Dear family and friends,
Wow, time is flying by and it has been a while since our last update. You may be wondering what in the world the McSweeny family is up to!
For one, we have finally moved to Frankfurt and it has taken a little while to settle down and get ourselves organized. (We were also without telephone & internet for over two months.) We love our new surrounds and feel like we have the best of the city life with the best of nature. We live in a small village that is incorporated into the north side of the city of Frankfurt. There is a lot of nature around us: fields, trees, and even a river. (Not to mention ducks, swans, frogs, and muskrats! Really!) In spite of this, we have a subway station and are only 15 minutes away from the city center. Our place is accessible either by subway, bus, fast train, or two different freeways. We also have a little more space than our last apartment, which is good for our home fellowship. A couple of weeks ago we just had a large housewarming party here as well.
The ministry is going well here. Now that we have settled in, we are ready for more ministry to take place. We had a great BBQ with the home fellowship where we decided to move the Bible Study to our place and have it every Wednesday. We are going to keep our once-a-month Saturday meetings but use them as more of a fellowship time to reach out to people who may not come to our Bible Study. We have had two midweek studies so far and we are going through the book of 1 John. I decided to teach entirely in German, which is a major milestone for me. That was a lot easier than trying to organize having a translator every week. This past week I taught in German for a full hour, so my capacity is definitely increasing. Praise the Lord! Otherwise we feel our ministry is to the people around us. We enjoy inviting people over and getting to know them
Work is going well for both of us. I am enjoying the extra hours that I have because I no longer have to commute so long. (It was previously over 5 hours a day!) I really enjoy working and love the “routine” that it brings. (I never thought that a routine could be positive!) Linda is able to work from home most of the week, but often drives to Siegen for business. Speaking of that, the family business is going through some hard times at the moment. They are having to cut costs and take some extreme measures, but so far they have not had to lay anybody off. They have dedicated the business belongs to God and they want to be a witness to Him.
In late August my mom and step-dad visited us. Linda and I took some vacation so we could host them and do some sightseeing. We all had a great time and I am very thankful that our immediate family gets along so well. It would be too much to list all that we did, but a vacation did us well. We enjoy having guests and were able to put our new sofa bed to use.
Prayer requests:
Please pray that God would bless our midweek service that people would have victory over the things that keep them from coming.
Pray for the family business, that God would continue to provide business for them. Pray that their faith in God would impact those around them.
Please pray for a couple of the husbands in the home fellowship. They show little interest in the things of the Lord. Pray that God would touch their hearts, and that we would be able to effectively minister to them.
Thanks for all your prayers and support! God bless!
