Acts 3:6

            This is one of the more heartbreaking stories that I have encountered so far while here in Germany. A few days ago, one of my teammates and I went to the mall to see if we could find any refugees to connect with. We asked God to help us find whoever it was that He wanted us to talk to, and we went looking. We saw this guy sitting at the bottom level by himself. We thought that he might be a good person to talk to, so we went down and sat by him and started talking to him. This entire conversation was mostly through Google Translate since he really only spoke Arabic.

            This man, probably in his mid-20s, has been in Germany for about six months. He fled Syria because the government there was seeking to kill him. We couldn’t quite figure out why, as that was lost in translation, but what we do know is that the government was serious about eliminating him. About 3 years ago, while sitting at lunch, the police came and started shooting at him and set off a bomb near him. Miraculously, he survived. However, he has shrapnel in 3 different places in his legs. After he survived this attack, the government came and took his wife and son prisoner. His son is now 3 years old, so that means that he was a mere infant when he was taken. Since then, this man has not seen or heard from his wife and son. He can only hope that they are alive. He has some family living in America, and so he would be able to get to the States if he wanted, but he feels that if he were to leave, it would be giving up on his wife and son. Germany is as far from Syria as he wants to be. But, he’s here pretty much without his family. His mother and brother were killed in Syria some years ago, and the only family he has is a cousin here.

            As he told us his story, we could see the pain in his eyes, and he was trying so hard not to cry. And so were we. It took all I had not to start bawling on the spot with this guy. Really, what do you say to that? How do you respond? There wasn’t much that we could offer him besides our ability to listen, and obviously, we wanted to pray for this guy. We eventually asked if he prays for his wife and son, and he said “yes, all the time.” We asked him if the 3 of us could pray together for them, and he was truly touched. He was so grateful and appreciative, and gladly agreed. However, as a Muslim, he had to wash his face, hands, and feet before he could pray. I offered him my water bottle so he could do so, and he went over to find a place to wash. There wasn’t really any space in the mall to do so, so he asked us to follow him. We walked a couple blocks through the city and he took us into his cousin’s apartment. He introduced us to his cousin and then went to the bathroom to wash up. He came out, pulled out his prayer mat and pillow, and began to pray in his Muslim way as we sat there. After this, he had us pray in our Christian way. We prayed for him, for his wife and son, and that Jesus would come in and redeem this situation some how in some way.

            Though he is not a Christian, the faith of this man really left an impression on me. We told him that there is grace for salvation and for redemption for his family, and he replied with “I know.” Despite the atrocities around him and the pain that he experiences daily without his family, he believes that God is good and he does not harbor any anger towards God.

            We hung out with these two men in the apartment for a few hours, and were able to show them a video in Arabic that put a lot of their Muslim beliefs into the context of Christianity and Jesus, and they were very intrigued. We could sense their openness, and they have agreed to do a Bible study with us through the Old Testament prophets and leading up to Jesus!

            In the midst of this man’s pain and suffering, I firmly believe that he will come to experience the redemption and peace that comes only from Jesus. Situations like this remind of Acts chapter 3. Peter and John were going to the temple, and there was a paralyzed man begging for money. Instead of giving him money, Peter instead says, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” Sure, this guy isn’t getting physically healed (yet? J), but the situation is not dissimilar. There is so much that we wish that we could do for this man that we’re unable to, but we do have the name of Jesus and everything that’s associated with Him. And that’s important. My prayer is that he and his cousin come to know Jesus sometime in the near future.  

            Please join me in prayer for these men!

            -Bae

Breaking the Ramadan Fast

A few nights ago, I had the incredible honor of breaking the Ramadan fast with a family. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims will fast from sunrise to sunset. Once the sun goes down, they will break their fast and eat. Breaking the fast is a pretty big deal each night, and they typically will prepare large, extravagant, and incredibly delicious meals! This particular family that we broke the fast with was Turkish and owned a Turkish restaurant in the city that I live in. They closed their restaurant for the night, only to open it back up for their family once the sun went down. Here’s the thing about their family- between aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews and cousins and grandparents, this family was about 40-50 people. All packed into this little restaurant.

We had met the host family on the street earlier in the day, and they had kindly invited us to break the fast with them in this special way. When we arrived, this place was absolutely packed, but they made sure people moved around so that the five of us could have seats. One of the children, who was about 14, came over and made sure that there was nothing that we would need to be more comfortable. They had all this food that they had prepared laid out buffet style, and wow was it good. All sorts of meats, rice, watermelon, and several foods that I can’t even pronounce the names of. This family was incredibly welcome and hospitable, constantly urging us to take more food and enjoy as much as we wanted.

