back in altensteig

hello there,
we made it back to Altensteig safe and sound, although we are all a bit exhausted, still we are excited about the good week behind us ...
On both Thursday and Friday morning we got to hold two consecutive periods of RE (religious education). It turned out to be only two different groups (one on Thursday, one on Friday) and not four groups as we thought. But yeah, it was really good, especially on Friday.

Also, on Thursday we took over three different confirmation groups, because their Pastor was gone for the week or something.
The first two groups were really difficult. I was sharing in the first group and I felt like talking to a wall. Well, you what confirmation class is like, the majority of the kids don't want to be there in the first place. By the end of the second group I was on the verge of tears, simply because by heart and spirit were breaking for these kids and we couldn't get through to them. So in the ten minutes break we had before the last group came we just got together as a team and cried out to God. Cried out for mercy, heavenly mercy on these kids. We stood on the word God had given us earlier that day that His word would not come back empty. And I myself was reminded of the scripture in Ezekiel 22, where it says that God was looking for someone, He was searching the land for one person who was willing the stand in the gap - but He found no one. Then the Holy Spirit led me to symbolically and prophetically stand in the gap on behalf of these kids. To beg and plead and cry out for God to have mercy on these kids, to meet with them, because only He can touch and change hearts.
And I believe it was a result of these honest cries that in the next group we had three teens who said "yes, I believe in God and I want to have a relationship with Him!" And I was the privileged one who got to pray with them!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Jesus!!!! WOW!

Later on Thursday night we briefly visited a TEN SING group (YMCA/YWCA)... to encourage them and to quickly share who we are, what we do and where we come from...

Friday afternoon we took a little road trip across the border to Holland and spent the rest of Friday saying our goodbyes and thank yous.
Well, and yesterday we hit the road again. Thank God, we had a very smooth trip home and managed the return trip in even less time than our trip to Bollingen.

Revelation 15:3 fits really well:
Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.

hanna

greetings from east friesland...

well, we are halfway through our midterm outreach by now and all I can say is GOD IS GOOD!!
It is so amazing what he can do through a bunch of simple people who are willing to step out and to go where he sends them...
'up here' we are working together with a dutch couple who came here as missionaries about two years ago. it's really amazing to see how God has been preparing our trip/ our time here.
Like we have been invited to a school to take over 4 lessons of RE (religious education) -4 different groups, 2 tomorrow (thursday) and 2 on friday.
so we went there yesterday to kind of check out the place and do a prayer walk through the school. as we were walking along the hallways a teacher came out of one of the class rooms and invited us in - just like that. she wanted to know how we are, where we come from, what we do... complete openness, we ended up sharing for ten minutes! we had barely left this class when we ran into another teacher who knew our dutch friend btw. his name is André. He also wanted to meet with us and ended up inviting us into his class for this morning. So we spent almost 1,5 hours in his class this morning just talking about who we are, what a dts is, where we come from,playing games with them, sharing testimonies and we were even allowed to pray with them! It was simply awesome! Or rather God is awesome! And everything really fit together. We could literally feel God's presence and the Holy Spirits guidance among us.

To be honest I feel a little spellbound and overwhelmed by what God is doing here in this nation - in MY nation! And also just this sincerety and openness we meet everywhere we go...
cause I mean I have been to a lot of schools in Norway e.g. but there we were always cautioned to be careful with what we say and with our wording and such things....
but nothing of that sort here... just open hearts, open doors...
we could also sense this in our intercession+ worship times here at the house or like yesterday afternoon where we took a 'prayer drive' through the area, stopping at different places in between to really pray and intercede for this area, this nation and for europe... the spiritual hunger and thirst of this dry dry land.

we still have some more program and also intercession today, tomorrow and on friday before heading back 'home' on saturday. which is about 8 hours drive - not including lunch break or hopefully non-existend traffic jams...

so what to say? except for SOLI DEO GLORIA!!!
(this is latin and means to God alone be the glory)
hanna

the secret is out...

about outreach...
if you guys remember I mentioned earlier we'll be going to India for our major outreach and that there is a chance that we might visit a second country.
Well, now it's confirmed... the second country is Sri Lanka!
So far it seems that we'll be spending four weeks in New Delhi and Bombay each.
Followed by three weeks in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
I can't tell you how excited I am about this news... Sri Lanka or Ceylon is one of the places I've always wanted to go to.
Don't get me wrong, I love going places no matter where we go and I am very much excited about India.
Sri Lanka is just one of those places that for some inexplicable reason has for a long time already held a certain fascination for me.

Please, keep praying for finances!... As of now I am officially broke.
So, believe me when I say - I need a miracle!
God Is good! He has pulled me out of so many tight spots before now that I know that I know that I know that He will come through again...

Love ya and have a blessed good nights sleep.
Hanna

a day in town...

yesterday Jackie and I took the team
-that is Katharina, Carolin, Nica, Nik, Daniel, my sister Damaris who came down for the weekend to visit me in my new 'home' and two girls whose parents work at the base -
on a day-trip to Karlsruhe, which is about 1,5 hours northwest of Altensteig (at least in theory).

We had a lot of fun just exploring the city a bit, visiting the castle, hanging out at starbucks... ;-)

Here are some pics I took:

and.... our staff

since we are already in the middle of introductions, I might as well introduce our staff:

Jackie, 35, Philippines - DTS-leader

Myrna, 35, Philippines

Eric, 35, Nigeria

and myself, Hanna, 27, Germany

There is also Francis (Nigeria), unfortunately I don't have a picture of him, since he isn't around much, due to him and his wife teaching in other schools...


so far for the introductions...
Hanna

our 'students'

Today I want to introduce to you our lovely students:


Katharina, 20, from Markt Heiligenstadt (SE Germany)

Carolin, 23, from Rottgau (Central Germany)

Nica, 3?, from Bern, Switzerland

Daniel, 21, from Schwäbisch Hall (SW Germany)

Nik, 18, Northern Virginia, USA
(45 min to Washington, D.C.)