Things that make Gary smile. Like this. :D

I've found out that eBay rocks. It would be responsible for my severe lack of money, and a good deal of my general happiness. Ok, the second part is a lie, but it makes things extremely handy. "Money makes the world go round". Or does it?

Sometimes it's the things that we don't have to pay for that mean the most to us. Like the people close to us, or the experiences we share with those people, or even the personal experiences and sights we see.

I'm blessed to have the group of friends I do. What's even better is that my family are part of that group, Stephen and Christina are two of the best friends I have, yet are related to me. That sort of connection doesn't happen everyday, and I really do feel blessed to be so close to them both. Then there's my other friends. In all fairness the phrase 'other friends' really does an injustice to them all. They're collectively and individually the best group of people I could have met. There's the newbies, Tasha and Charles, the super sleepy, super hyper Ross, my new bus buddy, bubbly Sam, naughty Niall, and my bestest buddy, Gert. Sorry, Sally. (Need to work on that)...

I honestly value my friendship with this lot above most things in life, and after my slightly doom and gloom approach to school in my last post, I just thought I would post this and let people know everything is alllright. I'm happy, I always am, stress just likes to poke his wee head through and tell you otherwise.

And on other occasions, it's the things other people pay for that mean the most. Jesus gave us a life free of sin by paying with his life. You can't pay any more than that. Bill Gates could pay billions of dollars for something radical, something life changing, but nothing he can give can bring about the same change that Jesus did. He gave us a chance of eternal life. He gave us ears, eyes, and a mind capable of registering all this complex information. Listen to his word, see the change in the world going on all around us, and become a part of it. You can help change the way this earth works, you can relieve people of the suffering and pain by letting them know that Jesus exists. You've got a mouth, and wealth beyond that of anyone in the Third World.

Give to them what Jesus gave to us. A life worth living.

God bless.

Roll on Summer. Again.

No more of this please...

You honestly have no idea how stressful school is until you reach Upper Sixth. Everything seems to be alright, your teachers are dead on, you're keeping up with all your work, then exams arrive. Then they turn on you. The first week of May could not come soon enough.

May. A month of studiousness, learnedness and all-round preparation for my A Level examinations. Not. Timetable thus far, German early May, next exam, an entire month after that. Then a free house for two weeks, and another two exams somewhere in the middle. That's not too bad, is it? Stephen and I shall be shipping the parents off to Canada for two weeks, so that leaves us with an empty house, and two cars waiting to be driven.

After that, Ghana. This is promising to be the best trip of my life so far. My first trip to Africa, my first mission trip, I really cannot wait. The fundraising has even been amazing, getting to know everyone in the team a little better and become more aware of everything going on at Craigmore, getting closer to everyone in the church.

After that, my seemingly annual trip to Germany. Berlin this time. I've already started planning where I want to go, my camera and I are going to be inseparable. Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis Kirche, that's one stop, the Olympiastadion, that's another, and of course the Brandenburger Tor and Reichstag, I'm going to be in my element.

And in September... Wait, should school not come into this somewhere...? No, one second, I'll be finished! For good! I'll be going to the big bad world of university, results pending, Queens University of Belfast. After these exams in January, that's looking like a distant prospect, going to need to get my head down and actually work for a while... Bad times me thinks.

As for the here and now, it's not been too bad, my friends have as per usual been brilliant, youth club is bant, church is always great, and school is as good as it gets. Not missing the snow in the slightest, and enjoying getting out with the camera more than ever.

So, that seems to be it for the time being, I've had a post in the making for the past two months, but it appears to have ground to a halt. That may get posted anyway for the craic, but whatever, til later, God bless.

Das erste Großserienfahrzeug mit...

November now. I can't believe that since August, these posts have come one per month. 10 in about two weeks, and now I'm so busy that I've hardly got the time for one. But it is now the 14th of November, Saturday, I'm absolutely baltic in the office here, the heater seems to be doing little if anything at all, and I thought I would take the time to let you in on what's been going on recently.

Now, for all you non-German speaking people out there, it really doesn't matter what the title means in English, what it signifies is slightly more important in my opinion, yes, the debate is back! The extract above comes from my wafflings on the Toyota Prius in our 'Northern Ireland has made enormous progress in regards to environmental protection' debate speeches. But this year, we have a proper argument on our hands. Nowadays, young people are more mature than before. And we're against that. Brilliant, that's a four minute speech about your's truly coming right up. Methody haven't got a chance, we've got a great team, and the easier side of the debate. I'm thoroughly looking forward to it, but maybe when I realise fully that I still haven't got a speech written, to be learnt for less than a fortnights time, maybe then will I start panicking slightly.

