One last blog from Amsterdam... I hope.
Drama! That is what has been. I am not feeling well today, so the crankiness and the bad grammar will probably come across in this little story, or report...something.

My pody is hot, but there are chills on the top of my skin. I woke up today feeling aweful. I wanted to be gone to Paris yesterday, but I have been held up. On the first or second day that I was in the hostel cleaning, there was an announcement that my room...with over 13 beds in it, had an infestation of bed bugs. So our things were left in the room, our clothes were washed and a shower was had by all. The room was vacated and sprayed with our things left in the room. After the spray, the room was to stay vacated so that they could spray again in a couple of days. In the midst of this, there was a lot of poor communication between staff and workers, and the end result was that my Arteryx Bora 80 back pack was thrown away, along with its contents and other things left in the room. So the last 3 days, I have been running around town on a huge shopping spree, and holding on to the receipts for reinbursement. Yesterday, well maybe I am being too melodramatic with this, but all I know is that my right shin is really sore. Yesterday, I developed shin splints from running around the city too much. Someone offered me his bike to use a couple of days before, but I did not take it....mistake! I admit it. Meanwhile, as to my cleaning experience at the Shelter, my allergies finally were activated my first day cleaning, and havn't slowed down. So now I can trully say that I am allergic to cleaning.

Well, now I have all the things I need to get back on the road except for reeibursement, and health. The reeimbursement is happening this evening, and I hope the health catches up by tomorrow morning. I feel that I need to get out of here though, and get well further south. Barbara from The Mount of Oaks community and I are hitting it off well with e-mails.

As for the shopping spree, I did not originally see this as a blessing. It has been a pain. There are things that I have lost with some sentimental value, and some things that are irreplaceable because you can't buy them. What I have gained, however, is a cool backpack. Since I did not have time to shop around, and did not know what to get, I got the same one again... a brand new Arteryx Bora 80. It is a very expensive bag. It has new features on it that the old one did not have, so it is a little bit different. Even when I still had the old one, I had thought I needed to get a new one that was smaller, and could not be overstuffed. Thus heavier than I should carry. This one is probably still just a little too heavy, but I think the changing of sleeping bag and coat that I carry could help that out in the future. Any way, a new bag is like a promise of new travels. I don't expect that the Lord would use The Shelter's money in vein. I expect this expense to come back and be a blessing to both the Shelter and I in the future.
There is probably more to say, but I can feel my head getting hotter and hotter, so I just want to go sit somewhere and take it easy. Let me close by giving glory to the Lord. We should count it all joy when we are faced with traials, tribulations, and troubles. For to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Therefore, may I go on with the glory of the Lord singing in the innerman, that my heart be joyful, that it may doeth good like a medicine to my natural body. Why so downcast oh my soul, put your hope in God. Let your spirit sing from out of the catacombs of its very dead skin. That victory, whose name is Christ, may come and bring resurrection.

An Announcement: Saying Goodbye to Amsterdam

So here I am finally, the last blog in the series, and not too soon, for next week I will be hitting the road again.

I arrived into Amsterdam, Saturday morning at 8am. It was a cold and gloomy summers day that September 8. Getting off the train, I made a rush with all my things to the most familiar building to me in all of Europe... De Poorte. To shorten the story, my reservations were not noted in the calendar, and the lady there knew she made a mistake. Nevertheless, I was able to get a room in the building, and I stayed till that Thursday afternoon. The next two nights I stayed with this kat that I met while hanging out in the Shelter City a month before. He had several friends in from Portland, and so our room was full. A curious side note is that he has a Christian house mate from Egypt. He is presently dating some girl that I just met last night who grew up in West Asheville. She has been spending lots of time in Israel after her conversion while working in the Shelter this past spring. *"That is wild! That is some wacky wild shtuff!" (thank you Johnny).* After the second night I was in my man from Portland's place, I began cleaning in the Shelter and staying there. So that is where I am now, and intend to stay until Wednesday morning, September 26.

My main focus this time in Amsterdam has been to collect some things I had stashed, fill some personal errands like switching out gear for winter, continue the network that I have been establishing, writing this series of blogs, and seeing old friends.

So the switching out of gear is a forever process. My hammock is ripped, and there are wholes in my tarp (rain fly). I have hopes of sewing a new patchwork rainfly out of trashed umbrellas. So I have plans on taking the rainfly I have and creating a hammock out of it.

The network has been slowed. I havn't made it to church since I started working at the Shelter. (So I missed last week.) I was able to see one guy who I had hopes that he would really be into working with me or at least supporting me. There is that possibility, but he is also really busy with his wonderful family and work. I could see the house group that he leads as being a good possible fellowship to plug into one night a week though. I met several YWAMmers who I got to talk to, some I got to catch up with and share my heart. I did have one good meeting with some possible leads, but nothing worth mentioning at this time.

As for the blogs, well, there presence is apparrent.

Finally, the seeing of old friends:
I have had some wonderful times catching up with some people. I have met some old friends that were quite hospitable, supportive, and just excited to catch up. To mention one couple, Charles and Rosalie's hospitality and love have been supurb. There are still some I have yet to see, and at this point I wonder if I will on this trip. Then there are some other old friends with whom I just have had a difficult time. I have no good reason nor intention to dishonor them in anyway. I see that I have had a part to play in this dissapointment. I think the next time I make a trip like this, especially after so many years, I need to be less assuming and more intentional about scheduling good times and appropriate means of reacquaintance. I write this as a confessional to also confess that I am hurt. I haven't gone to bed crying and what not, but there is indeed a grave dissapointment in my heart that my experience now did not meet up to the years of pining and anticipation of seeing these brothers and sisters whom I believe I must have grown even more fond of as time went on. Again I think I see the part I played in this personal disaster, but I also see that there is some painful closure comming. My heart is saying goodbye to Amsterdam. Not necessarily the city, persay, though perhapse partially. More than the city, but the City and community that is was for me from 1999 to 2001, and then what it has been as a burning memory in my heart ever since. I think this is a good thing, even if it is not a favorable thing in my opinion.

Interesting enough, I have made lots of new friends in Amsterdam. This helps me even more close the door of the past and look on to what new things the Lord has to show me. These new friends, aside from those people who have been loyal and hospitable upon my return, have been the oasis of love to my soul. They have been some great folks who have really reset my view of the city.

Perhapse I already mentioned, that when I first returned to Amsterdam I noticed how empty the city was of the sort of street culture I remember from 6 years prior. This became even more clear to me when I went to Berlin, and saw more street culture than I had ever seen before. Perhapse I should confess now that it was still less than I should like to see. So in my travels from Berlin on, I began telling people what I am telling you now. Amsterdam has changed, and now I am not so sure that it is the place for me to be. The scene is different now, and so I have found myself opened up to saying to God, "Alright, now what?" It is really quite an exciting thing. I am looking, listening, and praying. I am 31. My life up till now has been: school, YWAM, recovery, and debt. But I am debt free. I have no commitments holding me too the states or anywhere else. So I can look around the world... And I mean the world even- the Americas, Africa, and Asia included. Where do I belong? Where shall the leather sandals take me? I am free to wander, free to live, and free to die.

