We finished our first week “soloing it” after Yenish and Natalya left for the US. They arrived safely without complications in Baltimore to start their 5 state whirlwind tour of churches and family. Please pray for traveling mercies and endurance.
Linda led Bible Study Wednesday evening and a good group attended. We were quite surprised by our newest member, Natalie from Birmingham, AL!! She is doing immunology research at CAU as a Fulbright Scholar. It was nice to be able to talk “southern English” a bit.
Linda leading the Wednesday evening Bible Study
On Sunday morning we attended the German Methodist service and had a wonderful time talking to Pastor Harmut Kraft, the local Pastor who speaks English. He is familiar with Atlanta, having been to Emory for lectures. He & his wife (also a pastor and current District Superintendent) also travel to Nashville several times a year, as they are part of the Upper Room Ministry. He serves a 2 point charge, Kiel and Hamburg. He gave us a lot of insight regarding Methodism in Germany, which unfortunately is in decline. This once thriving church had 20 attending this Sunday morning. The pastor explained to us there is a district retreat for kids 12-14, so attendance was lower than normal.
The church building is very international. After the 11:00 AM German Methodist service, there was a 2:00 PM Ghanaian Presbyterian service in the language, Twi. Then followed the Kiel service in English!
Ed lead the Sunday afternoon Kiel Church service. He gave a personal testimony regarding our call to missions and our work in water projects. He then brought them a message about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. Our friends at Eatonton First UMC heard a version of this message earlier this year. We had a good group and as always, enjoyed a great time of fellowship afterwards. It seems like churches around the world love to drink coffee and tea and munch on cake and cookies! There were 19 attending the service, and we had the following countries represented: USA, Germany, Kenya, Philippines, Peru, Romania, UK, South Korea, Uganda, Indonesia, Sweden, Nigeria, Switzerland.
Ed & Linda Baker in Putnam, County, GA 