September 2010 Issue No. One

~ Special Münchener Edition ~

Ray und Paula im Ruüühestand

Leave of Absence takes us around the World

Lörrach to Munich in Just 4 months

I wanted to begin our new newsletter with just a brief recap of the past 5 months. Many of you may have wondered if we had dropped out, not to be heard from again . . . NOPE! We have just not been able to get connected. The greatest challenge has been getting connected to the internet - not in far away city of Uijeongbu, Korea, but in the relatively civilized

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Frau O.” in Dallmeyr

Probably the most well known place in Munich to have a delicious cup of coffee or tea and a not so low calorie piece of tort or cheesecake or other fine pastry would have to be in the bistro

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Tote Hose In any Language

Every language has its own special way of say things. One of those that we learned recently

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For by GRACE we have been saved through faith . . . to do the good works which God prepared for us in advance.

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Ray and Paula im Ruhestand page2

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from Lörrach to Munich in Just 4 months

and modern city of Munich in Southern Germany!

In the four months that we were away from the field on our leave of absence, we flew from Germany to France and then on to Korea. We were there for 89 days before we flew from Korea to France to Germany stopping long enough to do our laundry and few other chores before continuing on to Newark, New Jersey and then Tacoma, Washington. After 3 action packed and fun-filled weeks we set out for “home” flying back in Munich via Newark, NJ. By the time we got home, we had flown around the world ONE AND A HALF TIMES!

For a little while, we were not sure we would make it home. It turns out that we needed to have a periodic health assessment before going back to Germany. This was not quiet as easy as it sounds. We did get our physicals, courtesy of the 121 Combat Support Hospital in Yong San, Korea But it was not until the very last morning we were in Korea, we learned that we had our health clearance and could return home.

We had gotten permission to visit our kids at Fort Lewis, Washington if everything went according to plan in Korea. We were blessed and are honored to have been able to be there when our son in law returned from Afghanistan just in time for our granddaughter’s birthday. We continue to praise God for his safe homecoming. We got to visit with one of the churches that supports us in prayer while we were in the Pacific Northwest. The only bump in the trip back to Germany was my misreading the time when our flight left SEA-TAC.

We made the flight, but were the last passengers to board before they closed the door!

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“Frau O” in Dallmeyr

above the Dallmeyr coffee company store about a block from the Marien Platz in downtown Munich. Shortly after we arrived in Munich, we were having our afternoon “Kaffeezeit” at Dallmeyr. A nice older lady sat down at the table next to us. We exchanged greetings. She was interested in why we were in Munich. We explained that as retirees we wanted to live Munich for a few years. The conversation turned several corners, and we wound up talking about marriage and, of course, grandchildren. We were able to share with Frau O. that the only reason that we had stayed married was that Jesus Christ was the center of our marriage. Frau O. shared that she was going to the dentist the next day to have some teeth removed so she could have cold have dental implants . . . and she was scared! We shared with her that God reminds us over 350 times: Fürchte dich nichtt! (FEAR NOT). We prayed with her, and exchanged telephone numbers before she had to leave.

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Tote Hose In any Language

was “tote Hose.” Our teacher explained it this way: if you went to a party and it wasn’t any fun, the party would be tote Hose. The time has now come for us to step down from our exciting, fast paced language learning and go back to GRAMMAR class to learn all of those rules that make German

such an easy language!!

Nathaniel William Hammond

I have put off writing until Nathaniel William Hammond arrived. I have the pleasure of telling you now that he made it on time and Mary tells us that he came into the world screaming! Nathaniel was delivered by C-Section on Tuesday morning, May 18 at 8:21. He weighed in at a respectable 8 pounds 12 ounces. His chart states that he is 20 inches tall already. Mary told us today that he has a healthy appetite and will probably need to have a good sized steak before he leaves the hospital. He has a LOT of RED hair. Both Mary and Jimmy are doing great. Jimmy gets to stay in Mary's room at the hospital since there are not a lot of other baby's being born at the moment. The proud daddy got to be in the delivery room when his son was born. Emily and Joshua got to be on the ward when Nathaniel arrived and are the best big sister and big brother a newborn could have. Nathaniel was only about a half an hour old when they posed for a family picture together. Praise God with us for ALL of the events leading up to Nathaniel's arrival and the wonderful answers to your prayers!! Another answered prayer is the manner in which our son in law is recovering from his knee reconstruction. It is difficult to believe that has only been a month ago that he came home from the hospital. Over the course of the last four weeks, he has made remarkable progress in his recovery. The physical therapist is amazed that he is able to walk as well as he does. He attained over 90 percent flexation in just over two weeks of therapy and will be completely off of crutches and driving again in about a week. Praise God for the answers to your prayers for Jimmy. Our time here in Korea has not been spent standing still. We have already made over 35 trips from Uijeongbu to Seoul, specifically the Army Community Hospital. It is only 27 kilometers, door to door, but it often takes over an hour and a half to get there. The other day we were in bumper to bumper traffic for nearly 22.5 kilometers!! Korean drivers often consider traffic laws to be guidelines. Although they do not necessarily want to hit you; they most certainly will take full advantage of your duty to yield to THEIR need to be where you are driving! It is not uncommon for a car, truck (from tiny Bongo truck to 24,500 Kilogram dump-truck) or bus to change one or more lanes without benefit of turn signal or waiting for you to get out of the way. Thank you for your prayers, lifting us up to keep us safe while we are driving here.

