First Day on Campus

Today was the first day that we traveled to campus. Our goal today was to just get used to talking to students and developing connections with them. We really hope that we can meet with students more than once and develop relationships with them. I went to Freie University with some teammates and I had a great conversation with a man named Robert. Ir was really interesting to hear about how he views the church, and how it is so deep engrained in culture, yet many don't know what how faith can really have an impact on their lives. Their view of Christianity seems to be misconstrued. However, it was really great talking to Robert, and he was really really nice. It was really encouraging how friendly the students are to Americans and how much they are willing to speak in english.

We will be assigned to go to the same university each day, but before we are assigned, we are going to each university and familiarizing ourselves with the campuses.

We begin each morning with debriefing and learning good ways to initiate conversations, and prayer for our day and for the students. Then we go to campus to eat lunch in the menzas, or cafeterias, with students. After that, we will go around for a couple hours telling people about Jesus through conversations and surveys. It is really something that scares me and something that makes me nervous, but I know that God is really working through me during this time. Also, I'm not here to force anyone into anything or to make anyone believe something, so by no means are we street preaching or coercing people into believing. We genuinely want to hear what they believe and tell them what we believe. My hope is that I will be able to develop a couple of relationships over these 5 weeks and really just guide them down the path to love and joy.

Also, today we found out who will be in our bible studies, which was really exciting. I'm really enjoying getting to know the team, and I really think that God has blessed me with an amazing group of people.

Please pray that I will have great conversations over the next weeks, that I God will give me the courage to step out in faith, and that I will not be motivated by the sense of accomplishing something, but by wanting to share the same joy that I have in Christ.

(also, the y's and z's are in different spots on the german keyboard, along with a couple other keys, so I apologize if i missed any typos)