Oh goodness it has been quite a while since we have updated here! We must fix that right now.

Castle Hike group

So ministry has been going quite well! Last we posted we were starting our mid week study and it has been coming along nicely. We are working our way through Ephesians and though the first few weeks were challenging to teach through because of the theology jam-packed verses, we laid the ground work and are now seeing evidence of comprehension and they are engaging in some awesome discussion.


We have also put out a question box for the kids to ask us questions about the Bible, God, life, their walks and how all these things work together. We answer the questions on Thursdays at the study and so far the questions have been pretty easy to answer such as "Are there cats in Heaven?" but we challenged everyone to put a question in the box this past Sunday so soon we will be covering topics like dating, possibility of life on other plants, and forgiveness of siblings. It will be fun and we are really looking forward to answering them.

Underground below the Castle

Camera dodge fail

Aaron and Adrian

Our kids are really starting to grow together as a group and the last few events we have planned have been lots of fun. We are starting to see much more consistent attendance on Sunday mornings and we have even had kids who have brought their friends and they have really enjoyed themselves! We are so pleased to see things starting to come together.
































As for Aaron and I we are doing well. We bought our first German car a few weeks ago, unfortunately this morning it choose to not start and seeing as how we know very little about cars, let alone this over sized German roller skate, we are praying that God will work this out. He is the God who sees, and He knows our needs better than we do. So we are fully confident that we have nothing to worry about. We still have Jen's car at our use and we are still looking for a 2nd car. But most of all we are looking to God and trusting our Father.

"Ron Burgundy"

We are still seeking out jobs that provide us with health care and as always we have a few leads that we are following up on, but in His timing and His will. That being said our current jobs are providing more hours that we originally thought which is great for paying bills, and for our tiny savings account. Life is not nearly as hectic as it was in CA, but it still seems just as difficult a lot of times.  New place, new challenges. We are so blessed to be living here, and to be stretched in these new ways and I thank God for placing us here, even when it is hard.

Awesome praise: A mom of two of our students Accepted Christ this past Sunday! It is exciting to see how God is working in this family and we ask that you would please keep them in your prayers :)

Well this is all I have time for now, still not internet at the apt so bear with us as we try to keep you all updated with our limited access. We love you and miss you greatly and we pray that you are walking in a way that allows you to experience a life full of steps of faith and that you are comforted by the Great Comforter the whole way.

We finally got our sofa stamp so we are officially allowed to stay here until next January! Also we are test driving a car in a few days that we might buy!  If we end up buying it I will post pics so you can get a good look at our recent blessing from God :)
Speaking of cars... Aaron and I were walking back to the car we are borrowing from Jen after getting our sofa stamps super stoked to have finally taken care of one of the few loose ends of settling here. It had snowed the day before which means the roads and sidewalks were super icy so we were chatting while carefully avoiding giant patches of sudden death.

We get to the car, and notice that there are lots of little icicles on the bottom of the car so we start kicking them off. Once we felt the car was in tip top shape (ie we were starting to get very cold, it was only 16 degrees F!) we get in the car and I notice that the ice scraper on the floor is green, not red like ours. But Peggy had said that she left her ice scrapper in our car so I figured it was hers. So I ask Aaron' "When did you find Peggy's ice scraper?"
He asks, "What do you mean?"
"I mean our scrapper is red and this one is green so you must have found hers in the back, but what happened to ours?"

As I am asking him I am reaching behind his seat looking on the floor but there are all these reusable grocery bags stuffed back there that are not ours, but could have been Jen's. I look in the glove box to see if we stuck it there and when I close it we both start to realize this is not Jen's car, it's not even a Dark Blue VW Jetta like hers, but a BLACK BMW!!! "This isn't our car!" Aaron exclaims as we jump out and quickly make our way to Jen's car 2 spots over.

We get in the car laughing and slightly embarrassed and drive away no harm done.

We get down the road a little bit and I ask Aaron where the other glove is that I loaned him and he can't find it. It was in his pocked but now is nowhere to be found! We both know where it is...