To die is to gain, finally, the eternal reward, the victory that Jesus handed to me free of charge. I look forward to meeting my father, and so I would hope that this would be my last breath. Alas, I am still breathing, so I am still living, and to live is Christ. It is to participate with Christ in his sufferings. It is a life of being thrown into the fire to be purged from deeper impurity. It is a life of considering it all joy when men revile me, and mock me, and bring all sorts of evil against me, and when I am persecuted for the sake of Christ. It is a life of wading through the disgusting evil of this world and going forth in it too and fro as the light of the world and the salt of the earth. It is going forth in the midst of this fallen chaos yet not being polluted by it. So, as the scripture says, I am God's workmanship created for good works in Christ. I am no longer my own. I was bought with Christ's broken body, spilt blood, and demolished reputation. MY LIFE IS FORFEIT. I am thus dead to the world and alive only in Christ. Therefore, I must go forward not as one who is a slave to sin, nor as one free to do his own bidding in autonomy for in truth I am 100% dependant on the supply of breath. There is only one who is autonomous. Thus and therefore, I can only go on as one in captivity, who is utterly and totally in debt to the one who saved him from death, even Christ.

So then, as a slave, sevant, friend, child, and bride of Christ I submit my will totally to his, and specifically what is that? Specifically, I don't know. Nevertheless the sun rises and sets requiring me to eat and sleep for which I must work to provide for on my own, or throw myself completely at the Lord and his mercy, practically tempting God to respond to my faith, with the action of seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and allowing the clothes I wear, the food I eat, and the bed I sleep in to be provided for me. I find myself typically chosing the first, to coil up my faith and seek the Lords security through the hands of men. Nevertheless, I also find myself getting closer and closer to the edge, and some days like those when I was hitchhiking, I decided to throw myself completely over just to see the Lord catch me. He did. No question, he did. So I am learning, learning to live by faith. Perhapse the most difficult thing is to know how to operate in living not by bread, but by every word proceeding from the Lord's mouth; being anxious for nothing but through prayer and supplication making my requests known to God; worrying not for tomorrow, but letting todays troubles take on my full focus, and finally knowing that there is only one trouble of the day and that trouble being that the kingdom of heaven suffers a violence and the violent take it by force. Therefore there is only one vocation that I have for the day; it is just for that day and it is renewed everyday. A man who does not work should not eat. I must do the works of him that sent Christ while it is still day. The night cometh when no man can work, but as long as He is in the world, He is the light of the world. So my vocation is this: to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all that which is mentioned there in Matthew 6 will be added unto me.

Still, I am a coward, and feel dim. For how practically am I to seek first the kingdom of God? Whenever I ask this question, the same answer always comes and I shut it down straight away, again, and again. The answer I get is that I should go out in the streets, and literally proclaim the good news from the street corners and the rooftops, and to confront people, even every one who is not actively doing the same as I am doing, by speaking of God's Holiness and pleading with them that they would repent and turn from their wicked ways, accepting Christ's sacrifice for them, and then get busy doing even as I would be doing by Seeking First the Kingdom of Heaven in this carnal way. Either I am dissobediant in not submitting to this answer, or there is something, as I just said, so carnal about it that the Lord in his everloving spirit rescues me by conscience. The problem is that there I am left without a practical answer... without the carnal answer that I want. But the spirit is not born of the flesh. Flesh is born of flesh, and the spirit is born of spirit. Perhapse to seek first the Kingdom of God in such a carnal way is to make an attempt at birthing a spiritual convert out of fleshly legs. (Sorry, I know that sounds a little krass, but perhapse so is the action.)

So then, what must I do? Ahh! This question keeps nagging again, and again. Then remember so much supposedly wise counsel saying, "It is not about what you do." Nevertheless, I have a mind who demands that it know how to govern the legs and hands which are also in my posession. So out of this crisis comes a more exactly stated version of this question. "What is my headding?" Ah-ha! Now this is a new idea. As I breath and seek first the Kingdom, what is my headding?

Rather than tell you why I have been so tedius, I will let the tedium's fruit produce on it's own. I continue now into the practical to say that I have mentioned that I was moving on from Amsterdam, but kept you in suspence until this moment to make this announcement. I hope it is as big as an announcement as I have been setting up for. We will see what the Lord wills as I make my plans, and he determines my steps. Almost as soon as I felt the chilled air on my first day in Amsterdam, the thought occured to me that squatting or not, I need to find a way to get settled into Europe and make myself comfortable at least for this next winter. I roamed around Germany with this idea in my head: praying, fasting, and wondering how it would be accomplished. The idea came to me while in Berlin that I would go to Romania and find some random farmer who would let me care for his sheep in exchange for eating his food and sleeping in his barn. This is still the backup plan and I hope someday to make it the primary goal of setting up a refuge for myself in Romania where I can go to be a blessing, learn Romanian, hike the Carpathian Mountains in my liesure, study story telling & local lore, and perhapse even make friends with the gypsies. I was discussing these things with Al who told me of a community down in Portugal called the Mount of Oaks. As he told me about it, he paused and looked very serious. His eyes closed slowly and then opened again. He then said that he really had a strong sense from the Lord that I was to go there. I took that idea and chewed on it for a while. I asked Al to go ahead an write Barbara an introduction to a letter that I would write her in a few days inorder to explore the idea further. So the idea grew on me, and by the time I made it to Amsterdam, my mind was all but made up that I should be going there. After some e-mail formalities, I finally received a most generous letter back from Barbara saying essentially, "Come, come; stay long, and there are some possibilities that we can work on getting you a visa extension." So my plan is this: ON SEPTEMBER 26TH, I WILL LEAVE THE SHELTER FOR THE MOUNTAIN OF OAKS PORTUGAL.


I don't know a lot about this place, but you can check out the Blog that is www.shantipilgrim.blogspot. As I understand it, Barbara was a rainbow girl who lived in Portugal, but she traveled around a lot. Then she met the Lord, and went to YWAM for a few years. There was a church that offered her the use of some random chunck of land that they had until she started having too much counter culture ministry for their taste. So they asked for the land back. Barbara and the community took immediate action raising money and then bought the place. So now the Mount of Oaks belongs to the Mount of Oaks. She told me that she lives in a mud hut that she built for herself. Everyone else camps in tents. I will be setting up a hammock to sleep in under a tarp. So it looks like I will be living outside in the woods for the winter. As you can imagine, I am really excited about this. I hear there is a lot of work there to do, so I guess I will be staying pretty busy as well. You can check it out in her blog, but about a month back there was a 24-7 prayer week where a tent was put up and people came in for a week to the Mount of Oaks to camp and pray. From the prayer there was also a lot of service projects set up in the local village, as well as a roadside clean up where they just went along the road picking up trash. This November I hear that olive pickers will be needed. I don't know where these olives are, but apparently Barbara needs a lot of help harvesting olives.

At the risk of being presumptious, I will wrap this up by saying that I hope this will end up being home base in Europe. I intend to spend the winter here to rest up and get refreshed for spring and summer. Then, with visa extension in hand (hopefully I can just continually reapply, and reapply.), I intend to hitchike all over Europe, and finally get into the street culture I have been wanting to be apart of. I will go looking for squat actions and other actions, would like to travel through the rest of the mediterranean countries, and back to Berlin and Amsterdam. In these places I look forward to establishing more contact with people in the city, and do some short term commitments, such as work some for YWAM and the Shelter, and Styger, and staff discipleship training schools, and trips to Romania, and teach English, and tell stories to children in the park, and .......SEEK FIRST THE KINDDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS TODAY, FOR THIS DAY HAS ENOUGH WORRIES OF ITS OWN.

