Prayer Requests

  • Praise the Lord that He brought Peter and Janet to rent our house. Pray that they will be settled there and feel that it is home.
  • Please pray for our children, Niall and Sorche, as they settle into school and dorm life. Pray for good friends for both of them and that they will be able to handle the adjustment to a new school routine.
  • We are so thankful for the many people who have pledged to support us financially. Please continue to pray for this area, for our understanding of the new things we are encountering and that God will provide for us in all areas.

View of our village, Holzen

View of our village, Holzen
Our dorm is the white building to the left of the church

Lynn and Sorche in Colmar, France

Thursday, October 9, 2008

We are HERE!

My apologies to all who are wondering where we are and what we are doing. The last 5 weeks in Canada stretched into 7 more weeks of MANY ups and downs and moments of wondering if we would ever get to Germany. The Lord had his plans for us, which included not selling our house but renting it out to a couple who have come back from teaching at a missionary school in Taiwan for 8 years, Janet and Peter Muller. They were earnestly seeking housing in our area and a mutual friend inquired about our renting it to them and within a week they had a house and we had a solution to our house issue. God also spared us from selling it to the buyer interested in early August who, as we found out in September, was not a reliable person and there would have been problems with the close of the deal, while we would have been in Germany.
So, on Monday, September 22 we flew out from Toronto with our 10 pieces of luggage and 8 carry-ons and arrived in Basel, Switzerland on Tuesday, September 23. Our supervisors, Glenn and Sheila Lewis picked us up and delivered us to the dorm we will be serving in. "Storchenblick" dorm is in a quaint little village called Holzen, 5 kilometres from the school. Black Forest Academy is in a town called Kandern, located in the Black Forest area of Germany, in the extreme southwest corner, bordering on France and Switzerland. We have had 2 and a half weeks of living in the dorm, acquainting ourselves with the girls, the routines, the local countryside, the neighbours, and the storks. Storks are plentiful and build nests on the chimneys and rooftops of the village. There is a stork refuge where they are fed and cared for if injured. On our first weekend we took a walk up the hill into the forest with one of the dorm girls, Melody. We have beautiful vineyards, hills, and forests and the walking trails are plentiful. Jim has discovered many of them for running with some of the other dorm dads and even entered a half marathon last Sunday, running with a dorm dad and the pastor of the church which meets at the school.
Niall and Sorche are adjusting to dorm life and their new school. They have been warmly welcomed by the girls here and the other students in the school. There are still some things we are figuring out, but in general we feel comfortable here. We will be celebrating Canadian thanksgiving with the other Canadians from Janz team on Sunday. We will think of you all and pray you are all well.
Happy thanksgiving! Love, Lynn and Jim