Christmas Party par excellance!

December 22 was a day I was dreading. We had invited the whole refugee community that we're in contact with, to come to a Christmas party at the Lighthouse. I was totally overwhelmed at the idea of  pulling off this party with very little help. (basically my husband and one young apprentice guy) I was tired and frankly and didn't have a very good attitude about things. We had an idea of the number that would come because we sold tickets for 2 Euro per adult and 5 Euro per family to attend the party. This at least helped give us an idea of the number to expect and how many gifts to buy for the children. I spent several hours going from store to store, looking for the perfect gift for each child by name. Darrell wrapped them and wrote their names on the gifts. I baked 100 sugar cookies and Robbie, our apprentice, decorated them all. We spent hours preparing the food, although we had ordered the main dish to be delivered. There was still a ton of preparation on our part. As the magic hour approached for the party to begin, I wondered what on earth would transpire. We had a German pastor coming to tell the Christmas story in German. The young people and children would all understand it well. Others would hopefully at least get the gist of it. We had another woman to read the Christmas story in Arabic. There would be dinner served and games, gifts, cakes and lots of chaos for sure!!
By the time everyone arrived, we ended up with 70 people. There were 8 baby buggies lined up down the hall. The children were all dressed up and so excited for the gifts. Even Santa Claus made an appearance and delighted everyone. I felt like everything was so chaotic with drinks spilling and food falling and babies crying but everyone else was having a blast. We got rave reviews on the evening and people seemed to really enjoy themselves. I think they were impressed that every child got a different gift, specially bought for him/her. The very last person to leave was a woman that's at the top of our "hit list". She's a Syrian dentist's wife who lives right next door to the lighthouse. She told me that the best part of the evening was the pastor's "speech". She speaks perfect German so she understood every word. There are some significant cracks of light peering through the darkness here and we feel we're on the verge of some breakthroughs. We're so anxious for our new partner George to arrive and take the reins. It's a fun and crazy ride!

Fun stuff

As I was just saying...one step forward...last night at our little Lighthouse ch*ch, there were 28 people, the largest group we've had to date. We had a guest speaker from America and a translator that did a poor job and missed many of the main points. That didn't seem to matter in the least to God whose spirit was working in spite of all this, in the hearts of 3 people. Before the night was over, all 3 of these people gave their lives to Jesus! This just doesn't happen in Mus ministry. It was a night of celebration! The girl that I prayed with has only been coming for 1 month. Her father was the first person to receive Christ at the LH and the only one until now to be baptized. The place was packed with people and noisy kids. We had a fellowship dinner after the meeting and lots of fun and activity. But Rowan was sticking close to me and literally begging to know more and go somewhere quiet so we could talk. She said her heart was pounding while the guy was preaching (in English which she doesn't understand and with poor translation!) This is what it means for the Holy Spirit to open people's eyes and heart to the truth. He will do his work in spite of us! We finally were able to get the kids out of the one room and sit to talk in depth. She was so ready and wanting Jesus in her life. I explained a few things and she prayed to ask him into her life. I feel like she is very fragile and I need to care for her a lot in the beginning. I will go to her house and teach her the basics of the Christian faith. The neat thing is that she is great friends with a girl I prayed with 2 weeks ago, the one who lives in our house with us. This has never happened in 35 years of ministry to Mus; praying with two people in 2 weeks. It is exciting and rewarding and also a big responsibility to get them going on the right track. They really know nothing at all. Where to start?? I know God will lead me step by step. At the same time that I was praying with this young girl, Geryes (our Syrian partner) was in the other room leading 2 men to Christ who came for the very first time last night. He met them in the street and witnessed to them and they called him up yesterday and said they wanted to become Christians! They came with their wives and children. It was a pretty amazing night; one that leaves you in awe of how God works in people's hearts and draws them to himself. Pray for these fragile new believers who need so much teaching and deliverance from the demons of Is. that will show up later and drag them back if they're not dealt with now.  We need great wisdom.

