Greetings
everyone!
20 March 2007
We are enjoying some of the fruits of Global
Warming if you believe in that theory. We did not have any snow in
Mannheim this past winter and the temperatures have
been very warm. Last year it seemed to snow every day in
January.
Since our last letter we have
continued to expand our comprehension of the German language. Jim
has begun to lead the services as the Gottes Dienst Leiter. He opens
the service, introduces the music, greets the visitors, acknowledges the
folks with birthdays during that week, reminds of the upcoming events, and
leads the congregational prayers. After the first two services, Jim
has settled down from the nervousness and has warmed to the task.
Public speaking for most people is frightfully unimaginable, and
for Jim the task was compounded with a foreign language. There are
times he still looks for words but overall the people of the Freie
Christliche Baptisten Gemeinde are very encouraged by his
leadership.
We informed you of the Youth Group that Jim
started last summer. Since then it has grown to more than 10 youth
every meeting. One of the boys now has his parents attending the
service every week and they are even talking about leaving the state
church to join our ranks. We are still unsure of their commitment to
Christ respecting their salvation which is a hurdle we will need to
overcome before they can join. But as Jesus told the scribe in Mark
12:34, they are not far from the Kingdom of God. For a family to leave the Catholic
state church and remove their name from the church tax system is a major
step for Germans. Americans are free in their church
affiliation but Germans identify their Germanness particularly with the
state church. Their actions are a visible sign of their inward
intention toward the Lord. There is also another Christian family
that has been for years looking for a good church in their area.
Before we arrived in the community they attended the Lutheran church and
were almost disciplined for their outspoken faith in the Scriptures.
Now they are an integral part of the church and are moving toward
membership.
The children are enjoying their life in
Germany. Hannah continues to make new friends
and is learning German through her friendships. One lady at the end
of our row is teaching Hannah German while Hannah teaches her
English. Sarah has a good friend in the house behind us and has
constantly invited her to AWANA but until now she has not come.
Sarah prays for her often. Josiah is in between a little boy and a
grown boy. He is still small for his age (almost 8) but he has the
interests of older kids. His friend lives behind us and is 11.
They get along very well and enjoy their time together. Micah is now
5 and it seems like he has been this age forever. He has been riding
a regular bike since he was 2 1/2 and that has become his passion.
He loves to "get my bike out". Noah is into everything. He
needs constant oversight. He is speaking a lot with a mix of German
and English. We love to hear him say "ses" when he mean yes.
All of the children and their parents have been completely healthy for 6
months! We thank the Lord every day for such a blessed streak
without even a cold.
We had a big event at the end of January when
we all traveled to Maryland for 3 weeks to visit all of our family and
our supporting churches. Jim's grandmother wanted to see us and paid
for the entire trip. We are so grateful for her generosity as the
logistics and cost of 7 people traveling are tremendous. Theresa was
able to spend 4 days in California taking Hannah and Sarah to visit the friends
in our former home town. Jim was able to preach at Perry Hall
Baptist in their new worship center and also speak to both chapels of
Perry Hall Christian School. Jim also helped
LifeBridge Church with some of the renovation of their new
facility before they moved in and began worship services while we where
there. He was able to give an update of the ministry at the first
service in the new facility as well.
Our other major change since the last letter
has been the addition of a young man from Global Outreach Mission that has
come to Mannheim to work with us for 18 months. He comes
from rural Oklahoma and has spent the last 2 years at the Air
Force Academy. He lived with us for the first 2 months until
February 15th when he found an apartment in downtown
Mannheim with 2 university students. He has fit
in very well and has been progressing with the German language. He
has been a tremendous help to our family and we have done all we can to
encourage him. Amazingly I was the exact same age he is when I spent
a year in Mannheim in 1989. And I have already been asked
if I was his father by a clerk at the passport office. I am
officially an old man!
On May 7th we will celebrate our
first anniversary in Schonau at the FCBG. We are grateful for your
investment in our lives here through your financial gifts and your praying
for us. The Lord is good to bless us to see His Kingdom added to
through our efforts. We continue to plod along and be faithful in
the marathon in which we have chosen to run. May the Lord grant you
His peace as you seek to fill your place in His service!
Much Love,
Jim & Theresa
Byron
Hannah, Josiah, Sarah, Micah,
& Noah
P.S.
The bedrooms in the attic will be complete on March 29th with
the installation of the carpet.
With all of the fall events and the addition of a member in our
house and traveling in January, we are just finishing our project. The children are very excited for
the extra room they will have.
