Happy New Year

Happy New Year – Ein Gutes Neues Jahr

We trust that you had a blessed Christmas celebration and a great start to the new year. After attending our late afternoon Christmas Eve service, we spent this Christmas by ourselves.  On the 26^th (which is observed as the 2^nd day of Christmas in Germany), we spent an afternoon with Claudia’s parents.

 

The week between the holidays was filled with inviting neighbors and other family members to our home. New Year’s Eve was spent with families from our local church. And the first week of 2007 was also spent with relatives and traveling (to the American Consulate in Frankfurt in order to  get some passports for the kids.)

 

January Ministry….

January is a slow month for ministry in Eastern Europe. The Orthodox Church observes Christmas on January 6; and some countries used to observe New Year’s on January 15. In Russia, for example, it was the communist regime that introduced the western New Year’s date to the country. So…. They’re still in the holiday mode. We begin the spring semester on January 29.

 

However, you can read a recent report about ETS’s recent semester on the web. The article is written by Ilya Okhotnikov, our director of development. You can find the article at http://www.faithnews.cc/articles.cfm?sid=7547

 

In the meantime, we are involving ourselves this month more in the local ministry in Rudersberg. Tom spoke this weekend. And Claudia will be teaching this coming weekend.

 

Rites of Passage, and other family news

In our last newsletter, I promised to let you know which one of us is getting bifocals. Claudia has new glasses, but it’s taking her some time to get used to them. Other news: Brianna turned 9 this week; the twins have their 11^th birthday next week. So… we’re having spending some quality time at home

 

Again, we are so grateful to be a part of your ministry around the world!

 

Tom & Claudia