Festival posts will come later, but now for a quick update from Sunday… what a blessing to gather in the park for worship! The sun was warm and the breeze refreshing. The fellowship was genuine and the worship was joyous. God’s Word was shared in German and Farsi and English. We sang some songs in Farsi, English, and German! We confessed our common faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed in Farsi, German, and English. We greeted one another in our native tongues, with genuine care and concern, and Christian love for one another, which transcends the language barriers. And through it all the Holy Spirit was at work! I’m certain our prayers and praise was an especially sweet sound to the Lord!

We closed the Saturday festival with a prayer circle. Ready for Persian worship in the park this Sunday morning. Please pray for all who will participate or in some way be touched today!

Busily painting and sewing banners. Thankful for the Vicar who climbs the bell tower and up into trees to hang the colorful banners!

So many blessings! First a young woman stopped by as we were working on a song in German and she helped us immensely with our German pronunciation and word emphasis! A little while later a classroom of young students came to the park for an ice cream treat that they had earned (from my limited German, sorry, can’t tell you how they earned it)… and with their teachers, they joined in on a children’s song! “Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah! Praise ye, the Lord!” – or “Preiset den Herrn!” Soon there were giggles all around as we were standing up, sitting down, standing up again with the song! What fun! What a blessing!

On our way to the park for music rehearsal…we came upon a farmer’s market. We bought lemons for baking tomorrow and strawberries for lunch. Delicious

Tuesday we started the day praying in the park – praying for the people in the surrounding neighborhood, for the people who gather at St. Luke’s for worship, for those who work amongst the people here, for the people we will encounter here, and for the team as we work here. Soon we were able to begin connecting with people from the neighborhood. One man brought a guitar. Some of team joined him in song, later he joined our team members singing Christian songs! Soon a curious little child walked up to see what was happening as his mother watched nearby.

Normally on a MOST Ministries mission trip, the team enjoys a day of touring local sights after their service is completed. The schedule of this mission however, will have the team serving right up until a few hours before our departure… so Monday was our touring day. Early in the morning we hopped on a train for Wittenberg, where Martin Luther lived and worked for many years. We saw many sights, learned more of our Lutheran history and heritage. The next several pictures offer a few highlights from our Monday tour day!

This was originally an Augustinian monastery. Martin Luther came here as a monk in 1508. Later he lived here with his family.

This is where Martin Luther preached hundreds of times!