In closing, let me thank all of the readers who have taken the time to join me from Amsterdam to Berlin, to the gathering, to Karlsruhe, and finally back to Amsterdam. I know these have been some long blogs, but many of you are my friends whom I feel I have so much to tell. I am going to give us a break now. I may punch out one more quick blog next week before I leave, or once I get to Paris, and I am sure I will have something to say once in Portugal. But I am sure that computer and internet use will be difficult to come by once I get to Portugal. So this may be the most you hear from me for a while. I love you, my friends in Asheville, my family, the rest of the states, and those of you I met in Germany.

Peace and God bless,
-Leathersandal

Styger in Karlsruhe

I was fortunate to find a €15 ride share with people from the gathering all the way out to my next stop in Karlsruhe, Germany. I was there to meet people I had seen in Berlin, and check out the Styger base there. It was the first time I had been to a Styger Base and I was interested in the whole operation along with a wonder if that would be a good place for me to settle in Europe for a while to get my footing. I met a New Zealander in Berlin also from Karlsruhe named Chris. He was sort of in the same boat as me. He had intended to do a DTS (Discipleship Training School) with Styger there in Karlsruhe. Then he got a call from his mate back in New Zealand saying that he would have to come back for his wedding. So this complicated Chris' plans and he would not be able to finish the DTS. He still had some time to kill in Europe, however, and so he thought he would hang there on the base for a bit to get some work, and then he wanted to travel. We talked about doing a hitchhiking race to Amsterdam together. That way, if a driver only wanted to take one of us, we could flip for it, and then the rest of the way would be a race to see who would make it first.

I arrived late on Tuesday evening. The driver had further to travel, so she let the three of us riding with her off in Karlsruhe near a tram stop. One guy went to the train station to catch a ride on to ...Nuremburg(?). The other lived in Karlsruhe, and helped me find my way to Europlatts. I no longer had my black notebook with all my directions in it, so I was just trying to remember by the google satellite image in my head how to find the Styger House in Karlsruhe. I walked aroud for about an hour, but could not find it. But I found an internet cafe with the best price I had seen, and from the net was able to find the address I needed. I also found out that the Doner in Karlsruhe is 3€. So evidently life was more expensive in Karlsruhe. When I found the Styger address, I was faced with the basic difficulty that seems to be in every big city I come to. There is no knocking on the door, there is only ringing of the bell by which to gain attention from the residence. But which one is the right one? If I find the right one, is anyone expecting me? It is 1 in the morning. This should really put a damper on good will and hospitality. When I was in Berlin the first night, I faced the same issue. I was dropped off too late at the other end of town from my destination. I had to learn the Subway, find the right one, then find the right house on the other side, and ring the right bell, all in the dark morning. In Berlin, I was fortunate enough to have a host that sleeps only in the day. I was fortunate to have her phone number, so that I could tell her I was coming. I was fortunate enough to get her door on the third try out of ...oh maybe about 20 different buttons. Now in Karlsruhe, where they did not know I was comming, I had no phone number to call ahead. I did not know which door bell to press, and again, it was dark morning. I looked at the door bells. Some said private, a few others said Styger, and then one said Styger Lift. I was not sure, but I decided to start first with Styger Lift. Right away, there was an answer. I told them it was Jared fro-, "Oh! Jared! Bzzzzt!" the voice and the door interupted about the same time.

I opened the buzzing door and was soon greeted from the stairs by a familiar face from Berlin. She took me upstairs, and showed me to the kitchen, pulling food out of cubbards and asking if I was hungry. She put some tea on to boil and then left the room softly saying, I'll go wake up Chris. I stood in the kitchen alone. My excitement just about broke me. "Oh my! Thank you Jesus! Were you not with me when I left for Florida? Did you not go before me when I was off to Texas? Did you not provide the way for me into Colorado, and then to Nasheville and on to Asheville, and even through New York? Was it not your hand that I rested in when there was no bed for me my first Night in Manhattan? Wasn't it you also that made my way quickly and quietly through customs in Amsterdam. You provided the cars and drivers all the way to Berlin. Food and beds there in Berlin were made for me. Rides, shelter, and pleasant people along with blessings took me all the way through the countryside of Thuringen and out again. Now in Karlsruhe will you leave me? Will you cause me to go without rest? Will you leave me out in the night to be devoured by strange people in a foreign land? Certainly not! Give glory to God, even God on high. For by your hand you brought me all the way to Karlsruhe to sleep in a room with friends, and eat at your very own table with your children. My brothers and sisters have taken me in by your bidding lavishing love and gifts and honor that comes staight from your heart. Oh my soul! Let me be overwhelmed by His greatness. His steadfast love endures forever. Do not despair in the wilderness, or in the strange, cold, or expensive places. The Lord is your refuge, your strong tower, your mighty fortress. So put your hope in God and sing songs of praise unto him in these lands of your sojourning."

-selah

Chris, awoken from his sleep, came in. He was all smiles. "Oh man! I was thinking of you and praying for you earlier today. I was even fasting this last weekend, and I did not know why until now. I was fasting for you." Amazing! I wish I knew love in my heart like this brother has for strange ol' me. "So how was your time at the gathering?" He continued. Once I started going, he could hardly shut me up. I had so much to tell him of my time and my trip to Thuringen. I kept having to be reminded to keep my voice down because the DTSers were having their first night on the base. After food and fellowship, and meeting some other late nighters from the Styger tribe, Chris showed me where I could crash for the night.

Another city, another great time. I did not like Karlsruhe too much. Their doner was too expensive, and I hardly saw any punks. It just seemed like some high class expensive city. Some of you from Karlsruhe may be able to set me straight on some of this. But all I know is I walked all over that city and never found sign of the scene. Styger on the other hand was a different story. Even though I did not care for Karlsruhe, I could consider staying just for the people in Styger. There were some great opportunities there, with possible scenerios as raising... I don't remember the figures exactly, but I think about €400 a month for food, bed, and medical insurance necessary for a visa. For this price I could volunteer to staff a DTS (sometime, somewhere I would like to work as staff on a school in the future.) Or for the same price, I could go out and get a part time job and do some work in the city connecting with kids on the street. If I wanted to really work on my German, I could work in the new children's ministry that Styger is opening up to the local community. So there were some good opporutnities there.

Since I had left Asheville, I have been looking for community. One of the main reasons for this is because I left the one I was in. (Hey guys in the big green house, I miss you all, big hugs!) To me, finding community goes hand in hand with finding work. In community, you get the feeling that someone else is depending on your sweat to get a job done inorder to keep that community wheel rolling. Though it would seem there were many opportunities to serve with the NLM event in Berlin, and just in general in Thuringen, I was not able to shake the feeling that I was mooching. It was like the couple of dishes I had washed, and the little bit of food circle I had worked barely scratched the service debt I owed for all the rides I received, all the beds I filled, and all the peoples food I ate since Asheville. I know there is a bit of that which is all the grace of God and his good will through other people. But still, I want to know that I am blessing others while I am being dependant on them for so much. In Karlsruhe I found that opportunity. Though in the first instance, it feels a little foolish to speak of.

