked many questions from this man, which brought him to the Greens house for a BBQ on Sunday.

Saturday was the last day of yard work at the Greens and finished up just about everything. Over the course of the two weeks, the yard took a drastic change for the better, which was mainly due to Chuck and Teresa, who stayed there all week to cut out flowerbeds, move dirt, and plant berry bushes. Chris, Ian, and I finished off the yard work by shoveling the rest of the dirt pile out of the driveway while it rained ferociously.

On Sunday, we tried to fit too many things in one day. We went to church in the morning and performed “In Christ Alone” for the church. I have no clue if they were able to understand it because (a) it was in English (b) we did it twice as fast as we practiced it. But they appreciated it. After a sermon from Matthew 9, we walked 15 minutes away to a lake that was nestled behind some neighborhoods for a baptism service. The service was very unique and screamed the value and worth of Jesus Christ. Three people – two men and Bijou Green – gave testimonies of the how the Lord saved them and why they wanted to publicly declare that. Then, one by one, they stepped into the cold, grey water with Cary and were baptized. But the church family was not the only audience. Only 20 feet away from us, two guys were camping and one of them was thoroughly drunk. The other filmed the service on his camera. The contrast created by the believers giving public testimony of their commitment to Christ to those who are so lost that they don’t even know it. It was an unforgettable experience.

After the baptism, we went back to the Green abode and had a all-church BBQ. Chuck and I manned the grill, cooking the widest assortment of meat in packaging that we couldn’t read. The team mingled with the church body until Maggie Emrich surprised us with her and her fiancé’s presence. That evening we tried to visit a concentration camp, but couldn’t get there in time, so we went into downtown Berlin and walked around the city while the buildings are lit up against the dark sky.

Our last full day in Berlin, we went to the Jewish museum and learned about the history of the Jews from medieval times until the present. Then we went on a quick shopping tour before heading back to the Greens for the last supper. We had a team debrief and then packed and went to bed.

On Tuesday, we traveled home and were happy to be back in Washington.

Creepy Things are Happening in Germany

[written by Natalie]

The team had to get up earlier than normal, but it was a small sacrifice to visit Luther’s old stomping grounds. The girls and I watched the Luther movie last night in preparation! Dieter dropped the ladies off at the Zug (train) station where we waited for everyone else. Cary, Daniel, Maria, Martin, Josh, and Sam came as well. We had plenty of time to explore the many-leveled station. There were souvenirs, pastries, and even… Starbucks! Eventually, our group made it to the correct platform and waited for the train to arrive.

When we got on, I tried to sit in the first class seating, but Sam was quick to kick me out. But, coach seating was very nice too, so I conceded. A little jingle played each time we were about to approach a stop (which of course was the perfect time to give cheesy smiles and groove). I joked that the first class had better music.

Finally, we arrived in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Our tourist mob trekked along the cobblestone streets and saw the old buildings looming ahead. I half-expected to see a monk rushing to the church, but alas, it was not to be. Lutherhaus was a large museum devoted to its famous occupants, the Luthers. Mr. and Mrs. Weinberg sat in the infamous seats built into the doorway. Apparently, Luther’s ex-nun wife had them put in as a birthday gift.

Inside, we learned about his works, family, beliefs, surroundings, church, and impact. He certainly had a way with words. Our group was once again reminded that although most of his theology was “wunderbar”, we must always hold everything we hear up to the Word. Even Martin Luther made some mistakes.

Luther’s dedication to the truth of our Lord was certainly inspirational. I read it only took him 11 years to translate the German New Testament from the original language. Plus, he wasn’t trying to stop the church, he was trying to reform it. Luther was quite the “fiery” believer! I encourage you all to refresh your memory and explore his story or read some of Luther’s works.

The teams’ favorite sights included: old coins and seals; original books and handwriting; being scared in the cellar; and reading histories and quotes. There was even an impressive well pump system made of wooden pipes that still works today. Of course, that was added 10 years after Luther’s death… it’s still cool.

We even stopped at the official gift shop where certain people purchased Lutherbeer, Luther socks, Luther necklaces, and even Luther postcards.

Next, our spectacular tour guide, Cary, took us to: famous statues of Melancthon and Luther; Luther’s university; the town church where Luther preached; the town execution site; a Holocaust memorial monument; and the Prussian-built royalty-only church where Luther posted the 95 thesis, preached on occasion, and is now buried.

