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

Luke 10

We have a God who knows no boundaries. Sometimes, we try and box Him in. Sometimes, we try and tell Him what He can and cannot do. Sometimes we just don’t have the faith to let go of our little box where we try to put God. This being said, let me say it again- we have a God who knows no boundaries. We simply cannot box Him in, because He works in beautiful, incredible, intricate ways that blows our weak temporal perspective away.

The Luke 10 challenge is based off of Luke 10, where Jesus sends out his disciples to cities to heal, cast out demons, and trust for a person of peace who will provide them with food and a place to stay. For us, this looks like going into a city and trusting that Jesus will provide us with people to pray for and share the Gospel with, and hoping that there will be a person or family that takes us in for the night.

Just one day after arriving in Germany, we headed off for our Luke 10 trip. Our Luke 10 experience began with a bus ride to a neighboring city. We were very driven by a desire to find a refugee camp and to engage with them. We were trusting that God would provide us with people that we could have a conversation and share His love with. Maybe, we would even see Him heal people. We were extremely confident because we knew that Jesus would take care of us, protect us, and guide us, and also because we knew that we had a team of people interceding for us and asking God for prophetic insight into what He wanted to do. God had also given my team a verse. It was from Isaiah 31, and it said “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!” Basically, God was telling us to ask Him for help before we came up with our own plan. This was crucial as we went forward.

 Towards the end of the ride, we received a text from our prayer team. They told us that God had given them a picture of a middle-aged man holding water. They also had received the name “Johann.” We got off the bus, and said, “Okay God, which way do we go?” The Lord told us to go left, and so we went left. Sure enough, there was a large mural on the wall with the hands of a middle-aged man, holding water! Wow, God was totally confirming that as long as we trust Him and ask Him what to do, He will show up. Then we said, “Okay, Lord, which way to the refugees?” A few of us both felt like God was saying to go down some stairs. We walked that direction, going where we felt that God wanted us to go, until we came to a large staircase. Several people were coming down from it, so we went up. Maybe we’d find someone who knew about the refugees. At the top was this platform that overlooked the city. As Bree, John, and Andi went to ask a taxi driver and a woman about where we could find the refugees, I walked to the end of the platform. The view was beautiful. In the distance were hills, covered in dense, dark green trees. Sprawled between the hills and me was the city, with its buildings looking like something out of a European movie, with trees sprinkled in between. To my right was a church, with its steeples rising above any other tree and building near me. Despite the beauty of this, there was heaviness and a weight. I felt that there was a spiritual battle to be fought, and chains to be broken off. I walked over to tell the team this, but before I could, Bree pulled out her phone and read a text that she had just gotten from the prayer team. “We see an empty platform. We feel like there is a spirit of false identity that needs to be broken off.” Alright, God. We immediately prayed.

As we prayed, we saw a crowd of young guys below us. John and I went to talk to them, as they looked like they could be middle-eastern. It turned out that they were, in fact, Palestinians from Syria. We talked to them a bit and heard some of their story. They were neighbors back in Syria, and were reunited in Germany. The one who we mostly spoke to, as he had the best English, told us that he had only recently arrived. He told us about how he had survived two explosions and a rocket back in Syria, and in order to leave the country, he three times had to bribe the border patrol. Never in my life have I seen such a clear pain as I looked someone in the eye. So much brokenness. So much hurt. We asked to pray for him, and he agreed. He asked also that we would pray for his family still in the Middle East, that they would be reunited with him in Germany soon. We then engaged in a very long conversation about religion. He seemed to perk up when the conversation turned this way, and he invited us to sit down. We shared the Gospel and discussed differences between Islam and Christianity. As the conversation winded down, Bree received another text from our prayer team. They said that God gave them a word about someone who needed healing from head pain. Right after this, the two men said that they had something else that they wanted us to pray for- one of their friends recently was near an explosion, and shrapnel got in in his left eye and he needed surgery. Unfortunately, they had to leave right then, but we immediately prayed for their friend, fully believing that God will heal him.

As John and I prayed, a middle-school girl came and talked to Andi and Bree. She shared a nightmare that she had recently had, and Andi was able to interpret the dream and tell her about it, and pray with her. God was really moving in this city.

At this point, we decided to head off again and find the refugees. The woman we had spoken with had suggested asking the church, so we walked over. As John and Andi went inside to ask, Bree and I stayed outside to pray. As we prayed, we received a couple of texts from our prayer team: they had been given a picture of a man, wearing a black shirt with white writing and a graphic on it, and we needed to ask him for directions. They had also been given a word about somebody having a pain/numbness in their right foot. At this point, John and Andi came back out and John asked another man in the courtyard if he knew where we could find the refugees. He directed us to a school up the hill.

