Wehrendorf-Hurlach-Amsterdam-Wehrendorf

We landed safely in Bremen, Germany, last Monday and have hardly stopped since! The first few days were restful and Emma was recovering from a cold. We planned to go south to Hurlach the first weekend after we returned to Germany, to sort through some of our things we had stored there and to farewell some friends who were moving to Amsterdam. Despite Emma's niggling cold, we felt from God that we should still make the journey south for that particular weekend.

Seasons

Thursday night we found ourselves once again at YWAM Hurlach's Castle evening, and much to our surprise all of the former Mobile Team members were also there! The little things God plans and does without us knowing it are just amazing!

It was a really good time for us to see old faces again, especially our good friends Volker, Nara and Samuel. We were able to be a part of their farewell from the YWAM Hurlach base. The interesting things is, that everyone from the old Mobile Team either has moved on or is moving on from the base. It's amazing to see God moving His children through seasons in this way. His ways are higher than our ways!

It was also a very good time for Emma in Hurlach as God showed her some things about her time in the Mobile Team and gave her closure and peace about that chapter in her journey. Thank You, Lord.

Flea Market

We also were able to take about half of our stored possessions to the flea market and we managed sell most of it, praise the Lord! Our goal was not to make money, rather to get rid of stuff, so we are very happy with the result! There are more things that we wish we had the chance to give away or sell, but our time was too limited.

Amsterdam

It came about that our friend Volker needed a ride to Amsterdam on Monday, the same day that we planned to leave Hurlach for Wehrendorf, so we decided to drive him there. We wanted to visit Amsterdam anyway, so this was a perfect opportunity. Another friend, Tilman, also came with us, which was great because he shared the driving with Ulf (9 hours!). We hadn't booked any accommodation with the YWAM base in Amsterdam, but we went anyway and were allowed to sleep on the floor with friends for one night.

The next day we attended the YWAM staff meeting in which our friends were officially introduced and prayed over as new staff/a new team for the base. Their team has a heart for the Dutch island of Curacao. For more info see http://www.myspace.com/ywamcuracao but their blog entries are only in German at the moment. We also checked out the city and had a ferry ride too! Amsterdam is beautiful, and in our eyes, a taste of Venice only more alive! [Photo: From left to right - Ulf with Samuel on his shoulders, Volker and Tobi in the front, then Salome, and Nara on the very right.]

Yesterday we drove back to Wehrendorf, only three hours from Amsterdam! We'd really like to go back for a longer visit, but we'll have to wait and see...

Christmas 2007

At the tail end of our stay in England we started to feel more and more that God was saying something about being in Australia for Christmas this year. We know nothing more than that as yet.