Our Sunday morning started quite e-a-s-y. We slept in a little extra in an attempt to start to gain some of our sleep back. We were picked up at our apartment by Daniel and Kathrine and rode with them to their worship service. The Stage Club www.stageclub.de is the place where The Hamburgprojekt meets for Sunday worship.
This was our 3rd worship service with our friends in Hamburg and in my opinion the best so far for many reasons. It was such a joy to see how God has grown the Hamburgprojekt by almost doubling the attendees from the first time we were there. It also was nice to start to see some familiar faces and to be welcomed as friends. While our German is still in its infancy stage (that’s being generous…), we were able to sing along (in English while they sang in German) some of the familiar praise songs that we also sing here. Being able to participate in the worship service, through music, made it more of an intimate experience for both Gabe and me.
After the service we had a large group lunch at a wonderful local restaurant in the Schanze. There were perhaps 30-40 folks that came to fellowship and enjoy a meal together. During the meal we had the opportunity to meet a couple Achim and Corinna Keiser and their 2 children. They were recently back from church planting in Ireland. They shared with us the stories of their church planting experience with their challenges and how God met them exactly where they needed Him to. It was wonderful to hear another story of how God is working all over the earth.
Also during our lunch we were able to visit with friends Nils and Tabitha Rohlinger. We have had the joy of getting to know the Rohlinger’s over the years. They are one of the core families that started at the beginning with the Hamburgprojekt and we were able to rejoice with them on how God has really blessed the church. It was great to participate in the culture socially through this fellowship and relationship building time, which is exactly what Daniel and Dominic desired for us to do. This trip Daniel and Dominic really had the desire for us to start to build relationships with folks of the church because they know how important relationships are the German culture for long term mission work.
That evening Gabe and I were slightly disappointed that one of our favorite spots in Hamburg, Elb Gold Coffee Shop was closed. However, God was simply providing an opportunity for Gabe and I to wind down and relax in preparation for the long distance sprint He had in store for us with the upcoming week.
We want to thank you once again for your support in The Gospel work in Germany !
Stewart
Bent World 