Honeymoon

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your own door. You step on to the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." - J.R.R. Tolken

My time in Duisburg came and went the retreat being my last working week with the church there. The retreat weekend was wonderful, we had an international theme and focused on the global church. I was able to share some of my experiences with the mission work I've done in the past and talk about how we all connected, one church, all connected through the Holy Spirit and going out in love. The retreat was in this beautiful little village called Erder, and besides being the perfect place to be reading the Lord of the Rings, it was a great escape from the city and a place where the church could really grow and fellowship together. 

It was during this retreat that I realized that I was loosing some of my excitement and focus for this trip that I'm on. This past month has been kind of rough, knowing that I was soon going to be leaving Duisburg I found myself starting to pull back a bit, preparing myself for the goodbyes but robbing myself of the Joy of the moment. It's harder then I expected not really being permanently connected anywhere, living the life of a sojourner, always preparing myself for the next place not knowing how to say goodbye to the last place. 

I had a really good talk with Silvia (the missionary I was working with) about what was going on and some of the thoughts I've been going over. She summed it up pretty well "The honeymoon phase is over". I am now well over 5 months into this trip, and being alone a lot in Germany left for lots of time thinking about the future. Slowly the excitement and zeal I had began to slip, thinking to much about what was going to happen after this trip, what my next steps would be pursing what God is calling on my life, trying to do everything myself. (why do I never learn I cant control things) The funny thing is I'm getting so caught up in trying to plan how I can get back on the mission field, or how I could start things in my home church. I'm not seeing all the extra things I could be doing here... It's really quite sad when I look back at it.  I watched a sermon this week, Francis Chan talked about Jeremiah 1 and about how we are all created with a specific purpose and one of his main points is "God knows what he's doing and he doesn't make mistakes". *deep breath* I need to step back, see that God is (and has always been) in control, this trip isn't about me and my future. *deep breath* such a relief letting God lead. 

 Life isn't about honeymoon phases and always being on "mountain tops" those, of course are great encouragement's but isn't the life as Christians that we are promised. John 16:33 "In this world you will have tribulations; But take Heart, I have overcome the World." Life is about the journey God takes you on, loving God, loving people. Sometimes your journey leads you off the well traveled road, sometimes your journey leads you to not having a permanent home for awhile, sometimes your journey leads you so far out of your comfort-zone you forget what that word even means. But be prepared my friend, when you are following Gods calling on your life, you will be overwhelmed with his goodness, with his grace and willingness to teach you through mistakes, and oh, will you be overwhelmed with his love . Take heart, He has overcome the world!

I'm leaving Dresden tomorrow morning, (I was able to spend 8 days with an awesome Kontaktmissionary family, who let took me around this beautiful city and shared their home with me) I have a training weekend in Wuestenrot Germany, then I start my summer ministry in Latvia and Ukraine. 

-Please be praying-

-safe travels for all of the Kontaktmission summer short-termers, staff and me as we make our way to Wuestenrot for the training weekend.

-Safe travels as a team member and myself fly to Latvia on June 1st. 

- I continue to follow where the Spirit is leading, and that I stay alert to God's plan

-The church in Duisburg that they continue to grow in unity as a community and as a part of the Global church

- The Dillion's in Dresden and their ministry here in East Germany. East Germany has the highest percentage of atheistic people at 99%. 

Thank you all again for your prayers and support, you are all such an encouragement!