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.