Weekend in Witten

It is always good to go to the place where I lived before I went to the ship to meet a lot of my friends. I stayed with Johannes.Traveling by train I arrived on Friday evening and we were on the go to visit people on Saturday and Sunday.

One of our "games" is to meet new people. On my way to Witten, in Dortmund, there was a lady on the platform. She was obviously struggling with her luggage and she had just missed a train, so I asked her if she needed my cellphone. I found out she had studied in Witten years ago where she met her husband. Now she lives with her family in the south of Germany, but travelled up to meet up with old friends. She was hoping they were still awake and had something to eat left over, because she had been on the go for nine hours. She was very interested in my time on the Doulos and also about my plans to go to South Africa. She asked what motivated me to go to foreign countries to share my faith. I said, because I believe that Jesus truely sets us free. I hope she will remember that.

After chruch on Sunday Johannes and I set off to go to a city nearby (Wuppertal) to meet more friends. In order to do that we had to change trains a few times and train-stations were the best place for our "game". Besides meeting Lena and the odd man with the dog we also met Murat. Murat comes from Tunesia, but he lives in Germany since twelve years. The evening we met he had just escaped a psychiatric hospital. He suffers from panic attaks and feels deserted by his family. They wont let him back home until he finishes his therapy. Now he was on his way to a friend of which he wasn't sure if he was home or not. I asked him what it is that keeps him going. "My friends and a cup of tea", he said. Then came his train.

Picture: Me close to the train-station in Wuppertal-Oberbarmen