Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow

I know I should have a pic of this, but the camera batteries are recharging. We had our first snow today! Woohoo! First snow. This is not a term I could use in Texas, because if we ever got any snow, it would probably be the only snow. Here in Germany, I'm sure we will be blessed with many more days of it. And IT is beautiful!

Speaking of being blessed, I forgot to mention one of the tidbits from church yesterday. They talked about everyone bringing food next week for a "Pot Bless". Marty had leaned to me and whispered, "Pot Bless?". I replied, "Because they don't believe in luck." Get it? For a Christian, it can't be a Pot Luck dinner, it has to be a Pot BLESS dinner. I like it!

Covenant Family For All Nations

Today, we attended an English-speaking service at Friedenskirche (kirche is German for church), though the service we attended was not actually that church’s service. It was Covenant Family For All Nations, an affiliate of Biblische Glaubens Gemeinde and the Bride of Jesus Christ Ministries International (Philippines). The pastor Reggie Campos is from the Philippines w/his wife Erma, and their 3 children. We met Ingrun who introduced herself first to us. She’s the translator for English to German. She told us her unusual name means "In God Run". Cool!

It was a small gathering... Marty counted 36 including the pastor. We also met Daniella who was one of the two leading the praise and worship music at the beginning. It was nice. True worship. The message was from Matthew 28, the Great Commission... not the Subtle Suggestion. The focus was on becoming a disciple, a Jesus follower.

The things that struck me most:
1. Jesus gave His prime time to the disciples.
2. Someone who’s “radical” in your opinion, is just someone who loves Jesus more than you do.

It was interesting that the message was about becoming “fishers of men” because yesterday during a phone call with a couple of my Florida friends I suggested they go to church together today. They told me they were going fishing, and Marty had made the comment “Go fishing for men!”

Finally, my favorite point from the message came when Pastor Reggie made a comparison with flying. When you fly business class, you pay a higher price, and you get better service. If you can afford to fly first class, you pay the highest price, and so of course you expect first class service. So consider the fact that Jesus paid the ultimate price for us, what should He get in return? He should certainly get, and deserves, first class service from us. He expects everything. Luke 14:33. Are we giving Him everything? It's the difference between being just a believer and being a first class follower... a true disciple. Woot!!

<3!

Christkindlemarkt

If you've not checked my blog in awhile, or even if you've checked it recently, don't stop with this one. I've posted a ton of stuff today, and I back dated a bunch of it. So please... read on... read on...

I think every town in Germany has one... a Christkindlemarkt... what I guess we in America would translate as a Kris Kringle Market... a Santa Claus Carnival. They set up temporary wooden booths in the middle of town, cover them with pine boughs and decorations. There seems to always be a merry-go-round for the kids. We visited the market in Ulm and later in Memmingen. So I had to post a few pics, if for no other person than Kendra who is looking forward to seeing them.


They have lots of good Bavarian food in the Christmas Market, and we sampled much of it today!

We also enjoyed looking at the other decorations around town.





And finally... Marty being a Nutcracker =)


It was a great day, that ended with watching the epic "Two Towers" movie. One of the best.

Inspired by Spires

Today we visited Ulm, Germany. We'd read that the church with the tallest spire in the world is located there. We found it!


The most beautiful thing inside the church was the light cast on the columns by the stained glass windows. It appears that no matter how good man may be in his artistry, God always blows it away.



The candles placed in a tray full of sand were beautiful too.


Outside the church was a Christmas carnival. We walked around, enjoying the sights and sounds. The air was filled with Christmas music; mostly American oldies. It's amazing how much English you hear in a country where few speak much of it. There was something special in the middle of this Christmas market. But before I post that pic, I must use a pic taken in Denmark and say "Dad, here's your sign..."


To all my wow friends... Choo Choo! Chugga chugga chugga chugga... oh yeah... boot me from the guild now Bokk. Haha!

There's Something Rotten in Denmark

but we didn't find it...

On our last day in Sweden, we drove up the coast to Helsingborg. We discovered that there was a castle across the water, in Denmark, called "The Hamlet", the inspiration of Shakespeare's play. It's origins date back to 1499. So we boarded a big Scandlines ship... a ferry... but it was huge... to cross the channel and explore. It took us to Helsingor, Denmark. This crossing point is the closest Denmark and Sweden come to each other. This is what our ship looked like.


