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