some photos

It just has started...

Wow,

What a great last few days. All there is left to do is packing and off to the airport for a nice long plane ride back to Chicago. Or is this just the beginning for the students and the people of Pohlheim?

We had our last team time last night and we had an amazing time just reflecting on how awesome our God is. As I was sitting with everyone in the room I was just amazed at how God has blessed both groups with friendships based on His love. It was like we were a part of their community for years and the way we showed loved to each other was a blessing from above.

The last two days we have been learning more about German culture and seeing some of the sights of Germany. From the concentration camp in Buchenwald to Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, it was awesome to learn more about their culture and how their mindsets have shaped over the years. It was a time of highs and lows but we were blessed to spend time getting to know them better.

Today we had a great time just knowing more about Heiko and his ministry and also enjoying a free day in Gissen. We enjoyed shopping, Doner, and ice cream... We ended our whole trip by doing a dinner and presentation for all of the people involved with our trip. We introduced them to "sloppy joes" and bread pudding. Afterwards, we had a program lined up where we shared how thankful we are for all their hospitality, showed a slideshow with all the highlights of our time here, and gave an encouraging message.

As we were doing all of this, we were with the people from Pohlheim. It was like they were apart of our team the whole time. There was never German's and American's... it was always one team and as we leave and they stay here in Germany, I am praying and challenging these students to see that God is powerful and this power that bonded our groups together is available for us back in Glen Ellyn/Wheaton. We can make as much difference back home if we can open our eyes to what God is doing.

So as we finish off this trip, though this is ending, our work is just beginning. Please pray for safety as we fly back home and also pray that our hearts will continue to be soften to what God is doing back home.

Looking forward to seeing some of you tomorrow.

Antho

Montag- What's that? We get to sleep until 11!?!? We trampled on the monday morning blues concept and got our well needed precious rest. Some of us decided to use some of the early morning time to arrange a run with antho...and well...he didn't show up...(yes i did... we just missed each other)

The worship team had practice a little before 11. It's been so cool to lead worship because It consists of half Americans and half Germans. We all just came together and bam, we had music. We all met at the church at 11:30. We sang worship and had a small devotion. After, Lunch!!! nothing like good old meatball subs. Then we packed up to do some ministry!

We all had a great time at a local pool in GieBen(that's the special B=ss). We played volleyball, introduced bags/corn hole, and pushed each other in the water a ridiculous amount of times. Then the worship team played some up beat songs that got everyone excited!!!! Nate and Andy (black n berry) did a rap for the audience, and Nate gave his testimony. Then we had an evangelist speak about the parable of the lost son in Luke. The message was in german, but from the broken translation that we received, the speaker was comparing the happiness that the world has to offer as opposed to the happiness the kingdom of God has to offer using the parable.

Many people were very interested, including the life guard who had his back turned to the pool :)

gute nacht everybody!!

(josephine)

über day in deutschland

ahhh...Sunday. In America it might seem like just another day of the week, but in Germany, Sunday is truely a day of rest. This morning our team had the oportunity to attend one of two of the evangelical churches we have been working with. Kevin, Josh, Becky and Ellie had the opportunity to share their testimonies with the congregations, with positive responses from the church-goers. While services were almost entirely in German, we were lucky to get a translation of the applicable sermons. Afterwards one of the churches hosted a German BBQ (is there such thing?) with rolls and sausage abound. It was a great opportunity for us to connect with their tight-knit church community as we swapped stories and shared a lot of laughs.

The afternoon was reserved for some quality hang-out time with our host families. Some of us went to go see live music at a Ravinia-esqe centuries old monestary, others ate ice cream (like antho) and had a refreshing time of relaxation.

Eating has always been an integral part of Summit mission trips, and today was no exception. We hosted a festive dinner with our host families with traditional American cuisine (chili, cornbread and apple crisp). Afterwards our friends Nate and Andy entertained us with a cross-cultural comedy show, much to everyone's delight. We praise God for his provision thus far and for the amazing opportunites he has given us to connect with our new friends here.

Tomorrow we will be partying it up. Playing volleyball, cornhole, ping pong and swimming at the local pool will function as an evangelistic outlet for us as we chill with the Germans. Please pray that hearts are softened towards the message God presents tomorrow and for our boldness in sharing our faith.

ßlessings ße to our ßeautiful Lord, who ßrings us ßountiful ßread and ßoiled ßrats!!

Leibe,
Simo (Ha! I bet you thought this was Antho!)

pictures from day five

God is good!

Hey everybody,

It's a great sunny Sunday morning over here in Germany and our team is doing great. We had a great day of ministry on Saturday with the trampoline ministry happening again and a few of us going to do another sports camp. It has been a huge blessing for us to be a blessing for the people here. We also had another coffee house ministry where Alison and Sam gave their testimonies there and it was very powerful to hear their stories and to have God's named lifted up.

