Merry Christmas!  I hope you all had a good Christmas, mine went really well. I spent it with the team here, and we all enjoyed eachother (at least I think we all did :) The first picture is of all of at our team Christmas party. The Jones', the Maks, the Lais, me, and then the Careys.  These next few pictures are of Christmas day. Dane Jones has wanted a guitar for months now, because Travis Carey has one and Dane wants his own to take home. Well Uncle Ben (Ben Carey) bought one for him for Christmas. He was so happy, and this next picture is of him yelling "A guitar!!!" as he unwrapped it  and then the following picture is of Travis and Dane jamming on their guitars.  Then of course there is one of Jenna as she tried on Uncle Ben's present from the Kragt's (the field director and his family who are on furlough at Crown College).  Sarah Carey's parents are here for a visit right now, and it has been a blessing having them here.  These past few weeks the sun has been hiding. The next picture is probably with first we had seen of it for awhile, but it has been showing itself more and more the past few days. Berlin is often very grey and it also likes to rain a lot here though we did get a few snow flurries on Christmas day which was a very nice surprise.  Last Conversation Cafe I had the opportunity to fill in for Sarah Carey and I was able to teach the English class. It all went smoothly which was nice. If you could pray for CC (conversation cafe) that would be great. Lots of Germans would love to be able to refresh their english, but because of lack of helpers and poor advertising we believe that CC has not reached its full potential as a ministry and that many others could come and join if they knew about it. So could you pray that we are able to advertise it better thie coming new year and that more people would start coming? Thank you! I still have not gotten my visa yet, so if you could continue to pray for that as well that would be great! I am planning on going in the next few weeks, and hopefully I get it without a hitch, otherwise there could be problems. If everything goes well then I will be starting language classes the 12th or 13th of January.  One more thing before I leave, I will have to record for you how loud it gets here in Berlin on New Year's Eve. I have heard its quite the scene. I hope you all have a great New Year!! In Christ,  Abbi

Greetings All!

First I would like to say Happy Thanksgiving! I know a little late :) My Thanksgiving went well, I celebrated it on a few different occasions. The first of these was on Wednesday with the Open Door church, we had turkey and all the regular side dishes. This was a first Thanksgiving for many of the families there. Then on Thanksgiving Day we started out the day with a brunch (pictured below, all but Sarah Jones who took the picture for us) 

and then the Jones family and I traveled to Mark and Heather's house, an American couple here in Berlin for a few years, and had another big dinner. And last but not least on Saturday a bunch of Freischwimmer folk came over to the Carey household and ate the feast that Sarah Carey and I prepared Friday/Saturday. 

What comes after Thanksgiving? We can all officially start listening to Christmas music and getting ready for my favorite holiday. Here they celebrate Christmas for three days instead of two. Christmas Eve is the day most families really celebrate, it would be the equivalent of Christmas day for us. All the shops and and restaurants are closed that day. Then there is Christmas day and the second Christmas day. Another traditional Christmas thing here are the Christmas Markets. I tried to get a picture for you, but it didn't turn out. Hopefully I can get a better one soon. These Christmas Markets are kind of like flea markets. Everyone has their own individual hut/stall to set up shop in. Some people sell homemade stuff such as soap, carved kitchenware, and scarfs. Others sell jewelry and of course food. There is everything from potato pancakes to these little fried balls of dough that are coated in powdered sugar (they  taste like elephant ears). Altogether it is really nice to be able to go out and spend time browsing these markets, and its a wonderful place to find Christmas presents, because you can find something for everyone there. 

This past Saturday I went to a concert with my friend Lea. We went to the Berliner Dom for the concert and it was beautiful inside. We weren't really allowed to take pictures, but here is a link to someone else's photo of it, cause I can't describe how beautiful it is. http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2170728980060736392HBrTvL concert was a Christmas concert that was put on by the main orchestra and choir in Berlin.

That's all folks! I hope you all are well! 

God Bless!

Abbi