January 2007

Superiority Complex

If you think yourself to be superior, you will make superior mistakes.

Paul Sudbrock

Spiritual legacy

Last night as I was tucking the kids into bed, Samantha said, "Mom, I tried to talk to Ziynet about God today, but it just didn't work. I wish I was good at it like Daddy is." On the school bus ride between swimming and math class, Samantha's little Muslim friend confided in her that she is afraid she will die and go to hell. "There is no need to be afraid," Samantha replied, " you can pray and talk to God about it. If you ask him to forgive you for the bad things you have done, he will. To go to Heaven all you have to do is believe in Jesus and follow him. Pray with me Ziynet and you won't have to be afraid anymore." But Ziynet looked out the window and cried. She said that she knew her family would all go to hell one day. Samantha was so disappointed that Ziynet wouldn't pray with her. At bedtime, she said, "But it is so easy for Daddy, and people even pray with him. I want to be like that. I want to be able to do that." We talked a little about freedom of choice and freewill. Samantha is encouraged to keep praying for her friend and sharing the love of Christ with her. What a blessing it is to know that our children are sharing Christ in their world.

So, the topic for family devotions tonight: leading your friends to Christ. We will have a chance to talk about the fact that it isn't an easy task for any of us.

What greater legacy could we ask for than for our children to love the Lord and long to see His Kingdom come and His will be done!

Chelli

I won't be questioned.

Those who are afraid of questions are afraid because they don't know the answers but refuse to admit it, or they have something to hide.

Paul Sudbrock

“As full as it gets this side of heaven”

Our Christmas season was completely full this year and we were blessed beyond measure.

It all started with a wonderful time at the Annual Christmas Celebration for missionaries hosted by Rhein River Baptist Church in Mannheim.

We finished up the Psalms 119 series on Christmas day. We thoroughly enjoyed the study as we all realize to a clearer depth and richness that Jesus is the Word.

This year our Christmas program was a true blessing. In past years it was like pulling teeth to get involvement. In contrast, we had 6 people outside of my family involved in the presentation. I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to see the ministry ball begin to roll with momentum.

Even our guests were a surprise as many had approached us and asked when our program would be held this year. In past years we advertised and begged people to come. Almost 80% of the attendees were first time unsaved visitors. It was truly incredible to see God open doors.

• We gave away 4 Bibles to eager recipients. The father of one of our ladies came and received a bible. When I later relayed that fact to his son-in-law, his jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe it. He said, “When we baptized our daughter into the Lutheran Church he refused to come. He would not even consider going in a church.” Not only did he come in but he heard the gospel.

• One of the kindergarten teachers came and also took a bible home.

Our evangelistic team primarily made up of new Christians was successful in passing out tracts at the Christmas market. It is so wonderful to be around young Christians that haven’t let the world dampen their zeal.

If your church is not presently supporting our ministry, would you prayerfully consider doing so? Over the past 5 years the weakness of the dollar has not only kept us living on a shoestring, but we have also needed to tap into our retirement to stay in the black. With this, in addition to the sales tax hike up to 19% this year, it is crucial that we raise some additional support. We are taking a four month furlough in October of this year. Naturally this is not enough time to raise the needed funds traditionally, but it is all the time that I dare take from the fledgling church plant. I am therefore asking churches to consider supporting us sight-unseen.

In Him,

Paul Sudbrock

And God said, "Tree be moved."

The Orcan ’’Kyrill’’ was responsible for massive damage and 47 lives in Europe. An orcan in a mixture of extreme straight winds and an occasional cyclonic wind. Wittenberg was hit severely on Friday around 7 pm local time. The neighbor lost the front side of his roof as the wind broke through the large window. The wind simply filled the house and lifted the roof off and threw it to the ground. There was damage all over town. Please pray for us as we look for the open doors that God has created through this storm.

Our one hundred year old oak Tree found a resting place leaning on the back corner of our church building. See more pictures here: pix Thankfully, last year we did a extensive trim job which lightened the tree's overall mass. God leaned the mighty tree against our building. Rough estimates are about $1500, but I believe that it will be more. Please pray that the insurance deals favorably with us. I would like to see a new insulated roof instead of the simple roof we have presently.

This could be a blessing in disguise as any proposed building plans have always been thwarted in the past because of the placement of the oak. And in Germany, you can't cut down such a tree without a permit and lots of money. We have worked the past two days cleaning up the mess from the orcan. God blessed us with much help. I teased some of them that a disaster is the only way that I can get them to come to church. They all enjoyed the humor that will hopefully bear some fruit. Well, I am in sore need of some muscle rub and some rest. Please keep our church and our city in your prayers as we recover from this disaster.

Paul

The Greatest of Fools

The greatest of fools is the fool convinced of his superior wisdom. His mind is unable to learn. Healthy is the fool who sees his foolishness in the light of God’s Word (Jesus) and repents.

Paul Sudbrock

A little Flakey

Christians are like pies.

The best ones are all a little flakey on the outside,

but the filling is what sets us apart from the rest.

Paul Sudbrock

New Year's Eve

In Germany, New Year's Eve is called Silvester. We celebrate by setting off lots of fireworks. This year we had a family night at the church where we watched videos and snacked until it was time for the big fireworks. I also built some paper airplanes out of the new book that I got for Christmas.One of my friends at church is in the German Air Force and I like to talk to him about my planes. We also sang songs and prayed together. I like to play the keyboard. I am learning a few songs on my fiddle as well. At a quarter till 12, we all bundled up and walked down the street to a local hotel where they set off fireworks by the billions (or so it seemed ). In the courtyard, they had quite an explosion of colors and sounds. They had flairs going and a symphony playing. Their show lasted about half an hour and then the neighbors started setting off their fireworks. So first everything inside the courtyard was lit up and exploding and then everything all around us on every side started going off. It was very loud and really beautiful. We were out walking around looking at the fireworks everywhere for about an hour and then we went back to the church. It was really warm this year, which was nice because my toes didn't freeze. We started to set off some fireworks of our own, but it started raining at about 1am, so we didn't do much. We decided to save them for our family 4th of July celebration. So, we went back inside and sang songs again for a while before heading home. I got to stay up until 3 am! I had a good time and am looking forward to spending New Years at my Oma and Opa's house in Iowa next year. Here is a picture of our family that was taken at church on Christmas Eve.

Happy New Year!

Skyler Sudbrock