Preussen Park

Discovering the Prussian's park

I did it. The afternoon sun was beating down but I walked to one of the places in my book. I decided to start with a familiar place in my neighborhood. A park! I've been there before, but the tip in the book was that on the weekend there is a "flea market". Those are ever-popular in Berlin and I decided to check it out.

Sunny days bring people out in droves

Sunday, or sunny days bring people out in droves. They sit down and soak up the sun. This Sunday was no exception. About a fifty little beach umbrellas dotted the park where women (who I believe were Vietnamese) were selling authentic food. (Which, side note, ended up being the flea market. A little bit of a let-down, but still worth the 5 minute walk from my house.) The smells lingered in the park and mingled with the smell of grass and dirt. As I walked around I caught a delightful scent: the smell of searing meat made my mouth water as the smell drifted on the wind.


People littering the grounds sitting on blankets, mats, or even the ground. You might think you're on the beach with the umbrellas or the women in bikinis, but you in fact are in the heart of the city. I found a little kiosk and bought an ice cream bar as I continued to walk through Prussian park on that sun-beamed-filled afternoon.

Discover: Berlin.

Horribly neglected. My BLOG's fate is definitely one that I would have never expected. Yet, I have been thinking about what I can do, and how I can keep this going. I want to post, but never know if I have anything of worth to say. I have realized that my departure date from Berlin is coming sooner than I expected and with about a month and 1/2 left, there's still so much left to see in the city.

I have also noticed within myself a need/desire to have a checklist. To have tasks that I can check off. Call me Type A, but there's just something so beautiful to me about being able to make a little check and call it "finished". So much of what I do here, I love, but it is definitely not that way. It's more of investing in people's lives and lives are constantly changing. It's lovely, but you just can't check people off a list.

I recently, with my roommates, watched Julie & Juila (ok it was probably like 2 months ago), the idea of cooking through a cookbook was one that did excite me, however, it seemed also a little impractical, because while I love baking & cooking and learning new skills in that realm, I also know that with spring and summer coming, I want to be outside!!!

Then, I saw it. The book, i was in the bookstore and it caught my eye. I was supposed to not like this book, I'm not the biggest fan of travel books and the "where you must go" type, but I thought, hmm...let me take a look. 111 Orte in Berlin die man Gesehen Haben Muss (111 must see places in Berlin) did come home with me. It won me over with it's beautiful pictures and this quirkiness. These are the typical places to visit. Not the everyday type, what every tourist can see on a bus. No, I'm going to have to go way out of my way to see some of them, but I'm excited. Excited to go and discover new nooks and crannies. To find new favorite parts of this city.

I am not going to attempt to see all the place in the next few weeks, that would be crazy, but I think I just might see more of them next year and attempt to visit all 111, and I would like to take you along with me. I would love to show you the places I see in Berlin, the dumps and the triumphs.

So, do you want to go on an adventure??

Why are you really doing this?

This week is one in which Berlin students find themselves with high stress levels. Textbooks and notebooks full of notes from the past few months in front of them, trying to decode what it is they wrote down in October that will be on their upcoming tests. Oh, test week!

Our STINT team, partially remembering from our experiences as students that this week is one where you can between wanting to cry thinking about all you need to do and the elation of actually remembering a concept for your test, decided to serve the students.

So, we gathered together this morning to, through the help of some assembly line action, put together 300 studying care packages. Filled with goodies like Haribo gummi bears, tea, coffee, etc, we set out to hand them out to unsuspecting Berlin students.

How skeptical of free things we as humans are. Can someone really give something with no strings attached? Can we really serve people without wanting something in return? How many students turned down free snacks. It was fun to be there and while handing out the packages observe the reactions of German students. The skeptical "Why are you really doing this? to "Wow, this is so generous!" with a smile breaking across their face. It was fun to see stressed out students suddenly not be able to wipe a smile off their face. To see them do the double take as we assured them that we were truly giving them a free gift.

I love that I get to be here to serve the students of Berlin. That some days they get to experience a free gift, a physical gift. Other days we talk to students and enter into spiritual conversations, asking them questions and sharing with them how they can have the gift of life. What a gift!

you fail sometimes

Failure. I will admit that more often than not, I fear failing. There are times when I play out situations in my head, and if I fear I will fail, I'll not go through with them in real life. Then come the times when you have no choice. You have things on your list that you need to do. Things like getting a cell phone, setting up a bank account, getting a visa.

This picture has nothing to do with this post
I just liked it!

Those things are exactly what I have had to do since being here in Berlin. They seem like small simple things, but I think at times it's the small simple things that test us the most. Especially when the small and simple, doesn't stay, well, simple. In fact, all of those things have become more complicated than I ever wanted them to be.

