- Jun 22, 2025
- 14
- 24
- 22
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Baptist
- Marital Status
- Married
I guess this is our official introduction here but wanted to say hi to all, and so proud and excited we finally took the plunge to join! I'm Wendy, originally from Iowa though with our Southern Baptist roots still going strong after my family moved up here from Texas before me and my brother were born. And I guess on that topic of movin' around in the world, my husband and I are building on that tradition but moving just a wee bit farther away from home. To Germany in fact!
We're one of those, as it sounds like ever more numerous mission families moving from America to join the fledgling flourishing overseas ministries "over there", in the EU. From what our pastoral leader has said for most of us doing the Europe missions it's a permanent move, it indeed is for us and we have a little one on the way and a niece already there growing up officially German (plus a cousin and his son doing the same in France, from Texas themselves so you can imagine the funny conversational situations just from that fact, but ne parler Francais so we won't talk about that for now
, ) so we'll be duly enough doing some leder hosen and dirndl shopping as we practice our Deutsch sprechen!
Anyway both hubby and I have some solid German roots on both of our sides of the family tree so I guess we like to think we're just moving to another of our homes, in a round-about way. Not unusual for us folks out there in Iowa, Indiana and Missouri, after all with cities with names like Emmetsburg, Bettendorf and Oelwein not too much stretch to figure out where so many of us Hawkeyes originally came from!
But we truly are excited about the mission planning there, we've already gotten arranged to help with building of a small church in a way out there "Kleindorf". A little rural village that's been interested in having it's own church for decades and with help from donors here and there, is finally getting that wish and we get to help be a part of that! So begeistert as they say over there.
If there's one little downer for this exciting mission, it's that we're leaving literally this week for our first big preparation stay in that part of Germany, and let's just say things move a bit slower (including the phone signals and wi-fi). Between that and just getting acclimated and all the bustle of moving while expecting, there's a good chance I may not be responsive until next year. But we'll find some way to stay connected down the road one way or another. As it's said in Ephesians 4:3 "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." This was one of my Sunday school teacher's favorite verses and I've held it close ever since, reminded us we're all in one big fellowship family of worship, peace and love and all of you out there are part of that big family for us. So a big well-wish from us to all of you and so happy to be here!
We're one of those, as it sounds like ever more numerous mission families moving from America to join the fledgling flourishing overseas ministries "over there", in the EU. From what our pastoral leader has said for most of us doing the Europe missions it's a permanent move, it indeed is for us and we have a little one on the way and a niece already there growing up officially German (plus a cousin and his son doing the same in France, from Texas themselves so you can imagine the funny conversational situations just from that fact, but ne parler Francais so we won't talk about that for now
, ) so we'll be duly enough doing some leder hosen and dirndl shopping as we practice our Deutsch sprechen!Anyway both hubby and I have some solid German roots on both of our sides of the family tree so I guess we like to think we're just moving to another of our homes, in a round-about way. Not unusual for us folks out there in Iowa, Indiana and Missouri, after all with cities with names like Emmetsburg, Bettendorf and Oelwein not too much stretch to figure out where so many of us Hawkeyes originally came from!
But we truly are excited about the mission planning there, we've already gotten arranged to help with building of a small church in a way out there "Kleindorf". A little rural village that's been interested in having it's own church for decades and with help from donors here and there, is finally getting that wish and we get to help be a part of that! So begeistert as they say over there.
If there's one little downer for this exciting mission, it's that we're leaving literally this week for our first big preparation stay in that part of Germany, and let's just say things move a bit slower (including the phone signals and wi-fi). Between that and just getting acclimated and all the bustle of moving while expecting, there's a good chance I may not be responsive until next year. But we'll find some way to stay connected down the road one way or another. As it's said in Ephesians 4:3 "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." This was one of my Sunday school teacher's favorite verses and I've held it close ever since, reminded us we're all in one big fellowship family of worship, peace and love and all of you out there are part of that big family for us. So a big well-wish from us to all of you and so happy to be here!
Anyway hopefully at some point when can log back on I'll do a little write-up for anyone else interested in taking the plunge. It makes things easier and if you're preparing to embark on your own mission work, you'll be one step ahead. Viel Glück to anyone out there with similar plans in mind!
