BURN

We did a 24hr BURN last Saturday and it was great! We have so much fun together just burning for Jesus and giving him 24 hours of worship. It's totally a joy. We had people prophetically painting and doing all sorts of stuff it was awesome. I love the BURN because its so unique and it can seriously be anything you want. Anyone is invited and it's not affiliated with any church.. it's just people who come to worship Jesus! I can't wait to come home and do burns with people back at home! It's going to be AWESOME!
Here are some pictures from the BURN...

Der Garten

One day we went to Der Garten church/cafe/neighborhood hotspot. I loved it. We met the owners, mother and daughter who pretty much run the whole thing they are missionaries from Washington State.. (I think?) They were super awesome. Thursdays and Fridays they invite anyone who wants to come into their cafe for dinner fellowship and worship. Kim is the mother, Thilo is the husband and Bre is the wife. Thilo is really great on the guitar and piano. Something that they do pretty regularly is worship on the subway. So we got on the ringbon which goes all the way around the city of Berlin, and on our first train Heidi and I stopped and talked to this girl name Natalia. but then we stopped in a neighborhood that was more or less a ghetto and we just did worship on the street and evangelism. Dominique and I approached this woman who was very dressed up with bags next to her like she was going on a trip, just waiting for someone. So we asked her if she spoke english and she said yes. So we just started talking to her, she asked us why we where there and a bunch of other things and it was really good because she just asked us so many questions about God and what we believed and she was genuinely interested. It was really great, then we were worshiping, and the presence of God was in the train. We could all feel it, and we were singing How He Loves. It was absolutely incredible. Then a little while later, like 5 minutes we got kicked off the train by 7 security guards. 

We headed back home and on our way we had to take 3 different trains. We change trains so much in Berlin its hard to keep track and remember all of them. Heidi and I wanted to stop for a quick treat at the bakery so we walked ahead of everyone so we could stop quickly. However, it was not quick enough we turned around and saw no one. We thought, what the heck... where did everyone go? Did they board a train already? so we go down into the subway station and we don't see them. We go back outside and we don't see them so we just start walking into the direction we think they went. I was pretty convinced they got on a train because they were gone so fast. SO we ended up walking to the next train station because we don't really know where they were/ how to get there or what train to take so we just walked and just had an instinct it was the right direction. We usually have only our team of 10 but that day we had about a group of about 20 and Heidi and I are the shortest ones so we could easily be looked over. We weren't scared we were actually completely fine. there were 2 search parties going on and finally we found them/they found us. When we got back to Der Garten Dominique Bill and Elisabeth gave us huge hugs and felt so bad for losing us. It was good that we made it because they did board another train and we didn't know which way to even go so thank you God for always watching out for us! Here are some pictures from this place!

Reset Church

SO it's almost been 3 weeks since first arriving here in Berlin. It's been absolutely amazing. Seriously so many awesome things have been happening. First off, all of the churches in Berlin are cafes. Wherever you go you are always greeting with such hospitality. Every one of our contacts here are incredible. One of the first things we did was went to a church called, Reset Berlin. At Reset we met a man name Ben Seidl. ( you can look him up on Noisetrade)  He is a songwriter/missionary at Reset. We came to show him some of our songs, and to maybe write a song with him. He is such a gifted musician. Elisabeth shared her song, Take Me Away and Bill shared one of his songs then Kole shared a song as well, and Me! I was so nervous though because I don't usually sing in front of people like that, and I was so afraid but I knew I had to break that fear and really step out and use what God has given me. It was really huge for me and in my heart and I just feel like I got so much freedom from fear of people's opinion and that it didn't really matter if people liked it or not because its all for Jesus anyway, and I was super quiet but it was so awesome. SO after some of the people on our team shared our songs with him he talked to us about our identity in Christ. Our identity is not based on our doing, but our being. We are sons and daughters of God! And really telling us that our music/art does not define who we are as a person. He said it in such confidence and compassion my whole team was moved to tears, and we just really wanted that imparted and marked on our hearts that we really are God's masterpiece.

