Eric Roth
Germany YES Team letter #19
March 24, 2007

Our team blog: www.germanyyes06.blogspot.com

This week has been a very different week than normal, like most weeks. Shaina's family has been here in Germany since Tuesday. Val and I have now been teaching English for over a week. Our team visited Dresden, while Shaina visited Berlin with her family. Also, it snowed! We had about two inches according to the ERUFM(Eric Roth Unofficial Finger Measurement). Sadly, it is all gone, but it is now about 60 degrees. Needless to say, we have all had an exciting week.

In the short time that I have been working at inlingua I have been amazed at the doors that God has opened up for Val and I. All of the teachers are very friendly and they like to hang out together. One of the teachers, William, invited all of the teachers out to a place called The Connisseur, to watch the Rugby match between England and Wales. All of the waiters were wearing kilts, since this was an Irish pub. William, is from England, so you know who we were cheering for. William is one of the guys that I would really like to become better friends with, and to see come to know Christ. I have been teaching at a town called Bitterfeld, that is about 30 minutes from Halle. So, we have a lot of time sitting in the car to talk. Please pray especially for the time that I spend in the car, that I will be able to connect with whoever I am riding with, and that God will speak through me to my colleagues. Also pray that I will be able to be a light to my students.

In Christ,
Eric

Praises:
- Shaina's family was able to come visit her.
- Snow.
- Open doors to share the gospel.
- Team unity.

Prayer Requests:
- Pray for Val and I as we teach that we would have wisdom with our lessons and that we would have boldness to share our faith.
- Safety for Shaina's family as they travel home.
- Health for the team (especially Brent)

Shaina Stutzman
March 16, 2007
Germany Team Letter #17 (or something like that :)
Team Blog spot: http://germanyyes06.blogspot.com/

Greetings!! This letter may be coming to some of you sooner than you normally get it. This is because I will be leaving early tomorrow morning to participate in a Co-ed Christian German Volleyball Tournament (insert a big excited smile here) and will not return until Sunday evening.
Jen left us..........but only from Monday afternoon to Tuesday evening. She had the opportunity to meet up with her parents at the Frankfurt airport because they were coming back from a missions trip to Russia and had a layover in Frankfurt. Jen said they had a really great time talking and encouraging each other. It was great to see her come back refreshed and excited!!
The building our church owns, which has apartments and other rooms in it, has been looking better and better lately. On Tuesday Val was teaching English while Janae, Brent, Eric, and I helped clean the children's room, wash windows (note: if any of you ever remodel a building..please don't build the staircase so it's blocking part of the window..it makes for a very hard-to-clean window), clean out this gutter type thing in the courtyard, and try to paint part of the stairwell. Painting was one of Eric's jobs and part way through him completing it, he noticed that something wasn't quite right so he took the paint container to one of our pastors for him to read, since it was in German, and realized he was painting varnish on the wall!! I don't know who bought the stuff, but I believe it was given to Eric so he used it!!
Wednesday our team had a great Bible Study discussion. We are studying Ephesians right now and are currently in chapter 5. We discussed what it means to submit and the difference between submitting and obedience. And we also got on the very interesting topic of violence and the question of if we were being attacked, is it right to fight back?
Tonight is a ping-ping tournament organized by two men in our church. Some of the team members are participating and we shall see if their skills can prevail against some tough-looking guys that live upstairs in the church-owned building!! :)
I must now go and do something productive..not that writing the team letter is not productive, but now that I am finished, I must go and do something..productive.

Praises!!:
-the youth at the Schirm Project are showing more interest in the activities that Janae and Jen are doing
-good interactions with people at the park

Prayer Requests:
-for God to continue to work through us to the people here
-that the children and adults we spend time with at the park would come to know Christ in a personal relationship with Him
-a boldness for each of us to interact with people at the park
-continued good team relationships
-wisdom for Eric and Val as they teach English and prepare lesson plans for their classes

