Another cool story. We have a Chinese Investigator (who can speak German!). My companion and I were headed over to an appointment and there were a couple ladies on the street. My companion talked to one of them, I went and talked to the Chinese lady. She agreed to meet with us, and during our first visit she told us she had been lonely lately and was excited to get to meet people in the church. In our second appointment she told us the whole story. She said she had been so lonely, so she called up one of her old professors and said she was unhappy in Germany, but she still likes it better than China. Her professor said she needs to find some friends and she didn't know how. Her professor then suggested that she get to know the church a little better in Germany. One day she was feeling particularly upset and wanted to find more friends and still had this thought about the church in her head. She "randomly" decided to go outside and take a walk. Something she said she would never do on a normal day, and she didn't know why she did it that day. We just happened to talk to her that day, and it made her so happy. She is convinced that this is a crazy coincidence, and we told her that the Lord wants her to visit the church. She still hasn't come to church, but it was a way cool story. She told that to us this last week as we met with her.
We have also been having a crazy experience with one person who keeps telling us she wants us go to by. It all started out with one appointment. We made out this appointment with a young man, and we went by. A lady answered the door and said he didn't live there and she doesn't really have interest. We asked her if she might know where he lives, or if there is somebody she knows who may be interested. She pointed at the apartment on the other side of the building, and so we went over there. The lady opened the door, she seemed pretty nice and happy to see us. She invited us to come over later that day when she had a little more time.
Upon our return, we rang the bell of the house we visited and somebody opened up the door. This time, the lady, with whom we talked to first and referred us to this apartment, opened up the door! We looked around to see if we maybe accidentally rang the wrong apartment. Sure enough, we were at the correct apartment, but the wrong person answered. It was a strange experience. The lady said, "Actually, I don't think that this person has any interest." She wished us a good day and closed the door. That was strange.
We returned a week or so later to see what was really up. We rang, and we heard someone inside yell, "Nobody's Home!" We took that as a sign that maybe this lady really didn't have any interest and left. Later that night, we were talking to people on the street, and we found this lady again! Not the crazy one that switched apartments, but the one who earlier seriously had some interest. We asked her again what the deal was, and if she still had interest. She assured us that she really does want us over, so we made out a new appointment and she was excited that we could come over again. It rarely happens that people are excited to have us over, so we were looking forward to it.
We returned for the appointment that we made, but nobody answered. It was a super weird thing, and we are not sure what's going on, but I think we are supposed to meet with this lady. Why else would we make 2 different appointments out, and both times she wanted us to come back over?
Anyway, I am pretty excited for the coming week. For Christmas we are going over to a member's house for dinner. Germans celebrate Christmas on the 24th. They have some interesting traditions that we have been doing. For example: the 4 Sundays before Christmas are called advent's. There are 4 of them, and each of them represent something different. Hope, Joy, Love, and something else that I forgot. They have a wreath with 4 candles, and they light one candle each Advent. By the time it is the 4th advent they have all 4 candles lit (that was yesterday) Sometimes they have a 5th candle in the middle which represents Jesus Christ. That Candle gets lit on the 25th.
Christmas is also celebrated 3 days long. The 24th is like our Christmas, called Heilig Abend (Holy Evening). The day where presents are opened, and we spend time with family and stuff. The 25th is the day of remembering Jesus Christ, and is called the erste Feiertag (first Holiday). The 26th is also considered a holiday (zweite Feiertag or second holiday), but I'm not sure if there are any traditions attached to it. It's probably simply a holiday for getting time off work or something.
Germans also don't get a Christas tree until the 23rd, or at least they don't set up a Christmas tree until the 23rd. They tend to leave it up longer though, probably until the 7th or January or so.
Well, have a great week! I miss you all!
Sending my Christas love,