We Arrived in Berlin

So many things have been happening. BERLIN is absolutely incredible. I LOVE it here.

The first night we arrived we had to get on 3 more trains just to get to our house we were staying at, and after being on 2 trains for 5 hours. So its was about a 12 hr train ride all together that day, it was quite crazy. Our first train was early! So we got there with literally one minute to spare. The next train we only had 7 minutes to get to it which is not a lot of time because we all are carrying our luggage and stuff. It’s quite crazy inside of the train station because all of the signs are in Polish/German and we don’t exactly know what trains to get on but God definitely gave us favor for traveling and we all made it with zero complaints. We were all really hungry but we made it. Chuck met us at the train station and it was really great to meet him. We are staying at his house, a mansion is more like it… this house is huge. All of the girls are staying in one room with bunk beds, and next door the boys sleep in there room. It’s so fun to be in this house. Our kitchen is seriously SO huge. The people that live here, their names are Chuck and Dela they have 4 kids. They are awesome. They are kind of like Momma and Papa of our house.So many things have been happening. BERLIN is absolutely incredible. I LOVE it here.

The first night we arrived we had to get on 3 more trains just to get to our house we were staying at, and after being on 2 trains for 5 hours. So its was about a 12 hr train ride all together that day, it was quite crazy. Our first train was early! So we got there with literally one minute to spare. The next train we only had 7 minutes to get to it which is not a lot of time because we all are carrying our luggage and stuff. It’s quite crazy inside of the train station because all of the signs are in Polish/German and we don’t exactly know what trains to get on but God definitely gave us favor for traveling and we all made it with zero complaints. We were all really hungry but we made it. Chuck met us at the train station and it was really great to meet him. We are staying at his house, a mansion is more like it… this house is huge. All of the girls are staying in one room with bunk beds, and next door the boys sleep in there room. It’s so fun to be in this house. Our kitchen is seriously SO huge. The people that live here, their names are Chuck and Dela they have 4 kids. They are awesome. They are kind of like Momma and Papa of our house.

The pictures beneath this post are pictures of the city walk of Berlin. It was so informational. It was a 3 and a 1/2 hour tour of the city. It was incredible. I learned so much Germany history and was really getting God's heart for the people of Berlin. It was incredible. SO excited for what God has planned for us here in Berlin. We are doing our first 24 hr. Burn starting Friday night. I'm so stoked!  

Berlin walk

We did a walking tour around Berlin to get information on the city and it was so great!

First few pictures are the memorial to the murdered jews

Next is the Berlin wall

Following are different buildings French and German people made opera house, capital building, and more

The streets

Auschwitz

POLAND

Day 1

We left Kona approximately 9:30pm. We hopped on the airplane and left Hawaii. I never really sleep well on planes, but I think I slept about 4hrs. and 30mins. It was not bad at all. It was night time so it was quiet and dark so I think that helped. We arrived at the San Fransico Airport at about 6am. We were all pretty tired, seeing as it was around 3am in Kona. I fell asleep on a chair for about an hour. It was really cold in the airport, I was definitely not use to being in the cold weather. Soon after many people left and went into the city. I didn’t really want to buy anything or pay to leave the airport for 3 hours so I just stayed with Elisabeth and Richard. Richard and I went to get food, and we ate at Fung Lung it was a Chinese restaurant. It was actually really delicious. In the San Fran airport its weird because they have really nice restaurants to eat inside of the airport. We each got a $30 allowance for food for our entire travel time, which is pretty awesome.

