11 Days in Paderborn....

and we're back at headquarters! We arrived in Paderborn refreshed and waiting to see what God had in store for us. We were excited (I was especially excited that we survived the train ride without getting lost) and a little nervous as this was our first ministry site where it was just Jenni and I. We had no idea what was planned for our time in Paderborn, but we knew there was going to be some ministry geared towards the World Cup.

Our first night we were warmly welcomed. Instead of staying with a host family, we were given our own studio apartment, so we had the opportunity to cook our own meals, and we greatly enjoyed cooking for ourselves. Anyway,we finally ended up eating some McDonald's, which I have been dying to do since we got here, and we got to experience Germany's version of Wal-Mart.

As far as our ministry went, there was some miscommunication, and the youth center thought that we were coming with our own program, and we thought that they had plans for us. Needless to say, our ministry in Paderborn was not what we expected. We ended up babysitting for a family that we met and befriended and we washed the churches windows. Even though it was a tough week for ministry, we had plenty of time to read our Bibles and we even had the chance to explore Paderborn for a little bit.

However, whenever we became discouraged, God would bring people into our lives to give us a boost. For example, our apartment was right next to the church (actually it was on church property) and there was a family of 6 who lived below us. One day, Liam (the 4-year old son) came upstairs, knocked on the door, said something to me in German, and then sat down on the couch to watch Jenni and me. He didn't care about the language barrier, he didn't care that we couldn't understand him. He just wanted to spend time with us. I'm sure that God sent us Liam to give us some laughs during the week, and even to show that some people don't care if we can't speak German. They're just excited to see two Americans!

On Sunday, we met a family during the church service. The husband is American and the wife is Russian, but has spent a lot of time in America. God also sent us this family, and without them we would have been in a lot of trouble. They took us shopping, entertained us, let us babysit their two-year old son, and overall were amazing. They were a huge encouragement, and without their help we wouldn't have made it to the train station today.

So, while our week was slow with ministry, God showed his goodness to us frequently. He knew when we needed encouragement, and knew when we needed to get out of our apartment. I guess my encouragement to you all is that God knows when you're having trouble, and he will help. Sometimes it takes a couple days, but God will never leave you hanging. Ever. I guess that's what Paderborn was all about.

Love,

Megan