Still plugging along....

Well, now that about two weeks have gone by, I decided it was about time for me to post again. :-)

The past week and a half or so have been really busy. Last week especially I felt like I was going, going, going from the time I got up in the morning until it was time to go to bed at night. I was either in German class, doing German homework, meeting with someone for a Bible study, going to church, working in Jim's library, babysitting, waiting for a maintenance man to clean my hot water heater, or helping with plans for the new church building.

Though the week was crazy, there were a couple highlights. First, I've really enjoyed babysitting for Mimi and Rüdi. As I've mentioned before, they are two of the key organizers of the remodeling project needed for the new church building to be usable, and I don't mind babysitting for them if it allows them to participate in that work. Mimi's architectural expertise has been invaluable throughout this process, and Rüdi, who handles the congregation's finances and is known for his organizational skills, has mapped out a timeline detailing when certain projects need to be started and finished based on the time and money available. I wouldn't be able to do that work, but if I can take care of someone's children so that they can, I feel like I'm involved. Besides, there's just something about playing in a sandbox with children and catching them as they laugh and dive head-first down a slide that can bring a smile to your face.

The second highlight of the week came on Saturday night. Wolfgang and Helga invited me to attend the Philharmonic Orchestra with them here in Bremen. While I've been to several operas and professional plays through the years, I had never been to a Philharmonic concert. As the Germans would say, the concert was "WUN-DER-BAR." The orchestra played the overture to Franz Schubert's "Die Zauberharfe" (The Magic Harp); Carl Maria von Weber's Clarinet Concerto #2, Opus 74; and, best of all, Beethoven's 7th Symphony. The music was amazing, the clarinet soloist played beautifully, and the concert as a whole was well-done.

An update on the people I've been meeting with:

Ute: I have not heard from her in almost 4 weeks, so I've convinced myself she doesn't want to meet anymore. She's the one I said last time that I thought I'd scared away, though I've come to realize that maybe this just wasn't the time or method for her.

Mrs. Busch: I spoke with her this morning, and she said she's decided that she doesn't want to meet anymore. Her friend who she'd said was also interested has made the same decision. It's really tempting to feel like I've been rejected, but when I step back and look at things, what's really heart-breaking is that this person has rejected God, not me. I put all of this in God's hands a long time ago, though, so I'm going to let Him work through it. I had planned to pair Mrs. Busch with Cornelia because they are close in age and speak English at similar levels, so other plans will have to be made.

Cornelia: She still seems happy about meeting with me, though I think I'm going to have to introduce the Bible to our meetings in a different way since I now have no one with whom to put her in a group.

Kristina: It's been a week and a half since I last met with her, and she hasn't returned a message I left for her yesterday. I'm going to try to call her again today and hopefully make another appointment with her. She attends a church in southern Bremen (Lutheran, I believe) and doesn't have a problem with the Bible, so I'm hoping she's still interested in meeting.

Sylvia: I still have not met with Sylvia again. Last week she was sick, and she called me yesterday to cancel our appointment for today. She seems to still want to meet, so we'll see how it works out.

Soyoung: Soyoung is full of excitement and is eager to study the Bible. She's come to every church service for the past 3 weeks and even came to ladies' Bible class Tuesday evening last week, even though it's all in German. She got a job working as an au pair, and last Sunday she moved into the family's home. She's trying to get adjusted to her new living situation, but she's doing some reading on her own, and I hope to meet with her again soon.

Horst: Last week was our first meeting, and it was obvious to me that he was really nervous. He struggles with some self-confidence issues and doesn't think he can speak English well. So, last Monday we spent some time just talking and getting to know each other, and that seemed to help. This week we began a study of the book of Acts, and so far he seems very excited. He even told Elsa I'm a good teacher.

Please pray for all of these people and for me as I work with them. It's sometimes easy for me to focus on what I'm doing and forget that God's behind all of it. Things go much more smoothly when I let Him take control.