We are absolutely amazed at how the Lord has been working here in Hamburg. We have been blessed to work with the ELIM church and participated in the same ministries with them this week as we did last week. I have so much to share but am super tired so I will have to debrief more later. I got to share my testimony at Chic & Satt this Tuesday like my sister Jody did last week. I was so blessed when a young Christian from the church told me that what I shared was " the right message at the right time." She had converted from Islam a little over a year ago. I won't share the details about her story, but I was able to share truth with her and pray with her. She added me as a friend on Facebook, and I wants to stay in touch. I was so discouraged about my message, but even if she was the only one impacted, it was worth it !!
Today we speent the morning with some kids at a local school, and I was so excited to be back with tweens nad teens. I'll share more later. Please pray that I would be able to sleep well and that my sinus infection would clear up. Thanks!!!
We leave this weekend for our final week of ministry. I'll will update you once we arrive and have access!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
New city, new ways for God to move
Hello from Hamburg! We have officially reached our 2nd city here in Germany to do ministry for the König von Königs and Herr von Herrs (German for King of Kings & Lord of Lords)!
We arrived Sunday about 1:30pm and three people from the ELIM church were there to greet us at the train station. I was so excited to see them waving a Costan Rican flag and smiling! We continue to receive warm welcomes from the Germans we are partnering with here, and it has blessed me immensely. They prepared a wonderful lunch for us, and then we had time to unpack and rest a bit. We attended their 7pm service with awesome worship in German and English.
I can't rememer what we did Monday morning other than a time of debrief from our time in Berlin. The days seem to go so fast here! A group of us went to do a prostitute minisry later that night. I had never done a ministry like this and actually been able to talk to the girls. We meet girls as young as 20, and talked to older women ( in their late 30's, or older). We had a time of worship and prayer beforehand as a large group, then we split into groups of 3 or 4 men, and 3 or 4 women. The women took chocolate and our group even had hot chocolate to offer. I guess the guys just prayed as they walked the area, and kept an eye on us girls. My group met ladies from Romania, Venezuela, and a few other nations. We offered to pray for them, but none of the ladies accepted our offer. They seemed to be afraid, and might have been being watched by their pimp. We got to encourage 2 older women from Venezuela in Spanish, and told them that God had better plans for them. After we talked to each lady, we walked down the sidewalk a bit, and stopped to pray for them.
Tuesday was a super day as well, as I got to take part in 2 ministries. Half of our group went to a ministry with the ELIM church ( also where we are staying) to serve food and hot drinks to homeless folks and drug addicts. We started out with worship, and then made sandwiches and passed out pastries and drinks. I had a great conversation with a lady from Poland who spoke great English. Later that afternoon, we returned to the church to help the rest of our team distribute food and clothes to folks in the community. This ministry is every week, and is literally translated in English as "Fashionable and Full". A member of our group shared her testimony, and many were moved in the small audience of about 100. Women shared with her afterwards that their story was like hers. Praise God, right! She was able to connect with several people in another culture, what a miracle!
I meat some very friendly people that I look forward to seeing next week. I am excited to see Tina from Singapore, and Meena from Afganistan. Please pray for fruitful spiritual conversations with these ladies. I am continually amazed at how many nations we are impacting here!
Curfew is at 9pm, so I gotta run. I had a great free day today with my new German sister Jasmin. We became friends within about an hour on Sunday. As weird as it sounds, it's like we have known each other our whole lives! What a blessing she is to me! She's 34, single, and affectionate, so we can really relate!
We arrived Sunday about 1:30pm and three people from the ELIM church were there to greet us at the train station. I was so excited to see them waving a Costan Rican flag and smiling! We continue to receive warm welcomes from the Germans we are partnering with here, and it has blessed me immensely. They prepared a wonderful lunch for us, and then we had time to unpack and rest a bit. We attended their 7pm service with awesome worship in German and English.
I can't rememer what we did Monday morning other than a time of debrief from our time in Berlin. The days seem to go so fast here! A group of us went to do a prostitute minisry later that night. I had never done a ministry like this and actually been able to talk to the girls. We meet girls as young as 20, and talked to older women ( in their late 30's, or older). We had a time of worship and prayer beforehand as a large group, then we split into groups of 3 or 4 men, and 3 or 4 women. The women took chocolate and our group even had hot chocolate to offer. I guess the guys just prayed as they walked the area, and kept an eye on us girls. My group met ladies from Romania, Venezuela, and a few other nations. We offered to pray for them, but none of the ladies accepted our offer. They seemed to be afraid, and might have been being watched by their pimp. We got to encourage 2 older women from Venezuela in Spanish, and told them that God had better plans for them. After we talked to each lady, we walked down the sidewalk a bit, and stopped to pray for them.