In Christ,
Shaina \''/

Jennifer Henson
3/10/07
GermanyTeam Newsletter 16#


Hello Friends and Family,
We are all so thankful for the loving support we receive from you all. It is so encouraging to know that there are people who are keeping us in there prayers.
This past week has been fairly normal. Are schedule was rather sporadic this last week though. It will be for a little till Eric and Val get settled in there teaching jobs.
Val taught this past Monday and she thinks it went well. I think that she and Eric will be grate teachers. Please keep them in prayer as there is allot of time and energy that goes into planning lessons AND being team leaders.
Thursday Val and Erick went to Marktplaz and handed out flowers to people. Shaina and Brent went to Rannischerplatz to do the same. The four of them handed out Tulips with three little notes attached. One note said," This is a free gift." Another had John 3:16 on it, and the other one had info about the church we are working with, Soli Deo.
Shaina said," I loved seeing peoples face's light up when we gave them a flower. They would go from stone cold to a bright cheery smile."
Eric shared with the team how he tried to give a tough looking guy a flower. The young man had a Mohawk and was dressed in black cloths with some chains. ( I think that is what Eric said :) Well he was dressed to look tough I know.) The guy tried to act all tough and said no to the flower.
Eric was undeterred and suggested that the young man give the flower to his girlfriend. However, the young man said he had no girlfriend. So Eric brightly pointed out that the young man should take the flower and use it to get a girlfriend. This caused the young man to smile and all his toughness melted away.
Once again the Love of Christ shown through. How good it is to serve and worship a Lord who melts away all coldness with his compassionate love.
Janae and I are continuing to have the favor of the Lord on us as we minister at the Schirm Project. This past Thursday we had two young men come up and interact with us. We feel that in the future there will be more openness among the youth to talk with us. It was a very encouraging and relaxing day. I love going and I really am excited to see what God will do with us there.
God really encouraged us girls on Wednesday. We were coming back form McDonald's and we were laughing with happiness and joy. When these young girls asked us what party we were coming from. We told them we had not been to a party and didn't know were any were. They continued to talk with us some more and one thing led to another. Till the door was open for us to extend an invitation for them to come to are coffee house on Friday.
As it turned out only the one ( Jennifer ) was going to be in town for the weekend. She called us and we set a date to meet her and walk with her up to the church.
SHE CAME!!!!!! God is so good!!!! We had a great time and she said she really enjoyed it. Tino and Maria also came again. They also seemed to really enjoy the evening.
Well till next week then. May you all be blessed and encouraged this week.
God Bless,
Jennifer Henson


Prayer Requests:
That we would all draw closer to God
That us girls would continue to have an open door with Jennifer and her three friends
That Eric and Val would not be nervous or stressed with teaching and lesson prep.
That the guys would continue to have a good friendship with Tino.
That we would have clear direction and discernment in what we should do here.


Prayer Praises:
VAL'S CLASS WAS GOOD!!
Coffee house was wonderful!
God 's favor with me and Janae at the Schirm Project!
That God is so good and always faithful.

Janae Nolt
Germany team
March 3, 2007

Hello Family and Friends!
Yet another week has flown by! Wow!! Where does the time go? It is already March!! I forget most of what we did this week! Well, I do remember this morning we kidnapped Jennifer and pushed her into a car, Eric, Shaina, and Brent drove around with her for a half hour or so before ending up at the Penner's house, where Val, Peter, Darrel, Mariam, The Penner family, and I were waiting to surprise her. We had a breakfast birthday party for her! A surprise one at that!! She had no clue it was coming!!! I think our team did a good job at keeping it quiet!
On Tuesday my team and I went to Beate's house for a worship time and mittag essen(lunch)! Beate is a sweet older women in our church who seems to like us. The lunch she made for us was amazing!!! -I think I've found the source of why I've gained a couple of pounds here!- She had the afternoon planned out for us to go see really old churchs around her house!! We had fun just talking with her and encouraging her. She is so cute!!! For an older woman, she's got pep!!!
On Thursday, Jen and I went to the Schirm Projekt again. This was our second time and I think it went really well. Already the teens are kinda feeling a pull towards us. When the one girl found out we were from America, she seemed kinda surprised that we were so far from home. I think the more we are around, the more they will get used to us and when we have to leave, I think there will be some really sad teens. I really don't want to leave them either! It is only the second week we have been there too!!!!
Friday night we had a English worship time!! A much needed one too!! A few people from church who speak English came and we had a really good time just worshiping!! In all English!!! No Deutch!!!! I didn't have to think about what I was singing, I just sung!! It was really good!!
I can't think of any funny moments from this week. Sorry! I wish I had a more eventful week to write about!! Thank you for all your prayers and support while we're here! I can't say it is always easy! God bless!!!
-Janae



Prayer requests:
-Val is teaching on Monday for the first time(they only had one actaul day of training!!!) Pray that is goes well for her!
-Team unity
-For Jen and I to be able to reach out to the teens at Schirm!!
-That we will continue to encourage the church leaders and the members

brent linde 2 23 07 team letter # 14this week our group has been spreading the word and love of Jesus Christ. so on Tuesday us 4 Jen Janae shaina and brent went to the university to talk to young adults our age. on this sunny day we handed flyer's to people that god layed on our hearts. on this fasusnough day (day of donuts and day after lent ) we fasted that day. then for our life group we had gone to a museum lead by shaina. we walked to josef friedrich haendel. we were interested in all the musical instruments and listened to concerts and orchrestras from the the radio. in the museum he lived in 16 hundreds and we say where he lived and what he did in Germany he moved around alot. weather in halle Germany 35 to 55 degrees and and one day Darrel Miriam and Shaina and me had gone for a walk in the park and as we did we saw the birds chirping and the crocuses pocking there heads out of the ground. and daisies coming up as well. good weather to wear shorts( in my opinion)our group has been felling comfortable in Germany. with the language some are enjoying English more but that is OK we seen to be fitting to what god wants us to do in Germany. Jen and janae are working with the schirm project. a plan to help people off the streets get normal live they are working in the art room.Eric and val are in there working time 8 hour days for 1 to 2 days. of teaching English. with a Darrel Miriam and Charlotte friends in Germanyme and Shaina are helping out with the church Shaina is on the praise team playing piano and Brent is helping with the children's church activities. and also have a other times throughout the day to do our other activities with people. we continue to shine the light to most of the people of halle. I hope you have a blessed day know bye from Brent enjoy .tschussi

Valerie Roth
Germany Team Letter #13
February 17, 2007


Greetings from the Germany Team!