Mechanics has slightly improved, but only because of the inclusion of a lot of calculus. Differentiation and integration are fun, do-able, and above all, not circular motion. I've also done every exercise on trigonometric identities and proofs, so nobody can any longer tell me I don't work. I've worked my butt off for the benefit of pure maths, and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

Alright, enough about school related activities. It's November. almost precisely halfway through it at the minute. That means it's almost December. Which also means that it's basically Christmas! That means letters to Santa and all that jazz! That basically means a new lens or two for my camera (fisheye please!), a couple of CD's and an XBOX Live subscription. That would do me nicely I think. There are probably a few more things I need, but at the minute, that would be me sorted.

That also however means I need to actually spend money and buy people presents. I'm praying that the Germany phone bill from August waits until after the 27th, otherwise I'm afraid noone will be getting any presents... But those who do get presents, you're in for a treat, I promise.

On the topic of presents, it's someone's birthday next Friday. Sally 'Gertrude' McConnell turns 14 on the 20th of November, so just for her...

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Gertrude,
Happy birthday to you!

Now that I've got that out of the way, I think I'll go into hiding somewhere, that'll not go down too well with her.

But before I get myself hidden too well, I may as well tell you all the best piece of news of recent times. I'm going to Ghana! What an amazing, life changing experience I have in store for me. Habitat for Humanity are taking a group of 15 people from our church out to Ghana to build houses and I actually cannot wait. So if anyone is interested in lending a hand, I'll be fundraising generally, then there's going to be a car wash in Aghalee on the 21st of November in the village hall, so bring your cars and help us get to Ghana!

Til later lads and ladies, God bless.

It's gotten oh so cold.

It's BALTIC. I know it's November, but could you at least have warned us? It's November. AHHHHH! One and a bit months until Christmas! More worryingly, it's only a month more after that, possibly less, until my exams. And what's even worse is that I can't do Mechanics. Mechanics being a reasonably important part of my A2 Level Maths course. Bad times.

Phone's broke too. Must be the cold, that, or I've just got more than enough out of it. It was of course a faithful servant to me and my father, so much so that I've rubbed most of the buttons off in my extreme amount of texts. Over 10000 since I got it I reckon. It was properly brilliant though. Always seemed to have reception when my other phones didn't, which is kind of ironic seeing as I haven't had reception on it for the best part of four days. I presume it isn't going to fix itself.

Let's forget about this cold and blustery November and think back to the brilliance that was October. Whilst being proof that the credit crunch really does exist, I had a brilliant October. Germany just doesn't get boring, the formal exceeded expectations, and Autumn Soul ran out of superlatives halfway through Friday evening.

First off, Germany. Brilliant. Met so many people there, friends that I'll not be losing any time soon. For example, he's an absolute babe, Josh Cormican. Whilst being a bit of a tool in the best way possible, he's quite the laugh, and kept me sane while keeping me insane if that makes any sense whatsoever. I would at this point talk about the new weird things I learnt about Germans, but I haven't got anything... Hopefully doing another trip with Luke and Rowan next summer, so that could be bant. Berlin and Amsterdam, may have to learn a bit of Dutch... Could be fun, always wanted to know a bit of Dutch...

Formal. I was knackered. But as the evening went on, I perked up a bit, and my energy came flowing through. Sitting in Chrissy's living room I was unfortunately quoted to have said "I could be milking the cows at the minute." I'm such a culchy. It really isn't good. But when I got to the formal, I had a brilliant time. The food wasn't necessarily anything special, but the craic was class, and watching everyone teeter about drunk was priceless. Ralph and Dave deserve mentions for being the funniest drunks of the evening. The after formal also surprised me. Wasn't up for dancing to begin with, but after a while I made Chrissy and Julie regret ever persuading me to do so. Danced the night away, wondering throughout where I got the energy from.

Then finally, Autumn Soul. I had a brilliant time there, was challenged by God, saw loads of people changed by God, and generally had the best craic ever. Autumn Soul 2009 will be fondly remembered by myself and possibly a few others as the 'Conga' year. That conga will live in my memory for the rest of my life.

