fotofever or is it hopeful eyes...

due to the nature of being home and having time and somehow getting a new sight of memmingen with His help, my camera has been chillin with me and i finally developed a roll of film that i have been working on since 2009. i put up a couple of picture on my flickr and hope to keep up with it more regular. the link is below and i will send it out with my blog update emails too from now on... unless i don't want to or forget or something of the such... word!

enjoy, hopefully your eyes feel better after the looking... maybe even the heart....
oh.. one more thing... it has been on my heart to pray for memmingen... we live in the city.. literally, with the city wall as our back wall and my heart has been aching for more of God, more of Jesus and more of His spirit here.

pray with! you'll be seeing photos of the area so maybe God will hook you up with some cool prayers too!

much love, israel

www.flickr.com/photos/translatelove/

OPs, flights and one year today!

the rain kept me home, better said brought me back home from work today. caught some extra sleep (well needed), cleaned and put things away in the new apartment that we call home now for the last 2 months, went to the bank to see if there was enough funds for london and then made yummy fat filled american grilled cheese sandwiches with a touch of german meat.

one year ago today, crazy but yeah, today, we were joined by friends from europe to celebrate our wedding here in memmingen, germany. i suppose the time has indeed gone by super fast. already celebrating one wedding from us (to explain, we married in the US in July and in germany for each of our families), this one is the more realizing one for Kathy since her family was our family. i thank God for today, for the last year and for the umbrella He has put us under through all the rain and storms. but, as the analogy goes, the rain will bring growth, and growth usually has growth-pains linked to it. i really thank you all and God again for the prayers, support in conversation and that He has heard and answered your prayers. tis true, the year has been hard... but... it has been worth it.

a couple things to mention as i try to compact thing blog with several months of events during no time or laziness or other priorities.

our heart is to be back in the states for Christmas. it will be the first time being back since we came last year in august. we look to fly out around the 7-9th of dec and stay til the 30th. Kathy has the time off and i will be out of work due to the wrist surgery. during the first couple weeks we have talked about getting to nebraska to visit my dad and friends there, and hitting up the northwest to visit dear ones there. as neat and fun as it all sounds, we are struggling with the means of getting it done. technically, from our jobs, it is not possible to come up with the funds to fly, and i have decided not to fly without kathy. i also have to get some others things straightened out with unemployment (again due to the surgery) and physical therapy before hand. the funds for the flights look to be around $2,000 and i can't really say how it looks with funds for traveling around the u.s. when getting there.
but...  i, or we, have been challenged to give this to God. what that means is... if He provides the money to do this then we will be there, if not, then all we can do is trust that He has something even better in hand for us. our hearts, naturally, is to come back and see our new nephew and everyone else... but my heart trusts God. He has the best for us, for you!

next, my wrist surgery is to be on the 13th of Nov. i will be in recovery for about 3 months and after, starting at a café here when it be His will. i do not expect it to be a very easy time but i really believe it will be full of maybe unexpected neatness and wonders. i will have lots of time on my hands. we shall see!

kathy and her health need prayer. it is really hard to sit or stand and watch her being sick so often or having physical problems... her health is, however, from God. and i pray for strength to get through all things regardless of health stuff or apathy or whatev...

another loan is officially paid off!!!! the last one is up to bat and with His grace, will be off the base in no time. thank you endlessly for any and all support towards those!

my job ends soon. my wrist can't take it anymore... to be honest, my whole body needs a break :)
shortly after my bday (31st of oct.) i hope to fly to sam and beth in harpenden, england to visit. although, due to work and stress, kathy can not join with, i really feel this visit has something deeper attached... again like an opportunity with purpose. it is always a joy and pleasure to visit my best friend sam and his wife... yep, shall see.

other than that... i miss all of you. the leaves here are joining the others in piles on the ground, jackets are coming into style and i am starting a little with tutoring english. :) our hearts smile and hope at the opportunity to see you all. please pray with us.

i attached some random photos of the area. please enjoy and i hope to hear from lots of you soon!
keep in touch, regardless of the time in between!

much love, israel and kathy (well.. written by israel but supported by kathy:)

punless yet clever?

Sometimes, the busyness that comes in the time of waiting is really really full!
I suppose that makes sense...

There has been so much going on the in the last couple of months... I'll try and cover the gist of it all without writing any novellas. We all know how I go on and on and on and on....

At the end of june, we joined and freizeit from our church and spent the weekend with others under 30 at starnberger see (a big lake). It was a fast but really good weekend where we all got to know each other better and played some neat worship.

