I can't wait to share what we did today!! Get ready because it's coming soon.
Love and miss you all.
Be blessed.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
WAHOOO!
i got four, count them: 1-2-3-4, letters today!
it totally made my day.
....and i cried when i read the one from my mom.
i miss home and i love it here all at the same time!
it totally made my day.
....and i cried when i read the one from my mom.
i miss home and i love it here all at the same time!
numero tres
so the brandonburg gate....
read part 1 and part 2 first, before this, if you haven't already.
i apologize for how long this is taking me to finish, there is just so much to tell and so little time to actually sit down and type it all out.
we played at the brandonburg gate with a give and take box. instead of just a box to give us money, we had a sign to tell everyone that you could take money if you want to. you should have see all the looks we got from people. it was crazy. we played to guitar and worshipped amidst all the people there and it was a completely new experience. we talked to several ladies who were asking for money and searching the trash for recyclables. there were both so grateful and couldn't understand why were doing this.
after about a little bit, nancy felt like she wanted to go to the grocery store to get food so we could eat with people in the park. so me, her, and menna all went to go get things while the other two stayed and played and sang. we ended up getting about 20 buns, some sausages, capri sun, and cakes. (side note: the have capri sun here!! it reminds me of elementary!) we went and got the other two and decided to move to alexsanderplatz.
alexsanderplatz was a such a dark place. immediately when we got there we were all overcome with tiredness. we had also packed lunch at Jesus Haus, so we decided to sit and eat. i was praying the whole time seeing if i felt led to talk to any specific person or group. at one point the was a group called Krishna came dancing through, playing really weird music. it gave me such a bad feeling and it was even crazier to see all the young kids and teen go dance with them. after resting for a bit, we started moving towards a nearby park and the base of that big thing that looks kinda like the space needle. i'm not sure what it is called, but i posted a picture of it. while on our way, we passed by same sadists, wearing all black and just all around gross. the whole time i was just praying to be a light, where there is light there can be no dark... that was something we had talked about earlier in the week.
we moved through the crowd and into the park where we met two girls and a guy. this is where the story gets a bit shaky. since i can't speak german, i have know idea what was actually said in the conversations nancy and stefan had with any of the people we talked to. the girl's name was joann. she spoke english, so i tried to talk to her a little bit. apparently, while her real name is joann, at parties, she said people call her luna. she seemed like such a wonderful girl, but you could see in her eyes she was completely empty and sad. i wanted so much to just shake her and make her realize there were good people in the world, and a God that loves her more than she could ever imagine. unfortunately, i never got a chance because one of the guys she was with was having a hard time. throughout the course of our conversation, he broke up with his girlfriend (i think), she slapped him right in front of us, nancy was going to pray for him, but was interrupted by a phone call he got that caused him to throw a temper tantrum and punch a tree. so all three of them left.
all that took place over almost an hour. it was completely dark, and we didn't really know where we should go next. we started walking and after another 30 minutes to an hour we had pretty much decided we should just leave. we were all cold and tired and somewhat discouraged. there was definitely a sense of incompleteness (i know this isn't a word, but you get the drift.). we felt like we weren't done with what we came to do, but we didn't know exactly what we came for either. we started back through alexsanderplatz, giving people some food occasionally. nancy talked to a drug addict and gave him food. i've thought about him several times and wonder if he even remembers us giving him food and a drink. we started into the train station and immediately saw two girls and a guy sitting on the floor. they all looked pretty young, so nancy asked if they wanted any food. of course, like all teenager they did! again, this situation is sketchy for me because i don't speak german. while we were talking to the three of them two more girls walked up. one of the girls that was already sitting there was holding her forearm. they also had pet rats, two of them. i assumed that the rat had scratched her because i could see some blood. when the other girls sat down, i realized what was happening. they were cutters. they intentionally cut themselves, for whatever reason... stress relief, control issues, etc. however, they didn't just cut for those reasons. they didn't think tattoos were permanent enough, so they wanted to render certain things into their skin. one girl was cutting 'i want to be perfect' into her arm, WHILE we were sitting there.
i'm sure, if you know me very well, what my reaction was to all of this. the rats and the blood was almost more than i could stand. at one point she laid down the blade, on the ground, to wipe up the blood with a rag that, judging by the amount of blood, she'd been using for quite a while, and then picked up razor off the ground and continued cutting. i just wanted to scream, "STOP!!" it was so gross! don't even get me started on the rats!
