Ahh, I can breathe again! Dude, it seems that I have been going nonstop since I came back from Germany! It has been a real blessed time though! Starting 4 weeks ago we were in a missions conference from Monday to Sunday that Dad preached. The Preaching was awesome and the fellowship just as good. Staritng 2 weeks ago,dad preached, we sang, and participated in a Monday through Friday family camp run by Lighthouse Baptist Church in northern Kentucky. As a good camp always has, we had lots of good preaching by Dr. Anthony Frusco, tons of sporting activities, and more good food than I should have had!

All of the week before last we had a tremendous time at the Jubilee in Crossroads Baptist Church in Sellersburg, In. I have made a lot of good friends there, and they are always an encouragement. One of the most fun things that week was to be able to play my bluegrass instruments with Bro. Brian McBride and some of his family and friends! If any of you know Bro. McBride, he is so totally great a preacher and Bluegrass player!

Currently we are at Tri County Baptist Church in Franklin, WI. We will be singing there is the morning and then heading out to Southside Baptist which is on the other side of Milwaukee for the Evening where we will sing and Dad will preach. The plan is to stay parked here at Tri County until next Saturday when we will begin heading up to my sister Kathy's place in the U.P. of Michigan!

Pray that God will give Stephen and I wisdom on what to do this coming fall. I believe that God wants me in missionary aviation and so that is something that obviously I need to get my training for. I have considered several Bible Colleges that offer missionary aviation courses, but I have to weigh that out with my parents thoughts and the ministry needs here. God knows what's best and I'm trusting in Him!

The Good Ol’ USA! That’s where I am right now as I write this! It is a blessing to be back! We have so much freedom in America, and being overseas for more than a couple of weeks has made me appreciate it even more!

The past two weeks have been really busy. This is one of the first times I’ve had time to sit and work on my computer in a long while! We spent the last two weeks of our stay in Germany working hard to help the Green’s get completely ready for their furlough. (Bro. Green is back in the States by the way with his son Jacob looking for a place for his family to stay) I was glad to get on the plane coming back to the States but I was definitely thankful for all of the memories and friends made in Germany. I was able to spend some time with Bro. Gary Lutrick, who is a missionary in Frankfurt, and doing a tremendous work with the Germans there. Working with him is Bro. Michael Falkenburg, a native German who pastors another German work there. He and his wife Sandra were a joy and a blessing to be around.

The flight home was uneventful. (Except for the fact that my stupid and tired self left my video camera on the plane in Chicago! Working on getting it back.) It was great to see the family again! We jumped right into a missions conference that my family has been in at Mount Zion Baptist Fellowship Church in Martinsville, IN. The people are really friendly, and may I mention, addicted to volleyball! J Tomorrow will be the last day of the conference and Stephen and I are going to be preaching in the afternoon! I’m thankful for any opportunity I get to preach!

I have been thinking and meditating lately on the will of the Lord. Being 21 years old, this is the time in my life where the direction of my life is mostly set. I wish I had all of the answers for myself, and I believe I know what God has for me, (That’s being in missionary aviation.) but the truth is many times I want God to speak to me in some wonderful way, or give me an incredible sign, but oftentimes God wants us to have faith in HIM. I sometimes find myself looking at the missing pieces of the puzzle of my life, (I don’t know about you, but I always have missing pieces!) and looking at the Lord and wondering what to do. Not always does He answer in a time or a way that I like! I truly believe that it is here that the Faith Factor kicks in! If I allow my life to be consumed with some unknown then the Devil has won a victory and God cannot work through us. With the thought of Faith in my mind I began to think about a message that I heard Bro. Green preach while I was over in Germany.

He took his text out of Luke Chapter 24:13-32 where two of Jesus’ disciples were traveling to Emmaus after Jesus’ crucifixion and Jesus walked with them and expounded many things to them. His main text verse was verse 32 “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” Bro. Green’s thought focused on that phrase “by the way”. His point was that Jesus met and talked with his disciples “by the way”, or while they were going about their daily business. He said that sometimes we can go through a time or times in our life where it seems that we don’t know what is going on and we are looking for answers. Jesus spoke to his disciples “by the way”. He also speaks to us by the way. If we are trusting him and serving him even though we do not always know what to do next, giving ourselves to Him and going about His business with earnestness and fervency, then God can meet with us. If I am surrendered and obeying him in every area of my life, then I am doing His will. If God wants me somewhere else doing something else, then I can rest assured that if I am listening to Him, He will reveal it to me! Matthew 6:33 is very familiar to me and I’m sure to most everybody and it is very applicable to God’s will. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” By the way if I am serving and surrendered to Him, then He will have me where He wants me! In the next verse in Matthew 6:34 it says “Take therefore no thought for the morrow…” I need not be worried or consumed with what God has for me next month or next year or ten years from now, because God wants me concentrating on what He has now. Sure, I should prepare and be ready, but not worry! Work like it’s up to me and pray like it’s all up to God!

