Dear friends and family,
We trust you had a great Christmas season and have “slid” well into the New Year. (On New Year’s Eve, the Germans say, “Guten Rutsch,” or “Have a good slide!”) Linda and I had a great holiday season. Thank you also for praying for our home fellowship’s Christmas party; it went much differently than planned. Since we originally had no response from our group, we decided to open it up to our neighbors. They all gave a very favorable response but an hour before the start every single one of them had cancelled. However, we were surprised to have a few people show up from our group after all. We sang a few Christmas songs (the godly kind!), I gave a short message on Christmas, and we had the typical “White Elephant” gift exchange. We even had dinner music with a flute to open the buffet!
For New Year’s Eve, we had some good friends of ours come over for the evening. We ate well and then went downtown to watch the fireworks. We managed to get a great place on one of the bridges crossing the Main River. From there we could see the river, the skyline, and both river banks. It was calmer than I expected (I have been in some hazardous New Year’s Eve fireworks!) and the view was amazing. It makes a huge difference being able to hop into the subway and go directly to where you need to go while avoiding the crowds (above ground at least!).
This past weeks was the Alliance Prayer Week, where the evangelical churches in Frankfurt come together for prayer and mutual support. It was a great opportunity for us to get to know some of the churches in Frankfurt and to see what God is doing. The leader of the Alliance has a real heart for Frankfurt and for evangelism. We are looking forward to the various events during the year and to next year’s prayer week.
Thank you for praying for the Pieck family. God has answered them and the family is currently in preparation to go aboard ship. Besides their ship being forced into retirement, the family that was going to rent their home backed out due to financial difficulties. However, God opened a door for them to serve on the other OM ship, and they decided to rent to this family for a reduced price. Please continue to pray for them, that God would use them and that He would provide for their every need. On top of the support money they need for themselves, they also have to make payments on their home.
Linda and I have decided to move to a new direction for our Wednesday evenings. After a time of prayer and worship at home (we need to wait in case people show up), we are going to go into the city and pray for it. This is also a good way to get vision for the city and to get to know the various city districts.
Here are a few prayer requests on our heart:
1) Please pray for peace in our building. There is a lot of unrest in the building and one tenant is being forced out over something very minor. The issues are mainly due to stubbornness and pettiness. So far Linda and I have managed to stay “neutral” and we still have favor with the owner. Pray that we could be a good witness and that there are no further evictions.
2) Pray that our Saturday fellowships would be more attended and that God would use them to build up those that come.
3) Pray for a blessed time during our Wednesday prayer walks through the city. Pray that God would give us vision and direction.
4) Pray for the Pieck family, for God blessing and provision for their missions venture.
5) Please pray for my father-in-law’s business. The financials from last year have come in and the year was worse than expected. The “financial crisis” apparently is not over for the company. Not only does Linda’s entire immediate family work there, they also have other employees to care for. They desire to be a good witness for the Lord so please pray for them.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