So we drive back to the scene of the incident and I tell Aaron to "Look into the car, but not like a creeper casing it, just a casual observer and if you see the glove inside grab it quick so we can get out of here." He walks up opens the door and there it is, sitting by the drivers seat. Aaron quickly grabs the glove, closes the door and walks nonchalantly back to the car. We both laugh again, we left no trace.

This Thursday we start our youth Bible Study on Thursday nights, it is going to hopefully be a good opportunity for the them to be able to loosen up, and have an opportunity to interact with the passage instead of just being preached at on Sundays. We will be going through the book of Ephesians, and if you could pray that the youth would discover who it is they are in Jesus, and that that would get them excited to live and grow in Him.

We pray all is well with you all, and I pray that you all grow also in the knowledge of who you are in Him. May the One "who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, in Christ" show Himself strong in your lives this week.

Things are moving quickly!

A lot has happened in a very short time. We moved into our apartment on the 13^th and have started to make it into our home. It’s a slow process, as funds are tight, but that doesn’t stop us from being able to make little changes and arrangements that give it the Glaize touch. We are so grateful to the families that have donated to us in so many ways be it time, prayers, and material items. Also I am proud to announce that the trip up the 3 flights of stairs is getting easier, and sometimes I find myself at the top without realizing that I have even past the first set :D

We are waiting for the BX to get a shipment of beds in so we can get a new bed and therefore sleep has been elusive most nights. Often Aaron lets me sleep on the long couch so I can have the nicer place, but that still leaves us in separate rooms in a new place with new noises and admittedly new anxieties common to nervous Nellie’s like myself. 

Cooking has been interesting as I learn how to cook on an electric range, try to figure out a German oven, and in general the oddities of a new kitchen. I think I might have mastered the trash system here, although I find myself sometimes stumped when I encounter a material that falls into multiple categories. Often I end up tearing up the package and sorting the pieces into the proper bins. For example, I went to throw away a Pringles can which has: a plastic lid, a paper can body, and a metal bottom!! I spend more time here thinking about trash than I did working at Knotts!

On the topic of jobs we have gotten much headway as Aaron has started his first day of work today and I start on Monday! After I received this job I admit I was not too excited at the prospect of working here. But my heart has come around and I look forward to learning all my job will entail. We both needed pants for our jobs and I also needed shoes, which caused me to learn just how expensive it is on base! Most people I talked to praise it for the great prices, but when it comes down to it I could find much better deals in “super expensive” California. I ended up buying my shoes on the economy (military jargon for off base) and found a much better selection at a better price.

We are starting to find our way around off base and though we still have much to learn we did get to go on a walk-about around Landstuhl and figured out Internet stuff. We will be signing up for a plan either Monday or Tuesday, but it will still be another 2 weeks before they can get it set up for us.  Our plan will include free calls back to America as long as it’s a landline! Although I know very few people who actually have one of those any more HA. Oh we also got bank accounts and a post box here! We sure would love to hear from you! Send us an email, and we will get our PO box to you!

Prayer requests:

• The hearts of the youth would be softened and that we would be able to reach and relate to them
• We need to take the drivers test and are about to select a car (or two!) within our means
• That we would be able to buy a new bed soon
• That we could be a blessing and a light in our new job endeavors
• For our marriage; that we would be united and learn how to adapt to the ever changing circumstances and schedules.
• That God would bring us friends we can relate and connect with.

 
We love you guys are we are encouraged every time we hear from you, knowing that we have not bee forgotten and are loved.

Quick Update

Just a quick update, sorry it has taken us so long to write anything. We are still waiting for our jobs to start. Christmas slowed everything to a halt so things are finally getting moving again. If you all could pray for me (Aaron) I currently am under some kind of review, and that will determine whether or not I am able to get the job and receive logistical support. I just need to get signed off by 3 or 4 different people, and so I am waiting for those results. I'm pretty sure I'm fine but just pray that everything goes smoothly and that it will happen soon.

These past couple of weeks have really seen us blessed. The youth have been talking a little bit more, which has been a blessing in and of itself because it shows that they are (slowly) warming up to us. God is really putting the youth that He has given me on my heart, I find myself just randomly praying for them as I go about my day. We have had on average about 7 each week, though if the total number of kids that have been coming all showed up on the same day we would have about 11. We have just been meeting Sunday mornings but starting in February we should be meeting Wednesday (or possibly Thursday) nights for Bible Study, games and other opportunityies to fellowship. Please pray for that, as Donna and I are kind of learning as we go here.