Eventually, we were very hungry and stopped at Noemi: Pizza & Nudel Express. Most got lasagna, pizza, or pasta. It was fairly cheap and very tasty. The drinks were very tiny, though! On the way back to the train, we stopped for ice cream. There are so many Italian gelato places, it’s like the Starbucks of Germany.

 

I’m not so sure what the evening holds, but I’m sure everyone will find something fun. It’s the American way!

Oh and as for the post title, it has really nothing to do with the blog. It’s merely a bizarre suggestion from our favorite Bibelgemeinde Berlin Intern, Sam.

Making the Greenhouse Greener

[written by Ian]

Today was filled with dirt-moving, sweat-provoking, storm-swelling fun here at the Green abode. While the rest of the team went to continue on their tract-spreading journey, Chuck, Teresa, and I (Ian) stayed behind to work in the yard. We enjoyed the process of beautifying the family’s yard by digging out the dry, unproductive dirt and filling it in with new topsoil. We were a dirt-moving machine.  By lunch we had the juniper stumps out as well as the old dirt.

After a wonderful lunch prepared by many of the diligent Green crew (as are all of the meals), I went down to our room to take a short nap before the new soil arrived. I was abruptly awoken by an excited Green child telling me that the soil was here! I hopped off my mattress and raced outside only to find a mad rush of digging with the goal of finishing before the imminent rainfall. The looming rain cloud and crashing lightening kept us motivated to move faster and faster. We got through two-thirds of the pile before the rain came down in a mad rush of large drops and God-reflecting thunder. We hurried to cover the dirt and raced inside where we were glad to say “hello” to the shower. We had a great dinner of bread-pudding and sandwiches.

After some playing with the kids and dressing Abby’s doll, those of the team staying at the Greens set out to find some ice cream. We had ice cream in classic Chuck style with many different kinds and then enjoyed some laughs with Chris buying a nine-volt battery from a hardware vending machine. It was a great day of serving and being blessed by the generosity and servant-nature of others.

The Process of Passing Out

So, I thought for today, I would give you all a diagram of what how we pass out all these tracts. We were given 20,000 tracts to hand out and today was our fourth day of trying to accomplish this task. So here is how we do it.

1. Meet at Treffpunkt 180

 

At 9:30am we meet at Treffpunkt 180 and gather for a devotional time. After some prayer, we pull out the maps, two-way radios, and tracts and stuff them into our bags. We break into two teams and then head to the bus stop.

2. Get on public transportation

 

The public transportation over here is really efficient and easy to use. We can get to several different areas of the city by transferring between busses and trams. The bus comes every 20 minutes or so and then we squish on with everyone else. Depending on where we are going, it can take anywhere from 15-25 minutes to get to our area to begin passing out tracts.

3. Figure out our direction

Once we are off the bus or tram, we gather around the maps and decide what buildings we need to cover and what teams are going to cover them. From there, it is only a matter of the teams going door to door on the apartments, looking for the mailboxes, and placing the tracts in.

4. Ring the doorbells

The biggest problem that we run into is that many of the apartment buildings have the mailboxes inside a lobby on the first floor. In order to get in to access the mailboxes, we must ring the doorbell and then talk to a resident for them to unlock the door from their apartment. But we need native German speakers in order to speak to the residents. They say something along the lines of: “Wir wuerden gerne Werbung einwerfen – Danke.” Several people from the church have volunteered to go with us. They have been a blessing.

5. Put the tracts in mailboxes

 

Once inside the apartment, we put the tracts in the mailboxes. Some of the boxes have stickers on them, which prohibit us from giving them a tract, but we try not to take it personally. We are only about 5,000 tracts left from finishing and we hope do those on Friday.

Back to the Streets

After a change of pace over the weekend, we were back to handing out tracts today. But I must not fail to mention the sword/gun fight that the guys had at the Green house this morning. We had just about every boy 25 and under with some weapon in his hand and running around the room. It was very dramatic and high energy. Regarding the fight, Chris said, “I haven’t had a good sword fight like that in a while.”

We met at Treffpunkt 180 and then got on the tram and headed for our specific area of Berlin. The morning proved to be profitable and we covered many apartment buildings. It is legal to put things in people’s mailboxes, but many of them put a sticker on their box which translated says “No advertisements please.” The time of walking provides great fellowship and conversation.

