Missio Colonia | Kevin and Kathi in Cologne, Germany

Just as a quick update, we wanted to let people know that we'll be moving this Friday and to ask you to pray for us. It's a complicated process, but we're excited to finally be moving. In particular, please be praying for the last remaining details and arrangements. One specific worry is that we live on a busy street, and we're not sure where we'll be able to park and unload on Friday. Please pray that God would arrange for that detail.

The telecom company in Cologne still hasn't come out to activate our phone and internet yet. They have a nasty reputation in the city for awful service, so we're not sure how long we'll have to wait. So, we might be out of the loop for a week or two as we wait for that. Not sure what we're going to do with an entire week of being unplugged! We might have to read a book or something :)

I'm not sure how much we've share about moving into an apartment in Germany, but it's turning out to be a very complicated process. We kind of miss the all inclusive apartments that are common in the United States. In Germany, first off, apartments have completely bare kitchens which you are expected to furnish yourself. And, when I say bare, I mean bare. No cabinets, light fixtures, appliances, or even a sink. You have to install it all yourself. Secondly, new renters usually paint and install all of the light fixtures in the apartment themselves as well.

So, we have a lot to do this coming month in order to get our new apartment in order. This week we're working on getting our electricity hooked. We are also going to be there later this week to paint. The next week or so we'll be installing our kitchen and making the preparations for the move. We won't actually move in our belongs for another three weeks.

It can all be a little overwhelming. Fortunately, we have teammates here who have gone through this process before. Please be praying that we'll have endurance and wisdom as we organize all of these details.

I'm embarrassed that we haven't posted here in almost a month despite the fact that so much has happened! Even though we were no longer in classes this past month, it turned out to be an extremely busy time. Here's some of the things that have happened:

We found a new apartment! Earlier this month, we began the search for a more permanent place in Cologne. Everyone we talked to assured us that the process of finding an apartment in Cologne would be a long one. The first day we looked at apartments, we ended up viewing 3 different places in the city. The first place we looked actually turned out to have everything we wanted in a place for a price the fit our budget. It seemed crazy to us that we would sign on the very first apartment we saw. But, within a week we had signed a rental contract and were given the keys! It was such an answer to prayer that the search was so easy. This coming month, we'll be working getting the apartment ready for us to move into later in January.

As part of our cultural training, we spent a week in Berlin earlier this month. The purpose of the visit was to meet with our GEM language supervisor who lives in Berlin and participate in some cultural learning activities. It was a great experience, and we really came away with a deep knowledge of Germany. I definitely want to share more about what we learned, so I'll probably save that for another post later.

Finally, this past week we celebrated our very first Christmas in Germany! We weren't sure how we would handle our first holiday season away from our family. There were a few difficult days, but on the whole we had a blessed time. We were fortunate to have great friends who took us in during Christmas. It was wonderful to participate in the Christmas holiday German-style. There is so much deep tradition and fun family activity during the entire month of December. It was a wonderful and refreshing time.

We're looking forward to the new year and all that God has in store for us and this city. We hope that each of you are blessed this coming week!

Yesterday, we began the process of searching for our new apartment in Cologne. We're not scheduled to move up there until February, but we were told that it's best to start at least 2 months earlier looking for places. So, we went online and starting viewing different apartments. Through those searches, we were already able to schedule a few personal viewings for this week. It's an overwhelming process, and we're having an interesting time navigating through it. It would be difficult even if it was in English, which makes doing it in German that much more challenging.

Please be praying for this process. We know that our choice of apartment can have a big impact on how we do ministry in Cologne. Because of that, we're really seeking God and asking Him to guide us. Most of all, pray that we would not be anxious or timid, and that He would give us the language ability to manage this process.

Well, it has been a crazy last couple of weeks. Last week was our final few days of language classes before a much needed break. In addition to that, I went through 3 days of testing for the Zentrale Mittelstufen Prüfung (ZMP), which is the European standard language exam. It included sections of speaks, reading, writing, and listening, all of which were pretty intense. But, the good news is that I passed! This exam is the required certification that GEM has us do, which means that I'm pretty much done with the language schooling portion!

Between now and New Year's, we're working on a different phase of our transition - cultural adaptation. Our transition supervisor for GEM has us working on a whole list of observation and interaction exercises that will help us begin to understand the people we'll be ministering to. It also means too that we'll have a little bit of a break from the intensive study we've been doing for the last three months.

Happy Reformation Day, everyone! While all of the kiddies are out Trick Or Treating, remember that yesterday was also the day we celebrate Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg! Even though American Halloween celebrations are becoming more popular here in Germany, there's still many people who observe this alternative holiday. Last night we went to the Kreuzkirche (Church of the Cross), which is the main Protestant church in Bonn. They had a wonderful Reformation Day service entitled "Hallo Luther!". It featured an amazing full orchestra and choir! It was beautiful. One of the highlights of the evening was singing "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" in German.

There was also a wonderful sermon by a guest preacher. Although I could only understand around 50% of what he said, he preached the Gospel. It was so encouraging to hear the work of Christ reaffirmed in a German state church. It really gave us excitement to think that God might be reviving parts of that church. It also makes us consider how we might be able to partner or even work under the state church in some way.

We've got some exciting news on our visa status. On Monday, we had our second appointment with the German immigration office. At the conclusion of our first appointment, they gave us a list of documents that we need to bring this time to prove our provision and support while we are living in Germany. We spent the last couple of weeks gathering all of that information, and it paid off. The immigration official approved our visas on the spot! This is a HUGE answer to prayer! We were expecting them to send our application on for further review - instead everything went very quickly! Thank you for all of your prayers regarding this.

Soon after our appointment, we went out and got new permanent cell phones for the both of us. In Germany, most cell phone companies want you to have a residence permit before they sell you a contract for a cell phone. With our new visas in hand, we were able to finally get that errand taken care of. It sounds silly, but it was really en exciting moment for us. Even while we were living in the States, we didn't have permanent cell phones because we didn't want to get locked into a contract. These cell phones mean that we're finally some place to stay! It was a moment of realization for us - we're home!