Our team is still going strong and the spirit of our team continues to grow stronger for one another each passing time. The way we have connected with the Germans is just so amazing to see. God is at work and really it does feel like we have been friends with them for a long time. The love of Christ for one another and for others is a powerful thing and unites people deeply!! It has been so cool for the students to experience that first hand here in Germany.

Today is more relaxed day, we are going to a few different churches this morning and then this afternoon and evening is set aside for our host families. This afternoon some host families will be showing our group around different places or just spending time getting to know each other and then in the evening we have a time where everyone will get together and enjoy each others company.

Please pray for Becky, Kevin, Ellie, and Josh as they give their testimonies at the churches this morning. Pray that God gives them power to speak truth and be in confident in what God is doing in their lives. Also continue prayers for protection and health would be great. Everyone is doing great thus far, no reason to have that stop now. :)

thanks everyone,

Antho

Photos from day 4

The power of laughter

First off, I want to say sorry for all the grammar and spelling errors! I pray that you at least get the main point through these post. :)

It is 8:30 am local time here and just thinking about yesterday and all that happened I can't help but just smile and just look in amazement of what God is doing through our team. I have never experienced God's redemptive spirit more then I did yesterday. Our team is just in amazement of what God is doing and how we are connecting with the Germany Christian's and others in the area.

We started out our day by going to Kindergarden classes around the area and speaking to them about American culture, how to say some words in English and going out and just loving on this. In the 90 minutes that our team was there all the kids in the class were jumping all over our students and when it was time to go all the kindergarden students were blocking the door in the classrooms so we could not leave. I got a report back saying that the teachers loved our group so much that they want us back again next year and that we left a great impact on the students that the teachers have not seen in a long time.

After that we went to a turkish/German restaurant where you get something called "Doner." You will have to ask the students about how awesome it was. It was, by far, the best part of the trip for me personally!! (Just kidding... sort of)

Then in the afternoon we had a lot of different ministries going on. The main one was in this ladies back yard where we set up a trampoline, badminton net, face painting station and just invited kids from all over the neighborhood from middle school age and down to come and hang out with us. It literally was like a backyard bible club but Germany style. We had about 30 students running around as our students played with them and showed them the love of Christ. We had others go around and do a prayer walk in a local village, had a few students do a home visit and help a lady with a service project and other practice for worship team stuff. A very busy afternoon but through everything the students had a great attitude and did an amazing job interacting with others despite language barriers.

After dinner we had a team time and a coffee house ministry. This is where I saw God at work in our team. For all the crap that has happened so far, we were sitting in our team meeting just laughing and reflecting back on our day. So many amazing things happened to each person and as we were sharing I saw God's protecting and how He is redeeming this trip back to Him. You could see the tone of our team changing as we sat and talked. Then as we go to the coffee house it was awesome to see God's hand in that. Before the day started, all the German leaders were not expecting very many outsiders to come. We sort of just planned a time where we would relax and just continue to bond with the Germans in the church, but that wasn't the case. We had so many of the students come back from the sports camp and just others from the community stop by. All the leaders were quite amazed by how many people were there... and not only that but how everyone was bonding together. I had to kick people out because we could have been there all night talking, laughing, and enjoying each other. It was like everyone had been friends for life and not just days.

God is good. I am convinced of that. He has blown my mind in many ways and as I am talking to the German leaders they are as shocked as I am. This team could have responded in many different ways but, the fact they have come together more then ever and have selfless loved on others makes me very proud and honored to not only be their youth pastor but also proud and honored to be here serving along my German friends. I know we still have a few days of ministry left but, to see some light on this trip has me more then humbled. I could not have done this, but God sure has the power too.

Today, is much like yesterday in that we are doing the trampoline ministry, and coffee house again in the evening. Students are sleeping this morning and should be ready to go for another full day and evening of ministry. Thank you for all your prayers. We are so thankful for your support through all of this.

May God get all the glory,

Antho

photos from day three

All you need is love, love, love...

There is some song lyrics that have been in my heart for the last few days and it goes like this...
"We can pierce the darkness as He shines through us. We will come reaching with a song of healing. And they will know us by our love"

It is funny sometimes plans don't go the way you want. This trip as been like that for many reasons. As most of you know our plans feel through with the camp we were going to do. Then we get there and there are a lot of things to plan out even as our group is here. On top of all that we have hit some road blocks here in Germany and it has forced our team to search out God like we never have before. I don't want to alert anyone. Everyone is safe and doing really great, there are just some things that don't always go your way and you need to rally the troops and go forward together...

