Ich bin ein Berliner

Three days ago we arrived in Berlin, but contrary to our plans of making a subtle entrance, we were heralded with a party of 20 people waving Berlin flags and a big welcome sign at the train station! The congregation of Mavuno Berlin gave us a wonderful welcome, far beyond anything we had expected. After brief introductions, we headed off to a couples place, Sven and Anja and their 14 month old daughter Elea. We had dinner there with Dan and Nancy, and also Ole and Andrea, another couple that have moved to Berlin for the church plant. Our first family German meal was Kassler, salted baked pork, which was very nice, along with potatoes (lots of potatoes) and beans.

We then stayed the night at Sven and Anja's, who have been most hospitable, and we will continue to stay there for a few weeks until we find a place of our own. The next day we headed out for a spot of shopping and sight seeing. James needed black pants for his job interviews and we managed to pick some up with little problems. We then headed to the city to see the Brandenburg Gate and a few other of the local attractions. It so happened that on that day 50 years ago, work started on the Berlin wall, so there was a lot things going on.

On Sunday was our first church service. The congregation warmly welcomed us with a BBQ after the service. We understood very little of the sermon, being in German and spoken quite fast, but we had lots of good opportunities to practice our German at the BBQ afterwards. Most of the congregation speak at least a little English, but we stuck to German as much as possible to practice. We met some wonderful people and look forward to spending more time with them each week.

We are starting to see just how much we need to rely on God, though the people are very warm and friendly, we find ourselves missing our family and friends in Australia already, and speaking simple English or poor German all the time can be quite draining.

• All the people we have met have made us feel very welcomed and at home
• We are learning German quickly and gaining more confidence every day in speaking it

• We would keep trusting God for his provision
• We would be able to build solid friendships with people in the church
• God will guide us in our job hunting and in how we should best be serving him

Tschüss!