A cry for help

One step forward and 2 steps back. That is how it often is in our line of work. We had high hopes for a couple who joined us a couple of months ago. I wrote about them in a previous blog. He was a well-known leader in the Is. world and suffered greatly when he denied his religion to follow Christ. He has been floundering lately and seemingly confused and angry at times. For sure, he has been unfairly treated and even abused by believers. All of this has caused him great anguish and he has fallen away from any fellowship with Christians and attending church. The only people he has not cut off are our Lighthouse staff. Yesterday as we sat in the Lighthouse after having dinner with a large group of people visiting from the US, somehow I found myself sitting alone with this guy and we began to talk. I was shocked as he spilled everything he had stored up inside of him for weeks. I was holding back my tears as my heart broke for this young man who had been so hurt by believers and the church. Just as someone in deep grief doesn't need a sermon preached to them about the sovereignty of God, I knew all I could do was listen to this guy and try to empathize with the deep pain he was feeling. I did tell him that all of us, unfortunately, can point to many Christians who have back-stabbed us and disappointed us and that is why it's so important to keep our eyes on Jesus because he will never, ever disappoint us. He said things that I hope he doesn't really mean. He said ugly, evil, mean things that made me so sad. The bottom line is that he was there, at the Lighthouse, because he says we're the only ones who have not mistreated him. When we finished our conversation, I went into the kitchen and cried. I cried hard and I cried long because my heart was broken for this man who obviously is possessed with demons from his past; a past that's full of wickedness and killing and such evil that it's hard for our minds to imagine. He needs deliverance for sure but until he is willing and asks for help, it is futile. I am broken-hearted for his sweet wife who was led to Christ by her husband. She is suffering a lot these days as she sees and hears her husband denounce his faith and seek revenge on those believers who tried to destroy his life. She claims that these are just words of anger that he's spouting and that in his heart of hearts, he still believes in Jesus and would never deny his faith. I hope she's right. All we can do is pray and love and forgive and embrace this tormented young man. Will you join us in this?

On overload!

This post will not be long. It is 4AM and being awake at this hour must mean my mind is truly on overload. We foolishly started too many new things all at once and it's a bit overwhelming. I just keep telling myself to take one day at a time and breathe deeply. Our kids' program was off to a slow start last week but nonetheless, it's started. We'll see how God wants to grow that. The 3 kids that came felt extremely loved and told their mom it was the best day of their life. Yesterday I started up a ladies' group. I didn't want to do it alone but rather with my Syrian partner, Abeer, but she is in full time language study and will be for a long time still. So I launched out on my own and had 4 wonderful women show up with 4 children in tow. I had set a fancy table and we had 2 delightful hours of talking and laughing together, getting to know one another better. They weren't in any hurry to leave. I think this will grow quickly and I am thinking of ways to turn the conversations to spiritual things. Next week we will do a craft and make breakfast together. Our intern will help with the children so the women can get a needed break. In the midst of starting these two new programs, we had a 2-year apprentice arrive and a 3-month intern so we're also trying to get them well-oriented. We also have a refugee girl living with us because she literally has nowhere to go and she is a wonderful girl who is close to accepting Jesus. She's a big help around the house and at the Lighthouse and will help me a lot when we have non-stop teams coming through Berlin in October and November. Our intern is also living with us. So we are not empty-nesters anymore. Life is just busy, busy, busy these days and we appreciate your prayers for sanity, health and joy in the flurry of activity! Friday night Family Game nights continue to be a big hit and our Sunday meeting is seeing steady growth which is particularly exciting. May we find time in this season, shall I say, our last stretch, to gain our strength by staying connected to the Vine and not withering on the vine.  

full steam ahead...

