Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving and is the first time I have ever celebrated either Thanksgiving or Christmas without one of our families in America. It does not feel like a real holiday because everything is open and there are no parades and no football game to digest food to. On our way to Berlin Julia told the flight attendant that we are going to Berlin to “ wir essen und danken”, we both looked at her as it sounded weird in German to say “we eat and thank”. These are the times I think we go through “missionary growing pains” when we have to be without family for this special time of eating and going around the table to say things we are thankful for, which in the Rudolph home ends with people in tears and hugging. It is a true blessing to be able to have other friends to celebrate with though in Berlin, as you are all pursing the same goal, to bring the nations to worship God through Jesus Christ. It has already been a joy to spend a little time in Berlin with Kristi, who we are able to share and exchange funny stories about our time in Germany. We were also able to sympathize with each other after going to the grocery store and laughing about the frustrations we have there, as you must race against the clerk to put away all your groceries into your bag before she is done so you do not hold up the line and get dirty looks from the Germans. There is not the same feeling of Thanksgiving here as it does in the states, but there is a feeling of friendship and our thankfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who I do not thank enough for the grace He bestows upon us abundantly through the Gospel.