Spring Term Prayer Breakfast Week

A forgotten post I saved but never published... better late than never? lol

April 20th, Monday
Today I got up abnormally early to try to walk down to the earlier bus that only goes on the main street through Neckargemuend with the hopes of making it to day one of the spring term prayer breakfast week early to help setup.  If I had waited and taken the comes only once per hour bus near our home I would have arrived at the train station one minute before everything started and by the time I walked to Calvary I would have been late.  So, why was I walking and taking the bus in the first place??  Well, because I just happened to find out from my friend Alex that I've been driving illegally in Germany for the past four years without realizing it.  I "thought" I could keep my US license and as long as I renewed my international license every year that I would not have to change over until my US license was about to expire.  I was actually told this by a couple of friends who will go unmentioned. :)  And while this "may" be true for the US Military personnel living in Germany, it is apparently not true for the rest of us Ex-Pat's and so I abruptly had to stop driving about two weeks ago.  Ugh.  I love driving.  I love the freedom it gives me to do nearly anything I want to do whenever I want to do it.  And while taking the bus and train is far better exercise because you have to walk a ton and also sometimes walk very quickly so you don't miss said bus or train the times are not exceptionally convenient, especially at night or early in the morning from where we live.  Still, you do feel much more "European" and that is sort'of neat in my book.

So back to my day...

I got to the prayer breakfast early and helped setup as best I could.  I had made banana bread and was lugging my gym clothes as well beause my plan was to meet with a lady that mentors the leaders at Calvary directly following the prayer breakfast, then go to workout, head home and have a quick shower before walking down the hill to get Chloe.  Fortunately there was a large team already hard at work at the church when I got there which was nice to see.  Still, my hospitality gene kicked in as I noticed far more students arriving than we had seats for so I quickly slipped out and added a dozen or more chairs and place settings.  Nothing worse than not having enough room or food for everyone.  My mom taught me that.  :)  The group as a whole seems pretty passionate about being closer to Jesus and reaching their city for Him which is good.  I hope it is an encouraging week for them.

The rest of the day went pretty much as planned with it culminating in bible study with our house group. We've been studying Revelation and we have only two studies left and four chapters to cover.  It's been an interesting study with Alan taking a more historical view of the book while I take a more eclectic or futuristic view.  Not sure where others in the study lie although I imagine they are somewhere in-between.  I think we are just all grateful we are Christ followers - especially with the news all around us which confirms everything the Bible has said for over 2000 years.

Friday, April 24th
The rest of the prayer breakfast week went well.  I attended and helped out on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and Alan went on Thursday.  Unfortunately the more I attended the more walking I ended up doing on top of going up and down the hill to take or get Chloe from kindergarten each day and also to get our groceries.  By the end of the week my feet had literally had it and my Plantar Faciitis that I hadn't felt since about six months after Chloe's birth has returned with a vengeance.  Oh so painful it is.  I immediately have gone to only wearing my special shoes literally everywhere and poor Alan had to come and get me several times and bring me home or take me places.  Ugh the lack of freedom and having to depend on someone else to chauffeur me on top of my feet hurting all the time is really rough.

Tomorrow we head to the Pioneers EuroConnect conference in Hungary with 300+ other missionaries from around Europe.  We're excited to get caught up with Eric and Ellen and others we haven't seen in over a year.  Praying for a blessed time of fellowhip, great teaching and encouragement!