The team wishes all a Happy Mother´s Day from Germany. Some of the events of the past few days are explained below from the gal´s perspective. Every team member contributed to today´s blog. I would encourage you to read each of them. They are a blessing. Personally, I would like to wish my mother a Happy Mother´s Day. It has been years since we have been together to celebrate, but I know that your greatest joy is knowing that I am serving the Lord wherever that takes me in this world. Also, I would like to express my love for my wife who shares that same joy with a gracious, selfless spirit. I so wish you could be here. The team is definitely one girl short!
We have posted a few special Mother´s Day pictures. We hope to have the time to post more pictures of team members in the near future. Thank you again for your prayers. We look forward to worshipping tomorrow with our German brothers and sisters in Christ.
Brian Trainer
From all:
SHOUT OUT to our new friends—Laura, Heidi, Arna, Christpoh (ha-ha—we mean Christoph), Anne, Steve, Tim, Fredrich, Jules, Marcel, Peter and Max! We had so much fun with you, and we miss you already. Thank you for teaching us about life in Germany—you’d better keep in touch.
SHOUT OUT to Wencke (and Leah). We love you—you are in our thoughts and prayers. May the Lord remind you of His love.
SHOUT OUT to Mrs, Mueller. We can’t thank you enough for preparing us for this trip. You are love and missed by the families of Erlangen.
SHOUT OUT to the Talley family! What an impact you have made on our hearts. Thank you for your faithfulness in ministry. We hold you in our prayers.
From Kirsten--
Thank you to everyone who has faithfully been praying for our team…we are constantly witnessing the amazing hand of God every day on this trip.
Mom- Happy Mother’s Day Mommy!!! I hope you have a wonderful mother’s day.Thank you so much for being my mom (not like you had a choice!) and for always giving of yourself to others.
Rissa- That is absolutely awesome that you were able to raise more money!! I cannot tell you how excited I am for you to go to Ireland, you will absolutely love it. I can’t wait to show you pictures and tell you all about this trip. I love you sister!!!
God has been so good to us…even when this seem to go wrong, every single detail has been worked out for His good. I can’t wait to share with you all what God has done…
--Kirsten
From Cindy:
Happy Mother’s Day, Shanna, Jaysha, Veronica, and Melissa!! We are now in Erlangen. We are staying in houses with the German people. Hello also to Harold, Harold(Trey), Garth, Bob, Tony, and all 6 grandsons. Love, Mom (I will write more later.)
From Janessa:
First of all, Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I’m sorry I couldn’t be home on your special day! I just want to say I love you and thank you so much for being the best mom I ever could have. You have been the best example of a mom and I hope I do as good of a job as you when I’m a mom. I miss you and love you! I miss and love you, too, Dad J Tell hi to Justin and tell Jeremy and Kelley about this website, too, so they can see. Can you possibly blog to me back Josh’s cell phone number, too, because I forgot his area code. Thanks for blogging! I honestly didn’t think you guys would be able to figure it out, unless Justin helped. J I’m not sure if or when I can call, but hopefully I will call you guys Sunday afternoon. So blog me and let me know where you’re going to be Sunday afternoon. It has been so awesome being here this past week. We already have planted so many seeds in people’s lives and we have pray that they will continue growing. We met kids our age playing volleyball on Wednesday and then they all came to our cookout the following night that we invited them to (and were about an hour and a half late for). Let’s just say Thursday was the worst and best day of each of our lives. I’ll explain when I get back. This past week has changed my life and many of the other girls’ so much. I can’t wait to see what this next week brings! Continue praying! I love and miss you guys so much! Josh, I don’t know if you’ve looked at our website yet,but I just wanted to say I miss you a lot! I hope I can call you on Sunday afternoon, so keep your phone by you! Tell your mom I say Happy Mothers’ Day and tell your family I say hi and I miss them as well. I can’t wait to see you all again. With much love, Janessa
From Mandy:
What a great day we had again today. The Lord has been working in our lives here. I would like to wish my MOTHER a Happy Mother’s Day. Wish I could be with you today, but when I return maybe we can have a mother-daughter date. We had 3 training sessions this morning and they went well. Then this afternoon we went out witnessing in the city of Erlangen. What an eye opener for me! Just like in the States, people need to have a hope of life after this life. We were able to hand out tracts and share the Gospel with a few people. The Lord is working. We are staying in homes with the German people of the church where we are. Well, Hello to the rest of my family. I miss you all and cannot wait to share many great stories with you. Love you all and miss you. Happy Mother’s Day!
