When Paul and Merlen Cebrian came to Germany for a visit, little did they realize that Paul would be a guest speaker on the Feast of Pentecost.

Paul is an elder in the United Church of God in the Philippines, and he and Merlen are from Butuan City in Mindanao. Merlen’s sister Helen is married to a German, Lühr Dahnken, and Lühr and Helen have been wonderful hosts in showing Paul and Merlen around Germany. The day before Pentecost they visited our small congregation in Berlin (photo), and the next day they wanted to attend our services in Hamburg. Early Sunday morning I got a call from Kurt Schmitz, our elder who was supposed to go to Hamburg that day. Kurt had to cancel because of his mother-in-law’s deteriorating health (she died early Sunday afternoon). So later that morning I called the Dahnken residence to ask if Paul would be willing to give the sermon that day in Hamburg. His response was a quick "Yes", and we had Hamburg member Jürgen Haslop translate the sermon into German. Everything went well, and Paul and Merlen have an interesting story to tell when they get back to the Philippines.