German

Learning another language is not always so easy. God has blessed us so many ways in our language learning process. We have been bold in this new language and learning relatively quickly. Something that I have noticed though is it is especially hard to be yourself in a different language, to feel that comfort or make jokes. Our german teacher told me once that for every language you can speak you have a different personality. I didn't really believe it but thinking back on the last 8 months, it's true. We are not generally as talkative and it takes a lot more motivation to initiate conversation at times. However I have been seeing this slowly change, which is really exciting. We have been talking more and more in German and depending less on our English, even with many of our friends and the youth kids. Recently I spent a few hours with a friend on a walk and I really felt like I had been myself, even though it was all in German. I definitely think part of it is because I feel very comfortable around her but also I'm getting more comfortable with the language. Also this week I have been the coordinator for the tutoring program that we run and even though I was really nervous to talk with parents and the other helpers, God has given me the courage and allowed me to communicate all that I needed to. Praise God!

Yesterday was a big moment for me to see how far Seth had come in German. We had our English Camp church service. So all the families from everyone at camp was invited to all come together. Our team here organized the service and there were probably 250 (I'm bad at guessing) but it was definitely way more than normal. We each had our tasks that we were in charge of and Seth's was to interview some campers and leaders up front so everyone could hear about some of their experiences. It was all going to be in German and he had prepared all of the questions in advance. I expected him to simply read the questions but man was I surprised. He was himself, almost just as much as he would be in English. He was telling jokes and responding well to their answers. It was really cool to see everyone laughing. It probably sounds small but recently German has been really encouraging and helping us to feel more like we belong here.

But also, just about every time we are feeling encouraged about how much of the language we are understanding, we are then in a situation where we realize how much more we have yet to learn. Last night was one of those nights where we were spending the evening with six or so college students. They were mostly all speaking in dialect and we understood very little. I think it is good though to have those moments, not to get too confident and to be continually in the learning mode. You can definitely be continuing to pray for us in this process because it will definitely continue to be a barrier that we are needing to overcome.

Thanks for all your prayers with the Lernhilfe. It has been going great so far and we have been having more kids signing up all the time. It has been a challenge at times as I have been talking with parents as well as the various volunteers but God has been providing! Be praying though for more kids to come!

Lighthouse

This week we had a Lighthouse team meeting so we had various people there representing the different groups that meet there, many of which we are a part of: Youth group, Friday Night hang outs, Lernhilfe, counseling program and various prayer groups. It was so exciting for me to be there, not only because it was in German and I understood most everything, but also to see how God is working. A lot of times I take things as they come and don't necessarily realize the big picture. It is amazing though to see God's hand in every program we have at the Lighthouse and to see all the different ways new people are getting connected and people are hearing about Christ. It is really a blessing to see how Christ works.

Things to be praying for:
- The youth group starts this Saturday night, we are doing a little bit of a different format this year and will be presenting it to the kids. Pray for hearts that are wanting to learn more about Him!
- These next two weeks the tutoring (Lernhilfe) program coordinator will be on vacation, so I will be in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly, I am a little nervous mostly for the idea of talking on the phone with people in German. But I know God will provide and it will be a great learning experience for me.
- I am working on connecting with a birthing center, not only for the birth of our child but also for the many classes they offer that would help me connect with other pregnant women now and then other moms of young children in a few months. I am really nervous about this because I have no idea if anyone there can speak any English. This is a big step for me with my German, since I have almost always been in an environment where there is someone that could translate near by or the person I was speaking with could understand at least some English as well. I am trusting God though that He will help us to communicate and understand regardless of which language is used.
- Mine and the baby's health. We are now entering the third (and last) trimester. Also be praying for a quick and healthy delivery.

Lernhilfe

I have been trying to get in a habit of updating once a week and I picked my day to be Thursday. Since we have arrived home from our summer travels, I have been doing well at each Thursday morning, posting about the previous week (and I hope this continues). Today however was a little bit different, this morning, I completely forgot (even though I have an alarm on my phone). As I was getting ready to eat lunch before heading to the Lighthouse (I was covering the open office hours from 12-2) I all of a sudden remembered. I was thinking then about how that was probably a blessing because office hours tend to be rather slow and I could do it then. However, I forgot again. It ended up getting pushed back until now 9:40pm and I must say God made that happen for a reason. And I am excited to share with you a little bit about my day.

This week was the start of our after school tutoring program at the Lighthouse (it's called the Lernhilfe). School started this last Monday, and so we opened as well even though students won't have homework the first week. Because we do not actually need to help with homework, it is more of a hang out week. So far we haven't had a lot of students sign up, but that is mostly because there is not a need yet (I pray that we will have more next week). However we are very excited about the 3 new students we had sign up who have committed to come for the whole year, every day (most sign up for a semester first and only a couple days a week). We are very excited for those relationships to grow. 