The medical care at the Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital has been nothing short of amazing. I have never been the type to complain about military medicine to begin with, having been associated with it for most of my life. These folks set a high standard of care and live up to it. We have been pleasantly surprised almost every time we have dealt with them. We are thankful to God that our company required physical have gone so well. We have a few more of the requirements to check off and we will be able to package our forms up and send them off to be approved for our clearance to return to the field.

Please join us in prayer:

F Our other Son in Law serving in Afghanistan, he should home about the end of June;

F For the results of our Company physicals so we can be cleared, and return to the field quickly;

F Our new place of service in Germany, for the lost who are already there and for boldness on our part to share the Good News with them.

Two down and One to go

We have gotten to the end of yet another month on our journey onward. . . and God is still good! Just a cursory look over the shoulder reveals that God's hand has just been all over the events and places we have found ourselves. From leaving Germany to arriving in Korea; from waking up with the pain of a gall stone to getting Jimmy home from the hospital after an unexpected overnight stay following his surgery; from having our Leave of Absence planned out to having those plans wadded up and thrown out the window of our moving all too quickly adventure, God is still good.

A week or so ago, I was just beginning to recover from having my gallbladder removed - WOW! Talk about unexpected! Apparently I was among those one who didn't see it coming, but the week of events had to pass through His hands before I ever knew what was going on. I'm sure SGT Collins, the exceptional young Medic from the aid station at Camp Red Cloud didn't really want to have to transport an aging retired Major to the Army Hospital in Yongsan, but God sustained this guy on his 2 hours of sleep as he cared for me in the ambulance. The urgent care folks in the hospital were the best and after most of the day under their care, I walked out with an appointment with the surgeon for the following Monday afternoon - all I can say is that God arranged that. God had also penciled me in for the April 9^th on the surgical calendar and appointed the likes of CPT Carter, the head nurse in the day surgery clinic, to take care of me before and after surgery. I am thankful that God guided Dr Richard Inae's hands as he removed my chronically inflamed gallbladder (if not this gallbladder attack, it would have been in the near future) But I am now healing up nicely with four little scars on my belly.

Last week, Jimmy had his knee rebuilt in a three and a half hour operation. His surgeon was guided to just the right solution for Jim to put him back together and be able to go back to being a career Soldier. God cradled my son in law in his arms as he took a little bit longer than planned to wake up. Then God provided a semi private room for Jimmy to be in overnight after surgery. Since no one else was there, Mary got to stay with him and then bring him home on Friday morning. On a scale of 1 to 10 Jimmy's pain was spiking about a 17! God provided for that with some excellent pain management medicine. Yesterday, God provided for Jimmy's need for the best post operative physical therapy through the Chief of the Physical Therapy rewriting the Physical Therapy plan along with his surgeon. Jimmy and I will be at the hospital in Seoul on Tuesday and Thursday for the next several weeks. Jimmy is spending a lot of time just lying on the bed with his leg up on a pillow.

We are now down to waiting for Mary to get the date for her c-section and the mundane stuff of taking care of our grandkids - This is not for the faint of heart. Mary could also come and wake us up in the middle of the night and tell me it is "Time!" WooHoo a trip to Seoul in the middle of the night, "Hey Paula, you want to be in the OR when the baby comes?"

Please join us in prayer:

F For Jimmy's complete recovery and return to duty in less than the time that we have left in Korea (June 12);

F For a safe "on time delivery" for our new GRANDSON, "Mephamyou'll" (Nathaniel);

F Our other Son in Law as he winds down his time in Afghanistan;

F Our Company has informed us that we need to have medical clearance before we can return to the field - no easy task to get a physical and provide the info they need to clear us.

