Last night we got together with several of our friends from German language classes to say “Goodbye” as several of us are finishing our time at the school. It was a lot of fun as you can see from the photos and we got to meet many of our friends’ spouses and boyfriends. We all met at Alejandra’s (she’s from Colombia and returns there for the summer) and her husband’s (from Switzerland) house and we ate brats, salad, bread and strawberries and cream. Magda (from Poland), Eliana (from Brasil) and her husband Stefan (from Switzerland), Kim (from England) and her boyfriend (also from England), Yoyok (from Indonesia) and his wife (from Switzerland) were all there.

One of the interesting things for me about this party was the amount of languages spoken there. We had, of course German, which everyone spoke some of. We also had English with almost everyone could speak some of too. But then also being spoken was Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesish, French, and I think somebody threw in some Italian for some reason. I finally turned to Magda and said she should speak some Polish just to add another language. She turned to me and said that would be silly, there’s nobody to speak Polish with so then she would just be speaking with herself. I said that was fine as long as she didn’t start replying to herself. Luckily, she speaks and understands English well enough to understand that it was a joke.

Now we are on to the next phase in our time here. Full time eDOT work. I just hope my brain can adjust.

Please pray:

• That we can continue to work on our German, as we would like to become proficient. To do this we need to build relationships with German people who will have patience with us
• That we are not overwhelmed in yet another transition.
• For the many of our fellow missionaries who will be flying back home to reconnect with their family and friends.

Thank you and God bless.

Today was a fun day. Alex has two weeks off from school and next week I startworking full time at eDOT so we are trying to get some time in together. So Krista and Alex met me in Basel after my German class was done. Alex got to meet a lot of my friends from class. I think he was a little overwhelmed as they know about him. He’s usually the subject of my German speaking attempts in class.

So we parked the car near the Basel walking street area, caught a doll museum (Krista thought it was something else but it was still fun), grabbed a bite to eat at “Cindy’s Diner” which was trying to be a New York diner with all the chrome but it just didn’t seem right, and walked around the Rathaus (kinda like City Hall only the city was started in the Middle Ages) and the Munster (a really big and old church). It was a bit overcast and there was some drizzle every once in a while but otherwise, we had a really good time. Be sure to check out our photos in the Photo Album.

PS - I know some of the pictures are redundant from our class field trip into Basel, but I had a new camera and was just taking pictures of everything.

In 11 days we will be finished with our formal language school commitment and will begin (finally) the work God has brought us here to do. Screech, Halt! Let me rephrase, 5 months ago God brought us to Germany to begin the work he had for us to do… we’ve already been doing it. Actually these next weeks bring a mixture of sadness and joyous expectation for us. The last 5 months we have made wonderful friends in our language course, and had more than a few opportunities to share the love of Christ with them. Our learning German will continue to be important component of our ministry here. We’ve completed the equivalent of 3 years of collage German in 4 ½ months, but know we have a long way to go still.

Next week Courtney will begin full time with eDOT (electronic Discipleship Outreach Training – www.GEMeDOT.com ). The eDOT team has been waiting patiently for a full-time computer person to come on board and so the projects have been piling up. Courtney feels a bit overwhelmed by both the learning curve and the great expectations that are now getting placed on him. (He’s going to do great!) Also, he has trips to Berlin, Hungary, Austria, Scandinavia, and Ukraine coming this fall.

Krista has been exploring areas for her to plug into ministry and is trying out two opportunities that use her gifts in administration. The first will be working a bit with eDOT in helping to manage budgets. She will also be assisting our missions’ Coordinator for Lifelong Missionary Effectiveness. It’s basically long-term personal and leadership development for our missionaries throughout Europe. This will be coupled with attending a local women’s German bible study and running our household.

Alex will continue going to German Kindergarten until August (they don’t have much of a summer break here in Germany) and then he will start at Black Forest Academy (an international school for missionaries).

This is an exciting time filled with much emotion. We are excited that God has brought us to this point like He promised and that He has selected us (and you) to be a part of what He is doing here.

Here are some things to pray for over this transition period:
1) Pray for our language school friends, that we will be able to continue relationships with them and they would continue to question spiritual things with us.
2) Courtney is feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work waiting for him. Pray that Courtney will have the wisdom to prioritize properly and the ability to complete these tasks appropriately.
3) Pray that Alex would grow in his desire to learn German. Although surrounded by it at school and church, he tends to seek out only English speakers. Pray for us to have wisdom on how to encourage him here.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. Please let us know what is going on ya’lls lives. We do more updates on our blog at http://www.RoesGarden.com .

