This church has a very unique pastoral team. Pastor Raul is from Mexico and spent time in Spain as a missionary before moving to Germany where he met his wife Meike who is German. Together they operate a drug rehabilitation program. One of the requirements for the new participants in the program is to join the church services, as well as, working with an outreach ministry restoring furniture for sale. The profits from selling the restored pieces of furniture helps maintain the building and covers the costs of the rehab program. We had a wonderful service and the congregation was very responsive to the message and the ministry. I took several pictures and taped a video interview with the pastor after the service.
Later that night, we drove to Flensburg, our final place of ministry where we would spend the rest of the weekend. Flensburg is the northern most town in Germany near the Denmark border (10 minutes away), and the hometown of one of our team members. I learned that Flensburg was the capital of Germany for a few days. Also, the church building was probably used by Hitler and his officials for meetings!
Flensburg is an old city with rich history. The town was named after a knight called “Fleno” who in the earlier days was a hero for this city. In the downtown area you still find many old, small houses, cobblestone roads, and narrow streets from that time.
The church is located in one of the poorer areas Flensburg's. For over 11 years, homeless people from the streets and neighbors have come to the church every Wednesday for free clothing as well as coffee, cake and torte. This outreach has opened many doors for conversations, counseling and fellowship, as well as, led many to Christ.
We ministered on Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday. Saturday morning we had a Leadership Meeting at the pastor's home which was very encouraging as they were pressing through some hard transitions. We ran into spiritual opposition and almost overnight, I wrestled something like a bronchitis and struggled to breathe. My heart began to race and I felt as if I was being choked as I spoke. I made it through my first teaching session on Saturday while coughing the entire time. After the first session, I went downstairs to the youth room to get some rest. I was unable to minister in the evening session as chills and fever hit me. My voice was horrible and I couldn't even sit up. One of the team members brought me some hot tea, antibiotics and the team prayed over me. I felt a little better the next day and was able to minister in the Sunday morning service. I preached on The Kingdom of God.
I was able to connect with a man by the name of Manfred, one of the church members, who has a media production company and just recently acquired the rights to translate the entire “Veggie Tales” production in German. He had just been to Franklin, TN and will be back there in January for business. I am looking forward meeting with him again. “It's a small world”after all!
On Sunday evening we had our last service in Schleswig, the oldest European town in northern Europe, which was established in the 8th century. Pastor Burkhard welcomed our team and we were able to minister to every single person that night. In the video interview with Pastor Burkhard after the service, he expressed his appreciation to America and for the Assemblies of God denomination for establishing a bible college where he received his training for ministry many years ago. We concluded the service and the team gathered for a nice dinner in a restaurant. We got to bed at 1 am and left at 5 am in the morning.
Right now we are on the road to Amsterdam where we will spend this last day before we fly home Tuesday. Thank you for your patience with my delayed posts due to7-8 hr time difference, travel schedule, fatigue, sickness, and the fact my laptop died and had to be put to rest before I left for the trip. I had to borrow a computer each time I posted. All of these challenges made it difficult for me to update my blog more regularly. I wish I could have given you the latest news on a daily basis. But thankfully, I was able to communicate the highlights of our amazing and very productive trip.
My flight leaves at 12:35 pm Tuesday, December 9. Please pray for safe traveling. I hope to give a stateside update within the next few days. I am eternally grateful for all your prayers and interest in my trip abroad. This is has a life-changing experience in many way. I will look forward to sharing more with you soon.
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