Blessings from Berlin

It's been almost one week since I returned from Berlin. Our team left on October 17 and headed to Germany to serve and care for refugees.

Our team was made up of two ladies, Marsha and Nikki, from a church in Dallas. (Small world: Nikki is from Little Rock and we knew each other in high school. We only reconnected after she signed up for the trip!). Two young ladies from Alabama, Caitlin and Ashley. They have gone on multiple e3 trips and are seasoned travelers. My co-worker Mary and her dad John. It was really fun to watch John experience Mary in her element. And lastly, two gents, Ron and Curt, from California. Ron and Curt are members of one of the Miller's supporting churches. (The Millers are one of our missionary partners in Berlin.) A lot of places were represented, but we messed together quickly and had a lot of fun.

We explored the city, trained with the missionaries, prayed, and served all week long; but, a few stories and a few faces stick out in my mind.

One afternoon, early in the week, Ashley and Caitlin, Mary and John, were en route to meet with Rob, one of our missionary partners, and a few young believers for Bible study. Caitlin was thirsty and stopped for a bottle of water. As she walked into the store a man approached the door, smiled and held the door for Caitlin. Once they were inside the man sparked a conversation with Caitlin. He spoke little German and even less English, but Caitlin was able to communicate through Google translate. Technology is amazing.

This man, we will call him Michael, immigrated from Syria and suffered a lot during the war. He is in a lot of physical pain, because of shrapnel still in his back. Caitlin invited Michael to meet the rest of her friends and they started talking about Jesus.

The next day, Caitlin, Ashley and Nikki went with Rob to meet Michael to talk more about Jesus and the Bible. Michael was excited to meet with them, so excited that he brought a friend with him. His friend's name is Matt (name changed). They both had a lot of good questions about the Bible and what it says about Jesus. We invited both of them to dinner to meet other believers from the Middle East. Michael declined to join us, because he was in a lot of pain due to his existing injury, but Matt came along!

Matt is extremely interested in Jesus Christ. Rob is going to start meeting with him to talk more and answer questions. We are hopeful that Michael will join as well, but there is a fire inside of Matt to know about Jesus and we hope to call him a brother soon!

A view from a train stop near our hotel. Berlin is so beautiful, but also so spiritually in need.

One evening, we had dinner with multiple young men from Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria, who have all come to know Jesus OR are very close to knowing Jesus as their Savior. One of the young men, Ralph, was extremely quiet. He sat and watched as we chatted through broken English and/or over Google translate. As the evening wore on he came out of his shell little by little. John and Ralph really connected and by the end of the evening they were giving each other bear hugs, exclaiming, "We are family! My brother. You're my brother."

These young men have literally lost everything. Some of them due to war and others to circumstances; many because of their decision to follow Jesus. When they meet other men and women who share their passion for Jesus, they are literally accepted and loved like their family.

Our brother Ralph has several tattoos and at dinner we asked him what they meant. He lifted up his sleeve and showed us one on his arm of the Cross! I exclaimed, "Wow you have a tattoo about Jesus." He told us that he got the tattoo eight years ago in Iran. He did not know what it meant, but he got it because thought it looked cool. He told us, "NOW (7-years later) I know what this means and I love it even more. I love Jesus!" How cool!? Praise God for this young man and for the unknown tattoo that now holds so much meaning for our brother Ralph.

Our team at the Brandenburg Gate during the Light's Festival

There was another young man we met during our time in Berlin named Arnold. He was also very timid at first. He spoke a little English so he was able to communicate with our team just a bit more than some of the other guys.

Nikki and I were chatting with him and asked if he had any family. He hung his head and said no. He did not have any family left. He lost his family in the war in Afghanistan. We continued to ask questions about his life and interests and we asked if he knew about Jesus. His eyes filled with emotion and he told us, "Yes I have heard about him, but I have so many questions." We acknowledge that it's great to have questions and we can help answer some if he'd like.

He smiled and we told him that, "Jesus loves him and we love him too." His eyes filled with tears and he nodded his head. We met with Arnold a couple more times throughout the week and were excited to hear that he is now officially a brother in Christ!

Great shot of the TV tower, St. Mary's Church, and statue of Martin Luther.

When you hear so many stories they can start to mix together and lose meaning. There is so much pain in our world -- so many people in need and so many people hurting. But, what I was reminded of in Berlin is we each have a story. Every individual has a story and while it would be impossible for any one human to help or know all of the suffering -- God knows all of it. He knows every single story and every single hurt. He promises to heal our hearts and one day dry all of our tears.

We hope for this day, but as we hope I pray we tell as many people as we can about Jesus and the eternal, life giving, life changing, LIVING hope He brings to us NOW and for eternity.

Please pray for Berlin. Pray for our missionary partners who are there full time on the front lines. Pray for new refugee families who come to start a new life. Pray for Berliners who don't know Christ. Germany has a great place in church history, but it is a dark and dry place. Less than 1% of Berliners know about Jesus. It's a city of almost 3.5 million people!!!

Pray for these people. Pray for our new brothers and friends - Michel, Matt, Ralph and Arnold.

Thank you for your love and care while I was in Berlin. Thank you for your prayer support and financial support. I would not be able to go and serve without you.

all of my love and for His Glory, Caroline

We got to go to Wittenberg (an hour train from Berlin) and saw the church door where Martin Luther nailed the 95-thesis. It is the 500th anniversary THIS MONTH! So cool to be in the town where the Reformation started. 

This is a shelter for the homeless and disabled in the middle of Berlin. They have religious ties, but also receive government sanctions. I was encouraged and humbled by the verse. It's Jeremiah 29:7 and reads, "Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." 

