So here we are two weeks in. It's been a somewhat intense german roller coaster ride with a mixture of challenges, blessings and encouragements. I'm feeling a little more settled now and have been made to feel very welcome. My flatmates have helped me with many questions and are correcting my German. They've also been a huge support in sorting out administrative aspects of living and working here, as well as proving a relaxed social atmosphere within the apartment - perfect at the end of a busy workday! I feel I'm now getting to grips with the 'hospital system' meaning work is becoming more manageable. My colleagues on the ward have been very patient and supportive. The work is very interesting and I'm learning huge amounts. I feel exhausted by the end of most days however! To make up for this there is a fantastic view of the town from our doctor's office on the 11th floor. Each evening I return home with a list of things to read up on - results are somewhat limited by energy levels.... Best moments have been chatting with the patients and my colleagues. Scariest moments so far have been presenting patients at the lunchtime department meeting and giving the telephone handover of all the patients in the evening to the on-call team. This may be superseded by being presented at the medical directorate meeting tomorrow morning...
Church here has been welcoming. It's great to see a mixture of familiar and new faces. I do still miss my Preston church family at All Saints however. The preaching is also thematic rather than passage based, another thing I miss. Still, I am very grateful for their support and weekly encouragements. I'm trying hard to encourage all I see there in Christ. To this end, I've been the last to leave each week! From next Sunday I'm part of the translation team and so will be proving simultaneous translation of the service and preaching into English via headsets. I should also be joining a homegroup for Bible study and mid-week fellowship in the near future. Excitingly a friend of mine here has put his trust in Jesus and was recently baptised. We met up over the weekend and have now started to read the Bible together. The plan is to start with a mixture of Mark's gospel and the Psalms. This is very encouraging indeed! I also now have a bike, making getting around and such activities a lot easier.
Church here has been welcoming. It's great to see a mixture of familiar and new faces. I do still miss my Preston church family at All Saints however. The preaching is also thematic rather than passage based, another thing I miss. Still, I am very grateful for their support and weekly encouragements. I'm trying hard to encourage all I see there in Christ. To this end, I've been the last to leave each week! From next Sunday I'm part of the translation team and so will be proving simultaneous translation of the service and preaching into English via headsets. I should also be joining a homegroup for Bible study and mid-week fellowship in the near future. Excitingly a friend of mine here has put his trust in Jesus and was recently baptised. We met up over the weekend and have now started to read the Bible together. The plan is to start with a mixture of Mark's gospel and the Psalms. This is very encouraging indeed! I also now have a bike, making getting around and such activities a lot easier.
So, what do the next few weeks hold? At the end of the month I'm heading to the Swedish student Christian medical fellowship retreat. Here I'll be giving two talks on being a Christian at medical school and then preach from Colossians chapter 2 on the Sunday morning. I booked my flights last night and have managed to book the Friday and Monday off work. Liz, my girlfriend, is also able to come. Needless to say I'm looking forward to this weekend quite a bit! The other big event is that of medical research. The university hospital here is heavily involved in research and the vast majority of students and doctors take part in this. I've been an informal member of my Oberarzt's (registrar/consultant) research team for a few months now. We've chatted briefly about me completing a research MD as part of the nephrology team. Plan is to discuss the practicalities further after my first month's work.
Today was capped with a rainbow at the end of work - a reminder of God's promises and his provision. Regardless of yesterday, today or tomorrow's worries, he is the same and his plan for the world does not change!
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