Uijeongbu: It's where we're taking our LOA

We have been in Uijeongbu, Korea for the last 3weeks helping our daughter Mary and son in law Jimmy get over a bit of a rough patch in their lives. Our first week was marked by the recovery from the jet lag we collected on route from Germany to Korea. Our trip took us from Lörrach by train to Stuttgart, where we spent the night before going VERY early the next morning to catch the first leg of our flight to Korea. It was a good thing we had several hours of layover in Paris. The "enhanced" security caught up with us just as we were about to board the bus to the International Terminal at Charles de Gaulle Airport. We stood in one of several very long lines for a very long time. We did have time to do a little shopping in the international terminal before we boarded our plane for the 10 hour flight to Korea. Our route took us over Helsinki, Moscow, Novo Sibirsk, Beijing and finally into Incheon, Korea.
When we arrived, Mary, just beginning her 7^th month of pregnancy, was completely exhausted. Our grandkids were well past being "over stimulated," from the seemingly never-ending trips in the car going back and forth to Seoul on nearly a daily basis. Our son in law is still unable to drive himself regardless of when his commander needs him to work. Our first task was getting ourselves into "the military system" here in Korea. Within a week, we had access to the military installations, our ration cards, my driver's license, and we were enrolled in the military health care plan for Korea. Before the end of our first full week in Korea, Mary was getting a nap in the afternoons and not having to drive Jimmy every time he needed to go. God provided not only the means for us to come to Korea, but had gone before us to each of the agencies we needed to visit getting us enrolled without any problems. Little did we realize what was about to happen.
Very early on Saturday, I woke up with severe pain in my upper abdomen and chest that would not go away. Mary drove me to the closest Military urgent care clinic - on the other side of Uijeongbu; about half hour away. The sharp young medic figured out right away that whatever was wrong with me should be treated at the Army General Hospital in Seoul and sent me by ambulance. At about 3 o'clock that afternoon, after an X-Ray series, a lot of poking and prodding, a CAT scan, and a diagnosis of "Sir, you need to have your gallbladder taken out" the very young Army doctor sent me home with a pile of meds and instructions to return on Monday to see the surgeon. I saw the surgeon as instructed and will have my gallbladder out on 9 April - God is good all the time! I should be healed up in time for Jimmy's surgery on April 15^th and will definitely be ready to drive Mary to the hospital in Seoul when she is ready for her C-section.

Paula is having a ball caring for Emily and Joshua as well as doing laundry, cleaning and cooking for Mary. Jimmy is enjoying the homemade bread. I take Jimmy to work and pick him up as well as do much of the driving to Seoul. The other night I got to "play Army" with Jimmy while he was Camp Duty Officer. We had a great Easter celebration at the South Post Chapel on Yongsan Garrison this past Sunday. We took the kids over to a quiet section of Camp Stanley in the afternoon for a family Easter egg hunt.

Please join us in prayer: ~ Thanking God for his goodness in getting us to Korea and sustaining us;

~ Three upcoming surgeries: Jimmy's knee reconstruction, Mary's C-section, Ray's gallbladder removal;

~ Planning for our return to Germany later this summer

Your Co-Laborers,

Ray and Paula Milburn

See our Face Book page (http://www.facebook.com/rayandpaula) For updates.

He's at work, even when you're not looking

Here it is the end of the first week of March and as I look out of my window at the brightly colored apartment buildings across the street, I see the buds on the big tree in the yard about to happen; the “schneeglöckchen” have already poked their little white flowers above the ground where the snow used to be; the sky is only partially obscured and it is beginning to snow again for the third time today! Ah yes, spring is just around the corner.

Since the first of February we have taken part in a couple of projects. The formal language training that began on February 1 is going very well. Our class has grown from 6 attenders to only 4 attenders. We didn’t have a really diverse group to begin with. There were 4 M’s and a lady from Estonia who lives in Basel, Switzerland. We were joined for a week or so by another M; sadly family issues caused her to drop the course. This week the Estonian lady found a job working nights in Basel and she, too had to drop out. Sadly, in a week’s time the class will be down to just 2 – almost a private lesson for those remaining.

Elena, our teacher, is excellent. She is more concerned that we learn the language than get all the way through the book. Every day is different and well worth looking forward to. We spend hours just talking with Elena, patiently tapping the desk when we don’t get the structure exactly right – the good news is that she is not rapping our knuckles when we put the verb in the wrong place! We seek out every opportunity to share our faith in class with Elena. Even though she is Russian, her German is almost without accent.

