well.. its mostly the same...

i really like it when people ask for prayers that really challenge us.. me..

as another friend put it... kinda like what paul said.. that in our weaknesses or hardships.. or times of not knowing, that is when it is the best. that is when we stop looking at our own ability to pull through, or what we can do for someone or something. we look to our maker. the one who shines a beacon of whispers.. and when we quiet our own thoughts and words long enough.....

we hear the soft unspoken voice of peace... peace that we don't have it all together. peace that shows we don't need to have it all together either...

may the prayers of your heart, the ones that you may be afraid to pray due to doubt that they are either worthy enough or can even be answered, may those be the ones you pray today. right now. and may we be challenged beyond what we can understand. that our hearts have to come out of the controlled places we put it... but would come more and more to life, to love wildly and to trust deeper than what our senses may want to believe.

i say all of this because i am thankful for all of you who read this and pray for kathy and i.

and i believe that a deeper... (due to a lack of words to explain the expressions of the heart, please fill in the blank...) will show us that we can and should trust Him.

so.. now to the update...

the weather is beginning to bite. my fingertips this morning at work reminded me of the pain while waiting for christoph to climb the frozen ice runoff at the north face of harney peak. always having to remove one glove and stick my hand in my coat while the other held the rope that flowed through the belay device and up to christoph as he places the next screw in the ice.

i am filled with such memories as in the moment here all i do is work and sleep. ok, maybe it is not completely true... i like eating too. :)

i am still praying and trusting God for friends here in south germany as well as more opportunities to get outside and climb things.

i have noticed a lot about germany since i have been here over the last months now... almost 3, and though i won't list them now, i am encouraged and reminded that God loves this place... even when it is super hard for me. what a blessing, when one really decides to think on it this way, to be here, to trust God yet again for such simple things. thank You God.

as for ministry or opportunities, God has been giving us more time to get more interactive with the church.. for example, saturday i get to speak about things i have lived with God. oh man.. that is an invitation for conversation! i hope and know that more is yet to come.

my job ends sometime in the next month due to cold weather and snow... (landscape gardeners don't have work in the winter months), and that is going to be neat to see what is next.

and.... i got my visa. it is good for one year and before i can lengthen it or get one without a time limit, i have to take and finish a D1-german course as well as 45 hours of an integrations course. it frustrated us at first but with open months in the winter, it should work out somehow.

i am praying about next year and what work will look like too.

the loans are being paid.. but i really have until next month and jan before the interest starts hitting hard. ugh.. Lord, please help.

so. read the first part of the blog again and i wish you all many blessings and thank you for your prayers and reading this... again and again and yet continue to...

please pray for sam who needs his visa to get married in jan. pretty neat... way to go sam and beth!

and... please pray that my mom gets a job.. one that she likes and is good for her.

much love, israel

visitors

I have the privilege of announcing that on the 15 of October, 2011 in the Frauenkirche of Memmingen, Germany, Katharina and Israel were, before the council of our friends and family (here in germany), married.

though being a male, i could have never imagined a more beautiful wedding. it was fully blessed.

what gave it the added touch was the dear ones who travelled to join us. from norway, switzerland or berlin... thank you all!

we praise God that the stress if finished and for such a payoff!

the following wednesday, my brother and his finacée came for a week to visit us.

it was really touching to have them here. i am very thankful for the family God has blessed me with. that fact that my brother would come across the world to see me... it means a lot.

with them we hit up some tourist spots.. castles, mountains, cities... and they got to know their new germany family as well as them getting to know their american family. :) God is neat how He brings the world together to praise Him.

other news....

i sent my passport and am waiting for my residence visa. PRAISE GOD.

we are officially moved in to our own place since two weeks ago.

my birthday in on monday... :)

lately my heart has been aching for God.. for india.. for time to worship Him and fellowship with others who want more of Him.

prayer points:

-for our marriage, that we get to know each other and to function as a team.

-that someday more of my family can come here.

-for financial freedom from debt. due to God's help, they are being paid off.. but it is taking some time and i desire complete freedom from it.

-that are hunger of fellowship and God would be satisfied.

-for friends to go rock/ice climbing, trekking and other weird crazy outdoor things together with.

-and for this time working, growing and listening...

-and for all those (sam, kamal, narender, niklas, josiah... etc..) who have and continually give up their own for others. for strangers. for enemies. for brothers to reach the prisoners of this world.

i think so often on the time that i had recently in rapid, building new friendships, enjoying old ones and getting to know my own heart more. i miss you all.

i pray that you understand how precious you really are, how loved and how much of a blessing you are to those around you. be richly blessed because of Jesus.

time for schluß...

much love and thank you for your prayers,

israel and kathy

beginnings

last week, we finished our farewells, see yahs and boarded our plane to far off places.

our first flight was about an hour late. ok.

our flight from chicago was late too.. at least we made it on time then.

after a morning of crummy weather there, more than likely everyone was getting out of there a little later than wanted.

our plane had some troubles and we were told we would have to water to wash up with after toilet usage.

we boarded, waited.. and over the intercom we heard a message from our captain:

ah.. ladies and gentlemen, sorry for the delay, it looks like the weather that was in chicago earlier today has moved east and is now directly on our path we need to get to toronto. we were told to go to the end of the runway and wait.. this should about 40-45 mins. sorry again for the delay. we'll getchya outta here as soon as possible.