From Holly:
Happy Mothers’ Day, Mom! (Katie, don’t forget!) Got somethin’ for ya, Mom J. I know you will love it. Have a wonderful day. Sarah, thank you for catching up the office work. It makes me feel so much better to know that’s being taken care of. Tell Little Mister hi for me. Didn’t quite understand what he said. A couple mis-spelling that threw meJ. What kind of thing would Maynard like? Dad, I wish you could have been with us yesterday. We went to Wittenberg and into the church that Luther nailed the 95 theses to. It was so cool to stand inside and imagine the events that unfolded there so many years before. Also challenging to think of how much courage it took to do it. I wonder if I could have done it. Hey, Bryan. Hope work is going well and the volleyball shindig was a blast. Much love to everyone!
From Bobbi:
I will never forget the “Typhoon” that hit us on our crazy adventure through the city of Berlin! The rain was horizontal and the wind broke my new umbrella! Good thing I have some meat on my bones or else I would be wrapped around a windmill! Cold, wet, and tired, we entered the concentration camp to take a tour--an outdoor tour, in the typhoon. Obviously, we waited for it to settle down and then took a walk on our own around the camp. How sobering to realize that what we “suffered” through as tourists for 20 minutes in a light rain was a grim, 24-hour-a-day reality for thousands of Holocaust victims. It was chilling to think about the suffering and murdering that took place on those same grounds. Following the concentration camp was an unfortunate series of events that led us on a 3 hour train adventure through Berlin. But WOW—what an incredible finish for our day, though! I genuinely enjoyed the company of our new German friends and I praise God they still came to the cookout at the Talleys’ house despite the poor weather conditions.
Now that we’re all caught up, I’ve saved the BEST FOR LAST. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, VIC!!! I love you so much and I miss you a lot. I want to publicly say thank you for being a mother and a close companion to me. Thank you for helping me grow up to be responsible and independent, but for still giving me “motherly reminder” now and then on vital things you know I’m prone to forget. Thank your for your patience. Thank you for your love. Hugs, kisses, and special German treats to follow upon my arrival back home!
From Keds:
Thank you for all the prayers for us! The past few days have been very eventful. There are so many stories from each part of each day—I can’t think of a favorite one. Thursday probably had the most excitement. It started very early and ended late with many fun memories made in the middle. We learned our way around town quickly after getting on and off trains and running to the right spot. All through the day we had history lessons. We visited a castle where we had to put house slippers on over our shoes. We slid around while we were listening to a guided tour. We continued our day by going to a concentration camp. That was sobering just to think of all that happened there. We didn’t get to spend much time there so we didn’t get to read much outside the information building. We began our journey back to the Talleys’ house where we were to have a cookout with our German friends. Once we arrived back after a few detours, the evening was great. We all talked and played games. All today was amazing to look back on and see how God was in it all. As we thought everything was going wrong, He was testing our faith and trust in Him. Friday was a great day of bonding time with the drive! Once we got to the church our host parents came to pick us up. Jess and I stayed at a lady’s house who spoke Spanish. I am now trilingual—English, German, and Spanish! It was such a great evening just talking and getting to know her better. Today was great being able to pass out tracts to the people in the streets of Erlangen. Happy Mothers’ Day, Mom! I love and miss you! Also to Grandma and Mrs. O! I hope you have a wonderful day today! I love you!