A beautiful windy day in Berlin at the Berliner Dom. I have been to Berlin multiple times and each time I am shocked by it's size, diversity, and darkness.  God is at work in Berlin, but this is a city that is desperate for hope. We have the everlasting and living hope of Christ. Pray for revival in this city and the workers who live in and love this city. 

Lunga-Lunga, Kenya

Hey team:

It's been a whirlwind over here. Joel and I got married April 15 and then honeymooned for a week in Jamaica; and two weeks later I left with a medical team for Kenya. After two weeks of recovering from travel and sickness I'm back in business.

And my first order of business is to tell you about our trip to Kenya!

Our team was made up of nursing students from the University of Alabama, four high energy and high spirited New Yorkers, and a few others from Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina and Kentucky. We were a motley crew.

Our team outside the hotel

There are dozens of stories I could tell about our time in Kenya, but a three stick out in my mind:

1. The National Partners 

Catherine is second from the right.

As a part of e3 Partner's strategy in Lunga-Lunga, we partner with local pastors and missionaries. The team of nationals working in Lunga-Lunga and the surrounding areas is amazing. These men and women have dedicated their lives to share the Gospel with the lost in Kenya.

Me and Anne with Alfa our Kenyan strategy leader.

Catherine, Body and Simon are currently in missionary training school in Kenya. Catherine is from northern Kenya, but has a passion to share the Gospel with Muslims; and Body and Simon are from the Congo! Both of them felt called to be missionaries in Kenya and moved to come to the training school.

Catherine and I went to the village together one the first day and it was surreal to talk with her about church planting and missions strategies. I know that's strange, but it gets me excited to hear that Catherine is learning the exact same strategies I've been learning in the States. We are both learning how to share the Gospel with Muslims and how to reach the unreached of the world with the Gospel!

As we talked, I was reminded how self possessed I can be...let me explain. I assume all of these cool mission strategies and tools come out of America, because I'm from here...doesn't everything good and cool come from MY country? BIG FAT NO. I KNOW this in my head, but so often my heart forgets.

When I learned Catherine is learning the same things as I am in another country across the world, well that humbled AND excited me. God is doing an amazing work in this area. He is sending workers to come and claim His people for His glory and His honor.

Daniel, Simon, Body, D, Hassan and Skyler - men of God!

2. The Rain

We came to Lunga-Lunga in the rainy season and we were ready for it!

We spent almost every evening packing medicines and vitamins for patients. And because of the rain, evenings were also spent shouting over the downpour that pounded on the tin roof of our hotel. There is nothing like a good power outage and minor flooding to bond a team together. 

Playing at the school next to our purple bus!

It actually rained so much that we were unable to get to Lunga-Lunga on our second day of clinic. My co-leader Alfa, called a local pastor and asked if he would be open to host our medical team at their Christian school...he said come on! We drove through unpaved, flooded, dirt roads to get to the Christian school and church to set up clinic. 

The surrounding villages had no idea we were coming, BUT we spread the word and within a few hours over 400 people were at the clinic doors. The rain might have kept us from Lunga-Lunga, but God had other plans for the day. 

Every child in every classroom at the school heard the Gospel from our team that day. The head master of the school reported to us that 90% of the students are from Muslim families. Seeds were planted and lives were changed.

3. The Bridge and the Purple Bus

The rain stopped half way through the week, which meant we were able to get back across the flooded bridge into Lunga-Lunga.

We had an amazing day of clinic and played with tons of children. A small team went into the village again to share the Gospel and invite people to the clinic. 

The 'waiting' room tent for the clinic.

At the end of a long day, we loaded up our huge purple bus with almost 40 people plus equipment and set off towards our hotel. 

About half way to the bridge crossing, we get a call -- the bridge had collapsed as a result of the rains earlier in the week. My co-leader and I looked at each other and said, "The bridge we drove over this morning? That one? That bridge collapsed?" Okay. Well, praise God no one was hurt and praise God we were not on the bridge when it collapsed. 

As a result, we would have to take the long way around to get back to our hotel. 

The actual time it would take to get back was unknown, because our driver only knew part of the route. We picked up someone in one of the villages who was kind enough to ride along and show us the way through the hilly and pot holed filled dirt roads. 

About two hours in to the trek a few of us in the front of the bus noticed the gas light had come on.

Now, you might know, but just incase you don't -- there are NOT a lot of gas stations in the middle of the African bush. There are a few in town, but no so much outside of town.

We just started to pray. 

And the gas light stayed on for 15-minutes. 

And 15-minutes, became 30-minutes, and that became 45-minutes.

And it started getting dark and people started getting hungry. 

Even after a 'bathroom' stop the bus just kept going. 

And we kept praying. 

After almost three total hours on the backroads we made it to the main road! The gas light had been on for 45-minutes. 

We were still rolling. 

We made it to a gas station at about the one-hour mark. 

Now I can for sure push filling up my car at home, but there is no way I could go for an hour. 

God did a miracle. A literal loaves and fishes miracle. 

After we got gas, we just looked at each other and laughed, because what in the world! God knew we'd have that detour and he provided a miraculous way for us to get home. 

So needless to say God was present and did some remarkable things in Lunga-Lunga. One of which was multiplying our gas to get us through the bush in the middle of the night!

The line for suckers was long!

It was an honor to serve in Lunga-Lunga and I will not forget the faces of the people there nor will I forget all God did among the Digo people. 

Please pray for all of the national workers who are giving their lives to these people in Kenya. Remember the Digo people and ask that many would come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior. 

all my love. until next time. 

caroline