Here's the latest information on Jim:
The colonoscopy that was scheduled for Wednesday (after having already been rescheduled from Tuesday) finally happened on Thursday. Apparently during the procedure they found a "small, cancerous tumor" in his large intestine, and this cancer has metastasized to his liver, explaining the tumors they already found there. He was able to come home from the hospital yesterday, and now they're awaiting an appointment for surgery to put a port in his chest through which they can administer chemotherapy.
According to Elsa, besides feeling weak and dealing with the uncomfortableness of an enlarged liver, Jim's feeling okay right now. Their daughter, Karin, will arrive in town from Switzerland this evening to stay for a few days, and I think this visit will be a really good thing for all of them. The emotional support alone will be a great help to Elsa. The congregation can do a lot to comfort and to ease the burden of daily tasks like cooking and cleaning, but other people, even close friends and fellow Christians, can't provide the support that family can.
The rest of us are suffering through this in our own ways. Jim means a lot to a lot of people, and to many here he fills the role of a spiritual mentor and father figure. Despite our own personal difficulties, though, I think we all realize that this is much more painful for Elsa and, obviously, Jim. We're all trying to do whatever we can to help out. I've known since I arrived that this congregation is like a family, and I'm seeing that even more so now.
In much less significant news, the repairman finally came on Thursday to fix my water heater. Between the letter that I wrote on Tuesday and a few phone calls from Elsa on Wednesday, things got moving much faster. Thursday evening, though, I noticed that the heater was dripping from several places. Yesterday I left a message for the repairman, but I don't expect to hear from him until Monday. At least the heater isn't making the horrible noises it was making before.
Thank you for your prayers for Jim as well as for the rest of us here. Please keep praying. Prayer really is powerful, and I know God is listening.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Something a bit less serious....
After the emotional weightiness and dreariness of yesterday's post, I thought today I'd share something a bit lighter with you.
I recently heard this joke, and while I think it's funny anyway, I enjoyed it more since I actually understood it in German:
Two toothpicks were walking through the woods. Suddenly, one of them noticed a hedgehog walking by.
One toothpick to the other: "I didn't know the bus stopped here."
*buh-dum bum*
See? I told you it was funny.
I recently heard this joke, and while I think it's funny anyway, I enjoyed it more since I actually understood it in German:
Two toothpicks were walking through the woods. Suddenly, one of them noticed a hedgehog walking by.
One toothpick to the other: "I didn't know the bus stopped here."
*buh-dum bum*
See? I told you it was funny.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Back in the Blogosphere: Part 2
As I said in the previous post, a lot has happened over the past couple weeks:
1) We had a gospel meeting on September 14th and 15th. Josef Achatz and his wife, Uschi, come twice a year to Bremen from Augsburg. Now that Josef is retired, he loves traveling to different places to preach. The invitations sent out declared that "some burning questions will be explained," and I'd agree the lessons were a bit controversial for many people here. The topics discussed were "Why does the world need Christian congregations?" and "The fullness of life is found only in Christ!?" I honestly was a little surprised at how many visitors we had. I didn't hear any official numbers, but I know the room was full both nights, and quite a few of the members of the congregation weren't there.
I was also surprised at how much I understood. When Josef was here last January, I had a really hard time deciphering his Bavarian accent. When Americans think of German sounding "harsh," they're thinking of High German, which is spoken most purely in northern Germany, with Hannover supposedly being home to the most original version of the language. In Bavaria, though, the people speak a dialect closer to Swiss German, and both Bavarian and Swiss sound to me like the speaker is trying to sing while speaking. The pronunciation is much softer, and there is a lilt to the voice that isn't present in High German. Not to mention that some words and genders of nouns are different from those in High German. For some reason, though, this time I could understand Josef, perhaps because I talked with many Swiss women at the ladies' retreat in Neckarzimmern in May. Whatever the cause, it was nice to see an improvement in my language skills.
Overall, the gospel meeting went well. Josef did an excellent job, using multiple passages from Scripture to back up each of his points. Many people asked questions afterward, and good conversations resulted. Hopefully this will be the beginning of further contact with some of the guests.