Today, a mother came in with her daughter. She had received one of our fliers outside her daughters school that we were handing out a couple days this week. She had lots of questions and just wanted to observe how it worked before she committed to registering her daughter, understandable. With this week being different and just a time to hang out, I was a little nervous but her daughter jumped right in with different games and things that was going on and seemed to be having a great time. I could overhear Roman (our Lernhilfe coordinator) talking with the mom and she seemed to be very pleased with the environment and what she was hearing. Then one of the kids wanted to go downstairs so naturally she asked what was down there. He began to explain how it is a prayer room that a group of people use and have meetings at a few days a week. It is first and foremost a place to pray so if it is in use the students can not go down there but if its empty then they are allowed to go down and play the various instruments and use the space. The mother all of a sudden got very defensive, saying she did not want those kinds of influences on her daughter. Roman was assuring her that we do not preach to the students who come but they all know that we are Christians and that if they have an questions or problems we are always there to help. Some have taken us up on that. 

Right away I was bummed thinking we wouldn't get to see this girl again but at the same time happy that her mom knew right from the start and not later and be upset with us. I ended up going down to the prayer room with the kids that were there and we played instruments and talked and had a great time. I proceeded to play games with the kids throughout the afternoon, always being aware that the mother was talking the whole time with a couple of the other leaders (I think it was for almost 2 and a half hours). At the end of the day, I wasn't sure where she stood, I just knew her daughter had a great time and really connected with the other kids. After they were all gone I went to ask my boss if they would ever come back again. And he said definitely and shared about how the mother went from being skeptical to accepting to asking questions. They had a long talk about God and what they believe. In the end when we would be closing she asked if she (the mother) would be able to come back again and talk some more. I was blown away and am so amazed to see what God can do, even in just an afternoon. My first thought after hearing a little what the mother had to say after hearing about the prayer room was to accept defeat. God had different plans in store and I am so grateful for that. It says in the bible to ask and it will be given to you, I didn't even ask and even if I would have, it would have been that her daughter would be able to come back again. I wouldn't have even imagined asking that someone would be able to talk with her for hours about God. I am still blown away. I would love it if you all could pray along with us for the whole family and that God will continue to draw them in towards Him and that we as leaders at the Lighthouse would be ready and willing to be used by Him. Also be praying that God will bring in more students this next week and that He will use the Lighthouse to reach many more people.

Hiking

This last Friday we went hiking with some people from various German classes that we have had. It was a lot of fun to all be together. It was very excited and encouraging to see how much we could communicate. Four of us had been in the very first class together when we knew almost no German. Communicating at the beginning was pretty minimal. It is amazing to see how far we have come and how conversation was pretty much constantly flowing last Friday. I am so grateful to see how God has developed our German skills since coming. It is crazy for me to think about knowing that our classes were only ever in German. On Friday I got the opportunity to speak individually with our teacher which I really enjoy. She was praising our German, saying that normally when people go through just 5 months of her German class, they are not as advanced as Seth and I are. It was a big encouragement to hear and all I could do was praise God for blessing us so much. Please be praying for our relationship with our teacher as I have had the opportunity to talk about some pretty personal and spiritual things with her. She will be moving at the end of the month to Italy. She just finished law school and has to do her internship in Italy because she had studied in Italian. (She grew up in a bilingual home). She will be only about an hour by train away from us so we do plan to visit her still but be praying that God will give more opportunities for us to share about Him.

(not the best picture and we were missing one person as well. But we were all very tired as we had reached as high as we were going on the hike, where there was a little restaurant and we were able to get something to eat :)

Overall since coming God has really blessed us in not being homesick. Of course we miss our family and friends and being with them but God has really sustained us. Skype has also been great with connecting with friends and family. However this week has been a little more difficult. As silly as it seems, it was caused by football season starting. This is a time of year where we normally spend a lot of time watching games together with others. With football not being popular here as well as with most games playing in the middle of the night, it is definitely not the same. However, we did enjoy through skype watching the Nebraska game this weekend with some of my family. That was really good for me to do, even if we couldn't always tell what was going on in the game :)

This week has also been a great opportunity in connecting with youth! Seth and I were both able to connect with multiple new students in a one-on-one setting. It was awesome to see as those we met with opened up and really began to share their hearts with us. It is awesome to see what God is doing right now! Please be praying as school starts on Monday that we will continue to be able to connect with these kids even though there schedules are getting a lot busier. Also please be praying for one specific girl that I met with this week. She is a regular part of our youth group and church. Her father is not a believer and she was sharing some of the struggles that go along with that. We talked for hours and she really shared how her heart longs for her father to believe and to be the spiritual leader of the family. How she desires to read the bible together as a family and spending time in prayer together. When I left that time, all I was thinking about was how blessed I was to grow up in a family where both of my parents are believers. Something I don't appreciate enough. Please pray along with us for the salvation of her father.