Germany: In April, er macht was er will

In April the weather does what it wants.

The weather here has been unseasonably warm, in fact all winter it has been so. Not once has it snowed here in Siegburg, which is good for me since I am not so fond of the cold and my main mode of transportation is a bicycle. However the last week or so has been exceptionally strange. On Monday I woke up to t raining and then as I went out for the day it was sunny, then it started to hail, and so the cycle went around and around. For the most part it has been really good weather! The blooms came out early and have already fallen, and in this area greenery has come early!

Last month ended with the Palow wedding between Matthes and Tine (Rempel). I was invited by the family to take pictures for the Standesamt Hochzeit. This for most Christian families is very small with only a few people invited, but is the state official wedding. Here they sign the marriage license along with the official witnesses and is done at City Hall (Rathaus). The following weekend was the Church wedding and it was beautiful. Christine’s Dad, Brother, Uncle and Cousin sung a quartet of a song called “Gott Segne Dich” (God Bless You). No it’s not about a sneeze. Check it out on youtube by the link below! Awesome song!

The following weekend I was with the dad of my Host family helping remove a kitchen to send to a missionary family in Southeastern Europe. It turned out to be a much dirtier job than expected. The best part is that when we took the box that held the oven to the trailer and had it tilted up to stack on top of another cabinet a dead rat fell out!! Karsten, my Host dad, said that kitchen is at least 30 years old and I bet that rat is 20 years dead, haha! Ugh craziness!

The next weekend I was with a lady from the church in Lüdenscheid for a gospel choir workshop. It was interesting to work on singing correctly …. in German. There was a lot of good conversation with the people from the church there. Of course anywhere I go new, there are a set of questions everyone is very curious about: Where are you from? How long and since when have you been here? Why are you here for so long? What do you do all day?

At the same time things are developing in the world of Baseball Camp and its ministry. We have had a great response for translators this year and our team in the states is slowly coming together. There are still a lot of roles to fill, so if you are reading this thinking, I would like to be a part of this missions trip this summer let me know and I will get you connected with the right people! In addition we have been given the opportunity to have a time slot in a local gym near the Kaufland in Siegburg to play baseball and any other sport that we would like. My hope is that this will be the key that carriers on our efforts to have consistent contact with people from baseball camp! If you haven’t heard my spiel, baseball camp is an incredibly affective ministry that connects un-churched people with the people of the church. However this is only one week of the year. My goal is to create an opportunity to carry that momentum and interest from the week of Baseball Camp to become a year ‘round connection and ministry. Be in prayer that there will be someone to lead and carry on the ministry as my time here comes to an end.

Following His Call