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been thinking about the past few weeks and those thoughts and verses have been a blessing to me and I hope they are to you!

We have about 3 weeks of solid meetings (Every night), so I will be staying really busy the next month! It’s great to be back in the USA!

Here's some pics recapping our trip!

Stephen and I beside some ruins of the
wall of Heinsburg, Germany

Looking down a typical
German street

A cool castle

Yours truly at the top of an Alp!
5 mile hike 5000 feet up!

Beautiful alp mountains!

Bro. Green had all of his stuff
shipped back to the States in
a 20 foot container

Anna was baptized in an afternoon
service while we were there.

I got to drive a good bit on the
Audobahn! Only hit 100 mph
once, but it was fun!

Great to see my little brother Jason
again!

Dressed up like true patriots!
God bless the USA!

Things have been going well here in Germany. I have been staying busy running errands and doing my best to help Bro. Green. We pretty much have everything packed up here for the Greens. We just have a few loose ends to tie up and then they'll be moving back to Frankfurt for the short time they are still here. Stephen and I will be flying back to the States on the 6th of July! I can say that I have enjoyed the visit here in Germany immensely but I love the U.S. and look forward to getting back! :)

I have been trying to get into a little better shape while I am here and part of that is jogging. Yesterday Jacob and I went on a three mile run (that's running, no walking breaks). If you have not done that it'll do something for you! I am slightly sore, but it was well worth it! Been running almost every day so hopefully It'll help me out a little!

I recently was able to get the Hooker Family's newest CD. They are from First Baptist Church in Hammond, IN and they are a real blessing. Their newest CD, Through The Storm has been a real blessing to me. Thought you might enjoy a couple of their latest songs. Enjoy!









Yes, I have been blessed! As time goes on and I get older I realize how small I am in comparison to HIM.

Ok, had to post something to let everyone know I was still alive! I've been pretty busy helping the Green family pack up their stuff and ship it back to the States. Monday morning we packed up their shipping container and sent it off on its way to the States. Yesterday we ran some errands in the morning and loaded up a rental van/truck with church equipment and took off for Frankfurt where we unloaded it this morning at a church there. Just got back from there now. We will take another load of stuff to Frankfurt this evening (I'm not sure I will be going on that one) and the rest of this week will be busy getting the house here ready to move out of.

God's been good, and I'm looking forward to getting back to the States in less than two weeks!

Sorry I don't have any pics at the moment. I am hoping to get a camera sometime soon!

Wow, time is flying by extremely fast! I can't believe it's been more than a month that I've been in Germany.

Not too much new and crazy going on with us! We did have a chance to fly up to Nykoping (Pronounced Ny-sho-ping) Sweden and spend a little more than 24 hours there. We booked the tickets on Ryanair and paid 16 Euros apiece round trip!!! Sweden was cool and it was the farthest north I have ever been! Daylight lasted about 19 hours! The neatest thing I think I liked about Sweden, (besides the flight up, I absolutely love flying! I'm working on my pilots license!) was the chance we had to witness on the main street in Nykoping. Bro. Green, Stephen and I stood around the street and sang about 10 hymns and the people were very receptive! We had a great opportunity to witness to people, albeit it was hard because we did not speak Swedish!

We have been busy helping the Green family pack up and get ready to go back to the States on an extended furlough. Pray that they would get encouragement and direction when they return.

I had the opportunity to preach the Wednesday service at the church here! I have been blessed with opportunities to preach in the recent days! I am always grateful for the pastors that allow young men the opportunity to preach and learn.

Well, I have to go and run and errand for Bro. Green! Until next time, LGBM! Let God Be Magnified!!

Sorry for taking so long to update this blog! Yes, I am still alive! Since my last post, I have stayed fairly busy here doing things like running errands with Bro. Green and doing whatever I can to help with the ministry here. Believe it or not they have had Stephen and I sing every service! :O [We were able to locate a guitar so that helps a lot :) ] Stephen preached a wonderful message on Wednesday night. It is hard for the Greens to make the transition back to the States and I pray that we are being a blessing to them!

