Finally! A Friend!
Praise God...It took 12 days, but I finally have a friend.Today, I went to the new English speaking church. It was the Berlin International Church. I found out about it online. It was on the 4th floor of what looked like an office building, so it took me a little while to find it. Even with the address, it didn't stand out that it was there, so I actually walked by it the first time. I am so glad that I found it though.
When I first went in the front door there was a young woman there to greet me and we spoke for a couple of minutes. She was very nice and inviting, which was a good sign first off. I then went up the elevator and immediately heard the worship team as they were warming up. It was a good team. The leader led with an acoustic guitar, which I really like to have. They had 2 girls as back-up singers, an electric piano, an electric guitar, an electric drum kit, and even a bass(an actual bass, not a bass guitar, which he plucked instead of bowed. I love that sound.).
Anyways, I talked to another guy at the entrance to the room and he mentioned that there were a couple of other guys at the church who worked at RR and he introduced me to one guy. This guy is about 30 and said that they sometimes eat lunch together at the cafeteria. So I am to e-mail him and get into contact with all of them so that I can start to get hooked up with them.
Then I found a seat, near the center, in an empty row (which had 4 seats) and quieted myself waiting for the service to begin. A few people approached me and said hello, and I said hello back, but not too much conversation during that time, with is fine.
Right as the service was about to start and I was still sitting alone, a young Chinese woman (who is about my age, but I never did find out her age. Somewhere between 25 and 30) came and sat in the seat next to me. I don't really know why she decided to sit next to me, but that was fine with me. She realized that I was new to the church, so at a couple of points before the message started she leaned over and told me who some of the people were, which was appreciated.
The service went as a church service normally would. The worship was fairly lively, but it wasn't crazy, so it was nice. The church is made up of people from all over the world, so it's really neat. The pastor mentioned that there are over 30 nations represented there. The message wasn't anything special, but for such a sort time, that is alright by me. There was nothing that I would say was doctinally unsound or anything, it was just very basic, and that's fine for a church like this. The message included a gospel presentation and I think that the message was probably impacting to anyone who might not have been saved. So it is a good church in that respect.
After the service, the girl who sat next to me didn't just get up and mingle with other friends, instead she stayed there and we talked for about 30 minutes or more. Her name is Ying-Hong Jin, or Jean is also okay. She is an economics student here in Berlin, but is originally from China. She lived in Shanghai for a year before moving to Berlin and has been here for 3 years. So she is fluent in Mandarin, German, and English, and she is also studying French.
She then asked what I was doing in the afternoon and I told her that I had no plans other than to have lunch, so I asked her if she wanted to go out for lunch and she agreed. We walked a couple of blocks away to where she knew of some nice restaurants and we picked a little French bistro with a patio. She suggested that I try a crepe with ham and cheese on it, and it came with a big salad. She got an omellette that also came with a big salad. The food was really good. I was glad that she suggested it. I wouldn't have known what to expect with it at all so I probably wouldn't have ordered it. After I finished my crepe and still had a big portion of the salad left, and she had finished her salad and had a big portion of her omellette left, she asked if I wanted to switch plates. I was fine with that, so I got to try her omellette, and that was really good too. The conversation was really good too. We talked about a lot of different things, from differences between Canada, America, China, and Germany and any combination of the 4, to discussions about economics or engineering, to talking about our testimonies, to life in general. She also taught me a few German phrases that I think will help a lot.
It was really nice. We ended up sitting there for about 5 hours when all was said and done. It couldn't have been nicer out either. The temperature was probably in the high 80s today, but we were under a big umbrella and there was a gorgeous wind blowing. So it was a great afternoon. Now, we have each other's contact information so we will probably be able to hang out during the week, although I understand that she is a student and may be busy, so at the very least I will see her again next Sunday. We'll see what happens. But it was sure nice to have a good lunch and great conversation with someone who was my age and spoke my language, rather than just me with a book. It was great!
But that's about it for today. I'm happy about all of that. Tomorrow I have the challenge of finding a laundromat. I thought that they would do the laundry here at the hotel for me, but then I saw how much they charged and I don't want to spend a hundred dollars on laundry....even if the company would be paying. So I'll try to find someplace on my own tomorrow night. But I really did let it go too long. If I don't get it done tomorrow then I'll be in trouble soon!
That's it for now.
Peace and Blessings,
JZ.
posted by JZ @ 3:16 PM
Comments: 3
