Well I am back to posting again now that I am back on the other side of the pond. This time around I plan on being a lot more committed to updating this blog and keeping you posted on my life and ministry here in Berlin, Germany. I will continue my tradition of naming the title of my post after a name of a song, so if you can name the artist and album of the song then I will give you 5 gold stars for each correct answer.
Anyways, I am going to jump right into what you want...the update! First off, I need to let all my supporters know that I am at 100% pledged of my support goal! God brought 85% of it in just 3 weeks, which is absolutely incredible and a testament to God's faithfulness in provided for the needs of His children. I want to thank you for all your prayers and support through that process. You guys supported me through the it all and got me here to Berlin! So please rejoice with me and thank God for all that He did to get me here because it truly is a miracle for me to have raised all that support in such a short amount a time.
There are some really cool things that happened with support raising and I want to share them with you. Like I said earlier it took about 3 weeks for God to bring me all the way to 100%. It started around August 15-16, with a the prayers of my STINT team at the STINT briefing (i missed the briefing to raise support) and they sent me a lot of encouragement via texts. The next day I woke up feeling abnormally encouraged, motivated, and excited to raise support. I felt like people were praying for me, I do not know how else to express it other than that I felt prayer. That morning new names started going through my head for people to call, and so I made phone calls. That became a pattern for the next few weeks. Wake up, think of names and make phone calls, eat dinner, then make more calls. I would wake up and just pray to God not knowing where the $X/month was going to come from, but I knew He would bring it in. He was faithful and everyday more and more support came in. One night, in particular, I remember making some phone calls after dinner around 6pm. Around 9pm I made phone calls to those in Central Time (1 hour behind me so it was 8pm there), then I made calls to Mountain Time (an hour later so it was still 8pm there time), then I made calls to Pacific Time (again still 8pm there time). I was done talking around midnight and was so tired! But again, I point to God for ensuring that the people I called would be there and willing to talk and making that night very productive. So I just wanted to let all of you know just how incredible it is that I am here in Berlin. I am reminded of Phillipians 4:19 when Paul says "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." It is amazing how true Paul's words were in this time.
So some of you may know, some may not, but I left for Berlin, Germany this past Sunday (Sept. 11) and have safely arrived. I told some of you that I would be leaving on Sept. 2 but that was changed because I couldn't get a plane ticket reserved so quickly (thats just how fast God raised the support). I have been living in Berlin for almost a full week now. So far I haven't done too much other than just get acquainted with living here. I don't know the language too well but I can still get around alright without too much trouble. I live in the Stadtmitte district, which literally means City Center. I get around using mostly the subway (U-bahn), tram (S-bahn), or by bus. I live really close to some tourist attractions, so where I live seems pretty safe. I live on what used to be East Berlin, and about a quarter of a mile from where the wall used to be. I have some pictures to show where I live using Google maps. I also provided a panorama from my balcony, which I thought was pretty cool. I am excited to live here in Berlin. Its a really cool place with a lot of history. This first week is really about settling in here and getting used to living here. I think I have definitely accomplished that.
I have been able to go onto one of the campuses this past week. I went to Technische Universität on Tuesday and got to talk with a student involved with Campus für Christus. She was so excited to talk with us and share more about what life is like as a student at Technische Universität. Talking to her really got me excited to do ministry in Berlin. I can see the need for the need to share the Good News here and I want to be a part of that.
Well I think that is it for now...if you have any questions just post them as a comment and I'll try to address them as best I can.
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