We arrived safely in Berlin and took a taxi to the Hauptbbahnhof. Three youth;Ian, Eric, and Jillian chose good old McDonalds for lunch while the rest of us decided to go with something a little more native. Kelli did eat, but shoe shopping was her first priority.
We arrived in Leipzig and found a man, Pastor Thomas, holding a sign that said "Lisa Doutt." Hooray, someone wanted to pick us up. Thomas is a pastor of the Methodist Church in Leipzig. He brought, Anita, one of his parishioners along and she was a WONDERUL guide. We toured the city center going to St. Nikolai Church and Thomas Church. St. Nikolai is where the end of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) began. It started with a group of women who got together on Monday just to pray. The secret service officers found out and tried to stop them from praying but God prevailed. More people came and more until they were inside and outside of the church praying while walking around it. And soon change came as in October 1989 the wall of separation and repression cam tumbling down. Anita has lived in Leipzig her entire life and her stories of before and after were riveting.
At Thomas Church we learned that Johann Sebastian Bach had been a member for 38 years of his life and we saw where he is buried, right inside the church.
Thomas cooked a suppe of gemüse und fleisch for our abendessen and then we walked for a few blocks and found ice cream for dessert.
What a joy to come so far and yet feel so much at home. God is good everywhere.
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