Thanksgiving Weekend

There is certainly nothing quite like celebrating Thanksgiving overseas. There is no sign of Thanksgiving in any of the stores, finding a turkey and all of the ingredients is nothing short of comical, and everyone that you pass on the streets has no idea that you are celebrating a holiday. But that does not stop us, it just makes it more of an experience! This year we celebrated Thanksgiving in Berlin twice, once with some great friends that God has given us here, another American missionary couple. Then with the Steins and a few teens from our youth group.

We have so much to be thankful for. Our home here, how God has provided for us here, our home church back in the States and our church here in Berlin, the friends that God has given us here, the support of our friends and families back in the States, and of course each other!

Below are some photos from our Thanksgiving weekend.

Matt carving one of the two turkeys. We weren't able to find a large enough turkey at the grocery store so we had to buy two!

My friend Bethany and I with all the dishes we prepared

The spread

The Post-Thanksgiving fullness

Our second Thanksgiving, serving the Pumpkin Pie (yes made in a cake pan!)

Thanksgiving was followed this weekend by decorating the church for Christmas. This Sunday was the first advent (of the four before Christmas). Advent is widely recognized in Germany, and the first advent weekend is when everyone decorates. It's always a fun annual tradition to decorate the church together!

The kids LOVED the decorating

The choir practicing during the decorating for next week's Christmas concert. They sounded great!

Let God Develop Your Reputation

So often we spend so much energy trying to establish a positive reputation for ourselves. Whether it's the way we dress, the way we speak or how we present ourselves, we always seek to "put the best foot forward." We could say it another way, that we want people to see us at our best behavior, never at our worst. Perhaps there is a fear that someone else won't like us, or on a deeper level, won't trust us because they see how we really are. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, but how do we really establish trust in a relationship?

We read in Psalm 130:4 that "there is forgiveness with thee, that you may be feared (trusted)." This is such an amazing verse, especially when we look at the verse before, "If you Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" If there is anyone that really knows who we really are, or how we really behave, it's God. But He is full of forgiveness. This is where the trust enters into the relationship. Because God has the power to forgive me, I can trust Him. I know that no matter what I do, He will not hold it against me. Forgiveness is a part of God's reputation that enables me to rest in Him, not in my own performance. In order for us to grow in our relationship to Him, there has to be forgiveness given and received. This is the same in our relationships to those around us as well. The trust which we build our relationships upon is only established when we rest in God's forgiveness and allow His reputation to become a part of our lives.

A couple of months ago we met a young man from the Dominican Republic on our outreach to the language school. He saw us talking to people on the corner and asked his friends, "hey, what are they talking about?" They told him that we are Christians talking about Jesus Christ. So he approached us and asked us where our church was and if we really were Christians as his friends had said. The very next Sunday he came to church and has been coming ever since. He has a hunger for the Word, to learn more about God and to trust Him more in his life. It was interesting to see the reputation/testimony that we had there on that street corner of Berlin. God has really established a great testimony there for us. It is great to see what God does through the things that HE establishes.

Continue to keep the church here in your prayers. There has been such a great sense of unity within the body of Christ. There is an exchange of life at our services, which is so encouraging to see and experience. We know that it is a direct result of your prayers, so we thank you and please keep it up.