From Margaret:
Happy Mothers’ Day to all of you mothers. You would be so proud of your daughters if you could see how well they are doing. Their lights are shining wherever they go. They have been a blessing to the missionaries and to the German people they have met. They have been so cooperative and cheerful. We are enjoying being with them.
Dave, Jon, Kim, Tim, Valarie, Jenna, Carly, and Keira, my thoughts and my love will be with you tomorrow. I will be missing all of you. Kim and Valarie, have a happy Mother’s Day. I am proud of both of you and the good job you are doing in rearing your precious girls in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Dave, I love you and will be missing you. Hopefully we can talk after church Sunday night. Please call Mom A and tell her I love her and tell your Dad that Mom H. is very near to my heart right now. She is in a better place, but we all miss her so much. She was a godly example to me. Love, Margaret
From Julie:
Hey Mom, Happy Mother’s Day! We’ve been busy today. We handed out tracts in Erlangen. Holly and I are staying with Marco and Maurine. I had met them both last summer, they are very good hosts! Tomorrow we’ll be singing in the morning service – I’m very excited to see more of the church people. The Browns returned from the States on Thursday, so they are around as well. Mel, Abby and Jason B. if you guys are reading this…I would like to say hello and wish you were here. Oh, and Andrew…take care of my nano J ok, love you all, especially MOM!!
From Marsha:
To ALL my family: Thanks for all your prayers. I think about you all everyday. Yesterday (Thursday) was full of interesting experiences culminating with Laurie and I getting separated from Brian Trainer when we went downtown Berlin to pick up the rental cars. Laurie and I were stranded with the first 3 turns of a 1-2 hour trip. We found 1 person (little English) and a map of Berlin and made it back! Unbelieveable!! When we got back, 8 of the high schoolers we had played the day before were there. Today, we did street witnessing in Erlangen. That puts you outside your comfort zone. 13 people were talked to about Jesus Christ and many others received tracts. Jess was able to present the gospel to 4 Turkish girls. Church tomorrow. God bless each of you, Love Marsha
To my grandchildren – Emily, Alyssa, Maggie, Aubry, Kaitlyn, Meghan, Saylor, Genesis, Isaac, Trinity and Tag – I LOVE EACH OF YOU. I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU. I WISH YOU COULD BE WITH ME IN GERMANY. PLEASE RESPOND TO THE BLOG OR EMAIL ME. LOVE, GRANDMA.
From Nadine:
Happy Mother’s Day!! I am sorry I can’t be there for Mother’s day! I know it’s nothing abnormal, but still. I hope you have a great Mother’s Day! I love the fact that we have gotten closer since I have been in college! At least I feel like we have! I love you and can’t wait to see you. (Tell Grandma C. and Grandma G and Deanne HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY for me). Anyway, I hope everything went well with picking up Everett! I can’t wait to see you all and to tell you all the stories from the trip. The Lord has been very creative in showing His power and control over every situation throughout the day. Today we learned a lot about the German culture, and we got to go witnessing in downtown Erlangen. That was a good opportunity, we did have 2 ladies laugh in our faces and 2 men hand the tracks right back to us, but Mandy and I did get to talk to one lady and give a quick plan of salvation before she had to leave on the bus. A group of us also got to talk to 2 young boys who had a pretty rough home life. Bobbi and Deb go to talk to a lady for a good 15-20 minutes and she was very open to everything. Jess was talking to some girls, and by the end of her salvation presentation there were about 8 kids listening. That was pretty awesome!! We then had a tour of Erlangen and that was interesting; it was so nice because someone in the church set up and paid for that tour. We then came back and practised singing to get ready for tomorrow’s service. I love and miss you all, and I look forward to hearing from you. Sam, I love you!!! I hope school is going well! You can tell your mom Happy Mother’s Day for me if you remember! I miss you and can’t wait to see you and to update you on all our stories! I love you and will talk to you later.
