Denn euch ist heute ein Retter geboren -

Today in Germany we are getting ready for Heiligabend. This evening there will be a lot of celebrating and gift giving and gift receiving in homes. Some people will go to church this evening, although, most will not. We are encouraged when we hear on the street or in the shops, even on the radio, people wishing each other “Ein gesegnetes Weihnachts und einen guten Rutsch in neues Jahr” (A blessed Christmas and happy new year) rather than the generic “happy holidays.”

For us, the entire year of 2009 was an exceedingly blessed year. We began 2009 with the missionary appointment process well underway. In February our candidate consultant called us to let us know that we had been approved for appointment. In March, we partook in God’s blessing of sending our daughter and two of our grandchildren to Korea to join our son-in-law in his posting there with the US Army. We flew to Taylors, South Carolina for a week of filling out more paperwork and more interviews and meetings that culminated in our appointment. God further blessed us to be able sort through 35 years of marriage organizing what to put in our overseas shipment, what we needed to give to our kids, sell or just plain give away. After our crate was packed, God blessed us with a month long trip to say our goodbyes to our kids in Washington and Korea and our parents in Oregon and California. God’s blessing shown all through the commissioning service at our home church in Copperas Cove, Texas. Three days before we were to leave for orientation in Virginia, a routine dental exam revealed the urgent need to replace a 2 unit bridge. God arranged to have us on our way, with the bridgework completed and seated in less than 2 weeks after the exam! God showered us with his blessings once again!! During our 8 weeks and 3 days of orientation, we were blessed daily by the ways God used the ministry of Elbert, the entire ILC staff and our fellow missionaries. God so completely orchestrated ALL of the details of getting us to Germany. God has blessed us with housing, transportation and all that we need to be here. Only a few days after we arrived, God blessed us with a ministry at our language school. Those groups of people that what we call churches in America are called “gemeinde” (community) here in Germany; God has blessed us to land in the midst of a community of believers here. God’s blessings are new every day. He has blessed us so much more than we could have ever dreamed or imagined. The greatest blessing of all, is “Denn euch ist heute ein Retter geboren, welcher ist Christus, der Herr, in der Stadt Davids.” (today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David)(Luk 2:11).

Of course in the story, there are shepherds that were blessed, first by the angel and then by getting to be the first folks to see Jesus. They were just regular folks like us who had received a blessing. They were compelled to go and tell the rest of the world what had happened in Bethlehem – they had been blessed to be a blessing!

Hopes for a white Christams melted this week when the temps went up to +3.5C

Pray with us:

That God will open our eyes every day to visualize those blessings that the world does not want us to see;

That God will use us who have been so blessed, to bless those who have never had a chance to hear God and receive His blessing;

That God would bless you, the reader, and then that you might become a blessing as were the shepherds who were compelled to tell the rest of the world what they had seen and heard;

That our friend, Lottie Moon, will receive a blessing poured out of the windows of heaven, that is full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and still running over!

This next week (Dec 28-31) as we go to Zurich, Switzerland for our annual year end retreat. We will be praying through and working on:

What makes our family unique?

The answer to this question should be two or three sentences that describe how our family is different from any other family in the world. If you don’t know what differentiates your family from others, you won’t have a basis for making decisions, and you’ll try to be all things to all people.

What is our top priority—rallying cry—right now?

Rallying Cry: The rallying cry is a single, agreed-upon top priority for your family over the next two to six months. Without a top priority, everything becomes important and you end up reacting to whatever issues seem urgent that day.

The 12th of Never has Arrived

The 12th of Never has ARRIVED! we finally got our internet up and it is working. I feel a little like one of those cell phone ads in the states with a background of 6 bars of connection!

We have not been idle since we got done with Goethe. As a matter of fact, we have entered a new phase of language learning - more practical than just going to school everyday. We are in essence doing what I used to do as a Chaplain - wandering around (with a purpose) and talking to people.
We spent last weekend visiting friends in our old hometown on our way to a team meeting in Munich. Practically from the time we arrived in Memmingen, we were practicing our language. We spent 5 hours catching up with our friend Renate - Even though she speaks English, our conversation was in German. We talked about old times, we talked about going to church, we talked about family, we talked about sad times and happy times. It was good to visit.
We connected with some other friends that were responsible for our becoming members of a little German congregation nearly 30 years ago. Marlies told Paula that it only took us about 15 minutes to cover 3 decades of being away . . . We went to church with Marlies and Petros and were truly blessed to have been there. After we ate lunch and chatted with them for an hour or so, we were off to Munich to meet with our team.
We got a good glimpse of what we will be about when we get there . . . for now, we will focus on our language learning and be content in whatever state we find ourselves in (be it confusion or Baden-Wurttemburg). We have more than enough to learn right here in Lorrach.

Please Pray with us about:

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. It is that time of year again when we as Southern Baptists collectively (no pun intended) support M's serving overseas. We are deeply grateful for your gifts and for your support. We are all feeling the effects of the current financial situation, but in the case of many M's like us, we feel the pinch in being less able to do what you have sent us here to do. We have to wait for much needed new personnel on the field. Please pray for not just meeting our LMCO goals this year, but for a change of heart amongst our people to see the need of the Great Commission and respond accordingly.

Our Language and Culture Learning. Although related to the prayer request above, it is encumbant upon us to learn the language; even though funds for our language learning have been effected by the financial situation. We have embarked upon a practical phase of language learning during which we will not be in formal language school, but wandering about (with a purpose) talking to folks; using a "language partner" to help with the difficult bits. We are also mixing in a portion of our cultural learning. We are not for want of something to do.