2) Rebecca, Mimi and Rüdi's 4-year old daughter whom I've babysat many times, was admitted to the hospital last Tuesday because of breathing problems. Her blood oxygen saturation levels were low, and the doctors decided she had some type of lung inflammation. They put her on an antibiotic and started doing breathing treatments several times a day.
Rüdi was not able to work for most of last week because he had to stay with 2-year old Johannes while Mimi was at the hospital with Rebecca. On Friday Karen and I took turns staying with Johannes so that Rüdi could relieve Mimi at the hospital, and that afternoon I went to the hospital with Mimi and Johannes to visit Rebecca and to watch Johannes. Rebecca's room was about twice the size of an average U.S. hospital room, and Mimi and Rebecca's roommate's mother both were able to sleep in the room on beds next to their children's, which was nice for both families. Rebecca was basically confined to the bed because of her IV line and oxygen machine, and the oxygen tube taped to her little face made her look like she had grown cat whiskers. She seemed to be in good spirits, though.
I watched Johannes again on Sunday afternoon, and when Mimi came home, she said Rebecca was doing much better and would probably be released on Monday. Today I found out that she in fact was released from the hospital yesterday and should be able to go back to Kindergarten tomorrow. We are all thankful that she seems to be feeling better.
3) On September 13th, I discovered an orangish-brown puddle under the water heater in my bathroom. When I finally was able to talk to my landlord that evening, she told me I needed to call the repairman the next morning because she was going out of town. So, I called, and he said he could not come until Monday. When he came and looked at the heater, he decided he needed to order a replacement part and would call me when it arrived.
Now, a week later, I still haven't heard anything. To understand the full impact of the situation you have to know that the heater provides hot water for the shower and sink in the bathroom as well as for the radiators in my apartment. Without it working properly, I obviously have no hot water in the bathroom and no heat for the apartment. While I'm thankful it's September and not January, it has been in the 40s and even in the 30s at night here, and my apartment gets pretty cold. Also, it's nice to be able to wash your hair every so often. Mark and Karen have been kind enough to let me stay at their apartment several days, but Mark's parents and sister arrived in town today for a visit, so they already have enough house guests. Besides, when I'm paying the rent for my apartment, I'd like to be able to actually live there.
I decided Monday that enough was enough, so I called my landlord. After a couple tries, I finally reached her son and left a message for his mom to call me. She didn't call back, so today I tried again. Still no answer at home or at her work. So, this evening I wrote a letter and put it in her mailbox. I really wasn't sure what else to do. She still hasn't gotten in touch with me, so Elsa said she will try to call tomorrow and complain for me. Hopefully, hopefully, the situation will be resolved soon. I really don't want to threaten to not pay the rent (that doesn't exactly seem like a Christ-like thing to do, in my opinion), but that's the point I'm at with the situation.
4) Jim is, as Karsten announced at church Sunday, "schwer krank" (very, very sick). It started about 2 weeks ago with a sore throat and a weak voice and has come to the point of him being hospitalized on Friday. They've done just about every test imaginable and early on decided he had pericarditis (an inflammation of the sac around the heart). Now there are tests showing he has tumors (yes, that's plural) in his liver and spots on one of his kidneys. This evening at ladies' Bible class Elsa used the word "cancer" for the first time. Elsa said last Thursday the doctors were saying the tumors looked like "secondary tumors," but they didn't know from where they had originated. I've heard the word "Darm" (intestines) tossed around the past few days, and tomorrow a colonoscopy is scheduled, so I gather that they think he might have colon cancer. (Please know that last part is conjecture on my part based on all that I'm hearing.) Elsa also said this evening that it looks like the pericarditis and tumors are unrelated, though the pericarditis has led to the discovery of the tumors, which is a blessing.
To complicate the situation further, Jim and Elsa's daughter, Diana, is expecting a baby in about 2 weeks. Elsa was supposed to go the States to help Diana and then Jim planned to come a week later. After a visit with Diana and her family, Jim and Elsa would begin their annual furlough, traveling around the U.S. visiting family and supporting congregations and individuals. All of those plans have been put on hold for now.
