Only 3 Weeks To Go
Updated: Jan 31, 2022
Time flies and in only 4 weeks I'll be at the preparation seminary from DMGint here in Germany. But prior to that, I wanted to give a little update what has been happening the past weeks and what I'll be looking forward to.
A little snippet from my everyday life
The last weeks have been (and the next weeks will be ..) filled with work. Mid July I started working on my bachelor's thesis, which I have to hand in mid September. I'm making good progress, having already written half of it and finished all my experiments. Thankfully I'm able to write on my thesis during work and don't have to squeeze that into my free time.
However, besides my bachelor's thesis, there's photography as well ... and due to summer, it's wedding season at the moment. I was able to shoot 2 weddings in July, I have 4 in August (every weekend) and a another 2-3 in September and Oktober.
In addition to that there's often another photoshoot during the week after work. And I also have to edit all these pictures some time, which I all try to do after work. So far, I'm managing all that pretty well, but it's also a huge challenge for me, working from 6am to 10pm every day pretty much. I'm really looking forward to only have one job really soon!
And I've also been doing a bit of preparation work for this journey, for example set up this blog and newsletter. Let me know what you think of it and write your opinion into the comments. I'd love to get your feedback and continue to improve this blog. (This time there's no video, but as soon as there's something to share, I'll continue with them).
Update on my deployment location
Many of you have asked me, if there's any news on where I'll be going. And to be honest, I cannot really give you anything specific just yet. The media team I'll be joining, which is called AIMStories by the way, used to be located in one location, Kenya. From there, they traveled throughout Africa to capture photos and videos. Now, Africa, instead of Europe, isn't really a small continent and so their possibilities were limited. That's the reason why they're reorganizing the team onto the 3 regions of Africa in which AIM is currently working: Central-, East-, and South Africa. You can see the 14 countries, in which we work at on this map.
@AIM Europe
For me there's now not only Kenya (East) and South Africa (South) as options, but also Central Africa, which specifically means Uganda and South Sudan. Which country it'll then be is still uncertain, leaning more towards the Central region. This would definitely be a big challenge! South Sudan for example, has only been independent for 10 years now and has already had 5 years of civil war and now another 2 years of the Covid19 pandemic. Nonetheless, I'd be really excited to work there.
Estimated time of departure
Yet another good question that I can't answer right now. Due to the reorganization process that the team's going through and the fact that I therefore don't know where I'll be positioned, I often say: somewhen between November 2021 and July 2022. Theoretically, I'd be ready to go in November, but I guess it'll be beginning/mid next year. In the meantime, I'm in travel service, visiting and building up my support community. I could also come to youth groups, small groups and churches to tell more about my mission. If you'd be interested in something like that, just send me a message. I'm also planning on going on a vision trip, which means that I'll be visiting the team(s) in Africa to get to know them already for a short period of time. If and when that's gonna be is also uncertain right now, I guess we'll have to wait and see.
The upcoming weeks
It's crazy to think about it, but in only 3 weeks from now (Sep 1st), I'll be starting with my preparation seminary. In these 2 months, I'll be having classes to prepare me for all sorts of situations that could occur in the missions field. Some topics are: suffering, poverty, different religions, finances, cultures and so on. I think we'll be 9 soon-to-be-missionaries attending this seminary and I'm excited to get to know them and make awesome connections. We're not only attending these classes, but also living together on campus and therefore sharing life and learning from each other. All in all, I'm really looking forward to it. Here you can see a picture of the DMGint campus at Buchenauerhof.
@RNZ
Donations
I already have to say thank you to everybody who mentioned that they want to support me financially. As I'm starting my missionary work with this seminary in September, you can start giving from September on. I'd prefer monthly donations rather than once a year, because it's easier to calculate as I have a monthly goal that I have to reach in order to actually go. But feel free to give as it's best for you. Unfortunately I don't have an international donation link just yet (will be coming soon, you'll get notified). So far, you can only donate to the German organization. These are my banking information:
Recipient: DMG interpersonal e.V.
Bank: Volksbank Kraichgau IBAN: DE02 6729 2200 0000 2692 04 BIC: GENODE61WIE
Reason for payment: P 10943 Schilling + address of donor (or DMG-Member-No. with surname of donor)
Thank you so much for your support and your willingness to give. I'm super grateful for it! God bless you and onto the next one.
