2 weeks in and counting........

I know weird picture but when i think of Germany and Baskettball i think of Dirk! Dont we all!!!!


Hey Hey,

Well we started our 2nd Camp here in Berlin. The first camp was great , I have a few new German Facebook friends and i think given some time we will have made a big impact in Kid's Lives over here!!! The rest of the Us Team left this weekend. We arent staying at the camp site this week , I have a bout an hour commute via subway and buses .
This camp is way different We arent actually running the camp , its ran by a group called News Release they are a basketball ministry. Players and a coach from the US come over and work through skills all day and there is a "power hour" which is basically YL Club and then a small group discussion which would be Cabin Time. Its pretty cool how they do it. Our Involvement is fairly low , we help out with power hour and other than that we are there for Contact Work with Kids being that i will be gone next week that makes my involvement pretty low. Its alright though Its still a good experience to see how Camps are run and how other people share the Word with kids. Got one More week here In Berlin than its on to Munich and kinda relaxing and seeing Jim and terri who are helped me get set up over here.
I thiink Ive decided this may be the last time i do this much time over here , but if i can make it happen I would like to come over here and it least work one camp a summer. Frank is a great guy and seems to have a really good thing starting here it would be a blessing and honor to help him every year keep it going and make it better. I told him that i think in the year between possibly coming back I think i am gonna try to learn a little German that way i can either speak a little or possibly understand it and be able to read it . Im getting to where i can read a little now already.
One of the really cool underlying Blessings to doing this was this past week , the people we worked with were some really great people from different parts of Texas , a couple of which i think will go onto to be friends long past this camp and even if we dont ever work together again. Some good guys One Youth Pastor of a church in Georgetown and two lead pastors of Churches in Georgetown and Killeen as well as my musician for the week. i expected the experience from working the kids , getting to know Frank and the other people who will be here has been good to . The added experience was un expected and really cool. Well i guess thats all ive got for now , Its weird I left two weeks ago today but it feels like Ive been gone longer than that already!!!

Love Everyone,
Blake

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

Update 7/9/2010

Well its been a couple of more days and ive had some fun with people here as well as some time by myself. The German people are all for the most part really nice , most of em speak at least enough english where you can communicate with em. Its weird though they choose not to speak English untill you ask em if they can. I was alone last night and ventured out down to a restaurant and ate dinner , they set up tables in a weird way on the patio , theyre set up where you are facing the street , so if youre with another person you sit side by side facing the street looking at people walking by.
Its funny ive always been the type of person that feels like" if they cant speak the language they dont need to be here" and what do i need to know how to speak spanish or anything else for. Most people here know three or more languages they are fluent in german and french or itatlian and most of know english well enough to speak it some , some speak it very well.
We did some prep work today , which required me riding the subway again across Berlin to meet people , On the Subway i encountered a guy playing a guitar and this woodwind pipe singing something in german. Subways are an interesting experience people get on off dont speak to each other . i did alot of walking today , probably had a 2-3 mile walk to catch this certain train i needed and then a 2-3 mile walk back to my hotel. I can use , and my back held up alot more better than i thought it would , it was bothering me a bit toward the end,. Im back in the hotel now and I am worn out!!!!!!! Still kinda struggling with sleep i have woken up at 4-4:30 am every day , the first night wasnt a big deal i went to sleep at 10pm , the last two days i have only slept 4-5 hours a night. Still kinda feeling dehydrated but that could be from the walking .
We go into camp tommorrow and Im not sure if we will have internet at the school or not , So it could be a week or so till i can write again.