Please continue to Pray with us for and about The “other” project that we have been working on. This has been with our kids in Korea – the ones we have asked you to pray about. Almost every day as we have talked with them we have noted that they seemed to be a little more tired than the day before. Even through our SKYPE connection, we could feel the tension and stress of their situation mounting. Jimmy has finally gotten a date for the surgery to repair his “Your NFL career is over” knee injury and Mary was finally told by the folks in the OB department that it was imperative for her to slow down and cut back on her schedule. All of that to say that we have asked for and been approved to take a Leave of Absence to go Korea and help our kids get through the situation in which they find themselves. We spent the better part of a month praying about this. Thank you for joining with us.

We did not arrive at the decision lightly; neither did we take the request for the Leave of Absence lightly. Taking a leave of absence from the Company means that we will be able to go to Korea and help the kids out for a few months and then we will return to Germany. While we are in Korea and away from our assignment in Germany, the Company does not pay us and we don’t receive the Company’s benefits. In approving our leave of absence, the Company was both compassionate and very generous. God has provided for us to be the solution to our kid’s situation. We will fly to Korea on March 14with the intent of returning to Germany later in the summer. Our son-in-law will have surgery on April 15 and Mary is supposed to have the baby about the last week of April. We will remain in Korea long enough to make sure they are able to get back to some sort of normalcy – even though it will be a new “normal” with a third child and a rebuilt knee.

Please be sure to pray for the M’s. Scott and Jo Ellen and Len and Amber will continue at language school here. Pray specifically for them to be able to get out and use their new language as much as they are able to do. Pray that Dad will give them courage to speak up, even if they can only say a couple of words. Also there will be several moves in the next few months. Pray for David and Laura as they change jobs and move back to the States. Pray for Rick and Valarie as they are expecting an addition to their family soon. They are having a tough time in their location.

Be sure to check our Face Book: RayandPaula Milburn for updates and what is going on with us.

Blessings,

The sun is shining, even if you close your eyes!

In our last post I wrote about the number of sunny days we have had here in the Drilaendereck since December 1st. Well, we have not broken any records with the number of sunny days this last month: that is certain. Although today, as we were on an outing through the Algäu, the sun came shining through the high clouds just as we crossed into Freistadt Bayern and pretty much stayed that way all day!

We are continuing with some of the habits we picked during our “Barefoot Language Learning” even now that we have returned to formal language learning. We have continued to meet with a number of “language partners.” We have built relationships with several of them that will probably go on for years after we have moved on. A week or so ago, we met with our language partners for a walk in the woods. Tramping around the top of one of the hills between Lörrach and Weil am Rhein for a couple of hours was their idea of a short walk . . . I forgot that Hans likes to climb mountains for fun! It was a snowy day and walking in town would not have been nearly as much fun. We have also joined a home Bible study group that meets in our area. As we are learning the language, we felt that it was important for us to learn the language that believers use in church and church related settings. Our leaders are terrific! Even though they speak English all we speak is German – what a hoot to sing Fanny Crosby hymns in German. Usually we sing hymns that are only 400 years old. Several of our language partners are a part of “die Eiche” (the Oak) fellowship at church. They have invited us to join them on the third Thursday of the month for their monthly meeting. Since we meet the qualification for membership of being over 50 we accepted. Speaking of church, we have joined the Baptist Church here in Lörrach. We had an interview with the pastor who presented us to the church leadership as candidates. Jürgen was keen on the idea of our being members and then when we do need to move to our ministry location partnering with us in ministry to the Germans. On the Sunday we were accepted as members, we gave our testimonies before the congregation (in German) and had the opportunity to ask the church to partner with us in our “mission.”

As I said, we are back in formal language learning. We are going to a language school in Lörrach, so we walk to class everyday instead of riding the train. There are 6 of us in our class, 3 other M’s and a lady from Estonia. We are having a super time learning. We spend most of our time speaking German on a variety of subjects. We are improving our reading and our writing as well. Following the end of course test we will be on a level that should get us to our ministry setting sooner than we had originally thought.

God continues to bless us everyday . . . could it be that we are meeting Him first thing in the morning? Or could it be that He is God and that we’re not? Or could it be that He loves us more than we could ever dream or imagine? Or could it be that he has a plan and He allows us to participate with Him in spreading His message to the Nations?

