Thanks.

WOW! We have completed our first 8 week INTENSIVE language course at Goethe Institute. We finished the day before Thanksgiving - you know that we were thankful. We were even more thankful for the number of opportunities that we had to share and build relationships. We shared almost everyday during our lunch break with several people from a large Middle Eastern country. We talked with them about what our relationship with the Father means to us. We talked about culture and somehow the love of God kept coming through. We had the opportunity, thanks to a news report, to share about Thanksgiving and how the turkey being "pardoned" at the White House was not a sacrifice of thankfulness as a part of a national day of thanksgiving. With the couple of days between language learning opportunities we have taken a short "mental health break" and done several small things to make our apartment a little more homey; things that have needed doing since about the time we started at Goethe. We are thankful as well for getting settled into our apartment in Lorrach. Thanksgiving has taken on a bit of a different twist this year for Paula and me. We are deeply thankful for not only the ministry that we now have, but for the organiztion that is making it possible. We are thankful for the "gemeinde" that we have joined as a place to worship; the bonus there is that we are stretched to learn our new language. We are thankful for the people that the Father has placed in our way as opportunities for ministry, and as our trainers, and as our mentors, and as our friends. We are thankful to be a part of the Master's plan. We are thankful for the "folks back home" who faithfully remember us in their prayers and we are thankful for the support they provide through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and Cooperative Program.

Please Pray for opportunities for us to continue to share the Father's love with our friends from Goethe Institute;

Please Pray for our next language learning experience, beginning in early December;

Please pray for and about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this year. As you pray, allow the Spirit to lead you in making missions a priority in you giving. We depend upon your generousity to be able to continue fulfilling the Master's plan as He has called us to do.

Ray and Paula

This is not a Lawyer joke . . .

Did you hear about the French lawyer who met the American missionary on the steps at the Goethe Institute in Germany? Today, during one of the breaks at Goethe, I spoke with Sabastian, a French lawyer in my class. As we chatted, he told me that on Nov 29, the 1^st Sunday in Advent, he and his wife were going to have their son baptized. Wow! talk about an open door to share!

I told him that I thought that it was good that he wanted to have his son baptized. This gave me an opportunity to share the Gospel with him, right there on the stairway between the ground floor and the first floor.

I explained that as Baptists, we do not baptize infants, but wait until we are old enough to choose for ourselves to be baptized. I explained that we do not sprinkle water on the one being baptized but that we are completely immersed in the water. I told Sabastian that baptism did not save us, but that it is symbolic of what we believe – Jesus died for our sins, was buried and on the third day rose again. We are buried with Him, by immersion in the water. Our coming up from being immersed is symbolic of being raised to new life in Christ.

Before we had to go back to class, I was able to explain to Sabastian that we must accept, by faith, that Jesus has died for our sin and that it is only by faith that we are saved. He was very interested in our discussion. When I spoke with him later, he confirmed that he was Catholic, but his wife was not. If I had to guess, I would say, she is like so many of the folks around us, without any religious faith at all.

On the other hand, did you hear about the three Saudi Arabian dentists . . . Paula and I continue to share ourselves with the Saudi Arabian couples. Of this group, three of them are, in fact, dentists. They have come to Germany to further their education and to study in their chosen specialty. What began as Paula sitting with one of the women in her class during the lunch break has blossomed into a regular “lunch bunch.” We all share our mid-day snacks and are learning about each other’s cultures. Spiritual matters are a regular topic of discussion in English, German, Arabic and sometimes a combination of all three. Two of the women are pregnant and this gives Paula, in particular, an opportunity to share with them from a mother’s perspective. All of the Saudi couples are about the same ages (or younger) than our kids. Parenting across cultural lines allows for us to share God’s insights as parents.

Please pray that I will have further opportunities to speak with Sabastian about the things that really matter . . .

Please pray that God will place questions in Sabastian’s mind regarding salvation for which he will need to find answers . . .

Please continue to pray for our lunch group from Saudi Arabia that we will influence their lives even as they return to KSA.

Tales from the Goethe Lunch Bunch

This afternoon is a RED LETTER day! When we came home from language school, our internet was working. We have had a borrowed wireless hook up since we have been here. For the past several weeks, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. We Praise God even on the days that it is less than perfect! That is a large reason why we have been sporatic in our blogging. When I have the time, the internet is not cooperating. When it strikes my brain that we need to update our supporters and co-workers, the internet is not working. Our friends in other places will understand. Paula wrote to one of them and told them that we actually have a date for our service to be hooked up on the 12th of NEVER!

We are well past a month on the field and it is beginning to be a lot like Herbst in Germany. The weather here in the Drilaenderecke (corner with three countries) is better most of the time, but it has turned cold and rainy. It is supposed to snow sometime this week. Ah, just like we remember Germany in the Fall.

In the mean time, we have decided that we will go to the Baptist Church here in Lorrach as long as we are here. We have been Baptists for over 30 years and Baptists are the ones who support us through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Besides, this little church reminds us of so many to which we have belonged over the years. From time to time, we'll probably find ourselves in a different worship place, but "Es gefaehlt uns" (We like it).

Our ministry continues, even at our language school. We have taken to bringing a bag of crackers or chips or cookies to share with our group of Saudi Arabian couples. They are all professionals and are here to further their educations at the University of Freiburg. One will complete a surigical residency in Ear Nose and Throat doctoring and another will be studying prosthedontics. Even though we have learned a lot about Saudi culture, we are passing on things that trully matter. Today we learned that most of them had never seen snow! Our friend from Sri Lanka said, "You know, as a man from a tropical island, I always believed in snow, even though I had never seen it until I came to Germany. It is the same with God, even though I have never seen Him, I still believe that He sent His Son to take away my sin." This will be a topic for discussion on another day, but for today it was just the right illustration. Just as the bell rang to return to our classes one day last week one of the Saudi women asked "Why did God have a Son?" Paula answered as part of the discussion that followed, that we are not able to and have never been able to save ourselves. That very morning we had read that Jesus is the ONE and ONLY mediator between God and man. The Saudis agreed that man was definitely separated from God - even in Islam God is Holy and man is not. Hey, haven't we heard that somewhere before?

Please Pray with us about our witness to Saudi couples at language school. Pray that we will be bold in our witness and that God will create in them a need to hear more of our story. Pray that we will be able to continue our relationship with them even after we go our separate ways.

Please Pray with us for our friend Renate. Today she had to place her mother in a nursing home. She lives on a small pension and will need to ask for Social Assistance to be able to have her mother in the nursing home.

In early December we will be traveling to Munich for a meeting with our Team. We will also be visiting with Renate and other friends whom we have known for 30 years. Please Pray with us as we prepare for our Team meeting and for the visits with our long time German friends.