Its hard to believe its only been a week ive been gone , it seems like longer than that already!! Well i guess i shouldnt have been excited about coming over here for the weather. Cause it has been INCREDIBLY HOT HERE!!! It has been over a 100 here the last three days. Frank our Team leader said that with the Heat Index in the City it felt like 115!!!!! Guess where were at the CITY!!!!!!! When you mix doing alot of walking and riding subways with NO AC and the Fact that most of the buildings here have no AC , were staying in a school with none , it has made for some pretty miserable sweaty days!!! Never has showering before going to bed felt so good!!!! From the heat and all the sweating Ive battled a little dehydration even though i think i drank 3 or 4 liter bottle of waters yesterday, I have some problems with cramping and stuff , but other than that Im good.
Other than the heat Berlin is a really cool city , One i would strongly suggest visiting if ever having the chance. A couple of days ago we went by and saw one of the last standing peices of the Berlin wall and you can see the line that seperated East and West Germany , its right in the Heart of what is now Downtown Berlin. Toward the end of the week were supposed to visit a Concentration Camp which should be a cool experience. Ir is such an experience to be in this totally different culture and style of living , It makes you really wonder why we do some of the things we do back home . Now saying that I wouldnt give up my AC and you might could talk me into a Subway as long as there was a station by my house and you didnt have to walk 3 miles to the station like you do some places here!!
The Rest of the American Team got here this past weekend , there some really cool and good people , from Two different areas of texas. One a group from a church and the other is a family(talk more about them in a minute). I cant lie a little bit of Home sickness or feeling alone has set in , I have never once doubted why the Lord put it on my heart to come over here or that I want to be here , but its hard not to feel kinda like the loner or the outcast when everyone else has relationships. THey are great people they dont do anything to make me feel that way and we all get along great but The Two groups know each other , Frank has his family here , and they have more of a realtionship with Frank than I. Its alright though I know hy God has me over here , so Im fine with that.
The Mcmurray Family from Temple is here and its a Dad Mom and there three kids 13,12,9. Dave the dad is a youth pastor , but i think its really cool that he and Autumn his wife brought there kids with em . It should be a cool experience for the kids as well as a family bonding experience. That they can share for a lifetime , I think that for those of you that have kids and have ever thought about doing any kind of mission trip or anything as a family you should. I know after seeing them , Its something I would like to do some day.
Along with the people from Texas are another American Couple Brian and Joella who are my age and are good people, they are actually Young Life Internation Interns and have committed to spending 3 years in Berlin with Frank doing YoungLife here and there open to possibly permanently moving here.
Camp has been going here for a couple of days and going well, My YL Clubs have been going pretty well , which makes me feel good cause it was something i was definately nervous and worried about coming over here! THe messages are given in German so its a little dissapointing for the rest of the Team cause we dont know what's being said , but Obviously were not what its about . Its still school to see God;s word being spoke even though you dont understand it , cause you know at least a general idea of what he is talking about and you can look around and watch the room and see the kids listening. We have been told here that kids here have a real fear of being "converted" but the Lord still gets there attention.
The best way i can describe what were doing , is it would be like for the YLer's on this email or those of you with Church Ministry is if you completely designed , funded and organized your own YL Camp or Church Camp and thats kind of what youre doing to get your area or church started. Its really cool , doing this over here kind of takes me back to our first year or two in Mansfield where we were just planting seeds , 5 years later were still planting seeds but there starting to bloom!! Im sure they will here to.
Ill try to send another email out toward the end of the week after this Camp has closed before we begin next week's camp. I miss of all of you!!

Love,
Blake