I was encouraged by this verse recently:

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.  Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock."  Isaiah 26:3-4

Weather in Berlin:  This morning I could see my breath!

Apartment update:  Between several different members of the team, we've seen some good apartments this week... please pray that one of the landlords would choose our application out of the (potentially) many!

Team Role:  In addition to finding out what campus we'll be working on, we've also learned our roles on our STINT team.  I will be serving by fostering community and encouraging love and bonding among the team.  I'll also be helping with worship-- we will soon be preparing for worship at a fall retreat for students!

Alpha Course:  This is a great event, and I'm excited to be on the planning committee for it.  It's a multi-week course in which people can come, share in food and community, and then learn about and discuss the basics of Christianity.  We'll begin the course with a launch party the first week in November!

Observation: 
*Eggs aren't always refrigerated!  It's possible that this also happens in the States-- I've just never encountered it.  A teammate and I were looking at various jams and honey at the grocery store, and sitting near them, with no form of refrigeration, were cartons of eggs.  I like that.

Sooo... I'm going to be doing ministry at Humboldt University!  Here's a pic:

I already love this place, and I'm really looking forward to my time here.
 Some infomation about Humboldt:

    Historical:
    *Twenty-nine Nobel Prize winners, including Albert Einstein, have been associated with the university
    *Former students include Karl Marx and Otto von Bismark
    *Nazi book-burning (eliminating books of which the Nazis didn't approve) took place here-- a memorial consisting of empty bookshelves now commemorates the appalling event
    Current stats:
    *Over 30,000 students attend
    *Over 5,000 of these students are international
    *Last year, ministry here was fruitful, and we can't wait for this year!

On Wednesday, we took a train to another part of Germany for the conference.  Meeting other Campus Crusade university workers in Germany was great, and we were able to hear about different events for this year in which the students can take part.  Some of the meetings were held in English, and other parts in German-- people translated for those of us who don't really speak the language yet!

We're still praying for an apartment... but, I bought a bike!  It may take me a bit to feel totally comfortable riding it along the sidewalks (dodging people, and all...) but it was a good price, and it'll be a fun mode of transportation.

Observation:

*German bowling-- called kegeln-- is really fun.  Rather than knocking down as many pins as possible each time you throw, you bowl for your team, and collectively you have to knock down five pins five different times, four pins four different times, etc., and six pins four times, seven pins three times, etc... it's a challenge to knock down only that number!  We played one evening while we were at the conference-- I think it was a good ice breaker/bonding time between all of us.

Next post, I'm going to tell you about the university that I've been assigned to!!  I'm so excited!!!!  :0)

It's officially been a week since I arrived in Berlin, and I feel as though the 'getting used to life in Europe' process is going well so far.  :0)

Yesterday (Sunday), I visited a church that one of my teammates attended last year.  Worshipping in a Sunday morning service in Berlin was a neat experience.  Though the songs were mostly in English, German translation was available below the English words, and we also sang a little bit in Spanish and a little bit in  German... that was really cool.  I'll be visiting other churches in Berlin, too, until I decide where I should attend this year, and I'm looking forward to that.

Today, among other things, we explored mensas in the city to determine if they would be good places to meet and connect with students.  Later this week, we'll attend part of a conference held for the people working with Campus Crusade for Christ at the universities in Germany.

On another note-- here are just a couple of many neat things I've discovered about Berlin: 

*There are so many flower shops here!  Along the streets, in the subway stations... walking past them is so cheery.
*The chocolate is great.  :0)
*The transportation system isn't difficult to understand, and it's very helpful.

Many more observations to come!

"Ich lerne Deutsch"... Which means, I'm learning German.  :0)  Little by little, I'm trying to pick up phrases, and I'm finding it really fun!

Yesterday we visited another campus, and today we went to a third.  Today it was so neat to spend time prayer-walking around the campus, asking the Lord to work in the lives of the students and to work through us.

I've loved getting to meet some German students this week, too.  Also, our team is now complete-- our final member arrived today!

Arrived!

We're in Berlin!  We arrived Monday morning-- mid-morning, Berlin time. With tears in my eyes, my thought as the plane was pulling up to the gate was, "I'm here!"  After months of anticipation, I'm actually here.  I'm so thankful for the support of those who are sending me.
I'm grateful for the prayers for our travel-- thankfully things went smoothly, and friendly faces met us at the airport.
Today it was great to visit one of the campuses at which members of our team will be working.  We ate lunch in the cafeteria (here they're called mensas) and looked around a bit, and tomorrow we'll head to another university.
This morning I read Psalm 3:8, which says, "Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people!"  I feel blessed that He has called all of His people to share the news of His incredible salvation.