Drumroll please . . .
So after much letter writing and phone calls. I can officially come out and say we are funded for our term. (Applause for Jesus!) Yes ladies and gentlemen, we've received an official email from our sending agency (EMM) that we are over the fund-raising hump. Our deadline of December 10th will come and go and there won't be any pulling our hair out over plane tickets, delegating responsibilities or how school will work for Anika in the US. We're so thankful. Thank you to all of you who support us financially and in prayer. We are appreciative for your investment in us and our work here in Kaiserslautern. We are so blessed to be staying here.
In other news, we recently celebrated a good old American Thanksgiving. Not many people here really know what the holiday is about, except for what they've learned about the traditions and food from Hollywood. We had planned to have a house full of people for supper. We set the table for 63 guests but were disappointed with the showing of only 42. Not that that is bad. We just had a lot of leftovers. I like leftovers. Out of our 42 guests we had a mix of 8 nationalities. Chinese, Spanish, Swiss, French, Serbian, Russian, American and even German. After we all got some food I arose to tell the story of the thanksgiving get-together of 1621. It was a three day feast among different nationalities and cultures. The Englishmen wanted to say thanks to the Almighty for preserving their lives and for the peaceful relationships they had with their native neighbors. Not only does our Father in heaven provide us with bread in our stomachs and air in our lungs. He provides us with freedom from tyranny and salvation for our spirits. What a gracious and good Father he is to his children.
We started the discipleship program in September. This year we were so grateful for a really full house with 12 participants! Like I said, our Papa provides. One of our guys, Mario, found out a few weeks later in September that his mom was somehow sick. We found out she had liver cancer. To make a long story short, yesterday we traveled to her funeral in order to support our friend and brother. I have questions and doubts sometimes about why things like this happen. Why do two young brothers have to lose their mom to cancer? Why is life hard and full of pain and suffering? There's not an easy answer. Sin, corruption, irresponsibility all play their parts. But one thing remains, Jesus came to reveal exactly how God is. If you want to know God, look at Jesus. Jesus revealed a good Father. This is the God we can hold onto in tough times. He comes to us and suffers with us. He comes to us and lives life among us. He's not distant and removed from reality. The main message of Jesus is that the Kingdom of God is near. That is good news to me. He's a personal God intimately engaged in our everyday lives.
Thank you for your prayer and support. We're glad we're here for a while.
Until next time, Tschüß.
Mike
In other news, we recently celebrated a good old American Thanksgiving. Not many people here really know what the holiday is about, except for what they've learned about the traditions and food from Hollywood. We had planned to have a house full of people for supper. We set the table for 63 guests but were disappointed with the showing of only 42. Not that that is bad. We just had a lot of leftovers. I like leftovers. Out of our 42 guests we had a mix of 8 nationalities. Chinese, Spanish, Swiss, French, Serbian, Russian, American and even German. After we all got some food I arose to tell the story of the thanksgiving get-together of 1621. It was a three day feast among different nationalities and cultures. The Englishmen wanted to say thanks to the Almighty for preserving their lives and for the peaceful relationships they had with their native neighbors. Not only does our Father in heaven provide us with bread in our stomachs and air in our lungs. He provides us with freedom from tyranny and salvation for our spirits. What a gracious and good Father he is to his children.
We started the discipleship program in September. This year we were so grateful for a really full house with 12 participants! Like I said, our Papa provides. One of our guys, Mario, found out a few weeks later in September that his mom was somehow sick. We found out she had liver cancer. To make a long story short, yesterday we traveled to her funeral in order to support our friend and brother. I have questions and doubts sometimes about why things like this happen. Why do two young brothers have to lose their mom to cancer? Why is life hard and full of pain and suffering? There's not an easy answer. Sin, corruption, irresponsibility all play their parts. But one thing remains, Jesus came to reveal exactly how God is. If you want to know God, look at Jesus. Jesus revealed a good Father. This is the God we can hold onto in tough times. He comes to us and suffers with us. He comes to us and lives life among us. He's not distant and removed from reality. The main message of Jesus is that the Kingdom of God is near. That is good news to me. He's a personal God intimately engaged in our everyday lives.
Thank you for your prayer and support. We're glad we're here for a while.
Until next time, Tschüß.
Mike
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