The mystery of Air France Flight 447: Pray for the families of those that were killed aboard the ill fated flight! It has been interesting to follow the investigation, especially since one of the men of the church here is a maintenance crew chief on a military version of a Boeing 707! He knows a lot about those jets and he was very surprised to hear of that type of plane going down. I'm sure we will know more as time progresses!

I have been thinking lately about Matthew 9:36-38
Mat 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
Mat 9:37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Mat 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Being in Europe has opened my eyes on how desperate the world is in need of missionaries. The city of Berlin has a population of 3.4 million people and not Independent Baptist missionary that we are aware of! You can drive through town after town in Germany and not have any Baptist churches anywhere around! The list goes on and on! And then I think of the nations that don't have any missionaries whatsoever! When I think of this my mind goes to two things.

1. We are, for lack of better words, big babies in America! If a church nearby doesn't exactly agree with us, we will make a big huge deal and make them our primary target! Now don't get me wrong, I think we should stand up for what we believe in, but let God be first! There are missionaries in Germany just like the Greens that are starving for Christian fellowship of any kind! People are starving for the gospel!

2. Where are the volunteers! I think if I wasn't surrendered to God in the area of missions already, being on the mission field here in Germany would make me want to surrender. The need is so great! "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." I think the more we pray for the Lord to send people, the more we will surrender ourselves and work as soulwinners for Him!

Anyway, that's just a smidgen of my thoughts this week. God is definitely good! This weekend we will do a lot of work getting the Greens ready to move out of their house, and next week will be flying out to Stockholm, Sweden for a day! :) LGBM! (Let God Be Magnified!)

We had a great time
checking out Czek :)
with the Beaches!

A little bit of football
always helps!

I got to share a little bit
of my testimony
during Sunday School.
Praise God!

We drove through Munich
(The Germans call it Munchen!)







The Alps are extremely
beautiful. This picture was
taken in Austria!

Man, that water
is clear! I had
to take a swim!

The Garmisch marching
band!

What a hike
up the alp!
We were devastated,
but it was well worth it!

This is the view from
alp we climbed!
You can see Garmisch,
where we started,
way below!

Yours truly at
the very peak!

I don't exactly know what to write since I think Stephen has covered about everything in his blog!

We did have a very excellent time taking a trip over to Graffenwoehr, and then down to Garmisch. I have been in more countries in the last two weeks than my entire life up to our trip over here! What an amazing opportunity! On Saturday we did drive over the Czek border and spent several hours there. The one thing that I thought was amazing was to see the old communist buildings that still stand. It reminded me of the Cold War! I wouldn't have been surprised to see military checkpoints set up everywhere. All in all though, since they became a republic, things have gotten much better for them.

Sunday was really a blessing because we went to a military church in Graffenwoehr and saw several people baptized and making decisions for Christ! God is using Bro. Beach! (Yes that is his real name! I know, we spent the whole weekend at the Beaches of Germany! :) )

In the afternoon we made the three hour drive down to Garmisch and the Alps! I have always loved mountains and these are no different! Extremely beautiful! The pictures don't really do them justice. We went to the evening service at Bro. Ryan Johnsons mission work in Garmisch and he very graciously allowed us to stay in there prophets chamber above the church. The church is located right in downtown Garmisch. In Germany they mainly use big apartment-like buildings in the downtown areas and this church is meeting above a crystal jewelry store. It was real neat to be able to observe the German people as they go about there days. I try to pick up as much German as I can, but I am still lost whenever people try to talk to me in German! It's very fun to try to make out as much as I can though! A lot of German towns have their own marching band which I think is real cool! On Monday night in Garmisch they set up their bacnd in the town square and played for about an hour! It was real neat to see them with all their uniforms on.

As Stephen wrote, the Neuschwanstein castle was real cool to see. After the tour we hiked over to a really beautiful waterfall close to the castle. We boys hiked across the river and got as close to the waterfall as we could. The water was so clear and looked so refreshing and people were wanting for me to jump in so I did! The water was made from melting snow so it was real cold and turbulent, but it was well worth it! It's not every day that you get to swim in a waterfall!