Berlin Day 1 and 2

Well Ive been here for a couple of days now , This might be kinda long but we go into Camp here in 2 days so it may be a few days till i send another one so here ya go!
I arrived here on Tuesday night about 6:45 , Im sure you can get it caught in Customs but i made it through customs in both England and Germany in a combined 20 minutes. One of the guys picked me up at the aiport , and we took a cab to where im staying , Mercedes's ,BMW'S, Volkswagon's are a dime a dozen here , we ended up taking a normal cab , but I have never seen a Benz or BMW Cab and i bet i saw 50 coming out of the airport. The City of Berlin is cool , its just really different , it really looks nothing like any city ive ever seen not being , out of the states other than to mexico before. All the cars are the same , there some kind of sedan of a car made over here.
My hotel is a holiday inn , its pretty nice but the room is TINY!! Ive got a couple of pics of it , I mean it is a bathroom , a bed and a desk and thats about it!!! The bed is weird its a queen or full size bed but its made out of two twin mattresses , It aint very comfortable. Either getting used to the time or the bed , I have woke up at 4 and 5 am both days , right now its 10 till 6am. Hopefully here in the next day or two i will be able to at least sleep till 7 or 8 am .
Went to Dinner here with some YoungLife people and that was interesting , Most People here speak a little bit of english , so you can communicate and they have a menu printed in english. We went to a restaurant and i ordered a grilled chicken breast , IT WAS TINY!!!! and served with French Fries , but almost everything on the Menu was served with Fries. Having water with your meal is like anything else here so most people order drinks with there out , because they charge you for water and they serve you carbonated water , which is just weird.
Yesterday i went and walked around some , i stayed fairly close to my hotel , just kinda so i was sure where i was! Its a really different feeling to be in a place where you cant read most things on the store fronts , or the street signs , I had two random people come out and get in my face speaking German , all i could so was look confused and say sorry.
Last night I experimented with the Subway system , which Ive never been in a city where ive had to do that before either. They gave me pretty strait forward directions so it was easy to follow , i just had to be able to read what i wrote down. The subway system is interesting , I payed 3.50 cents and rode like 5 different trains probably an hour's worth and thats all you pay. You have to get a certain kind of ticket or they fine you like 50 dollars if your caught on the train with the wrong ticket.
We went and watched the Semifinal World Cup Game that Germany was playing in last night at the apartment of some of the volunteer YL leaders here , watching Soccer with people that really love it , Im a soccer fan but they treat Soccer like we treat Football at home , theyre yelling at the TV they all know the game. It was weird sitting in a room and not knowing what anyone was saying , its kind of an unnerving experience. A couple of spoke english and i talked some to them , it turned out that a couple of more them spoke english and they speak dang near perfect english , two of em ended up driving me back to my hotel about a 20 minute drive and we talked the whole way , there really nice people. We ate i guess what would be the equivalent of Microwave Pizza over there that wasnt bad , it was pretty much like it was at home , there was one noticeable difference though , A pepperoni Pizza has one big peice of Pepperoni on each peice instead of little ones all over the peice.
I have kinda felt dehydrated the last few days , and it kinda started to click last night , i think its because at home were so used to Gigantic size drinks and free refills and over here everything is way smaller , last night everyone was drinking out of cups that would be considered childrens cups there. The other thing is i think you might have to ask for Ice , i drank Sprite with no ice at room temperature last night , wasnt my favorite but 15 other people were doing it so i did it to.
You walk every where here , which will be good for me , but its a little tough to get used to , last night i walked probably a mile to the subway and then getting off the subway probably a mile to there apartment.
Its really weird Im in a place where Ive met a couple of people , but I really KNOW no one , i dont know the language , it feels really weird to think how far i am away from home , but its ok , I know what im over here for and if i gotta feel a little like a fish out of water , Im ok with that . We go to camp soon

Berlin Day 1

I arrived in Berlin today and MY OHH MY HOW DIFFERENT IT IS!!!! The first thing i noticed right off the bat besides not being able to read anything!!! Is the Architecture , Things are built incredibly different , From Houses to Downtown Area to Hotel Rooms. My hotel room is tiny!!!!
Second Mercedes , BMW's , Audi's , Volkswagons are a dime a dozen over here , I have never seen a Mercedes or BMW Taxi before , well ive seen about 50 NOW!!!!!!
Restaurants are weird , you just walk in seat yourself and then you have to grab your waitress to pay the bill. You have to pay for water over here!!! But you only have to tip 10 percent!
Got a couple of days to chill , get accustomed to the time change , and do some work and Get Accustomed to Germany! More to Come

Something Truly Special

I think there are only a few times in life that your blessed to know that you have been a part of something truly special. Something that truly impacts peoples lives. 5 years ago i was blessed to be become a part of something that is just that truly special. There have been alot of occurences over the years when i felt that way , Last night was defiantely one of them.
What a powerful night to see the holy spirit move in peoples lives is why I put the time and energy into this. There are kids who you dont speak to other than introducing yourself to them and a few "hey man how are you's?" But You know that your apart of the thing that has changed there lives forever.
You get the opportunity over the years to see kids grow from "little freshman" who arent sure about alot of stuff , to confident Seniors and UpperClassmen who arent afraid to take on the world and arent afraid to stand up for what they believe in. I am personally so jealous of some of these kids , I look back and say Man i wish i could have been like these guys , I wish i would have had the Spirtual Integrity to be the kinda person i should and not fall prey to the pressure of High School. Our kids are so amazing and it makes you feel so blessed even if you dont really have any direct impact on the kids , you know that youre apart of something that has had a major impact on there lives. What a blessing ...........
Another special thing this year is we are seeing new kids , accepting christ which is so amazing to see , you get to see and experience the pure emotion that comes with finally realzing that i have a purpose in life , that what these people are telling me is true.
I dont believe you can be involved in this ministry , without feeling like you are apart of something very special. It has changed my life so much and filled me with so many memories that i will never forget . I have my purpose in life it is to make sure that high school kids know the good news and know about Jesus. Im not really one to share my feelings but I truly love our students and am very thankful to be a part of there lives.

WORLD TRAVELIN!!!!!!

It's funny I never had alot of desire to do the whole traveling to europe thing growing up. Even as i got to the age to where i could do it without parents still never really was for me. We always went on family vacations to beach type places whether it be florida or mexico. I can honestly say even up untill about a year ago still had absolutely no desire to do it.
Over the last few months though that has changed , around last summer after coming home from camp with our YL kids i felt a strong desire to start seeking out ways to work with Younglife not just in Mansfield . There are ways to go to work at camps and that would be awesome , not here to try to demean that. I started to think it would be awesome to go overseas and see European kids not only take in Younglife but to see them find the lord.
Through some conversations with a friend and a YL contact i now have that opportunity in front of me!!!! I will be leaving in July and bouncing to a couple of different countries , doing what i love to do , Hanging out with Kids , making em feel special and helping em to find the lord. It is gonna be so awesome and i cant wait !!! It is a incredbile opportunity and i am so thankful for it. It should be a blast , a learing experience , a spirtual experience , I think it may be safe to say it may be the best experience of my life. To all those who have played a role in helping me get here thank you!!!
Like Erik said who knows maybe I'll go over there and love it and become a EUROPEAN!!!! Doubt it but hey Never say Never!!!!