Last week was a lot of stress and this week has been the opposite. Last week was thanksgiving for 70 which felt like 500 and for the first time, I spoke to a large crowd in German. I said, “I am thankful for my friends, my family, and the people that got me to Germany.” I don’t remember the last part in German but many people were very impressed. It was a big success that night and a record for people at an Unterwegs event. I carved the turkey, also my first time, so I was running back-in-forth from the kitchen to the computer watching a video on Youtube. It was a lot of fun to have so many people and so many new people that were brought by our core students.
Sunday night, I was walking back from a student’s house. It took the whole 15 minute walk for a carton of grape juice to leak through my backpack, jacket and 3 shirts I was wearing. Grape juice, not the milk or the apple juice in my back pack, the grape juice. Then, on Monday, I was trying to get off the bus to go to school and I got trapped by people on the bus and was taken half a mile the wrong direction before I got off. I was a half an hour late. Just a few things that weren’t funny at the time but they are now.
Today we had our own Thanksgiving, which was great. We had a friend from our sister campus ministry in England, Canvas, join us, Jason Tatum. It was fun to sit around with Americans and speak in English, and just relax. One of the things that exhausts me is, it is always my responsibility to make sure everyone is having fun around me. This works for my personality but it is something that is hard to sustain when you aren’t in the mood. One of the things I look forward to over my break.
I am about to head to Berlin for the weekend with a friend. My first trip in Europe, I hear a lot of good things about Berlin and since we are driving and staying with friends, saving a lot of money.
Another hard thing is being patient with students. Students have really taken to me. I am described as a Lumberjack, I guess because I wear flannel to stay warm. But I enjoy hanging out with them. It’s just tough to hold your tongue and wait until there is a strong relationship there to start taking shots and trying to go deep. Americans have a reputation in Germany as being people that will ask questions but really don’t care so I’m trying to avoid that. But it is a good problem to have.
Looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks, until then Happy Thanksgiving and GO JACKETS!
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