Tuesday Stephen, Jacob Green and I hiked up one of the Alps which was only 5000 feet high, but still a pretty good hike. It was incredibly beautiful! I figured we hiked over five miles of very steep mountain trail so we were exausted by the time we got to the top, but the view was incredible! Once again the pictures don't hold a candle to the real thing! After we got down we drove the nine hours back to the Green's house here. A very awesome trip!

I have been trying to observe as much of the German culture as I can, and it is very different. They are extremely structured in their rules and everything to the point of stifling any imagination! For instance it is a law that a child has to ride in a booster seat while they are in a car until they are 13. As if that is not enough the law specifies that only the oldest child in the car can ride shotgun up front! What a drag that would be!

Germans don't get married until they are well in their 30s and having children is not a good thing! The government will pay people to have children! I had wondered the first couple of weeks where all the young people were, and now I know. There's not very many young people period!

All in all, I have really enjoyed my stay here thus far. I would just love to go out soulwinning sometime in a mall or something, but at this point with my extremely limited German skills I can only pass out tracts and act happy! :)

God bless the USA- the greatest country on earth!!

Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria
The Largest cathedral in
Northern Europe.
What a sight when you get off the train!

The crowds walking
the streets of Koln

It was a blessing to
Pass out tracts for a
while downtown

Pictures don't do justice
to the magnificence
of this place!

Normally this church
would have been
amazing to look at,
but I barely noticed it
comparedto the big one!

The artwork
was incredible-
from the stained glass
to the mosaic stone floors!

The view from the top of the cathedral!
You walk up 509 stairs in a tiny
little stone stairwell and you come out on top
up here!

Just a few of us
hangin' out!

Riding back on the train
to Geilenkirchen
where we parked our vehicles

Hey, greetings from the fatherland! What an excellent time we are having over here in Germany! It seems like every day we are seeing a new facet of German life. Yesterday we went to a Sunday evening service with a missionary in Belgium! Really cool. In the past week I've been to almost as many countries as I went to in my whole life! What's really interesting is the fact that because all of these countries are in the European Union, there are no border crossings, no checkpoints, no nothing- just like you are driving into a different state in the U.S! Not much security like we are used to in the States.

Today started at 8AM with a trip to the gym with Bro. Green, his sons, Bro. Isabell and his son, and Stephen and myself. (You know you have to get some exercise so you don't get fat on all of this German food! :o) About an hour of basketball and back home to get ready for a trip to Koln, one of the large cities in Germany. To get there we took our vehicles to the train station and hopped on a train to the city! (First time I'd ever ridden a passenger train!) One ticket covers five people! Got to Koln (Pronounced "Cologne") , got some lunch and took a look at the largest cathedral in northern Europe! Wow, what a structure! Absolutely amazing! This Wikipedia article tells about the history of the church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Cathedral

The pictures don't do justice to the magnitude and exquisiteness of it. So big and so magnificent, yet so dead and away from God. Down below there are levels and levels of basement and you have to wonder what they have under there! We got to hike up 509 amount of steps to nearly the top of the building which is 157 meters high! Quite a view.

It was a blessing to be able to pass out some tracts and do a little bit of street preaching in the streets of Koln after we toured the tower. I don't know how many people understood us, but I know some had to!

Well, after a good dinner of pizza I'm about ready to go to bed and start a new day.

I've been thinking lately about 1 Corinthians 9:22 where Paul says he is "made all things to all men". Being in a different country and a different culture, (which is not THAT much different compared to some) you want to be blessing to everybody. How far can you go to reach someone? Some of this is rhetorical, but the question is real. Could you be like Hudson Taylor who grew long hair to reach his people? How far can you go? Talk to some missionaries and you will hear some crazy stories about what they do sometimes to reach people. I understand that as long as it does not violate the Bible and its principles, we can go a long ways to reach souls. At the same time, is it ever okay to do some things like Hudson Taylor did to become like his people? Write and let me know what thoughts y'all might have on this!

Until then,
Serving Jesus,
Jon

A Beautiful Boeing 777
after we landed
in Frankfurt

Just one of the many castles
we saw on our drive home
from the airport

The view from the plane
on final approach to
Frankfurt was
amazing!









A normal street in
Hanau, Germany!

This is an average
Catholic church building.
(The Green's thought
nothing of it!)

Average building around town.
(I mean seriously, you get used
to seeing these buildings all of the time!

Wow, time flies by really fast! As I write this I am sitting in Brebren, Germany! I still can't believe it. It is amazing! God has been so good.

