Herzliche Grüße aus Kaiserslautern!

Or in English, "Hearty greetings from Kaiserslautern!” We made it through 2017 and have already begun to dig into 2018. 2017 was a blur.  We started the year and in an instant it was behind us.

 Our family has longer legs than ever before. The ladies are getting big. Anika is now 11.5 and beginning to have those tweeny years. It’s fun to see her get bigger and want to discuss more mature things with adults. She’s such a linguist. She is taking French in school as her second foreign language. Strangely her first foreign language in school is English. Of course she’s been acing that class. I try to help her a bit with her French homework, hoping it will rub off a bit on me, (how selfish of me), and I’m not much help. Anika thinks it’s funny to hear my French pronunciation. One of her good friends speaks French at home and Anika wants to help with her English and get help with her French homework. It seems like a good trade.

Naomi is eight years old and in third grade at the elementary school in our neighborhood. She’s a whiz. She really likes school and has a good time every day. She and Madeline take off in the morning and walk five minutes to their school. It’s so nice to do that. I remember riding the bus and hour before and after school. Now my girls have a five minute walk. Maybe that’s why I disliked school? I’m so glad our girls like to go every day.

Madeline is 6 and feverishly waiting for March to come so she can be 7. She is a spark-plug. Although she is the youngest you wouldn’t know by her personality. She’s a red-head with attitude, who likes to tussle with her papa and go on errands with mom. She’s beginning to master to skill of reading. Her teacher is great and Maddie loves to read and write like her sisters. She wrote a love note to Bird in broken German today. There were just a couple letters omitted, but the rest was gold.

All of our girls go to Royal Rangers Friday evenings. Rangers is a Christian scout program a neighbor church has been offering for about a year now. Our ladies love to get out there and get muddy and eat off the fire. They all flipped out when they got hiking boots and a sleeping bag for Christmas. It was fun to see.

Bird is doing well too. For about the last year and a half, she has been trying to get out and jog. She hated it in the beginning. Now I think she’s hook on the endorphin rush. She spends a lot of her time with the girls. If it’s not with homework, she’s taking them somewhere, planning something  for the discipleship team, helping in the girls’ school, or just being super-woman. I love her so much.

Personally, I am tired of gray, wet, rainy, sunless winter. It gets me down if I just sit in the office or read. I need to get out and try out some new stuff once in a while. Over Christmas we had a few days off and I was able to get into my workshop and start a wardrobe cabinet for Anika. I really enjoy seeing the progress that takes place working with my hands. I know the fruit of our ministry work is often unseen, but it’s nice to build something with my hands occasionally.

As far as the discipleship program goes, we’re seeing some cool things. The small team of four is a culturally mixed team. But Jesus is the center of the group and it makes a big difference. Right now we have begun a teaching unit on the Holy Spirit and intercession. There is a lot of curiosity and questions regarding that topic. But their openness and desire for an encounter with God is inspiring. They all come from churches where the topic hasn’t really been addressed. So for us to walk through this journey with them is an honor and a privilege.

The church work is also on the verge of some kind. Over the past two months of so we have had a weekly meeting with Arabs and Kurds to read the Bible. Most come from Muslim backgrounds and have come to understand the biblical Jesus over the past weeks. They’re learning to trust him more as Lord too. The difficult part will be in the next weeks and months to integrate them into some kind of body of believers. So that’s exciting too.

For 2018 I hope to see multiplication of disciples in Kaiserslautern. There is a big evangelism event in February we are participating in as a church. I’m not a huge fan of big events to evangelize people. But it’s a method that God also uses around the world. Why not in Kaiserslautern? We’ll see what happens. Please pray for that as you think about us. I would like to see the church service attendance double in size in 2018. It’s totally possible. Maybe my vision is even too constricted. We are seeing cool stuff here in Germany that I wouldn’t have thought possible even a few years ago. Please pray for the Father’s will to be done here.

A big fat thank you is also in order for so many friends and family who support us in our work here in Germany. We’re seeing more and more fruit from the work. None of it would be possible without you at home making sure we have what we need to stay here. May God our Father bless you for blessing His Kingdom work.

Peace and love,

Mike