Wow. There aren't even words that can express all the things God did on my trip. Most of his work was on my own heart. I'm still processing it all and trying to soak in the lessons he has taught me. I'll try to be brief and if you want to know more about my trip I'd love to tell you one on one.
First and foremost Berlin is HARD. You know the butterflies you get when you are about to tell someone that Jesus defines who you are, that he's the most incredible savior the world has ever seen and he wants a personal relationship with every individual on this earth? Yeah? well multiply those butterflies by 100 and you get what I went through in Berlin. God is not a name that is spoken there. The Country of Germany was oppressed in the name of religion before and so God isn't really something they like to chit chat about. Jesus....well they don't even really know who he was.
While there were many times I was discouraged when I asked people if I could talk to them about their lives and about religion and they rejected me, it always reminded me of just how big the God I serve is. It really showed me that I deep within my core believe that Jesus took the place for my sins so that I don't have to go to hell. It showed me just how much he cares for me.
I'm a very emotional person. My heart breaks easily, and my heart broke completely for the people in Berlin. When talking to an Atheist woman I realized just how much she needed to know that God loved her. Christianity isn't understood there. There is a huge stigma that we're self righteous and pushy, and breaking that misconception was hard. Why? Because we can be those things, luckily we have grace.
Berlin is so diverse. I met very few German students. Most of my interactions were with people from all over the place. Thats a huge reason I think God wants to reach Berlin. Making an impact there really could change the world.
The gospel was shared with numerous students on our trip, but no one made a decision. I left Germany on Sunday feeling defeated. I wanted to see people believing what I know is true but that didn't happen. So I took it to Christ and he gave me Hebrews 11. It's all about faithfulness and how the faithful often don't get to see the rewards of being obedient. God is sovereign and I know he's working in the hearts of the people we shared with. I trust that he'll do the work.....because only he can.
P.S there are people I was really impacted by so if you think of them be in prayer that God will move in their hearts. Costas- a new student who came from Greece. Natalie- a timid girl from Poland who isn't sure God could care about her "boring life". And especially Hannah- a professor who's 5yr old daughter has been asking her about Jesus.
