Visa Adventures

Here's a little story for you all:

At approximately 8:20 this morning I walk onto the grounds of the visa office a little nervous, but quiet pleased to have know that I had an appointment to get my visa (memories of being there at 6:00 am in the dark and freezing cold waiting in a long line of foreigners for multiple days still haunt me) and that my appointment was not until 9:00 am. How German am I being so early? Anyway, I quickly realized I didn't exactly know where to go. I knew my waiting room number and my call number, but was unsure of the entrance. Seeing a small flock of people at a farther entrance, I attempt the first and ask the official looking lady where waiting room 20 was (every conversation mentioned is in my poor German, btw). She told me to ask another lady behind a desk inside. I ask her and (to my dismay) she tells me to go to that farther entrance. There I find this small flock of people crowding the door in no organized fashion while a German official is literally standing in the doorway holding people back. Mustering all the gusto I had, I managed to push people aside enough to make my way to the man, tell him I have an appointment and show him my letter of proof (although it wasn't perfect proof, because the date and time of my appointment had been changed through email). He muttered something, then let me in. I was quite relieved. I then found what I thought was the right waiting room. However, I soon realized the numbers that were being called in this room weren't anything like mine and I started to panic, wondering what I should do. I go to the info desks and pull a number just to talk with one of them. Finally I'm able to tell a women behind a counter that I had an appointment, but my number wasn't called. She asks me when my appointment was and I told her 9. She looks at the time and chastises me saying it is after 9. Frustrated, I said I know, I've been waiting, but my number hasn't been called. She looks me up in the system, writes down the correct room number for me, says something I didn't understand, but that should do it quickly! So I race upstairs and don't bother to go to the waiting room, but I just went straight to the correct room. Thankfully, there were two super nice ladies there who helped me anyway. However, they became a bit suspicious about my occupation. But they sent me out to wait while they worked on it. 20 minutes later, when they called me back in, everything was all set and they were just about to stick the visa in my passport! I was quite happy at that point. They gave me a little card to go pay for it downstairs in these paying machines. So of course I end up with a broken machine. Not only that, but I pushed the card in too far before I realized it was broken, and I wasn't able to get it back out. Terribly frustrated and feeling so embarrassed to have to tell my nice ladies I lost my card in the machine. So I head back upstairs and tell them what happened. One lady told me it wasn't broken (what am I supposed to say to that, umm... yes it is!). The other said no problem and quickly printed me out a new one. Again, SO thankful. So then, after actually paying for the visa, going back upstairs, getting the visa and all my papers back and was sent off with a friendly "tschussi!", I was home free with my visa.

The end.

Back in the B

It's SO great to be back! I love coming back to a place/language that's at least somewhat familiar. Last year was pretty overwhelming with everything being so brand new. As I've been ordering food and going shopping all the German in my head has been flooding back to me, which is quite a relief. Moving into my new apartment (I'm sharing an apartment with Katie in Kreuzberg) has been a little chaotic, but we're slowly settling in and getting everything we need. Of course the first night we didn't have lights (German's take EVERYTHING when they move, including lights, toilet seats and the kitchen), but now we have some floor lights and are no longer living in the dark. Next steps involve installing the kitchen, setting up the living room and getting internet. Overall, things are going very smoothly so thank you for your prayers!

STINT Briefing

August has been a crazy month for me with a friend's wedding in Syracuse, STINT briefing in Colorado and a team reunion in Michigan all the while trying to finish up my support raising! Praise God though, I am at 92% of what I need. However, I still need to be at 100% before I get on that plane for Germany on Sept. 13th. Please pray it will all come in on time!

I think I say this a lot, but of all the Crusade conferences I've been to, STINT briefing is my favorite. There's something just so exciting and encouraging about being with 250+ people who are going all over the world to reach college students for Christ. We get prepared and trained for what we're about to face this year as well as hear funny and encouraging stories from STINT teams in the past. The above picture is of all the STINTer's heading out to somewhere in western Europe. If you're interested in hearing about more prayer requests for Europe, you can go to PrayEurope.com and there's great info there. Another special thing I got to experience at this briefing was having dinner with Steve Douglas, the president of Campus Crusade for Christ. Very cool!

Sept. 13th is coming quickly and I'm super excited to be heading back to Berlin. My next post will most likely be after I get there. Bis dann!

Heat and Hope

It amazes me that today, so far the hottest day of the summer, I've seen more walkers and runners outside than any other day since I've been home. Bizarre. Why do people torture themselves like that?

Also, the heat seems to track the oddest crowd of people into the cool, artsy coffeeshop I'm typing this from. A teen plugged his electric guitar into the wall and just started jamming for the past hour, making every I-tune's song I was listening to with my ear buds sound like a re-mix.

Well, I leave for Syracuse tomorrow and I'm still not at 100% with support. But I feel at peace and I'm just really trusting God will provide in His timing. But please continue to pray that He'll provide a few miracles so I'll be about finished when I return home after briefing. Thanks!

Getting there!

Slowly but surely support is coming along. I feel like I can even see the light at the end of the tunnel! My goal is to be 100% finished in pledges by the time I head up to Syracuse for a friend's wedding. I'll probably be leaving August 11th. To be done so fast will really take a few miracles, but I want to have faith that God can do this! Please pray that this will happen. After my time in Syracuse, I fly out to Colorado where we have our STINT briefing. This was such a great conference last year and I'm so looking forward to being a part of it again. I'm especially excited to meet the new team! There are four of us returners: Katie, Amanda, Bryce and me and four new STINTers: Stu, Shannon, Jennie and Michele. Katie and Stu will be our new leaders. Thinking about the new year makes me wish I could just be in Berlin now and skip the rest of this support raising process, but obviously that's not the way it works! Again, please pray that my support will come in in big ways! Thank you!

home of the brave?

So, I'm back in America and actually have been for almost three weeks now. I haven't had too much trouble adjusting back to the states (albeit a few cultural moments), but that may be just because I've had a task list long enough to keep me super busy and distracted. Number one on the list is, of course, support raising. For some reason, I think I had this false idea that if I did everything right and worked really hard as soon as I got home, the money would come in easily and quickly and I wouldn't have to worry about it come August. Well, support (like evangelism) doesn't work that way and I still have quite a bit of monthly support to raise. I can do everything "right" and still not control how much support I get. It's not up to me and what I do, but has everything to do with God and His provision. I realize I still need to be diligent, be bold and do what He's called me to do (no matter how uncomfortable), but I need to completely trust that He will work and He will provide what I need and not rely on myself. It's hard. It's humbling. It's good.

Wie bitte?

Un-be-liev-able that I'm going home... TOMORROW! It's really sad to be closing down this year and saying goodbye to those who aren't coming back next year. But I'm definitely excited for what God has for us when I return in the fall. We sang a song in church this morning about going to the nations and it just reminded me of how alive I feel to be a part of this ministry and how this is really something I was made for.

I would LOVE to catch up with you while I'm home for the summer. Free feel to contact me by email: Erin.Keyser@uscm.org or facebook, since my old cell number is gone.