Easter Reflections

We had a busy holiday week. We had a frustrating holiday week. We started our week with Lou's computer having problems. Next our van died on me when I tried to get to my Ladies Bible Study. Both have been with "mechanics" for a week. Isn't it funny when we have these life frustrations, we tend to get frustrated with one another?

As the week continued, we ended up having words with one another -- OK, in all honesty, a fight. On Thursday, I started to catch a cold. All of this heading into Easter weekend!

Easter weekend is my favorite weekend of the year! Actually Holy Week is my favorite time of the year. I enjoy Christmas, I LOVE Easter. So, heading into our first Easter in Germany, I was upset that the week had not gone as I would like.

Lou & I tend to talk and reflect during this week about what Christ did for us through His death and His resurrection. We try to think about why we love Jesus and meditate on our gratefulness to Him. But, this year, we were arguing over selfish things, frustrated that we didn't have his computer so I could finish our taxes and mad that we had to borrow a car. Time to reflect...no way!

Yet, God is so good, so patient, so kind! Thursday afternoon, while we were complaining about the week, the Holy Spirit reminded us that we have an opportunity to "practice what we preach". See, Lou has been teaching from Philippians and we are learning to have joy in all situations, especially during trials and tribulation. We were going through nothing, compared to what Paul was walking through when he wrote that book. God grabbed a hold of our hearts and we decided to PRAY!!

Through our prayers, God began to remind us that He is with us. He revealed to us that the enemy was pressing in and trying to discourage us. We were humbled - and embarrassed - that we had allowed these little issues to get us to lose our focus for the week. What a difference a few minutes can make by taking time with our Heavenly Father!

My cold was still lingering, our car and computer were still broken, we were anticipating a busy holiday weekend, but our spirits had been refreshed! The joy of Easter was in our sights again. We had a great weekend, we had a joyful weekend. We experienced God's power and touch in a personal way. God is good!

Where is God's Glory?

God, where is Your Glory? Father, where is Your Hope? What are you doing Lord? These were some of questions that rattled through my brain and heart as I (Cathy) walked through the past two weeks in Thailand and Cambodia.

From 15 February - 1 March, I had the priviledge to join 13 women on a two week mission trip. We spent time in orphanages in Chaing Mai, a refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border, military communities in Cambodia and the bars of Bangkok. Our goal was to point people - primarily women & children - to the one true God that can bring hope to their lives. Yet, I must admit, I found myself questioning "Lord, how can they hope in You?"; "How are You going to shine in this situation?"

Despite my cries, fears and unbelief, I saw God bring comfort, peace & hope to people that should be angry & depressed. I was challenged to think past my own personal feelings and to see how these people would embrace the love of Christ. Not all did, but some did and some had in the past and were excited about what God was doing in their lives!! Amazing and beautiful!

I will share more stories and pictures with you in our next newsletter - for I could go on and on, but I won't bore you too much. It truly was a life changing trip.

Many times we go on these trips thinking we are going to be the blessing, we are going to serve and what ends up happening is we are blessed more, we are stretched more, we are taught more by the people that we go to minister to. This trip had the same outcome for me.

Our team had two primary goals: teach and spend time with the women and children at the places we visited. I was on the women's ministry team. I had two talks that I gave. First, I gave the "gospel message" to the ladies at the Minefield. This community is primarily Buddhist and most have not heard the message of Christ.

It was an honor to share part of my story, how Christ has changed my life and the love He has for them. God moved and a few ladies entered into a relationship with Christ that day. The challenge now is the discipleship and growth piece.

There is a small community of believers there. We learned that there are three women that are Christ followers. This lady is the only one who can read & write. I visited with her and I was touched by how much she loves God, despite her situation. She lives in a hut, with no running water, cooks over an outside flame, survived the Pol Pot regime and the "Killing Fields". She lived several years in a refugee camp after Pol Pot was over thrown before she was able to leave and be reunited with friends and family. She became a Christian in the refugee camp and is so excited that we came to spend time with them.

We had shared our testimonies with the ladies at the MineField. We asked her to give us her testimony. Here she is sharing with us about her life, her walk with God and what she is hopeful for!!

As an American, I'm so spoiled. I start to question God's goodness towards me if something doesn't go my way. If I struggle with sickness, or a bad job situation, or have an argument with Lou, I wonder why God is allowing this to happen. It is all so trivial compared to what so many other people have to deal with -- that's where God's glory comes into play. This little lady, from Cambodia, loves God, despite everything she has walked through, she brings glory to God and her life challenges me to reflect on God's goodness and glory. I thought I'd be bringing that to her and God used her to teach me about His character. Amazing!

Hanging out with God

Since our move to Germany, I (Cathy) have been exploring this idea of what it means to enjoy the presence of God, to be in God's presence, to truly understand that the God of the universe loves me and wants to be in relationship with me. You would like at my life stage, the length of time that I've walked with God, this wouldn't be something I would be pondering. Yet, this is something that I have struggled with getting my arms around for most of my life -- what does it mean to be in God's presence? Is it spending 15 minutes in prayer, having a daily quiet time, singing to Him -- what does it mean to be in God's presence througout the day, throughout my journey.

