Even while we are waiting for God's timing on our move to Eastern Germany, God is using us here in ways we couldn't have known.
Joel started an open gym ministry at a neraby church on Friday nights. (This was the new opportunity we had alluded to in our last post.) It reaches primarily 6th through 10th graders from the low-income neighborhoods just North of where we live. The youth from their and our church are also invited and encouraged to build new relationships. This ministry existed in the past but has not been running for a while due to lack of available leadership. 15 kids came last week; 10 of them were picked up from the apartment building by the church bus - most of these kids are unchurched. You can pray for this ministry: for kids to come consistently, for more leaders, and for strong relationships to be built. If you live in the area, consider joining us one Friday a month or more as a leader to help with crowd control (very needed in this group) and to build relationships. Also, pray for Joel to have wisdom with his time. He is being paid for 6 hours for this ministry but it's easy to invest much more time that may need to be spent in fundraising.I (Ellen) have met two Mom in the park over the last few weeks - one lives two buildings down and attends the same story hour at the library; the other is actually an Eastern German woman and lives in the building next to us. Both have kids of Eliana's age. Eliana and I have also been invited up to our upstairs neighbors though they speak little English. Their little girl loves Eliana and the two of them played with toys.
Beyond that, two students in our ministries have recently given over their lives to Christ and others are taking their first steps of faith. Praise God with us for the work He is doing in these teenager's lives!
We appreciate your prayers as we continue to bloom where we are planted while also pushing towards our future in Germany as much as it's in our hands.
