Hello from Berlin!
Thank you to everyone who has supported me in the past few months through encouragement, prayers, or financial gifts. I am incredibly grateful and humbled by all that has been done for me and the kindness and generosity that I have received. My year of ministry is fully funded! Which is an incredible blessing and truly amazes me.
While in Berlin, I will be working under two organizations. Resonate Global Mission has a program called Cohort Europe for young people. They have programs in Budapest, Berlin, and Lithuania. A part of Cohort Europe's goal in having young people do missions for a year is to create interest in people doing missions more long-term.
I will work with the Berlin program, where Resonate has partnered with the Berlin City Mission, an organization similar to the Salvation Army in America. I will be working in one of the mission's churches, the Willkommens Gemeinde. It is a church plant with the focus of being a place to welcome those new to Berlin, such as refugees and other immigrants. Its services are in simple German, and twice a week, about a hundred people come to learn German at the "Speaking" Cafe, where those learning German can practice speaking with other people. They invite those who come to attend services on Sunday as well.
I will also work in a Homeless Shelter, a Notübernachtung, three days a week. It opens in the winter months, so until then, I will be working on preparations for its opening, and I will be visiting other parts of the organization to understand what they do.
At the beginning of August, Resonate flew all the participants of Cohort Europe to Budapest for orientation. We were able to meet each other, and our mentor Jeff Bouman, explore the city, and learn more about Cohort Europe and what is expected of us. Later in the year, we will travel to each other's placements to see how missions work in different places.
I will be working in Berlin with two other participants from Cohort Europe, Kevin and Anastasia. Anastasia and I will be living in a flat with other young people who volunteer at the City Mission, while Kevin will be living elsewhere.
Adjusting to Life in Germany:
August has been spent learning German, and figuring out paperwork, such as visas, getting acquainted with the people I will be working with, learning the city, such as public transportation, and simply adjusting to life here in Berlin. I have been going to the church and the speaking cafe to get to know people, but I will officially start in September.
Everyone has been incredibly friendly and helpful since I got here. I am slowly learning the language, usually understanding words here and there. People have started to talk to me only in German, so I can hear and understand it more, which has been incredibly helpful.
I have been able to visit different parts of the city, and am beginning to learn more about its history.
Lastly:
When I arrived in Germany, everyone talked about the cultural norm of punctuality here. Except, people noted, their public transit and government offices, those two things I could rely on to not be punctual.
When I began to work at the homeless shelter, my boss noted that she was not punctual either, simply because she got distracted by beauty. She has no problem being late if she has paused to have a conversation with someone or has simply stopped to admire something beautiful around her.
The pictures below are things I have found beautiful and stopped to take photos of.
No comments:
Post a Comment