We had an
amazing time in America. It absolutely started on the airplane which was, under both our opinions, the best flight ever. It could not have been any smoother. We scored a free upgrade to economy plus, had super relaxing seats, watched movies the entire flight and before we knew we were landing in Baltimore. There we stayed with Matt's parents for the 3 weeks (and extra 5 days... I'll explain later) that we were there. The one word to describe our stay in America is RELAX. Within a few days of arriving we were completely snowed in with 2 1/2 feet of snow. Let's just say that we were NOT prepared for a blizzard and arctic temperatures. As of a few months ago passengers were allowed 2 suitcases on an international flight... well not anymore! So needless to say we packed light and were completely unprepared for a snow storm.
We had a wonderful Christmas. Spent the day with both of our families. Absolute relaxation and soaking in our time together with each other. And so was our entire time spent in Baltimore. We were so completely built up by the body there. God absolutely poured a blessing on us while we were home. He encouraged us, He gave us definition, and through the body- completely blessed us.
We were originally planning on returning to Germany on January the 6th. We were completely packed and ready to head back... we had all of our last minute details in order, we had said goodbye to all of our friends and family, and as we were literally grabbing our suitcases to put in the car and we heard that Pastor Scibelli was stuck in London Heathrow... which was where our layover was. We went online to check our flight status and saw that it had been cancelled. So after an hour of waiting on the phone with British Air we found out that our flight was bumped to Sunday night... so we had an extra 4 days in Baltimore. We had mixed feelings, we were completely ready to go back, and it was a bit frustrating to have to unpack some things, but we were thanking GOD that we were not stuck in London or re-routed to a different flight with a million layovers. So! We shrugged our shoulders and headed to church! God really blessed our 4 days in America, He absolutely had a plan in us staying in Baltimore for 4 more days. Our flight home was smooth and we were welcomed back to Berlin by Pastor Gary and Marianna Zsabo waiting for us at the airport... and the streets of Berlin COVERED in snow. It was a slight culture shock coming back from America... being able to use our cars, only having to go outside to run inside again... and then to be back in Berlin where you drag your suitcases through the snow covered streets and wait in the cold for 10-20 minutes at a time for the next train to come. The streets here are awful! Berlin has been completely covered in snow and the sidewalks get little attention. On certain parts there is dirt thrown down, on certain parts there's a little shoveling done, but for the most part it just gets walked on and packed down and you have to trudge through it! This scenario would NOT fly in America... but the German's do not have the concept of suing the city due to slippery sidewalks. So needless to say, boots save lives.
We have also been in full force apartment search since our return. And our response has been more open then it was this past fall. About 1 out of 10 of the emails we send out to prospective landlords give us a call back. We looked at 4 places this weekend, and have 1 place lined up so far for this week. The 4 that we have looked at so far were decent... 2 of them needed ALOT of work, more then we were willing (or able) to spend, 1 needed little bit of work but was pretty far out of our price, and the last one we looked at was ready to move in and we liked it, but we are waiting to hear back from the landlord... they were a bit uneasy about the fact that we were 2 people, because they believed it was better suited for one person. It's a tough world out there in Berlin for a renter! You really have to sell yourself, and while we speak very limited German (and they CLAIM to speak very little or no English) you can only imagine the communication breakdown. Once they find out we don't speak German they love spewing off facts about the apartment very fast in German, but we have begun to pick up on a lot of key words and phrases and Matt does a great job piecing together German words to form an understandable sentence. So please pray for us in this area (as we know MANY of you have). For anyone who doesn't know, we are currently sharing an apartment with Adrian and Olessya Edler. It has worked out great and we are so thankful for them to opening up their home to us... but we are looking for our own place, none the less.
That's all for now! We miss everyone in Baltimore and are looking forward to seeing a lot of people at EUROCON!
In Him
~Matt and Emily~