We trekked up this hill, asking around for directions to make sure that we were going the right direction, and finally arrived at this school. Andi and Bree were both very thirsty at this point. Unfortunately, the school no longer housed refugees. We could easily have become very discouraged, but God was quick to make sure that we wouldn’t be. He told us to ask these three guys unloading their car if we could help them, and so we did. They then responded by giving us free drinks. Look at God! Now, we were hungry. There were several food options nearby, so we asked, “God, where do you want us to go?”

Suddenly, a man walks by. He had a black shirt on, with white writing, and a graphic. I bolted after him. I crossed the street and followed him down the street til I caught him. “Excuse me!” I asked. “Do you speak English?” He did, in fact, speak English! I had absolutely no idea what to say from there, but God prompted me to ask where we could find a “cheap dinner.” He gave me some directions, and I thanked him. Before we parted ways, I asked if I could pray for him. He was quite surprised, and he laughed a little bit and said to pray for his health. I asked if I could pray for him right then, but he chuckled and walked away. I went back to the team and told them that we had to pray for this guy’s health. As we began praying, someone saw him coming back on the other side of the street, favoring his right foot. We had been given the word by the prayer team before about pain in someone’s right foot, so we knew we had to pray for this guy. He went into a building, and so we said “God, if you send him back out, we will pray for healing for his right foot!” We slowly walked by the building, and he came bolting back out. We were pumped, and thought that we would be praying for this guy’s foot right then and there, but before we could get a sentence out he asked, “Do you guys like Barbeque??” We said yes, and he invited us into his home. As we walked to his door, there was the name “Johanna” written on the wall. Alright, God, we see you. We entered, and the man’s girlfriend was waiting there to greet us, and they took us outside to a table.

We had an incredible evening with the two of them. They were both in their upper-40s, and the man had just barely a year ago moved to the city to be closer to his girlfriend. They served us a meal of salad, sausage, potatoes, and when we thought the meal was over, plenty of pork. They defied the stereotype that we had heard about Germans not being very good at spontaneous hospitality. Towards the end of the meal, he brought up God and religion. He asked why on earth we would want to pray for him. We told him the crazy story of how God was telling our friends these things that we were going to see, and how they were texting us as we went out. He was in utter disbelief, and had to see the texts for himself. After he saw the proof, he didn’t know what to think. It was a beautiful avenue for us to share the Gospel, and we were able to articulate it in a couple of ways. The next few hours were spent discussing Christianity and addressing any questions that they had. Then, we had the chance to pray for him. Turns out, the issue with his right foot is actually his right knee. He blew it out several years ago, and things grind and click in painful ways that they aren’t supposed to. We prayed for healing, and fully believe that God healed his knee. He didn’t know right then, since it wasn’t in pain, but we believe that in the time since he has realized that his knee is completely better and completely healed.

Following prayer, he kept on repeating how amazed and “impressed” he was by the way that things had worked out that day. Everything from the shirt that he wore to the prayer to the texts. He said several times that even if his knee is not healed, he will still be open to God because of what he had seen. He was so open, in fact, that he said to us “If you want, I really would like for you to stay in my home tonight.” We told him that we would, and he was extremely happy. We spent the rest of the night talking, and hearing his story, hearing his girlfriend’s story, and at one point we tried to slide the Bible into the conversation. He was open, but unfortunately his girlfriend was uncomfortable with it, so we didn’t have the chance right then.

We ended the night sipping coffee and tea by candlelight, and finally ended up going to bed around 11 pm. Around 7, we got up, enjoyed a cup of coffee, and we went on our way as they began their days. What an incredible experience we had with these people. He gave us his phone number, so we will be able to continue our relationship with him. It is our prayer that this man will come to know Jesus. He is close, and has even said himself that he is open, so now we are trusting that the Holy Spirit will be doing a work on his heart.

20 hours after we had left for this Luke 10 trip, we finally got back to our apartment. Exhausted, but in awe of what God had done and what God is doing.

We have a God who knows no boundaries.  

First Post From Germany!

Hello! I made it. I am in Germany! We are all moved into our apartment in Germany after finishing up training in the Netherlands. We live on top of a bakery; it's so cool! Apologies for not having posted much else prior to this; we just today got Wifi in our apartment so there hasn't been an opportunity to post anything. 

