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Tuesday 24 January 2012

Back in Germany and in planning mode

Well since I last wrote we had Chloe dedicated at our home church in Watkinsville. It was a sweet time as it was just Chloe and Emma together with a few family and friends. The remaining days in Georgia were bittersweet as we loved spending time with as many as possible while also looking forward to getting back to our own nest. The last Sunday we were in Georgia Alan and I spoke at the college Sunday school class about our work in Germany and then that afternoon we had an informational meeting about coming to Germany next summer with the WFBC missions team or as a GAP year student. The meeting went well we think. We had 21 that came but I'd love to just have the exact number God wants us to have and no more or less.


After leaving Georgia we went back to England but only for a day which was more a jet-lag recovery time than anything else unfortunately. Still it was nice seeing Alans parents. Thank you for all that prayed we would make it back to Germany safely. Chloe was a trooper on all the flights. We spent our first week back unpacking, cleaning and recovering from bad colds. Alan did some work at the CVJM and I worked out a few times but other than that we stayed in. It was good getting back to Victory and the CVJM and seeing folks. Housegroup was good. We're studying the book, "God knows your love language". I admitted last week to the group that I'm not very good at receiving any of the love languages but that I think the love language I like most to give is acts of service. I believe Alan is more quality time or maybe words of affirmation. He certainly can read and study the bible and pray longer than anyone I know.


Yesterday our neighbor came over and although it was exhausting speaking only German for an hour I enjoyed our hot chocolate and time together. She's a lovely lady and I hope to get to know her better this year. I'm not sure where she stands with Christ other than she is a Catholic, doesn't think too highly of the Evangelical church here and thinks there is only one God and what you believe other than that is fairly relative. She doesn't speak any English but she always gives me a big hug when she leaves and she puts up with my spotty German which is nice.

Tuesday nightAlan and I met with the leadership team of the CVJM and some of the youth to talk about the hopeful individuals and teams we have coming over this summer. Sarah is the closest to coming over with plans to go under the umbrella of Pioneers, fill out all their applications and attend orientation in March. If they then approve her she'll come shortly after that.

Chloe is growing like a weed and is crawling everywhere. That was the latest news when we went to England - us putting her down and suddenly everything just came together for her and she was off. I have to admit though that my favorite thing is that she learned to say "mama" over our break. Alan had a lot to do with it I think because he's constantly saying to her "say, mama, mama". But I love it when she calls me and then I go into the room wherever she is and she just gets this HUGE smile on her face! I absolutely love her to bits.


School starts back for me on February 6th. I went by yesterday to check on the class and who my teachers would be and am glad that one of them is Rosvita and another is Katarina. I liked them both. We're attending both the CVJM and Victory International Church right now to challenge ourselves to learn German and to become a bit more involved with the church there on the weekends as well as through the week. Usually the CVJM's services offset Victory's so we can attend both which is good because not being able to understand the German preaching at the CVJM is really difficult.

One of the things we're praying about starting is an outreach into the community by offering beginning English lessons at the church. The CVJM has a great room that we could use and we could make coffee and bring some American brownies or something and offer it on a Saturday afternoon for 6 weeks or so. Alan is going to ask his German friend Rene to help him do the outreach by handing out flyers and advertising for it. If nothing else, it will help us build relationships and give us the opportunity to tell Germans about Christ.


As far as our work with college students, I am going to work tomorrow on printing out about a hundred more of the complete spirituality surveys for University students on card stock so we can carry on doing the surveys and inviting students to church. I also want to get the college-age group together again once finals are over in the next few weeks. I know most students are completely drained from all the papers and exams and are just looking forward to the break.


Please continue to keep us in your prayers that God would direct every step we make and every step of those that plan to come to work alongside us this year.