I don't yet know exactly how all of this with Jim is going to affect me and my work here. When Elsa told me on Thursday about the tumors, I felt numb. Since Jim has been in the hospital and tests are still being done to reach an accurate diagnosis, the numbness has been joined by overwhelmingness. I think I could better deal with the situation if we had a definitive diagnosis. If the doctors said, "He has ____," then I could begin to deal with that. But while you wait for a diagnosis, you don't know how you're supposed to feel or what direction you're supposed to take in beginning to adjust and to cope. I know Elsa is experiencing this in a way that's so much more highly magnified than any of the rest of us, and so far she seems to be holding up well.
For me, though, I think the fact that both of my grandfathers and my mom have all experienced serious health problems in the past couple of weeks, and the stress of dealing with that from a quarter of the way around the world, added to Jim's situation, has overwhelmed me. I pray and hope for healing, and I ask God for inner peace in dealing with all of it. Besides that, I'm trying to go about the parts of my routine that are separate from Jim and Elsa, and I'm seeking ways to help however and whomever I can. I don't know what else to do right now.
5) The bright spot of the past week happened last Wednesday evening. After Bible study, Katia was baptized. She apparently studied with Jim and Elsa and attended church services a couple of years ago after the last campaign group from Harding University was here, but then she began attending a Portuguese-speaking Pentecostal congregation in Hamburg with her mother. She called Jim and Elsa recently (about the same time Jim was beginning to get sick), saying she wanted to be baptized, and was able to meet with them for a couple of Bible studies. She then decided that she was sure about baptism, and plans were made for Wednesday night. Katia wanted Jim to baptize her, but he was just not feeling well enough to be there, so Elsa asked Wolfgang to do the baptism. It was the first baptism in the new baptistry, and everyone was a little worried that the water pumps might not work right, but it all turned out great. We're all thrilled to have a new sister in Christ and, since Katia has decided not to continue going to Hamburg with her mother, a new addition to the congregation. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the actual baptism, but I do have these:
Please, please pray for all that is going on here. Pray for Katia in her new walk with Christ. Pray for Jim and his health. Pray for Elsa and strength in dealing with the situation with Jim. Pray for Diana and her anxiously-awaited baby. Pray for me and the rest of the congregation that we might be able to help the Springers through this. We covet your prayers, and I know God hears them. How He will choose to answer them, though, we're still learning.
So often we don't see God's plans until after they've unfolded. While "they" say that hindsight is 20/20, I'd still really like to have perfect vision before then. Does anyone know where I can get the "hindsight glasses" now? No? I guess I need to shop for a large portion of patience instead.
1) We had a gospel meeting on September 14th and 15th. Josef Achatz and his wife, Uschi, come twice a year to Bremen from Augsburg. Now that Josef is retired, he loves traveling to different places to preach. The invitations sent out declared that "some burning questions will be explained," and I'd agree the lessons were a bit controversial for many people here. The topics discussed were "Why does the world need Christian congregations?" and "The fullness of life is found only in Christ!?" I honestly was a little surprised at how many visitors we had. I didn't hear any official numbers, but I know the room was full both nights, and quite a few of the members of the congregation weren't there.
I was also surprised at how much I understood. When Josef was here last January, I had a really hard time deciphering his Bavarian accent. When Americans think of German sounding "harsh," they're thinking of High German, which is spoken most purely in northern Germany, with Hannover supposedly being home to the most original version of the language. In Bavaria, though, the people speak a dialect closer to Swiss German, and both Bavarian and Swiss sound to me like the speaker is trying to sing while speaking. The pronunciation is much softer, and there is a lilt to the voice that isn't present in High German. Not to mention that some words and genders of nouns are different from those in High German. For some reason, though, this time I could understand Josef, perhaps because I talked with many Swiss women at the ladies' retreat in Neckarzimmern in May. Whatever the cause, it was nice to see an improvement in my language skills.
