Good evening all! I have had a very exciting, action-packed, encouraging and interesting roller coaster of a week. Tuesday, my visa was set to expire. Unfortunately, I thought it expired Wednesday. Oops! So I had to prepare myself quickly because time was running out!
Monday, I went to the office that handles all the paperwork for foreigners and asked what they needed from me. They asked when my visa ran out and they were shocked I had waited so long. Since I learned early on that they were closed on Fridays (and I did my trial work day until later in the evening on Thursday), my first opportunity to go in was Monday. The girl behind the counter was very helpful, but it was funny at one point, she said "Don't be mad at me, but" and then told me what I needed. I told her I was not mad at all, I just wanted to know what to have so that I could be prepared the following day. I thanked her for the information and headed home.
The office closes early on Tuesdays, at 2pm. I finally received all the documentation I needed about 12:10pm. Then I left the house, had to go print out some information, then head off to see them again. (This is the place I shared about a while back on the blog, that there is a long boring walk to get to it, remember?) Anyway, the office is pretty much on the other side of the city from where I'm at, but otherwise pretty easy to reach by train. So, I got there finally about 1pm or so and turned in my paperwork. The same girl I spoke with the day before said she couldn't promise anything and gave me a number and told me to take a seat in the waiting area.
While I waited, I prayed. In looking on their website the days before this, they mentioned they do NOT extend tourist visas. I figured I had to at least try. Worst they could do is tell me "no" and order me to leave the country (or fine me, or throw me in jail. LOL) Anyway, so just after 2pm, the girl emerged and informed me the granted the extension of my visa!!! This was such a huge miracle and such a weight off my shoulders. They technically extended the visa until October, but with some significant conditions. That's okay, because at least I could stay to find out if I got the job before I was asked to leave!! Thank you, God for blessing this extension! Thanks to all of you as well for all of your thoughts and prayers, they are definitely working!!!
This definitely took some pressure off of me, so I have been able to catch up on some stuff, working on getting my life organized a bit more here. I have also spent some time at Connections, where I have been talking with a really cool American couple who are doing some work with a church in another part of Germany. Felt like I have already become good friends with them. Too bad they were only in town for a couple weeks, would have loved to have spent more time with them. Unfortunately, they leave tomorrow.
We had bible talk tonight, which was really encouraging, got a chance to hang out with Katja and a bunch of others as well. Unfortunately I didn't get the call on the job I was hoping for today, but hopefully tomorrow.
I also was so excited tonight because I finally received my new German drivers license today that I applied for on May 8! I have really been wanting to get it, and today it was finally there!! Apparently I can drive mopeds, any 2- or 3-wheeled motorcycles, any autos, small delivery vans, cars with trailers, box vans and similar trucks, semi trucks with trailers up to a total of 12 tons (!) and even small tractors and forklifts! Wow, so I can drive semi-trucks with trailers up to 12 tons??? Trust me, I would never do that here. I may be adventurous, but I'm not that adventurous!
After BT on my way home, I was very excited to go rent a movie. Last time I was there I was told I needed to have an ID. Well, I went in there today with my brand spanking new drivers license, brought a bag of popcorn to the counter... and ready to rent my first movie! They told me they need to see my passport with my residence permit in it. I have to be honest, I was pretty frustrated. I still can't rent a movie there. Well, maybe when I get the job, my work permit and then my residence permit, I can. I walked out not in the greatest of moods, gotta be honest.
After I left the video store, traffic was just weird. People were doing really stupid stuff and especially the bikers just were acting dumb. At one point, there was a group of 4 bikers that had stopped right in the middle of the street at an intersection where the bike path crosses the side street. Two of them had stopped to hug each other with the other two bikers sitting there as well, all of them blocking the street. Then almost ran into someone riding their bike the wrong way on the sidewalk (which is breaking 2 laws), etc. etc. etc. I thought to myself, this is just Satan working on my heart now to be frustrated. I'm glad to have gotten home to relax a bit tonight. It's been a pretty emotionally-charged week for me, ending with some disappointment and frustration. Just need to continue to trust God, he's definitely pushing me to the limit to see how much I will rely on him.
Ironically today, I counselled a friend of mine to write down a list of things God has given him that he is thankful for, then I challenged him to pray through the list more than once. He thought it was a good idea and I believe he has decided to do it. He has a unique situation and things seem bad right now in his mind. I think I should also try to do that as well.
Monday night was interesting for me. I was definitely feeling the pressure to get everything accomplished on Tuesday. The hotel said they would call me Tuesday (also the day my visa ran out) so Monday night I was feeling pretty anxious about Tuesday!! I called my good friends Christiana and Katja, and we went out to enjoy a summer evening together with Katja's daughter Rebecca. We met and went to a restaurant/beer garden and sat down and had a great time just chatting, sharing scripture, praying and having fun. It was so nice to just have this time to keep my mind off the other things that were just causing me stress. Sitting at home alone that night would have been very hard, discouraging and would have undoubtedly been struggling with temptation. I'm grateful to have been able to hang out with you guys, thank you for dropping everything to come encourage me!
One final note for me tonight. I really loved the high school I went to, Zweibrücken American High School. It was only in existence from 1971 to 1993 and I was blessed to have gone there from 1985-88. It was such a great group of people. I still keep in touch with quite a few of my classmates from there and have built and kept some great friendships over the years. Well, I bring this up because some of them are currently enjoying time at what would be my 25th class reunion in Las Vegas. I love being in Berlin right now and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, but if I were not here right now, I would want to be there enjoying that time with them and recounting those great memories! Since that is not the case, I will just be happy they are all there having a great time. Take lots of pics, Zwei peeps, wish I could be there with you!
Well, that's it for tonight. I'm so grateful to all who are reading the blog and praying for me. Please continue to do both, I will take all the encouragement and prayer for my situation that I can get. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Have a good night and have a great weekend!!!
Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland!!
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