Downtown Pankow at sunset

December 23,

I got on a tram tonight to go to our worship service and it was crowded with about 50 or more people. We were driving through the center of town and all the Christmas decorations were shining. Most people were out doing some Christmas shopping. The stores were open though that is not usually true on Sunday. I looked back at them all and thought that the chances were rather high that I was the only believer on the train. I was reminded again yesterday of how thankful I am that I know Jesus.

December 22, 

I was invited to an evening of coffee and cake with my godson and his family. He is a miracle of health and fun at almost 6. His mother was very ill during her pregnancy, spending part of it in the hospital. We spent a lot of time praying and talking. She was one of the first children's workers with whom I worked.

I was late as usual, but I was trying to get our church newsletter printed out at a copy shop before they all closed. There was a long line of people and so I was going to be an hour later than they expected me. Then I had to get back to the right bus, tram, then train and then walk. Not too easy to get there because they live on a peninsula in the middle of the river in East Berlin. I decided to pay the $20 for a taxi and went outside and threw my hand up in the air. I frantically waved at the only taxi in sight and it went on by. I was praying, "Dear Jesus, get me there soon!" And this total stranger pulled over. It was a very nice looking woman, about 50, German. She rolled down the window and asked me with a smile, "Where do you want to go?" I was totally shocked! Nobody does this in Berlin. I told her the next train station, and she said get in, and began throwing packages and papers in the back seat. I got in. I know, I can't believe it either, but I was in shock. She had to be an angel! She introduced herself, said she was a lawyer from Munich 9 hours away, and in Berlin to visit family. She had spent too many hours standing on street corners hoping a taxi would stop. When she saw me, seconds after I came out of the store, she just had to stop. I told her why I was in a rush, that I had to copy our paper for church the next day and then get to my godson's. She began to tell me about her numerous visits and stays in the US and how much she liked Americans and that she had had a good experience with Samaritan's Purse. She had organized a group of people from her firm to go to Louisiana to rebuild houses after Katrina. I was able to tell her I had acted as a volunteer with them over 30 years ago. Meanwhile her navigation system kept telling her she was past her turn, she had to turn around, etc. She just reached over and turned it off. Then she drove me all the way to the house door! It was a 20 minute drive instead of an hour. She drove totally out of her way to a dead end destination that couldn't have helped her at all! We exchanged email address and I look forward to hearing from her! Amazing! God sent me an angel. Just that morning I was feeling somewhat discouraged with everything that has been going wrong around me. I was talking to God and just said, "It would be really nice if you could just show me that you really are there and know what's going on." (I know, not too trusting.) So this is what He does: he sends me an angel in a car. I had a great visit with M. and his parents. They  talked again about what it was like growing up in Communist Berlin and the emptiness of all the answers they were given for the reason why we are here (to work for the good of the state, or worldwide communism) and what happens when we die. (there is nothing).God is so good to me. I am so thankful for you all and for Him. May God send you all angels through the year. But more than that, know  that He sends you Himself!

Well I did it again.... I was praying at team time today and asked God to give us a unit of spirity. 

Sounds almost theological doesn't it?

Here are some more  fotos: Can you put the right one with the right caption?

 

My birthday party with German friends in my new apartment. We had a great time of fellowship and fun catching up with all that has happened in the last fourteen months. They brought me what I asked for my birthday... each brought me a bag of potting soil... I planted a few dozen spring bulbs in boxes for my balcony. (They all know I am a bit 'different'). 

This is a picture from our fellowship time following the dedication of Heike and Henry's youngest child, Ari. 

Doro and I do the children's Sunday school together. She reads a Bible story and the children and very attentive. Except maybe Emma... can you find her? She is in a phase where she automatically says "no" or does the opposite. When we were out to dinner one evening I asked her mother how the children were doing. "They're all (five) doing well. Emma's having a little problem with the soviets..." "The Soviets!!!???" "Yes, the soviets." "The Soviets? How can a two year old have trouble with the Soviets?" "No Judi, not soviets; she's having trouble with disobedience."  Well, I guess my hearing is going, too. (or my mind. :))

We had a good time celebrating Thanksgiving at David and Eowyn's home. They invited about 25 English speaking Germans and Americans to participate in  the dinner and time of fellowship afterwards. David read the Thanksgiving story. 

