| Where did this month go anyway! I just dropped Olivia off at school for her first day as an 8th grader. Noah begins his 2nd week today at Black Forest Academy on the other side of the Rhine. Angela and I await the workers today to replace the linoleum in our entry/downstairs hallway. It's not even yet September and the new beginnings are budding! I just celebrated 48 years a few days ago and yesterday we celebrated 23 years together...the best is yet to come!!! What you've prayed for: - School Prep - The construction is not quite finished yet but has advanced. We DO need continued prayer for the school for workers and finances to finish everything. We're hoping that it will all be done by the end of September. The over all computer network has made advances most regular maintenance is complete, but I still have some loose-ends to tie up in the next week.
- Worship - Our summer worship times are over, and the best part (for me) is that everyone agrees that something needs to continue on a regular basis. Angela and I want to give time to this but September is a hard time to start as I'll be away for 3 weeks of it.
- Building - It looks as if our church, in order to buy our building and move forward, needs 150,000 euros as a down payment sometime in the next 3 months. We're so far out of our comfort zone with all this...only God can make this happen. Not a bad place to be really.
- Discipleship - I've had one meeting with Matthias so far but no contact since then with vacations intervening. So we need to move forward more on this one.
- Reinforcements - We say goodbye to Rusty and Janet this week - "au revoir" - literally, "until we see each other again" - 'cause they're leaving with the conviction that this is where they will return permanently next year. Yippee!!!! We had a wonderful "love feast" with them after church yesterday as a send-off and we can see the lives they've touched (us included) and the relationships they've entered into this summer...VERY rich! Now our anticipation is building for Alana's arrival in October to stay 3 months. God is so good to bring reinforcements and sow into His own Garden that we might be fruitful.
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- The Trip! - This month is punctuated pretty much by one thing...I'm traveling to the States September 10th-29th to visit my family in Indianapolis! Since the last time I've been home, my parents have moved out of the house I grew up in to be on the other side of town near my sister and Rachel has joined them while she studies Graphic Design in Indianapolis. So both my parents and my daughter are experiencing new seasons in life...and I want to go and taste a bit of it with them! This trip is many-faceted...not the least of which is the time that Angela and Olivia will have together. Also while in Indy, I'm looking forward to connecting with Rachel's church (which seems to have a LOT in common with our own), and I'll be attending my 30th high school reunion (how did THAT happen!) Please pray for the preparations to leave (turn-over at school and church for technical responsibilities); the travel (strength and vitality!); Angela and Olivia (safety, provision, rich mother-daughter times); that I could be a blessing for my parents; God-connections everywhere!
- New Foundations - Both Angela and I, and several other people in our midst were able to profit enormously from one of the pastoral ministry tools that Rusty and Janet brought with them this summer - SOZO (http://www.bethelsozo.com/). There is a sense that this is a foundational "brick" that the Lord has brought to our community (and to us as individuals), to facilitate His process of building in and through us. Some training, in which Angela participated, was also done this summer, but much more is needed to really establish this here. We have recognized for some time, that pastoral care is not the primary gifting of the group of people we work with, but that it is nonetheless a significant need if God is to continue to develop what He wants here. So, please pray for those of us who have received this ministry that the changes in our heart would be established, and for those who have begun training in conducting the ministry that the training would be finished appropriately so that the ministry could be established in our midst.
- Host Family - This week we begin hosting one of Olivia's classmates, Pauline, for Tuesday and Wednesday night throughout the school year. Angela spoke about her in her last newsletter. Please pray that we could sow good things into Pauline's life and provide a loving atmosphere for her to thrive in while she's in our house.
Merci beaucoup!
David |