New E-mail List

To make things a lot easier for me to stay in contact with all of you, I have created an e-mail list through Google. You can search for it under Google groups, typing in Youth Ministry in Hildesheim. To find Google groups, go to www.google.com and look for the "More" tab near the top. Under that tab, you should be able to find the word "groups". Click on it and type in "Youth Ministry in Hildesheim". Once you have found the site, look on the right hand side and you should see a "Join this group" link. Click on it and from there, you should be able to figure things out.

This group is an email list, so that when I send out my monthly emails, I can just easily emailed anyone on the list. Please feel free to give anyone else this information who might enjoy the updates. Thanks so much!

My Place!

Here are some pictures of my place in Hildesheim. Bischofskamp 4 to be exact. It's a WG, aka an apartment, that I share with 3 German girls, Inga, Lena D. and Lena F. Well, here are the pictures! The first one is the outside of our apartment. We are on the second floor, and my window is directly over the door on the first floor, and under the "Sebald" writing. And I have no idea what "Sebald" means.The window on the far right is Lena D.'s room, then the 2 windows to the left of that are the windows for our living room. On the left side of my window is the stairwell, and then the other 2 windows on the far left are Inga's bedroom windows. Inga has the biggest room, and I have the smallest room. Lena F.'s bedroom as well as our kitchen and 1 and 1/2 baths are on the backside. Sorry, no pictures of that side. The other 3 photos are the inside of my room. I painted my walls a deep red color, but surprisingly it doesn't make my room seem any smaller than it already was. Note the fact that my bed fits into both corners of my room!

Home in the States

Hey all you bloggers! I am back in the states for Christmas. Actually, I am also back in the States because my brother is getting married on Saturday. So, I am currently in Abilene, Texas enjoying the fairly warm, sunny weather and spending time with my family. I will be here in the States until January 6th, and then I will return back home to Germany.

I thought I would share the highlight of my trip back home. And no, the part about being awake for over 25 hours straight is not it. I flew from Frankfurt to Washington Dulles. On the flight, some guy smoked, not once, but twice in the bathroom. The flight attendants came over the loudspeakers and reminded all of us passengers "This is a non-smoking flight. Tampering with the smoke detectors and smoking is against Federal Law. Whoever just smoked in the bathroom, we know who you are." Well, that was about 2 or 3 hours into the flight. About 30 minutes before we landed, Mr. Smoker did it again. This time, one of the flight attendants approached him in his seat. And he was sitting in the section near to me. I couldn't hear what the man was saying, but the fligh attendant said, "Really? Because I smell cigarette smoke on you. Do you want me to call the police when we land?" I don't know what became of Mr. Smoker, but it made for a somewhat entertaining flight.

Back in Hildesheim, we celebrated the first Advent with our Advents Kaffee. We had several visitors from the community come, and it was a great success. We had coffee and cakes, and enjoyed the small skit by the 3-7 year olds about Christmas, as well as the play by the Pre-Teen group, depicting the story of Christmas. Kyle and Benjamin Bratcher and JD Frost all played their trumpets, and we had a small singing group. It was definitely a great way to celebrate the Christmas season together with friends and family, as well as fellowship with those from our community. Among one of the visitors was Alfred, the Bratcher's neighbor with whom I meet with about once a week. I was so thrilled that he came! Please keep praying that God will continue to bless the time that I spend with Alfred, and that God may use me to show Alfred who Christ is.

Well, this post has been brought to you by Jet Lag. I seem to be waking up at very fun hours of the morning. Yesterday I woke up at 1am Texas time to have breakfast, and then went to bed around 3am, only to wake up at 7am for lunch. Please pray that I will be able to recover from jet lag...and soon. Until next time...

Health Update

After a week of resting in bed, drinking lots of fluids, and getting antibiotics from the doctor, I have recovered from my bout with strep throat! Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my quick recovery.

Tonight we practice for our Advents Kaffee play that the pre-teen group is putting on. Sunday, Dec. 2nd we will perform for members of the congregation as well as visitors from the community. And tomorrow begins the official Advents Kalendar countdown. For those of you who don't know about this tradition, every Advent calendar has 25 windows or boxes, each with a number, 1 through 25. The object is to countdown the days until Christmas. Each day you open up the appropriate window or box and recieve a small treat. It's all the rage here in Germany! And our Christmas Market has opened up in Hildesheim, so I shall be making a visit or two there before I come home on Dec. 10th.

Until next time....

The Aftermath of Thanksgiving

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was a warm and happy holiday filled with great food and fellowship. I celebrated the day in Peine with the Bratchers, the Roehrkasses, the missionaries in Peine and a few other families. We were 25 people in all, crowded around one big, long table! I felt like I was a pilgrim sitting around such a big table.

