Sunday, June 5, 2011

Evangelism in Dresden

Just Thilo and I went to Dresden with a young firey evangelist from Berlin named Benny.  There we joined up with a YWAM team from Herrnhut and German Christians from Berlin & Dresden all eager to spread the love of Jesus. 

Benny & Thilo were dynamite together.  Thilo warming the crowd up with music and Benny preaching his heart out.  They performed skits together and pulled in crowds of up to 100 people.  Many in the crowd raised their hand and then prayed to ask Jesus into their heart.  I was standing in the crowd praying to Jesus, "Who do you want me to talk to?"  He was always highlighting someone for me and here are some examples of some of the conversations:

Phillip  He and his friend were hecklers and they were shouting things at Ben & Thilo.  I have learned that went I go up to a heckler, they always back down because I am a "mom".  I went up to Phillip and I said, "Why are you so angry?"  He said, "You have no right to do this and you are just trying to brainwash people."  His English wasn't very good and I apologized to him for my small amount of German and he assured me that he was thankful for a chance to practice his english.  Yet, he was really struggling to get some thoughts across to me and this girl came up and interpreted to me what he said.  I thought she was a friend of his.  She stayed with us and interpreted for about 15 minutes.  It turns out, she did not know Phillip and she was a Christian!  She had a button on her bag that said, "I love Jesus".  She told me that she didn't want to get out of bed that morning but something told her to get out of bed and come to the square where we were.  We both rejoiced that God had sent her right to us!  I told Phillip, "See, this is a miracle!  God sent her just so we could talk together."

Phillip was full of hate and especially against Americans.  (He thought I was from Holland).  When he found out I was an American he was a bit embarrassed.  I told him that Christians are all about love and that far from brain-washing our God gives absolute freedom.  After much talk back and forth the last thing he said to me was, "I really see Jesus in you!"  We hugged.  It was good.

Sharing Jesus in Dresden
Frederike I saw a young girl sitting and enjoying the songs and drama and so I sat down next to her on the pavement.  I asked her what she thought about all that was being said.  She told me that she came some distance to Dresden to attend "Kirchentag"  (Church day).  She said, "I don't know anything about Christianity but I am learning today and I really like what I am hearing!"  Somehow I KNEW that she was absolutely ready to accept Jesus.  I explained the way of salvation to her and then asked her, "Would you like to pray to receive Jesus now?"  She replied, "Yes I would!"   We prayed a prayer together and she said she felt a change go through her body when she prayed.  A few minutes later she had tears of joy running down her face.  We hugged.  We exchanged email address's and I said to her, "Today you are newly born!  It is a new day for you and you are now my sister in Christ.  I would like to be your spiritual mom."  More hugs.  So much joy.


3 Teenagers from Ukraine  They were sitting across from Thilo listening to him sing and so I went over to them.  The 2 girls said they were Christian and the boy said his dad is a pastor but that he had rejected Christianity.  I proceeded to tell them Thilo's story.  His year of sex, drugs and rocknroll; his deliverance from demons; and his new life in Jesus.  As I was talking and near the end, one of the girls started sobbing.  I put my arms around her and she said, "Thank you so much for telling me this story.  It was exactly what I needed to hear."  I hugged her and we prayed together.  Later they came back up to me and said, "Can we take a picture with you?"  "Sure!" I said.  The boy took the picture and we all hugged again and they once again told me that it meant so much to them what I had shared.  Thank you Jesus.

The East German Woman  Our  crew continued our evangelism in Berlin and I preached at Alexander Platz.  An older lady listened to my whole sermon and so Bre and I went to talk to her afterwards.  She was an atheist and although she found my talk interesting she didn't want to read any booklets or take a bible.  She didn't want to give me her name or discuss much.  Finally I said, "Can I pray for you?" and she replied, "That you CAN do!"  I said, "All right" and proceeded to pray for her.  While I was praying the Holy Spirit told me that she had many hurts in her life and had been greatly disappointed and that because of this she was desperately afraid to let herself believe that there might be a God she could put her trust in.  I asked the Lord to soften her hard heart and to break through this sadness.  She interrupted my prayer to say, "This is starting to trickle down in to me."  (Hallelujah)!  The Holy Spirit gave me such a knowledge of her condition that I could barely hold back the tears.  I felt her fear and sadness.  When I finished praying (through Bre interpreting) we hugged and I gave her a card for der Garten and asked her to come in and visit me. 

There were so many more quality conversations!  I wish I could write about all of them.  The last thing that happened was that Thilo and I met a man on the street in Berlin and we were able to lead him to the Lord!!  Afterwards we were dancing and leaping in the air.  So seldom does this happen in Berlin.  What joy.