Refugees in Germany

Here goes.. the final installment of the adventure trilogy! I LOVED spending a month in Berlin. This surprised me quite a lot, because honestly, when I first found out we were coming to Germany, I wondered how different from England it was really going to be!

But it was great - the couple of years of German that I did in secondary school came flooding back and I found myself (kind of) able to communicate, able to worship in German and feel like I could have a tangible impact by being there. Well I could greet people and tell them Jesus loves them, at any rate! Working with refugees just gladdened my heart so much as it meant that I had direct contact with vulnerable people from many different, war-torn nations, and was able to love and spend time with many kids and "forgotten" people. Once a refugee is out of their country and in a camp, then what...? The camps in Berlin are very nice compared to a lot of the camps in other parts of the world, but on the whole - the refugees are all in an enclosed, foreign place.. waiting.. they're free to go in and out, but they can't work and aren't really "in Germany" they don't necessarily know how long they will be able to stay. The camps I was in were mostly made up of portakabin-type temporary buildings that were placed into parks within a neighbourhood.

There is so much I could tell you about our time there, so for the purposes of this blog I will tell you three stories - then if you want to know more you can ask me in person and I would love to share in more detail.

One story is of a Muslim Afghan family who one of my roommates connected with initially as she speaks Dari. This was a family of 6, the kids were young (5-10ish) and a baby. There was another daughter who went missing and drowned from the boat on their way over to Germany. This gives you a small glimmer of the horrendous suffering that many of these families and individuals have been through. They are currently under appeal as to whether they can stay in the country or not. The father became a Christian just as we left, and one of our friends was able to get him a Bible written in Farsi and German. We spent quite a bit of time with this family when we visited the camp, and some of us took them out for a meal in a Greek restaurant before we left Berlin.

I must say here that our leaders' daughter Angie and her family have been living and ministering in Berlin for a couple of years and it was INCREDIBLE just getting to work with them, shadow them, join in with the kingdom things that they are already doing, and hopefully to encourage them a little. Sam, Angie's husband, does fantastic work in the camps - befriending, praying for, discipling people. I was so challenged in my faith as I watched them serve and give of themselves and their time so sacrificially. Please pray for Sam and Angie - they are about to leave Germany and jump into the next adventure that God has for them in the US, still heavily refugee-focused. Please also pray for this Afghan family, that they will be able to stay in Germany and that God will speak to them and continue to reveal Himself to them.

This photo is of me leading some spontaneous worship in another one of the refugee homes.

The second story is that of a wonderful Afghan lady who (even though she herself lives in a refugee camp) works at the Refugee Emancipation Center which has a focus specifically for women. The center aims to provide a safe space for refugees to use computers, learn English, meet with one another, eat together, support one another etc.. This amazing lady just seems to know everyone! She's so smiley and warm, and people are drawn to her. I went there a couple of times, once where I played with the children and connected particularly with this gorgeous Kurdish family. The second time I taught an impromptu English lesson to quite a large group of Afghan women (many with babies) with another girl on my team. It was so much fun and reminded me of what God called me to in becoming a teacher in the first place. Please pray for these women and for this Afghan lady who God is using mightily to draw broken and vulnerable women together (even though she doesn't personally know Jesus yet).

The third story is a street ministry story, not a refugee one, right from the beginning of my time in Germany. A few of us were out in one the main city squares one afternoon, just using the talents we have been given. Some were painting, there was chalk art on the streets, some were singing and playing guitar, some were handing out flowers, balloons etc. Our aim was to bring in the kingdom, in whatever way we could. To tell people Jesus loves them, to raise the joy.. we weren't "converting people" just loving on them really. And praying for healing, praying for people generally and having conversations about Jesus wherever He opened them up. I honestly don't even like the word "convert" because, to me, it implies forcing someone to believe or agree to something against their will or brainwashing them in some way. It sounds awful - that's really not what we're about. Our highest call is to love - that's it. Love God, love people, show people how loved they are by God. Just to be clear!

So, I wrote in chalk in massive letters "Ask God a question" and it caused a fair amount of interest. Two of us had a conversation with one woman (God supernaturally enabled me to understand and speak far more German than normal!) whose son had been murdered in a nearby hotel a couple of months ago. She was carrying around a photo of him, and had travelled to Berlin from the city where she lived in order to appeal to anyone who may have seen him. When we explained about God and how He loves her and knows about her situation and loves her son, she became less distressed. We didn't really know what to say to be honest - but I know that God engineered this encounter. She allowed us to pray for her. There was quite a tangible shift in her mood and demeanour through us bringing light into a very dark situation. Obviously this is quite an extreme example, but there are many hurting, broken people walking around who need the Holy Spirit who's inside of us! There are many more stories of conversations I could tell you - with homeless people, with commuters on the trains, with students. Berlin is a very broken city - tons of people walking around drunk in the middle of the day, it's also an "anything goes" sort of place, so it's easier to bring Jesus in as people know their own need and are searching and desperate for hope. On one of my first days there I saw a woman wearing a t-shirt saying "I am lost" ! What a great conversation opener that would be. So - go to Berlin friends - it's a fascinating place where people have been through a lot and are looking for Jesus!