june.. and not there yet...

just an update on my sponsorship... i am at 400e monthly now, with 250e left to go. and it's june. the date about my visa could come any time now. please, if you have been considering sponsorship and haven't pledged yet, now would be a good time to do so..

street work seminar

today was the first street work seminar in karlsruhe. it went really well, i think. but then again, i am kinda biased, right? i'd prepared about 7 pages of notes and thought i could get through it in an hour. i was wrong... it took, well, several. but the participants seemed engaged and interested most of the time, and i felt like i had presented them with a good general overview. we covered

- why do we go out (Biblical perspective)?
- how do we go?
- who do we meet?
- what can we offer?
- what can't we offer?
- the main drugs we run into
- the main deseases we run into
- the path away from the streets
- the do's and don'ts
- common mistakes to watch out for

open living room

click on this to see my vision for karlsruhe (in case you missed it or are new to my ministry)

what i still need..

just some more visa info updates..

the german gov't said i need 650e in monthly support. at the point they said that i had less than 1/6 of that..

so with the 250e in support i now have, i am feeling a little better...

but i still need 400e in monthly support by june. monthly. so if you or someone you know is suffering from wanting to support a missionary, i'd love to hear from you. :-)

ps: i am also very thankful for the few one-time gifts that have gone in lately, they have helped immensely with some bigger bills i had!

street work seminar postponed

since my voice hasn't made it home yet from the jesus freaks leadership weekend, i was sent home early today... from a seminar i was supposed to be leading on street work. sooo... it'll be next week. i guess pray my voice comes back.. it should be then, though..

no coincidence

today i was back at werder platz doing street work.. this week the gospel tribers weren't able to go out, so i led a small team (2 others). armed with coffee, we hit the fountain and attempted to talk to people..

which wasn't working too well at first. but then i saw the notorious Fibs, and was able to use some pantomine to get him to come over and say hi. he's kinda difficult to grasp, sometimes he is alright, but others he can be quite belligerent and difficult. today he was more than ok, he was clear and friendly.

somehow i ended up saying that i'd really like a place where i could cook for the fringe groups once or twice a week, a place where we could get into more serious conversations. kinda like cafe chance was in bremen.. a christian drug counseling center. he offered to take me around and show me the programs that are in place so far, and said my idea would be well recieved, there isnt much in karlsruhe like it.

suddenly he went off a bit and stopped a lady on a bike, then called me over. turns out, she is the head of the street work team for the diakonie (a big organization). we made an appointment to talk more next week, but she already suggested a few places where i could make a difference... and said she'd put in a good word for me with the pastor of the church on werder platz. they have a big kitchen and meeting room, and there's a chance i could use it for a soup kitchen!

i don't think today was a coincidence. i think it was God working, opening doors. maybe the first step towards my open living room?

no visa

they didn't extend my visa today.
but, that may not be all bad. i can stay until june, and then get another appointment to decide my fate.

that gives me a few more weeks to gather sponsors.. i only have 208e of the required 650e covered at this point.

and the decision they are making is whether or not to grant me a PERMANENT residence visa with work permit. technically, there's a major flaw in my application: its required to pay 60 months of social security.. which, of course, not haveing a job, i haven't done.

but keep praying, and maybe i'll get it and be practically german. :-)

money and presents

ok, i hate to do this.. but the german government is kinda forcing me.. they need to see proof that i am making 650e a month in donations in order to let me sty here. they wont just let me get a part time job. sooo...

anyone who decides that sponsoring me to do what i do (ie work with homeless, drug addicts and punks on the streets of germany) and can send me a written promise of that this week (to be sure, maybe email a pdf and mail a real paper) of at least 10e a month for a year will recieve a little thank you gift from me.. something i sew or some chocolates i make myself or something. it'll be nice. but cheap, just something i make. (have to be a good steward of the donations, right?) if you want to sponsor me and don't already have my adress, leave me your email in the comments or write me at que_tea (its a hotmail and a com address.)

thanks!

i sewed that!

its a steosaurus i made for a certain family member and a purse for me.