Inside Out...

I am continually surprised by how much seems to go on here which I want to include in my updates, while at the same time seeming to have not much going on...?  It’s nice...and tough...

This last month has had a lot of really nice things going on, and has also continued to be a tough period of my cultural transition.  I love being here, and I really am loving being in this place, with these people.  They are so lovely!  But I also find myself in the middle(I hope?) of the “Endurance Stage” of cultural transition.  Nothing is “wrong”, most things are “good”, and yet every day, two days, few days...I find myself up and down and all over.  The good and bad thing about all this is that I know that it is a stage that can’t be hurried up or rushed through.  It simply takes time. Yay.

The past month(or so) has had a lot going on and it has also had a lot of “broken routine”.  We had the Easter Holidays, which meant that all my “norms” stopped for 10 days, and most people travelled elsewhere to visit family.  Before that I’d had a lovely visit from an English friend for 5 days, but although lovely, it also broke my “routine”, which meant that I had nearly 2 weeks of minimal language practice or general interaction.  And on one level, I enjoyed it!  I always love any excuse to curl up with a series of books, or to binge-watch all my favourite films(my English friend also allowed me access to her Netflix account, which, now that I have internet access, might be dangerous!), but on another level I find these time 'dangerous' as prone to triggering feelings of disconnection and futility.  

During this time I have also found myself trying to “reacquaint” myself with what/who the Polylux Community actually is.  It’s a natural process of reconciling what I thought I knew, and of the unconcious assumptions I had created before I arrived, with the so-called reality of daily life(which I still only have a glimpse of...).  The impact that they have had on this wider “Datzeberg” community over the past several years is incredible.  And as they continue to look at ways to create places and things of “much light”, you can see that influence beginning to be recognised by the wider city of Neubrandenburg.  But, consciously or not, I’m realising that I have come with my understanding of the Guildford Boiler Room Community, “Emmaus Rd”, and of all the other amazing 24-7 Prayer communities I’ve had the priviledge of visiting.  Now, as a part of the whole “transitional phase”, I’m having to unlearn, relearn and simply learn who these guys actually are, their heart, their vision for who they are, rather than what I had assumed or envisioned for them...THIS IS GOOD!!!  It’s just something else to be shuffling with and seeking to “hold lightly” to allow all the “pieces” to continue fitting together, to show the actual picture of what God has for me here, and is doing through ‘here’! :)

Anyways!  Aside from all the mental, emotional, abstract thought kind of things going on,  we have also had a lot of lovely things happening!  

At the end of March, we celebrated Caribuni’s 6th Birthday, with a fun-day held at the club, and during which I managed to get my picture in the local paper as someone being helped by their language course!

Caribuni Birthday!

some of the Caribuni Family

Basti & Hasan playing "Happy Birthday"

Then, as I said, I had a lovely visit from Emma Rose, a friend from Guildford, during which we got to explore Berlin a bit more and she got to experience a bit of “Datzeberg Life” (including joining the choir for a night!).

Emma enjoying a German Eis in the Haeckerhof

Then we had Easter, with an Easter “Fruhstuck” at Caribuni and a small, interactive afternoon at the new offices, where we listened to the Parable of the Seeds, before being given some seeds to take around the Datzeburg to plant “with our prayers” for the community.  We had a couple of local families who came along for this which, although it turned out a little different than planned, was still encouraging for us and the families seemed to enjoy the afternoon, too!

Last week, Basti asked the some of our Eritrean friends to create an “Eritrea Day” at Caribuni, during which we played some “Eritrean Games(variations of marbles, kind of...), were shown some pictures of Eritrea and life there(they have TIGERS, Camels and Elephants!!), and then finished with an incredibly tasty meal made mostly from onions, tomatoes and meat, with flatbread.  I loved it(despite smelling like onions for the next few days!), but Basti unfortunately can’t stand onions, so he struggled a bit! ;)

Hauptom, Behranne and Zeru prepping the meat

2kg of Onions!! (but man these guys can chop!)

Incredibly yummy Eritrean food! :)

Learning about their homeland

I love this picture of Zeru & Breoni skipping together!!

Finally, this past weekend we went away to a little local village for Polylux’s 10 Year Anniversary.  This was also a lovely time, as a few of the people who had been involved with the community in the early days(including the woman who initially invited them to this area and pointed them towards the Datzeberg!) came too, although many have since moved to different places and are doing different things.  I must admit that I didn’t understand most of the conversations, but it was lovely seeing people catch up, seeing photos, and hearing the laughter of old friends with a common heart!

Prillwitz Church

I love campfires!!!

...and I also love spring sunshine!

This coming month will also have a fair amount on, with a Team Restructuring weekend this weekend, to look at how the community has grown and to discuss what/if/how things would be better organised for leadership and vision oversight.  Then next weekend we get to celebrate with Ralf & Katharina as they “dedicate” Ava, followed by the “official” opening of the new offices and prayer room and my “birthday week” ! (I have found that I still share my birthday week here!!  This time it’s Ralf on the 22nd, me on the 24th and Andrea on the 25th, with Basti coming close behind on the June 1!! )

So, a lot is going on, inside and out!  My German seems to improve in a slightly cylindrical manner, with improvement forward followed by, seemingly, complete breakdown and failure, followed by improvement...I am still loving my German class and the “Language Cafe”, with all the guys who come along to those, and Choir is still hilarious and wonderful!  In June, we’ll (Schall.platte Chor) be going to HAMBURG for our concert, which everyone is very excited about!!

This post has probably been “too long”, but hopefully has given you a clearer idea of some of the joys and challenges I’m living at the moment, and I’ll try to keep the updates more frequent and shorter!!  :)