The evening was spent eating and talking and laughing with this (LARGE) Turkish family. The restaurant was loud, crowded, and I couldn’t understand 4 out of the 5 languages being spoken. Yet, it at the same time felt like home. And that is because of the hospitality of this family. I was able to experience a lot about the culture that I had only heard about before- I’d heard that they prided themselves on hospitality and making people feel welcome, and this night I really experienced it. They welcomed us and made us feel like part of their family. Obviously, our job here in Germany is to work with refugees and share Jesus with them, and this family knew that. But, despite the clear difference in religion, they treated these random people that they met on the street like their own family. I think that that is amazing. And it provides a lot to think about. But check this out- this is a completely normal thing!! I have had team members invited to break the Ramadan fast with other Muslim families regularly, and so it’s not shocking in the slightest to me that I got invited. For me, this was another experience that has reformed and reshaped my own perspective.

God is moving and doing awesome things here in Germany. Both in the lives of the refugees, the locals, and my team.

Thank you for praying for us.

-Bae

Du süße Deutsche Kartoffel

Perhaps the most life-giving thing that I am involved in here in Germany is the youth group of the church that we are working with. The ages range from 13 to about 25, so it’s a super fun mix of people. I’ve clicked really well with them, and I’ve been able to spend time hanging out with them outside of church. KFC has sort of become our place, and we’ve spent hours there hanging out. We’ll walk in and they’ll say, “Welcome to America. Welcome home.” And during the week, I’ll get texts from different guys asking if I want to go swimming in the river, have a barbeque at their house and watch soccer (or futbol, as it’s properly called), or go out to the best ice-cream shop in the state. In the midst of the business of the refugee crisis, it’s amazing feeling cared for and knowing that I’ve been embraced as part of their church family.

The youth group meets on Friday nights, and tonight’s youth group (6/24) was a welcome party for a group of younger kids. The theme, unbeknownst to them, was Disney. They showed up and everybody was dressed up in some of the most legit Disney costumes you’ll ever see. We played games, had pizza and cake, and just had a blast welcoming these kids into the group. It reminded me so much of the youth group at my home church, Wellspring. Even the church itself has reminded me of Wellspring with the family in it that I've found. Anyways, at the end of tonight, we did karaoke and had a dance party, and it was SO fun. All these people in over-the-top Disney costumes jumping, dancing, laughing, it made me feel home. F.I.R.E. squad back at Wellspring- it was almost identical to so many of our nights in the summers, and it made me miss you all a ton.

Everyone in this group that I’ve met has been amazing, and they are all so hungry for what God has for them. I’m so thankful for the position that I’m in. I am able to do discipleship with a few of the younger guys, and we’ve begun meeting regularly to talk and grow. These dudes love Jesus and want to go deeper so bad. It’s inspirational. School gets out in about a week for them, and I can’t wait to be able to take them out on outreaches with us. I’m so lucky to be able to disciple them this summer and equip them as leaders going forward to continue making an impact in and around this church even after I’ve left.

This church has been an unexpected gold mine for me as I’m here. No matter how crazy or difficult a week may be, I always look forward to the Fridays and Sundays that I get to spend with my German church family.

Thanks for reading this little blurb about how much I love this church!

Much love,

Bae

Mid-June Update!

 I’m so sorry that I haven’t been able to post another update since I posted the Luke 10 story! We have been running extremely hard, and so it’s hard to find time during the days to sit and write.

However, things should be starting to slow down at least a little bit for us now. As interns, we are starting to settle into our roles here at the base, and are doing more to lead the short-term teams, rather than be the short-term team. It’s a very interesting dynamic, really. By no means are we a long-term missions team- we’re only here for 3 months! So, we need to run hard. However, we’re here for 3 long months, so we can’t sprint the way that the short-term teams are able to. It’s been an interesting challenge for us to find the proper balance for ourselves.

So, some updates on the last few weeks:

We’ve begun hosting short-term missions teams here in Germany. With these teams we’ve done several things. Primarily, we do outreaches at refugee camps, or we send groups out and put them in positions where they have the opportunity to meet refugees. When they meet people, whether at an outreach or on the street, they talk with them, hear their stories, see if there are any needs that can be met, and ideally they pray for them and try to see if they are open to learning more about Jesus. There is an incredible openness in the Muslim community here that is unprecedented, and we have been able to engage in Bible studies with several Muslims.

