And it only gets better....

April continues to get even better.

Monday I had an appointment at the Foreigners' Office. I had been dreading this meeting since I waited in line three hours more than a month ago to make the appointment. I first went to the Foreigner's Office three days after I arrived in Bremen to arrange the first appointment. When I went back in November for the appointment, the woman got very upset with me because I did not have the paperwork I needed, though there really was no way for me to know ahead of time what to bring. The Abercrombies have gone several times over the past couple of months and have had quite a few problems. Last week we learned that the Church Office has been holding Mark and Karen's paperwork as they try to decide whether or not the Gemeinde Christi (Germany's version of church of Christ) is a sect. So, needless to say, I would have rather done almost anything than go back there to be berated again.

This time, however, I met with a different woman who was much nicer. I gave her all of the paperwork I had brought with me, including my police registration, a letter from the Springers detailing my work here, and a letter from Wolfgang with a copy of a description of the Gemeinde Christi that was originally published by the Lutheran church. When I gave her the letter about the GC, I explained that my friends had been having some trouble...and she actually laughed. She read the letter and rolled her eyes, saying she recognized the Gemeinde Christi, knew it wasn't a sect, and didn't know why the Church Office would be so concerned.

Two hours later, after more waiting and then paying my 60 Euro fee, I walked out with my residency permit in my passport. Since I don't have a set date for leaving Bremen, in my application I wrote that I would be here until November of 2008, so she was kind enough to give my permit an expiration of December 1, 2008. I was so happy I almost floated to the bus stop. It's a wonderful feeling to know I have permission from the government to be in Germany, and they can't deport me for being here illegally. :-)

Also on Monday we finally got permission from the Building Authority to begin renovations on the new church building. We've been waiting for this for close to a month, and lots of things had to be put on hold until we got the permission. The time was beginning to worry us. Our tentative moving day is May 10th, and if we don't have everything out of the old building by the end of May, the rent we're paying to stay there will double. Now we can finally begin the work. Today Mark and Ingrid spent some time painting a few rooms, and Mimi and Rüdi met with the contractor to discuss some things. Soon a couple of walls should be coming down and the real work will begin.

Since Mimi and Rüdi are very involved in the work for the new building and because things have quickly been coming together this week, I have babysat 4 times for them so they could attend various meetings. While I still really believe this is one of the biggest ministries I can offer to the other Christians here, it's also been really good for me. In some ways I feel like I've become an extended member of the family. I stayed with the kids today while Mimi and Rüdi met with the contractor, and when I rang their doorbell, I heard 3 1/2-year old Rebecca call from inside, "Alicia!" When Rebecca opened the door, 22-month old Johannes was coming down the stairs, and he smiled and greeted me with an excited "Yisha!" It's nice to feel welcomed, especially when it comes from young children.

Yesterday was an exciting day in the congregation: Jasmin, Yek-Len's daughter, was baptized. Yek-Len has been the sole Christian in her family for many years. Her husband is not a Christian and does not come to church, and her older daughter stopped coming to church a few years ago. Many people have been praying for the family for many years, so Jasmin's decision to commit her life to the Lord was an answer to prayers.

The occasion also gave me a chance to have a rather interesting discussion with Soyoung. Before the baptism I translated and explained what Florian was saying, and then while we were waiting around the baptistry for Jasmin to come, Soyoung was quite curious about the whole process and asked me what would happen. Afterwards most of us stayed for cake and coffee, and while we were eating Soyoung suddenly turned to me and asked if I'd been baptized too. She was surprised to hear that I was 12 when I was baptized, saying that that sounded kind of young. In response to her questions I told her that people are baptized whenever they understand and believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He lived and died for our sins, whether they are 10 or 100 or anywhere in between when they confess that belief. We ended up looking at Isaiah 53 and Romans 6:1-7, and I think the wheels are turning in her mind trying to process all of it. Please continue to pray for Soyoung that her curiosity and new belief in God might continue to grow.

To finish off a week of blessings, today a wonderful opportunity presented itself to me. This afternoon as I walked home from the grocery store, I passed an older man sitting on the sidewalk outside a store eating a piece of bread. He looked a bit scraggly and had a hat or something on the sidewalk in front of him with a few coins in it. Seeing a beggar on the street is not unusual here, but something struck me differently about this man. After I passed by him, I got this pang in my heart, and after about 30 feet or so I turned around. I walked back to him; set beside him a package of sliced fresh fruit I had just bought; said in German "For you. Happy Easter;" and turned and walked back in the direction from which I'd come. A smile replaced the pang in my heart.

Throughout the past week I have seen one blessing after another. I thank God for those blessings and for that chance today to give a small blessing back to someone else. As the world celebrates Christ's sacrifice and resurrection this weekend, may we all see the everyday blessings we have been given and share those blessings with others. I hope that we will seek to treat others like Christ would have treated them and to love them with the same love that Christ so graciously showers upon us. Most of all I pray that we will not take Christ's sacrifice for granted and that we'll never be ashamed to proclaim it to the world, whether through preaching, teaching, or feeding the hungry man begging on the sidewalk.