Hey Mate! No Worries! Berlin, Aussie Style

Sometime in May, we met an Aussie named Marty, who wanted to know if we were interested in putting on an "open-crowd festival" here in Berlin, albeit on very short notice. He works for Fusion, International, and had heard about us and the family center. We knew June was going to be busy, but decided to go for it anyway.

What we didn't plan on was falling in love with Australia! David took off school to help translate for an outreach the team was doing, and then Tim and I and teammates joined David at a training weekend that culminated in a festival in Seelow, a small town on the Polish border, where we put into practice what we had learned about having neighborhood festivals. The mayor held a reception for the group, and we helped the team reach out to the folks in Seelow. The purpose of festivals is to draw people together and give them a taste of God's love. Because God's love is free, the whole thing is free for people coming. And in order to demonstrate love without an agenda, people have to ask in order to find out who is putting on the festival. In order to demonstrate Christian unity, this is meant to be a group effort, and not an advertisement for a particular church group. It was low budget for those putting it on, free to everyone who came, and lots of fun.

Our new Aussie friends taught us a song with motions, and now we all have an "ear worm," which is Berliner for "a song that goes round and round in your head and worms its way into your subconscious so that you sing it until it drives you mad!" If you want a taste of Australia, click on the MP link and listen to a real Aussie accent singing "Home Among the Gum Trees." :)

http://www.info-oz.de/mp3/Homeamongthegumtrees.mp3

I’ve been around the world a couple times or maybe more.
I’ve seen the sights and had delights on every foreign shore.
And when the mates all ask me the place that I adore
I tell them right away

Give me a home among the gum trees
With lots of plum trees
A sheep or two and a kangaroo,
A clothesline out the back,
Veranda out the front
And an old rocking chair.

You can see me in the kitchen
Cooking up a roast, or vegemite on toast
Just you and me and a cup of tea
And later on we’ll settle down and mull up on the porch
And watch the possums play

Give me a home . . .

Our festival was three days long, and lots of fun. The extroverts on our team (me) estimate a crowd of 250, 500 and 500. The introverts (Tim) estimate 150, 250 and 200. :)

I served drinks, cake and sandwiches from 4-8 each day of the festival. The middle day was about 90 degrees and humid, so I was very busy! Tim drifted around, participating, answering questions and talking to people. David was a statue, Becca painted faces, and Timothy was "Man Friday." It was a blast! In between, we were hosting the Aussies, which meant doing many, many loads of wash, debriefing with them, planning next steps, and talking about our relationship to Fusion in the future.

Rebecca is already saving her money for an exchange year in Australia. I think it is amazing how God brings cultures together. My parents and sister lived in Australia, and I grew up on Marmite and Vegemite, taking "Vegemite on toast" for lunch at school. I couldn't figure out why "Brisbane" and "Tasmania" and "Sydney" all sounded familiar to me as places my folks had lived, so I wrote to my sister and asked, "Just where did you live?" All of the above, plus Melbourne and Adelaide. Talk about a true "third culture kid." I'd never thought of my sister Jan as a "third culture kid," but living first on a boat to China, then in China, then in Australia, then in Ireland... No wonder her idea of a great breakfast is vegemite on toast, but the perfect lunch is chinese dumplings, and then dinner on the fourth is a barbeque, American style, complete with baked beans... but that's HER story, so you can ask her about that on her blog.

And of course we have our own true family connection to Australia. My dear niece Helen Clare from the deep south of Mississippi (different sister's child) fell madly in love with the Aussie youth director at All Soul's Church in London when she was working in London. This born and bred southern niece is now saying "ya'll," while her hubby says "mate" when they cheer for the British queen. Now there's a real intercultural marriage! :) But, again, that's HER story!

God has already added Belize to the list of nationalities in our immediate family (the sister who lived in Australia's son-in-law). I wonder what God will add next!? German? Dutch? French? Any guesses?!

Ach, no worries, Mate! God already has it figured out!