The following weekend was a family roadtrip to Hungary to visit Kathys relatives. I had never been there before, just warned of how much they like to eat and drink. The family was such a blessing, and though I was politely forced to eat loads, I managed to keep my stomache and my weight. :) We swam in the Donau every day and suceeded at swimming over half a km, living to tell about it. The ac stopped working on the way back and the auto, being smaller than what we had originally booked, became very damp from a warm day.

The following weekend was Kathy and my official 1 year anniversary. The year went so fast! Thank you all for your support in this. We couldn't have made it this far without it.... wow... listen to me, I make it sound like it is something bad.... bad.- no way, hard, oh yeah! So again, thank you all for the prayers, words and hugs.

The following week, Sam came and visited from England. He was here a week and though that officially consists of 7days, it went way too fast. The time together consisted of some well spend time regardless of spending the days at work. We enjoyed a döner (turkish speciality), Bavarian breakfast, endless talks of deep wonderful things such as marriage, recalling good memories and climbing mountains. (the photos are from that!) He is now back in London with his wife helping with the Olympic minitries with ywam. Wohoa!

We have also spend the last week getting our new apartment ready to move in to. It is in the city and creates access to much much more time there. I pray that it is super good and we are excited to see how God will use it. We are looking at moving in in a week or so... but probably won't get all our little dedads there til the end of August.

Other news:

My brother is a dad! I am sure that I already wrote this, but it is just so good that it deserves more moments of attention! Woah!

Kathy's debt is, as of the end of June, paid off!
My debt stand at roughly $2000. Wow, from 11 to 2. That is a huge step that, again, moves me to thank you all again for the help, prayers and support! Really, thank you!
I am praying and hoping that I can pay this off in the next few months. The apartment is cheaper, but over winter I get paid less too.... figures. :)

In august, my friend Volker and I are making a climbing tour. It will only be a week, roughly, and we are looking at traveling around the area here since there is so much to climb but not nearly enough time to see and climb it all. We had originally planned on going to spain, but it is cheaper to stay here and Germany and Austria really has a lot to offer. Plus, not as hot. I am very excited and pray that it all works out well!

In november my wrist will be operated on. EEK! It sounds drastic, or intense.... or maybe boring... either way, it should be done and I am excited to have it get done. My wrist has been hurting for the last 9 years due from a fracture that no one noticed from skateboarding. Oh well... can't turn back time, but can get an operation, and I am doing exactly that! In the last week, it has been hurting more from the work... so endurance and a really good recovery are both wished greatly by me in prayer. That also means that I will not be able to work for 3 months. How that all works out, not so sure yet. But, God is super good and provides all that I need..... so for 3 months I will be reading a lot! Good that we will be living in the city.

And finally, the neatest news yet...
Over Christmas, if work works with as well as weather and finances, we are wanting to come back to rapid to visit.
It has been our wish for some time now and I really hope that it works out because I miss all of you (not just those in rapid). It would be more than wonderful to go a couple places to see others too, but we will have to see how finances provide and how long we will be there. Unfortunately I will be recovering from the operation, but! you don't need two hands to visit, just to climb. Looks like the boyce winter trek will have to retain to only using feet.... next year matt... next year!
So, please pray that it all works out because I think that it is very important to come back and see everyone, speak english and be home again. I have not even started looking at plane tickets yet because I have no funds for it, but I know that if it is to be, then He will provide!

So... wow, looking back on the language that I used, I would say my puns are lacking... what exactly.... probably spice or frequency... oh well... what I lack now will be made up in person! hehehehe!

I love you all and thank you all for taking time to read our updates. We wanted to do a newsletter together, but we still have no time and having taken it either... so... maybe next time?????

Oh, as for future plans... when the loans are finally settled, we are not too sure what the next step will be. We do, for sure!!!! want to continue with missions. Whether we stay in germany at a ywam base before heading back to india, or going straight back there... we will need to focus some on building contacts and friendraising (having support to do all this work wherever we will be). This may be in 6 months... maybe longer, but I look forward to being somewhere, anywhere, without any weight on my heart of oweing money... heheh! FREEDOM!

Please write back, I like hearing from all of you!

