All Is Well

Life in Germany is crazy. Upon arriving to this country I really thought that there was no way I would survive. We found ourselves stuck between two cultures that were completely new and unknown to us, the German culture and the military culture. In some ways both of those cultures are just as new and unknown today as they were when we stepped off the plane April 16, 2004, but we are making some progress.

Last summer I found a job working at the Army Education Center at Baumholder. I have been working as the Test Administrator. If you have seen the movie Spies Like Us with Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd you will remember the scene where they are taking the test to get into the secret service, that pretty much sums up my job. I administer all sorts of exams from college exams to Army Personnel exams, Language exams to SATs. You get the idea. It has actually been a fun job. I actually recently gave my notice and will finish here on July 29. This past February I was approached about taking on some special responsibilities at the chapel for the coming year. I will be serving as the President of Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) which is the women’s ministry of the chapel. I am heading up a board of 10 women who will be serving not only the women of the chapel, but hopefully also the chapel and the community at large. This is a huge responsibility and I am already up to my eyeballs in this position. I hope and pray that the Lord will give me strength. Once I quit my job I will have more time to devote to PWOC and to helping the women in this area.

Dave has been busy working at the Dental Clinic. He enjoys his job and the folks that he works with. He has also been busy in many other areas. This past fall he helped lead a Bible Study through Romans. We used Tim Keller’s study and it was so wonderful. The group was very diverse which became challenging at points, but overall it has been a positive experience. This small group Bible Study has turned into a Community Group of sorts. We currently have four solid couples and have two couples on the edge. Dave has transitioned the group and we are now going through the book of James. In February Dave was asked to teach Sunday School at the chapel and began teaching through II Peter, and recently the BSB Chaplain (aka- Head Pastor for you non-military folk) asked Dave to serve the chapel as the Head of Adult Religious Education. He will be overseeing Sunday School as well as small group Bible studies and discipleship. He is very excited about that.

As you can see from the above paragraphs, Dave and I are very involved and committed to our little Baumholder Chapel. It has certainly been an interesting experience transitioning from Intown, where we had attended for years, to the Chapel style of church, but overall it has been a good experience. We have found ourselves surrounded by some solid believers and have had a good time of fellowship.

Our year has also been filled with MUCH travel. This has been such a delight. We “Slept in Straw” in Switzerland, celebrated Thanksgiving with an Italian Feast in Florence, rung in the New Year in Paris, etc. We are in a unique area of Germany because we can reach Luxembourg, France and Belgium all in an hour drive. We are also about 30 minutes away from Hahn Airport where Ryan Air (Europe’s version of Air Tran only on steroids) flies. Many places are accessible that just would not be from the states. It also funny to hear kids talk around here. They say things like, “Do we have to go to Paris again” or “We were just in Brussels last weekend, can’t we go somewhere else.” I hope that we never get to that point, but in some ways I do understand that you can only go to the top of the Eiffel Tower so many times.

The picture: Hills of Germany near where our new house is in Mettweiler.