The power of laughter

First off, I want to say sorry for all the grammar and spelling errors! I pray that you at least get the main point through these post. :)

It is 8:30 am local time here and just thinking about yesterday and all that happened I can't help but just smile and just look in amazement of what God is doing through our team. I have never experienced God's redemptive spirit more then I did yesterday. Our team is just in amazement of what God is doing and how we are connecting with the Germany Christian's and others in the area.

We started out our day by going to Kindergarden classes around the area and speaking to them about American culture, how to say some words in English and going out and just loving on this. In the 90 minutes that our team was there all the kids in the class were jumping all over our students and when it was time to go all the kindergarden students were blocking the door in the classrooms so we could not leave. I got a report back saying that the teachers loved our group so much that they want us back again next year and that we left a great impact on the students that the teachers have not seen in a long time.

After that we went to a turkish/German restaurant where you get something called "Doner." You will have to ask the students about how awesome it was. It was, by far, the best part of the trip for me personally!! (Just kidding... sort of)

Then in the afternoon we had a lot of different ministries going on. The main one was in this ladies back yard where we set up a trampoline, badminton net, face painting station and just invited kids from all over the neighborhood from middle school age and down to come and hang out with us. It literally was like a backyard bible club but Germany style. We had about 30 students running around as our students played with them and showed them the love of Christ. We had others go around and do a prayer walk in a local village, had a few students do a home visit and help a lady with a service project and other practice for worship team stuff. A very busy afternoon but through everything the students had a great attitude and did an amazing job interacting with others despite language barriers.

After dinner we had a team time and a coffee house ministry. This is where I saw God at work in our team. For all the crap that has happened so far, we were sitting in our team meeting just laughing and reflecting back on our day. So many amazing things happened to each person and as we were sharing I saw God's protecting and how He is redeeming this trip back to Him. You could see the tone of our team changing as we sat and talked. Then as we go to the coffee house it was awesome to see God's hand in that. Before the day started, all the German leaders were not expecting very many outsiders to come. We sort of just planned a time where we would relax and just continue to bond with the Germans in the church, but that wasn't the case. We had so many of the students come back from the sports camp and just others from the community stop by. All the leaders were quite amazed by how many people were there... and not only that but how everyone was bonding together. I had to kick people out because we could have been there all night talking, laughing, and enjoying each other. It was like everyone had been friends for life and not just days.

God is good. I am convinced of that. He has blown my mind in many ways and as I am talking to the German leaders they are as shocked as I am. This team could have responded in many different ways but, the fact they have come together more then ever and have selfless loved on others makes me very proud and honored to not only be their youth pastor but also proud and honored to be here serving along my German friends. I know we still have a few days of ministry left but, to see some light on this trip has me more then humbled. I could not have done this, but God sure has the power too.

Today, is much like yesterday in that we are doing the trampoline ministry, and coffee house again in the evening. Students are sleeping this morning and should be ready to go for another full day and evening of ministry. Thank you for all your prayers. We are so thankful for your support through all of this.

May God get all the glory,

Antho