Photos from Pankow: 

Me and my favorite bush: we're both growing though not always as expected!

Team Berlin at our Fall Retreat 2007

The family festival in the Park 

Suzanne Allers, the twins, Rachel and Rebekah Carson

The Pankow church children and their Christmas shoeboxes

We recently enjoyed the blessing of an extended worship family as one of the babies of our friends was dedicated. There was a group of over fifty adults and children present. We would love to see this every week! The fellowship time afterward was great as we enjoyed a meal and talking and the children watched a film. It was an encouraging time for our "baby" church.

Denglish: definition: confusion of two languages: Deutsch and English.

This is a common problem for those of us trying to live in two mental spheres. We get twice as mental. I was recently explaining some of my Denglish bloopers to another missionary when I told him that I was afraid they were a symbol of my approaching senility. Of course I should of said "sign".  His daughter recently asked someone for a "letter of reverence". I do the same thing in German as well. I was talking to a German friend about planting some pansies on my balcony for the winter. The word is "stiefmutterchen" meaning "little mother-in-laws". I called them "mutterstieffellchen", which means "mother's little boots". She thought it was hilarious. 

Another problem is that because the order of words in German are different than those in an English sentence, we quite often use the right words but in the wrong order. Or we directly translate something without re-arranging it. So we ask you things like: "Are you coming with?"

And prepositions are a sudden mystery as we use some of the same ones in German but in a different combination. Of course there are always those words that are just awkward to pronounce but it makes a big difference. One of my favorite bloopers to make is in ordering salad with chicken. Depending on how my tongue chooses to pronounce the word for chicken, I have been known to order salad with chicken, or salad with little dogs, or salad with little hands. Thankfully Germans are quite used to a variety of internationals and so far the worse that has happened is that I ordered a visitor salad with chicken livers instead of chicken strips. I am strangely no longer interested in salad with chicken and find that I seldom order it. So as you are reading my blogs, please know that I am dependent on your grace in (for?) (towards?) my language!

confused

I am back.... and back again...

Hello I am not at all sure about this. I am really trying to move into this century's technology. It is not so easy. I learned computer in college where you typed commands onto punch out cards and the computer took up the entire basement of the administration building.

It is also not so helpful that here in Berlin, with all their incredible excellence in technical things, they seem to have real trouble in finding a successful phoning system. There are a number of offers but none of them are easy to compare or understand. Many of them just don't work in all buildings. So after more than a month of trying to convince my first phone/computer company that I was not willing to keep the contract for their service, they finally gave up...in part. It seems that they could not understand why I would want to give up their service... it did work at times and it was not really so bad that I could call out (sometimes) and others (especially from the US) could not call me, though I could sometimes call them. Well after charging me $175 for installation and one month's part-time service, they offered to give me a credit of $20 toward the continued $30 a month computer hook-up, with me still paying them for the technical help-line calls. Obviously I have a very American understanding of customer service and satisfaction. It's definitely not German.

So I am back to no phone at the moment.

It seems that everything I try to do in the peripheral areas of life keep falling apart. My apartment is wonderful... except that the former tenants cigarette smoke smell continues to ooze from the freshly painted walls. I also have a wonderful second hand set of sofa and chairs, but they too seem to be infused with the smoke smell. The morning headaches and stuffy nose are not comfortable. So I will probably be selling the furniture and trying to find something else so I and my guests will be healthy. So I will be back to a fairly empty living room and back to finding smell-covering new paint. 