And that is exactly what this team has done. I have been so thankful for this group of students and how they have come to just love on the students here in Pohlheim and also within our group. Today was our first day of ministry directly with others. We had a sports day planned out. We had half of our team as coaches and the other half as players on the teams. We slpit up into four teams and had a round robin tournament in both baseball and soccer and whoever won the most games won. It was awesome to hang out with these students and God was doing amazing work within our students. Students were connecting right away and the love that was shared was a sight to see. This day wasn't about the sports it was all about showing these kids about the love of Christ. Spencer and Erin did an amazing job sharing their testimony and entering the Gospel into their stories.

God is good everyone and I know for a fact that His ways are not always my ways. I need to continue to trust in Him and what His will for my and your live. We know as a group that if we continuely stay obediant to God's calling and fully rely on God for our every step... that no matter the situation, God will be faithful. Tomorrow we are going into some kindergarden classes to talk about American culture and then in the evening we are doing a coffee house ministry. Please pray for Josh, Alison, and the rest of the worship team as they are planning some songs for us tomorrow.

Thanks for all the prayers and support already. They are much needed.

Antho

Photos from Day 2

People taking a tour of Watzenborn (a village within Pohlheim)

Picture of a main street in the village

Planning out what we are going to eat... Praise God :)

Planning, Planning, and more Planning

Hey everyone,

After a long day of traveling we were right back at it the next day. Today was called our planning day and man did we do a lot of planning. If you do not know, we have a lot of great ministries planned here: doing ministry via sports with middle school aged students, going to public schools and talking about american culture, and various other ministries with coffee houses, poor neighborhoods and going out into the community and visiting people.

Though, we had all these ideas for the week we needed a plan... so the students from GEBC and the students from the local churches here in Germany sat down together and started to hammer out details for our week. It was so encouraging to see students leading and owning this mission trip. We had our students working a long side German students and leaders and making sure we had everything covered. From planning all the meals to planning out who is giving testimonies which days our students had everything down. It was awesome to see their skills shine. In the afternoon some students went out and did the shopping for the supplies while others of us went out to homes in the village and spent some time hanging out with them. It was awesome to be able to serve them. I was with two students (Kate and Cara) and we went to an old ladies house and just did some practical work of vacuuming her carpets and mopping her floors. It was great to see the joy she had on her face. It was a great reminder of how powerful love is and if you are willing to do anything, how awesome God can make the outcome. Kate, Cara, and myself also found out that German ice cream is pretty darn good!! :)

We start the ministry directly with the kids tomorrow with our first sports day. Please pray for Spencer and Erin as they will be giving their testimonies at the sports day. Please also pray for safety as we play soccer and baseball with them, and most important that God would be glorified through all we do.

Thanks for your support and prayers!! Please continue to pray for this trip. We could use it!

Antho

We made it!!

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to send a quick email letting you know that we have made it safe to Pohlheim. After a nine hour plane ride, two train rides, and a bus ride we have made it! Thank you for your prayers and support. I will write more later tonight!

God bless

Antho

Open hearts and willing hands

As I am writing this post I realize that I am human. I know to most of you think that makes complete sense but, in planning for this trip I found how much I need God and how much He is control. When I was in Mexico on a mission trip with other kids in our youth group I had found out that most of our plans that we had set for this trip feel apart. So with only a few weeks left our group was left with nothing ahead of us but nine days in Germany. After a lot of praying, seeking God, and just down right desperation we have a "plan" while we are there.

I am really excited for what we will do but at the same time there are a lot of variables with the new plan. Everything is outside, will the weather to cooperate? Everything we are doing depends on people coming to our events, will anyone come? Everything is with a group of German youth, will we get along and work well with them?

Who knows what will happen with this trip. It is new experience for everyone. GEBC first youth trip to Germany, it's their first time to have a short term team come in. It is all very new and fresh so there will be "wrinkles" to work out. But...

The most beautiful thing about all of this, is that our God is bigger then this and we not have to worry! God is God and that is the bottom line. We can trust in Him because he is bigger then any plans I or any team member has. He is bigger then any doubts that we have. He is bigger then any "wrinkles" that come up. Our God is an awesome God and has something very specific for us while we are there. I can only do so much, I am limited to my human ability but God is not limited to anything and so that is why our team is putting our trust in Him.

As our group leaves tonight for Germany, we are clinging onto the one sure thing we know about this trip. God. Our trust is in Him, we are looking toward Him and saying God we are here with open hearts and willing hands to do whatever you ask.

Please pray for safe travels, for God to reveal His plan for us, and that we may be obedient to his calling.

We should be updating this every day or every other day... so please check back and read how God is going to use us and how his plans were better then anything we could think of.

Antho