Tuesday was a super day as well, as I got to take part in 2 ministries. Half of our group went to a ministry with the ELIM church ( also where we are staying) to serve food and hot drinks to homeless folks and drug addicts. We started out with worship, and then made sandwiches and passed out pastries and drinks. I had a great conversation with a lady from Poland who spoke great English. Later that afternoon, we returned to the church to help the rest of our team distribute food and clothes to folks in the community. This ministry is every week, and is literally translated in English as "Fashionable and Full". A member of our group shared her testimony, and many were moved in the small audience of about 100. Women shared with her afterwards that their story was like hers. Praise God, right! She was able to connect with several people in another culture, what a miracle!
I meat some very friendly people that I look forward to seeing next week. I am excited to see Tina from Singapore, and Meena from Afganistan. Please pray for fruitful spiritual conversations with these ladies. I am continually amazed at how many nations we are impacting here!
Curfew is at 9pm, so I gotta run. I had a great free day today with my new German sister Jasmin. We became friends within about an hour on Sunday. As weird as it sounds, it's like we have known each other our whole lives! What a blessing she is to me! She's 34, single, and affectionate, so we can really relate!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Costa Rica night
I'm not sure when I'll be able to post since we will be staying at churches for the next 3 weeks. We were so excited to have a handful of new people we met come to our party, along with most of the staff here at the Berlin base, and a few friends from Jerusalem church. We were super excited to see a few friends from the park come including the young man my small group prayed for and a dealer! I was so surprised that our new friend, with time, got into the party. He even danced with us! He took a few smoke breaks and we made sure one of us was out there so he wasn't alone. One of guys had a really good conversation with him, and once the party was over, he just hung around. He seemed like he just didn't want to leave. So we gave him some left over soup from dinner, and a few folks sat down with him. They shared the Gospel with him, and he asked how he could have that in his life. So,as far as we know, he received Christ as his Lord & Savior last night!
The dealer was super nice and had conversations with many of us. I think he felt the love from our group, and we even stopped the party when he left to pray for him! Even though we only had a handful of guests, I know we impacted them in a huge way. A few folks we invited in as they walked by, but they only spoke German, so I couldn't talk to them.
I will post when I can!
The dealer was super nice and had conversations with many of us. I think he felt the love from our group, and we even stopped the party when he left to pray for him! Even though we only had a handful of guests, I know we impacted them in a huge way. A few folks we invited in as they walked by, but they only spoke German, so I couldn't talk to them.
I will post when I can!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Hamburg bound!
Well, I wanted to blog about the last week here before we head to another small town tomorrow. We are going to the city of Brandenburg tomorrow for the weekend. It's about an hour or so away from here, and we are going to a prayer house run by our new German friend from Jerusalem church. We will leave for Hamburg on Sunday and stay there for approximately 2 weeks.
I'm excited to see new cities, but sad to leave Berlin. We have a really nice YWAM base here, and we had great ministry as well. Monday we went back to park to give coffee and tea to drug dealers and others we met. A large group also prayer walked around the park again. The park is in between a mosque and a Buddist temple. We prayed for worshippers in these places to come to faith in Christ. We specifically prayed that the veil over their eyes & hearts would be removed. This time I went with one of the groups that handed out coffee & tea. We were able to talk to a handful of people. We met a young guy who was super open to us praying for him after we talked to him for about 15 minutes. He needed some direction in his life, so we prayed for opportunities for him to pursue his dreams in music and the arts. He spoke really good English & Spanish, so we could all communicate with him. I'm still amazed at how many languages the Europeans speak. We all went to lunch, then came back to the park to pray and worship where we put the stake in the ground. It was gone, but we knew what we had done in the spiritual realm. Some guys even came up there and before long they knew they were gone. One of the guys told his friend something like " we can't do this here." We could already tell that the atmosphere of the park was changing! While we were singing, we could faintly here a voice on a loud speaker. I'm not sure where it was coming from, but it sounded like a call to prayer or worship in Arabic. We wanted to keep singing to declare truth even as they were praying to their god. A group also went back to Teen Challenge. I was bummed that Gabby didn't come back. Her friend said she was sleeping. I met many friendly guys though, mostly from Lebanon, Lativia. Most of the people we met seemed to be okay with the fact that we were American. They even said Americans are friendly. A few Swedish folks came to give a mini sermon and the young girl sang a few songs. The staff were really impressed that the people stayed for the preaching and worship. One man even received Christ! What a way to finish the week out here! I'll write a bit more later...