Overall, the gospel meeting went well. Josef did an excellent job, using multiple passages from Scripture to back up each of his points. Many people asked questions afterward, and good conversations resulted. Hopefully this will be the beginning of further contact with some of the guests.
2) Rebecca, Mimi and Rüdi's 4-year old daughter whom I've babysat many times, was admitted to the hospital last Tuesday because of breathing problems. Her blood oxygen saturation levels were low, and the doctors decided she had some type of lung inflammation. They put her on an antibiotic and started doing breathing treatments several times a day.
Rüdi was not able to work for most of last week because he had to stay with 2-year old Johannes while Mimi was at the hospital with Rebecca. On Friday Karen and I took turns staying with Johannes so that Rüdi could relieve Mimi at the hospital, and that afternoon I went to the hospital with Mimi and Johannes to visit Rebecca and to watch Johannes. Rebecca's room was about twice the size of an average U.S. hospital room, and Mimi and Rebecca's roommate's mother both were able to sleep in the room on beds next to their children's, which was nice for both families. Rebecca was basically confined to the bed because of her IV line and oxygen machine, and the oxygen tube taped to her little face made her look like she had grown cat whiskers. She seemed to be in good spirits, though.
I watched Johannes again on Sunday afternoon, and when Mimi came home, she said Rebecca was doing much better and would probably be released on Monday. Today I found out that she in fact was released from the hospital yesterday and should be able to go back to Kindergarten tomorrow. We are all thankful that she seems to be feeling better.
3) On September 13th, I discovered an orangish-brown puddle under the water heater in my bathroom. When I finally was able to talk to my landlord that evening, she told me I needed to call the repairman the next morning because she was going out of town. So, I called, and he said he could not come until Monday. When he came and looked at the heater, he decided he needed to order a replacement part and would call me when it arrived.
Now, a week later, I still haven't heard anything. To understand the full impact of the situation you have to know that the heater provides hot water for the shower and sink in the bathroom as well as for the radiators in my apartment. Without it working properly, I obviously have no hot water in the bathroom and no heat for the apartment. While I'm thankful it's September and not January, it has been in the 40s and even in the 30s at night here, and my apartment gets pretty cold. Also, it's nice to be able to wash your hair every so often. Mark and Karen have been kind enough to let me stay at their apartment several days, but Mark's parents and sister arrived in town today for a visit, so they already have enough house guests. Besides, when I'm paying the rent for my apartment, I'd like to be able to actually live there.
I decided Monday that enough was enough, so I called my landlord. After a couple tries, I finally reached her son and left a message for his mom to call me. She didn't call back, so today I tried again. Still no answer at home or at her work. So, this evening I wrote a letter and put it in her mailbox. I really wasn't sure what else to do. She still hasn't gotten in touch with me, so Elsa said she will try to call tomorrow and complain for me. Hopefully, hopefully, the situation will be resolved soon. I really don't want to threaten to not pay the rent (that doesn't exactly seem like a Christ-like thing to do, in my opinion), but that's the point I'm at with the situation.
4) Jim is, as Karsten announced at church Sunday, "schwer krank" (very, very sick). It started about 2 weeks ago with a sore throat and a weak voice and has come to the point of him being hospitalized on Friday. They've done just about every test imaginable and early on decided he had pericarditis (an inflammation of the sac around the heart). Now there are tests showing he has tumors (yes, that's plural) in his liver and spots on one of his kidneys. This evening at ladies' Bible class Elsa used the word "cancer" for the first time. Elsa said last Thursday the doctors were saying the tumors looked like "secondary tumors," but they didn't know from where they had originated. I've heard the word "Darm" (intestines) tossed around the past few days, and tomorrow a colonoscopy is scheduled, so I gather that they think he might have colon cancer. (Please know that last part is conjecture on my part based on all that I'm hearing.) Elsa also said this evening that it looks like the pericarditis and tumors are unrelated, though the pericarditis has led to the discovery of the tumors, which is a blessing.
