RIP to our car

In mid November we received the news that the office car which we normally drive had been deemed too old to be fixed. When it went for its bi-annual inspection, rust was found in the frame, and the estimate to repair it was 2000 euros. However, the repair shop felt it was too old to put that much money into.

Suddenly, we find ourselves without consistent transportation.

We live in a village with a small convenience store about the size of a 7-11. There is no doctor or pharmacy here, no movie theater, and no normal-sized grocery store, no coffee shops, no household supply stores, no fast food. The two restaurants which are here are way too expensive to eat at except on a special occasion.

What do you do when you just need a pencil sharpener, a quick bite to eat, or want to go see a movie or pick up a prescription and you don't have a car?

One might ride the bus, but the bus doesn't go to the neighboring town where many of these everyday errands are located. We could ride a bicycle there, but our bikes don't have lights on them and thus we could only legally ride there during the few hours of winter light we have here. Additionally, you can't stock up on a groceries for a week when riding a bike.

One good thing: The office has another car which many people share, and we've worked out an agreement to use it on Friday afternoons and Saturdays. Sometimes businesses are closed at those times, though, which means we may not be able to make it to doctor appointments or other businesses if it's a holiday or they take the afternoon off.

Our director and the personnel coordinator have said that it's just not possible to live and work here without having reliable transportation when you need it. So we've been encouraged to raise funds to purchase a car. The estimated cost to purchase a quality used vehicle, along with money to pay for winter and summer tires, taxes and an inspection will total roughly 12,000 to 15,000.

It's possible that a reliable used car will not only bless us, but be a blessing to missionaries who come after us.

We will be going on home assignment April - June next year and hope to raise all the funds required for the car during that time. But we don't have to wait until then. We can accept gifts toward this need right now.

Those who feel God leading them to help us with transportation can make a tax deductible (in the U.S.) donation in one of two ways:

1. Through check.

To give by check, make it out to "General Treasurer, Church of the Nazarene" and write "Andrew and Gina Pottenger/Mission Corps" in the memo line. Then send it to:

     General Treasurer
     Church of the Nazarene
     PO Box 843116
     Kansas City, MO 64184-3116

2. Or by credit card through our Ministry Fund site.

To give securely through your credit card, visit http://web.nazarene.org/site/TR/Events/MissionCorps?pxfid=2740&fr_id=1090&pg=fund

These funds do not come to us personally but to the accounting office of the Eurasia Region, which manages our fund in compliance with all relevant policies and procedures.

We also welcome prayers that God will provide this need in His own perfect timing, or else come up with another solution that will enable us to not only make it to practical locations such as a doctor's appointment or grocery store, but to simply get a change of scenery on occasion from our small and sometimes isolating village setting. :-)

Thanks again for all your care and support!

Blessings,

Andrew and Gina

Christmas, new and old

I am sitting at my office desk with the sun glaring painfully in my eyes and heating up my clothes and desk. But I'm not going to lower the window blinds. This is the first time I have seen direct sunlight in about 4 to 5 weeks. I'll admit the constantly leaden skies did nothing for my mood -- I'm a person who really needs regular sunshine. Maybe I do photosynthesis, like a plant. Anyway, I was thrilled when the fog burned off this morning to a cobalt bowl of a sky and piercing white sunlight stabbed through my window.

We've been enjoying the Christmas season a bit more in our normal tradition this year than in the first two years we were here. We hadn't had room for any Christmas decorations or Christmas music in our four suitcases when we arrived February 2010. So that year and last year, we had no seasonal decorations in our apartment, nor any Christmas music to listen to.

This year, my mom sent us a few inexpensive and small decorations that really livened up our apartment. My dad visited us for two weeks to tour Germany and Switzerland's Christmas markets, and he brought Christmas music with him. And then it began snowing and has been snowing off and on for about two weeks. It's so cold that it is still blanketing the ground and rooftops, and I love that. I baked cookies and listened to Christmas music, like I would normally do about now. It has been so lovely.

We were also exposed to a German Christmas tradition for the first time this year. I'd heard that different cultures celebrated Christmas or facets of the Christmas season on different dates than Dec. 25. Well, here they have something called St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 5-6. On the night of Dec. 5, children put out their shoes by the window; good children receive oranges or citrus fruits, nuts and chocolate in their shoes the next morning, courtesy of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus). Bad children receive a whip from St. Nicholas's sidekick, a devilish-looking beast called the Krampus. (People also receive gifts on Dec. 25, but these come from Christkindl, or "Christ child.")

We didn't put out shoes, or receive a whip. But we did get to visit the home of our Swiss friends on Dec. 7, and they spread out on their table candles as well as the traditional goodies of clementines, chocolates, nuts, dried figs and dates, as well as a homemade loaf of bread made in the shape of Knecht Ruprecht, another character associated with this holiday. Translated as "servant Rupert," this helper aids St. Nicholas on St. Nicholas Day.

We enjoyed spending time with our friends Thomas and Cornelia, eating homemade soup and bread, then snacking on the fruits and nuts, while slicing pieces off of poor Rupert and eating them with butter and jam or honey.

On the actual St. Nicholas Day, our English class ended with a table spread with the loaves of bread shaped like Rupert and the nuts and goodies, as well. Until then, I had no idea about this tradition. I really like it: Christmas goodies that are actually health foods. Ha ha!

While we miss home and the traditions we grew up with to celebrate Christmas there, it sure is fun to encounter and enjoy new Christmas traditions with our new friends here!