Catalyst – Leadership Training

A couple of years ago, Krista and I got to go to the Catalyst Conference with the staff from our sending church, Lake Forest Church. It was an awesome time. Not just fun, but extremely helpful in understanding how to be better leaders.

So for those of you in the States in early October, set some time aside. This leadership conference is for everyone from church lay leaders, students, to business leaders who want to hone your skills (just be prepared to pray and have some worship time).

Check out the full details at their website –> http://www.CatalystConference.com

The time we went, we got to be a part of the Guiness Book of World records for the most whoopie cushions set-off at once. I heard last year was the largest pillow fight ever. So as you can see, its for those leaders that are looking for change.

PS – Did I mention they were giving away free Apple stuff every week until it begins?

I need to be silent

To quote Abraham Lincoln,

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”.

I think I need to be silent more often. Oi.

Fröhliche Ostern

Fröhliche Ostern. Happy Easter everyone. This morning I got to spend a delightful time in a local German church celebrating Easter. Unfortunately, Alex was sick and so Krista and he could not make it with us. However, Laura and Thad Davis are here for a week and they went with me. Laura and Thad are appointees with GEM and are currently raising their support. It was wonderful to celebrate Jesus´ resurrection even though it was all in another language (a language where I know some of the words now). The pastor this morning started his sermon on how during this time we some many times concentrate on the Cross and what Jesus did there. However, the change for us as Christians came when Jesus was resurrected from the dead. By dieing and resurrecting, Jesus provided for our salvation.

Now to get every one caught up on what has been happening with the Roes Family:

Krista and I are still in German Language School and are about half way done with what we are going to do formally. Our German skills have improved but we are definitely nowhere near fluent but just the other day, I was able to make reservations at a restaurant and I was very proud of myself for accomplishing that. We are also continuing to build on the relationships we have within our school however several people from the class have dropped out but then several new people have joined us.

Alex is still having a blast in his German kindergarten. While there have been some trouble with bullies, it doesn’t seem to deter Alex. Overall, I think Alex is well liked by his classmates as when we walk him into his class, they are all warmly saying “Guten Tag” to him.

The weather here has brightened up since we had four days of snow a few weeks ago. Today, it is going to be a high of about 60 degrees F so I am actually writing this out on our little terrace where we have gotten some outdoor furniture. The sun is warm as a cool breeze gently goes by. The flowers are coming into full bloom (accchhheeeeeoooooooo!!!) We are very thankful that God has called us here.

One of the cool things here is that some of the farmers who have parcels near the main roads will grow flowers that you can pick yourself and then pay at these barrels totally on the honor system.

Morgan (Tomorrow), we are having the eDOT team over for a picnic. Our apartment isn’t large enough for all of us so we are going to hike up the hill behind our place to a spot where you can overlook all of Kandern (our town). Up there is a little gazebo with a picnic table. It should be a wonderful time.

Ich wünsche Ihnen schönen Tag (I wish you a beautiful day – or in Americanism – Have a good day!)

PS – I wrote this whole note using a German keyboard layout; I never thought you used the “Y” key so much as the z and y keys are switched along with a lot of the punctuation keys.

Multi-Tasking at work

This one is for my friend Randy. He once told me that on long road trips, he liked listening to the movies that his kids were watching in the back seat (me, I have Alex wear headphones). Anyway, Randy – here’s a site that allows you to listen to any of the thousands of movies they have on their site while at work. You can’t watch them but if you are like me, and love just listening to Monty Python , then go check out the ListenToAMovie website and enjoy multi-tasking to your favorite movie.