Day 2

We boarded the plane to Frankfort Germany and we were off, a 10 hr venture. It was so easy, that is really the best way to describe the plane. We flew on Lufahansa. This is probably the nicest airline. About an hour into the trip they served us drinks, then our dinner. We had a choice between pasta or chicken and rice.  Of course I went for the pasta, expecting the worst I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted delicious. On our tray of food they gave us pasta, ceasar salad, tiramisu, bread and cheese. I was extremely happy. The only downside to the flight was where I was sitting. I was sitting next to a man who sneezed frequently and apologized because he was just getting over a cold, and to my otherside I was sitting next to a woman who had no interest in even making eye contact and behind me, a 3 year old little Indian boy, who was constantly kicking my seat. I watched a movie on the plane too, it was called the Descendents. It was kinda weird and sad but it was alright. It’s funny because it was a movie that was all based in Hawaii and about a family in Hawaii. Ironic... Then I went exploring to find everyone else on my team because the seats were sectioned off and no one was sitting in my section, I had to go through the “kitchen” area and through the curtins to find more people on my team. I looked and I saw Dominique and next to her was an open seat. PTL! I went and got my stuff and scurried to sit next to her. Soon after the stewards brought us a midnight snack, a delicious chocolate bar and asked if we would like tea or coffee. We both asked for tea. It was so fun sitting with Dominique because we got to talk a bunch and I showed her pictures of my friends and family back home and got to tell her stories and she did the same. Dominique is one of my leaders. She is 23 and probably the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. She is from Canada but grew up in Pakistan her parents are missionaries and were Pakistani missionaries for 25 years. She showed me pictures of the village she lived in and the people. She grew up with 2 camels and her mother had to walk 30 minutes with the other woman and get water daily. No electricity. She is beautiful and so wise, and I can just really see that she loves God with her whole heart. I feel really blessed to be on her team! After talking for a bit we watched the movie, New Year. It was pretty good. Then we landed!

Once we arrived in Frankfort we had to wait about 2 hours for our next flight to Warsaw. We had a crazy time because we had to go through security again, none of us know German our gate was so far and after a long 10 hr flight none of us really felt like walking too much but everyone was so good at being joyful and pushing through even though we were tired. We got to our gate and everyone fell asleep on the chairs except a few of us who now have a goal to memorize the entire book of Colossians before outreach ends. We got up to verse 4 because we were going to do 2 verses a day. We finally boarded our last plane and all of us were knocked out we were so sleepy. Our flight was only 1 hr. and about 50min. We finally arrived in Warsaw and were so excited. We went outside and we were freezing. It was about 50 degrees outside. It was so cold. From the airport we took a bus ride to the train station and from there we waited to figure out what train we were suppose to go on. Our train ride was about 3 and a half hours long. On one side of the train station was metro like looking trains and the other side was apparently different trains. The train we got on looked like a train they used 50 years ago. Paint chipped, red, green, brown cars. We had all of our luggage so we needed a lot of space. We didn’t realize the train had little rooms and if you didn’t get there in time you wouldn’t get a room. The girls all sat in the same room with these two older polish business men and the guys stood in the hall with our luggage. It was bitter cold outside but the train was pretty cozy. I’m really thankful for the guys watching our stuff and us. Again everyone was pretty much asleep. It’s about 10pm now on Thursday night. We didn’t get to the house we were staying at until about 11:30pm. Once in Krakow we met Paul our contact from YWAM. He met us at the church we are staying at. We were pretty hungry when we got in. We went to the Kabob place a 24hr food place that sells really delicious pita bread and kabob stuff. We finally got to sleep all the girls sleep in the same room on little cots on the floor. The boys sleep downstairs in a room near the kitchen. The “sanctuary” is right next to our room it’s very small probably as big as a extra large living room of a house. The house everywhere has these big windows and its beautiful. We have a great view of the park right outside of the sanctuary windows. It’s really perfect because we are allowed to use the sanctuary at all times. The best part about it is that there is a piano in there it is so fun.

