Church Christmas Party and heading home!

We had a great Christmas party this weekend at our church! Everyone brought a dish to share, we had our annual gift exchange, and everyone was very surprised when we had Pastor Gary call via Skype. He spoke a quick but beautiful message about how the world may see us as nothing but God sees as us perfect. It was so quiet in the chapel while Pastor Gary was on skype, about 50 people just sitting there, with their gifts and food and desserts and coffee, but completely silent. We were blessed to have a good number of visitors and see some faces that we have missed in the past couple of weeks. It's always a great time for us to see everyone's faces before going home for Christmas. We are so grateful and excited to be one our way back to the States for a few weeks to celebrate Christmas and New Years. So we apologize in advance for not posting in the next couple of weeks. We will be happily home with our families and church and celebrating Christmas together.

God bless you all who faithfully read our blog and we are so thankful for your continued support.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Matt & Emily

My contribution to the Christmas party. Baking is always a small feat over here when your dealing with trying to track down all the right ingredients.

We had a special visitor who was a trained opera singer and sang some beautiful Christmas songs for us.

Most of the wonderful ladies in our church.

My dear friend from Iran

Serious present opening during the gift exchange.

Little Benjamin got his hands on a makeup kit that was gifted and unveiled his hidden talent as a makeup artist.

Christmas Outreach

Two years ago we decided as a church to give out Christmas gifts in the local area on the streets. We wrapped a pocket sized Gospel of John with an insert about how to get saved and an invitation to church and candlelight service. We also attached a candle on the books with a ribbon to make it a really nice thing to give and receive. We had such a great response that we decided to do it again this year. After days and days of volunteers in the church working hard to get hundreds of gifts ready to give out we finally got a chance to hit the streets with them. It was so fun to give people a wrapped present and see their faces light up. To some it's the only gift they're going to receive this Christmas season. And it's also a great opportunity to share the gospel, because it's a perfect example of how easy it is to receive a free gift when you have done nothing to merit it.

Berlin Teens- Going Forward with God!

Just a quick update from the Berlin youth group. We had a great night with our teens last week during a visit from Mat Laflame (http://matlaflamme.blogspot.com/). He spoke with our teens about our lives being a mystery, how we cannot always explain our lives and our faith to our friends, because their understanding is limited. It is so encouraging to us to see them respond to the gospel and to teaching. Our group is small but we are so thankful for the few that we have. Please continue to keep our youth group in prayer. For more teens to come out, for fresh ideas, for a hunger in their hearts. We love our YOUTH!

We played a game that was a mix of musical chairs and charades. When the music stopped you had to jump into groups and make yourselves into the object that the leader called out.

So much to be thankful for

Thanksgiving can be a tough time for those on the mission field. You realize then more then ever how far away from home you really are. Whether it's in the small things like not being able to buy the ingredients for that pumpkin pie you want, or the big things like not being with your own family on Thanksgiving day. But we would have to say that God has been so faithful to us every year to give us joy and surround us with amazing people.

This year was no exception & here's a short list of things we were thankful for this past Thanksgiving...

1. A Thanksgiving spent in Budapest with a room full of 25 friends

2. Amazing food sure to cure any homesickness

3. Two beautiful nights of snow fall

4. Quality time spent with great friends

UK/Ireland Conference

We had a great 2 days last weekend in the UK. Seven of us from Berlin came to Swindon, England for a small conference with Greater Grace churches from England, Ireland, France, Romania, Finland and Hungary. It was such a refreshing time to hear messages from our Pastor in Baltimore and spend time with other missionaries out on the field. It is so easy to feel unqualified on the mission field, but it was so encouraging to sit down with others doing the same thing, with the same vision, and encourage each other to go forward. We can look at the vision God has given us for Berlin and be overwhelmed sometimes with how small we are, but when we are equipped with the message and renewed in the body we are more the qualified.

Visit from Pastor Moon

We were blessed to have Pastor Moon with us in Berlin for the past few days. This picture was taken at the Holocaust Memorial, downtown Berlin.

We had such a great time of fellowship at our Thursday night Bible study in Pankow, in the north and former East Berlin.

The church was very blessed Sunday morning with a very encouraging and provoking message from Pastor Moon. The church must be "sober," think with God, and "watch unto prayer" because "the end of all things is at hand," from 1 Peter 4:7. He had to catch his flight immediately after service, but we were so glad to have him here. We were also happy to house our first overnight guest in our new apartment.

Does My Faith Withstand the Trials of My Life?

Many times we separate the details of our every day life from our belief system. It becomes so easy to find a solution on my own for the simple little needs of life, what should I eat right now, how can I finish this project at work, how can I learn this information before my exam, and so on. Then the giant storm comes that shakes my ability to solve my problem on my own. I am forced to turn to my belief system (my faith) for a solution outside of myself.

For some, perhaps there isn't much substance to my faith that really applies practically to my life. A "higher power" may sound nice, but it is lacking the only characteristic that I need to make it through my storm, a personal touch, a relationship, a comfort. I have chosen, however, to make my belief system more comfortable. I am free from responsibility to something or someone other than myself. I can easily say that God is not real, it makes life much more independent, fun, and comfortable. That is until my comfort is taken away by a massive storm, which requires something more than I can give. Suddenly, my belief system and it's ideals are far removed from me as I grasp desperately for something that really applies to my life and ALL of it's problems.

I believe this is what David the Psalmist was referring to in Psalm 139:23,24 - "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." David said to "try me," or prove me with some test. Immediately we think of being perfect before God, or not failing in the test, but I don't believe that this was David's point. The point is this, that when God tests us, the trial proves to us how much we need God. The storm reveals the "wicked way" that is in each one of us and how desperately we need God to lead us "in the way everlasting." Trials aren't a twisted display of works, but a time for revelation of our need for the grace and companionship of God. When God is at the center of my belief system, my relationship with Him grows in the measure that I reach out beyond myself to the one who practically meets my needs.