Right, it's so long since I started this post, I may as well post this and start another one, so til later, God bless.

September already? October actually.

Flip me. That was unexpected. I'm 18 already. And it's September. AND I'm in my last year of school. This is all a bit ridiculous. It seems like only yesterday that I was sitting in Mrs Magowan's room 14 years ago learning how to write. Well, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. Two days ago at least.

Well, where shall I start. I've neglected this blog somewhat, but given that I have genuinely been busy, I think I have a reasonable excuse. I'm back at school, a blessing in my opinion. It's brilliant to get back to structured work and a bit of a routine, to see all my friends again, and to be back to my beloved maths. I do however miss my dear Philip. Many a year we sat beside each other on that bus, and now I'm stuck with Ross McGrady. Which isn't a bad thing to be fair. But I shall still miss my good friend Phil, with whom I shared many a great moment in and outside of school.

But as for school THIS year, I'm loving it. Dropping physics was a rather good decision on my part, I'm keeping up with my work, getting homeworks finished, and enjoying the work I'm doing. German is great now that I realise that I can get by in a foreign country on my own, and have a decent amount of competence in the subject and language, and my goodness did I miss maths. I missed the feeling of thinking you knew something only to be proved wrong halfway through the exercise (Binomial distribution). I missed the knowledge that I could still work sufficiently well despite dossing about in class, and that I got on really well with all the teachers. All in all, school's lived up to expectations, I'm having a fantastic time.

Birthday. That was amazing. I had three of my closest friends round to celebrate my important day, namely Nikki, Courtney and Sally. Between the four of us and Steve, we had an afternoon to remember. Nikki, Steve and I depressed ourselves by revealing our insane knowledge of the first generation of Pokemon (stupid flipping crabs), and then proceeded to laugh ourselves silly to Airplane, in my opinion, the wittiest and best film ever to have been made.

And as I write the next paragraph, I realise that a month has passed since the last one. I've been so flipping busy. I'm currently in Germany doing a school exchange, having the time of my life, meeting new people, new friends that I'll have for the rest of my life. All in all, I love this place. And as I sit here listening to Hillsong and writing my blog in the new found sunshine, I just thank God for everything that has happened to me in the last month. I've become a better person I think, I'm a core leader at youth club, an absolute dream of mine, I've taught a Sunday School class, I'm getting more and more involved in the church and loving every second of it, I might even be going to Ghana next summer with the church to do some missionary work. And despite the financial problems and loss of a dear friend (for the time being at least), my life is perfect. I have God by my side every step of the way, and I just love being used my God in such an awesome way.

I also want to mention a book. A fantastic book, and many thanks to Open Doors Deutschland for giving me this as a birthday present, "God's Smuggler" by Brother Andrew has completely changed my outlook on things, God used him in the most extraordinary ways, fictional writers couldn't come up with something quite so extraordinary, and the fact that Brother Andrews story is a true one just boggles my mind. Anyone who wants it, give me a buzz and I'll be happy to lend it to you for a while.

And for now that is that. I shall write again when I get home to a proper keyboard, and hopefully with some great news from Open Doors.

Until later, God bless.

Let's give the Bible a German twist.

Hello there all. Apologies for the lack of posts recently, there has in all fairness been a distinct lack of things to write about. But seeing as the last post was all me, it's time I turned the attention back to the important one in this blog, God.

Unser Gott. Der Herr. Die heilige Geist. Over the past fortnight this is how our Lord and Saviour has been referred to. Jesus Christus. We 'preisen' him in the morning. We 'beten' for forgiveness and others. I've had an insight into the German way of doing things for God, and it's been the most amazing experience of my life. I may not understand everything that's being said when we pray, or know what I'm singing, but you can always feel the presence of God in and around you while you pray or sing. I've had the strangest experience of being able to understand what people are saying when we pray, as if God wants me to hear what is being said to him. Being surrounded by so many like minded Christians has been a real time of learning for me.

Now. If I was to tell you a verse, I would do it in English. But since I'm here, I'll tell you one or two in German. I know this seems like a silly post, but I just feel like doing this, sharing a bit of German with everyone whilst I sit waiting on my clothes to dry.

Philipper 4,13

Ich vermag alles durch den, der mich mächtig macht, Christus.

Jeremia 29,11

Denn ich weiß wohl, was ich für Gedanken über euch habe, spricht der HERR: Gedanken des Friedens und nicht des Leidens, daß ich euch gebe das Ende, des ihr wartet.