The first instance is that one of the Styger guys loaned me his bike while he went on a trip to Lufkin to visit his Oma and Opa (imagine that). His tire was flat though, and so I was to patch up the hole. Simple projects like this can become difficult quickly when then it begins to rain, you are asking people you hardly know for things they hardly know what to call them in English. Then, someone tells you to go ask someone you have never met, who hardly speaks any english, for one of his very own bike patches. It was a crazy event interrupted by tea, a trip with a wonderful sister (whom I thoroughly enjoyed meeting) to the halfprice store to get a rain jacket (girl, that was a lot of fun, and thanks for the Amsterdam map. Also, I still really think that yellow rain jacket was so cute on you. Lekker schnecke, lol), and dinner. By the time I was finished, it was time for the next project. The end result? I patched the tire, but am not even sure if I got the patch in the right place though I checked it three times. The tire got me down the road but I ended up having to ride the bike home later. (Sorry man, I tried. I hope your trip to see Oma and Opa was good. I think it is time for a new tube on your bike though.)

The next project was awesome and special. I got to sit up half of the night in this girls kitchen doing some discipleship and protecting her modesty (don't worry, I'll explain.) I will call her Claudia. (Sorry, um Claudia. Your name is a lot cooler, but I'll only use it with your permission. I also need to know how to spell it.) When I met Claudia on the night I arrived, I knew I had met a special person. Some how the discussion of how I had sewn my pants came up, and before I knew it, I was talked in to this idea of participating in a sewing party at Claudias. I did not realize that it would be the following night, that though other people would show up, it would be just me working on Claudia's clothes most of the night. But I am so glad that was the way it happened. Claudia had two shirts that were too short on bottom, and one of these was entirely too large of a v-neck on top. We took a third shirt of a different color to extend the bottom hems, and cover fill in the v-neck up top. I think I must have been there sewing until 3 in the morning. I may have been able to finish sooner, but she asked me a lot of questions. Claudia told me her testimony, and I got to share mine. She was curious about me in my journey as she said she was trying to figure out her own. So she asked these questions of many people in order that she can get some ideas of what God is saying to her. So it was cool. Here I thought I was just randomly going over to someones house to do some sewing, and ended up doing some intense discipleship as well.

I spent the next two days in Karlsruhe running some personal errands, hanging out with Styger people in the evening and throughout the day. Chris ended up finding enough work to keep himself busy for the next several weeks, and just before I told him goodbye, he received the news that there may be an opening for him in the university to teach english. This is another thing I could consider for myself as well. This was on a Friday morning, and I really thought that I would make it to Amsterdam that evening. I was told that I already had a bed waiting for me for the next 7 days. So I finished saying my goodbyes, and hitched out a ride to Amseterdam.

But I could not get one...

I did not make it to Amsterdam that night. I walked all over Karlsruhe and out into the country to some nearby villages. Again I liked the walk, but I managed to do nothing constructive towards getting out of the city that day. I tried hitchhiking from several places, but I could not get out. I ended up back at the Karlsruhe central station, buying a €100+ ticket, and waiting several hours at the station to get on the train at midnight. It was 8am before I was back in Amsterdam. The trip was not bad, it was just expensive and in the middle of the night, and a little uncomfortable with limbs falling asleep and all. A lot of prayer went into that ticket, its purchase, and then wheather or not I should get a refund and just go back to Styger. I did not want to leave, but I felt the road calling me forward. The days were rolling on, my visa was getting older, and I had people in Amsterdam to see. So all and all, I felt that one expensive train ticket out of 4 destinations was not too bad, and that I was being a wise steward with the Lords money. It is his anyway, and he said use it! So I did.

This is the end of my trip to Germany. I had a great time, and would not mind going back. I met great people, made a lot of new friends, saw some great country, and got to see the Lord make himself known in the midst of the mundane and the ordinary. Please ask questions. It is likely that I introduced something, and did not follow through with its ending. So though this blog is published, you are my proof readers. All these blogs have been written from the library in Amsterdam. It has been a great time looking back on the past month. I have one more blog to write to bring you up to date. Some of that is about my time here in Amsterdam, but most of it in intent is to blog some reflexions of my time so far here in Europe, and where I see myself going in the future.

The Rainbow Gathering in Thuringen:
August 30-September 3, 2007

"Welcome Home" the banner pronounced as I sauntered up to the first fire on the trail. After two full days and nights of travel, I had finally made it. A nice young woman with a huge growth on her chin, unlike any I had ever seen before offered me a cup of coffee, and I received the invitation gladly. I sat and made conversation to get my bearings, and then helped break wood for the fire before making my way up the trail to the heart of Rainbow Land.

Charles Dickens once wrote a book called, A Tale of Two Cities. I don't know what it is about, but I picked up a book by St. Augustine called The City of God. This book speaks of the Fall of Rome and the coming of the Holy City, Jerusalem. In the Bible, one could make an argument that it could be summed up by the stories of Babylon and Jerusalem. This is particularly evident in the final chapters of Revelation where you see the whore of Babylon finally receiving her due punishment, and the whole city cast down with her. Immediately following, you see Jerusalem coming down from out of the clouds. So I wonder if Charles Dickens may have picked up the same theme when writing his book, Tale of Two Cities. Anyway, this theme is at the forefront of Rainbow. There is the rest of the world, which is Babylon, and then there is Rainbow, which the family sees as a refugee camp longing for its home, the Holy City of Jerusalem.

How can I descirbe Rainbow for those who do not know? I don't think I could do so very well, and if I tried, I would probably get it all wrong and really piss off some who know better. So I will save my descriptions for verbal introductions with those who may ask. Instead, I should like those who are curious to try some of thier own web research. Wikipedia may come in use for this. This said, I can offer the following expressions of my personal experience, along with its contrasts to the four previous gatherings I have attended in the US:

It was about a 30 minute walk uphill to the main gathering. On the way up, I met a very nice woman with her bike and husky whom I shall call Katrina. We walked along the trail together until it broke off to a spring. Parking her bike, we walked down the steep, slippery, small mud trail to the mouth of the spring which had been tapped with a run of one inch grey electrical pvc conduit. After filling our water bottles, we returned up the steep muddy incline for the bike and then on up the mountain. Comming to the top of the mountain, few people passed us along the way exchanging nods as they went. The best I can say for the visual account of these people was that it seemed to be an opposite demographic from that which you find in Babylon. There were people dressed in nice, middle class, store bought camping gear. But the predominant fashion appeared to be a conglomerate of that which is second hand and man made. The majority were barefoot. Near the end of the trail, there was a fork off to the left which we took and then another break to the left which lead muddy through the woods. These turns off the main trail were marked with arrows made out of sticks, and rocks stacked into small towers indicating the way one should go. Coming out of the woods, we had to pass through a freshly harvested and bailed hay field. While crossing the field, a tranquil and inviting tint village began to emerge. There were mostly tents and tarp structures clustered here and there throughout a great meadow on the mountaintop. Scattered throughout the tents more numerous than I had seen at previous gatherings were tipis. We walked on down the main trail, passing the camps and greeting some of the people as we went. It struck me how quiet this gathering was. By this time I am used to hearing someone screaming as loud as their obnoxious hoarse voice will let them, with profanities, as they scream "Got a cigarette? Need a cigarette? Nic at nite!" I am also used to a more violent and harsh sort of front gate as alcohol is not allowed into the gathering, and only along the fringes. In the states, A-camp (as they call it) runs welcome home. So all alcohol must be consumed on the other side of front gate. In the national gathernigs, incomming family with their clean tents and balanced back packs are greeted all along the way to 'wherever they find to camp' with hugs, harty exclamations of "Welcome Home!" and "Lovin' you." These greetings were scarce. Katrine consoled me saying we are really happy you are here, but we are also German, so we don't just come out and say it.

