Approaching 3 months....

We cannot believe that we have been in Germany almost three months. In some ways, it has gone by very fast; in others, very slow. Since it's been over a month since our last update, we have been busy - thus life is going fast. Yet, as we struggle to find our groove with ministry, our patience is being tried - thus life is going slow. We want to settle into life, settle into ministry, get past the transition phase. We want to obey God's leading in our ministry, yet when there is pushback from folks, we question if we are "hearing the Lord accurately". In all honesty, our emotions have been all over the map, especially for Cathy.

Change is always an interesting thing. Some people are open to the change in leadership and allowing us to do things differently than our predecessors. Some people want things to not change at all and are upset with the fact that we aren't Fred & Diane. We understand that, we want to be sensitive to that, but we also know we need to be who God has gifted and called us to be.

We are excited about how the fall has played out and looking forward to the holidays. We did have really had a good October. We had our first excursion with the folks from the House. We went to the Sunshine Pumpkin Farm near Landstuhl. We went and toured the farm, picked a pumpkin, had a BBQ back at the House and finished with a pumpkin carving party. It was really a lot of fun!

Lou managed to turn 48 this month. To celebrate, we went to visit the Vincenza House in northern Italy. Our friends, Steve & Teeter Mauldin, are filling in at the Hospitallity House, so we went to hang out and enjoy a quick tour of Venice.

We spent four days with the Mauldin's. Two days were seeing how the Vincenza Hospitality House operates, and picking their brains about doing ministry. We sent two days being tourists in Venice. It was a fun time!

We are so grateful that we serve a God who comes along side us, who uses us, who loves us: despite our fears and insecurities. We are so thankful for friends and family that love us, support us, pray for us. We miss everyone so much, but are thrilled to be here. We are excited to see what God has in store for us and the folks we are doing life with -- we'll be in touch!

Krazy K-town!

We have been in Kaiserslautern for six weeks now. We can't believe how quickly time has flown. Sad to say that we have not been able to keep up with regular communication since our arrival. Some of you may know, we have been without internet connectivity since we have arrived. We finally got it hooked up yesterday (24 Sept). Without internet, we have been surprised how much that has affected our transition.

We have been reflecting on the importance of communication. When you don't feel like you can chat with people, connect at a heart level (even if it's through an email), the end result is you are isolated and lonely. At least that is how it has been for us. Isn't that true in all of our relationships? Whether it is a phone call, a chat over coffee, reading an email, you feel like you are connecting. We are made for relationship. Relationship with our God and with each other.

We truly appreciate everyone encouraging us and praying for us. We are starting to feel like we are getting into a groove with our ministry. Tuesday night, Lou leads a men's study and Cathy cooks for 15-20 guys. Lou is facilitating a character study on David. Friday night, we host a dinner and a study for about 80 folks. After a time of worship, we are viewing the video series by Francis Schaeffer, titled How Should We Then Live? and Lou leads a discussion afterwards. We are hopeful that this series will challenge folks to truly look at their world view and come to a true understanding of why they believe what they believe.

Fall has yet to start here in Germany. Mornings are cool, but for the past week or so, it's been sunny and in the 70's. Very unusual -- at least that's what we have been told. We will be sending more regular updates, along with video updates. We are excited to be hear and grateful to you all who have loved us, encouraged us, supported us.

We are own our way!

Can't believe it! We are on our way to Kaiserslautern. Lou leaves on Monday, 10 August, with our dog Bailey. Cathy leaves on Wedneday, 12 August, with her mother. Her mom has graciously agreed to come out for a few weeks to help us get settled, paint/wallpaper a few rooms, unpack and get the house ready to go!

Our goods shipped about a month ago. We had a great group of guys agree to sacrifice their day and help us load a 20'x10'x8' foot container. The container was supposed to arrive at 8:30 and we were initially told we would have two (2) hours to pack it up. Unfortunately, the container didn't show up until 11:30. Because of the delay, the shipping company gave us more time to pack it up.

Our crew was ready to go at 8:30, but due to the delay, we were creative in how we killed our time. Lou's brother, Vince, decided to challenge Andrew Hess to a "chipping" competion. Katie and Jessica decided to tackle some Trivial Pursuit, which Andrew ended up joining in the game as well.

Finally, the container showed up and we worked hard to get all of our goods packed. We had a great team, but Clint Mahan was instrumental in getting it packed so everything would be get to Germany. We are so grateful to all that helped us! It is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, 19 August. Hopefully, it will arrive with everything still in tact! :-)

We are very excited and a little sad. We are saying our good-byes to our family this weekend, which will be very hard. We appreciate all of your love, friendship and support! We'll be in touch again, after we get settled in K-town.

