Reaching Out and Being Stretched

The second half of our time in Germany was spent in Hiedelberg, working with the Calvary Chapel church. To say they treated us well, would be a gross understatement. They continually went above and beyond in showing hospitality, and honor in serving, and botherly love, as Romans 12 tells us we should. During worship times the sermon is in english and then translated to german, some songs are sung in german and others in english, but the common bond of Gods goodness and grace is international and knows no bounds.
Our main objective during our stay was to reach out to the community. We did our best to engage people in conversation, in hopes it would turn to spiritual matters. People were invited to church and to a showing of the Passion on Friday night. This was an uncomfortable endeavor for some, but God is good, and when you step out in faith He is always there! When the weather permitted we played football by the river and invited those we played with to church. The MVP of the game was voted to be Becky Pine, who knew?
We hope you will pray for the Calvary Chapel church, that their love for Jesus will change this community one person at a time, and God will bless them so they may Glorify Him even more. What a wonderful group of people, hopefully we were able to encourage them like they did us.
We meet so many wonderful people on this trip, who have a heart for God, and attachments were created in a very short time as we shared our stories and hearts. The team also grew closer daily with new appreciations of each other and the different talents and gifts we each brought to Germany. It is sad as the time draws near to go home, but we hope your prayers will not stop when the trip does. God has us each on this trip for a reason, now it is time to find out how to use what we have learned and to take the next step in serving and living for God. It was a special time of drawing near to God that we want to continue even when we find ourselves back in familiar surroundings once again.
May Gods will be done on earth as it is in heaven, with Him recieving all the glory!!!!

Catching You Up...some Pics...Words to Come Later

Wednesday Lunch in Heidelberg

Hospitality House in Bitburg

Kid's Club in Bitburg

Creation Story

Heidelberg Street Ministry

As Larry mentioned in the last entry half of our team had a fun opportunity to help out mothers whose husbands have been deployed. We so enjoyed being able to give them two free days of freedom to run errands and catch up on housework. Their children were delightful...we sang songs with them, had center time (playdough, art, puzzles, etc), told stories, played pretend dinosaurs...and more!

On Wednesday before leaving we had the wonderful opportunity to visit Farmer Mark's pig farm (Sheila and Roger's neighbor). It was an oinkin good time! ...gotta run, but will definitely share more later...we are all safe, well and happy! The Lord is good!

Serving in Germany

Monday and Tuesday several of us undertook a number of major improvements at the hanger, (Roger and Sheila's house). The weather was perfect for working and we accomplished much. Among other things, we tore out some bushes and grass to create a safe and more direct route to their front door, which by the way, seems to be open to anyone anytime who needs a Mom, Dad, Friend, Mentor, etc....We also cleared out a huge area for a future fire pit, which will be one more place to have some wonderful, and warm fellowship when visiting. In addition, two strawberry patches were planted and some bushes moved.
Hard work? Yes! Rewarding? OH yeah! We will sleep well again tonight. Much ibeprofen has been administered, but not one complaint. The stories you share and the friendships you build while working together are more than worth a little soreness! What a wonderful place they have created here for the military personel to hang out and be loved. We are honored to have been able to lend a helping hand around the property, what amazing hosts they have been. They are building a website, www.spanghanger.net if you are interested in learning more about their ministry here in Germany.
We will try to get you an update on the childrens ministry shortly, which is where the other half of the team has been serving. Thank you again for all your prayers, please continue as we have much left to do. Dan seems to be feeling better today, and his ailment has not spread to anyone else. We will be heading to the base one last time tonight for dinner and fellowship and leaving in the morning for Heidelburg for phase two of the trip. We love you and miss you all!

The Germany Team

Some Pics and Prayer Requests

Everything Drama
Easter Sunday Morning

Tim Preaching Sunday am at Hospitality House "Barn"
Hey All

Hi Guys...this is Cathy...we would like you to especially pray for Deej. He is very sick and down emotionally as well a bit. We did get him on an antibiotic, but please be praying for healing for him quickly for a couple of reasons...he was supposed to speak to Lauren Wallace's Young Life club tonight and Dan also has surgery scheduled the day after he returns from Germany. Thank you soooo much!

The entire team was blessed in ministry yesterday. Half of us held a "day care" for mothers whose husbands have been deployed. They were very appretiative of the freed up time to get some time freed up. The other half did work projects around the Hospitality House.

We're off right now for a full day of ministry today as well, but we will post more later on today...it is so great knowing we are loved and supported by such an awesome church family. Thank you all for the notes and comments on the blog...please keep um comin'!

Easter Sunday in Germany

God has blessed un with another beautiful day in Bitburg. Made all the more beautiful by remembering Jesus ressurection and looking at His Love and infinite beauty. Chimes rang out from the town church this morning after being silent since Good Friday, and children walked through town celebrating the risen Saviour with bells.
We celebrated Easter in a loft called "the upper room", out behind "the hanger" which is the name given to Roger and Sheilas hopitality house. Some of the highscoolers put on a skit, Dan led some singing and Tim read and talked on John 20-21. This celebration was shared with about 50 people from the nearby military base. Afterwords we all enjoyed fellowship and another amazing meal prepared by Sheila and company.
We had enough time for an afternoon stroll before we headed to Spangdahlum Airforce base for the chapel service. After which once again we continued meeting military families, and enjoyed building friendships, and being encouraged by their stories and comitments to God. When asked to share who had brought visitors, Lauren was able to announce she had 19 visitors this week!
I am so blessed; First for the love, suffering and redeming work of our Lord Jesus, second for the followers of Christ who are in the military living thier lives for God, thirdly from our own team members who continue to serve selflessly before men and God. Your prayers are coveted and we all look forward to sharing more details of Gods and work in Germany when time permits. Love in Christ

Safe and Happy in Bitburg, Germany

Some of our girls "playing" flight attendant during our 11 hour flight

A little downtime in Trier

Nicole and Tiffany 

....just wanted to write a quick update to let you all know that we arrived safely in Germany. We had a great flight and sailed through customs. We were met at the airport by our very own Lauren Wallace with two vans provided by our gracious hosts Roger and Sheila Nielson. 

Roger and Sheila work with Cadence International (www.cadence.org), a ministry that reaches out to the military community around the world to share the gospel. Here in Landsheid, Germany, Roger and Sheila have a hospitality home where they have young men and women based here in Germany over several times a week for Bible studies, dinner and just fun "hang out" time. This week we are the grateful recipients of their hospitality!  

Our drive into Bitburg from the airport in Frankfurt took about two hours. After unloading our gear into our rooms here at the Nielson's we traveled about 30 minutes into Trier, the oldest town in Germany. We had a delightful day hanging out with some of the students and leaders in Lauren's Young Life club...we even got to pretend we were gladiators at an ancient amphitheater!

We had a delicious dinner prepared by Sheila. Most of us were, by then, barely able to keep our eyes open, but we were challenged by our devo team tonight (Tim, Lea and Natalie) to be diligent in taking care of our bodies, minds and spirits. They shared scriptures with us from Ephesians and Corinthians reminding each of us that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and to be actively putting on the whole armor of God.

...to be continued tomorrow! Thank you all for your prayers on our behalf. Please do post notes and comments on the blog...we'll be updating and checking it daily! 

Happy Easter to you all...our Lord is RISEN! 

Outreach Germany '09

We'll begin blogging on this blogspot after we arrive in Germany on April 11, 2009. Please begin praying for our safety, effectiveness in ministry and the spiritual growth of our team.