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.

Week One

We are here! We have arrived in Germany and have spent most of the time sleeping! HA! A combination of jet lag and the sun setting so early here (like completely set by 17:00{5pm}) has us all turned around with very little idea of the actual time by our internal time clocks. But more on our arrival later, first what we had been up to before we got here.


The past two weeks before, we spent with our families and friends in each of our hometowns. While we enjoyed ourselves most of the time, it was hard for us to be fully content when all we truly desired to do was get on a plane to Germany and dive into the work to be done here. We will miss the late night hang outs, the coffee chats and the feelings of belonging that come from being with people who know you well enough to write your biography for you. Thank you for your words of encouragement, your love and support. But most of all we thank you for your prayers, the thing we needed and will the most.


As for the almost week that we have been here. When we first arrived another missionary, and long time friend of David and Peggy, Karen stayed with us for the weekend. She works at the bible college in Siegen and came here to buy the supplies for the Thanksgiving dinner the school will be preparing for the students. It was also a goodbye because in January she will be leaving to go to Japan to help with the reconstruction of the devastated areas left by the earthquakes of last March. It was wonderful to get to know her and we had so much fun talking and laughing.


Sunday we officially meet our youth and it was awkward...


Basically it was a room of mixed emotions. The parents were so glad that we were there and some went so far as to tell us publicly what their child needs us to teach them thus embarrassing their child. While most of the kids started at us sullenly, completely disinterested in who were are or what was going on. So typical teens. We are hoping that this next Sunday, when we have our first youth service, that they open up more but we are aware of the prayer and work that will need to go into this. It is our goal to start a Thursday night bible study at the beginning of the new year but we are still praying about it and what the Lord would have us to do.


Monday we applied for jobs and we are waiting to hear back. We have already called the director of the CDC(child development center) and she has asked us to call back on Monday to schedule a brief meeting so that we can introduce ourselves properly and *hopefully* make a good impression. Please pray for this and our job situation in general.


Tomorrow we are having a church Thanksgiving meal here at David and Peggy's with about 22 people in attendance. We have invited those who do not have a family to come and enjoy a meal with us, and I'll be making Deviled Eggs! It's gonna be a full house with much to be thankful for :)

Prayer request for this week:

• The church Thanksgiving meal would be a blessing to the church body and glorify the Lord
• Vision for the youth group
•  The first Sunday with the youth group would go well
• Jobs for Aaron and I that give us logistical support
• A vehicle
• Our families in the States, that they would be comforted and blessed this Thanksgiving

 We love you guys and we miss you greatly. Know that if you are reading this blog you are one of the people we are most thankful for. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Beginning of the End

This past weekend has been a flurry of activities with no sign of slowing and we couldn’t be more excited!

We have officially begun to say our good byes starting with our church family in the OC.

Friday night was our last College/Young Adult service we worshiped, studied that word and we were prayed over by our group. It was nice sharing our last Friday night with people who have become like family.

Saturday we held our garage sale and we were able to sell almost all our stuff! The last remaining items will be donated to the Salvation Army where hopefully, others can be blessed through their sale. It was a crazy but fun morning! We were able to talk to some of the folks who came to check out what we had about why we were selling everything and what God is doing in our lives. We met some lovely people who dropped by and we spent time with our friends who came to help us with the sale. All in all a great morning!

Later Chris and Sara came by with their darling Abigail Raja and we got to catch up and talk ministry and life in the Lord. That night we had our “Last Hang Out” and we had so much fun! Most of our friends were able to make it and there was food, dancing, laughter sharing, more dancing, more laughter, and best of all prayer. We were truly touched by the prayers of our friends and their words of kindness and encouragement.

Sunday we went to church, heard a wonderful message on Matthew 6:19-24, and went our to lunch with my parents as a mini birthday celebration. 

That night we came back and continued in the 1^st Corinthians study with chapter 6:1-11 and Jack gave us an opportunity to tell the Morningstar family what we will be doing and then prayed for us. It was really awesome, a few people came over and talked with us about Germany and were excited to see what God will be doing there at CCK-Town.

Tonight is Alternative night where we will be helping in whatever way is needed and we will be saying our final good byes. We are very excited about this event and the opportunity to reach out to the community to provide a safe place for Kids to have fun on a night that often is not glorifying to the Lord.

God truly is Jehovah Jireh (the Lord our Provider) even in bringing along other saints to encourage and bless us. We have been soaking it all up knowing that what we are about to embark on will be difficult. It will require much prayer and diligence and we are grateful for the outpouring of love from our family here in the OC. We hope to be able to host missions teams very soon and we know that even if we never see each other face to face here on earth we will most definitely be with one another when we meet Jesus face to face.

We love you all and God Bless the work that He is doing through the faithful few here in Whittier.

