As the final Christmas Cards make their way through the mail system, and as
friends and family gather for some final holiday visits, we thought we'd
send out one final word of greeting and thanks in 2011.
We had a great time celebrating our first Christmas in Germany. Our son,
John, arrived on the 22nd at the Frankfurt airport. The sense of
anticipation as we waited for him outside the Customs/Luggage area was
almost unbearable. Each time the frosted glass doors would open to allow
people to exit the area, we would strain to get a glance inside to see if we
could find him around a baggage carousel. It took a while, but eventually
we did see him - waiting for his bag! Then, in one of those fleeting
moments when the door was open, he happened to look out the door and saw us
looking in - he later told us that was a moment of great relief - he had
realized standing there that his cell phone did not work in Germany - and
then realized that he didn't have our number anyway!
We spent that afternoon touring downtown Frankfurt, the "Wall Street" of
Europe. Beautiful sky-scrapers and amazing shopping highlight the financial
center of the European Union, and are contrasted with the "alt stadt" with
its first century Roman baths, split timber buildings and medieval
cathedral. We visited the Weihnachtsmarkt, with its wonderful food, drink,
and shopping.
We attended a Christmas Eve service at our partner church in Ramstein,
followed by a party at a friends house. The next morning we attended
Christmas Day services at the IBC church in Wiesbaden, had dinner at a
Chinese restaurant in Darmstadt, and spent the rest of the day in a food
coma watching American football from the US. In the evening, we were able
to make several visits with family via Magic Jack (telephone) and Skype
(video). We are so thankful to the Lord for these great communication
tools!
In the days since we have visited sights around Darmstadt and Heidelberg. In
the next coupleof weeks we are traveling and preaching in churches in
Bielefeld, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, so we will be taking John on some
extended trips around the country. Pray for us as we travel and minister.
Thanks!
A MINISTRY PARTNER UPDATE
As we mentioned in our last newsletter, we have had some new supporters join
our team recently. That has helped to close the gap left by the loss of a
major supporter due to business setbacks. We have also closed the gap by
making long term spending decisions to lower our cost of living. If you
would like to, you can still make tax-deductible year end gifts through
midnight New Year’s Eve at www.convergeworldwide.org/give/133261. You
can also set up automatic monthly support on that page, if the Lord so leads
you.
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