I think all the gathering except for 'Welcome Home' pitched their tents up in this big meadow (actually several meadows including main meadow at the center.) We walked on along the main trail and by this time could just about see the whole meadow from where we stood, along with all its campers and tents. The trail lead to the center of the gathering where there was one main big kitchen cooking the food for the whole gathering. Usually there are several kitchens smaller kitchens handling food distribution to their local campers and whoever else that may come buy. But this was a smaller gathering. I think I am used to small gatherings of around 3000. This gathering might have been somewhere between 600 to 800. So everyone could be fed by this kitchen. It provided two meals. Breakfast, which was around noon- Babylonian time, and dinner which was sometime in the early evening.

Across the main trail from the giant tarp structure of the Kitchen, was a very nice looking yurt that functioned as the main community center for the Hare Krishnas. It is my fear that the Krishnas owned that gathering. If you are Krishna, you can be proud. I don't know, too much about Krishna, but it seems like there influence was everywhere, from their community yurt with worship rising out of it into the night, to so many songs around the main meadow fire, to their music and songs of worship providing the sound track at each food circle I attended, including the prevalence of their musicians for the procession of the 'magic hat'. (For the Babylonians reading this, the magic hat is passed around at the end of every food circle. It is essentially an offering taken so that there would be food for the gathering at the next food circle.) I must admit, I envy the yurt.

Journeying on down the main trail, we passed through Main Meadow where the big fire was going, the musicians including jimbay drumbs were chanting through some celebrative track. Passing the fire, Katrine, and her hound Cerius, lead me to her community tent. There I met her boy friend and others who had found warmth and hospitality in that harth. I put down my bags, made a stretch and looked around ...'Rainbow!' I thought.

"FOOD CIRCLE!" was the next thing I heard. "Oh!"Katrine said, "We made it up just in time for breakfast."

It is not my intention to labor through the rest of this narrative. I merely constructed it to set the scene on which the next several days were played. Now with further discription and less narrative, I wish to communicate the following:

I really enjoyed Rainbow. It was cold and rainy and miserable. But I had a great time. I left a shirt down at welcome home and rode Katrine's bike down to get it after that first food circle. I could only walk back up the trail, because the handle bars on the bike worked themselves way too loose for steering. The rain had begun as I finished my decent. As I walked back up with the busted bike close to some Asian girl under her orange umbrella, the rain came hard and I arrived back at Katrine's camp completely drenched just after the rain stopped. So, Every day I waited for the sun to come out. It was August, and I expected some nice warm days where I could charge my iPod in the sun, read under it's bright rays, and dry out my cold - damp everything.

This was my first Rainbow without Jesus camp and going completely alone. I tried Rainbow once before with one other brother, and in just two full days I could not wait to leave and do something completely Babylonian like get a hotel, sit in the hot tub, eat Mac Donalds, and spend a day at Epcot. That experience was filled with unfortunate travellings from fire to fire only to sit and listend to a series of crude and completely uninteresting vexatious vapors of sex, drugs, and how the government sux. I had heard that gatherings in Europe were different. I had heard that they were actually darker, with more focus on workshops then being just a big and loud party in the woods. The report of European gatherings being darker with their many spiritual workshops put a good warning in my heart. Though I found the reports to be true, I found the people to be more genuine and kind wrather than vexing and vaporous. There were intelligent conversations, warm and generous hearts.

So I spent three nights in the woods, and I saw fruit there. It was tender and precious fruit. It was not necessarily the fruit of conversion, but the fruit of the spirit. I want to talk about temperance. I saw the temperance of the Lord moving in the heart of a beautiful young girl from Poland who my heart breaks for. I will call her Annalii, and we met one day while I was reading the Bible in my hammock. She approached me that day on her way from collecting water in the spring. She complimented me on the little camp I had contructed from my rainfly and hammock. She inquired of my day, what I was doing, what I was reading. I read her just a bit of the Psalm which was opened before me, and spoke of the amazing one that is God. She told me she did not know what she thought of God, and said that she grew up occasionally going to mass with her family. I told her that it is not easy to form an opinion about God. He is too amazing to conceive of easily. I sensed hurt and betrayal in her heart and in her history. She seemed so sad even though she wore such a beautiful smile, the smile itself seemed to carry sadness in its form. Our encounter was short, but somehow so meaningful. On my final day of the gathering, I was going to pack up my camp, and she was leaving too. Though her camp was not so far from mine, this was the only other time we saw each other. We spoke. She told me she was leaving too, and just seemed so dreading of her departure. She drank up a long and lingering embrace in my arms, and it felt not as me but Christ himself embracing her through me. I prayed a blessing over her and gave her a brother's kiss on the forehead. Again, this was such a tender moment. I walked on to my camp amazed, and at a wonder for what the Lord was doing in Annalii. She comes to my mind still in the passing of my days. I may be walking along a road, off to the exploit of some errand. In the moment that my mind may be idle or liesurely, often the Lord calls me to attention on him and to the call of many prayers by first bringing to my heart Annalii.

Often, coupled or nearly directly after praying for Annalii, I think of Expat. I actually hate it that I should not use his real Rainbow name here. He has a really cool name, but I will be telling some of his story, and it is his story. I really should get his permission before posting it, but I don't know how to get in touch with him yet (though I certainly have plans too.) Expat was the only other American that I met at the gathering. It was really cool sitting with him and shooting the breeze home grown style, with all the American and American Ranibow humor. We decided that this must have not been our first gathering together, but that we must have been to the same gathering in Ocala one of those times that the 'Bad Doser' was giving everyone DOC and telling them it was LSD. The result was people going crazy, even some falling into camp fires and not knowing they were getting burned. Eventually, CALM (rainbow clinic) had to start duct taping victems up to trees and nursing them off the awful high. Expat intimately knew one of those trees. After years of hitchhiking and wild life in the states that has virtually spun him out of the US, he found himself in Germany. He now is dating a girl in one of the more well known fun cities in Germany, while busquing for a living. He has also been drinking...ALOT. He said that just before he made it to the gathering his drinking had gotten so bad that it had greatly affected his use of the WC. Essentially, he realized he was at the end. He was going to die. He concluded that he would never make it back to the states and into treatment in time, and the German health care system is great but will do nothing for illegal aliens, so his only hope was to get out to a gathering which is alcohol free. So he came with virtually nothing. Someone gave him a tent, and someone else a sleeping bag, and others coffee, and this and that. A portuguese woman who spoke a hard to follow english, nursed him to health with the aid of lots of water. By the time I met him he was sober, happy, and shittin pretty. His parents are missionaries, and just a month earlier, he said he had been very angry with God. Some pastor from Victory outreach who had been passing out tracks in the city made him the pastor's project since he was such an anomaly... being able to quote the Bible backwards and forwards and all. Well Expat says that the pastor began to wear him down, so just a couple of days prior to my conversation Expat rededicated his life to Christ, 'for about the thousandth time.' He was not shy about it either. Though very rough and unrefined, he would give people big'ol smiles in the woods and tell them that Jesus loves them, and he was proud to announce often that he was a Christian. Expat and I hit it off swell, so now my heart swells up everytime I think about him.

