Winding our way towards the beautiful Alps, our host slowed to a halt once more. Her gracious offer to stop anytime we wanted to take a picture might soon wear out, but I just had to have one more photo of those gorgeous mountains. Were we really at the foot of the Alps gazing amazingly at their beauty? Isn’t that just something you look at in magazines, or at best dream about seeing?
While plans were in the making for our week of meetings in Germany, we didn’t even dream of the fun sidelines such as touring old castles and cathedrals and enjoying a scrumptious dinner by th River Rhine plus experience driving on the autobahn which we had heard so much about.
Easter Sunday found us worshipping with a large group of German-Romanians. Our minds flashed back to our years in the tribe, when we first walked in and noticed the men sitting on one side and the women on the other. Our hearts were encouraged once again with the amazing truth that no matter where we are in the world or what language or culture we are surrounded by, we are bonded together by our risen Saviour.
Conversing with 3 families and 1 single man who are all on their way to join our team in the Philippines was the theme of another morning. We usually greet our new team memers at the airport in Manila, but now we had the advantage of meeting several families in Germany. As the morning went on, we covered topics from obtaining visas to needed immunizations; education for their children to when language classes start for them, and lots of other diversified topics in-between.
Since Rocky hasn’t used his high school German in quite some time, he chose to speak through an interpreter when he shared one night at one of our candidate’s home church. That meeting was followed by a very encouraging time in the home of one of the elders. As their sending church, their interest in what the couple will be doing and their role in helping them prepare to go, as well as how they can be involved once they are on the field, was a great model.
Hospitality was obviously one of the dominant strengths of the staff at the NTM German Headquarters. Many people went out of their way to make us feel very welcome and right at home. As we were given the royal tour, our hearts were overjoyed to see what God has literally ‘dropped in their laps’. The attractive compound consisting of two main buildings provides the needed offices, staff housing, meeting room and guest rooms with a kitchen and dining room area. We are so happy for them as well as being blessed ourselves to see once again how God can do the seemingly impossible.
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