So, update on my life in the past two weeks: I left on Sunday the 15^th and arrived in the Netherlands on Monday the 16^th. We jumped right into training, despite being awake for roughly 36 hours. In that training time, we did a lot of prayer and intercession on behalf of our teams, our cities, and the refugees. Day 2 was a continuation of the training, and we did some evangelism on the streets to practice listening to the Lord and stepping out of or comfort zones. However, the highlight of my day has got to be this- one of the base leaders prayed for me and my stomach. I’ve been asking God to heal me of my wheat allergy for at least the time that I’m in Germany, and so together we prayed and asked God for healing. Lunch time came around, and I had to make a decision. Make a decision based off of fear, and a decision without faith, and find some gluten-free alternative, or I could radically trust God and eat a sandwich with the bread. Never in my life has taking just one bite of food been so difficult! I fought through my brain trying to rationalize and make up excuses as to why I should just not eat the sandwich, and I ate one. And then I ate another. With no consequences!!!!! Jesus took the wheat allergy away! In the past several days, I’ve eaten basically whatever I want without having any allergic reaction. Praise Jesus! You guys have no idea how lucky you are to be able to eat such delicious bread whenever you want….

This past week or so here has been crazy. Our first day, we jumped straight into what is called a "Luke 10 Challenge." Luke 10 is where Jesus sends out his disciples, tells them to take nothing, and search for people of peace to feed them and give them a place to stay the night. So, that's what we did. We went out into different cities, backed by a prayer team back at our base, and shared the Gospel with people and prayed for a place to stay. That experience was absolutely unreal. There will be a separate post detailing that.

As a 3-month intern, my role is to be a leader and a resource for the short-term teams that come in, and to build relationships with refugees and the German church. However, this first week has been like a short-term trip for us as we prepare to host our first short term team tomorrow (5/28). There is no handbook for the church detailing how to engage a crisis like this, so we are writing it as we go. We've put on picnics, done outreaches, and worked closely with the German church that we have partnered with in order to build relationships with refugees, and we have spent countless hours building up the logistics and administrative side of the whole operation.

I've been lucky enough to already have built several important relationships. On our first day in the city (while on Luke 10), another teammate and I met a couple of Palestinians from Syria. They were eager to engage us in conversation about religion, and were even open to meeting with us again to talk more about what we believe. We've followed up with them a few times already, and have developed a friendship with them. What's crazy about this, is that these guys are 17 years old. I would have never thought that they were that young. They are here in Germany, without their families, because they payed thousands on thousands of dollars to smuggle themselves from Syria to here. As I find out more and more about their story and what they have been through, both in Syria and on the way here, my heart breaks. There is a whole demographic of Syrian youth with similar stories who all stick together that I'm building relationship with, and I have a vision of them building relationships with youth in the German church. 

One more story of someone I met- He is a man from Baghdad that I met at a picnic just yesterday. With a translator, I went to him and his family and introduced myself. I have no idea how it happened, but the next thing I know I'm going for a walk with him and the translator. Quite quickly he is asking me to tell him about my faith. I ask him what exactly he wants to know, and so I answer a few of his questions as we sit down on a grass hill. He then asks me to tell him what exactly I believe as a Christian. God seriously tossed this one in my lap. I laid out the Gospel to him, and talked about how what we believe comes down to Jesus' love for us, and we're just loving him back. He said to me, "I like your religion. What you believe is good. I want to be a Christian. I have to think though. We meet one more time and I make decision then." Um.. Okay, God. My mind was blown. This is a HUGE deal. As I said goodbye to him, I tried to thank him for listening to me, but he stopped me and almost tearfully thanked me for talking to him. If you would, please be praying for him. 

God has wasted no time in showing up in everything that we've done so far out here. I'm excited to see what happens as we get settled into our roles and host our first short-term team! Please be praying for us!

First Post; Leaving Soon!

Hello! So begins my first attempt at a blog. I hope that this blog is able to keep you all updated about what I'm up to over summer, as well as provide me a place to outwardly process what's going on and what God is doing out here with whoever is reading along. So thank you for embarking on this journey with me! Hopefully, I'm able to post about once a week.

Due to security issues, I will be unable to mention the specific names of places that I am, so it will only be very general geographic descriptions. I'd also like to take this first post to give a HUGE thank you to all of you who donated financially and have been and are praying for me. You guys are awesome, and I appreciate you very much!

5 days until I leave!