On Thursday morning our team awoke early (about 4:15 am) to head off to the immigration offices to get our visas. Darrel (our outreach coordinator) came with us to help us. We arrived at the offices around 5:20 am to begin the wait in line. The offices opened at 8 am. We were the 4th people there. The girls waited in the car until 6:30, while the guys waited outside and drank tea. We were able to get inside at 8, and all of us left at 9:25 am with our visas stamped into our passports! Praise the Lord that everything went smoothly and quickly. One less worry : )

Our team is giving a Valentine´s program at church this Sunday. After the service, we are serving a meal with dinner music. Following dinner we are doing a short skit, Steve (the pastor) is sharing a little, and the Janae and Shaina are singing. Eric, Brent, Jen, and I will be playing games and making crafts with the kids after the skit. Pray that this will be a time for church people, and other guests we´ve invited, to really feel and know God´s unconditional love.

Our Tuesday evening Bible Study has yet to attract any attendees. On Tuesday, we´re going to hand out some flyers at the University and around town. For now, we will keep planning to have one each Tuesday night. Pray that God will grant us wisdom if this is something He really wants us to be involved in.

Tuesday night\early Wednesday morning, our team had another praise and prayer time. Earlier in the day, Steve had come by the apartment to pray for and encourage us. It was a really good time for the entire team. Some of us had been falling into discouragement and tiredness, and Steve prayed specifically for those things, among others. So later that night we prayed some more. Our team really needs the prayers of you all back home. Thank you all for being faithful in your prayers.

Praises:
-friends here that we are building relationships with
-that Jesus is our faithful Lord, protector, and Savior
-good team relationships

Requests:
-that when we are afraid, we will focus our eyes on Jesus
-for health
-Eric and I start working at Inlingua (a language school where we will be teaching English) and Janae and Jen start volunteering at the Schirm Project (a government run place for troubled teenagers) next week. Pray that as we start doing seperate activities, that our relationships wouldn´t suffer. Also pray for wisdom as Eric and I work with Darrel and Miriam to plan our schedules.
-for our Internet Cafe´ man, that he would come to know Jesus

Thanks again for all the prayers and support. We love you all!

For the Germany Team,
Valerie

Eric Roth
February 12, 2007
Germany Yes Team Letter #13

My week started off with a yearly tradition that was very different this year, watching the Super Bowl. There were a few things that were very different than normal. First, there were no commercials, so during the normal commercial breaks, we just watched the people walk around on the field. Second, the game did not start here until 12:30 am Monday morning. Val and I were the only people that made it through the whole game. : ) Also, the announcers were obviously speaking in German, so the only time we heard English was when the referee would announce a penalty over the intercom. Thank the Lord for the internet though, because the next day, I was able to watch almost all of the Super Bowl commercials. Praise the Lord! : )

Looking back on the almost three months that I have lived here, I am amazed at how much German I have learned, but also how little I have really learned. What amazes me the most, is how much my wife has learned and can speak. She can speak and communicate very well. It just amazes me how much German she has packed into her brain. I just thank God for the understanding that he has given us and the whole team with the German language.
For example, today, I was at the laundromat doing laundry with Shaina. A man asked how to pay for the machines. I was able to expain to him how it worked, without using my dictionary. Obviously, I did a good amount of pointing as well. : )

Another thing that amazes me are the friendships that God has brought into each of our lives. God has given each of us various people that I believe we are supposed to be focusing on here in Halle. One such person that Val and I have come to know dearly is named Claus. He almost always smells like alcohol, and has it heavily on his breath. He is probably between 50 and 60, but he looks a lot older than that, as a result of his life of drinking. He is always at church, and he normally takes charge of the set-up and tear-down of the sanctuary. I love helping him, joking with, and working alongside of him. Val and I have developed a very special friendship with him, even though we can barely understand each other. Everytime he sees Val or I, his eyes light up. We both love to just love on this guy and give him huge hugs, even though he normally doesn't smell the best. I look forward to seeing him every Sunday, trying to understand each other, and just joking around with him. I believe that Claus knows Jesus and loves to serve, but he is just trapped in his life-long struggle with alcohol. Claus' health is for obvious reasons not very good. I'm not sure how long his life will last, but I thank God for the time that I have been able to spend with Claus. He has changed my perspective of how we should love others, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. No matter where I go after Germany, I will never forget my friend, Claus.

In Christ, Eric

Praises:
- We are all learning the language.
- Val and I were both hired as English teachers at an English school.
- Our coffeehouse was a success last night.
- Snow!

Prayer Requests:
- Team unity as we are not always working together on the same thing.
- Wisdom for Val and I as team leaders.
- The Lord's continued protection over us.
- Claus, for freedom from alcoholism.
- Continued love for each other
- Wisdom as we start working on different projects and outreaches.