KREUZBERG

As this is my last month in Berlin, I have decided to concentrate my prayer-walking in the district of Kreuzberg, which is also my district. Friedrichshain (where I live) and Kreuzberg united in 2001.  I have been to Kreuzberg more times than I can count in the 5 years that I have lived in Berlin, but last week when I went in for my prayer walk, it felt more alive and unique than I ever remembered it feeling.  There was a buzz in the air, along with bright colors and the smells of many Turkish cafes.  Kreuzberg is known for its large percentage of immigrants, mostly Turkish. Wikipedia says that in 2006 over 31% of the district did not have German citizenship.

After I crossed the beautiful Oberbaum Bridge going over the River Spree, I thought about how the two districts were so recently divided by the Berlin Wall.  Kreuzberg was in the former West and Friedrichshain was part of the DDR.  The bridge was closed by the Berlin Wall and only foot-traffic from the West could cross the bridge, first going through Russian-controlled inspectors.  It didn't open to traffic until 5 years after the fall of the wall in 1994.

Oberbaum Bridge

 Coming off of the bridge I entered into a world of excitement and color.  I wanted to walk forward into it but I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to turn left, which I did.  I passed more interesting looking cafes and shops and then turned right onto Curvystr.  There were some interesting sculptures in what looked to be a park sort of in the middle of the street between old housing.  The area was very run-down.  I turned left and walked towards a magnificent church building that was built in the early 1900's and survived the bombing of WW2.  I walked on, listening to the Holy Spirit and came to the kanal that runs through the district of Kreuzberg.  I came to another unique park and once again marveled at the creativity of Germans.  Then I spotted the biggest slide outside of an amusement park that I have ever seen!  What joy!

Looking across the canal at the humungous slide

Every park has such unique toys

After I climbed to the top of the slide I looked down from the bridge that I was on and recognized the Squat-Village where we had participated in a Flea-Market.  It wasn't until my next prayer walk that I realized all of this is located just behind Gorlitzer Park, a well-known park where we used to do evangelism.

I bought a Falafel from a cute Turkish man who had a solitary stand in the middle of the Pedestrian Bridge.  I prayed for him as i walked away eating my sandwich and later kicked myself for not giving him the tracts that I had put in my purse for the precise purpose of reaching out to Muslims. 

I walked along the Canal for quite a ways and came to a Youth Recreation House where I felt led to stop and pray over.  From there, I got a bit lost and came to an industrial area.  I had to find a bus-stop so I could get on a bus and go to a train connection.  By doing that, I ran into a young girl who used to come into der Garten every day.  She and her 2 sisters turned themselves into Support Services because they could no longer stand living with their alcoholic mom and step-dad.  They left us suddenly and it was very sad.  We saw them not long ago when they came to see us in der Garten.  They had no idea that we were closing and it was very hard for them.  Anyway, I knew it was no accident that I saw her and in my broken German invited her to our going away party in May.  Even my getting lost was an amazing way for the Holy Spirit to coordinate our meeting!