February 2008

Maya

Maya was just a shy 12 year old girl when we first met her 10 years ago. The Lord moved us into an old East German building that needed a whole lot of repair and Maya lived upstairs with her parents and three younger brothers. She was quick to befriend us and start spoiling our firstborn who was an infant at the time. Over time she became a trusted babysitter and best friend to my little ones. When it came time to hold our first Bible study in our living room in Wittenberg, Maya was our first and only attendee. Every week she faithfully came downstairs for midweek Bible study. Soon she began bringing friends and the midweek study group turned into a youth group. When we moved across town, Maya and her friends started bringing their younger siblings to a backyard Bible club. It didn't take long for her to start taking over the lesson time and teaching the children herself. Then in the spring of 2001, she made a profession of faith and Satan quickly moved in to snatch her away. For years now, we have tried to keep in contact with Maya and encourage her in the Lord, always reminding her that the Lord loves her and will always be there for her. What a blessing it was to see her at a church BBQ in August. But it has been an even greater blessing this month to have her welcome us back to Germany from our furlough by being in both the Sunday and midweek services. This shy little girl has turned into a beautiful young mother and we are praising the Lord that He has brought her back to us. Please pray with us that she will raise her precious little girl in the love of the Lord and that they will both grow in faith.

Success!

We made it! We survived 141 days of living out of the car and cooler. We visited 10 states and 30 different churches. Now we have made it back home to Wittenberg, Germany. We took a week and rested and tried to get realigned with the sun on this side of the planet.

Samantha has started back to school and is enjoying the third grade in the German public school. Yesterday on the way to school, she said, "Mom, thank you for bringing me home. It is so exciting here!" The kids really are more at home here than anywhere else in the world.

When we left, the closets were full of summer dresses and short sleeved shirts. Though February in Germany is nothing compared to the blizzards in Iowa, it is still sweater weather, so we have spent a few days cleaning out closets and finding all the winter apparel that was needed. The kids have grown so much while we were traveling, especially Serenity.

Our church people welcomed us home with an 8 foot square banner and a song that they had written in our honor. What a tremendous blessing they were. After church, we enjoyed lunch from the grill and an afternoon of fellowship. We are excited to be back with them. Please pray for us as we seek God's will considering the future of our building.

We are eager to get things rolling again. The Iowa Pastor's Fellowship was generous enough to commit the money needed to fund the printing of full-colored introductory fliers for the church. Now, with a little more funding, we would like to put together welcome packets and get geared up to see a lot of visitors come through our doors this spring.

A generous supporter in MO donated a set of children's handbells to our ministry. I was able to introduce these to the kids on Sunday and they are all so excited. We will be planning our initial presentation for Palm Sunday. Please pray with us that God will give us wisdom in using this tool to reach the children in our neighborhood and their families.

The two youngest children, Serenity and Sadie, have lost some of their German, so we have enrolled them in preschool and kindergarten respectively starting the 3rd of March. Please pray with us that God will allow us to be a witness in the schools and that He would provide good Christian friends for our children. As you can imagine, being the only one in the whole school who believes in God, can be quite a strain on anyone, and especially on a child.

We appreciate you all so much. Now that we are sitting still again and have reliable Internet access, you should be hearing from me on a regular basis again. I hope to write to you again soon.

Blessings!

Chelli

Trend Tradition or Truth?

A consistant attitude of submition to God's Truth will keep us from the uncertain waves of Trend and the death sholes of Tradition.

John4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

• Trend 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain;

• Tradition and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

• No Trend 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain,

• No Tradition nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

• Only Truth and Spirit. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

• Truth and Spirit is where we meet God. Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The question is not weather so and so is doing it or that it is a known path. The only test is, is it biblical and is God leading me? Jesus said that true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth. Trend and tradition are both worldly and are based on opinion. Take care not to confuse them with Spirit or Truth. Let us choose the balance of God's Truth so as to avoid the extremes of Trend and Tradition.