Adrienne's Birthday

This is Adrienne and I:

Today is Adrienne's birthday.

Adriienne is a dear, dear, dear friend of mine. And if the Lord had not brought her here to Kandern, I may never have met her. I am truly blessed!

the Swiss Alps

Last Saturday Deb and I went to Switzerland to see the Alps. It was a beautiful day. tank top and shorts kind of day. We drove a lot but when we got to the top of the overpass it was so worth it! That overpass is closed a lot due to snow and it has only recently opened. Imagine with me if you can... windows down, worship music turned up... Holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is filled with His glory.... and the scenary is this:


And this... shoen ser shoen

I returned that night full of praise to the Lord and joy about what He has created. big bang? yeah right! Not a chance. :-)

And at the top it was a bit cooler... but just to prove I was there.... :-)

World Cup fever in Kandern

I was walking home the other day and just had to take a photo. Sleepy little Kandern has gone a bit crazy with World Cup excitement. :-) this is one of the main streets.. but the other main street looks the same this month. Each shop has chosen a different countries flags to display and along the streets.. a row of German flags, a row with 3 different countries flags, a row of German flags, a row of three different countries flags...
More and more Germans are telling me that they have never seen so many German flags... I notice that many of the German flags that people are flying.. are brand new.. still creased and everything!

and yes... Czech pounded the US in the game on Monday night.

AIA World CUP Is the site for the World Cup project coverage. My good friend Adrienne is one of the people posting updates each day along with photos and stories. :) I SO much enjoyed this past week. It encouraged my heart to serve along side good friends in preparing the hearts of about 90 young soccer players to go share their faith and make God a bigger priority than winning. It was so great to hear the speakers talk about how winning is good but they will know you are Christians by your love for others. How do you play the game? I find more and more that AIA knows what they are doing and they do it well! I am proud to be partnered with them in ministry! Here is a photo of the conference/project team. :-)


front row: Louisa from South Africa (she will travel with me later this summer) Kacey and Kenny are the two boys in front who do not look very happy to be there. :-) they are Christian and Sondrein's boys.

second row: Jonell (husband Galen behind her) they are from Dallas Oregon. :-) Lisa and Kevin are next to Jonell with their girl Emily. (Lisa and Kevin are Kiwis and he is the AIA Germany director) Sondrein is next with Christian behind her, and Adrienne on the end.

third row: Galen, Brad, Ben (wife Jessye in back row, they are from northern Washington), Christian and then Scott

Back row: shorter people... Me, David (not shorter.. so he is crouching down. He is from the UK, speaks, English, Norwegian, French and German.. fluently... and he is only 22.) Jessye, and Michele (Michele is from the AIA headquarters in Xenia, Ohio)

Whew... fun people. Good memories. Now I am back in Kandern a bit under the weather so to speak... so I am resting. But the weather outside is amazing! SUNNNNNNNYYYYYYY :-) I love it!

FIFA World Cup

so... you may wonder why I have the World Cup as my title on this posting. No, I do not get to go to a game... even though the whole thing is in Germany. Instead, I am priviliged to help out a part of Campus Crusade called Atheletes in Action as they do an outreach this summer using the FIFA World Cup as a platform. The people with AIA Europe have become some of my dearest friends during my time here in Kandern. I am ecstatic to help them with this project.

I am going to their opening conference and debriefing conference this month to help out however needed... putting up signs, decorating for banquets, leading worship. I found myself wondering how God could use me to help this sports ministry.. since I am not a very sporty person... but I find that God is reminding me that wherever He puts me, He will use me. :-) Good to know.

And...guess who is leading worship for their opening conference.. my old friend Jeremy Thom. I love worshiping the Lord when Jeremy is leading. God has really gifted him to draw others into worship. I am sad that his lovely wife Kristina could not come, but they do have two children now and I can see how that would be difficult. It will be good to see Jeremy.

I am also excited to hear how God uses this project to draw people to Himself. 5 soccer teams from all over the world are coming to do outreach which will entail partnering with churches in Germany to help the churches reach their communities through soccer games, testimonies and in some places big screen viewing options of the games. Germany is getting more and more crazy as the games approach. :-) Excitement is in the air!