Hugs and Kisses

Mood: mellow
Stage notes: lunch hour traffic cruising past on Haansaring Straße

After school yesterday I had lunch with an American woman who has been living in Köln for four years. I had hoped that we might be able to build a friendship, but I found out that she is returning to the States to be with 4 grandchildren who have been born in her absence. We had a really solid conversation, however, and parted with the kind of kiss that is shared between sisters.

Later she came to English conversation group with a friend of hers. She has been trying to connect the friend up with a Christian in Köln, but has not had any luck. Amazingly enough, the woman is very interested in Ethiopia. While I was at MSU, I took several classes in African history taught by an American expert on Ethiopia. The books that I read by him are some of the few that have been translated into German, and so we already have a base of common interests and knowledge. Each year she lives in Ethiopia during the winter months, and she has invited me to her home to have coffee and get to know one another. As an additional bonus, she has a nice old dog that I will enjoy cuddling with.

Two new faces were at Bible Study, and we had a good discussion on Acts 22. I was able to understand almost everything this week and this was encouraging. As I was making my way towards home with one of the new women, we ran into a South Korean lady on the train. She was a believer, and seemed very pleased to meet us. The Korean woman and I got off at the same stop and she offered her contact information to me. I think that she is interested in meeting other South Korean believers in the city, and it just happens that a man who regularly works with the Bonnets and I is from S. Korea. He is very interested in young people, so it will be nice to connect them up with one another. Coincidentally, Denklot (the man from S. Korea) recently invited me to attend a S. Korean church conference in Berlin during the first week of October. I accepted and paid my registration fee just last night. She also gave me a big hug before leaving, which was nice.