Letter from Elsa - January 28, 2009
posted in Missions, Europe |Dear Fellow Servants,
Once again I have the pleasure of introducing another brother in Christ! This is MARKUS who is 15 and a very interesting young man. The past two years, he has represented Bremen for his age group in the National Mathematics Olympics and National School Chess Tournament, and he has read the whole New Testament through each year since he was 8 to get in on my 5-Star reward dinner offer. Well, that is probably more the catalyst than the reason, but he has retained an amazing amount of what he has read. The past few months Markus has been noticeably more attentive during sermons and more generally communicative about spiritual matters, so I wasn’t really surprised at his decision. That didn’t reduce our joy, however, nor that of his parents, Karsten and Kirsten. He is the first of their four children to come to the Lord. Next year, Markus will be somewhere in the USA as an exchange student, so the next few months we will do our best to prepare him spiritually for whatever challenges his new environment will bring.
EPIDEMIC / GOSPEL MEETING
For me it has only been a nasty cold with fever and a cough that made me incredibly sleepy, but a lot of people it has developed into more - bronchitis or even pneumonia. Apparently there is standing room only in a lot of doctors’ offices across northern Europe. Not good. And last week, we had a Gospel meeting with David Tarjan from Zurich, Switzerland. Of the church members, Florian, Ruediger, Michaela, Alicia, Ingrid, Stefanie, Markus, Charlotte, Jutta, Simone and I were all down sick, and there is no way to know how many would-be guests missed out for the same reason. Still we did have visitors, even one woman who read about it in the newspaper. Please remember them and those of us who are still recovering from whatever this illness is. Hopefully my brain will get back into gear soon. I have a speech to write for a women’s retreat Feb. 6-8.
MARRIAGE SEMINAR
Seven couples are also in the third week of a 9-week His Needs/Her Needs Seminar taught by Kyle and Susan Bratcher from Hildesheim. Three couples are repeaters from when Jim and I benefited from it several years ago. Some are new to the congregation since that time, and some are contacts. Knowing how positively the course influenced the atmosphere and communication within the whole congregation the first time around, I am looking forward to similar results this time. It is already noticeable how the couples smile more at each other!
ETM
Please continue to pray that the ETM Advanced Courses have a future. With more than half of the German churches without preachers and most without elders, Christians need to be encouraged and enabled to train themselves to grow spiritually. That is what ETM is all about. In the next few months I will be making a concentrated effort to share Jim’s passion for this concept with others, especially teachers and preachers, in the hope that the Lord will show us concrete possibilities for it to continue and even expand. I will let you know as things develop.
OTHER PRAYER ITEMS
After being out of the loop for over a week, I am sure I am leaving out several things it would be good for you to help us pray about. Alicia, Ingrid, Helga and I continue to have individual studies with Kai, Rainer, Heather, Ludmilla, Barbara, Linda, another Barbara and Jessica, and Ruediger is studying with Markus and Juergen as they begin their walk with the Lord. Also Helga has a once a month Bible study with neighbour women.
Also, my daughter Karin is expecting her third child in the next couple of weeks. All going well, that means that you can look forward to a new baby photo in my next letter!
Thank you very much for your prayers. I know you have much to bring before Him yourself, so I very much appreciate your adding me and the work in Bremen to your list of petitions.
Gott mit euch!
Your fellow servant,
Elsa Springer