well, things worked out that we got a new route and were on our way.

however, as we landed in toronto, we knew not of the 36 hours we would spend there battling for vouchers, rescheduled flights and so on. the first night was spend running around the airport until we finally got the help we needed and just after midnight we got into our hotel room.

the next day at our scheduled departure time, we sat with many others watching the lightening outside and listening to how our flight would now be an hour late. ok.

that hour turned into several hours and eventually 2am. when we got to that, it switched to 830 the next day and we went through yet painstaking processes to get rescheduled with 1400 other people who would not be flying out that night.

what could be bad, was an amazing adventure and opportunity to bless and be blessed.

though we only had starbucks and tim hortons to eat (sweets and coffee), we and our little group of 8, made our way to the necessary check points and back to the terminal where our flight was not another hour and a half delayed. we laid our sleeping bags, scrunched into chair with armrests, and slept what we could of about 2-3 hours.

the endless wait did indeed end and we boarded, took off and landed.. half a day shy of 2 days late in münchen.

the flight was an adventure and the time already here is nothing less than that too.

with stress, appointments and no money, God has been blessing and teaching us to trust Him in this marriage and new life together here in unterallgäu.

thank you for your prayers and i am glad to report that in less than a week, God has given me a job as a landscape gardener. we have a place to move into as well.. however we need to wait for a few things before i start working and have no money for a kitchen for the apartment.

so we are at a slight stand still and a perfect opportunity to trust and pray.

please keep praying that we would fully rely on Him through prayer, worship and patience.

greetings to all from our new home here in south germany.

i know God has much in store for the new future.

Praise is befitting to the one who set us free from hopelessness.

much love, israel

but this is no goodbye.

the time since my last entry has flown by with a speed which still seems to stand still.

It has been a couple months since then..

Kathy arrived safely..

our wedding happened with a boom of joy..

i started work again..

and now in three days we leave again for germany.

the details that are not written above are only due to the forgetfulness that time brings in it's basket of surprises.

the biggest event is of course the wedding.

a marriage...

i know i will not be able to comprehend the intensity of this relationship, and the steps we have taken until my heart truly opens and i die to myself..

as these days get shorter and shorter.. the reality of moving back to germany is seeping into my heart.

i came back to the states with friends of course, but the relationships that have been built over the last months have truly blessed me and my life.. and now leaving once again dear ones for another land takes it's wrath on my heart.

as i have written before... the curse of loving is saying goodbye. a goodbye that is worth it's anguish.

to all here in rapid city, neb. and even the other locations i have been since being back..

i will miss you. but this no goodbye.

but, until He crosses our paths again.

thank you all for the prayers, for the support, for being by our sides as we agreed to come together as a team in front of our friends and family..

thank you for your friendships, your words of truth, your kind undeserved gestures...

and thank you for your love in it's many faces and styles.

a new adventure awaits... new relationships, new opportunities for sharing His love..

a choice... of courage, of joy, of hope and of life.

and i am thankful that we are not setting sail alone.

much love, israel

this is it... this is it!

the day is finally here.

through struggle, through worry.. through hardships, God has carried us to this new season and we enter joyfully stronger than when we entered that last with expectations of growth for the next.

thank you all for the prayers, for the encouragement, for the love.

Kathy steps on a plane soon to head this way.

here health stuff has come from a bacteria she got in india and her body will continue to fight it. the process is slow but sure.

please pray for a good flight, easy transfers and smooth entry here.

we are so blessed for the grace He has shown us continually through thick and thin.

He is building us for His work more and more.

may His will be done with us.

ein Ehe um Seines Names willen.

much love, israel

inspired time well spend

it has been so hard to write lately..

with time swimming through the hour glass that feels more like a second glass...

and things happening in all six lefts and rights, inspiration has finally caught my attention and with john mark mcmillan singing about His love, letters around me, and a beautiful sunset in middle earth, i need to sing out thoughts and praises of how He loves us!

in less than two weeks, we pray, the most wonderful and beautiful princess (and we are not just talking about outside here...) will may once again eye contact with he who loves her.

these last months.. about a million to be exact, have trickled by and some how have cheated friction through the tree tops to these last days.

i truly can hardly believe that time is finally traveling up to our reality.

we only know that we can trust Him.

as for border control, housing situations, a job, debt, fear, lies of our identity and family stuff, we leave it all to He who told us to follow Him.

we stand together for truth, for love and for good!

prayers:

the flight here is better than good!

kathys health situation (enquire more if desired).

housing here.

our families.

the details with moving, getting married and what-nots.

the guests.

the marriage!

thank you. really, thank you.

much love, israel

denn es gibt Hoffnung

also manchmal gibts etwas was man nicht erklären kann.

so ist es bei mir grad.

kanns nicht voll begreifen weder beschreiben.

wie ich mir sicher bin dass morgen die Sonne aufgeht.

oder wie ich halt weiß drin in meinem Herz, wir sind nicht allein.

es gibt darum was größeres zum Leben und es gibt Hoffnung für jede.

in der Dunkelheit oder sonst was, nix kann uns davon trennen, eine Liebe, die in uns wirkt.

ich hoffe.