Who we’re reaching…

Check out Robin’s blog post about who Watermark Church is reaching: http://bit.ly/cJXVYs

Our first baptism!!!

We baptized one of our Launch Team members yesterday.  Here’s the video of Stefy’s baptism (see the Watermark Freiburg Church Planting Blog for the story)…

Stefy's baptism (on her 20th birthday!)

Thumbprint ID-(grocery store payment)

Just thought I would share something that is becoming more popular in Germany.  The photo below is a thumbprint scanner at our local grocery store.  You simply put your thumb in this scanner and your grocery total is automatically taken out of your bank account. 

For all those Christian “conspiracy theorists”…could this be the beginning of the MARK OF THE BEAST?  :)

Awesome day in Zurich!

Zurich Main Train Station

Last weekend I taught a Saturday Youth Leader Workshop and then spoke in a youth service on Sunday morning in Zurich, Switzerland. I had a blast! It was great getting to know the leaders and the students.

Robin and the kids met me on Sunday for church. Afterwards we went to go grab a bite to eat before driving home (a little over an hour). It took a 30 min search because of construction (even using the GPS!), but we finally found Dominos Pizza. This may not be a big deal for our friends in the USA, but Dominos are very few and far between here, so this was a real treat.

Since we were so close to Lake Zurich, we decided to eat our pizza at the lake shore. This turned out to be an awesome idea!!!! The sun was shining, the water was calm, you could see the Alps faintly in the background (see the boat picture below), and we even got to hand-feed the swans. What a great day this was!!!

I'm attaching a bunch of pictures we took so you can get a better idea of what it was like.

PS. We decided it was time to go when one swan started hissing at us when we wouldn't give it anymore pizza crust :)

A Series of Unfortunate Events...

Emma was having a birthday party the other day. I had spent a long time decorating a birthday cake that I made for her. So, Jon knew how important this cake was. (There aren't decorated cakes here like there are in the States in the grocery stores)

So, I was taking care of getting the girls' swimsuits on for the pool party while Jon was in charge of getting everything out of the van. He had the cake in one hand and a basket of goodies in another hand while he was trying to close the trunk. Well, the cake wobbled and to save the cake, Jon sacrificed his finger in the hatchback door.

The nail immediately turned reddish purple and we think it actually broke the tip of the finger. So, after a weekend of pain, Jon decided to go to the Dr. where the nail was lanced and drained to relieve the pressure.

I just had to include the photo of the bandage that the Dr. put on his finger. It gave me a good laugh!

Google Maps

Yesterday the girls had some friends over for a end of school movie night/party/sleep-over.  As I (Jon) was walking out of the Pizza/Doener restaurant with five pizzas, the Google Maps car drove by with four cameras mounted on it's roof... and I just started laughing.  I know I'm going to get some comments from friends that see the picture.

So if you look at a street view of downtown Kandern, Germany and see me carrying 5 pizzas, you can be certain that they weren't all for me!

First visitor

Our new neighbor, Regina, saw us moving in and recognized Ryan.  She is one of the helpers of his Crunch Time (10-12 yr olds) class at church.  She decided to welcome us to the neighborhood (very un-German -- our first such experience in 7 1/2 yrs of living here) by bringing us a fruitcake.  It was actually quite yummy!

To all of the members of Grace Outreach Center (our former church), you know that fruitcake is one of Pastor Brook's mortal enemies, the bane of his existence.  So Robin and I enjoyed this in his honor.

The Hills are Alive…

Jon and I were walking through the paths along the farmland near our house.   We haven’t seen the sun since November it seems.  The winters are dreary, dark and wet.  During the better part of winter, when we wake up it’s dark and by about 4:00 in the afternoon it’s dark again.  So, I was so happy because it was the first day that actually seemed like Spring.  The sun was out…the snow was melting and we were the only ones on this path out in a deserted field.  So, I began to sing very loud and twirl like Maria on The Sound of Music.  Then I started singing a song that I used to sing as a little girl that reminded me of Germany.  It goes, “I love to go a wandering along the mountain track and as I go I love to sing, my knapsack on my back”.  Then I broke out very loudly with…Valderi-valdera…only to see a man directly in front of me on a ladder in a tree.  I assume that he was doing some last minute tree pruning in his field.  I’m sure that he was thinking how odd “those Americans” are.  Wie peinlich!  (how embarrassing)

In France, is this just called “bread”?

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Jon and I went to France this morning to go shopping.  (It’s just 25 mins away)  There are some things that you can get in France that you can’t find in Germany like canned soft drinks, real orange juice, Frubes yogurt, Pepperidge farms cookies (sadly not Milanos), Neutrogena face soap, Maybelline mascara.  I saw some French Bread and thought it would be a shame if I didn’t buy some “French” Bread while I was in France.  I should have found some “French” Fries, too. 

We really need to learn some French.  Every time we go there, we end up doing “charades” just to communicate.  Of course we know Merci, entree, sorti,  toilettes but I thought it was interesting that they actually say “Viola” when they hand you whatever you just purchased.  I always thought is was used for a magic trick or something.  But, it’s just like “here ya go”!

My liquid gold

I just read a blog from another missionary about what she missed from the States. Someone sent her some Coffee Mate powdered creamer and some cooking spray. I can relate with this so well. The things that you think you can’t live without…cooking spray, coffee creamer, peanut butter, mac-n-cheese. Well, Jon & I got a package in the mail the other day that had liquid gold! It was a box filled with different flavors of “liquid” coffee creamer. Nah, nah, nah-nah, nah... I got liquid creamer! You may not realize how amazing this is, it is impossible to get here unless you can have access to a base somewhere. How fun!