Well, since I last wrote we had a wonderful week of services under the tent back in Copperas Cove, and many people were encouraged. Dad and Mom and the family got on the road last Saturday, (That was a chore- when you live somewhere for six months you accumulate a lot of stuff!) and on Monday Stephen and I hopped on an American Airlines Boeing 777 and took off for Germany! We arrived in Frankfurt at 7:20 in the morning. It's really cool to be in a place where there is so much history! I mean like, some average houses were built in the 1600s!

Anyway, pray that we can be a blessing over here! There is not much fellowship with the German people over here. Until next time, God bless the USA!

Here's some pics of our tent raising today!

The finished product...almost!

26 feet from the center.

That's precisely where

we had to drive our stakes

for the tie downs!

We figured we needed to get

some exercise too, so we played

volleyball, basketball and football

for about 4 hours! Great fun!

________________________________________________________


What a night! Mom and Sharon went to a mother-daughter banquet at church this evening for (I know you guessed it!) Mother's day. Dad was working his evening shift on post and that left me in charge of the little ones at home. Nothing new, but that combined with me trying in vain for hours to track down my 2008 tax return and attempting to learn a couple new songs to sing at our up-and-coming tent meeting, it was interesting to say the least! Just a burnt pizza later here I am! :) (burnt by me no less, and I HATE burnt food!) Did find a video camera online that I am interested in.

Tomorrow morning at 10:00 we will raise the tent over at church and hopefully get things ready for the tent meeting starting this next Monday! Please pray that God will meet with us and that souls will get saved and people will be revived! Stephen and I will be able to preach under the tent one of the nights, Lord willing. I am mulling over a message titled "But I have prayed for thee" taken out of Luke 21:31-34.

Speaking of scripture I have been thinking lately about us as young people. (Yes believe it or not!) Specifically I was thinking about how nice it is to have such great friends that are an encouragement to me. That thought led me to think that a lot of young people have friends that are a bad influence on them. Peer pressure is a real thing.
So the questions at hand are: 1. Is there such a thing as good peer pressure? (I would think so). 2. What are your guidelines that you hold yourself to with your friends? 3. Is a youth group a great tool to reach young people, or can they be a liability?
These are things I have been thinking about and I would like to get any of y'alls angles and views on these things! Young poeple usually don't discuss what they believe and I think it's great way to encourage one another!

Well, I'll hopefully have some pics of the work day at church tomorrow. Keep on serving God!

Jon

Well, I just sat down at my computer and realized that it's Wednesday already! Wow, this week is going by unbelievably fast. I guess it's all part of being busy.


I calculated that I drove about 800 miles in the past three days! For someone who's not supposed to be on the road full time that is a lot!

The Lord has blessed our family with a converted bus that my family drives all over the country to minister to the many military bases. A couple of months ago we began praying that the Lord would provide a engine brake (Jake brake) to put on, so that we could stop the bus if we wanted to! (Good thing right? :) picked up our mechanic friend at the airport. (After we spent some time at my favorite store- CABELAS! Oh yeah! ) Got home at about Midnight and Tuesday was spent putting this thing on the engine. After I made the 300 mile round trip to Dallas to pick up parts. Today was a reverse of Monday and we got our friend back to the airport and made another trip to Cabelas! :) So, here I am and I am just a little tired of running around everywhere! God is very g) Well God provided and this Monday Stephen and I drove down to Austin and ood to provide us the things that we need!




Hmmmm, it seems that everybody is going crazy over this swine flu lately! Does anyone else seem to think that something is a little fishy here? (Pardon the expression!)

One interesting thing was that New York City photoshoot for Air Force One! I don't know which is more dumb, the Air Force not telling anyone on the ground what they were doing, or the people on the ground not having a clue what Air Force One looked like!

Anyway, life here in the deep south is good, and I am still looking for a suitable camera to take to Germany! (Anyone want to donate one?) :) I am looking at digital camcorders and I haven't yet seen one that I really liked. Walmart here had a really lousy selection. I think whoever designed theirs got it off of a disney show! Pretty cheap. I'd love to get an HD camera but those are up there!

Well, for sure God is good, and it is a joy to serve him! Keep on serving the Saviour!!!!
Jon







Jason, my little five year old brother, is really cool. He's always ready to do something adventurous with us! He'll always be ready to throw a football, run off to Cabelas, etc...

What would a blog be without an
airplane!?!?!? My friend Mark Siegwart,
Stephen and I are standing
beside Mark's Cessna 172: N5669R