My awesome-est day in Berlin thus far

Yesterday was so awesome!

We had our normal worship service in Pankow in the morning, and it was really nice. I got to sing and "play" a tiny bit of piano, which is always fun, but the sermon also really spoke to me. The kids did this really cool thing in the service with us. We went through the Scriptures of the first 7 days when God created the earth, and the kids got to set up different things that He made - the sun, moon, stars, animals, etc. For the animals they all brought in some of their favorite stuffed animals, it was so sweet. The sermon then was about why God created us - not because He was lonely, not because He was bored, but because it brought Him joy, and everything He created could honor Him. The point that really hit home for me: All the other things God created glorify and honor Him just by their existence. The beauty and complexity of the heavens and the earth and everything in them reveal the glory of the Lord just in their existence. But we humans are different. We honor God when we come to Him to fulfill our deepest longings--when we recognize that He alone can do that and we put our trust in Him. It's like a child who comes to his father when he needs something to drink--he recognizes that Dad can provide that, and he can't just do it himself. It's so amazing when you think of it... we glorify God by coming to Him with open hands. Wow.

This weekend I had my first little pangs of homesickness--nothing really bad, just that strange feeling you get when you've spent more time alone than you usually do, and you're not in contact with many people, and you don't have anything special to do. That feeling when you just sigh and wonder what the people you love are doing, and then of course you start to wish you were there too. It's a very natural thing. I went to church yesterday with that feeling, but during the service it somehow started to melt away when I realized that only God can fulfill that longing in me. That sounds really strange--that only God can fulfill your longing for something or someone else. But it's true. And it's really quite comforting, since people and things can't be in all places at all times, but God can!

So, that was my awesome morning. After church was a nice lunch--someone always cooks lunch at the church and then we all eat together, it's really cool. Afterward I stayed there for the afternoon and studied a little for a test I had today, since I didn't want to ride the subway all the way back to Schöneberg, just to turn around an hour or so later and ride all the way back to Pankow. And I had to do that because...

There was a special evening service for the baptism of two men in our church. It was so amazing! Both of these men came to the Lord through the big evangelism event that the church had back in July--some of you have heard me talk about it before. It was so exciting to hear their testimonies and witness their baptism, and it was also exciting for our pastor because it was his first time to baptize people. The service was really cool too. I sang a few songs with a couple other guys, but there was also an Angolian choir that sang in the service. They were awesome! They also sang at the thing back in July and wanted to come back for the baptism. It was exciting.

After the service, some of us went to the Philharmonic and then to dinner afterwards, to celebrate. :) The Berlin Philharmonic is awesome! They performed Brahams' German Requiem, which is pretty cool. My ticket was also only 10€, which is just cool. Cheap but awesome music is always great! Afterward we ate at a little Italian place, where I ordered a glass of ice water!!! It was so excitin!!! I was sort of complaining to my friend in the restaurant about how I can never get ice water, and he was like, "Yeah you can, just ask for it!" That made me feel a little silly. But I did, expecting the waitor to give me a funny look (like most waitors do when I order tap water), but he was super friendly and said, "Of course!" AND, he brought me a big glass--not one of those lame tiny ones they usually give you that's barely bigger than a shot glass. If I'd had my camera with me, I would've taken a picture of it. It was quite exciting.

By then I was exhausted, went home, and crashed. Tomorrow is a holiday, so I hope to do lots of fun things in the next 24 hours. I'll report on anything exciting. :)

Much love,
Christina