I'm excited to see new cities, but sad to leave Berlin. We have a really nice YWAM base here, and we had great ministry as well. Monday we went back to park to give coffee and tea to drug dealers and others we met. A large group also prayer walked around the park again. The park is in between a mosque and a Buddist temple. We prayed for worshippers in these places to come to faith in Christ. We specifically prayed that the veil over their eyes & hearts would be removed. This time I went with one of the groups that handed out coffee & tea. We were able to talk to a handful of people. We met a young guy who was super open to us praying for him after we talked to him for about 15 minutes. He needed some direction in his life, so we prayed for opportunities for him to pursue his dreams in music and the arts. He spoke really good English & Spanish, so we could all communicate with him. I'm still amazed at how many languages the Europeans speak. We all went to lunch, then came back to the park to pray and worship where we put the stake in the ground. It was gone, but we knew what we had done in the spiritual realm. Some guys even came up there and before long they knew they were gone. One of the guys told his friend something like " we can't do this here." We could already tell that the atmosphere of the park was changing! While we were singing, we could faintly here a voice on a loud speaker. I'm not sure where it was coming from, but it sounded like a call to prayer or worship in Arabic. We wanted to keep singing to declare truth even as they were praying to their god. A group also went back to Teen Challenge. I was bummed that Gabby didn't come back. Her friend said she was sleeping. I met many friendly guys though, mostly from Lebanon, Lativia. Most of the people we met seemed to be okay with the fact that we were American. They even said Americans are friendly. A few Swedish folks came to give a mini sermon and the young girl sang a few songs. The staff were really impressed that the people stayed for the preaching and worship. One man even received Christ! What a way to finish the week out here! I'll write a bit more later...
Friday, January 7, 2011
Types of ministry
We have done several types of ministries sinced we have arrived here in Germany. We have split up in a few groups each day. Some of my team worked with a kids hip hop dance ministry, while others have worked with teen challenge or a youth group. I went to teen challenge Tuesday night and really enjoyed building a friendship with Gabby. This ministry is open several nights a week and they serve food and coffee to street folks. They also go out on the street to love on people. Even though the name denotes teen ministry, we only saw older folks. We had praise & worship & they also prayed for some folks who requested it. There was a man there who had been a drug addict for 40 yrs. & he wanted prayer. Praise God! I think we get to go back next week, so I plan to go because Gabby wanted me to come see her again. I can't even tell you how many hugs she gave me before we left. Michael, one of the YWAM Berlin base directors said she is never that open & friendly. A few guys also had a great conversation with a guy in English. Michael said he was so pleased with our work that night & he said the atmosphere was full of love. We also went to the train station again Wednesday with our free hugs sign , guitar, & drum. Another group went out with 3 question surveys. Some of us were successful, but my partner and I were rejected a lot. It was super hard to be rejected over and over again, but I had to remember that they were rejecting Jesus not me. We asked 2 questions about their culture & the last one was how has God influenced your life? Each person read all three
questions, & all but one said they couldn't think of any answers. It was so weird to hear that no one could think of anything positive about their culture ( question # 1).
We also have done a lot of prayer walks. They want to start a new
ministry here in a park known for drug deals. We served coffe to drug dealers yesterday & the groups that went said they couldn't believe how nice the people were. Most of the people they met were not Germans, & it was just a job to support their family. I was in the group that prayed the whole time. We even went to the highest point in the park and put a stake in the ground to claim that park for God's kingdom. Well, it's really hard to blog from my phone so I'll write more later. Keep praying for us & for the Germans. It's super hard to watch their faces full of bitterness and pain.
questions, & all but one said they couldn't think of any answers. It was so weird to hear that no one could think of anything positive about their culture ( question # 1).
We also have done a lot of prayer walks. They want to start a new
ministry here in a park known for drug deals. We served coffe to drug dealers yesterday & the groups that went said they couldn't believe how nice the people were. Most of the people they met were not Germans, & it was just a job to support their family. I was in the group that prayed the whole time. We even went to the highest point in the park and put a stake in the ground to claim that park for God's kingdom. Well, it's really hard to blog from my phone so I'll write more later. Keep praying for us & for the Germans. It's super hard to watch their faces full of bitterness and pain.
God has clearly gone before us
We have just been so blessed to be in Germany for the last week of our outreach. The culture here is the complete opposite of the culture (& climate for that matter) in costa rica. Even though the people are not as friendly here, I know God can change their hearts. We have already noticed that initially folks are reserved, but they open up once you get to know them and they can trust you. The language barrier is definitely present, so please pray that we would be able to supernaturally understand & speak the language. Many people speak English, so that is a plus. The hard part is just getting them to open up.
A little story of God's provision.