We went to a church family’s house for a lunch of chicken and broccoli casserole over rice accompanied with two different salads and garlic bread. A couple of us grabbed a quick nap and then we went back to walking and placing tracts in the mailboxes. It has been a great opportunity to practice placing our joy in Christ and not in our circumstances. God has faithfully been providing the strength and the joy.

Please continue to pray that we would be able to find new ways to serve the believers over here and continue to press on for the glory of Christ. Thank you to all who have been praying. If what we do is not for His glory and by His power, it is in vain.

 

 

 

We Went to Church

I love Sunday because I love the church and Sunday is the day that the church comes together to worship Jesus Christ. Today, we had the great opportunity of worshiping with believers of a different nation and language. The church meets in a building much larger than their previous one. It sits by itself in a neighborhood of apartment buildings and is home to both Bibelgemeinde Berlin, which meets Sunday morning, and a Russian church, which meets Sunday afternoon. The building was recently beautifully remodeled and is accompanied by a vibrant array of flowers that line the walkway to the front doors.

We first attended Sunday School, but it was all in German. The sanctuary is equipped with a cry room in the back with large, sound-proof windows looking into the service. We sat in that room during both Sunday School and the main service while Sam, the intern to Cary, interpreted both messages for us. I was thankful that no mother had to feed their baby during either service because that might have been slightly awkward.

It was encouraging to see a body of believers striving to be faithful to the Lord. Dietr Borchmann taught in both services and did very well, from what I could tell through the translation. We were able to take part in their communion service and remember our Lord’s sacrifice for us. We also witnessed their first exercising of church discipline, which left us with a solemn reminder of our responsibility to pull sin out by the roots in our lives.

The fellowship with the body continued into the afternoon because a church family invited us over for lunch. Our team along with a handful of others filled the small apartment, but even though things were cozy, we enjoyed a great meal and plenty of laughs.

We finished off the day with a trip into Berlin again for some touring of sites that we didn’t see on Thursday. We started and ended at Potsdamer Platz but visited The Holocaust Memorial, a square with two cathedrals and a concert hall, and an impressive chocolate store.

Boys with Brawn

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Today, the boys displayed their brawn. The Green’s backyard needed tackling and Chris, Ian, Grant, and I were just the ones for the job. But all of that was not before our delectable German breakfast of fresh breads, a wide selection of meats and cheeses, and several spreads. It was amazing even though it did not have any eggs, sausgage, or pancakes.

We began our yard-tackling by clearing out a corner of the yard to make room for a future garden. Ian stayed at this task all day with some help from Chris and Grant when they weren’t doing something else. The task involved shoveling dirt, weeds, and other items that found themselves in that corner behind the garage, such as a shower curtain rod, slabs of marble, and random contraptions. All of which were buried there by the previous owners.

Chris did a stupendous job mowing the lawn. He had a great time cutting foot-high grass and dodging obstacles through out the yard. The lawn hadn’t been mowed this spring or summer, so this service was very needed.

Grant spent the majority of the day on cutting down two large juniper plants that had grown on the front of the house. For those of you who have dealt with junipers before, you know that they are poky and painful. He spent hours cutting the branches into smaller portions and stuffing them into garbage bags. He would have finished, but he ran out of garbage bags.

I had the pleasure of fixing a roof to the kid’s playhouse, a small house standing three feet off the ground which boasts a hidden trap door. The nailing of the roofing material was not hard, but trying to cut that stuff with chicken-bone scissors is not the easiest thing. But the playhouse will not repel water just fine.

All day we were blessed with the presence of all ten Green children. They were faithful to ask us what we were doing or to show us something that was really important to them, such as a bow and arrow or a baby. They bring much joy and always a smile and it wouldn’t be the same without them scurrying around us.

The evening was relaxing compared to a long day of work. Tomorrow, we are looking forward to seeing the church for the first time!

Tracts, Turkish Pizza, and Testimonies

Today was filled with many new experiences. These experiences were not new in the sense of travel necessarily but more in terms of the avenues for ministry. The first new experience, that being handing out tracts, was filled with excitement but presented an opportunity to display patience. We were required to have a native-German speaker, of which we only had two for most of the day, be the ones to request permission to enter each set of apartment buildings to access the mailboxes. This slowed us down but we all trusted that it was the best as was advised by Mr. Green. We had a good time fellowshipping and resting in the knowledge that God was the One doing the work of conversion.