So I say that I loved my time at the gathering. I enjoyed it so much that I could consider living in rainbow for the next few years. It has much of what I am looking for. Before I moved to Asheville, I was praying for a church that could culturally relate to squatters and the (political) counter culture, which I could set up as a home base in the states. I wanted it to be somewhere north of Houston where it was colder. I thought it would have been nice if this church was in the mountains, and often wondered if it could also be in a small town, just so I could get a taste of small town life. Well then, as most of you know, the Lord gave me Life House in Asheville. Since landing in Europe, I have begun to develope a similar prayer. I am now looking for a community in Europe where I can stay for a season as a place where I can serve the community in exchange for a place to sleep and food. It would be cool if this was a secular community where I can surround myself with unbelievers to love and learn from as I serve them hoping that in some my service may one day manifest itself as the very flesh and blood of Christ consumed in their memebers. Well, consider Rainbow; a spiritual community that is primarily pagan, where I can sleep outside (outside is definitely a bonus, as I wonder that houses may be obsolete), eat with the honest exchange of working in the kitchen or doing other jobs to pull weight in support of the community, and I can even take all the time I need for solitude and giving myself to the study of the scriptures, reformed theology, and classic literature of the church. I don't have to ask anyone to join, I just join...going from rainbow to rainbow, also working scout camps and clean up camps. This could really work well. Considering the stories presented in this and the previous blog, it is evident that the Lord wanted me here at this gathering, and I wonder if he might call me to many more in progressive succession.

Somewhere in Germany: Stories of Walking and Hitchhiking
On August 29th-31st 2007
(Reading this should take less than 36 minutes.)


The day I left Berlin was a beautiful day for travel. There was the full moon just the night before. The skies were clear and sunny. I thanked God for the beautiful day. I began my journey from the outside of the city to the west at a gas station just off the Autobahn. I had been told that this was a good place to begin the journey. The gas station was crowded. There were hitchikers everywhere, and that meant competition. People were trying to get out of the city and go different directions. I chose the first part of my time there to watch the other hitchhikers work just to see if I could learn anything. I worked the area near the pumps with one other Brit. Eventually, he got a ride, and I was glad because now it seemed the station was clear for me. No one else seemed to be working the pumps, but just then two georgeous german girls came up aggressive for a ride. They were flying a sign and working double time to hit anyone up for a ride. They were not bashful at all. They were in a hurry and trying to get to Frankfurt for a plane ride down to Spain. "Great!" I thought. They should not take long, but I will never get a ride with them around. Then, a Belgium camper full of college guys stopped for a fillup and said they would take me to the next station (approx 50 km away). Then the girls asked and the guys of course did not seem to mind at all. So I lost count of how many of us were in that winnebego for the 50 km trip, but it was a beginning of a wild ride for me.

At the next station, I worked some time for another ride, and then got talking to a French guy with too much stuff and who did not know how to work his GPS. He wanted me to show him how to get to the rainbow gathering. I was happy to at first, but there were language issues, and then after difficulty with the map he brought out his GPS. It took sometime showing him. I was getting impatient and I think he must have been getting a little frustrated as well with his GPS. My thoughts became, "I need to figure out how to finish up with this guy so that I can get back to looking for a ride." Then my conscience would reply, "Be patient man, God will give you a ride whenever he sees fit. You are on the road to love people like this." Wouldn't you know it? I was still with the frenchman, just closing up a map when a guy comes out of the convienience store. I asked him if he woud give me a ride, and he took me all the way to where I had to make my turnoff at Hermsdorf near Gera. Incidentally, the French guy made it to the gathering before me, and it was really cool to see him there. He also proved to be a big help to me on the day I left the gathering.

I got stuck at Hermsdorf. I was on a very difficult gas station. I went from one side of the Autobahn to the other through a tunnel, and on each side the people were saying I had to be on the other side. Several hours later, just before dusk, I spoke with a man who was going down way passed Fulda. This would have been an amazing ride. I had been praying all day as I went and I thanked God for finally bringing me such an awesome ride. The man went in to the store and I went to grab my bags and came back to wait behind his car to put my things in the trunk. The man came back and, well I can not spell what he said. He only spoke German. But he communicated to me that he was not going to take me. I was drop kikked! I do not know what happened or how our signals got crossed, but wow! That just killed me. I kept working to get a ride, but all the fire was gone and I was put out. Now it was dark and I wondered when I was going to call it a day and sneak back into the woods to sleep when a Volkswagon pulled up and all kinds of hippies fell out. I was so happy to see them. "Are you going to the gathering?" I began. But they did not know of the gathering and they were going in the opposite direction to Liepzig. They had just come from Switzerland and they were dropping off a guy they had with them. I spoke to him and he thought going to the gathering was a great idea and he wanted to go too. I will say his name was Jarmaal. After talking to them some other cars pulled up and that is when I met a guy going to Erfurt who said he would take me there. Finally a ride! And Jarmaal came with us. I let Jarmaal sit in the fron seat so that he could keep the conversation going and translate for me. I was exhausted and had worked all day for the ride that Jarmaal just walked into. So I tried to sneak a nap. There was not much rest though. Erfurt was right off the road and we asked the driver to let us off at the gas station on the autobahn that came before the exit into town.

I went into to the station for a bite to eat while trying to figure out my next move --i.e. catch a ride or take a nap. Jarmaal supplied another option. He said that Erfurt was a very nice city and wished he had asked the driver to jsut take us on into town. He said that it was only 11km away, so we could walk there and catch a glimpse and maybe even find a place to stay. At first I thought, well I could sleep just as well outside the gas station. But then decided, well why not I may never get this chance again.

The moon was just one day past full. It was bright and beautiful. We walked on the grass along the autobahn for about 1km and could see the city glowing in the distance. So we decided to cut across country and head straight for the center. We worked our way across a field of ploughed dirt waiting for seed. It was a large field and by the end of it, I had began to see Jarmaal as my guide. He was dressed in a courtoroy suit with a pointy purple felt hat that made him look like an elf. Though he never told me, I began to wonder if he was one of the traveling guildmen. There is a tradition in Germany that some during their apprenticeship will travel for a few years while practicing their trade wherever they go.