We have yet to get a car, but a few weeks ago a man felt lead of the Lord to donate $8,000 to so that we could buy one, or two. This was an amazing answer to prayer because we came with only about $1,300 to our name, and as time has progressed, that money has been slowly reducing, so we were wondering how we would be able to afford any kind of transportation. But, the Lord being oh so gracious sent someone to annonomously send us a check, and so while we still cant get a car until we get logistical support, we are blessed that we do not have to worry at all about getting around!

The Apartment

We finally got a chance to head over to the apartment so I was able to take some pictures. It is 1 bed, 1 bath like our last apartment, but probably twice as big! AND no more going through the bed room to get to the bathroom! 

Other neat facts about the almost our apartment. This used to be the church's old office before they moved into the new building they now have. It is located 1 block away from the main drag in Landstuhl which means there are plenty of restaurants, cafes, and shops that are in walking distance as well as the local farmers market every Friday. And we are within walking distance of the train station as well. We will still be really close to the church and it is very close to the base so travel time for our jobs will be quick. 


So let the tour begin!

Our apartment is on the 3rd floor which is quite a haul up the stairs, but at least there is no one living above us :)

The Living room/Dinning room area

Our Bedroom

The Bathroom. Aaron is pointing out that right next to the toilet there is an electrical outlet??

Note the random outlet near the toilet tank, as well as the crooked placement of the bowl.

The shower/ tub is pretty cool. The shower "curtain" is that piece of glass to the left and it unfolds to create 3 panels that form a wall to stop the water (ps the glass isn't dirty, it has tiny bubbles inside of it to obscure the person bathing)

The Kitchen. Do you see the double sink? It is not very common in Germany to have a double sink, usually it is single. Also check out ALL that counter space and the cabinets!!!

The large center cabinet is our refrigerator. Most German houses have built in frigdes like this.

That tiny little box is all the freezer space we have! Yikes!

This is the view from the kitchen and if you look real hard on top of the hill, or just at the next picture...

That is Landstuhl Castle! Once we get a chance I'll try to get a picture of it all lit up at night.

This image can be seen on one of the buildings near us. it's known as "Kilroy was here" as was very popular during WWII here is a link with more information if you would like :)

 Oh and i realized most of you have never seen rolladen before. They are these awesome shades on the windows that can completely block out the light which will be handy in the summer when the sun doesn't set until nearly 11pm at the peak of summer. Any who here is a video of Aaron explaining them.

Welp that's all for now. Hope you have enjoyed all the pictures these last few posts and I hope to be posting more as time progresses :) Miss you and Love you all!

Church, Ministry, and other updates

Well we sure have been busy these past few weeks. We have had two more youth services since we last wrote and they have gotten progressively better. They are starting to open up to us and I really feel like I am starting to connect with them.  This week we are talking about worry which should have a great impact on them. Pray that their hearts would be responsive to the message, and to the Holy Spirit.

In other news Aaron and I both got jobs on base at Ramstein. Aaron is going to be working at the bowling ally and his job gives us logistical support. Logistical support is where the military gives you access to the base, the commissary, they take care of your visa, you can also buy gas on base which is WAY cheaper, as well as we can use the gyms, and we get a special form that allows us to buy stuff in Germany without paying the German taxes :) This job doesn't give us medical support, but there are other jobs that do and now that we have our foot in the door it will hopefully be easier to get those better jobs. My job is at the cash cage where I will do currency exchange for the enlisted as well as a information kiosk for the air base. Once our paper work is processed we will be able to start work and enjoying the benefits of logistical support. We both have another job interview opportunity that involves working with children at the base day care the 17th please pray that it goes well... if it's God's will that is!

Now for some pictures!! I know these are long awaited and I hope they can satisfy.

First up here are some pictures of the house we are staying at:

The front of the house

The view of the street. In the middle you can see a church whose bells ring everyday, every 15mins starting at 7am ending at 9pm

(It's a good thing I promise!)

