We had our first music outreach last weekend. As we split
off into groups my expectations for what the weekend might look like involved
just playing some songs and smiling at people.
I was so far off.
We decided to go to Gorlitz, a city about a 30min drive away
from Herrnhut. It's not as small as
Lobau or Zittau and is split between Germany and Poland which is really cool.
The morning we left it had been really sunny but as we drove the clouds hung
over us. Keila (my new spanish friend) said a quick prayer and when we arrived
the sun came out again. We grabbed our instruments and planted ourselves in the
middle of the city right by the busy train station. Propped up on Keila's
guitar case was a cardboard sign written with the words "Free Music, Free
Love, Free Prayers". As we started
to play it began to catch people's attention. I'm not gonna lie we sounded
really good haha. People began to walk by and we had a couple folks drop money
in the case but it wasn't till it started to rain that the real action began.
The main covering area for the train station became a hub for people to avoid
the rain and listen to our music. If not for the rain we probably wouldn't have
met martin and his friends, a rough looking group of homeless young adults with
beers in their hands.
As Tabea and Kevin (the two German's in our group) conversed
with them and shared about what we were doing some of them left leaving behind
martin who kindly offered to show us to the border of Poland. At first I was a
little skeptical about going with him but I'm glad we did. As Tabea walked and
talked with him he began to open up a bit about his rough past, how he got in
trouble with the law, was unable to get a job, and was now stuck on the street
with unstable friends who could leave him at any moment.
We continued conversation till it was time to say our
goodbyes. We were all thinking about asking him to join us for coffee but no
one asked. As he was walking away he got stopped by another MOTA student in
perfect timing and we rushed up to ask him if he would like to come with us. He
said yes.
As we sat down in the nearby cafe I could tell Tabea and
Kevin were really getting in deep conversation with him. A talk about what school we went to had led
into talk about outreach which led into him asking about how to hear God's
voice which led into Kevin and Tabea sharing their testimonies with him.
While Hannah and I didn't share much as we didn't speak
German we both got impressions for him and I gave him a word about how God knew
his struggles and what he'd been through and loved him regardless. He looked
teary eyed after Tabea translated it for him. After we were finished we invited him out to our critique night and
while he said he would come but didn't, we still pray he encountered God's love
even just a little bit during our time with him.
After being astonished by God's goodness we continued along
our trip checking into a few cafe's to see if we could play there some time. In
the first couple the manager was absent and we were given a card. We kept
walking and finally stumbled upon this place with a giant beautiful
garden/patio out back. The owner was
right there with her kids and we started conversation only to discover that she
had been wanting musicians and artists to help her bring a new vibe to the cafe
as she had only bought it 5 weeks ago. We told her we would definitely be back and
maybe bring some others along with us.
She seemed really interested in our school and we couldn't help thinking
that this could be such a great opportunity for future MOTA concerts and
events.
Well that's how our first mini mini outreach went. We were
bursting with excitement and thankfulness for what he had accomplished and what
he had in store for us still. We leave for 2 weeks to Nurnburg for our mini
outreach this Sunday and I am so excited to tell you the stories of what will
happen then.
Sorry this was so long- but I wanted to capture as much of
it as I could.
I miss you all. Tess :)
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