Easter Celebration!!!

I have to share the pictures from our Easter Celebration!  12 of us from our German language class gathered at our home to share the celebration...and it was like no other Easter celebration I have ever attended!  We were from 5 different countires (Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Egypt, Syria, US and, of course, our token German!), ate Greek and Arab food with American pies for dessert and even got in some Frisbee at the park!!!!  What a great time!!!!  Enjoy the pictures and short (27 second) video of the international Fresbee game!!!

Sherif and and Stephania helping set up!

Stephania (from Cyprus) and I cooked her traditional Greek food the day before from 5pm until 1am!  I kept saying, "My, this is labor intensive!"  But it was SOOOOO worth it!  What a delicious meal!  We had Stuffed Grape Leaves, Moussaka and a delicious Chicken and Rice dish prepared by Amer (from Syria)!

Stuffed Grape Leaves simmering away, with Jim's incredible Cinnamon Rolls in the background!

Getting ready to sit down to our delicious meal!

Amer is the second one in.  He prepared the Chicken and Rice dish in the foreground and brought the beautiful flowers!!!

The eating begins!

As you can see, there is plenty of food!

 Can you tell from the Video that Jim is from California and the rest of us are not!!!  (And I don't mean because of his amazing sun tan!)

 Thanks to Sherif (from Egypt) for all the pictures and video!!!!!

Youth Event!

We are very excited that this Friday, April 1, is the first of two Youth Events for outreach with our youth group. We have been preparing for these evenings over the last year in the teachings at youth group.  At the beginning of 2015, the youth evenings were focused "My Relationship with God". Then, in the Fall the focus was on "My Relationship with Other Believers", and the beginning of this year, the focus was "My Relationship with Non-Believers".  These two youth events are a culmination of those studies and the young people have been praying specifically for their friends and have invited them to the events.  Here is a copy of the flyer:

The Flyer reads: "I do not believe in God.  Or only partially.  Maybe yes.  Or in higher beings?  Or maybe not.  Who can know if there is a God! ...Curious?  Interested to learn more?  Then you are invited in a relexed atmosphere with young Christians and Pastor Thomas Arhelger with the Themes:  'Is there a God over all?'... 'One God - Many Ways?'  With discussion to follow."

Please pray ...

...That many teens will come, especially the friends that the young people from the youth group are inviting.

... That those who come will be challenged to think about God and want to learn more about him.

... That those who come will feel accepted in the youth group.

... For Thomas, our pastor, as he prepares the talks - that God will use him to speak to the hearts of the teens.

... That we will put the two evenings deliberately in God's hands  and expect him to move.

... That the evenings will be for God's glory!

We are excited to see what God will do!

Passed the German Language Test!

Just a quick note.  I passed and head on to B1 course on Thursday!  Jim will be joining me in the course.  Thanks for all your prayers!

Lina's German Test!

My German Language Class

I just want to send out a quick prayer request for tomorrow.  I am in an intensive German language course every M-F from 8am-1:15pm.  I just took my speaking test for A-2 today and did well.  Tomorrow I will take my hearing understanding, reading understanding, grammer and writing tests.  Please pray that I will pass and be able to go on to B-1!  As my teacher says, my grammar is "Katastrophe"! :0)

Jim just got back from meeting with the English teacher in a local high school.  They are excited to have him come help with their classes.  He has 3 days now on the calendar to teach in the classes.  They have asked him to talk about Alaska in one of the classes.  He lived his last year of college in Alaska, so is looking forward to that!

Well, back to studying my "Katastrophe" grammar! :0)

Pray for It and They Will Come!!!!

We are so excited about our first ever Josiah Venture GERMAN Evangelistic English Camp!  That's right!  July 16-23 we embark on this adventure!  Check out this location!  It is the YMCA (CVJM) facility about 1 1/2 hour south of Leipzig.

Where we will be staying.

An indoor climbing wall!

A great high ropes course!

 The camp can hold up to 85 people and we need at least 55 to reserve the whole place.  We are praying that at least 35 of those will be high school students.  Jim is volunteering one day a week at a local high school, helping out at in the English department, so we are praying that many of the students will come from there, as well as our own youth group kids and their friends!  This is very exciting!  There are SO MANY teenagers here in Leipzig that need Jesus and this is an incredible venue in which to introduce them.

We are also very excited that Lifepoint Church in Fort Collins, Colorado will be sending a team of about 10-15 people over to help us with the camp.  This is the church Lina grew up in and they have been our faithful supporters since she left the first time for the field back in 1987!!!!!  How exciting to now have them come over and experience first-hand how God is using them and us together in His ministry!  That's one of the fun things about being a missionary, we aren't doing this alone, God has provided a WHOLE TEAM of people working with us and so many of you are a part of this team through your prayers and your finances!!!

We will also have 2 interns from the US and, prayerfully, one from here in Germany (Steffen) working with us for the whole summer.

We continue to work on the German language and serving with the youth group at the church. Jim has started two Bible Read Through Groups with high school students and is discipling 5 guys.

Also, in December Steffen finished translation work on Josiah Venture training material for youth leaders and volunteer staff!  This is very significant!  He has done all of this on a voluntary basis and we are so thankful for his work and the many, many hours he has put into this!

