Volleyball Plus

Hello Germanators,

Hope you are all enjoying this time of the year as we move from spring into summer (at least here we are:). We have had two sessions of beach volleyball (BVB) so far. We play on Thursday evenings, but must go to the park between 3-4 p.m. to claim a spot. The park fills up quickly and it's neat to see people get to know one another a little over a game of volleyball.

The volleyball area is big enough for six nets to be erected.

Here's Pastor Dave telling me to get to work and stop posing for the camera. He showed us how to set up the home-made system.

Pastor Dave came back to Berlin to visit for two weeks. It was a great time as he encouraged us in our ministry. He was able to meet with almost all the leaders at Rock Berlin. Plus he led four leadership training sessions. Hopefully Dave was able to rest when he was back in Wisconsin.

This past weekend we had a baby dedication (Kindersegnung) which was done in German. The room was very warm and little Silas Schueler fell asleep during the ceremony.

Above is Silas with his parents, Uwe and Kathleen Schueler, and friend of the family and a RB leader, Stephi Goering. Silas is 5-6 months old.

As was done in Ohio, we charged the parents and the congregation to all be a part of Silas' spiritual growth. We prayed that one day Silas will give his life to the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Recently we participated in a Chinese tea ceremony that celebrated the birthday of one of the Rock Berliners, Christina Serafy.

Much of Germany still has stone sidewalks which require a fair amount of maintenance. Here are pictures of sidewalk work.

I hope the photos give you a flavor of what we are experiencing. We thank the Lord for directing us to Berlin and we are grateful for all the Germanators.

We continue to ask the Lord to make His will known, that everything we do would further His kingdom and bring Him glory.

We are being challenged and are growing in our walk with our Lord. Being a Christ follower means that we continue to desire to be more like Christ.

Thank you for your support in all its forms: prayer, financial, and messages of encouragement.

Dieter and Lucy

It's been a while:(

Times flies, even in Germany. We have been here six months already. We thank the Lord for His sovreignty in our lives and how He has blessed us during our time year. Thank you for your support.
It has been suggested that we include more photos, so here we go.

Language acquisition is moving along. What a challenge! Lucy is finishing one class and will begin another on May 7th. Lucy also works with a tandem partner whose name is Gesa.

Dieter practices German when he can, for example, with one of the RockBerliners who wants to improve her guitar playing.

Recently we learned that May 1st is a national holiday in Germany. We attended an outdoor church service in another part of Berlin. The service was attended by approximately 100 believers. It rained that morning, but when the service started the rain stopped and the band led us in worship music. There were short messages by people representing different Christian organizations in Berlin. It was exciting to hear what God is doing through groups like Teen Challenge. They are helping people get off the street and out of addictions.
Several of the Rock Berliners enjoyed the service and the activities.

The other side of the coin is that a few blocks away the Communists had a stage and made speeches for their cause.

We recently taught on prayer for three weeks. During that time we had an all-night prayer vigil at church which finished with a prayer breakfast. There seems to be food with every activity:)
Sorry, no pictures of this event.

We have shown you pictures of the room where we hold our services, but I would like to add one with our unique cross. It is a Bat signal type of cross.

That's enough pictures for this blog

Rock Berlin has encouraged outreach and a couple of our young moms have started ministering to pregnant singles. Lucy helps by caring for the children of the ministering moms.
In two weeks we will begin our volleyball ministry in a local park. This will be new for Lucy and I. This ministry provides opportunity to create relationships with non-believers in a relaxed atmosphere.

God is working at RB and we thank you for enabling us to take part.