January Update

Dear Friends,
In December we asked you to pray with us about a place that we were hoping to rent for our church. Unfortunately, the landlord decided to rent to someone else. We’re very disappointed but are accepting it as God’s will and trusting that He has some place even better for us in mind. And so we continue to search. Please keep praying for us in this regard.

Thanks for praying for our Christmas Eve celebration.  The two young refugee men we invited had the courage to come, enter our home and celebrate with us.  We had a wonderful time of dining and sharing, with much conversation about the significance of the Christmas holiday.  They even attended a late Christmas Eve service with us.  Pray for openness to the Spirit’s work in their minds and hearts.
 

Meanwhile, our ministry to refugees in the Pastorenatelier continues to hearten us. Their stories are stirring and their determination to make a new life for themselves here inspires us. On Wednesday afternoons we offer German lessons followed by English instruction. Jeff Imperial, one of our newer GEM colleagues, helps to head up the English group. Last week he posted this to Facebook:

Tonight I had a great opportunity to help a 16 year old young lady from Afghanistan. She is studying English presently and I was able to assist her with a project at our weekly Deutsch/English Nachhilfe session. In our work here, we have come across many types of personalities, good and bad. It's just like you would find anywhere else. This particular young lady moved here with her family in 2015/16. She immediately was plugged into school and began learning German (including the alphabet), and then 6 months later she was learning English. By the way, her spoken English is good enough to live in an English speaking country. She was not allowed to go to school in Afghanistan. She was of course very polite, and seemingly very smart.

But as a teacher, I saw something. She had an excitement and drive to learn. I was really moved by it. It was one of my favourite moments since we have been here. Her project was about serving others because she wants other people to have the opportunities that she has had here. As we work with different people from different cultures, I am regularly moved by their experiences. Many of the people that are here from other countries are driven to succeed and thrive. They understand that there are no guarantees, and want to make the most of the opportunities they have been given. I was thoroughly impressed with this student. It is difficult for them to consider other spiritual paths, because theirs is so engrained culturally, so we work to be the light, we share what we believe, and we pray that the Holy Spirit moves.

This month we celebrate 27 years in Germany. More about that in our next update. Stay tuned!

Gratefully,
Jason and Sue