Last Days Part 1

Today was a really good day.  Olivia and I played Let My Words Be Few.  I really love that song.  It's one of my favorite songs to sing.  I think playing with her has really helped my rhythm.  After worship, Jenna and I went out and shared together.  The lady we talked with at lunch was really nice and seemed interested to talk about spirituality but had to leave for work.  When we went back to the the Sud Mensa, we talked with a girl for five minutes but she didn't seem interested in knowing or desiring God.  That was a little sad, but each will come to God in their own time.  After that quick convo, we talked with this girl Constance.  She seemed so very interested in know God.  It was great.  We talked for about an hour and it all came so naturally.  She said she hoped to believe in heaven and that God existed but she wasn't convinced yet.  We told her that we can and that we were with Campues fuer Christus (its the German name for Crusade), and she said she thought we were because she met a guy a year ago who came up and shared the gospel with her and helped her reach the point she is at.  It was great to see that she still desired to know God and was talking with his guy.  We didn't talk for much longer since she had an exam but said she wanted our emails since we're leaving Wednesday.  It really made our day.

This evening, we went to the Olympic Stadium.  It was incredible to see the place where Jesse Owens won gold medals and where Hertha Berlin SC plays.  I sat there just in awe, realizing who am I to complain about grades or dating when a man such as Jesse Owens could stand there in persecution and perform; who am I to not rejoice daily and praise God at the top of my lunch since I do not have to worry about anything.  It was a very humbling experience.  

When we got back to the hostel, they were having a dance-party and Jenna, Alyssa, Kayla, and Austin convinced me to join them in dancing for a little bit.  It was fun.  I definitely do not enjoy dancing, but I really enjoy hanging out with them.  I'm going to be sad when I don't see those people daily when I come back to the states.  Along with Kenny and two of the male leaders, Micaiah and Doug, those are the people I'm closest to here.

Freie

Today worship went better.  Olivia and I played together and I think it was so much better having her sing and play rhythm while I played whole notes and lead lines.  I still kind of rush things since I prefer 6/8 over 4/4.  We played The Stand and Inside Out.

We went to Freie Universitaet today.  Its much more modern looking with buildings made out of steel and glass instead of brick.  At first I didn't really like how it looked, but it grew on me.  It's much more like an American university, most buildings are centrally located.  Austin and I were again paired up together.  I like him.  He's a really nice guy and I enjoy spending time with him.  We only had one conversation today and the guy was really apathetic to religion.  He said he believed in God but didn't feel like he needed a relationship with Christ or why he needed one.  We tried to explain to him why he needed a relationship with Christ but he didn't really care.  He was still really nice to talk with.  After the conversation, we decided to sit a while and pray and talk about how to go about talking with some other people now that we were out of the Mensa.  Ultimately, we sat talked and hung out with each other until Stephanie and Kim sat down with us outside.  There is a lot of grass and trees on Freie but its really unkempt.  It was really hot today, about 24 degrees Celsius and I was wearing pants and a long sleeve black and grey shirt.  I decided to buy a FU shirt before we prayed as a group.  I feel little awkward praying in groups.  Prayer, to me, is a time that I can talk with God personally and I just think back to what Jesus said about praying in public when I pray in groups unless its with certain people I'm really close with.  I feel like it loses some of its honesty, but its good because it forces me to be more open with others.  After our group prayer, we wanted to split up with people we hadn't worked with yet to go on a prayer walk but Austin and I are the only two guys on our team right now so we tend to do everything together.  We are spending a lot of time splitting up by gender and part of it is nice but another part seems odd.  I know as two guys going to share, it feels odd to approach a girl and be like "want to talk about Jesus?"  It just seems intimidating.  But I think/hope that will change.

Last night for dinner, I had kangaroo.  It was really good.

First day on campuses

I lead worship this morning.  It definitely didn't go as planned.  I played Walk by Faith and definitely forgot the words.  We only have a few lyric sheets since we forgot to print more off and when I get nervous I forget what I'm saying.  But tomorrow will be better hopefully.  Olivia and I are going to get together and rehearse a bit since when I play if I don't know the rhythm, I play in 6/8 instead of 4/4.

Today was the first day that I was on campuses and I spent the afternoon on Humboldt Universitaet zu Berlin.  It's one of the 3 main campuses that we'll be working on.  It's the philosophy, literature, economics school.  It's really nice and really old.  Austin and I were paired together and worked in the Mensa, which is the cafeteria.  We grabbed some lunch before going to the south Mensa and finding a place to sit.  We sat with this guy Stephan and had a really deep conversation.  Our goal for today was just to have a conversation with someone but we moved into a pretty deep conversation.  Stephan wasn't really interested in having a relationship with Christ, but we still spent time talking with him and trying to show him Christ.  He grew up in East Berlin and was in communist training when the Wall came down.  He said he was actually sad when the wall came down.  We did our best to share God's love with him during the conversation.  He wasn't against Christianity, or Islam; he just didn't feel that he needed a relationship with Christ.

After we got back to the hostel, we went over using the Knowing God Personally booklet as a way to start conversations and evangelize.  I hope tomorrow the people we meet are just as willing to have spiritual conversations as Stephan was, and that we can actually share the gospel.

Indianapolis

The time has come.  I have made it to Indianapolis and am leaving for Berlin in less than 12 hours.  I'm really excited.  The group really seems great.  So far we all are getting along and making friendships.  When I first arrived, I felt slightly out of place.  A lot of people know each other from school or they were on the trip last year.  Now, I feel comfortable and fine.  The leaders are really nice.  They have a lot of ideas and plans for us, so I'm excited.  The one thing I'm not totally happy with is that I won't have time for my own devotional.  I get that we are doing one as a group, but it would be nice to continue the one I've been doing for 8 months or so.  Hopefully when I get back I pick it up again.  Even though I'm sad I'll stop doing my devotional, I'm excited to start this one with a group of people.  I think it will be good for my growth.  

After meeting Olivia and Kenny, the other two I'm leading worship with, we talked about what we want to play for worship.  I'm still a little nervous about that.  I haven't really performed in front of anyone since I was 15, and even then I didn't sing.  But I know God will be the one leading through me.  He will give me strength and confidence.  I guess the one thing I'm most nervous about is that people won't get into the worship because of something I do or don't do.  But I trust that God will provide; He got me this far, why wouldn't He take me the rest of the way?

I probably won't write for a while.  Tomorrow begins a long two days of traveling, unpacking, and getting adjusted.

Preparing for Berlin: 14 days

I'm ready to go and get started in Berlin. I have 14 days before I fly out, and I can't wait. God has really provided for me on this trip and I hope all I do while I'm there honors Him. Thats all I really want to do, is honor Him. I know at times I fall short, I am human after all, but I really want to live life for Him. I want to live out Romans 12:1.

A week or so ago, Micaiah, one of the leaders of the trip, asked if anyone would be interested in leading worship and I replied saying I would play guitar and do what was needed. I've never lead worship before, so I'm a little nervous. Two other people replied and said that they would do it as well, so between the three of us we get to lead worship and choose songs to praise God with.