To complicate the situation further, Jim and Elsa's daughter, Diana, is expecting a baby in about 2 weeks. Elsa was supposed to go the States to help Diana and then Jim planned to come a week later. After a visit with Diana and her family, Jim and Elsa would begin their annual furlough, traveling around the U.S. visiting family and supporting congregations and individuals. All of those plans have been put on hold for now.
I don't yet know exactly how all of this with Jim is going to affect me and my work here. When Elsa told me on Thursday about the tumors, I felt numb. Since Jim has been in the hospital and tests are still being done to reach an accurate diagnosis, the numbness has been joined by overwhelmingness. I think I could better deal with the situation if we had a definitive diagnosis. If the doctors said, "He has ____," then I could begin to deal with that. But while you wait for a diagnosis, you don't know how you're supposed to feel or what direction you're supposed to take in beginning to adjust and to cope. I know Elsa is experiencing this in a way that's so much more highly magnified than any of the rest of us, and so far she seems to be holding up well.
For me, though, I think the fact that both of my grandfathers and my mom have all experienced serious health problems in the past couple of weeks, and the stress of dealing with that from a quarter of the way around the world, added to Jim's situation, has overwhelmed me. I pray and hope for healing, and I ask God for inner peace in dealing with all of it. Besides that, I'm trying to go about the parts of my routine that are separate from Jim and Elsa, and I'm seeking ways to help however and whomever I can. I don't know what else to do right now.
5) The bright spot of the past week happened last Wednesday evening. After Bible study, Katia was baptized. She apparently studied with Jim and Elsa and attended church services a couple of years ago after the last campaign group from Harding University was here, but then she began attending a Portuguese-speaking Pentecostal congregation in Hamburg with her mother. She called Jim and Elsa recently (about the same time Jim was beginning to get sick), saying she wanted to be baptized, and was able to meet with them for a couple of Bible studies. She then decided that she was sure about baptism, and plans were made for Wednesday night. Katia wanted Jim to baptize her, but he was just not feeling well enough to be there, so Elsa asked Wolfgang to do the baptism. It was the first baptism in the new baptistry, and everyone was a little worried that the water pumps might not work right, but it all turned out great. We're all thrilled to have a new sister in Christ and, since Katia has decided not to continue going to Hamburg with her mother, a new addition to the congregation. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the actual baptism, but I do have these:
Please, please pray for all that is going on here. Pray for Katia in her new walk with Christ. Pray for Jim and his health. Pray for Elsa and strength in dealing with the situation with Jim. Pray for Diana and her anxiously-awaited baby. Pray for me and the rest of the congregation that we might be able to help the Springers through this. We covet your prayers, and I know God hears them. How He will choose to answer them, though, we're still learning.
So often we don't see God's plans until after they've unfolded. While "they" say that hindsight is 20/20, I'd still really like to have perfect vision before then. Does anyone know where I can get the "hindsight glasses" now? No? I guess I need to shop for a large portion of patience instead.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Back in the Blogosphere: Part 1
I know, I know. It's been a while.
Various people have sent me emails commenting on my deficit of new blog posts. Those emails have ranged in tone from "Just-wanted-to-see-how-things-are-going" to "Have-you-died?" to "Post-something-NOW." I'm not going to make excuses for not posting, but I am sorry for not keeping you all in the loop and for making you worry.
And yes, I finally did get my laptop cable back from Mark and Karen. I didn't realize how much I depend on my laptop until I couldn't use it. Besides being my access to the internet and my word-processor, my laptop also serves as my television, DVD and CD player, radio, photo album, schedule planner, news source, and sometimes my telephone. It's my lifeline.
Here's a quick rundown of what's happened over the past couple months:
- Amanda's wedding. I was able to go to the States for a short visit to be in my sister's wedding. (Hence my "leaving" and "back in Bremen" from the last two posts.) It was really good to see my family and a few friends. Almost two months later, though, it still hasn't really settled in for me that Amanda's married.