In His Love,

Aaron and Donna Glaize

So I completely forgot to post the video from the trip in August! Lucky for me my sweet friend Virginia reminded me and I can rectify the situation at once.  Without further adulation here is a summary of our first trip to Germany :)

We are so excited to be heading there soon and we have been overwhelmingly blessed by the Lord as He continues to work out the details of this life changing move.

Back in the OC

We have been back almost a month and we are nearly back into the groove of our life here. Though it is difficult to be fully committed when our hearts and minds are still in Germany. We are in the process of paring down our stuff in preparation of moving in with our good friend Sean. This involves giving what we have to people in need, setting aside that which we are keeping at my parents house until we can send for it, and selling what ever is left. We are constantly sharing with others what God is doing in our lives, and it has given me an opportunity to share Jesus with people in a way that is causing them to think and examine their own lives. Often I am asked, "Why would you choose to move to Germany when there is plenty of opportunity here in the states?", and I am able to share how God has called us to these people and how our hearts have been joined with theirs. How we have been given vision for how we would like to teach, lead, and most importantly love the kids in K-Town. I am asked "Why are you giving away most of your stuff first and selling whatever is left?" And my answer is that we have been blessed with so much by God in these 2 years here in Buena Park that if we are able to pass along that blessing to others we are more than willing!
This had definitely been a time of being able to share how good God is and show others His love in a way that is sometimes easier to accept because it is more tangible.  Our hope is that we are planting seeds that will one day lead to the fruition on salvation and replication.

Warm Reception

We have been here in Kindsbach for 6 days and we have 6 days left. Tomorrow is Sunday and we meet the church family. We are very excited and if they are anything like the warm lovely people we have met so far then we are very lucky indeed. I don't usually throw around the term "brothers and sisters in Christ" but I truly feel as if these people are family. They have welcomed us in to their homes and have allowed us the privilege of getting to know their hearts and their walks. I love the open honesty and the willingness to be so real and the glimpses of rawness that comes with it. God is definitely doing a work here in Germany and I pray that we would be able to be a part of it.
And can I just say that I love this country? It is beautiful here. The winding roads with houses and businesses all smashed up together in contrast to the stretches of wide open fields and forests so thick that often, the hills, look like one giant blob of green painted by Bob Ross. There is much that the Lord will need to pull together if this is where He wants to place us, but I admit that my heart is already here and willing to serve.
Please pray for us as we continue to seek the Lord's will in this.

Beating jet lag

So we are sitting here about to tell you all the greatness of how we beat jet lag and what has been going on here in Germany; only to struggle to come up with words thus proving that perhaps we have yet to fully over come jet lag.


We arrived yesterday about 7:30 in the morning and after "freshening ourselves up" we searched for Pastor David in our sleepless stupor.


We passed him like 3 times...


After finally finding him we headed to the church and he gave us a tour. The facility is amazing, a work in progress but it has great potential. It used to be a big rig repair shop type thingy, but already they have made great head way towards developing the main sanctuary, the offices and the Sunday school rooms. As he was showing us around he explained the visions that he had for the various rooms and what work had already been done. It is in a secluded area that is a bit off the main road with  ACTUAL TREES LIKE IN A FOREST behind the building. (pictures to come once we get home)


He then took us on the Ramstein base where we picked up a few things and looked around the new, huge, BX. We got lunch and then headed to his house.


He showed us around and explained to us (mostly me) the German oddities like windows that open strangely and have metal "curtains"and the "fire place" that is like a giant radiator that runs off firewood. After the tour we both took showers and then passed out for 3 hrs. We forced ourselves to get up and then we went out for some German Mexican food. It wasn't half bad but Estradas easily beats it. After that we watched a movie and we made it til 10 pm so we went down stairs to what is like a mini apartment and hit the hay.... for 12 hours!


Today we woke up around 10 did some devos and headed to the church for a staff meeting, and later we picked up Peggy, Dave's wife, from the train station. She was just in Pittsburgh with her family and so it was nice to finally meet her. We ate at a German restaurant, Urban Cafe, es was sehr gut. It was funny though, Dave doesn't really speak German but Peggy does and right when she left us for a moment is when our server came by and we had really no idea what she was saying. Luckily she realized we didn't speak German so she brought us the English menu and then Peggy came back quickly after wards.


We headed back to their house to drop Peggy off and they we went to the church again. Aaron and I worked outside on their prayer garden doing some yard work and then it was time for the Women's study. Aaron went home with Dave and I stayed with Peggy for the study. We studied Gen 16 and I met a few of the ladies, it was very nice and we were able to really share our hearts with one another. We headed back home after wards and for dinner Peggy and I had a salad that we picked fresh from her garden! It was quite delicious! We all shared some thin mints for dessert and then off to bed.


That's all for now but we are excited to see what the Lord has planned for the next week and a half  :D

On our way!