1 Thessalonicher 5,11

Darum ermahnet euch untereinander und bauet einer den andern, wie ihr denn tut.

Jesaja 54,10

Denn es sollen wohl Berge weichen und Hügel hinfallen; aber meine Gnade soll nicht von dir weichen, und der Bund meines Friedens soll nicht hinfallen, spricht der HERR, dein Erbarmer.

Johannes 3,16

Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, daß er seinen eingeborenen Sohn gab, auf daß alle, die an ihn glauben, nicht verloren werden, sondern das ewige Leben haben.

I couldn't put those all there and forget about possibly the most well known verse in the Bible. The verse that basically sums up God's word.

Until I return home. God bless, and schlaf gut.

What a weekend it was.

I said that I was looking forward to quite the weekend, and boy it didn't disappoint. It was most certainly eventful, I've made a few new friends, a few enemies, and had the time of my life at the Mainz Open Air concert last night. And I'm also going to start by thanking Anne for a brilliant weekend, one which I won't be forgetting about anytime soon.

Let me begin however by explaining what the changes in the plans were. I hadn't been intending to stay in Mainz overnight, and hadn't heard about the concert, but I got a phonecall during the writing of the last post and was told that I could stay the night at Anne's and go to the concert as well. So, that's kinda what happened.

It all began with a rather expensive train journey to Mainz via Frankfurt. Frankfurt was my first destination of any significance. This is where the enemies section of that opening paragraph come in. McDonalds, should be safe enough. Not if you're wearing a TSG Hoffenheim shirt. When I said in my presentation that they were anything other than popular, I was more than right. And when one of Anne's flatmates later told me that Eintracht Frankfurt fans were some of the most agressive in Germany, she was also more than right. I was standing there minding my own business when two Frankfurt fans turned round to see me in my Hoffenheim shirt. First mistake. I then tried to tell them in German that I couldn't understand what they were saying. Second mistake. Should have played the 'ich spricke keine Deutsch' card. From what I could understand, they wanted to burn my shirt, I had too much money, and had better have had another t-shirt in my bag. I did, but I wasn't going to tell them that. When another five of these hardcore Eintracht fans arrived, I waited it out for another two minutes (slowest McDonalds staff ever by the way), and then slunk out quietly, and made my way down to the S-Bahn without my much needed drink. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, there was a vending machine downstairs, which I do think was kind of cheaper.

Other than that, I had a stress free, amazingly fun weekend! Back home, United won 5-0, here, Mainz beat FC Bayern 2-1 which had the whole city absolutely bouncing, and I went to my first concert, which I absolutely loved. Without a doubt. Only thing is, I enjoyed the Sugababes way too much. I will however blame Hannah. She made me dance and actually enjoy myself. I was quite proud of myself though. I started a sway in the middle of one of their old songs, maybe a hundred people? Was quite pleased with myself. A mention also has to go to Sunrise Avenue who were also rather good, and took me completely by surprise with the rapping. That was just hilarious.

Before the concert though I was given a guided tour by it's most Northern Irish inhabitant, Anne Schickel. It really is a lovely city with a lot of history behind it, and is fantastic for photography. The university area is also lovely, with the stadium being in close proximity. And of all the teams to be playing there, as I have already mentioned, FC Bayern München. We were unfortunate enough to be standing in a shopping centre between two bars, one for Mainz fans, one for Bayern, and be there just as Bayern scored their goal. Germans more than know how to celebrate. So as could be expected, when we walked back past the stadium to go home, we couldn't hear each other speak, thankfully the score stayed at 2-1 and the entirety of Mainz was happy for the rest of the day. Then again, I think some of the Bayern fans just used it as an excuse to get drunk. One fan wearing a Lucio shirt basically stripped in front of a lorry whilst kissing the Bayern badge, it was weird, but I was in hysterics.

Church was a very different experience. Despite being tired to the point of almost falling asleep during prayer, it was a rewarding experience. I didn't necessarily understand it all, but it was nice just to be there and to experience a German church service. They blessed the kids starting school, and the youth pastor who was leaving to take up a post 600km away. Sounds somewhat familiar, but slightly more extreme distance-wise... Hmm. Well, because of this, the service was about 2 hours long, but afterwards there was a dinner for everyone, and I had a great time with Philip and Christian. After I had said my goodbyes, Anne and I made our way to Limburg, a beautiful historic town, roughly the same size as Lisburn, and I was shown round it.