Please continue toPray with us for and about our daughter, Mary and our son in law, Staff Sergeant Jimmy Hammond in KOREA. Jimmy saw the orthopedic surgeon earlier this month. He was told that he would need to have physical therapy at least twice a week to reduce the swelling in his knee and strengthen his thigh muscles before the surgeon would operate. He will see surgeon again in early March to discuss a surgery date and further course(s) of action for his healing and rehabilitation. Mary is still pregnant and will have a C-Section at about the end of April. In the mean time she has exhausted herself taking Jimmy to work; to the hospital for regular physical therapy appointments and other appointments in addition to doing all of the household stuff. Our grandkids cannot go into the hospital so even though Mary is taking them along whenever she has to transport Jimmy they are fast wearing out as well . . . Joshy was heard to say the other day, “Mamma, I don’t want to go there today, I just want to stay home.”

Please Pray with us for and about our other son in law, SSG E. B. M., he returned to the warzone following his R&R. If you follow the news, you have already seen what it is that he returned to. As soon as he returned, his living area was washed away in a flash flood. When he called home, he told our daughter that all that he had lost in the flood was 1 pair of socks. Praise God!

Eine Gute Rutsch

Eine gute Rutsch ins neues Jahr! (Happy New Year!)

The other night at church, the leader of our Second Sunday Service (in Englisch) waxed eloquently about life when it is cold and grey. Since his message, we have had 2, yes, count them TWO Sunny days here in the Drilaendereck. That is using the same scale that he used in his message . . . the sun was actually visible for a slow five count. He did enlighten us to the mere 5 sunny days since December 1st. That would mean that only a sixth of the time could have been considered as being sunny. The peculiar bit is that above the clouds, it is ALWAYS sunny!
Today we went to France with some friends from church. It was a minor shopping expedition to find out where to buy the best (and pretty cheap, too) cheese and baguette (it was still warm). They also wanted to show us where we could get diesel for our car for about 10 cents cheaper than in Germany. By the time we had gotten to Saint Louie the sunny day was getting somewhat less sunny. As we walked into what could best be described as a "SUPER WalMart on steroids" but without all of the usual WalMart-ness about it, I inserted my bank card into the automatic teller machine conveniently located at the front of the store. I have not seen the card since it disappeared into the slot on the front of the machine.
I spent about 15 minutes on my cell phone in Englisch and German trying to get someone to help me get my card back. I only made two mistakes. I asked, "Do you speak Englisch?" Ich habe gefragt, "Sprechen sie Deutsch?" But I now have 3 customer service numbers written down in my wallet. Going to the local branch of the bank whose name appeared on the automatic teller machine did provide a face to speak to in German, but not much help in retrieving my card.
C'est le vie! what else was there to do? We bought the baguette and cheeses and with only a short detour to see the pedestrain bridge between Germany and France, we returned to Germany. We dropped our friends off and headed straight to the local branch of our bank.
Apparently losing one's German bank card in an automatic teller machine in France is not all that unusual. Our local teller registered no surprise on her face at all when I told her of my adventures just across the Rhein River. She explained that the card would be returned to the Bank's main office and that in a couple of days I would hear from them to come down and once identified as the owner of the card be allowed to take it home with me once more.
So, what's all of this got to do with what is considered to be a sunny day in the Drilaendereck only about 17% of the time . . . not much really. It is with the 100% sunshiney days above the clouds that it really has to do. If we choose to live underneath the pall of the cold and grey then when our bank card gets stuck in the automatic teller machine, or we don't get the _______ (you fill in the blank), or somebody else's actions just get all over us and leave us in a mess then life is going to be cold and grey. On the other hand, living in the midst of God's grace and mercy and seeking to glorify Him results in the very best even when your bank card gets stuck in a French automatic machine!

Please Pray with us for and about our daughter, Mary and our son in law, Staff Sergeant Jimmy Hammond in KOREA. He did a REALLY good job of destroying his right knee playing basketball with his soldiers on new year's eve. He has had the doc in the Troop Medical clinic, an MRI technician and a physical therapist tell him that his dreams of a career in the NBA/NFL are over. He has not been seen by the orthopedic surgeon - yet. There will be at least 3 surgeries to fix him. Mary is pregnant and will have a C-Section at about the end of April. In the mean time she has to take Jimmy to work; to the hospital for regular physical therapy appointments and other appointments in addition to doing all of the household stuff. Our grandkids cannot go to the hospital so they are in need of someone to watch them everytime Mary takes Jimmy to the hospital in Seoul.

Please Pray with us and for us as we are about to go back to formal language training. We should be going to a sprachschule in the local area. The last two months have been a lot of fun practicing our language on a daily basis, but it is time to go back and hit the books.

Please Pray with us for and about our other son in law, SSG E. B. M., as he is coming home on R&R from a large country in SW Asia, even as I am writing this. His unit has been hit pretty hard over the course of the last six months and he is in need of a break.