The front of the boat would open to allow the cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and even big tour buses in and out.


The Hamlet came into view...


Helsingor is quite picturesque.


After visiting the castle, we walked around the town. Christmas decorations were already going up everywhere.


We found the ultimate gingerbread house.


When we got back to the Helsingborg side, we checked out the tower in the middle of the city. It was closed, so we couldn't climb to the top, but it was still amazing to behold.


The next day we went back to Copenhagen to catch our return flight to Germany. Marty picked up a new car in the airport. Nice huh?

I kid =)

Twists and Chips

There's a mall in Malmo that I liked to refer to as the Dorito Store because the lights reminded me of Dorito chips. I had to take several pics to catch all the "chips" lit up.


And now the twist to my story is this building called the Twisting Torso. It's so cool. I got several pics, especially the last one where I was looking down into the water that surrounds the building, in order to see the reflection of the building rising above me. Enjoy!



Pretty cool, huh?

The New and the Old

Looking to buy something new? I just loved the artistry of the shop windows. This was one of my favorites.

My "plan to lose it all" has kept me from buying anything. I'm truly thankful for this change God has brought about in my life. A change that has kept me from acquiring things. There is so much I probably would have bought otherwise.
The need to travel lightly is a constant reminder as well, but not as powerful as God's influence to live a life of satisfaction... satisfaction with less.

One of the best places we visited in Malmo was St. Petri's church. Very old and beautiful. We went inside and prayed for our family and friends, and the many in Malmo... in Sweden... in Europe... in the world... who need to know Jesus.


One night while in Sweden, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. I often pray for people during these times. Sometimes I feel bad about using God to talk to in order to be soothed back to sleep, but then I think... He probably doesn't mind. This night, instead of praying for people, I decided to just "thank" God for them... for the many people in my life... Marty, Sharayah, Mark, Beth, baby Spicer, Mom, Dad, Don, Blanca, David, Sarah, April, Jim, James, Aaron, Melonia, Will, William, Austin, Christopher, Julia, Alicia, Daniel, Rachel, Joshua, Ryan, Zulema, Meme, Carmen, Alice, Lalo, Angela, the twins, Juan, Dulia, Aaron, Elyse, Glenda, Carol, Bianca, Scott, Maddy, Fathom, Tim, Saundra, Rebecca, Kelly, Kevin, Emmie, Case, Josh, Austin, Gary, Bryce, Pete, Gary, Kevin, David, Rocky, Eric, Blynn, Scottie, Rick, Lori, Sue, Jace, John, Ian, Marivel, Marcela, Mike, Hendrik, Patricia, Cristina, Johan, Werner, Josh, Nate, Chris, Matt, Tegan, Dylan, Jordan, Connor, Shannon, Dave B., Dave C., John, Shawn, Matt, Brennan, Mike, Bryce, Michael, Clemente, Alberto, Rosa, Sonya, and many more... oh so many, many more.

More of Malmo

Malmo is a city of many canals, and they add to the beauty of the city and it's variety of buildings.


Some of the buildings are so old and beautiful, like this which used to be a type of city hall, and is now the fabulous Rådhuskällaren restaurant. We had the pleasure of dinner there one night. It was so cold that night and the wind was blowing so hard we had to lean into it as we walked to the restaurant. When we arrived, my cheeks were frozen.


Marty found a place that he could really identify with...


More sights around the city. With so many canals, come many bridges. I like bridges.


This next pic is for Mom & Dad, to show them the influences of America. And no, we did not eat there. We did eat at Pizza Hut though, and it was great.


We also ate at a place called MAX Burgers. From the second floor, we observed teenage boys and it so reminded us of the many youth we've worked with over the years. They are the same all over the world.
Just check out this pic... the reflections in the window, the price of a combo meal (15 Kroner), the cool lights... I think it's a classic scene.

Malmo Sweden

We expected snow. After all, it's Sweden. Isn't there always snow all over Sweden? At least in winter right? No! Turns out Malmo Sweden, on the coast, only gets snow like 1-2 days per year. That's about the same amount as Texas!

