Prestoncrest Missions

Dear Fellow Servants,

Thank you again for your continued prayers and encouragement. I thank the Lord often for you and hope your New Year has begun well.

THE HOLIDAYS
The holidays weren’t as difficult as I had anticipated, but that was probably because Karin, Christoph and the girls were in Bremen from Switzerland for nine days. Those sweet little ones didn’t let me stay sad very long at a time. Also, I decided to go ahead with our traditional Christmas gathering for people we know without families - except that instead of the full turkey dinner, etc., this time I, that is, Karin and I made it just desserts. We had a good time working together on the goodies, and Christoph prepared a devotional like Jim always did. I think it was good for all of us - 20 in all including little Alicia and Liliana. Then the next couple of days we took it easy.

SIMONE
This is SIMONE, who was baptized into Christ Dec. 26. She is 40 and a coworker of our brother RUDI. Simone grew up in the former East Germany, where religion was officially discouraged and she really knew nothing about Christ. Since living in the West, she became curious and decided that if she was going to find out about Christianity, she needed to read the Bible, so that is what she has done this past year, from Genesis to Revelation, asking Rudi lots of questions during the lunch hour. Also, she and I have had weekly telephone Bible studies the past 6 weeks or so and it has been a very uplifting experience for me. She is so excited about the Lord and her new life, and has shared her enthusiasm with her husband, who (I found out later) listened in the background to some of our telephone studies. Though not a believer, he has encouraged her in her search and even drove her to the train station most Sundays so that she could come to services. I hope we will have opportunity to get to know him better.

DAVID
A not so encouraging exchange was with David who was Jim’s room mate in the hospital that first week of tests. David also has colon cancer which has spread, but he didn’t know that at the time. He and Jim had a number of conversations about faith and the meaning of life and he was present when the doctor gave Jim the bleak truth about his condition. Before we left the hospital that day, David said that we were very different than anyone he knew and felt it a privilege to have been with us at this difficult moment. Right before Christmas, David called because he had received the same bleak prognosis and wanted to hear more from Jim about the faith that enabled him to face it. He hadn’t heard that Jim died so quickly. I talked to him for almost an hour that time, but felt completely drained afterwards. It was too much to go over it all again so soon. But I wrote him a card and had the people at church sign it, hoping that David might be encouraged to know that people cared. He was, but when I asked him later if he would read something about Jesus who was the source of Jim’s comfort, but he asked if I would read something from Karl Marx. I said “Certainly”, adding that obviously Karl Marx hadn’t given him the hope and comfort he needed at this moment. But David is very angry at the God he says doesn’t exist and it may simply be too late for him to soften his heart. It is sad. Please pray for that to happen.

JIM’S TREASURES
Those of you who knew Jim well will appreciate my understatement that he had a few books. His very extensive library has seemed like terrible burden to me since his death, sort of a symbol of all that is troubling me. Yes, the thought of a trash container even crossed my mind at my worst moments. I have been praying daily for wisdom and courage to deal with the real issues I need to face, and as I make progress in those areas, I have finally realized I don’t want to get rid of the books. I want them to be used. Alicia, who has been assisting us for the past year, has continued her work getting the newer ones catalogued, and now, we have intensified the organization work by getting as many people as possible helping her — not only to get the work done sooner, but also to get more people familiar to what is there. And just as we hoped, the “helpers” have already begun checking out books! J

FIRST SPECIAL SEMINAR
Though the men of the church do a good job in the regular teaching and preaching, they recognize the need to invite trained preachers and missionaries in for special spiritual “meals”. The first of these will be an all day seminar today, Saturday, with Glenn Jones of the Kiel church on “the basics”. It comes at a good time. One of our regular visitors has been increasingly argumentative, and doesn’t seem to show the respect for the men that he did for Jim. Please pray that the seminar goes well and clears up some of the “issues”.

GRANDMA TIME
But I am missing the seminar. I am writing this from Florida, where I am finally getting to see that new grandson. Meet DAVEY! Several of you missed the P.S. on my email from October 28, the one about the funeral. Sorry for putting something that important in a postscript. He was born Oct. 22 and is doing great, as is the whole family. I am thoroughly enjoying being Grandma and part of their world.

I hope that in this New Year the Lord will bless you as He continues to bless me despite (or perhaps through) the challenges we face. Gott mit euch!

Your fellow servant,
Elsa Springer