Well, sad news. Thanksgiving didn't end so well for me. I came home with a headache, sore throat and a fever. Ever since Thursday I've been keeping to my apartment and getting lost of rest (and fluids). Please pray that I will get better soon. I've talked with my parents and signs point to possibly strep throat. I royally dislike getting my throat cultured, so PLEASE pray that I won't have to go to the doctor. I'll keep you guys posted, and thanks for the prayers!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

My sincerest apologies that I have not updated this blogspot in...well, a long time. So I'm going to catch you guys up some things that have been happening.

First of all, Josh and Ariel are back in the States. They flew back at the end of August. Both did a wonderful job connecting with the kids and I couldn't have had a better time without them.

I have moved into a Wohngemeinschaft (WG). It's an apartment that I share with 3 German girls, Lena D., Lena F. and Inga. None of the girls are believers, so I am on the mission field, even at home. But it's been a wonderful opportunity for me to live with them. They help me with my German, and we have a lot of fun together. Lena D. came with me to a Saturday night area-wide devo held at another church. She enjoyed her time, and pray that she will come again.

Things with the Gemeinde Christi are becoming more busy as Christmas draws closer. We are in the middle of organizing an Advents Kaffee on December 2nd. I am doing a small play with the Pre-Teen group and singing with some of the teens as well.

Since the beginning of September, I have been meeting with a man named Alfred. He is an atheist, but loves to improve his English. Cindy Roehrkasse, one of the missionaries here, calls him "our resident atheist" but we all pray that he will someday come to the Lord. We meet once a week, eating delicious Bratwursts and other delicious foods that his wife, Edith, prepares for us.

Thanksgiving is coming up, and I would like to wish all of you Happy Thanksgiving! I am going to Peine with the Bratchers and the Roehrkasses to celebrate with 2 other missionary families that live there. I'd like to thank all of you for your prayers and financial support. I'm also thankful that I now have my residency visa! Thanks to all of you who have been praying for that as well. God is truly good.

Take care, and I will be posting more regularly...that you can be sure of!

Picture of the Month

Here is the picture from Josh's story!

A crazy guy with fish in his hands.

One night after a party, we were all hanging around in front of the church building. A man, that has been know to walk through the streets of Hildesheim shouting random comments at anyone, approached us. His attire was casual at best, leaning towards scandalous. His shorts took the meaning to an extreme. As he came closer to us the contents of his hands became visible. He held a dead fish in each hand. As he walked he seemed to have no particular destination, he was just walking, with dead fish, and that is what his only intentions were. We made eye contact. His destination became certain. He would not look away from me, as I could not look away either. Ready for his predictable remarks he is known for, I waited. "Hey! I saw you on the Television, You killed 7 people !" he shouted in his native tounge, German. I did not understand a word he said, responding as if I had a clue by nodding my head and smiling. After I agreed with his rediculous accusations, he transferred one fish to the other hand extending his invitation to shake mine. A man that murdered 7 people. I codially returned the courtesy and shook the fish ridden hand of this man. The experience was transcendent. I wonder what Jesus would have done.

Luckily ,one of our own, Benjamin Bratcher was there to document this occurance with a photograph seen above. If you look carefully you can see the fish in his left hand and with his right hand, the handshake.

Halt! Polizei!

Did you know that it is illegal for two people to ride on one bike in Germany? Well, Josh and Benjamin (the Bratcher's eldest son) found that out the hard way last week. Josh was hitching a ride on the back of Benjamin's bike when a Police van swerved in front of them, lights flashing an all. The Policeman held out a sign that said "Halt! Polizei!" and pulled them over. He let them off, but its a 20 Euro fine per person if you get caught trying to hitch a ride on a bike.

Speaking of Benjamin, praise God because he was baptized on July 11, 2007 by Kyle, his father. And it just so happened to be on Kyle's birthday. What a wonderful birthday present!

The weather here in Germany most certainly isn't Summertime weather. It has been cold, overcast and rainy for several weeks now. But everything is green and we are staying warm and dry despite the weather.

Thank you for your prayers for Ariel's foot! She went to the doctor and found out that her foot is not broken. She has just been walking on it a lot which caused her foot to be overworked and overstressed. She took care of it and is now able to go running and her foot doesn't bother her anymore!

I will be moving into the WG (apartment) near the end of August. Thank you so much once again for your prayers concerning my living arrangments. Please pray that I will be a positive influence on the girls whom I will be living with.