We are waiting in the Salt Lake City airport for our next flight @ 1:10 am local time, it's 10:30 ish. We have had relatively easy travel thus far and we are looking forward to getting to Atlanta to see Aaron's family and getting to Germany to see Pastor David. Our first plane was pretty small and tight corridors. Other than the turbulence near the end it was a pleasant flight.

Just a few more days

T minus 3 days until we leave. We are ready to go except for one little thing... my passport has yet to arrive via mail. We have contacted the passport agency and they assure us that it will be here any day now and most of the time, we believe them. We firmly believe that if God wants us to leave for Germany on Saturday then it will be here on time for us to take our flight that night. So, while there may be times in which we get a bit nervous over the timing of its delivery, we at the end of the day know that it will arrive just in time. We choose to trust in the Lord, and He can direct the post office how to get it to us :)

Our Heart For Germany

Our first trip out to Germany is barely more than a month away and we are busy trying to prepare ourselves for what is waiting for us on the other side of the ocean. I have been reading blog after blog, looking at photos of Germany, and reading up in Operation World the needs of the people and their country. It seems rather intimidating after reading these stats about the percentage of Christians falling away from the church (34% since the 1960s) and that there are whole cities that have not heard the Good News! The book states:

"Churches seem paralyzed, having lost much of their identity, purpose, and income. Germany needs another reformation as deep and lasting as the the one sparked by Luther nearly 500 years ago."

Now I know that the church we are going to minister to is an American church mostly for those who are stationed there due to their military orders. And I know that we will be involved in an even smaller part of that church, the high school ministry, but what better way to teach students about the Love of Christ than to make an impact on the community around them? We must lay the ground work now with prayer! Prayer for our hearts, for the students hearts, and for the community around them. Please join us in lifting up the country and people of Germany. Their hearts are hardened towards organized religion and are being seduced by new aged philosophies and false teachings. And they are more miserable than ever; the number 2 killer of Germans age 15-29 is suicide and mental illness is "occurring in record numbers". Please pray for them, Germany in many ways influences the EU and they are the strongest economic power in Europe. If the Gospel can have influence in this country then the effects would ripple outward to reach every corner of this continent. Germany has such a rich spiritual history and we do not believe that God is done with them yet. Let it be said of Germany what God says of Israel in Jeremiah 30:22 "You shall be my people, and I will be your God."

Graduation!

This has been a long time coming and we are so thankful to have finally reached this goal. God has blessed us richly with provision of finances, with grace, and with strength to persevere when life stretched us thinner than we have ever been before. This graduation is more than a celebration of a group of men committing to two years of demanding work and school loads and finishing well. It is the glorifying of God and His mercy and grace through each man's story; those men who He carried and prepared for the calling He has placed on each of their lives.

Aaron walking!!

John

Carl

Doug

Welcome!

This is our official Glaize family blog so we can keep our friends and family updated on where God is taking us and the great things He is doing!


It has been a crazy journey since we got married full of exhaustion, worry, laughter, fulfillment, refreshment, growth, and joy.


After our fantastic wedding we stayed at my parents for a few months until the 2009 fall semester at the Calvary Chapel School of Ministry started. For 5 weeks straight, driving back and forth between San Diego and my cousins beautiful home in Cypress, we seeked out employment and housing. We knew Aaron was supposed to be going to the school, but we had yet to secure any of the necessary means of living there. So in faith that God would provide we told the school that we would be there when the semester started. In fact by the time Aaron had started classes we had yet to move in!


We moved in the weekend after he started school and I started my job at Knott's Berry Farm a week later. Our schedules were completely opposite of each other and our goal for the 1st few months was to simply survive. all the while we were desperate for a home church but it was very difficult to find one with my work being in the wee hours of the morning especially on the weekends. I would have to drag my body to church in the morning, and we were going to the latest services we could.


We church shopped at 3 churches before we found the one. We fell in love our first visit. We didn't know anyone there, there were few young people (at the time), and I didn't know half the music, but I knew this was the place we had been looking for. It was like sitting on your favorite chair with the sun light coming in, pure and bright, while you spend time with God and enjoy being in His presence. It was comfortable and genuine.


We have had God meet our needs in every way, providing jobs, car mechanics, checks in the mail, discounted food sections, microwaves, dining room chairs, strangers at starbucks to encourage us, a wonderful church to spur on growth, small groups and leadership opportunities, the list goes on and on. Living this way has truly been a blessing. We both have grown closer to God and seen more of Him than we have ever before. Now that Aaron has graduated from the Calvary Chapel School of Ministry we are looking forward to our next big adventure!


We hope to keep this blog updated at the very least monthly and we will email you guys to let you know when we have updated. Thank you for your prayers and support they mean so much to us knowing that we are being lifted up by you.


God Bless,
Aaron and Donna Glaize