Once a month Pastor Gary has been traveling to the city of Heidelberg, which is a 6-7 hour drive from Berlin. There are people there who do not have a Pastor or a church, that set aside one weekend every month to attend Bible studies, go soulwinning and spend time with Pastor Gary and whoever he may bring with him. These people are amazing people. They have sweet hearts and such a love for God. On the way to Heidelberg we took a detour to a town called Kitsington (I'm sure that is not spelled correctly). In this town, Pastor Petri lives with his wife and 5 children! We stopped and had a brief coffee and met the family before heading up to Heidelberg. It was such a blessing to stop there. Here we are in a random town in the middle of Germany and there is this family living there with the same message that we carry. We were sitting around his table and he was telling us about the moment that he realized that he was free from the law. What an amazing testimony he has!
We finally made it into Heidel
berg, with the help of our GPS navigation, at 7:30- exactly when the Thursday night Bible Study was starting. We had a Bible Study in the girls apartment- there are 3 girls in Heidelberg that all live together and have been a part of the Heidelberg group for years now. They are Daniella, Claudia, and Verena. The opened up their home to us that night and Pastor Gary started the weekend's theme of GRACE. The next day we enjoyed the sites of Heidelberg a bit, walked down the longest walking street in Europe (pictured on the right), climbed 360 stairs to reach the castle that overlooks the city (pictured below).
That night we had a Bible study at the home of Juliana Keyser. A lot of you may know her sister Nikoli Lyons who helped pioneer the work in Berlin. Nikoli lived in Berlin in her college years and her and her friend prayed for someone to be their Pastor. They started inviting their friends and anyone that they met to their apartment for a Bible study, but still continued to pray for a Pastor. Years later the team from Ba
ltimore came, back in 1998 and the rest is history. Her sister Juliana, who lives in Heidelberg welcome us with opened arms. We had a great time at her BEAUTIFUL house, which overlooks the city. We had singing, a Bible study, food and an awesome time of getting to know each other. It was like being together for Christmas, but you didn't know anyone, everyone had such joy. Below is Juliana and her three children. They were so sweet! Made us chocolate chip muffins and had prepared a special song for us. Paul Lipsett is on the right, and the other two men live near Pastor Petri, in Kitsington. They all travel up to Heidelberg every time Pastor Gary comes in to town. The trip takes about 3 hours.
We did our first unofficial "Youth Group" event in Berlin on Friday. The teens in the church here don't currently have any sort of organized youth group, so we have begun to start one up on Friday's and see how it goes. This past Friday we made a miniature golf course in the Groenewold's back yard and had a serious golf tournament. Followed by making our own pizza's. Please keep in prayer the youth in the church here in Berlin. Please pray for growth, for direction, and a hunger in their hearts for the Word. 
