Speaking With Purpose

SO we made it to Dallas safely! Thank you GOD! Tomorrow, we have an Endmeeting to attend to discuss last minute details.  Afterwards, Mo and I will be heading to Houston for the home stretch.  As a final summary, we decided to tell all our followers some things we learned about Deutschland…..

1. No such thing as humidity. 

2. Men wearing capris..and short shorts…is common.

3. Socks with sandals is prevalent….

4. All Germans recycle and get angry when you don’t. They separate trash in 4 ways!

5. Jaywalking results in most certain death or serious injury *please do not attempt

6. Soccer is a SERIOUS sport. Intense support for your country= as many flags as possible on a miniscule vehicle *note: record to date= 8 total

7. Everything is smaller (streets, people, stores, etc) except small dogs…they waddle

8. It’s tschuss….not juice. 

9. Being friendly is not necessary while walking down the street. 

10. Pommesgabels (French fry forks) are SO necessary!

Today was a great day. We had an awesome service this morning. It is very sad for us to have to leave after getting to know everyone. It’s so crazy how close we got to our readers and with the members of the church. Before I even thought about going on a LST project I was told that if I went on a 3-week project that the time would fly by and they were right. It feels like we just got here yesterday. I know there’s alot personally that God has shown me through this trip; not only spiritually but things dealing with my career choice. I thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to come on this trip. After church we finished packing, ate lunch, then went to the marketplace to do our video. We had a great time brainstorming ideas and putting them into action on camera. The weather was beautiful (to me at least). It was chilly with sun every now and then. After we finished our video we headed to the ice cream shop nearby to have a tasty frozen treat. Then we went to the other missionary’s house, Don, to have a delicious German meal. In the evening we went to a classical/rock performance that two of the church people were in; Julia and Benjamin. It was really cool and I enjoyed it. I can’t believe I ever thought that it would be intimidating to share my faith and open up about God. I’m pretty sure it was the prayers that I prayed and the prayers that everyone else was praying for my team and I that allowed us to be so willing and unafraid of sharing our faith. I have enjoyed this stretch of faith and I can’t wait to see how God uses the three of us in the years to come! -Mo

Berlin!  The city of old buildings!  Berlin has so much history surrounding it that I am so glad that we were able to go and see it all in one day!  Olivia, our fabulous tour guide, took us to so many places including: Checkpoint Charlie, East Side Gallery (reconstruction of the Berlin wall), and many highly impressive cathedrals!  Thank God that He allowed Olivia to be with us today.  We would have been completely lost without her!  We are now experts at riding the train and U-bahn (subway system here) because of all of our adventures today!   We also walked all over and therefore ate a lot!  We tried a doner (like an American gyro), delicious ice cream, huge soft pretzels, etc.  Our train had a slight delay coming home, but by the grace of God, we made it back safely!  Good company, good food, and good rest on the two hour train ride each way!  Over all a very good day!  Please pray for our last day in Germany tomorrow as we say goodbye to our church members and pack up.  We fly out at 7 am here so prayer for safe travel would be greatly appreciated as well!  As I reflect on our 3 weeks here, God has done amazing things!  Praise Him!  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” ~ Romans 8:28.  We were called to come to Hildesheim, Germany for this mission project and God has made it possible!  Thank you for all your prayers and support!

~Alicia

Ladies and Gentlemen. Prepare yourself for a long reading today, because it was full of AWESOME! First, we got up super early to go with Susan to the last 5th grade English class. Then, we headed back to the church to meet Mo’s reader, Andreas, for a bird’s eye view of Hildesheim! He took us up in the air on his plane. Mo even got to drive for a few minutes….scary…I know ;). The sights were SO beautiful as we went careening through the air and got to see the castle of Princess Caroline and the small villages surrounding Hildesheim. Definitely an AMAZING experience.  Please check out the pics. He also brought us to eat lunch at Cafe Del Sol. A super yummy restaurant!

Today was also the last day for reading sessions.  It was a little sad, but we will get to see some of our readers on Sunday at church. :) My last conversation with Birgit was ….I can’t even describe how AMAZING it was. She completed the Friends Speak book yesterday, which is the beginning level English book, so we moved on today to the Luke workbook.  She understood so much of the material, and I was SO proud of her.  I was also amazed to hear that she did not know hardly anything about the Christian religion.  Since I had extra time today and it was the last session together, we covered Lessons 1, 2, and 3.  Birgit had SO many questions so I was able to tell her all about the Creation story and the virgin birth of Jesus.  When the book asked her if God could do anything, she said she believed that Christians have God in their lives for hope.  Later, I asked her if she believed God had done all these things, like Creation and the virgin birth, she said YES! I was SO excited to see her respond so positively to the message of the Lord! We hopefully will be continuing contact via email and maybe even Skype. I am so glad I was able to have this conversation with her. I know it’s only possible through God that I was able to maintain the right amount of energy and knowledge to share the Good News with her.  We ended the night by buying a few last minute gifts in Hildesheim and attending a birthday party for one of the girls at the church.  Great fun :)

Thanks again to all of my sponsors and all who have prayed for me and the team.  This trip has been a wonderful experience for all of us and without you it wouldn’t be possible. :)

Today started off rough for me but things turned around after I prayed. I think it’s amazing how quickly I forget how effective prayer can be. Gods word tells us to cast all our cares on God because he cares, but often times I find myself trying to fix the problem myself. But overall we all had good reading sessions today. It’s so cool how fast we have gotten close to our readers. I often times find myself forgetting about the time limitation for each session. Once we start talking the conversation just takes off. God is so good!
-Mo