For lunch we went back to the church’s coffeehouse and sent a few out to get doners and Turkish pizzas. They are basically both the same thing in terms of filling but doners are in a pita wrap and the Turkish pizzas are in tortillas. The filling is a mix of cabbage, lambs meat, tomatoes, onions, and a special sauce. Grant said that he wouldn’t mind living in Germany just for the food. He said that so far he has loved the brats and doners. We all enjoyed our meal and were ready to set out on another tract-distributing journey.

At about six o’clock we all met back at the coffeehouse and ate dinner. After dinner we stayed for the evening Bible study which was composed of some of our testimonies and singing. For the singing, we switched between German and English and Chris played the guitar while the current church intern, Sam, play a drum called a cajon. It was a blessing to be able to share my testimony for other believers to rejoice in the work of the Lord in my life but it was particularly difficult speaking in a way so to be convenient for the translator. The Lord provided grace to endure and, I pray, to clearly communicate. Esther, Kim, and Chris also shared.

The day was fun but at the same time stretching. Thanks for the prayers!

the girls in germany

Well, from the girls perspective… we arrived at the airport and said our goodbyes. We finally made it through security and then ran to the nearest starshmucks. Then we got fat off of Burger King and rushed to get on the plane. While standing in line to board an atrociously smelling man walked by Micah and I, which Micah was quick to point out! Then only to find that man was sitting in Esther’s, Natalie’s, and my row (which of course our row was miles away from the rest of the group.) After a very long and sleepless flight we made it to Amsterdam. There, as girls ALWAYS do, we shopped till we dropped and lost my mom. Yes… we lost my mom while trying on clogs (which I managed to fall straight over in) and then went to Starshmucks again! After much searching for my mom… my dad found her at gate D84 instead of gate C16! We then boarded our last hot flight and made it safely to Germany.
After arriving in Germany we stopped by the Green’s house and then went straight to the Borchmann’s house! They have 4 girls so there is a lot of estrogen going on in this home – and that makes everything fun and exciting! We then went on a walk, played kems, spoons (or should i say “lofferl”) and the animal hand-clapping game. We then took showers and went to bed at 6:30pm.
After all of us girls woke up at 12 to go to the bathroom we slept until morning! We arose, ate breakfast, and then went to the coffee shop to go on our Berlin tour. We went to the Pergamum museum where we saw Satan’s throne (Rev. 2:12-17) and the gate of ancient Babylon. That was our favorite part! We then went on a boat tour around Berlin, followed by lunch where we ate pizza, apple-like nectarines and sparkling water… on accident (sorry Micah!) We walked around a little more and then stopped at Starshmucks! We then went to see Check Point Charlie. That was amazing! While waiting for the group… Esther, Chris, Micah and I played the animal hand-clapping game… but then we switched it up by playing it with Asian signs! I was fried rice, Micah was sumo, Chris was kung-fu, and Esther was wong-tong. Good times! We then got on the subway and a bus to get home! After a long day of paying to use the bathroom, I am now going to go to bed! Goodnight from Germany!

Here are some pictures:

Airplanes, Amsterdam, & Arrival

Hello from Berlin!

Our trip began in the Sea-Tac International Airport as we checked-in and said our good-byes to family before moving through security to our terminal. We left at 1pm and began the 10 hour flight to Amsterdam which included typical airline food at times we didn’t expect, neighbors who acted and smelled funny, and several on-demand movies. When we landed in Amsterdam, it was 7:20am local time, but 10:20pm Washington time. Thus it seemed like the day was just beginning, but our bodies were telling us to go to bed soon. Anyway, we made it Berlin safely at 11am Wednesday morning (2am PCT) and quickly met up with Josh Hehe and Dietr, a pastor at the church, who led us to the van where Cary Green was waiting for us.

The Green household was bursting with excitement and children when we arrived at their home, which used to be the Congo embassy in Berlin. It is a three-level house including the basement with lots of character and lots of room for this family with 10 children. The girls left immediately to go their host home which is with Dietr and his family. The rest of us were led on a walk by Josh Hehe of the surrounding area with important stops such as the bank, grocery store, and post office.

After concluding that our bodies needed to rest, we opted out of going to the German one28, which is Berlin Bible Church’s midweek Bible study. So we are forcing ourselves awake until a reasonable time to go to bed. Tomorrow, the schedule has us touring Berlin.