God bless,
Courtney, Krista and Alex Roes
www.RoesGarden.com

If interested in donating financially, please send checks to Greater Europe Mission, PO Box 1669, Monument, CO 80132-1669 with “#38200” in the memo line or donate online securely at https://www.gemission.org/supporting/givingcard.asp and designate for “Courtney and Krista Roes – 38200”.

Today we got to go to a single ring circus here in Kandern. It was a lot of fun for only 6 Euros a head. Now if all you have seen in circuses are those big mega productions in the US, then you are missing out. Everyone in this circus had the same last name (except for one of the guys running around setting stuff up). This is the kind of circus that you used to hear about people running away from home and joining. They had a lot of fun and you could tell this was the way of life for this family.

Anyway, we don’t know why it is called Zirkus Lamberti because everyone’s last name is Zinnecker. I think the father was in every act but two. He was the trainer for the mini ponies, he did a great stunt where he balanced up four chairs high all on four wine bottles, he was also the knife thrower, and one of the clowns. The youngest daughter was the tight-rope walker and also did the acrobatics up on these velvet rope things. She also did some tricks with the hula hoops. The son was the comic relief and also did some of the acrobatics. He was also learning to throw knives at his mother and that when I told Krista that I bet the father does all the disciplining. The wife was the emcee for the show and she and the older daughter were the objects being narrowly missed by the knives. Even the granddaugther (probably only 3 months old) did a little balancing act at the end of the show with grandma.

But the difference between this circus in the US and here in Germany: They took a person from the crowd to throw knives at and the person actually did it (although she did not watch the knives come at her). I even got to get into the ring as one of the clowns picked me to be one of their “stautes”. My biggest fear was that they would ask me something that I would not understand or that I would have to speak. Luckily, they just asked me to put on boxing gloves at make some grunting noises. It was a hoot for Alex to see his Dad in the middle of all of this.

Besure to check out our photos in the photo album.

I read many blogs from around the blogsphere. Reading blogs allows you to see things from other’s perspectives. It was interesting the other day when I read Cobb’s Seven Rules of Love. Now, Cobb comes from a different perspective than myself and his intention was probably different than the way I interpreted it but I found his thoughts moving. Below is his thoughts with my additions in italics

Cobb’s Seven Rules of Love

Real
Love must be felt, not simulated, not imagined or faked. This is the first and most important thing about love.

Real love is a choice. God doesn’t just love us because we exist, He loves us by choice. And God has given us the choice about whether to love Him or not.

True
Love must be singular. There can only be one object of your loving affection. Love must be faithful, gladly.

True love is about only One. Love God with all that you are, have and will be. It is by loving God alone, that in turn we are filled with His overflowing love to divert towards others

Free
Love must be voluntary and not coerced. You should not feel obligated to love but genuinely desire to love.

God has the power to force us to love Him. He chose not to use that power as He knows that love is meant to be freely given just like when a child says to his parent’s “I love you” and they haven’t given him or promised him anything (something of my experience there)

Pure
You must love the person for who they are and who they want to be, wholly. Not because of their car. Not because it feels good to be in love. Not for whom you wish they would be.

Love for God is not about what He will do for you, get for you or promises of heaven. Love for God is because He is an awesome God who is pure, holy, righteous and just. Normally, those who choose not to love Him because they don’t understand who He is

Hot
You must desire their physical company. You physically change in the presence of your lover.

For those of you who love God, do you desire to be in His presence? Do you long for Jesus’ return? Think about the story of the virgins (bridesmaids) waiting for the bridegroom in Matthew 25. Do you have your oil?

Deep
Love must affect you profoundly, make you willing to make sacrifices. You cannot merely turn it on and turn it off, it must be something near the center of your life.

Do you love God because its convenient? Is it a love to get what you want but when there’s a choice to be made, the love subsides? Loving God requires that you give up your “rights”. He alone is what matters. In many countries today, to love God (the true God) - you have to be willing to sacrifice all that you have. Now that’s love

I hope that these definitions make you think about what you believe is love and how to live that out.