It´s hard to believe July is almost over. It´s gone by fast! In this month alone, Michelle completed the
super-important German exam (whew!). The exam was scheduled July 9th, and all in all, it wasn´t too complicated. Of course, before the exam took place, we made flashcards, set up meetings with a girl from church to go over grammar, and lost a little bit of sleep. We both especially want to thank everyone who prayed for the exam. The results came back TODAY and it passed with flying colors! Yeah! Now we can apply for a residence visa. It´s always good when a married couple can live together in the same country! (On the right is a snapshot taken from my language class.)On the fourth of July, D
aniel turned twenty-four. It was really great because it was our first time celebrating a birthday as a married couple. The week of his birthday was filled with several cakes, one surprise party at his parent´s house, one party with some friends at our apartment, and we even got a washing machine from our in-laws. It was really great to do something special for Daniel because he works 10 hour days, including Saturdays. Not to mention, he´s an amazing, incredible husband.Speaking of marriage, we had a chance to see a couple of great friends get married last weekend. Like
us, the couple met at Metro Ministries, starting dating in January of 2009 and got engaged last Fall. In fact, the groom was Daniel´s best man in our wedding. Anyways, they are both from Switzerland, so the wedding was only 5 1/2 hours away from us. It was so wonderful to witness the beginning of their marriage. It was also a great surprise to reunite with several staff members from New York!Now, our next adventure is starting a Sidewalk Sunday School program in our city. At the end of last month, we went with our ministry team to visit a former Metro Ministries staff member. He currently does Sidewalk Sunday School in Düsseldorf. The program consisted of games, contests, prizes, coffee for the parents, and an amazing lesson. Our team members were so impressed. They left the program wide-eyed, saying, "We NEED to do this in our town." Great. That´s exactly the reaction we were hoping for. Now, we are beginning to plan a Sidewalk Sunday School in Troisdo
rf. The difference now is that we don´t have the revenue, props, equipment, or time that we had in New York. But God knows that. And we know God wants to reach our city. Please pray with us that God would use us and give us what we need to reach our neighborhoods.This is a lot of information, right? But just one more thing! We also want to give praise to God for Daniel´s acceptance into college. Daniel applied to different colleges when we first arrived, and we´ve been praying for God to open doors. Now, Daniel is enrolled in the Dual Studies Program in a college in Cologne. "Dual Studies" means that he goes to college full-time during the semester and works at an apprenticeship (vocational training) during the off-semester in his field. How great! It´s so great because we could use the money, and Daniel gets to have hands-on experience in civil engineering. God is so great!
We just want to thank you for keeping us in your prayers. We think of our friends from the U.S. often, and we miss you! God bless!