Make me patient

I call to you, O Lord, from my quiet darkness. Show me your mercy and love. Let me see your face, hear your voice, touch the hem of your cloak. I want to love you, be with you, speak to you and simply stand in your presence. But I cannot make it happen. Pressing my eyes against my hands is not praying, and reading about your presence is not living in it. But there is that moment in which you will come to me, as you did to your fearful disciples, and say, "Do not be afraid; it is I." Let that moment come soon, O Lord. And if you want to delays it, then make me patient. -- From A Cry for Mercy by Henri J.M. Nouwen

As we prepare to leave in two weeks for Germany, we realize that we are truly struggling with mixed emotions. We are starting to feel the pressure of the enemy and are wrestling with being impatient, fearful, nervous. At the same time, our confidence in what God has called us to do fills our hearts with joy & excitement. We are about to embark on the biggest change and adventure of our lives. Some times we feel God's presence in our lives in amazing ways; other times we are in a quiet darkness.

We can relate to Nouwen's cry. We know God is with us, even when we feel alone. We know that God hears the cry of our hearts, even when we don't feel His presence. We will continue to cling to the Lord and know we will have that moment with the Creator of the universe where we hear him say, "Do not be afraid; it is I".

On the road again

We are on our (hopefully) last support raising trip. We left on 30 May and won't return to Colorado until 25 June. We are going from Colorado to the Chicago area to New England to Washington DC to North Carolina and back home via Kentucky, Kansas, and Oklahoma!

The beauty of these trips is truly reconnecting with old friends and family. With our goal of moving in August, these visits are more precious. We realize it will be a long time before we see many of these folks again. We must admit the time in the car does get old very fast. Yet, our visits have been very amazing!

Here Lou is with our old friend Garret Maki. Garret and his wife, Min-Yi, live in Minneapolis - at least for now. They are moving to Houston in the next few weeks. It was great seeing Garret and catching up on life.

We also enjoyed seeing Elena Schlueter in Crown Point, Indiana. Elena is very special to us. She is the first born child of my cousin Debie and her husband Anthony. We prayed and prayed for her and she is a true blessing! Elena is investingating the fun behind watering flowers.

Our next visit came in Boonville, NY. I (Cathy) have a dear friend that lives there. It is a small town near Syracuse, NY. We had a great visit with Nancy and we saw our first woodchuck. The joys of living near woods. :-)

We have managed to enjoy a night at the ball field. As most of you know, Lou is an avid baseball fan! We had a night off and went to the Baltimore game. It was "floppy hat" night at Campden Yards. I'm not sure this is the best look for me, but we had a fun and relaxing night at the ball field.

Next stop....Washington DC. We will enjoy five days in the DC area visiting with friends and family. We are amazed how many people have entered our lives over the years and we cherish these relationships. With our move to Germany just around the corner, we are enjoying this opportunity to see folks before we head overseas.

May was a blur!

We can't believe it has been a month since we have journaled. The entire month of May has been a blur. We returned from Germany and hit the ground running: meeting with more people, starting to pack for our move overseas, graduations, graduations and more graduations!

We have gone to three graduations. Andrew Hess graduated from Denver Seminary. Sue Smith graduated from UCCS with her nursing degree. Mike Laney graduated from the Air Force Academy. He will be reporting for pilot training in Mississippi later this summer.

When you attend three commencements and hear three speeches, you begin to reflect on life pursuits, dreams, goals and life in general. We began refleciting on our own life pursuits and dreams. When you graduate from high school (for us it will be 30 years this June), you have all these ideas of what you want to achieve, the person you desire to become, how life is going to play out.

When 30 years go by, you realize that the journey usually turns out very different. For us, we didn't think we would be about to embark on full-time ministry, moving overseas or spending a year preparing for this next adventure. But, here we are. Getting ready to move to Germany. It is exciting and scary! We are still amazed at God's goodness to us. We know that He will move and by His grace use us, despite our short comings. We are grateful, thankful and blessed! To be continued!

Germany...here we come!

We just returned from two weeks in Germany. We had the opportunity to see the house we will be living and serving in, we met lots of super folks, served Easter dinner to about 100 people, and met the other members of the Cadence European team.

Here is our home. Fred & Diane Stock are the current house directors. They will be leaving in June and we are hopeful to arrive in July. The top floor is the living quarters. There are three bedrooms and an office. There is also a loft area that we will be able to convert to a nice study area for us.

The basement consists of two storage areas, a guest room, a teen room and a child care room. There is a ton of space and we will need it with the volume of people that come to the house.

The main floor is where the ministry happens. The house currently has a Couples Study on Sunday afternoon, a Mens Study on Tuesday nights and Friday Night Dinner and Study. On Friday nights, we are serving dinner for approximately 75 folks. We had an opportunity to serve over the Easter weekend. Check out the picture of some of the folks that were with us on Easter Sunday! It was an exciting time to be in Kaiserslautern!

We enjoyed meeting some of the folks that are part of this ministry. We had a special connection with three young men and can't wait to see them again this summer: Kyle, Nick & Jacob. Kyle is from Washington, Nick from Georgia and Jacob from Nebraska. They are stationed together, but in different jobs, yet they met at the Hospitality House. We truly enjoyed hanging out with them all weekend, hearing their stories and knitting our hearts with theirs. Nick is getting ready to be deployed but will be returning in the fall.

After spending these two weeks in Germany, we are more excited than ever to get out to the field. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we try to finish our support raising so we can move this summer!