Also, please continue to pray for my language skills. I am learning more and more each day and I can now carry on simple conversations with Germans! I did make one blunder last night. I was telling Maribel, a girl in the youth group, that I wanted a piece of cake. Well, I actually said I wanted a piece of the kitchen. The word for cake is "kuchen" and the work for kitchen is "Kuche"...so as you can see it would be very easy to get them mixed up. Oh well. You live, you learn, you laugh.

Thanks for all your support and your prayers!
-Kelly :)

Oops!

Oops...the order in which I uploaded the pictures wasn't the order in which they appeared. Julia and Ariel are in the top photo, and Lara and I are in the bottom photo. Thanks!

Photos, a Prayer Request and a Praise

The first photo is of Lara and Kelly. Lara is the daughter of Kyle and Susan Bratcher. She is 3 years old and is the cutest little kid ever! The second photo is of Julia and Ariel. Julia, the youngest daughter of Don and Cindy Roehrkasse, took Ariel and I out to lunch at a traditional German Pancake house in the center of Hildesheim. The pancakes were the best breakfast food ever! They are like thick crepes, only they resemble American pancakes from the toppings you can put on them: banana, chocolate, whipped cream, berries, etc.

Ariel and Josh are in the home stretch of language school. They are finished this Friday. Meanwhile, I will be in language school until the end of September.

One prayer request is for Ariel's foot. She seems to have injured it a few weeks ago and hasn't recovered fully. Please prayer that her foot heals quickly.

One praise is the girls from the Wohnungmeinschaft (apartment) have asked me to come live with them! Thank you to all of you who have been praying about this. God is good!

Blessings!

-Kelly :)

LOSER TEA

Here's your chance to OFFICIALLY be jealous of the three of us here in Germany... we can drink "loser tee".

Wie gehts?

This photo was taken one Saturday afternoon when our Teen Group took a bike tour of Hildesheim. Pictured: JD, Kelly, Ariel, Josh, Benjamin, Kelsey and Claudio.

We are now in our third week here in Hildesheim and enjoying every minute of it! If you would like to be added to Kelly's monthly update, please send an email to: kelly.luallin@student.oc.edu.

Thank you so much for continuing to pray for us!

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

This past week we got to meet our pre-teen group. We did a scavenger hunt around downtown Hildesheim and ended our afternoon with gelato. (Feel free to be jealous that we can eat real Italian ice cream here!) We've attached a picture from our outing, and needless to say, it's priceless. Ariel and I would like to take a moment to point out Josh's facial expression. If you look in the center of the picture (the kid in the black shirt) you will see Aaron Bratcher. His face is also priceless. A picture is worth one thousand words!

Mailing Address for Kelly and Ariel

Kelly Luallin and/or Ariel Hacker
c/o Kyle & Susan Bratcher
Immelmannstrasse 34
31137 Hildesheim
Germany

phone number: 0 (11-49) 5121-51-75-88
*Good luck figuring out this phone number, but I sure don't know what it means. But dial it and we just might answer!

Wilkommen

We made it safely to Germany on Wednesday morning around 6am local time. As you have probably guessed from the lack of postings on our blogspot, internet access is few and far between.

But, enough of the hum drum. On to our lives here in Hildesheim. Josh is living with the Roerhkasse family, and Ariel and Kelly are living with the Bratcher family. After Ariel and Josh leave at the end of the summer, Kelly will be living in an apartment with friends of the Bratcher family.

Since arriving, we have overcome jet lag! We are getting used to the cramped spaces, sorting out our garbage, and walking/biking everywhere. Ariel and Kelly will have the best looking legs on the west side of the Atlantic Ocean when they return home.

One interesting note: mullets are the fashion craze here. We would like to take a moment to remember that dreadful haircut, which faithfully died with the 80s, some 20 odd years ago. But it has made its rivival here in Germany. Viva la mullet!

The teen and pre-teen groups are excited for all 3 of us to be here, and we spent time on Friday and Saturday with the groups, touring Hildesheim and making acquaintances with the youth. We can't wait to see what God has in store for us this summer!

Pray for us as we start language school this Friday. It will be 5 hours a day, and 5 days a week. Ariel and Josh will be enrolled for 1 month, and Kelly will be enrolled for 4 months. Language can test your patience, and we can definitely use a prayer for patience.

Thank you to all those who are continually praying for us and those who have supported us financially. We would not be here if it weren't for you!

Plane Tickets Have Been Purchased!

We have purchased our plane tickets! We are departing from Denver, Colorado on May 22nd at 7:15am. We will fly to Philadelphia, Penn. where we will make our connection to Frankfurt, Germany. Thank you to all who have graciously and generously donated to us. We greatly appreciate you. Thank you!

Fundraising

We want to thank all of you who have helped, are helping, and will help us finanically. God has blessed us because of your support, and it is our prayer that God bless each one of you. Thank you so much!