When we first arrived in Frankfurt, we spent new year's eve at a church. We cooked lunch and took a nap, and attended their new year's eve service. A woman from the church brought about 18 really costly jackets for our team, not to mention German chocolate & towels. The winter coat I brought was great for Texas, but not Germany! I have a new jacket that is so warm & has several pockets to hold all of my stuff for the day! What a blessing!
We arrived in Berlin Jan. 1st without a place to stay & our leaders heard the Lord say are you willing to give up yours rights to sleep tonite & pray for Berlin at the train station? We had worship at the train station & prayed about what He wanted us to do as individuals. Someone in our group made a sign that said free hugs in German & English, so a few people gave hugs and we also talked with several peole who wanted to know what we were doing. A young guy came over & said he felt positive vibes from us. He mentioned Bob Marley, but we knew where our "vibes" were from! He even played his harmonica to the worship music! We attracted many people with our guitar & cajon drum including a Christian woman. We got to talking with her, & mentioned we didn't have a place to stay. She called her pastor and they opened up their prayer house for us to sleep & pray! They were absolutely wonderful & we are excited to have started a new
relationship here between them & YWAM! Some of us went to their first prayer service on Wednesday and 2 latinos shared their testimony of how They got here & a word of encouragement for the church. They had a guest speaker from the USA, he prayed for each of us. He blessed us and then spoke a powerful over us. He said that I would receive all the desires of my heart, so I was stoked! We are going back to the church this weekend to spend some more time with them & attend their saturday service.
A little story of God's provision.
When we first arrived in Frankfurt, we spent new year's eve at a church. We cooked lunch and took a nap, and attended their new year's eve service. A woman from the church brought about 18 really costly jackets for our team, not to mention German chocolate & towels. The winter coat I brought was great for Texas, but not Germany! I have a new jacket that is so warm & has several pockets to hold all of my stuff for the day! What a blessing!
We arrived in Berlin Jan. 1st without a place to stay & our leaders heard the Lord say are you willing to give up yours rights to sleep tonite & pray for Berlin at the train station? We had worship at the train station & prayed about what He wanted us to do as individuals. Someone in our group made a sign that said free hugs in German & English, so a few people gave hugs and we also talked with several peole who wanted to know what we were doing. A young guy came over & said he felt positive vibes from us. He mentioned Bob Marley, but we knew where our "vibes" were from! He even played his harmonica to the worship music! We attracted many people with our guitar & cajon drum including a Christian woman. We got to talking with her, & mentioned we didn't have a place to stay. She called her pastor and they opened up their prayer house for us to sleep & pray! They were absolutely wonderful & we are excited to have started a new
relationship here between them & YWAM! Some of us went to their first prayer service on Wednesday and 2 latinos shared their testimony of how They got here & a word of encouragement for the church. They had a guest speaker from the USA, he prayed for each of us. He blessed us and then spoke a powerful over us. He said that I would receive all the desires of my heart, so I was stoked! We are going back to the church this weekend to spend some more time with them & attend their saturday service.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Germany!!!!
Hola from Berlin! After many hours
of travel we arrived in Germany safely at 6am new year's eve. We flew into Frankfurt and spent the day resting and bought some groceries. We went to church that night, and had a little party to ring in the new year. Some folks went to see fireworks but I spent my first new year's eve in bed for the first time in several years. I just didn't have the energy to stay up that late. I was blessed to see God provide for me specifically with food. Our contact here in Frankfurt knew exactly where to take me to buy some gluten free items. We have sandwiches for lunch almost everyday on outreach so I was hoping to find some GF bread and some other treats. Praise God I was able to find several healthy GF items, including bread to get me through the 7 hour train ride to Berlin. We are tired, but thank goodness they had us on a prayer walk today so we could stay moving. I'm excited to share how God has blessed us in amazing ways already, but I'm tired and want to rest.
Happy new year!!!
More to come...
of travel we arrived in Germany safely at 6am new year's eve. We flew into Frankfurt and spent the day resting and bought some groceries. We went to church that night, and had a little party to ring in the new year. Some folks went to see fireworks but I spent my first new year's eve in bed for the first time in several years. I just didn't have the energy to stay up that late. I was blessed to see God provide for me specifically with food. Our contact here in Frankfurt knew exactly where to take me to buy some gluten free items. We have sandwiches for lunch almost everyday on outreach so I was hoping to find some GF bread and some other treats. Praise God I was able to find several healthy GF items, including bread to get me through the 7 hour train ride to Berlin. We are tired, but thank goodness they had us on a prayer walk today so we could stay moving. I'm excited to share how God has blessed us in amazing ways already, but I'm tired and want to rest.
Happy new year!!!
More to come...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)