The view of the back yard. Isn't it beautiful? I can hardly wait until it is covered in snow!!!

Our Church:

Our cafe Eternal Perks

Painting our church

Aaron teaching our kids

Here is our College Bible study on Friday nights. It's more of an international study that started as a way to practice conversational English. There are students from Germany, India, Egypt, and recently a guy from France came! It was Peggy's Birthday when we took these pictures :)

On Monday we went to the Christmas Market in Kaiserslautern where we are sending a group to street witness on Thursday to reach both the Germans and Americans.

The market wraps around the church so it is always in the background.

A view of a small portion of the market.

SCHNEEBALLEN!!!!

Awesome Nativity Scene carved out of wood.

There is so much to see a learn and we have barely began to scratch the surface. We are close to moving into the previously mentioned apartment and are searching still for a car.

Prayer Requests for this week

• The youth service on Sunday for the kids' hearts to be open to the Holy Spirit
• The teams that are going out to the Christmas Market in K-Town
• The job opportunity on Saturday 

Soon to come apartment blog post with pictures :)

Our First Youth Service and other fun events.

After a week of getting ready and meeting people and settling in we finally had our first youth service. We had about 9 kids which was cool, a lot more than we were initially anticipating. The days before found me (Aaron) preparing the study for that coming Sunday.

Now, while generally Pastor David wants me to follow along with the text that he is teaching in the sanctuary, which I will (Luke 12:8-21 next week!) this week though I decided to speak on our vision for our ministry hoping to get the kids excited about what Donna and I are excited about.

Our vision/focus for the ministry, really can be summarized with three points

1. Bible Study- We desire for the kids to get to know God through the reading and study of His word.

2. Fellowship- We want to emphasize relationships with each other, with our church as a whole, and most importantly with God.

3. Service- Since this life is not about ourselves but others, we hope to give the kids a heart to serve each other, and the body as a whole.

So I prepared this message, and was excited to see how the kids would respond. As I mentioned there were 9 of them 3 guys and 6 gals, and while one or two seemed genuinely interested, most of them seemed bored out of their minds, angry to be there, or any combination of the two. Which honestly was to be expected, so that's fine. We look forward to getting to know them and getting them to open up, and I know they will, we just are going to have to patiently wait, love and pray for them, and we have been so far.

I find it funny that the parents seem much more excited for us to be there than their kids do, I've worked youth ministry before and so I know that they will start talking, but it's just amusing that the parents meanwhile are offering their houses to use for events, are asking us if there is anything we need, and are sometime trying to give us advice as to what we need to talk with their kids about.

Anyway, after my message we broke into groups, splitting them up guys and gals, Donna naturally took the ladies and I went with the guys we introduced ourselves, and while the guys were a little quiet, they at least opened up some. All the guys are middle schoolers who were home schooled and since I know what that's like it was cool that I was able briefly talk to them about the struggles they have with that.

In other news, last Saturday, Donna and I with pastor David to go check out the church apartment, it was pretty nice and way bigger than our old one in Buena Park I will let Donna tell you more about it later, except to say that once we get jobs and a car we actually plan on moving there!

The job hunt continues, I have an interview at the bowling alley today, and so we will find out how that goes, it will be nice to get it because that will at least get my foot in the door with the NAF jobs (non-appropriated funds) and it could also provide Donna and I with logistical support, the good news there is that only one of us needs to get a job that has it, and if we do then then any spouse or children (under 21 or in college) will also receive it, so that would include ID cards onto the base, health coverage, use of all the base facilities, a US mailbox, all the visa stuff we would need as well as help us get a German drivers license and allow us to register any cars we get through the military base.

So all of that to say, pray that we find something on the base soon!

Prayer Concerns:

-That we would get jobs, car and logistical support

-Pray for our youth, that God would speak to them, and if possible use us to do so.

-The Christmas market has opened up in K-town, and we are going to go street witnessing there weekly leading up to Christmas. Pray for open hearts for the people we speak to, and boldness for those of us who are going to go share the real reason for this season.

-Our youth weekly Bible study will start on Thursdays this January, so pray that the youth would come and that as we start teaching through Ephesians, that the kids would see who they are in Christ, and what it is He has done for them.