We walked into the night through open farm land till we came to a small barn and farm house at the end of the road. We took a right there onto a road that lead us into a residential area. Soon we were surrounded by German houses of various ages with distinguished architecture respectively. We came to a small round-a-bout where we sat and looked at the moon. Jarmaal rolled a cigarette. There was an opened lot with apple trees on our left revealing more of the crop fields we had walked through. Jarmaal said we could sleep there tonight. So we left our things, actually in the middle of the round-a-bout, and walked throught the nice quiet neighborhood. The temperature was dropping and the beauty of the night continued. We came upon an old church which we prowled around finding some stairs leading up to a small balcony, we sat I again looking at the moon and praying and Jarmaal rolling another cigarette. It was not too long before my body temp had dropped more, and I was beginning to dose off. I told Jarmaal I was ready for bed. So we took another way back through the village and collected our things making our way to the apple trees. I quickly unrolled my bed and crawled in. My progress was slowed by a barking dog across the street which Jarmaal tried to calm. Finally the owners came outside to see what was eating their dog and Jarmaal went right up to have a conversation with them. This behavior striked me as so odd, because I know that back in the states I would have ran away scarred by this time. He came back and said lets just move 30 meters further from the street and perhapse the dog will leave us alone. It worked! Jarmaal collected apples before going to bed, and I did my best to stay warm and get to sleep. Staying warm proved too difficult however and my sleep was often disturbed by tightening the thin blankets (I was only prepared for summer) wrapped around me hoping to find some more heat.

The morning did not come too soon for me. I woke up with a mission to find a fleece blanket. (I found out later when checking weatherunderground that it was only 4*C just then when I was getting up.) After shivering through the process of rolling up my shwag (aussie: for a bushman's travel gear) , we started through the neighborhood and on towards town. We still had some adventures ahead of us. We went from residential areas onto roads, stopping to pick pears as we went, over more farmland, past an IKEA, then along railroad tracks into a small village. In the village Jarmaal went into a baker's shop and came out with rolls of bread and apelsaft (carbinated apple juice). Then an old lady came by and offered us cured pork to spread on our bread. Praise the Lord almighty, Jarmaal came up with breakfast! I could not believe what an awesome time I was having somewhere in Germany. After breakfast, Jarmaal told me that the old woman who was nice enough to give us the pork also told us where there was a village well with safe drinking water where we could fill our water bottles and wash up.

Earlier, when we were on the railroad, Jarmaal had stopped ever so often to pick up small stones that he thought were special.
So after washing up at the well, he rolled a cigarette, and pulled out his collection of rocks. He showed one particular stone to me and told me that it is a very special stone. He told me that the stone was magic. He said that it was a powerful stone with lots of energy but that Jarmaal could not use it, because the stone told Jarmaal that it wanted to come with me. I had to decide in that moment how to respond. Was Jarmaal inviting me into his pagan world? Or was he just offering me something to remember him by and attatching lore to it just to make it a more fascinating sort of gift. I accepted the stone but only after telling him that I believed magic to be a dangerous tool and that I did not need nor would I accept any of the stone's energy or powers. I told him that I knew the one who made the stone and recieved all the energy and power I needed from Him. Then I received and thanked him for the stone while communicating that I was glad to meet him and was happy to have this stone as a momento of the meeting.

Continuing on, we got up and finally walked into the city. I found brand new cheap fleece blanket, and got to see great big churches sitting side by side where Martin Luther went to seminary. The are called Mariendom and the Severikirche. At some point near the middle of the day, Jarmaal randomly and quickly explained that he had to leave me. He said I was slowing him down and that he no longer had time to go to the gathering but needed to get up to Kastel to get a car that was waiting for him and drive to Poland for some work. At that moment, I thought I was giong to cry. It was a very abrupt and unexpected change in the story. I offered that he would not leave just yet, but that he would let me buy him a dunor kebab before he left.
He thought that was actually a wonderful idea. So, we walked through the town some more before we finally found the kebab shop. The dunor were €3 instead of the €2 I was used to, but I decided not to sweat it. Jarmaal decided to eat outside in the sun. So we took our Kebaab and settled for a spot on the corner of a parking lot next to a fence to have our last meal together. At the conclusion of the meal, I told Jarmaal I wanted to bless him before he left. Jarmaal put his hands together, and I stretched mine out towards one of his legs and prayed traveling mercies for Jarmaal, and that the Lord of truth would lead Jarmaal into all truth. Jarmaal thanked me with a good embrace, and then went along his way. I watched him go with a sigh, and a lump in my throat. So, I was alone in Germany again.



After returning bottles from the parking lot back to the kebaab shop to claim my refund, I walked through the city a bit longer, found a map in an info shop, found some cardboard and made a sign for the Autobahn. I let the map take me through the city toward the autobahn, stopping ever so often to try to catch a ride as I went. On my way out, I saw a squat near a gas station, and a Polish couple hitching their way down to Italy. I took note of the squat, thinking that maybe that would be where I slept that night. Inside me was a tumult of prayers. I was sad to say goodbye to my new friend, I was tired of not getting rides, and I was feeling pressed for time. I considered going back into town and buying a train for Karlsruhe (a base of Styger ministries where I had plans to go after the gathering.) I considered trying just to hitch towards Karlsruhe. I had a little bit of time to make up my mind, for a about 30 more km, the road that lead to Karlsruhe also lead to the gathering. I felt somewhere in my spirit though, that I still was to go to the gathering. So I chose to continue hitching. If I was to hitch, I would get a ride. If I was to make it out to where I must turn off for the gathering this evening, then I would go on into the gathering (the turn off was 40km from the gathering). If I was able to get out of Erfurt this evening, but not to the turn off, I would go on to Karlsruhe. And if I did not make it out of Erfurt that night, I would catch a train to Karlsruhe in the morning.

Well, several quick-caught, short, little-rides later, I made it to my cut off for the gathering. If I remember correctly, this was Eisenach. I thanked the driver and crawled out of the car with lots of excitement. I had waited so long to get to the end of my journey on the Autobahn. It was beautifully landscaped Germany farms, hills, forest, and tiny villages from here on out. If I even had to walk all 40km, I thought that would not be a problem. I was somewhere in Germany...somewhere in beautiful Germany. Apart from my time with Jarmaal, the next 40 km were my favorite part of the trip. They seem to me to epitomize what hitchhiking is all about: beautiful scenery, strange people, peaceful-quiet-long walks with the Lord, and surprizes all along the way. I took photos of the journey, but they just don't seem to do justice to the memories of what I all saw with all 5 senses. There were walks, and there were rides. There was fish at the grocery store, one couple from rainbow stopping to give me directions as they left for Babylon (the land outside of rainbow where most of the rainbow family actually live and pay taxes) and beer in the parking lot with young locals as I passed through the last town. It was light for a good part of the way, and then as I crept up into the woods, it was pitch black. My last driver took me to the foot of the mountain that we thought would lead me up into the gathering.
From there, I went up, ascending alone into the cold pitch-black night, under the trees, listening for drums and people, and searching for campfires. Eventually I reached the top of the montain, and began walking back down the otherside. I could see the lights from another little village down below, but no sign of campers or fires. So I decided I must be on the wrong mountain. I crossed a meadow on the summit and unrolled my shwag to make camp under some trees. Wrapping myself up in the thin covers and my new fleece I prayed for a warmer night, and went to sleep.

