Street Buddies last night was exciting and fun! It boasted one of the warmest temperatures we've had in a long time and at one point I even felt a few beads of sweat, imagine that! We also had a strong group of six buddies which always makes the evenings more manageable and it means more people praying. It seemed God definitely had relationship building on the agenda as we stopped often to engage in conversation and reunite with previous acquaintances.
Our group was heading over to McDonald's for our coffee/warm up break when two gentlemen greeted us in English and wanted to chat. They were from Estonia and were traveling in Austria. One of them had a ukelele in hand and we suggested that he show us his musical skills, boy were we in for a surprise! The two began to sing a duet of sorts accompanied by their adorable midget guitar and it was INCREDIBLE. Hands down the best street performance I've ever seen. After talking for a bit we tried to resume our migration to our warm destination but Jonathan and I were stopped by a young guy asking for directions to the closest bank. Jonathan, being the coordinated one, told him in German where it was. Once he heard our accents he asked where we were from. Our answer of, the United States, totally shocked him and soon he was sharing about his dream to work in the U.S. and how he wanted to improve his English. We walked together toward McDonald's but split up when he visited the ATM and we went to grab noms. Only five minutes later, while we were still in line ordering, our American loving friend rejoined us and asked if we could hang out longer. We sat together our whole break and got to know one another. There was even an email exchange and I invited him to join us at our very American household for a meal. So hopefully we'll have a Rudolfskai visitor soon!
We've also seen a cool increase in the police presence on the Kai. In the past we've experienced some hesitancy from them about coming out when we call about fights and other serious disturbances. Lately though we have seen police patrol cars coming regularly down the street keeping an eye on things proactively instead of waiting until situations evolved into full blown violence. Last night two guys started having a heated conversation (the classic beginning to a scuffle) and one of them threw a hefty punch. Just at that moment a squad car was passing and they slammed on their brakes and dealt with the squabble before the attack could even escalate. It was awesome. It is so neat to see God working through the police, through us, and in these amazing young people.
Love you all!!
-Rachael
Our group was heading over to McDonald's for our coffee/warm up break when two gentlemen greeted us in English and wanted to chat. They were from Estonia and were traveling in Austria. One of them had a ukelele in hand and we suggested that he show us his musical skills, boy were we in for a surprise! The two began to sing a duet of sorts accompanied by their adorable midget guitar and it was INCREDIBLE. Hands down the best street performance I've ever seen. After talking for a bit we tried to resume our migration to our warm destination but Jonathan and I were stopped by a young guy asking for directions to the closest bank. Jonathan, being the coordinated one, told him in German where it was. Once he heard our accents he asked where we were from. Our answer of, the United States, totally shocked him and soon he was sharing about his dream to work in the U.S. and how he wanted to improve his English. We walked together toward McDonald's but split up when he visited the ATM and we went to grab noms. Only five minutes later, while we were still in line ordering, our American loving friend rejoined us and asked if we could hang out longer. We sat together our whole break and got to know one another. There was even an email exchange and I invited him to join us at our very American household for a meal. So hopefully we'll have a Rudolfskai visitor soon!
We've also seen a cool increase in the police presence on the Kai. In the past we've experienced some hesitancy from them about coming out when we call about fights and other serious disturbances. Lately though we have seen police patrol cars coming regularly down the street keeping an eye on things proactively instead of waiting until situations evolved into full blown violence. Last night two guys started having a heated conversation (the classic beginning to a scuffle) and one of them threw a hefty punch. Just at that moment a squad car was passing and they slammed on their brakes and dealt with the squabble before the attack could even escalate. It was awesome. It is so neat to see God working through the police, through us, and in these amazing young people.
Love you all!!
-Rachael