Much much love, israel

expecting the unexpected

it really fun to read what was written in the past.
and when i read things that i wrote... it is really like joining another persons journey.
some... well, most of the things that has happened in the past have been crazy and really amazing things that i could never have wished for myself.
to say that least and yet the most common thing... i am very thankful to God.

a quick run down of what the last couple weeks have thrown at us and how we responded:

health has been a topic for kathy over the last... while. mainly with digestion things. sunday evening, we invited some people, or as i would prefer to call them, friends from church including the pastor to our place to pray for Kathy. it was an amazing time and i personally am excited to see His healing for her in that area.
thank you for your prayers for her.

my health has never really been an issue. it has been a blessing... not catching colds, getting fevers or any other sickness, large or small. not get seriously injured at work, though it is rather tough stuff. and though many a years of hard fun, including rock and ice climbing, hiking where people don't go with family, biking, skateboarding... maybe the list is small.. but each was and is filled with years of sweat, pain and victory. and none of them with serious injuries. not even a broken bone... well... i thought.

over the last 8 years, my left wrist has had pain from a skateboard injury. i remember exactly how and where it happened, what time of day it was and who i was with. what i didn't know is that me falling on my wrist at the speed i was going fractured it. the doctor who took the x-ray at that time must not have seen it. the doctors today at the clinic did.. and because it was overlooked years ago.. it has caused years of pain, though not paralysing, annoying to say the least.
it is actually a relief to me to finally know why it hurts and what happens next is yet to be determined. of course i heard what the doctor had said, but i am waiting to hear what my Papa says.

work has hit us both with left and right swings, but nothing really that has knocked us down. we are thankful for our jobs, though for kathy, the hours are very low, and for me the hard work is very high (though kathys work is also very hard work). we are taking steps knowing that He will guide us and will let you know what becomes of them.

family has been a blessing. it seems that many here have birthdays close to each other. that means, with holidays too, we have been spending some good time with the family here. however, kathy and i still don't get as much time with each other that we would really like. i suppose it is mainly due to the work stuff from my side.. being gone all the time. we are thankful for the time and learning to make the most of it together.
family in rapid.. or stateside is i suppose going. though blood related, there has been some communication failures in the last months. one due to lack of time and  money from my end to write letters or to call... and the other is from tension in the relationship between some of us. please pray for this... it has always been a rough surface to slide across over the course of our family's life.. but God can bring peace. He will. in this life or afterwards.

friends are hard to make... at least in south germany. i am thankful for a couple that i have. God continues to bring more people into our lives and we are excited to see where He takes us in that area.
this weekend i plan to head into the mountains with a friend and climb if the snow is not too deep. i am more than excited. we shall see how it goes. just to get into the mountains is causing my heart to quicken it's pace.
kathy is blessed to have some friends from younger days here. they are moving on too, and the ones that stay have been a huge blessing to us both.
all my/our friends from the usa are missed. i think of you often and thank God for the time we had, hoping that the time comes again soon when we can laugh and share our adventures again over a cup of starbucks, or crows peak. of course those in the u.s. are not the only ones in our lives.. we miss bunches who we have lacked contact with, even here in germany and in india. thank God for email and the autobahn. haha... i suppose the season is that of patience in many areas.. not just one or two... or seven.

debt is being paid. it is sooo good. my loan with wellsfargo is down to 989 $ and kathys around 500 €. there is yet one more after this for me. i think around 2000 $. i still have to get the lost details. thank you all for prayers.

the course is geting done. 17 finished today... only 3 left.. then the extra course on top of that. i am not yet sure which course i will choose, though it is rather already choosen in my heart between teaching children or business english... which do you think???

home sweet home is only true of that where home is home. so, may we plant spiritual roots wherever we are.. not afraid of staying and not fearful of going either. as i have said in the past, the hardest and worst part of loving people is having to say goodbye. but we don't have to know, instead more hellos and servus.

that concludes this update. i had hoped to do this in german too.. but i would be sitting here yet an hour just to translate. we do hope to do a newsletter together in both english and german soon.

we love you and thank you again for the support in this life. God hears you indeed and we hope to hear from you too!!! :)

much love, israel and kathy (written by israel while kathy is working... i really gotta wait til she gets home more often.. ugh.)

progress is a heave

i am not completely sure what a heave is.. but i suppose i mean that it is sometimes hardwork. like heaving something into place... usually taking most if not all the energy you have at that time.

work has been taking all my energy for the last month and a half.

wake up at 5:30, take off at 6:20, get off and 6:45 (if not later) and get home at 7:30. we eat, chat a little, then i am tired and have got to sleep.

it is especially hard because that leaves little time for anything. spending time with kathy has been, from my part, not as often as we wish. then on the weekends, the only real time to do anything... i have little or no time for working on the english course... it is almost done, only 5 units to go. then comes a complimentary course afterwards, and that is 10 more units. but, i have a few months to get it all done.

i am paying on the loans, gladly, and each time i make a payment i have to smile and thank God. i am really thankful that i can work right now, remember that it won't be forever that we are here, that i earn so much money and that we have debt.

hence that last part... we won't have debt forever.

of the debt that i can now access, i only have roughly 1250 left. and then another loan around 2000. that is barely anything compared with the amount at the beginning of last year... somewhere around 11000.

