Letter from Elsa - March 12, 2009
posted in Missions |Dear Fellow Servants,
MELODY FAITH
The Lord has blessed me with my seventh healthy grandchild, Melody Faith, and being a good Grandma, I am including some photos! I got to be with them for a couple of weeks to help with housework, etc., and of course, to read lots and lots of stories to Alicia and Liliana. It wasn’t exactly a vacation in beautiful Switzerland, but it was very enjoyable.
ERNST
Please pray for my son-in-law Christoph’s father Ernst who also lives in Bern. On my last morning there he suffered a stroke and couldn’t speak. It was not easy to convince him to go to the hospital, but once there he responded well to treatment, and at this point it looks like he will fully recover.
ETM
While I was in Switzerland, I took some “time off” from my Grandma-duties to have several conversations about ETM with preachers there. You might remember that I mentioned my intention in the last newsletter to try to pass on Jim’s passion for training others to train themselves. The men I visited have not yet taken an ETM course, so I had to explain a lot, but they are all very dedicated and faithful Bible teachers, and I am very encouraged by their interest in letting their studies benefit a larger number of Christians. In the conversations we were able to come up with a number of ideas for very practical ETM courses. My task is to raise interest in ETM, find out for the ETM-planning group what course-resources we have in the German and Swiss churches and to encourage, all things that I am thoroughly enjoying. Finally I am feeling like a missionary again instead of just a survivor!
OLD AND NEW FRIENDS AND VISITORS
Bill and Shirley Hornfeck, Christians from Pennsylvania, will be with us for several months, while he serves as visiting professor this semester at Jacobs University here in Bremen. They were here for spring semester 2007, too, and got in on some of our preliminary clean-up work on the new church building, so it was fun to see their amazement at how the church building looks now. Shirley calls it “a miracle!”
Giesela was at worship for the first time last Sunday. She is a German but came to Christ in Melbourne, Florida in 2002 and got my name from the church there. She called me once when she returned to Germany, but at the time, she lived in another city and had no car. Unfortunately, she forgot about us and we didn’t pursue the contact — but the Lord moves in mysterious ways. In the meantime, she has moved closer to Bremen and has a car, and while researching a Bible question online recently, she found a website where my name was mentioned. She thought, “I’ve heard that name before,” found out how to contact me and did so. Ingrid and I took her to lunch after church so we could get to know her better, and I think it might be the beginning of good relationship. She obviously loves the Lord and His Word.
Gabriela, the woman who attended the Gospel meeting in January after reading about it in the newspaper, has been attending our ladies’ classes. She is interested in the Lord because her life is in such turmoil. Please pray for her and for us that we can show her the way to His Peace.
Marcus, another visitor, is in a similar situation. Actually he was sent to us by a former member named Wolfgang who doesn’t come any more himself but at least knows that the Lord is the answer to life’s difficulties. Maybe Marcus can help Wolfgang as we try to help him.
OTHER NEWS
This is the last week of the 9-week MARRIAGE SEMINAR that Kyle Bratcher from Hildesheim has lead for our young couples, and the improvement of “climate” in several families is obvious to all both between Mom and Dad and also with the kids. One especially good outcome of the seminar is that Michael’s wife Heike has started attending the worship with him. Also, they just had a baby girl, Eva – their seventh (but only five at home). I’m sure they would both appreciate your prayers.
Alicia is in the process of making decisions for her future. She has been an invaluable asset to us/me and the church here now for 2 ½ years and has been able to develop talents she didn’t even know she had before taking on the challenge of mission work. Now she is prayerfully working through the decision whether this was a rich training phase in her life or her calling. Please pray with her.
The various studies I mentioned in the last letter continue with ups and downs. Alicia and I have been very encouraged by the hard questions Kai and Rainer ask us regularly. I wish Jim were here to answer them, but we do our best and they keep coming.
Thank you very much for your faithful prayers and encouragement. The Lord continues to do as you ask, for which I am very grateful! I have my sad times and sometimes I feel overwhelmed, but mostly I stay aware of His presence and feel blessed. Gott mit euch!
Your fellow servant,
Elsa