Many of you know this already, but one of the common mottos of On Track Youth Ministry is E429. If you didn’t guess yet it is referring to Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” In my experience the world’s most used language seems to be complaining. It is easy to be angry, frustrated, and our tongue becomes quite untamed in the midst of things not going our way. You may be wondering why I lead with all of that because per my last blog all things were going “very smooth,” and “a stress free trip so far.” The narrative has indeed shifted a bit since our last blog…
Our flight to Munich from Dulles was quite lovely, and then another smooth flight to Berlin. Once we arrived in Berlin though, we had some complications. There is no need to bore you with the details, but the moral of the story is that the 17 team members who were traveling yesterday are without our luggage. We spent a fairly lengthy amount of time in the Berlin Airport baggage claim area attempting to find where our bags got to. Once we realized that we would be spending the night without our luggage, we made our way in the vans to the Willoughby’s house where there was lovely platter prepared by the Halladay/Willoughby welcoming team. Though it was a longggggg day, it is always a blessing to share a meal with loved ones. It was short meal for sure because we had a tired crew. The girls all squeezed into and throughout the Willoughby residence, while the boys bunkered down at a sister church about 2km away.
Despite the long travel and lost luggage, I (Alex) am extremely proud of this team and living up to the E429 motto. It could have been and still is very easy to be frustrated and begin to complain at every given inconvenience, but as I type this blog out the window I see a group of cheerful and energetic teens and leaders getting right to work after breakfast. Many of us wearing the clothes we wore on the plane. The Lord is incredibly kind and despite things not going the way we had planned, we can see His goodness and provision throughout our trip. Would you pray for us that we continue to live out the words of Paul in the book of Ephesians? Pray that we would have opportunities to be bold in our faith to the neighbors as we work on the house. Pray that we would rely on the His strength and not our own as we work diligently around the Willoughby’s house. Pray that we wouldn’t let tiredness cause us to lose sight of our purpose here in Berlin. Pray that the Lord would continue to work in the hearts of our team and anyone we come across. As alway, thank you for your continued prayer and support!
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Proverbs 19:21
ps. Sorry for no videos or pictures from yesterday. Now that we are relatively settled in, you should expect to see more photos and videos of what we get up to here in Berlin 🙂