- Soyoung returned to Seoul. I got back to Bremen early enough to spend some time with Soyoung before she left. Stefanie had promised back in the early summer that she would take Soyoung to the North Sea, and Ingrid and I were able to accompany them as Stefanie made good on her promise. We went to Cuxhaven and Duhnen, neighboring towns on the coast. One of the coolest things about the North Sea (or at least this particular area) is that the tide goes out for about two miles. You can literally walk out across the sand to a small island. That is, as long as you start heading back to shore before the tide comes in and traps you there...or worse, somewhere in the middle. We didn't walk all the way to the island, but we did collect some seashells and just enjoy the nice weather. In the first picture you can see how far out the tide goes. The little dots on the ground are "mole hills" from sand worms.
I was able to study the Bible with Soyoung one more time, and the congregation had a farewell dinner for her on her last Wednesday here. Mark and Karen and I have tried to keep in touch with her and have offered to continue Bible studies long distance.
- Bible studies. I've been involved in a number of studies since I got back from the U.S. None of these are for the purpose of evangelism but instead are intended for the encouragement and spiritual nurturing of the participants. These are the studies I'm involved with:
I'm also still attending the weekly ladies' Bible class that alternates between morning and evening meetings. The morning study has been looking at the lives of female characters in the Bible, and we just finished discussing Mary of Bethany. The evening group is working through a discussion book written by Elsa on the letter to the Ephesians.
- "Work." I've started working in Jim's library again trying to organize and catalog his books. I really enjoy the job, but I can't handle more than about an hour and a half of it at a time. About half of the books are in German, and at a certain point my brain begins turning to mush as I try to decide what they are about, the authors' purposes in writing, and how Jim might use them.
Jim, Elsa, and I have also been trying to plan new evangelism projects. Jim began creating advertisements for English studies, but I honestly was not looking forward to going that route again. The last time we placed ads in the newspaper, all of the respondents were between 50 and 75 years old, and that age group in Bremen isn't exactly the most open to new ideas. I talked with Jim and Elsa about it, and all three of us are excited about coming up with new ideas and trying new methods of outreach to younger generations. I really believe the new church building and its neighborhood provide a lot of opportunities for ministry that weren't available to us before, and I'd like to take advantage of those opportunities. I'm also trying to devise ways to better reach out to the children both in the congregation and in the community.
Two Saturdays ago we had a block party to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood. The neighbors all seem to be glad that the bar (the former occupant of the church building) is gone, but they had been a little curious about the new people on the block. We had a great turnout for cake and coffee in the early afternoon and then salads and grilled sausages in the evening. Helga planned some activities for the kids, and, after learning that I had helped with the puppet ministry at church in the States, she recruited me to play a role in a puppet show. I played a Scottish boy named John who was being snubbed by another boy because he had red hair. To emphasize John's "foreignness," Helga wrote grammatical mistakes into John's lines, and let me just say my perfectionism had a difficult time letting me read them as written. Overall the day went well, and we pray that future contacts will come from the fellowship together. (By the way, the boy making fun of "John" eventually learned that he should love people as Jesus loves them.)
A lot has happened here in the past week and a half or so, but for a couple reasons I think I'll wait until tomorrow to talk about that. One, there's a lot to tell. Two, I want to get a couple updates at church tomorrow morning before posting about the situation. For now I'll just say this: Jim is not doing well. He was admitted to the hospital yesterday for more tests. Please pray for him and for his health. Please also pray for Elsa as she copes with the situation.
I pray that you are doing well wherever you are. Thanks for your prayers and concerns for me, and thanks for being patient with me. Bis morgen....
Various people have sent me emails commenting on my deficit of new blog posts. Those emails have ranged in tone from "Just-wanted-to-see-how-things-are-going" to "Have-you-died?" to "Post-something-NOW." I'm not going to make excuses for not posting, but I am sorry for not keeping you all in the loop and for making you worry.
And yes, I finally did get my laptop cable back from Mark and Karen. I didn't realize how much I depend on my laptop until I couldn't use it. Besides being my access to the internet and my word-processor, my laptop also serves as my television, DVD and CD player, radio, photo album, schedule planner, news source, and sometimes my telephone. It's my lifeline.
