I have actually had this blog written for about a week, but am just now finding the time to post it.
As I wrote in my last blog, I was able to head to North Germany with the family that I am staying with. It was an exciting trip in which I was able to grow closer with them in a more personal relationship outside of the house.
I was able to go with David and see some of the work that he does. He worked with PAIS and Kompass Kids. For these he, along with a group of others, is able to go into the schools and build a relationship with them and mentor them as well. The relationship that is built could then open the door to share the gospel or invite them to church. David has spent the past 2 years in Greifswald. Greifswald is in the Northeastern part of Germany about 2 hours north of Berlin. The culture is much different from the Southern part of Germany that I have been working in for the past 3 years now. As you drive through, you can still see the buildings that were built by the DDR. Among the older generation, there is still that high animosity towards Americans, as well as, things that seem to be new. But with the younger generation they thought it was rather cool to see an American. I had wondered while I was there if any of the people had seen an American.
But the work that is being done is not an easy one. The last group of kids we were with that day was at a park in the town. These kids need a lot of prayer. As it looks now they are basically sitting at the end of the road with no certain future. I have been told that most of their parents do no type of discipline of any kind or their parents are not there for them like parents should be. In a worldly term, they are a lost cause. I would write more regarding this, but I do not want to come across as saying what the workers are doing is wrong, as that is not the case, nor do I want to over exaggerate the things that took place.
While we were at one school, I had a chance to talk with someone, thinking that this person was one of the volunteers with the group, I shared with him my passion for Germany and where I felt that Lord was leading me. Later David would express to me that he was a social worker and was glad it was him I was talking to and no one else. The one person I was talking to was a Christian, and too spent some time at the school teaching the kids music. If it had been anyone else, there might have been problems with me or the organization that David worked with being there.
On this trip I was able to spend a small amount of time in Berlin. Only about an hour, due to a time limit (we had to be at the hotel by 8 and it was about 5 when we got to Berlin, time was limited). But I did see what I thought were the basics, a portion of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gates, the Jewish Holocaust Memorial, the Reichstag Government building, as well as the United States Embassy. Berlin is a beautiful city that I hope to be able to spend more time in, in the future. Although the Brandenburg Gate was to me a little disappointing, because within about 3 feet of the end of the Gate, was the beginning of a building, one on each side of the Gate. One building being the US Embassy, to me it was as if the beauty of the structure had been taken away by the view of more modern buildings to overpower the old.
As I said earlier in this blog, I was able to see buildings built during the reign of the DDR in West Germany. I was also able to stay in one of these during my time there (I stayed with David while his parents stayed in a hotel). The building I was staying in had been remodeled to a more modern feeling, yet most of the buildings there still show the DDR style. The walls in the apartment were extremely thin. Hold out your hand and look at your palm, your palm is wider than the walls.
When I write in my blogs, I try to write in the way that I understand things and in a way that is easy to understand and clear. I know that at times I might not do this and I apologies for that. I will also be the first to tell you that I am not a good writer, I know I mike mistakes, I am just not sure where. English was not one of my best subjects in school.
I thank you once again like always for your prayers during my stay here in Germany. My time here is coming to an end and it is bitter sweet. I do miss my family and friends, but when I return I will miss Germany and the people that I work with and meet. Please continue to pray as God leads this trip. I will be making another journey on the 17th of July to Perl, Germany. The family I am staying with, The Mornhinwegs) have asked me if there is any where I wanted to go or anything I wanted to see while here. I told them the only place I really want to go is to Perl, and shared with them why. That I have looked and done as much research as I know to do and cannot find anything out about the city and that this was the city that I felt God was leading me to when I first start my ministry.
In Christ,
Tyler A. Bowman