Day 3

The next morning was Friday. It was a long few days of travel. Everyone was able to get up at their own time we had this day off so that we could get our stuff unpacked relax a bit. We went to the market in the morning and got some food for breakfast since we don’t know how to speak polish it was a little bit tricky figuring out the products to buy. We got mostly normal stuff yogurt, oatmeal, bread, butter, jelly and grape fruit. We thought we bought milk but when we got home someone poured a glass of it and realized it was plain yogurt in the same exact bottle as milk. Milk in polish is mileko and what we got did not say mileko. It’s a learning experience. This day we went around the street area. We are basically in a city so I don’t really see too many neighborhoods it mostly apartments and shops on the streets. It’s pretty cool. It is absolutely freezing here and when we went to find some lunch we were absolutely frozen. I felt as though I could barely walk. We went into every bakery. It was pretty funny, because there is a bakery within about 5 meters of each other. It was about 5 minutes of warmth. Polish people have a high respect for bread. They love bread, bread is life to Polish people. This night for dinner we ate together our first meal, Porgies and Salad. It was delicious we ate sweet tasting porgies so I’m not sure if we bought the right kind from the store but whatever. Every night we eat dinner together as a family.  After dinner we did worship and then we went to sleep.

Day 4

Today we went to the Catholic church to set up for the Passover meal. We set up a meal for about 350 people got all the tables and chairs and set it up as it would be for Passover. It was really awesome to be apart of. These Catholic Monks are spirit-filled Jesus loving men of God. It was really cool to spend time with these people because it definitely broke down the stereotype of “monks”. So after a long day of setting up we went back home to get ready in nice outfits to go to the Passover. It’s really incredible because at this Passover we had people from all denominations; Catholic, Protestant, and Mesianic Jews coming together and celebrating. It was about 2degrees Celsius that night. A blessing from that night was the Rabbi leading the Passover ceremony was an English speaker from New York. It was really good because at first they started with songs that were all in Polish, and we were thinking this is going to be a long night because we don’t understand anything. But we were pleasantly surprised when it was all in English and translated to Polish. After that we all went home and fell asleep quickly after.

Day 5

Today when I woke up it was snowing! It was so awesome. I was so excited to see snow fall. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things to see in the morning and throughout the day. It was actually the most beautiful day we’ve had here in Poland yet. When it was time to walk to church, around 10 the sun was out but the clouds were in just the right place where there was sun and snow at the same time. It was wonderful. We walked to church, everything is about 40 min. This church we went to was a prodastant church. I was expecting to go to a catholic church and I was a little worried because it was going to be all in Polish. We went to this hotel and on the top floor they had the church service. It was so beautiful they had doughnuts and coffee and were pretty charismatic. Everyone in the church would go up to the pastor and tell him what they felt God was speaking or visions and the pastor would invite them to tell the church. It was so cool seeing this church be so active in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It was so inspiring. It was pretty small about 50 people in church. After church we went out to lunch where I got some delicious Polish food, after lunch we went home and it started to blizzard. It was really awesome Elisabeth and I were just playing music and got caught up in the glory. Soon after people got home and we had spaghetti for dinner and it was different but still pretty good. Then we did a bit of worship and just reflection on our day and long weekend. It was really nice, I love the time we get to spend together. It’s actually really nice to not have wifi because we aren’t distracted by the computer constantly, we are always together and fellowshipping because there is nothing else to do.

Day 6

Today was a really good day. We started off the day with worship and intercession. We asked the Lord what He wanted to teach us over the next few months individually and as a team. It’s so amazing just the way everyone hears from God. I felt like God was saying He really wants to call me into my destiny during this time. I’m excited to see what that is and what He is going to reveal to me within the next few months. After that we had lunch and Paul our YWAM friend and contact came over and told us about his testimony and the history of YWAM Poland. He gave us such great information about the Catholic church and just really what is going on in the church here in Poland. They have really been trying to work on Unity within the church. The fastest growing religion here in Poland is Jehovah’s Witness. It’s so crazy that there is 500 Catholic churches and 30 Protestant churches and only a few of those churches are really going out and evangelizing and really being the church to the community. The Polish people are very relational. They love talking and just being friendly and very respectful. I love being here. Every day is a learning experience.