Just several hours ago I was hammered on the head (don´t worry, toy hammer) and covered in paper confetti. Above all my heart was filled with joy by the story of a blind man & his guide dog Leon that has learnt the command 'Starbucks'. Yes, Leon would take his master to Starbucks at a command - wherever they are in the world ...
And that´s where we met this afternoon - at Starbucks in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. The group of us arrived after a long drive from the Swiss Alps, where we had a picnic lunch of with Swiss mayo, mustard, guerrière cheese, Brie cheese, & prosciutto on baguette ... surrounded by glorious grandeur of snow capped mountains and clanging cow bells in the valleys beneath. After lunch we tried to hop on the chair lifts, but the lady who was manning the info desk said they weren't taking anyone up the mountain unless they were staying on the mountain. That wasn't part of our plan.
So our host went to the map and spontaneously decided to show us Bern. It was going to be a long drive to Bern so he was hoping he wouldn´t waste our time. Little did he/we know, the Lord had pleasant surprises lined up for us. Our objective was to grab a cuppa.
The first thing I noticed as we walked onto the main streets of Bern were the beige coloured buildings ... they were the same but didn´t look boring (like some parts of London looked). The design had an old world charm and carried an understated grandeur. There groups of teenagers walking about ... and a LOT of confetti scattered around the streets ... The number of people grew exponentially as we walked further into the streets. They were carrying bags of confetti ... and an increasing number of people THROWING the confetti at other people, including cute cuddly children. ´What planet have we just landed on??` Lo and behold, I would soon learn that we walked in on an Onion Festival!!!
'Por quoi? Vat iz diz?', you might ask. It is a festival that first started in the 1800s ... The village of Bern caught on fire, and they couldn't stop it. A neighbouring village (that starts with the letter F ... Okay, I don't recall this German village name, but I know it's about 20 minutes out of Bern by train today) came to the rescue. They carried men power and enough water to save the day. In return, Bern started an annual festival selling onions, a product of that neighbouring village. This tradition lasts till this day ... Hearing it blesses my heart.
Now I´m going to share the next bit in a bit of detail ... because detail´s important. Initially we walked into a cafe but realised it was going to take too long. So we walked out and continued on to its left. I saw a bunch of stalls / markets and thought, are they holding Christmas Markets like one of my colleagues from work said they might in Switzerland? Then we decided to find a Starbucks, and turned back from the way we came, and then turned off another direction. In the process, I got hammered by a kiddy on the head with a blow up hammer, and had some confetti thrown at me. I would liken myself to a giggling teenage girl. It was loads of fun.
Then we found Starbucks. I was the last team member to enter into the store. I noticed a blind man entering right behind me with a white stick and a black lab. My spirit was drawn to the man. I wanted to reach out to him and minister to him ... But I kept that to myself and our drinks came ...
I waited for our drinks to come while everyone else but our host took a bathroom break. Those that came out first headed upstairs to find seats ... I kept my eyes on the blind man and saw him pick up his drink after us. I hoped in my heart that he wouldn't disapper into the festivities outside, and began to walk upstairs. To my delight, he also started upstairs with his puppy and drink. Our gang sat on the balcony seats outside. He remained indoors. I told our leader that I wanted to minister to the blind man, but was afraid and didn't know how. He replied, ´Just go talk to him´. That simple.
I stalled for time. First, my bathroom break. I headed downstairs to the basement and had a lovely conversation with a local who explained the Onion Festival to me. I liked her and went and grabbed a ´LOVE from Australia´ bookmark for her. Then I returned upstairs ...
He was sitting in the middle of the room on an ottoman with his puppy lying on the floor. There were a group of three others young adults sitting on the other side of the coffee table. I thought they might be his friends, but I noticed that he was enjoying his drink whilst listening to his mp3 player. He wasn´t part of their world. His puppy was lying on the floor beside him. I stood at the doorway to the balcony looking in at the man. After a few moments of hesitation, I found myself walking across the room. I noticed a chair next to him and his pup and decided to sit down and go with the flow. As soon as I sat down his pup noticed & greeted me, and I naturally started patting him. He began to tell his pup to stop, when I told him that I was patting him and that it was okay.
I noticed that he had a gentle spirit about him and a contented, friendly, and pleasant manner. I asked him where he's from. He had really good English so we just chatted away. His name was Renée and his pup was Leon. Shortly into the conversation Renée asked me was where I was from and what I was doing in Bern. I explained that I was a missionary who had just witnessed with a team of six in France to street beggars and Muslims, and that the team leader had a friend who lived in Switzerland who was showing us around. (I also knew that the Lord told our leader that He had something for us to do here.) Renee immediately said, `You´re a YWAMer´ ... That opened our conversation right up.
Renee shared with me that he did his DTS in Mexico several years ago, and that he heard that the YWAM base in Newcastle, Australia ran a coffee shop from a friend in Newcastle and have been wanting to serve there as a baristar ...
But it´s almost 1am and I must go to sleep for now. Part 2 will come. Bon nuit :)
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