I decided to read a couple of books that had been recommended to me: He Loves Me, by Wayne Jacobsen, The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence and Enjoying the Presence of God, by Jan Johnson. What I am learning is that I truly struggle with the fear of not knowing if God truly loves me. I mean, I know the right things to say. I know the Bible and I "know" that God loves me. For Heaven's Sake, that's what Christianity is about. Jesus enduring the cross so that I could be reconciled with God and enter into a relationship with Him. But, I'm still struggling with sin, I'm still very selfish, I choose TV over worship - I do wonder if He is tried of putting up with me. I try to stay busy to prove to myself that I'm worthy of love.

These books I've read have me meditating on this issue and grappling with the truth that God loves us and ME no matter what. Jan Johnson puts it this way God's love tackles us, telling us that we can quit asking what we must do to be loved and valued because His answer is NOTHING. I'm pondering this concept that He loves me and values me - no matter what I do, no matter what I don't do.

I don't have this figured out yet and probably never will this side of Heaven; but, I'm excited to be thinking about what it would mean to slow down and be quiet and reflect on God. How freeing it would be to truly understand that the things I do, I do to bring glory to God and not to try and earn His love. I'm considering what things truly refresh my soul and when I feel most loved by God: listening to music, laughing with my sister, praying with my beloved Lou or curling up with a good book. I'm thrilled to be on this journey, I don't know where it will lead, but I do desire to know Jesus as the dear Friend that I've longed for - I can't want to see how I learn to spend time with God all day.

Christmas in Germany

We had a joyous & special Christmas season. Our daughter, Katie, was able to join us for a few weeks. We had a fun time exploring a few things in Germany with her and exposing her to our ministry. She made some new friends -- not surprising with her friendly personality.

We explored some sights with Katie, primarily a lot of castles & Christmas markets. Here are a few that we really enjoyed.

As we approached the Christmas celebration, we planned a fun excursion with folks from the Hospitality House. We took about 20 folks to Rothenburg and Nurenberg for a weekend. Rothenburg is known for being Germany's best-preserved medieval walled town. It has some fun and interesting sights, like the Medieval Crime & Punishment Muserum, a walk along the city wall, and a beautiful Christmas market. Nurenberg is know for its medieval architecture, the biggest Christmas market in Germany, the tiniest bratwurst in Germany and its Nazi past. Folks spent time in the Nazi Documentation Center and explored the Christmas market. It was a fun weekend and we shared our time with the Baumholder Hospitality House as well.

On Christmas Eve, we began our celebration at the Ramstein Comtemporary Service (RCS) for a candlelight worship service. We had a nice dinner at home and had our family Christmas celebration with Katie. Christmas morning began with about 16 singles coming over for brunch. We fixed eggs, pancakes, bacon, all the fixins. Afterwards, they opened their presents. Many came in their pajamas to enjoy the morning. We moved into the afternoon with a Christmas dinner planned at 3:00. We hosted 81 folks as we celebrated the birth of our Lord. We had a time of worship and singing carols, followed by playing games and hanging out! We hope everyone truly felt like they were at home.

We feel like we are settling into life in Germany and a routine with ministry. We are excited to see what God will do in 2010. We continue to work on deeping our relationships with folks that are in our ministry. We hope you and your family had a blessed Christmas.

November was a blur!

We can't believe that it is already December! November just flew by. We had a busy month as we began to get ready for the holidays. We attended our first Cadence European Staff Conference. We enjoyed spending time with our team and encouraging one another in our ministries. We dealt with the tragedy of the Ft. Hood shootings, death of a Chaplain here in our Ramstein community, people deploying to Afghanistan, family deaths and dealing with loneliness as the holidays approach. Yet, as Thanksgiving came, we were thankful.

We celebrated with 74 folks at our home. We played games together, enjoyed lots of turkey & pie and learning more about each other. Lou & I reflected on how much we appreciate this opportunity God has given us to serve the men and women that participate in our ministry. We have grown to love and care for each one in a very special way. Our prayer is that we will continue to deepen our relationships with them as we move into 2010.

As December begins, we are busy with activities and getting ready to usher in the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus. It is hard to believe but this will be our first Christmas in 48 years (second for Lou) that we haven't spent it with our families. Yet, we are honored to try and create a home away from home for those people here that will not be able to spend - yet another - Christmas with their family.

We started the Christmas season by going to the Tubingen Chocolate Festival and Stuttgart Christmas Market. We spent the day with about 15 folks eating chocolate from various parts of Europe, sharing our hearts as we walked through the Christmas market in Stuttgart and just hanging out!

We are thrilled to have an opportunity to share our lives with these folks! We can't wait to see what God teaches us during this Christmas season. May we never forget the miracle that the creator of the universe chose to leave Heaven, come to reconcile us with Him through the birth of Jesus, His death & resurrection. God calls us to respond to this truth -- how will you respond this Christmas?

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.