However, in order to do these Bible studies, we have to figure out where the refugees are. Finding them is a lot harder than it sounds… This is where one of my roles has come in. You know how Caleb in the Bible went and scouted the land? Well, that’s what I’ve been doing a lot of! I will lead small groups of short-term teams into cities and ask Jesus where to go. We will look for camps that are open to us, and look for refugees that are open to meeting with us.

            One time, I was in a city with a partner doing some scouting and praying. God had given me a picture of a fountain and said to talk to someone near it. As we left the city, we passed a fountain that looked just like the picture God gave me. So, we went to talk to people near it. I ended up talking with this guy from NEBRASKA. And he attended a church in the city and was working at two camps in a neighboring city. Now, this particular city we had been having a very hard time getting into. The camps were generally hard to find, and not very open to us. We had been praying for open doors, though, and this guy was all for getting us in. He got my phone number and promised to call. A couple days later, he calls me and gives me addresses, phone numbers, and anything we needed to know about these two camps. There was even an Iranian family that he wanted us to meet that were Christians. The next day, I called him to let him know that I would visit the camp he was at. He told me where he was, and I brought a team there. Turns out, he’s the security guard. Talk about open doors!!! Even crazier, it just so happened to be his last day on the job. Wow, God. He got us in and got us connected with people in the camp, and since then we’ve developed a relationship with multiple families, as well as the administrators of the camp. We’ve returned for both family outreaches and soccer outreaches multiple times, and has become our primary base in the city.

            One of my other primary roles is to work with the youth group of the church that we’re partnering with. This has been absolutely incredible. The youth group meets on Friday nights, and the first Friday night we visited and observed. That night I met the youth pastor, and he asked me if I would preach the next week. I was stoked- one of my life dreams has been to preach through a translator! I preached on Isaiah chapter 6, which is a passage that I’ve wanted to preach on for quite some time. The youth pastor had also requested that with our involvement in the group that we help teach the youth about the Holy Spirit. So, we provided space after the sermon for them to respond, and allow the Holy Spirit to direct the rest of the night. The night went incredible. The youth were able to respond and receive prayer, and I firmly believe that they were able to go a step deeper that night.

            These youth are absolutely incredible. I’ve been able to develop friendships with them, and I really really appreciate them. At this church, the youth group ranges from age 13 through 25ish, so there is a wide variety of people to connect with. The younger guys are amazing and love Jesus a ton, and the older guys are awesome to connect with and have even started picking me up and taking me back to my apartment on youth nights. Jesus is after the hearts of these young men. There’s this one guy that I’ve connected with, and Jesus has made it clear that he wants to take him deeper. This past weekend I had the opportunity to go with the church on their retreat to the lake, and while there this particular guy blew out his knee playing basketball. During worship, Jesus said to me very clearly that I should walk out, go outside to where he was, and pray for healing for him. So, I did. I prayed once, and he said that it felt better. I prayed a second time, and he said it felt totally fine!! He stood up, jumped up and down, and was able to return to playing basketball. SO cool.

Unrelated to the youth, here is one more cool story:

            We met with a man one day, and with our translator talked to him and asked him about his religious beliefs. We asked him if he has had any spiritual dreams, and he said yes. One night, he went to bad exceptionally depressed because his sisters were both back in Syria while he was in Germany. That night, he had a dream. In his dream, a man in white came up to him. He asked the man in white who he was, and he responded, “I am Jesus, the son of God. I will be coming back soon to end this war.” Wow. He asked his Imam (essentially a Muslim pastor) about the dream, and he was told that the dream was from Satan and to forget it. Well! That’s clearly not true. We got into Scripture with this guy, and he has now come to know Jesus and has become a Christian. We are continuing to follow up with him and walk with him and take him deeper in his new faith. Here’s the crazy thing about this- this is not an isolated incident! It’s a fairly regular thing for us to meet a Muslim refugee and they will have had some dream about a man in white and they’re searching for an answer about who he is. Jesus is seriously after this people group. How incredible it is for me to have the opportunity to partner with Him and help start a church planting movement amongst them.

            Thanks y’all for reading; apologies if this seems a bit scattered. It’s tough to find time to sit and write, so this is the product of several different days of writing. As we settle more into routine, though, I should be posting little stories more often. Thank you for supporting me.

Much love,

Bae