nancy spoke to them, and told them of our story. at one point we had to move because they couldn't smoke in the station. they were all very intrigued by our story and why were in berlin. we ended up praying over them. the youngest, she was 12, was actually already a christian. stefan gave them a bible and we gave each of them some money. all four girls were so blessed and touch by us, they began to cry. when we prayed, all of us prayed for the exact same thing... that they could see how beautiful they really were and for them to know that God thought that they were perfect in his eyes. after this we played a song for them. while we did this, we drew the attention of another group of guys.
they were obviously drunk, possibly high. (side note: its interesting how many people I've seen rolling joints on the streets. I dont know if I'll ever get used to it either.) nancy ended praying for one of them, and he seemed completely changed. he even decided not to go party with his friends. his friends were completely pissed about that too.
in both cases, with the girls and the guys, they were so grateful they shook our hands, which is not customary to do with people who aren't your close acquaintances. i was so blessed by all of them! because of all this happening, we ended up not getting back to the church until 2 in the morning.
we woke up the next morning and rushed off to catch the earliest train home. it took quite a while, but we were delayed so we ended up having a long time in dresden. we walked out of the station to go get some food and who did we see? two other groups who were trying to get money to come home as well. they had some wonderful bread they shared with us and we were able to bless them with money for a train ticket.
and so we came home. and we had a hot shower (my hair was so gross. at one point i leaned on the window of the train and left a grease spot), a wonderful dinner complete with ice cream, and shared stories!
i hope that this story was able to bless you in some small way. i cannot express how much my life has been changed because of this wonderful, crazy, ridiculous journey. i wouldn't change it for the world.
have a wonderful day.
more stories to come.
read part 1 and part 2 first, before this, if you haven't already.
i apologize for how long this is taking me to finish, there is just so much to tell and so little time to actually sit down and type it all out.
we played at the brandonburg gate with a give and take box. instead of just a box to give us money, we had a sign to tell everyone that you could take money if you want to. you should have see all the looks we got from people. it was crazy. we played to guitar and worshipped amidst all the people there and it was a completely new experience. we talked to several ladies who were asking for money and searching the trash for recyclables. there were both so grateful and couldn't understand why were doing this.
after about a little bit, nancy felt like she wanted to go to the grocery store to get food so we could eat with people in the park. so me, her, and menna all went to go get things while the other two stayed and played and sang. we ended up getting about 20 buns, some sausages, capri sun, and cakes. (side note: the have capri sun here!! it reminds me of elementary!) we went and got the other two and decided to move to alexsanderplatz.
alexsanderplatz was a such a dark place. immediately when we got there we were all overcome with tiredness. we had also packed lunch at Jesus Haus, so we decided to sit and eat. i was praying the whole time seeing if i felt led to talk to any specific person or group. at one point the was a group called Krishna came dancing through, playing really weird music. it gave me such a bad feeling and it was even crazier to see all the young kids and teen go dance with them. after resting for a bit, we started moving towards a nearby park and the base of that big thing that looks kinda like the space needle. i'm not sure what it is called, but i posted a picture of it. while on our way, we passed by same sadists, wearing all black and just all around gross. the whole time i was just praying to be a light, where there is light there can be no dark... that was something we had talked about earlier in the week.
we moved through the crowd and into the park where we met two girls and a guy. this is where the story gets a bit shaky. since i can't speak german, i have know idea what was actually said in the conversations nancy and stefan had with any of the people we talked to. the girl's name was joann. she spoke english, so i tried to talk to her a little bit. apparently, while her real name is joann, at parties, she said people call her luna. she seemed like such a wonderful girl, but you could see in her eyes she was completely empty and sad. i wanted so much to just shake her and make her realize there were good people in the world, and a God that loves her more than she could ever imagine. unfortunately, i never got a chance because one of the guys she was with was having a hard time. throughout the course of our conversation, he broke up with his girlfriend (i think), she slapped him right in front of us, nancy was going to pray for him, but was interrupted by a phone call he got that caused him to throw a temper tantrum and punch a tree. so all three of them left.
all that took place over almost an hour. it was completely dark, and we didn't really know where we should go next. we started walking and after another 30 minutes to an hour we had pretty much decided we should just leave. we were all cold and tired and somewhat discouraged. there was definitely a sense of incompleteness (i know this isn't a word, but you get the drift.). we felt like we weren't done with what we came to do, but we didn't know exactly what we came for either. we started back through alexsanderplatz, giving people some food occasionally. nancy talked to a drug addict and gave him food. i've thought about him several times and wonder if he even remembers us giving him food and a drink. we started into the train station and immediately saw two girls and a guy sitting on the floor. they all looked pretty young, so nancy asked if they wanted any food. of course, like all teenager they did! again, this situation is sketchy for me because i don't speak german. while we were talking to the three of them two more girls walked up. one of the girls that was already sitting there was holding her forearm. they also had pet rats, two of them. i assumed that the rat had scratched her because i could see some blood. when the other girls sat down, i realized what was happening. they were cutters. they intentionally cut themselves, for whatever reason... stress relief, control issues, etc. however, they didn't just cut for those reasons. they didn't think tattoos were permanent enough, so they wanted to render certain things into their skin. one girl was cutting 'i want to be perfect' into her arm, WHILE we were sitting there.