Through my frustration of not knowing the system and making mistakes in applying for all of those things, I have felt frustrated & humbled. That through using these things, God has been showing me how I sometimes take the little things for granted and how I rely on my own ability instead of his. In these moments of frustration, there is a choice I have to make. Am I going to walk in the Spirit or not. You see, I think sometimes it's the littlest things that test us the most. The smallest things that can get under our skin the most.

Thankfully, I have had many doses of frustration and some I have handled well, and others, not so much.  May Jesus use the small things in your life and mine to shape us more into His image!

Kimberly

Sonntag in Berlin

I don't know if anyone out there is like me, but I'm going to throw this out there. Weekends are hard. I love them, don't get me wrong, but either I feel this HUGE pressure to do all that I ever wanted/need to do in two days and never accomplish all I have planned. That, or I have no plans and wander aimlessly through a weekend and when Sunday evening rolls around I think, what did I even do?

Weekends in Berlin have been very slow, and I have really enjoyed that, besides special Sundays, the shops, besides Restaurants are closed. Here's what my typical Sunday in Berlin looks like:

8 am Wake up
10 am leave for church
11 am -1:15pm Church at Berlin Projekt

Then, besides lunch there is nothing built into my days. I have been enjoying going to church and worshipping in German. It has been challenging my language abilities, and beyond that, it's been challenging my faith and belief. Something about having to really pay attention to understand what's going on around me and then from there process through what that means for my life. There are definitely times when I miss my favorite songs, or singing in English.

I am learning to enjoy a different pace of life, that we can rest and there is value in that! :) What about you?

Wer ist die schönste Dame an der Spree?

Of course the answer to the question is Berlin. The question is (who is the most beautiful woman on the Spree? The Spree is a river that runs through Berlin.


I've already been here in Berlin for two weeks. There are just some things that happen in your life that are so hard to comprehend. One of those would be that I finished raising my support and am free to do what God has called me to do in Berlin. I thought I would make this a little more of a light-hearted post giving you a little insight into how my adjustment to life in Berlin is going.


Things I LOVE about Berlin:

*the underground/transportation system
*living within walking distance of a grocery store, or two, well actually three
*doing daily life in German
*speaking German
*people-watching on the subway

*the international influence:people from all around the world call Berlin home
*that Germans love coffee
*getting to know the other people in my language class
*having keys, a place to call home, and being able to make someplace feel like home


Things I'm learning to love:
*cobblestones. so pretty. so hard on my feet.
*going to church here. I love the church I go to, but at times I miss singing the songs I've sung my whole life, knowing people where I am, having people know me
*my neighbors
*my team....I'm constantly learning how to love them well, as I get to know them more. 

These two weeks have gone by so quickly, and I've loved almost every moment. I feel so at home here! Here's how you can be praying for me & my team:

Language School//that we would be diligent to learn and take the opportunity that we've been given to become learners of the German culture by learning their language. That we would build friendships with the other students in our class.

UniMAT//Next week we will be spending two days at a conference for German campus staff. I may get to do some translating for the team. Pray that God would give me understanding and the supernatural ability to do that well.

Spiritual Movements// Pray for spiritual movements here in Berlin. Pray for movement in people's own personal life, including mine. That these small movements would invite others to come and be a part of what we're doing.

in Berlin

Kimberly 

a becoming reality

Everyday, it becomes more and more real! I'm going to Berlin! I leave September 2nd. I have a friend who flies out this very week!! I am currently at STINT briefing, where we learn about what our job will be overseas, and grow in relationship with our teams.

So far, it has been so good! I have seen friends from Ocean City and I seriously LOVE my team going to Berlin. There are nine women and 2 men! Wow! What an awesome group of people that I am privileged to  spend a year of my life with.

Our speaker asked us to think about the moment that we knew. The moment we decided that we were going to go overseas. I think mine has been a series of decisions and a series of moments, but I think the first time I started to see God's heart for the world and feel the tug of that on my life, rather, to seriously consider that was when I was in Ocean City. We had a week that was dedicated to World Vision, and basically were bombarded with the facto over and over again, that God wants people from every tribe, tongue, and nation as a part of His Kingdom. I realized that was something that I could be a part of.

I think while I was in Berlin, I had another moment. It was our last Sunday there and one of our last days and I was sitting in church and overwhelmed with the reality that this is what my life could look like for a year.

It is because of HIM that I am here, ready to go to Berlin, because of Him, that I can go and share with other people.

Kimberly

"The will of God for our lives is bigger than we ever imagined." Jim Elliot