Warm greetings from Sheffield. I know it defies what some think of England, but today I actually walked about town without a jacket. Temperature is 8 degrees Celsius, 46 degrees Fahrenheit. We're having a heatwave! It made me realize that, while I enjoy winter, I was not made for climes where 3 feet of snow grace the ground for more than 3 months :). Speaking of snow, I'm sure you all saw the news about the snow falling down here in Sheffield. In fact, I wrote about it last time. It's all gone now, but I got some awesome photos from my bedroom window. It's great living on the third floor...except when you have to climb two flights of stairs with heavy things. Good for my fitness level I suppose.Thinking about things that are good for me makes me think about the sermon that I preached last Sunday. I know it was good for me to do something that took me completely out of my comfort zone. I managed not to faint, trip over every other word, or to be terribly unclear. It's a very great thing that God is so good! I simply spoke about what I feel God's heart is for children, and He did the rest. It was fun, stressful, and is honestly a relief to have completed. Generally speaking it was a good experience, but I'm glad it's not my job every week. Usually we put the sermons on the website (antiochsheffield.org), but I'm not sure if mine was recorded. I'll let you know if it gets put up because I know you'll all want to hear it (wink).
(BYOB)
I know you're asking yourself, what else is new in Sheffield. Well, the answer is, BYOB. Some of you may be concerned, but I can assure you. BYOB stands for Bring Your Own Banana. One of the freshers (first year university students) thought it would be a good idea to have a time of getting to know Janette better. I mentioned my love of peanut butter banana smoothies, and the idea took off from there. All who wanted to could bring a banana, and I would introduce them to the joy of Janette's smoothie. It was good fun to see the reactions of people who politely drank something they weren't quite sure about:). It warms the heart.
(Victory Column)
Travelling to another country and finding people who love Jesus also warms the heart. That was the experience of these last four days in Berlin, Germany. I left on Thursday for World Mandate Berlin with my housemate Fliss, the student pastors Sarah and Stephen, and one of our student lifegroup leaders Lara. Also in my company were the four or five German words that I knew. Thursday evening was spent tromping around the city in the snow seeing the sights. Friday we climbed 282 steps to the top of the Victory Column in Berlin (Siegessӓule) and saw the remnants of the Berlin Wall. You can't look at it and not think about how something so physical must have had a profound emotional impact of the ethos of the nation.
(Lara, Fliss, Stephen, & Sarah) (Giant Lego Giraffe)
(Portions of the Wall)
The wall doesn't seem to have affected the food or music of the city. World Mandate Berlin worship was spectacular! I even loved singing in German. Let's see, other things I loved about Berlin and World Mandate in no particular order:
- Dunkin Donuts
- Litter free streets
- God is Good to All (awesome song!)
- Enormous four level train stations
- Finding friends in God even if you don't exactly speak the same language (Jesus is a heart language after all)
- Spending 4 days straight with great English people
- Walking the streets of Berlin and getting a bigger heart for the nation
- Hearing a 26-year-old German pastor with a huge heart for his nation to know Jesus (with the help of a translator of course)
(East meets West)
It's good to be back in Sheffield, but I recommend Berlin to anyone who's thinking about visiting, and you should definitely check out Antioch Berlin if you go there. They have an amazing worship band. Now it's back to work figuring out the volunteer's rotation for children for the next month, working on the children's workers training day this Sunday after church, and working through the logistics of splitting the children into two classes! Our new team members, John and Ira Book arrived last Wednesday with their 13 month old Nadia and we have a new family coming to church with a 13-year-old, 11-year-old, and 9-year-old. Praise the Lord! Better get to work...ta loves
German vocab lesson
Hallo - Hello
Danke - Thank you
Bitte - Please
Entschuldigen - Excuse me
Schokolade - Chocolate (the most important word!)