i'm sure, if you know me very well, what my reaction was to all of this. the rats and the blood was almost more than i could stand. at one point she laid down the blade, on the ground, to wipe up the blood with a rag that, judging by the amount of blood, she'd been using for quite a while, and then picked up razor off the ground and continued cutting. i just wanted to scream, "STOP!!" it was so gross! don't even get me started on the rats!
nancy spoke to them, and told them of our story. at one point we had to move because they couldn't smoke in the station. they were all very intrigued by our story and why were in berlin. we ended up praying over them. the youngest, she was 12, was actually already a christian. stefan gave them a bible and we gave each of them some money. all four girls were so blessed and touch by us, they began to cry. when we prayed, all of us prayed for the exact same thing... that they could see how beautiful they really were and for them to know that God thought that they were perfect in his eyes. after this we played a song for them. while we did this, we drew the attention of another group of guys.
they were obviously drunk, possibly high. (side note: its interesting how many people I've seen rolling joints on the streets. I dont know if I'll ever get used to it either.) nancy ended praying for one of them, and he seemed completely changed. he even decided not to go party with his friends. his friends were completely pissed about that too.
in both cases, with the girls and the guys, they were so grateful they shook our hands, which is not customary to do with people who aren't your close acquaintances. i was so blessed by all of them! because of all this happening, we ended up not getting back to the church until 2 in the morning.
we woke up the next morning and rushed off to catch the earliest train home. it took quite a while, but we were delayed so we ended up having a long time in dresden. we walked out of the station to go get some food and who did we see? two other groups who were trying to get money to come home as well. they had some wonderful bread they shared with us and we were able to bless them with money for a train ticket.
and so we came home. and we had a hot shower (my hair was so gross. at one point i leaned on the window of the train and left a grease spot), a wonderful dinner complete with ice cream, and shared stories!
i hope that this story was able to bless you in some small way. i cannot express how much my life has been changed because of this wonderful, crazy, ridiculous journey. i wouldn't change it for the world.
have a wonderful day.
more stories to come.
Friday, September 23, 2011
just a normal friday friday afternoon...
...sitting on the rocks with some geese, turkey, and hens. this is more backwoods than san angelo.
have a happy friday y'all!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
part two.
so i believe i left off with the man that agreed to drive us to berlin. he couldn’t take us until after lunch time because he had some work to finish up. nancy explained that we only had five euro but he said he didn’t want our money. while we were waiting for him to take us we found a place to rest in the grass and just reflect and praise God for his provision. Menna needed to use the bathroom at one point so her and nancy found a bush to use. while menna was going she saw a piece a paper and asked nancy what it was... it was 10 euro. i’m not kidding. it was completely insane. they brought it back and we were all so excited. it was interesting because we all had the same feeling that this money was for something specific. God had a purpose for it and it wasn’t food. so we put it away and continued just resting and praying. nancy made some calls to the ymca to see if we could stay there in berlin. they unfortunately, or fortunately as we later learned, turned us down as well as one other place. stefan realized he had a contact and called him. it was actually a church called the jesus haus. the pastor wasn’t sure if we could sleep there because the church is in an office building but he was very eager to help us and try to arrange something for us. stefan knew the pastor because he ahd done some work on their website earlier in the year. the man called to take us, so we promptly met him at his business and loaded our stuff and soon we were on our way to berlin.
i just remember going through so many emotions while we were in the car. i can’t speak german (obviously) so i had NO idea what was being said and that just really frustrates me. i was hungry -- my stomach was actually hurting at one point. about 5 minutes after it started hurting the man offered us some donuts he had. it was the best donut i’ve ever had in my life! seriously. i went through a period where i felt like we were being trafficked and got a little freaked out. i was happy. it was absolutely crazy. nancy knew this was going to happen, she knew we were going to take a van. these kind of things have never happened in my life up until this point.