Now for a very German thing. Spaghetti-Eis. It's delicious, and ya know what makes it even better? Having it in three different colours. Yes, I had apple, bubble gum and vanilla flavoured spaghetti eis. It was AMAZING. Green, blue and white. I'll have a photo up before too long, it was simply fantastic.

But now I'm back to work. Quite the stark contrast from this past weekend. So I shall leave you now, have a great day and God bless.

Hier kommt die Wochenende!

Well, the weekend is almost upon us, and mine is packed! Unfortunately it's two early starts one after the other, so it'll be an early night tonight after last night's antics in Frankfurt. And as I sit here listening to Hillsong's rendition of Awesome God I also appreciate the power of worship wherever you are. Many people here don't understand the majority of what is being sung in these worship songs, but they can still get the spiritual feeling and it's just amazing.

First of all though, my weekend. Tomorrow it'll be a 7am start, I have to find my way to the train station here, and then get myself to Frankfurt to meet up with Anne, our old German assistant in school. I will undoubtedly have a good time catching up with Anne and then hopefully another early night before another early morning on Sunday, even earlier this time. I have to have left the house by 7, to go to church with Anne and then to be shown around Limburg. I have a feeling that it's going to be a good weekend, and then only five more days of work until I can come home and be 18 after long last!

Edit: And as I type, my plans have already changed! But more about that soon!

Eighteen. What a lovely number. I must admit, 17 looks better on the back of a football shirt, but being 18, that's just cool. I know that as I sit here now I'll be wondering why I wrote this, I won't feel in the slightest bit different, but when I turn 18, I know now that there will be parts of my life that will change for the better. The second I turn 18 (well, maybe not), I become a full youth club leader. That in itself is a huge step up in responsibility. As well as that, I know that this year is the most important year of my schooling life, most importantly, the last. A Levels, which brings me nicely onto my results, which I'm rather chuffed with. AAAC, and I kinda knew I was crap at physics, so all in all, I'm delighted.

I have a feeling this year at school is going to be my best yet. Further maths is teeing up to be an absolute corker, and I'm actually looking forward to the old A2's. If I can do that well in the AS part without revising, the A2 will be an absolute doddle with a bit of revision! And it's maths, how could I do badly? (Hopes and prays he won't live to regret saying this.)

I can't WAIT to get back to Craigmore YC. Extra weekly fun with everyone from church, then I'll also get to see the other people that I didn't get to see this summer. Then there's the leaders I didn't get to see, which now that I think about it... Ok, there are none. BUT. I may be catching up with a certain leader or two that have been sorely missed around Craigmore, and that will most certainly be something to look forward to.

Without Craigmore I wouldn't be writing this blog post from Germany. Actually, I wouldn't be writing this blog post at all. Craigmore introduced me to my faith, and my best friend Sally McConnell, who as already mentioned, forced me to start writing this blog. I can't give the people at Craigmore enough credit, the leaders past and present, the older members who have since left, and the members who are still there, keeping my fire for Jesus burning.

My story should be an example to those who don't think they need to go to church in order to keep their love for Jesus strong. I thought I could and made a complete mess of my life. But I was accepted into the church community like I'd been there all my life, and since then, my life has changed so much. I haven't worried about what I did in the past ever since, and I can now claim to be a true follower of God, someone who has given their whole life to Jesus and wants to spread his word. I was an on and off Christian for ages, and I know I was, but that's all behind me. I'm born again.

I couldn't recommend giving your life to Christ more highly. If you really give your heart and soul to God, there's nothing you can't do.

Philippians 4:13

I can do everything through He who gives me strength.

An extremely good friend of mine sent me that verse when I was feeling down, and I live my life by it. Give everything to God, and you can DO everything. In the Bible Jesus lets Peter, through faith, walk on water. An otherwise impossible task was achieved through faith. We can't just ignore the might and wisdom of our Lord. With Jesus, nothing is impossible. He moved mountains, he tore down the temple. Yet despite possessing such power, he still was humble enough to die for our sins on the cross.

Our God, is an awesome God
He reigns from Heaven above
with wisdom, power and love,
our God is an awesome God.

The words of this song tell a story for me. He's awesome, he's all powerful. He has the power to save us when we least deserve it. That, is the meaning of a saviour.