The next morning it rained. It was cold, but mainly it was wet. My shwag did well protecting me, however. I read as I waited to hear the raindrops stop outside. I was a little miffed by the rain mainly because I was hoping for a sunny day by which I could recharge my iPod. When the rain stopped, I shook out my wet rainfly, and smiled as I rolled my shwag. I was pleased that I was able to stay dry through the morning. I wondered at what the new day would bring, but was happy to be close to home (the rainbow family refer to rainbow lands in this way). The threat of the morning was not so much the wet or the cold, but that I had lost my brand new planner with all the transferred phone numbers, important dates, and directions both into the gathering and from there to Karlsruhe. I searched the mountain and retraced mysteps back down where I had come up in the pitch the night before. The notebook never showed up. At the bottom of the hill, I was not sure what to do. I looked this way and then that. I found my way back into the little village and opted to try and remember what the only rainbow's I met the previous day told me about entering the land. Luckily, I did not have to rely on my memory alone. When I came into town a woman with hardly any english what so ever labored to communicate with me and asked if I was here to see my family. At first, I began to tell her that my family was all in Texas. But then, realizing what she meant, I said, "Yes! My rainbow family!" I waved my hands over my head to charade a rainbow. Then, she did something absolutely incredible. She had her neighbor from across the street drive me to the end of the village, and up the mountain to the very trailhead of "Welcome Home" Rainbow front gate. Again I thanked the man, and blessed him and all my drivers. I thanked the Lord for his faithfulness to me. I asked for further protection as I was a bit apprehensive of what was to come next. Then, with more prayer and anticipation in my spirit, I set my face towards front gate and my ears towards the first greeting in my direction of, "Welcome Home."

Berlin, Rainbow, and Styger

May the Lord be proclaimed, that his faithfulness be known by all and that his children may not despair in the hands of his goodness.

I sit here writing to you all once again of my travels. This time from a library in Amsterdam. It is state of the art, top of the line, just opened within the past month, and is the fanciest library I ever seen. Its predominating color is egg white, and steel. I feel like a flee hopping around on a mac key board. Bazarre...

I just arrived here yesterday morning, from an incredible trip that began about a month ago when I hitchhiked from Amsterdam to Berlin. In summary, I was in Berlin for three Sundays and on into Tuesday. Then I hitchhiked into Thuringen for a late summer rainbow gathering. It was cold and wet. You can find the nearby town if you google 'Zitters', Germany. From the gathering, I paid €15 into a rainbow rideshare that took me to Karlsruhe, Germany. There I visited the Styger ministry base, and had a wonderful time meeting the missionaries and church members there. Finally, last Friday, I made one more attempt at hitchhiking that beat me sorely and so I ended up shelling out just over €100 for a train ride back to Amsterdam.

So there it is in short. Now I want to focus on the wonders of God throughout this trip, and what I am learning through this journey.

I like Berlin. I like it because it is not so pretty.

When I was there I could tell that I was standing on the edge of Western Europe, looking over into the East. I have long had a fascination with Eastern Europe which I've mostly suppressed. However my recent trip to Amsterdam and loosing myself from such a single focus on the squat scene has opened up my heart to discover new possibilities. My visit to Berlin helped. It is a raw city. Trash is everywhere, and the buildings are not all that pretty. But there is a layed back feeling of comfort there, sort of the nastalgic comfort a late gen-x kid may get for finally seeing things with his own eyes that were forbidden shortly after his parent's generation. Berlin is a wild city, where you can take a bottle of Beer with you anywhere you want to go. At night the parks are dark, but there are still people out there (not just homeless people), sometimes even lighting campfires.
The city is covered in graffitti, from cheap tags to enormous counter culture murals, to finer artistic pieces. Men seem to be aloud to urinate almost anywhere they please. This is not intirely true I suppose, but for an American boy relief is generally outside and never too far off. Briefly, while I am on the subject, most public toilets cost €.50. So they getchya both ways for eating in this country. It costs rather you are picking up or dropping off >=<. The food is cheap though. You can get a cup of yogurt for €.25, a nice 5 serving bag of muslix for around €2. Nicer cans of sardines can be bought for about €1, and Doner kebab (a Berlin/middle eastern fast food phenomenon served with lamb that is destined to put Mc Donalds out of business) is only €2. Housing is cheap in Berlin. I am told that it would not be difficult to find a flat in the city for under €300 a month, and they appear to be bigger and nicer in sum than the apartments I have lounged within in Amsterdam. Finally there is an abundance of foot traffic; mainly punks.
The place just might be a paradise for them. I think much of the reason for this is that Berlin is an easier place to live. There are several squats in Berlin, transportation is easy at unlimited public use for the week for €24. One of the gritty nite life centers in the city is on Oranienburgerstrasse centered with an old building which was squatted and now an art gallery with several layers of grafitti paint decorating the stairwells, an indipendant film movie cinema, several bars, and a backyard metal sculpture garden amidst a cluster of stages, bars, and coffee shops. So this is the Berlin that I enjoyed. During my three Sundays and on into Wednesday's stay there, I met with American friends from the Jesus Loves You rainbow bus ministry including AL n Tina and friends. I came, however hosted by generous Jesus Freaks both of whom I knew from the states and others who I met there in Berlin. *THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL TIME GUYS, I LOVE YOU!* I slept on various generous peoples couches, floors, and in one VW bus known as Wonder Boy. I got to meet with YWAMMers, and various members of other churches including some missionaries from Waco, Texas. Together with Teen Challenge and one of their former base leaders, most of this broad community unified to host an evangelistic event in Mauer park that included street outreaches, an outdoor flee market lounge with entertainment, a week of 24-7 prayer in Wonder Boy, and climaxed on Friday night with a free concert in the park performed by Suspekt and headliner No Longer Music of Syger International Ministries.
I love the people I met and the time I spent in Berlin. It is my heart to tell of the ministry that happened in Berlin, but so much of it seems so tender, precious, and embedded into the very fabric of my Berlin experience that they are difficult to render from there surroundings. Sufficeth to say that almost everyday (there were a few bad ones) I met people, and was able to listen to their stories, and love them with the representation of Christ's love poured out for all. One specific interaction comes to mind where a woman was looking for direction, and wondering if she will find the fulfillment she is looking for in a certain course of study. The music of discipleship was so tender at that moment as I saw Christ minster to her in my words.
These various people are brought to mind from time to time and I pray for a furthering of the ministry in them of which I was able to participate in some small way. Towards the end of my time in Berlin I wondered if I should stay, but I heard the road calling me forward. I delayed by one day though, to see about a job in one particular coffee shop. Strangely, the shop was closed when I went by to see about the position, though the sign on the door said I was there during normal operating hours; how bazarre. What was the Lord trying to communicate with this? Maybe just, 'not yet for Berlin.' So I spent one more night at the house of a generous Jesus Freak who is such a bro, and hitched myself some rides towards the rainbow gathering the next day. My eyes are still on Berlin. In addition to all of the reasons that may be found above, there remains an opportunity open to me. I spoke with the prospective leader of a new YWAM base thought to be taking its start by the close of fall. He told me that there are other guys with street experience (they have lived on the streets) comming to join YWAM Berlin. This is a concideration for me. It would grant me a Visa, community, and others to work with in seeking works of compassion toward the streets of Berlin. It may be a done deal if I can raise a steady support cost of €700. I don't think I would need that much.
The money will not go into some big organization, it is just that I need to prove to the German government that I have means of support so they will grant me a visa. This is not a tag on the end of a news letter asking for money. This is just the end of the Berlin story, and the lead in to what could one day be a return to Berlin. It would be an interesting option, however, if enough support was generated. So here is an idea. Anyone interested in commiting to supporting me for one year towards this end, don't send your money to it just yet. But just let me know you are out there so that I perhapse may hear from the Lord through you. Blessings, and peace in the name of our Lord who is mighty and powerful to grant you blessnigs and peace.