Coming this summer...

Thought we would give an official update on all that is new in our life here back in the States. First, the biggest news in our life is that we are expecting a baby! A little boy due on August 4th! We are very excited and are looking forward to receiving this lil' blessing! So crazy he will be here in just a few months!

Secondly, we will both be working at Camp Sandy Cove in West Virginia this summer. We move out to the camp on May 1st and will be there until the baby is born in August. Paul will be working as the Unit Director of the 12 and up, which includes him teaching daily chapel times, worship leading and the management of a staff of counselors. And I will be working in the office as an office lady. :) Please be praying for us and the staff at Sandy Cove, that the Lord would give us wisdom and unity. Please also pray for the kids that will be attending camp, that they would have a real encounter with Jesus and that this summer would be the summer they choose to follow Him!

Pictures from summer 2010:

Counselors

Staff

Recent staff promo video:

Thank you all for your prayers and support! We so appreciate all the love you all have continually shown us!











Shalom

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to let you all know that we are Stateside! We flew home on last Saturday after a busy week of moving, selling and cleaning. We stayed our last week with Chris and Nada. They were great, helped us so much in all the things we had to finish before leaving Germany. On Saturday Chris and our friend Tim drove us to the Frankfurt airport at 3am to make our early morning flight. (Thanks guys, that was such a blessing for us) We arrived in JFK and were greeted by my Dad and brother Josh who helped us with all our luggage. We drove home to Virginia from JFK. But before we got home, we swung by Red Robin's to eat a real American burger and milk shake. It was so good!!!

Anyways, this past week we have been trying to recover from our jet lag as well as cold we picked up somewhere. (Probably the airplane) But hopefully we will be totally recovered soon!

We just wanted to thank you all for all your prayers and support over this past year and half. You all have truly been such a blessing and a comfort to us. May the Lord greatly bless each one of you for your faithfulness and generosity. We will try to update you all with our plans soon now that we are home!







Shalom.

Returning home

This Christmas was really busy for us.  There was a special Christmas eve service that we hosted that went very well.  I also was invited to play some Christmas songs for a Christmas party with a friend here which was a really cool opportunity to share Jesus with a large group outside of the Church.

On Sunday Chris had asked me to share a message with the Church about our testimony of coming to Germany and all the things the Lord has been teaching us since we came here.  I shared from Genesis 22 which was concerning Abraham sacrificing Isaac to the Lord.  The message was really focused on sacrifice and obedience to the Lord, trusting God for things in our lives that will only make sense when looking at them in reverse.  Quite a few people gave me positive feedback that the Lord had really spoken to them through this message.  I'm praising God for all He's been doing here in our lives and in our Church, I know He who began this good work will be faithful to complete it.

This month has been busy as we are preparing to move home to the states.  Selling and finding new homes for all our things is proving to be a little bit more difficult that I had anticipated. We have to deal with some paper work and utility companies, cancel all our services and such (all in German).  Germans are very pedantic about paper work it seems.  This move is going to be pretty stressful for us and we really ask that you all would be praying that God gives us favor and helps us to finish well.
Our flight is scheduled for February 4th in the morning from Frankfurt to New York and we will be driving from New York to Washington D.C.  The last few times we flew home we got hit with snowstorms so hopefully Lord willing we break that trend this time!

Here's a picture of us all skating in Hamburg on one of the biggest outdoor skating rinks in Europe!

Jesus Freaks!

This weekend we were unable to meet at the Y.M.C.A. but fortunately the "Jesus Freaks" have a building downtown and they let us use it on Sunday morning.  It was a sweet experience to be able to meet downtown and worship the Lord together.  There were quite a few new people that came and visited us.  It's really beautiful to see how God has given us favor and provided all our needs here.  Our fellowship here has been very well received by the other Churches in Muenster and there really is a sense of unity here that is really strengthening all the Churches.

There will be a few more special services this month, and some outreach opportunities.  Please pray that these events go well and the Lord guides us in all that needs to be accomplished in the next weeks.

One year anniversary!

"I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens, And Your truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth." Psalm 57:9-11

This last Sunday we celebrated our one year anniversary since our church officially started!  We had a wonderful time together praising God for what He has done this past year.  Our official documents for government recognition of our Church and our non-profit status were signed and authorized this week as well. For us this marks a very important milestone! God has accomplished what we have been praying for. This church has become an established fellowship here in Muenster.

It's been a difficult journey to get here and we've had to press through some serious opposition, but God has been faithful to provide for all our needs every step of the way.  This job that I have been working for the past eight months with Microsoft has been an amazing unexpected blessing and provision for us to afford living here. Right now I'm still working at Microsoft but I will be finishing my contract at the end of November. Our visa's will expire in March so I wanted to have the next few months to focus on helping there be a smooth transition of the worship ministry as well as getting everything sorted out with our apartment before we have to move out the end of January.

Thank you so much for those who have prayed and supported us this year.  These next few months will be challenging with all these transitions happening.  We will be coveting your prayers more than ever as we want to finish our race strong. Thank you for your love and support!

Shalom~ Paul