Day 134 - Thursday, July 31, 2008 - Germany Conference Day 2
Day 134 - Germany Chapter 4
Had devotion in the morning with the Jamaicans again, then breakfast then we headed off to morning Bible study.
On our way to the Bible study, we took the tram and again were making up a lot of noise, this time with some Germans :) .....
Every morning at 9:30 am, approximately 6000 of us should meet up for a general Bible study, after which we break out into smaller groups. I was in group 147 and each group met at a different location. I looked around intently for the location of my group but it took a while to find them. After I found my group, I noticed that there was another Jamaican there, from Calvary Baptist in Montego Bay. This was a nice multicultural group though, unlike a couple of the groups that I saw with only Germans. This group had me and another from Jamaica, 2 guys from Ukraine, 2 guys from Bangladesh, a couple of people from the USA, 2 guys from Germany and a lady looking like about 60, from Germany. Why did they have a 60-year-old-looking lady leading a youth group?? I don't know??? So we introduced ourselves then got in pairs of 2 where we should find out some more about someone in the group.
Had devotion in the morning with the Jamaicans again, then breakfast then we headed off to morning Bible study.
On our way to the Bible study, we took the tram and again were making up a lot of noise, this time with some Germans :) .....
Every morning at 9:30 am, approximately 6000 of us should meet up for a general Bible study, after which we break out into smaller groups. I was in group 147 and each group met at a different location. I looked around intently for the location of my group but it took a while to find them. After I found my group, I noticed that there was another Jamaican there, from Calvary Baptist in Montego Bay. This was a nice multicultural group though, unlike a couple of the groups that I saw with only Germans. This group had me and another from Jamaica, 2 guys from Ukraine, 2 guys from Bangladesh, a couple of people from the USA, 2 guys from Germany and a lady looking like about 60, from Germany. Why did they have a 60-year-old-looking lady leading a youth group?? I don't know??? So we introduced ourselves then got in pairs of 2 where we should find out some more about someone in the group.
They paired me with one of the guys from Ukraine that could hardly speak English. His friend had to be translating for him, so this took a little while. After this, we stood up and spoke about the person who we were paired with, then discussed what the Bible study presenter spoke about in the morning. It was a little boring to be honest but we fought the sleep. We were supposed to end at 12:15 pm but ended at about 12:30... We then all had lunch together, where we were talking more about our different cultures and customs in our Baptist Churches.
I then spoke to, a former pastor in Jamaica but is now working for the Baptist World Alliance as their director of communications. We were talking about a couple of stuff as he was actually a batch mate of my pastor in Jamaica. I then walked around and saw a friend who I met in Grenada (2007), who is from Virginia then I went to a workshop. The workshop I chose was "Relating to New Cultures", where the leader of the sessions asked the persons who were not Germans to be the group leaders.
I then spoke to, a former pastor in Jamaica but is now working for the Baptist World Alliance as their director of communications. We were talking about a couple of stuff as he was actually a batch mate of my pastor in Jamaica. I then walked around and saw a friend who I met in Grenada (2007), who is from Virginia then I went to a workshop. The workshop I chose was "Relating to New Cultures", where the leader of the sessions asked the persons who were not Germans to be the group leaders.
I ended up being the leader of a group with 2 German girls and a German guy. I told them I am from Jamaica but lived in Japan and they were shocked. As a matter of fact, throughout the entire conference, whenever I told someone I am from Jamaica, they would say "OK cool", then when I said, BUT!! I live in Japan, they would say "WHAT???" with that surprised expression on their faces. One person even asked me if I was joking LOL!!!... As I mentioned before though, most of these Germans spoke English very well, even the teenagers. So anyway, in my group we were to draw three circles and put the differences and similarities between the Baptist churches in Jamaica, Germany and Japan. I however don't go to a Baptist church in Japan but the church I go to is very close to Baptist. The similarity among them though is that we all sing the same hymns and operate the same way generally.
The major differences are that in most of the Jamaican Baptist Churches, we tend to clap our hands a lot, while in Germany and Japan, that's not a popular thing.
After this, I sat again with my Austrian friends and showed them some of the pics I took with them from 2005 in Virginia, they are all on my portable hard disk. I then had dinner with a guy from Grenada, who spoke at the opening service, then I went on to choir rehearsal. It was fun and interesting to see all these different people from all over the world on 1 choir. I had on the shirt I got from the World Council of Churches Conference in Brazil 2006, where I worked as a Steward. So this guy from the Philippines saw me in the shirt and asked me if I attended, and he said he also worked as a steward for the World Council of Churches but that was after me at a smaller gathering in Switzerland.
After this, I sat again with my Austrian friends and showed them some of the pics I took with them from 2005 in Virginia, they are all on my portable hard disk. I then had dinner with a guy from Grenada, who spoke at the opening service, then I went on to choir rehearsal. It was fun and interesting to see all these different people from all over the world on 1 choir. I had on the shirt I got from the World Council of Churches Conference in Brazil 2006, where I worked as a Steward. So this guy from the Philippines saw me in the shirt and asked me if I attended, and he said he also worked as a steward for the World Council of Churches but that was after me at a smaller gathering in Switzerland.
So I asked him if he met my Ex-girlfriend, and he said "Yes", he met her in Switzerland. I tell you, what a small world.... He was also telling me that my ex is getting married, which I already knew.
After the choir rehearsal, the Italian, choir leader guy told me that he got 2 other rappers to be involved in the choir as well, a guy from Canada and one from Germany. He then introduced me to his girlfriend who said I should write my rap piece and take it tomorrow in the morning. I then met up with a lady who I met in Virginia (2005) also from Austria and she is now a pastor in Berlin. Me and my Jamaican friend then went to a little get-together thing in the night :) where many many people were. We then had to rush to catch the last tram to the hotel at 12 midnight.
After the choir rehearsal, the Italian, choir leader guy told me that he got 2 other rappers to be involved in the choir as well, a guy from Canada and one from Germany. He then introduced me to his girlfriend who said I should write my rap piece and take it tomorrow in the morning. I then met up with a lady who I met in Virginia (2005) also from Austria and she is now a pastor in Berlin. Me and my Jamaican friend then went to a little get-together thing in the night :) where many many people were. We then had to rush to catch the last tram to the hotel at 12 midnight.
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