Here's a quick rundown of what's happened over the past couple months:
- Amanda's wedding. I was able to go to the States for a short visit to be in my sister's wedding. (Hence my "leaving" and "back in Bremen" from the last two posts.) It was really good to see my family and a few friends. Almost two months later, though, it still hasn't really settled in for me that Amanda's married.
- Soyoung returned to Seoul. I got back to Bremen early enough to spend some time with Soyoung before she left. Stefanie had promised back in the early summer that she would take Soyoung to the North Sea, and Ingrid and I were able to accompany them as Stefanie made good on her promise. We went to Cuxhaven and Duhnen, neighboring towns on the coast. One of the coolest things about the North Sea (or at least this particular area) is that the tide goes out for about two miles. You can literally walk out across the sand to a small island. That is, as long as you start heading back to shore before the tide comes in and traps you there...or worse, somewhere in the middle. We didn't walk all the way to the island, but we did collect some seashells and just enjoy the nice weather. In the first picture you can see how far out the tide goes. The little dots on the ground are "mole hills" from sand worms.
I was able to study the Bible with Soyoung one more time, and the congregation had a farewell dinner for her on her last Wednesday here. Mark and Karen and I have tried to keep in touch with her and have offered to continue Bible studies long distance.
- Bible studies. I've been involved in a number of studies since I got back from the U.S. None of these are for the purpose of evangelism but instead are intended for the encouragement and spiritual nurturing of the participants. These are the studies I'm involved with:
- Gospel of Mark, with Mark, Karen, Stefanie, and sometimes others
- Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God by Henry Blackaby and Claude King, with Mark and Karen
- Book of James, with Mimi and Ingrid
- The six major covenants between God and man, with Jim
- Assorted Bible topics, with Jutta
I'm also still attending the weekly ladies' Bible class that alternates between morning and evening meetings. The morning study has been looking at the lives of female characters in the Bible, and we just finished discussing Mary of Bethany. The evening group is working through a discussion book written by Elsa on the letter to the Ephesians.
- "Work." I've started working in Jim's library again trying to organize and catalog his books. I really enjoy the job, but I can't handle more than about an hour and a half of it at a time. About half of the books are in German, and at a certain point my brain begins turning to mush as I try to decide what they are about, the authors' purposes in writing, and how Jim might use them.
Jim, Elsa, and I have also been trying to plan new evangelism projects. Jim began creating advertisements for English studies, but I honestly was not looking forward to going that route again. The last time we placed ads in the newspaper, all of the respondents were between 50 and 75 years old, and that age group in Bremen isn't exactly the most open to new ideas. I talked with Jim and Elsa about it, and all three of us are excited about coming up with new ideas and trying new methods of outreach to younger generations. I really believe the new church building and its neighborhood provide a lot of opportunities for ministry that weren't available to us before, and I'd like to take advantage of those opportunities. I'm also trying to devise ways to better reach out to the children both in the congregation and in the community.
Two Saturdays ago we had a block party to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood. The neighbors all seem to be glad that the bar (the former occupant of the church building) is gone, but they had been a little curious about the new people on the block. We had a great turnout for cake and coffee in the early afternoon and then salads and grilled sausages in the evening. Helga planned some activities for the kids, and, after learning that I had helped with the puppet ministry at church in the States, she recruited me to play a role in a puppet show. I played a Scottish boy named John who was being snubbed by another boy because he had red hair. To emphasize John's "foreignness," Helga wrote grammatical mistakes into John's lines, and let me just say my perfectionism had a difficult time letting me read them as written. Overall the day went well, and we pray that future contacts will come from the fellowship together. (By the way, the boy making fun of "John" eventually learned that he should love people as Jesus loves them.)
A lot has happened here in the past week and a half or so, but for a couple reasons I think I'll wait until tomorrow to talk about that. One, there's a lot to tell. Two, I want to get a couple updates at church tomorrow morning before posting about the situation. For now I'll just say this: Jim is not doing well. He was admitted to the hospital yesterday for more tests. Please pray for him and for his health. Please also pray for Elsa as she copes with the situation.
I pray that you are doing well wherever you are. Thanks for your prayers and concerns for me, and thanks for being patient with me. Bis morgen....
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