Our Team in Munich. We visited with our team this past weekend and began being teammates. We have a great vision to see Munich won over for the Lord, churches planted and new leaders sought out and trained. There is a LOT of work to be done, and the workers are few (Sound familiar?). Please pray for the immediate focus for our teammates. Only one of our team families is in Munich right now.

We are looking forward to the Day later this month when we will celebrate the birthday of the King. The space beneath our tree will not be empty, but well not be buying a lot of other stuff just to fill it up. God has blessed us with more this past year than space allows me to tell. The most precious Gift of all He gives us new every morning, anyway!

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.

Jehovahjireh - The Lord will provide

The Lord will see to it! This morning, once again I went to the names of God for part of my time alone with Him. Paula and I have been inundated with language learning and there doesn't seem to be enough time or space in our brains for all that we are trying to learn. But God will see to it. A long time ago, a really old dad took his not so young son on a trip to worship the Lord. They took everything they needed to worship. They even had their offering - the son didn't know it, but he was to be the offering! On the way to the place of worship, the son asked his dad where was the offering. His aged father replied, " . . . the Lord will see to it." The really great part of the story is that the Lord did provide an offering instead of the son, but not before it was time. God will see to our language learning and He will provide the time, the rest, the brain capacity, everything that we need to do what He has called us to do. In the meantime, we went to Paris last weekend instead of staying home and filling our time with the mundane stuff of life - like studying and doing laundry and writing for our BLOG. We went with the Cultural Program from the Goethe Institute in Freiburg where we are learning German. Really, all we got was a taste of Paris, just enough to whet our appetite and make us want to go back in the Springtime. Having now been to Paris in the fall, I can understand why folks would want to go in the Spring. We went to the majority of the places one would want to visit in Paris. They included, the Eifel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame and Sacre Couer, the Place de Concorde and the Arc de Triumph, the Sorbonne and enough other places to take up the entire weekend.
We know that God was in Paris, long before we got there, but we saw little if any of the evidence. There are over 11 million folks who live there. Please pray that God would provide a beacon of light for them to find their way home to Him.

When we came home form school today we were met on the parkplatz by one of the workman cleaning up the vacant lot next to our apartment building. He was speaking a strange language: Swietzer Duetch or Allemanisch or one he had learned by speaking with Kermit the Frog’s friend, the Swedish Chef. We had a great little conversation about his need for a broom, our being newcomers in Germany, Swuietzer Deutch and the two Americans who could understand nary a word of the “Guten Tag. Wohnen Sie hier? Haben Sie eine Besen?” because it was spoken in the local dialect. We went inside and I thought that there must be a broom in the building somewhere. I looked downstairs and found one in the Hausmeister’s closet. As I was taking it out to the workers , I was met at the front door by our landlady, Frau Vortisch. I explained to her what was going on as she took the broom and handed it to the fellow with whom I had just spoken. She told me that she thought it had been clever of me to look for a broom and then to bring it out once I had found it. Yea, verily, the Lord will see to it.

The stuff of which sentences are made

Yesterday, we turned on the radiators in the living room. This may not sound very momentus, but when one is paying 1 1/2 times as much for everything AND you have to pay for your heat AND the temperature outside has become "Fall-ish" with highs in the 40's - 50's and low temps that make the Iceman smile - well, I think you get the picture!
Actually, we have had a pretty good week (or so since our last post). Grammar - not the fellow that used to play a psychiatrist on TV; the stuff with which sentences are made has not been very kind to us this week. When I learned German in school, I didn't like grammar very much and learned it only to pass a test - that was a mistake. When Paula learned German, it was "by ear" while we lived in Trunkelsburg and there were no grammar lessons. One of the things that they do at the Goethe Institute is stress GRAMMAR! We have spent every afternoon (save the weekends) since we began at Goethe sitting across the table from one another working on our homework. It takes us hours - why? We are having to learn GRAMMAR from the bottom up! I have likened it to dressing ourselves in our school clothes, putting on hip waders and a heavy woolen overcoat and then jumping into the deep-end of the pool. Just about the time we get our heads above water the teachers turn on the 3 inch firehose and offer us a drink! This is only the end of our first full week! Paula has opted to move down a level from the B1.1 level so that she can learn the grammar more effectively. I, on the other hand, will be working on grammar exercises in addition to my homework.
We have had some pretty awesome quiet-times this week. We are still getting up and meeting God the first thing. I have been studying the names of God as a part of my time with God in the mornings. The other morning I found the lyrics to "My Deliver is Coming" by Rich Mullins. I went searching in my E-Bible and found that Jesus is our deliverer - He will get us through the grammar of language learning. Paula is walking VERY slowly through the book of Ephesians and discovering (again) the power that we already possess IN Christ Jesus!
We are also randomly selecting prayer cards from the stack we acquired before we left Virginia and praying for the folks on the cards - a byproduct is that we also will send an email, if we have the address, to the folks we pray for so that we can stay connected. A cord of three strands is not easily broken!

Please Pray for us:

• We have both had colds this past week. While mine has been pretty mild, Paula has had a really tough time with hers.
• We had our first prayer time at Goethe on Friday. There is a group of us who have decided to gather and pray on Friday afternoons – pray that we will be faithful and bold in our prayers for our fellow students and Goethe staff. (Dr and Mrs C, Vimal, R&P [J took the Picture)
• We are in need of your Prayers for our language study. Our lack of grammar effects our speaking and our writing.
• We are going to Paris with the Kultural Program at Goethe Institute on 23-25 Oct. Pray for our leading a small worship service on Sunday morning in Paris before our return trip.