God deserves so much praise for all of this!

so, though the job is killing me... ugh.. no time for relaxing, no strength for climbing... and so on... i will work until we are free. it is worth it, and i know it is right!

sam and beth are heading back to india. packing their toilette paper...

i know the excitement and will wait until our time.

Kathy's papa is letting me us the moped. hehehe. though it is not too fast, and i don't like wearing the helmet, it is rad!!!! and old vespa piaggio.

i may start riding my bike to work too. round trip, 20 miles.

kathy and i visited the hurlach ywam base a couple weeks ago. there is a missing link school, which is like the sbs (school of Biblical studies) but covering only the old testament and is not so intense. depending on when the debt is done, we would like to do it. there is no set date for the school yet, so that may be God buying us some time...

easter was great. i ate too much though. sometimes i think i eat way too much but when i eat less, then i get hungry an hour later. and that doesn't roll over well at work. lot's of physical work. but i think i will watch it a little more. sam told me once that he was trying to only eat til he was satisfied.. and not til he was stuffed. it sounds right to me. :)

God has also hooked me up with a man who i have been able to meet with more regularly to talk. whether about marriage, family, past and so on, the time has been, i think, a step towards healing and wisdom. i have been praying for a mentor for the last few years. we must be here on purpose...

i would like to head up to berlin again soon. i have no idea how that is suppose to work. no time and etc... but if it is to be, it shall be.

kathy and i would like to start doing a newsletter together. german and english... sent around the world possibly. how cool. God has blessed us with many dear friends in some really random places.

so... thank you all for your prayers, reading the updates, more prayers and your emails/letters.

i don't know if i said this last time, but my brother is going to be a dad! HEHEHEH!

way to go bro!

kathys cousin is pregnant too! congrats!

other news...

God is teaching me something very important... read the last blog if you don't know yet.

much love, israel

work, and then..

i should be working on that english course right now... but if i do, then my time will again be dissolved before i get to write again.

thoughts have been filling my mind in the last weeks of now, the future and the past.

work has started back up around month ago... maybe longer. the time goes so fast when the days are spent working and the evenings are short.

i forgot how hard it is to grow when one is not surrounded by quiet time, meditation and prayer. worship plays a huge role as well. but i have been so hungry lately for something so much more... and unfortunately comparing my life quite a bit too. ...oh man, that job was so much better... ...oh i wanna head back there too.... ...why are we doing that?... and so on.

when it really comes down to it, if i really trust God, i can trust that this time is important, being used massively for even our benefits and that this is really only the beginning.

God has been blessings us a lot. it just takes new eyes to see how in this season of working, paying and praying.

each day i ride to work with a moped which takes about 30mins. though the rest of the day is filled with either thoughtless shoveling, or thoughtful tasks, that ride to and from work is one of two situations... brainless vegging time.... or time filled with conversation in my heart and mind.

from healing, to pleading for patience and guidance, God has been with us in the last months of being here in germany. it has been some of the hardest time in our lives, but possibly some of the most growthful too. learning to unlearn selfishness, learning to take initiation and kill passivity, learning to drop expectations and learning to love.

learning to love.

love.

with a thousand meanings and discriptions, love is indeed the worse way to describe love.

maybe it is better put like this...

learning God. learning Jesus.

i pray that these thoughts that i type come alive for those who read this. that we would wake up from this empty dream we have been living... wake up and learn what we are made of. learn who made us. i pray for all of you who read this and bless us with prayers. that your wishes, dreams and hearts would come even more alive, that they would break through the walls of doubt. that we would really know that nothing is impossible for He who loves us.

you know who you are

"i'm gonna hope for you

i'm gonna pray for you

amongst the reckless in the black...

salvation lies within.

i'm gonna hope for you

i'm gonna pray for you

amongst the reckless in the black...

my time is yours my friend."

may His love carry you when you can't walk.

may it change you from hurt to healed.

may it allow you to open up again, as a child, untouched and unbeaten by the world.

may it save you again and again from who you have been.

happy birthday my dear ...!

-israel boyce

(beginning text taken from the song: Hey John, what's your name again?; The Devil Wears Prada.)