The car that Rebekah and I have shared over the last two years looks to be a loss after the accident in which I was involved on November 9th. It seemed another driver wanted to celebrate the "Day of German Unification" by driving his VW 2-door into the back of my VW 4-door and shoving me into a third car. The woman I hit came back to see if I was okay. The driver of the other car came forward to see the damage he caused, demanded that we move the cars out of the way of the two stopped street trains. He pretended to call the police. We pulled the cars to the side of the road, and he took off. No chance to get his number. The trains left, the people who might have witnessed something were gone in the rainy night. So when the police arrived an hour later, it was pretty evident that we wouldn't catch him in a city of 4 million. The damage to the car was over twice the value of the 10 year old car. So I am back to walking and riding the public transport everywhere. 

I actually like riding public  most of the time, and feel about a ton lighter. It does mean that trips that used to take 20-30 minutes can now be over an hour or more away, with a few challenges for transporting my "stuff". God is good... I got two cortisone shots in my lower back and it is mostly back to normal for me. The walking will be good for me and the lack of stress in waiting for my "personal car demon" to strike again is relieved. My team is totally awed by the fact that since living in Berlin I have had six accidents where someone else ran into my car. Almost all of them were rather extraordinary. All of these times I was stopped in traffic or in a parking area... not even moving! Once my car was parked and no-one was in it when a man misjudged parking and did $2000 damage to my vehicle. The seventh accident I wasn't driving, but Rebekah saved our lives when she maintained control of the car though having to drive it through a portion of a highway where there was suddenly a lane-wide, tire deep hole, car-deep side ditch and a passing concrete truck. I think its probably good if I quit while I am still winning. 

I am loving getting back to work with young children in a Sunday school type program. They are so loving and its fun! We are meeting for worship on Sunday afternoons, every 2nd and fourth Sunday. We are looking for a new meeting place. Currently we are meeting in a church cafe with two classrooms and a kitchen. It works well, but we are only able to have the space during this time. We would like to offer more ministry like afterschool programs and evening 

programs, as well as morning courses and parent-child care. We have a young man named Ben who is here to offer English courses and to help with music and worship. We would also love to offer a Sunday brunch service when we could offer discussion about the Christian faith. All of these things must wait on new space. It is very hard to find the right location at a good rental price. There are not a lot of good locations open. Then of course there are the costs of rent deposits, renovation and set-up costs. We have a lot to pray for! But we have a great God who can provide. 

More than just finding the space it is important that all of our German partners are ready for this step of taking on the financial challenge. We are about fifteen adults and fifteen children under 10 years old when we meet. But growing and new rooms hang together. I myself am praying for God to give me faith in His provision.  

A great desire for us all is to find a German pastor. It will also not be easy because we will have to finance him as well. We are praying for this need as well as for new church members. We are so thankful for the ones who are coming now. They love the Lord and really want to see their neighbors reached for Christ.

Our Bible study group that meets every two weeks is going very well. Discussion is very good and we have attendance of around 12-18 adults! I loved it that my living room was full! 

We mentioned splitting into two groups, had immediate negative response, and decided to wait until the group themselves brought it up. We will try instead to start up a morning group for those single parents, or those couples who cannot both come at night due to babysitting costs. I think this may be a good thing. Pray for wisdom for this too! 

Thanksgiving was celebrated on a Saturday evening with a mixture of German and Americans and believers and non-believers. It was a wonderful time and David and Eowyn Stoddard hosted it in their home. David read the Thanksgiving story to all the children. Then the kids watched a film while the adults had a time of sharing the things for which they were thankful in the last year. It was very touching and a blessing to be there. 

We are looking forward to Christmas. I will be sharing the Christmas story with the children in a combined service with our church plant and an evangelical free church in the community. 

As I look back it has been a good start here. Though many things seem to be running a bit wobbly in getting settled, my heart is light and I rejoice to be here with my friends and Christian family in Germany. I miss my family at home and the lack of regular phone contact makes it a bit harder. But I am thankful that they are doing well and I hope to visit in the early spring. 

My new address is available from the WW office in Greenville.

May God give you a blessed and wonder-full Christmas! 

Love in Christ,  Judi