May and June in Berlin

  Guten Tag aus Berlin! 

    I haven't sent an update in a few months, during which quite a lot has happened. I changed which shelter I work at, from the shelter outside my window to a new one forty minutes away by subway. I went to the States to celebrate my sister's wedding. I left the States for Budapest, where the Cohort said goodbye to each other as our year together came to an end. My year in Berlin will end in August, so I plan to send out one more newsletter around that time. 

Budapest

    Cohort Europe is a part of Resonate Global Missions. It is the program I came to Germany with. It gives young people a chance to do missions and learn about missions in different contexts, with the hope of getting more young people interested in missions as a career. We have been able to travel to multiple countries to see how missions work in different contexts. It has given me a greater understanding of European culture. 

    There were six people in this year's Cohort. Kevin and Anastasia were with me in Berlin, Rebecca and Hanis were in Budapest, and Caroline was in Lithuania. I have been able to build good relationships with those in the Cohort, from living with some to having weekly phone calls with others. At the beginning of June, we went to Budapest and said goodbye to one another, marking the end of our year together. 

From a Basement to a Tent 

    On April 15th, the shelter where I had been working closed for the winter, and I was transferred to another shelter that remains open during the summer. In making this transition, I moved from a shelter in a basement to one in a tent. 

    Throughout the year, I had heard stories about the shelter in a tent. In previous years, some of my friends worked there until it deflated, and they ran the shelter out of a church for a winter season. 

    The first day at my new job, I walked across a cement parking lot with weeds coming through the cracks in the concrete to a faded silver tent. To enter the tent, there is a pressurized door, and inside the tent, there are benches to one side in front of the kitchen and rooms made from plywood on the other, and the tent goes up to create a dome over the space. 

    The new shelter is smaller than the shelter I worked at during the winter, with sixty guests coming each night, instead of 130. The work is similar to the work in the other shelter. Every evening, our guests get checked in. They can be served dinner until 10pm, and here they can have the same bed for as long as they stay. Each guest can stay for up to 10 days, but to stay longer, they can meet with the social worker, who can help them with paperwork or find a new job or apartment. 

    I have been able to shadow the social workers, which has given me a better understanding of the job social workers do, which has been helpful as I am considering pursuing my master's in social work next year. 

Update on Next Year 

    I have received a few inquiries about whether I plan to do missions next year. I am still figuring out what I can do next year, as I hope to stay in Berlin to continue being part of the communities I am currently involved in. However, I do not plan to continue doing missions, since the program I am in only lasts for one year. As a result, I am beginning to search for other things to do. I hope to further my education with a Master's in Social Work and continue working in the shelter. 

Lastly, 

I plan to send out one more newsletter after this one. A question I have been asked quite a lot recently is "Where have you seen God this year?" and as I begin to think about how I will answer this question for my next newsletter, I leave you with the same question: Where have you seen God this year?