We arrived back from a 2-month medical leave (for my injured knee) on Wednesday evening at 7PM local Berlin time. Before 8AM on Thursday, we were on the train heading down to the Lighthouse. There was a lot of housekeeping to catch up on. Looked like there hadn't been a woman's hand in the operation for awhile! I raced around inside, cleaning and reorganizing while Darrell cleaned up outside and did a bunch of minor repairs. There was a steady stream of people coming by all day long and we had a good time of talking to them and debriefing with Geryes, our Syrian partner. Friday we headed back to the Lighthouse mid-morning and began to prepare for the Family game night to take place later that evening. I shopped and baked and arranged furniture. When our partners arrived later that afternoon, we flew around getting sandwiches ready, cutting vegetables and fruit and preparing for the games. A huge crowd showed up, including over 20 children. It was chaos at its' best! Needless to say, we realize that we must now begin to prepare a special program for the kids and pray for extra hands to help! The evening was a huge success with several new families coming, all with horrific stories of their journey across the seas to eventually arrive in Germany. After everyone left, we stayed to clean up the cyclone that went through, arriving back home around 10PM, exhausted. We are still operating on jet lag which has been a challenge.
Today was our Bible Study day and it was even more thrilling. There were 9 people present along with Darrel and I. The participation was great and the spirit of God was so visibly present. There was a couple that came who have an unbelievable story. We have heard of the guy before. In fact, he's famous in this country and wanted by extremists who would like to see him dead. He converted to Christianity 18 months ago and immediately got on fire for the Lord, going on TV and preaching against his former religion and witnessing to everyone he met. When his life became endangered, he had to go into hiding and dyed his hair blond, trying to disguise himself. He witnessed to a young Iraqi girl who was very religious and horrified that he had left his birth religion. This man continued to meet with her and eventually convinced her that Jesus was the one and only way. They later fell in love and got married 6 months ago. They are a stunning couple, obviously full of the spirit of God. I was mesmerized as she told me her story. She is the only believer in her family and says that if her mother found out, she would literally have a stroke and die. No one in her family knows about her faith. We exchanged phone numbers and she wants to get together for coffee and talk more. It was an invigorating day, to say the least. The guy has a vision to sing the scriptures in the manner that the Koran is sung. (he used to sing the Koran in the mosque) He has a beautiful voice! We got out our loud speaker system and he "sang" some of the psalms in this manner. It gave me chills. This way of chanting/singing would be a very powerful way of drawing Mus. in and getting them to listen to scripture. Today's meeting gave us great hope for the future and the planting of a church. 

Ramadan is here!

Since many of our activities have come to a halt for the month of Ramadan, we decided to try and put on a few "Iftar" meals. (breaking the fast) The problem in Berlin is that the sun doesn't set until after 9PM so the poor people that are fasting, are about to fall over by then! Until June 21st, the days get a minute longer every day. By next Friday, the eating time will be 9:27. For our first Iftar, we had an Iraqi refugee woman come at 3PM to start cooking. She dived right in and worked unbelievably hard for 6 straight hours. (and she was fasting!) As many of you know, I have a knee injury that is requiring I walk on crutches. I way overdid it on Friday helping this woman and was in excruciating pain by the end of he night. In spite of that, it turned out to be an amazing night and a great success. The last people left around midnight and we were as beat as one can be. It was worth the extra work to see how happy the people were. And the food was delicious! We will have an Iftar meal for the 4 Fridays during Ramadan.

A heart-breaking story

I have recently become friends with a Syrian lady named Kara*. She lives in a refugee camp not far from the Lighthouse. She's come to our game nights, ladies' cooking day and German language classes. Slowly I have been able to find out about her story and it is truly heart-breaking. Her parents gave her to a man 14 years her senior to marry at 10 years old. 10 years old!! The man threatened her father that he would kill him if he did not give him his daughter. Turns out the man that married her was her first cousin. (which is normal in the Arab world) At 10 years old, Kara was petrified of her husband and hated him from the first day of their marriage. She had her first child at 14. She loved to cook and entertain guests as she grew older but her husband hated guests and always embarrassed her in front of them. He was a cruel and crude man. One day she came home to find him dead of a heart attack. I asked her if that was a traumatic thing to find her husband dead and she said it was the happiest day of her life! That was 13 years ago. Kara made the dangerous trip by raft through the sea last year to come to Germany, thinking that her life would be better somehow. She brought her 13 year old granddaughter with her. She's been living in a refugee camp (like a big dormitory) for the last year under miserable conditions. She has to walk 10 minutes to a community bathroom, forced to eat horrible institution food that makes her sick, (most of the time she says she eats tomatoes and bread in her room), has to walk miles with knees that are both rubbing bone on bone. She's been told she needs immediate surgery on her knees but there is no one to take care of her so she keeps putting it off. She misses her children and grandchildren back in Syria and wonders if she'll ever see them again. When she comes to the Lighthouse, she seems to forget her troubles briefly and you can even find her laughing at times. In the photo here, Kara is the one in black at the end of the table. Interesting that when she takes her veil off, she has blond hair and looks 10 years younger. She's only 53 but looks so much older because of the miserable life she's had. Right now we are trying to help her find a small apartment so she can move out of the refugee "dorm" and be able to have her own place to cook and live a semi-normal life. Housing for refugees is a huge problem here and threatens to undo this country. They are beginning to rise up and demonstrate now. One of the camps went on strike and everyone slept out on the street one night. Another is striking against the dining room and the gross food they feed the people. The problems are never-ending and it gets downright depressing trying to help them wade through the complex, difficult lives that many of them lead here.