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| Fels in der Brandung |
We just came back from a great weekend in Ludwigslust, Germany. Pastor Gerhard from Fels in der Brandung, a small and active evangelical church in the North Eastern corner of Germany, had invited us to come and speak at his church. We gladly accepted his invitation to come and encourage the believers in Ludwigslust and surrounding areas. The last few times we visited were as much a blessing for us as for them! So, we packed the camper and headed east.
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| Family of God |
We picked as theme for this conference: Building Better Relationships. We spoke on the importance and relevance of a relationship with Jesus, who came to communicate grace and truth, with the Holy Spirit who communicates power and with the Father who communicates love. Except for these spiritual relationships, we also spoke about natural relationships, as in husband and wife. Saturday afternoon we watched the movie Fireproof, a very powerful movie when it comes to the marriage relationship. It was subtitled in German, so most people were able to understand what it was all about.
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| Relaxing and fun afternoon stroll |
We were super blessed with a sunny and warm autumn weekend. We took time for a long walk through the castle gardens, an absolute beautiful place to visit! It gave us time to enjoy the outdoors, to stretch our legs and to talk with many people who attended the conference. Pastor Gerhard has a way of inviting people from all over the place, and this time we were blessed to have among us a group of men from Afghanistan and Iran, currently seeking asylum in Germany. They attended the whole conference and heard the message of grace, love and salvation. What an honor to have them in our midst!
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| New friends from Afghanistan |
We were also very happy to have spiritual and practical support from our home town, Papendrecht. Matthijs Goedegebuure came with us and took care of all the praise and worship sessions. Wow, can he sing or what? His songs brought many people to tears, especially when he dug up some old favorites like The old rugged cross and Don Franciso's He's alive. Piet & Anneke Stehouwer came as well, their presence is always the icing on the cake as their love and kindness is evident in everything they do.
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| Powerful praise & worship |
Sunday afternoon we headed to the Evangelisch Freikirchliche Gmeinde in Putlitz, a small baptist church about an hour away. Jan had the honor to speak there as well. After the service we were invited for a traditional kaffee & kuche fest! Wow, what a hospitality, what a kindness and love and what a great delight for our taste buds :)
We can look back at a great weekend, many people were touched by the love of our heavenly Father. The international fellowship was awesome and the kindness and love with which we were received and welcomed was again outstanding. All the ladies that took care of the food are such a blessing, they made us feel right at home. Special thanks are in place for our translators, we just LOVE working with Julie, Christoph and Thomas!