From Jessica:
Hey everyone! First, a HUGE `Happy Mother’s Day’ to Mom!! I love you and miss you so much! Thank you for being such an example and encouragement to me and for just being you! Happy Mother’s to Gramma and Granny too! I love you!
Wow, I don’t even know where to start!! I will definitely not be able to convey even a fraction of what God has been doing these past few days on the blog or I would be writing for the rest of the trip! I will try to hit the highlights and fill in the details later! 2 things that God has so opened my eyes to these past few days and this whole month is how utterly sovereign He is and the power of prayer! So many examples come to mind, but I only have time to share a few, and even that will get long! First, this whole trip I’ve been trying to communicate in German, and in the back of my mind I was thinking/praying abut how cool it would to be to be able to practice my Spanish like that. I was floored when I got here to Erlangen and found out Keds and I were staying with a lady spoke Spanish and German! It has been so fun using Spanish to communicate! Another amazing thing God has done was while passing out tracts today, God just clearly showed me the power of prayer and how I can do nothing of myself. Completely in God’s strength and sovereignty, He gave me the opportunity to share the Gospel with a whole group of Turkish kids! There were 4 that were really interested and 1 girl especially said she would pray and accept Christ when she got home. Please pray that all the seeds that were planted will grow! Many received tracts and were invited to church, so pray that they would come and learn more about accepting Chris! I just want to thank you all for your prayers! I know there are so many prayer warriors who are faithfully praying for us! As you can see, prayer is SO powerful! Praise God for what He has done so far and what He continues to do both in Germany and in our hearts! I miss you all back home and can’t wait to share the details with you! Love you all!
From Deborah:
I just want to thank the Lord for answering our prayers so much more than I could ever imagine. Thursday was such an amazing day as you probably read from Uncle Brian. I don’t think it could have gone more disastrous, but despite all the disappointments the Lord showed His sovereignty. Looking back on the day I can do nothing but praise the Lord. On Friday, the Lord gave us safety in travelling south to Erlangen. Today was very cool because in the morning we had some training meetings and then in the afternoon we went street witnessing. Bobbi was my partner and we were able to clearly talk through the plan of salvation with a lady, and give a tract to 2 young boys. It is so humbling to know that we have been given the privilege of sharing the Gospel. Changing gears a bit, I want to let my mother dear know how much I love her. Under any other circumstances I would say how much I wish I could be with you tomorrow, but I am so excited about what the Lord is doing here! The best I can do is wish you the happiest of mother’s day!! Thank you so much for everything you do. I love you much!!
From Laurie/Grandma:
Dearest Mother - thank you for being the best mom in the whole world! You are such an example of a godly wife and mother to us all! Have Susan and Scott give you a hug for me!!
Jack and Max – please hug your mommy for me and tell her I love her and that she is a wonderful mother!!
Corey – I am sorry that we all are scattered and have left you alone. You are so gracious to us all! I love you and miss you and I am already planning on the 2 of us going on the Russia missions trip in 2 years!! It will be awesome!!
Micah and Mica – congratulations!! I am so happy for you both and am glad the surprise was a success! The autobahn drive is still definitely my choice of driving terrain!!
Kyle and Kimberly- thanks for watching out for Dad and Sam. I really appreciate it!! I can’ wait to fix a German meal for the 4 of us! Today we had white asparagus soup – I LIKED it!!! I love & miss you both!
Family – it has been exciting and an encouragement to have you blog to me!! I feel like one of the kids! I wish each of you could experience a missions trip – it opens your heart and eyes to so many different things!!! Thank you all so much for your support and prayers.
The experiences we have had here and to see how the Lord has prepared and planned each single moment of each day is truly amazing!
Sam – I have a stick from Erlangen for you to chew on when your teeth grow back!
Print | posted on Saturday, May 12, 2007 7:51 AM