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.
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.