I can't do enough in words to say how amazing he is. But I'm going to leave you with the most famous verse of scripture in the Bible, it says it all.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

(KJV)

I'm so flipping warm.

Flip me it's warm here. Two full days into my German experience and I'm currently suffering under the heat. Not properly, but I feel like it. Water is an essential item sitting in a bottle on my desk, and frequent trips to splash water on my face are a necessity. Fans also prove to be heaven sent, and jumpers are a huge 'no'.

Aside from the heat I'm finding myself fitting in considerably better than before. I'm talking more German (hopefully it's qualitatively as good as I like to think it is) and I'm being included in more activities. I get to go to the post office every morning with Jimmy, who, just for the record, is a wild driver. That in itself is rather eventful, then I start some other jobs needing done.

An important part of working in a group like this is an understanding amongst all the workers, and here that's achieved through prayer and worship. This morning was my first worship session with everyone, and once the first song began, I had a strange feeling I knew it. Which I did, I just didn't know you could sing it in German. So groß ist der Herr, so groß ist der Herr... How great is our God to all you non German speakers out there. Then, much to everyone's surprise, we sang Everlasting God, unfortunately I was the only one other than David (originally from London) who could sing it. Admittedly it was funny watching everyone try. It was nice to get the chance to sing a bit, admittedly only briefly.

I would love to sit here and keep talking about something, but I've really ran out of things to say, so bis später and God bless.

Why Oh WHY didn't I bring a towel?

Well, I can now officially claim to be / (call my mother) an idiot. I didn't bring a towel to Germany. Of all the things you would think you would need, a towel would be it, but no, I'm now on the search for a budget towel.

Two hours later: I HAVE A TOWEL! Well, 3 hand towels, which will possibly make up for the lack of one big one. I also have 6 bottles of water that ISN'T fizzy, quite the achievement given the completely nonsensical obsession with fizzy water. And just to put the icing on the cake, I am eating bread with spreadable ham as I type. Wow.

As for what I'm actually doing at the minute, it's a blessing. I have to read through the letters being sent to families in oppressed countries and ensure that there are no addresses or mentions of the organisation on the card or letter, and make sure no derogatory comments are made about the government. Whilst doing this I have learnt something about the mentality of German Christians, they are all amazingly humble and are able to love without return. They love unconditionally and sympathise fully with the people being persecuted.

I miss everyone greatly though. Last night was hard, I'd never been away from home on my own before, there was always someone there who spoke my language and who I knew, but I'm having to adapt, and it really wasn't easy. But thanks to a bit of prayer between me, a very close friend of mine and God, I've settled in perfectly today. I haven't felt as close to God here as I have at say camp or Castlewellan, but hopefully He will strengthen our relationship over the next few days.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it already in my blogging experience, but Sally and I are reading the whole Bible, together, in a year. As a result, we've shared the burden, if one of us has a couple of readings to catch up with, we always have the other person to encourage us to keep going and stay loyal to the cause.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Sally and I could live by this verse, and technically had been before we were ever aware of it. I think we all ought to be living by the Bible anyway, but we all tend to get caught up with the rest of our lives. We need to remind ourselves that God gave us the privilege of our lives, and when we become Christians, we give our lives to Him, and using our lives our way isn't what it should be like. It's been given to God for Him to use to spread His word.

Giving your life to God leads me to another point. In giving Him our lives, we give Him EVERYTHING. Our name, our reputation, our spirit. If we have done something wrong that we regret but need to tell someone, tell them. The most likely explanation for you to not want to tell the person what needs to be said is that you'll tarnish your reputation. But in giving your life to God you therefore surrender your reputation and anything associated with that. God is fully in control and will always be there to sort things out when they need looked after. You can be assured that God will be there to sort out any mess you have made for yourself, as long as you are willing to be forgiven for your sins.

That doesn't mean to say that you should sin knowingly then ask for forgiveness. You should be striving to live a life of God, not one of sin and destruction.

John 15:19

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

You will only find love from God, in doing worldly deeds, you won't find love, you will be living in false hope. Only God can truly love, and it is our responsibility to live for him. Jesus gave his life for us, now we have to give it back to him.

Hopefully working here with Open Doors De will bring me a bigger understanding of what God is capable of and what he has done in my life, and it'll hopefully help me spread the word of God more efficiently when I get home.

That's it for the time being, I'll leave you now and get on my way.

Viel Spaß and God bless.