We Are Here!

Less than a week ago (Thursday, 24 July, 2014) we arrived at the Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport dazed and jetlagged after more than 20 hours of travel. Every day since we’ve had to pinch ourselves to see if this is real.

Our apartment is beautiful. It is on the ground floor of Jeff’s office building and its easy walking distance from every necessity of life—from the small, Trader Joe’s-like grocery store to the kid’s bus stop. Over and over again during these past four years, the Lord has brought us back to Psalm 23. It might be cliché, but truly He has led us to green pastures and still waters.

Have there already been moments of frustration? Yes! Just dealing with trash alone has been a huge learning curve and seems extremely inefficient. We’re sure it will become second nature, eventually. After all, why doesn’t everyone have five or six different trash bags in their kitchen?

Starting this Saturday, someone has offered to let us borrow their car while they’re gone for three weeks. What a gift! We’re looking forward to spreading our wings a bit and seeing more of the area before the kids start school Monday, 1 September, and our language learning officially kicks off. Even now, we’re motivated more than ever to dig into Rosetta Stone and Duo Lingo. We so want to start talking to the people we meet on the street and in the stores!

Thank you for your prayers as we do our best to get our life set up here and start getting to know our neighbors both in and out of the GEM community. As Albert Tate said—at Mount Hermon four years ago—goodness and mercy are following us; we don’t have to chase after them. Pray that we are His instruments to redirect that goodness and mercy to those around us!