We flew into Copenhagen airport on Sat, Nov 14th. Very cool to be in yet another country: Denmark!

We took this world famous combination tunnel/bridge from Denmark to Sweden. Half of it is a tunnel under the water, to an island in the middle, and then it comes up from below and becomes an impressive bridge the rest of the way across to Sweden. We had arrived around 4pm, but it was rainy and the sun was down before we started across, so we couldn't get any good pics of the bridge. I did get this cool shot in the tunnel though.


The next day, we walked around the city. This is one of the classic city squares, found all over Europe. The fountain, the architecture, always interesting things to see.


We went to a castle, complete with moat, and found some things that shocked us.


As we crossed the bridge to enter the castle, we looked up and saw this sign:

We were like "What?!?", but then we looked around and realized what was going on...

A special exhibition, honoring Nelson Mandela, included the re-creation of some signs of a past time.

It went so far as to even exclude us...


It took us back in time, and helped us feel what it must have been like to be "unwanted".

The World is Flat

or maybe just our apartment is...

I’m finally getting around to posting some pics of our flat in Germany. I know… I know… about time! It took awhile to get it organized, and as you’ll see, it’s still not even there yet, but it may never be. After all, we’re only going to be here around 6 months. We're off in Malmo, Sweden as I post this, but I'm behind on blog posts as always, so the Sweden stuff will come in another day or two.

Our flat is only an entryway and 3 rooms: the bedroom/living area, the kitchen/dining area, and the bathroom. Our bed is a single bed with a little pull out extension. We couldn’t sleep on it that way b/c neither of us could handle the tiny extension part nor trying to the sleep over the gap between the mattresses. So we went and bought a 160cm by 200cm mattress to put over the top, and we sleep sideways on that because… well… we are short people and we can get away with it.


Here’s our couch and coffee table, just opposite the bed in our room. We also bought a little pop-up wardrobe b/c there was no closet space... except the closet out in the stairwell, but it's cold, and who wants cold clothes?


Across from the couch, back on the side of the room by the bed is the TV and the place Marty has his Mac set up b/c we watch DVDs on it. The format is different here in Europe, and our DVDs won’t play in their systems.


Next is our tiny bathroom and shower. As you can see, we’re on the top floor and in an A-frame type setup. So you can’t be too tall to use this shower… unless you want to stick your head out the sunroof… but that would be a little cold at this time of year.



Finally, here’s our kitchen… more like a kitchenette, with no oven and only 2 burners for the stove. Marty describes the little sink as a “salad bowl”, but he makes it work and has cooked up some great dinners so far.


Opposite the kitchen counters is the little IKEA table where we dine.


To top it off, I thought I’d show the rather artistic view of the rooftops from our window. It actually looks pretty cool with all the different angles.


And if you look down the street from our window, you can see the tower on one of the old buildings. I think it’s pretty cool.


So if you are up for sleeping on the floor or a European-style fold out couch, come visit us and enjoy the amenities!! Muahahahaha!

Weekend in Munich

We went to Munich for the weekend and enjoyed the art museums.

They have these interesting intersections all over Europe called "roundabouts"... here's a sign for an especially big one. LOL!


We parked the car and walked along the avenue. We saw people gathering at a bridge and looking over at something, so we joined them to see what was up. Below was the Munich River, and... people were surfing on it. Yes, surfing! Amazing! There we were, just a few feet above them, able to watch as they rode the waves created by a huge pipe routing the river under the city.


Some other scenes around the city:






The place we stayed, the Alpen Hotel:


And the typical tiny European hotel room, but it was comfy:


Here's the first museum we visited, the Bayerisches National. Cool signage out front.


The second museum, the Haus der Kunst, had an exhibit by Ai Weiwei called "So Sorry". The sign outside was made up of hundreds of backpacks of various colors. Very cool!


And we caught this interesting vehicle outside the last museum Alte Pinothek:

Anyone need a tiny sapling delivered?

And finally, for some of my fav works of art by Monet, Van Gogh, and Manet... even if not their most famous:




So much to see in Germany...