Please pray:

• that God will bring at least 35 students to attend the camp!
• that God will open the way for some of our German youth staff and kids from our youth group to attend the camp - this is very important, as we do not want this to end when camp is over, but want the new students to be comfortable in our youth group so they can be followed up!
• that all those involved in the camp will experience the work of God in their lives!
• that God will open the door for Steffen to be an intern with us this summer, as we need to figure out a lot of the German laws and how to receipt donations for him!
• for Jim, Lina and Steffen as they get everything prepared for the camp in the next few months!

Thank you for your prayers and support!  Continue to pray for the teenagers of Leipzig!

Christmas and Beyond!

We had an incredible time on Christmas with 16 international students from Jim's and my German Language classes, plus Emily, Alpha and us to make 20!  We baked 3 turkeys, had mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, homemade stuffing (no Stovetop here!), green bean casserole, broccoli salad, homemade rolls and, of course, Jim's famous pies (pumpkin, chocolate cream and coconut cream).  A true American dinner!  Afterwards we sang Christmas carols, watched a cool video about the birth of Jesus and played Bonco!  The students were from China, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Cyprus, Japan, Yemen, and with one teacher and her family from Germany, us from the US and Emily and Alpha from Bangladesh, we were truly an international group!!  It was SO much fun and everyone fit nicely into our living room!  What a blessing our apartment is!!! 

2 borrowed tables from church and a bit of furniture moved around and we are ready for our guests!

Pass the turkey, please!

Get out the dice, it's time for a rousing game of Bonco!

It was wonderful to have Emily and Alpha with us for Christmas.  We even got to lead worship in church on Sunday morning.  Yes...4 German songs and 2 English songs!  Alpha played the piano and guitar, a German friend, Gudrun, played guitar and the rest of us sang!

Singing a German Christmas carol during worship.  Emily is hidden behind the pillar.

We couldn't ask for a better daughter and son-in-law!  We had a wonderful time!

 Christmas day we were able to skype with Nate, Raine and Jared as they all enjoyed Christmas together at Nate and Raine's house along with Raine's parents.  Almost as good as being together!

Thanks so much for praying for us.  Here are a few things to pray for as we enter the new year:

• Jim talks to the local high school tomorrow about starting to help out in the English classes.  None of the kids from this school come to our youth group.  It is the school that came for the Fusion concert this summer (see story here) and the principle is excited to have Jim help out!  Pray for many relationships to be built with the students.
• I will be continuing intensive language course starting tomorrow (Jan. 4).  Pray that I will get a good grasp of the language soon!
• We will be starting to look for a venue for English Camp this summer.  Pray that all the details will come together.  We have one girl intern already accepted and another girl applying.  We still need a guy intern and a church team to come over to help us out.  The camp will be the first or second week in July.  Let us know if you have any ideas!!!!
• Pray for our team mates, Reg and Kim Frank, as they finish raising support.  Pray that they will be here in time to settle in and help out with English camp!

Thank you so much for your prayers!  We are so thankful God has called us here!  We love it!!!

After the Long Silence...

Thanksgiving dessert table.

 The last month has been an incredible time of seeing people, studying German and even some finishing.  That right, yesterday I finished my LAST paper for my Masters Course...well, almost my last, it's on to starting my Thesis which is due April of 2017.  I have learned so much and am so thankful for this opportunity!

Thanksgiving at the JV conference center in Czech!

Thanksgiving we were able to go to Malenovice in Czech and hang out with about 120 other Americans!  It was a great time with lots of conversations and LOTS of eating!  You may notice a few of Jim's famous pies on the dessert table!

 On Friday after Thanksgiving I had the incredible priviledge of leading a prayer retreat with these beautiful Josiah Venture ladies!  What a sweet time of praying and sharing.  We were able to work through some of the Spiritual Disciplines of prayer in the beautiful and peaceful Selah cabin.  It is a place set aside for Josiah Venture missionaries to get away and spend time with God, family and friends.  We had a fire and even watched the snow fall!

 Jim and I are still in our intensive German courses.  This is my class last Thursday at our Christmas party.  We are inviting all of my class and Jim's class over to our house to celebrate Christmas with us on December 25.  Not everyone can come, but we are expecting around 20 of us!  For some of the students, this will be the first time they ever celebrated Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas, we are so excite that Emily and Alpha will be able to come from Bangladesh to join us!  They arrive on Tuesday, December 15 and will leave on December 30!  I just finished decorating the apartment for Christmas and we are SO ready for them to come.  We will miss Nate, Raine and Jared, but are excited that they will be able to spend Chirstmas together in Lafayette, Colorado, where Nate and Raine now live and also to spend time with my family in Loveland, CO.

We are so blessed to be part of a House Group from our Church. This was two weeks ago when we met at our place and were able to celebrate Hagan's birthday.  There are 10 of us in the group and it is all in German.  I don't always catch everything (actually, I usually only catch a very small amount), but the bond between all of us is incredible!  I love these people.  

Jim is doing 2 Bible read-through groups with high school boys and doing it all in German!  He also has become the "Bible Answer Man" for the teens in the youth group.  Today after church, two of the girls spent time seperately asking him some great questions. Please, especially pray for one of the girls, as she is having a very hard time believing in Jesus, but she keeps asking questions!  I also meet with her weekly to help her with her English class.  She is originally from China and I am amazed how she has learned German enough to be in German highschool in the past four years and now she is also having to learn English!

Well, I still need to finish setting up Emily and Alpha's room and finish my German homework, so I best be off!