the man drove us all the way to the main train station in berlin. while we were in the car, the pastor at jesus haus called and said we could stay at the church and he would get us some food to eat that evening. we got to the station and checked the price of the ticket -- 15 euro. we had exactly enough. wow God, i still just can’t believe all this, even now. it was really hard to give up my euro though, i’ve never actually been completely broke without any way of getting money. this was a first for me. we bought the ticket, took a train and two busses and arrived at the jesus haus. as soon as we got there, jorg -- the pastor, and nancy went to get some food at the market. they came back with so much food. enough for dinner thursday, breakfast, lunch and dinner friday, and breakfast and lunch saturday! it was such a good meal... sandwiches, chips, chocolate, curry wurst (very interesting but good mystery dinner), veggies, and much more. over dinner we shared stories and worshipped and prayed with jorg. after jorg left around 9 we went straight to bed.
we woke up to breakfast, and we were warm and safe, and it was a wonderful feeling. there was even coffee. oooh coffee, it was lovely. after breakfast we all had a quiet time and decided to come together for worship and prayer to see where God was leading us for the day. before we started this stefan announced he had something he needed to tell us. he told us that jorg had talked to him the night before and given him an honorary contract for the work he’d done earlier in the year (to be honest, i have no idea what exactly that mean, but i know it’s important) and 300 euro. THREE HUNDRED EURO! we now had money to bless so many people with and i have to admit, my first thought was train fare!! stefan told us that he felt the money was for us to use and had no intention of using it for himself. i’m beginning to realize how hard it would be for me to give that money up if i was in his position. we prayed and felt a specific calling to the center of the city, blessing the homeless and the hungry, maybe teenagers. we decided it would be best to start at the brandonburg gate (i posted a picture earlier).
i that is where i leave you. stay tuned. get ready for some thoughts on our new lecture by Andy Bird, from Kona, HI!
God is love. God is great. be blessed.
i just remember going through so many emotions while we were in the car. i can’t speak german (obviously) so i had NO idea what was being said and that just really frustrates me. i was hungry -- my stomach was actually hurting at one point. about 5 minutes after it started hurting the man offered us some donuts he had. it was the best donut i’ve ever had in my life! seriously. i went through a period where i felt like we were being trafficked and got a little freaked out. i was happy. it was absolutely crazy. nancy knew this was going to happen, she knew we were going to take a van. these kind of things have never happened in my life up until this point.
the man drove us all the way to the main train station in berlin. while we were in the car, the pastor at jesus haus called and said we could stay at the church and he would get us some food to eat that evening. we got to the station and checked the price of the ticket -- 15 euro. we had exactly enough. wow God, i still just can’t believe all this, even now. it was really hard to give up my euro though, i’ve never actually been completely broke without any way of getting money. this was a first for me. we bought the ticket, took a train and two busses and arrived at the jesus haus. as soon as we got there, jorg -- the pastor, and nancy went to get some food at the market. they came back with so much food. enough for dinner thursday, breakfast, lunch and dinner friday, and breakfast and lunch saturday! it was such a good meal... sandwiches, chips, chocolate, curry wurst (very interesting but good mystery dinner), veggies, and much more. over dinner we shared stories and worshipped and prayed with jorg. after jorg left around 9 we went straight to bed.
we woke up to breakfast, and we were warm and safe, and it was a wonderful feeling. there was even coffee. oooh coffee, it was lovely. after breakfast we all had a quiet time and decided to come together for worship and prayer to see where God was leading us for the day. before we started this stefan announced he had something he needed to tell us. he told us that jorg had talked to him the night before and given him an honorary contract for the work he’d done earlier in the year (to be honest, i have no idea what exactly that mean, but i know it’s important) and 300 euro. THREE HUNDRED EURO! we now had money to bless so many people with and i have to admit, my first thought was train fare!! stefan told us that he felt the money was for us to use and had no intention of using it for himself. i’m beginning to realize how hard it would be for me to give that money up if i was in his position. we prayed and felt a specific calling to the center of the city, blessing the homeless and the hungry, maybe teenagers. we decided it would be best to start at the brandonburg gate (i posted a picture earlier).
i that is where i leave you. stay tuned. get ready for some thoughts on our new lecture by Andy Bird, from Kona, HI!
God is love. God is great. be blessed.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
YAY!!
Blogger has an iPhone app. Let the instagram spam begin!! I only shot film on the Berlin trip... So here's some cell pics:
skyping with the fam (2nd edition)
so they always make funny faces at me...
especially when i'm talking to the roomies and not them.
the fam.
all of them [minus raelye - she was sick]
seeing the girls made me cry... i'm not even gonna lie.
i miss them sooo much.
g'night all!
part 2 of the story coming in the next two days.
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