Christmas in Croatia

A lot of people know how we spent our Christmas and new year's this year, but I thought I would write about it anyway.

Since we are going on home assignment to speak in U.S. churches April through June this year, we couldn't justify the extra expense of flying home for Christmas, too. However, we didn't want to just sit home alone in our tiny village for the holidays, either. We checked around about our options, and we're so grateful that another missionary family, Dave and Betsy Scott, in Zagreb, Croatia, invited us to spend Christmas at their home. We timed our trip so that we would overlap with them for a few days before Christmas and over New Year's Day. In between, including over Christmas Day, the Scotts spent in Hungary with some friends of theirs and we watched their apartment for them as well as did a little touring around the country.

Thus, Christmas was filled with mixed emotions for us. We were excited to see a new part of Europe and experience a new culture for a few days, eat new foods and see some picturesque scenery. We were also excited to get to know our new friends better and enjoying a lot of social time with them and their two fun children.

At the same time, we were sad about not being with our families on Christmas for the first time ever. This was compounded by the fact that the day we left for Croatia, Andrew's dad, Loren, had a mild heart attack and was hospitalized in Colorado. Over a few days of excellent medical care, it was discovered that he needed a quadruple bypass. He had surgery on Christmas Eve. All of Andrew's extended family happened to be in town for the holidays, so they all spent most of time at the hospital, and his family ended up having a very abnormal Christmas with most of their planned activities being cancelled.

It was a special gift on Christmas Day to be able to Skype with Andrew's dad and see that he was sitting up, talking and exceeding expectations on his healing process. He went home a few days later.

We have GREATLY appreciated everyone's prayers and support for Loren and our family and for us during that difficult and sometimes scary time.

Several funny things also happened to us on Christmas Day. Nothing about our holiday was going to be normal, and I wanted just one thing to be the same as at home. Andrew's family has a tradition of making pigs in a blanket on Christmas morning for breakfast. This is when you put small sausages and cheese inside rolled up canned crescent roll dough and bake it. I was determined to make this at Dave and Betsy's on Christmas morning.

The day before, we rode the tram to the grocery store. I couldn't find canned crescent roll dough, but I did find strudel pastry dough. I figured that would work just fine. I picked up a package of the cheaper dough that was in a blandly printed wrapper.

So, I was very surprised on Christmas morning when I rolled out the dough to find out it was NOT strudel dough, but instead it was sheets of paper-thin phylo dough, which is used in layers to make baklava. I was dismayed but determined to go ahead with the pigs in a blanket anyway. I managed to roll up the dough around the cheese and sausages, and hold it together by moistening the dough with water from the sink. They were the weirdest pigs in a blanket ever.

After breakfast, we decided to watch one of Dave and Betsy's movies. We settled in our pajamas onto their couch to watch on their TV. About halfway through the movie, we heard a key in the front door lock. Then we began to hear the locks clicking. We froze, wondering if it was actually another apartment we were hearing, and then realized it was ours. We thought something horrible must have happened and that Dave and Betsy and their kids had driven back early on Christmas morning because of some crisis.

I stood up to pause the movie as I continued to hear locks clicking. Then I turned around ... and screamed. A strange woman standing in the doorway to the living room also squealed in surprise. Then she threw her hands up and in very apologetic tones began to babble something in Croatian. We explained that we only spoke English. She didn't speak English. We all laughed but were all very startled and disturbed. The woman finally said "Merry Christmas" several times, backed out of the apartment and locked the door behind her.

Andrew and I looked at each other and said, "Weirdest. Christmas. Ever."

Later we learned from Dave and Betsy that this was probably their landlord who knew they were gone but didn't know they had houseguests while they were out of town. She must have heard the TV on and had come inside to turn it off and check things. Well, we all got the surprise of our lives.

New year's eve was very fun! Our friends were back and they made a fun dinner, then we settled in to watch the movies Thor and The Avengers. At midnight we had to stop because the city had erupted into so many loud and flashing fireworks that it sounded like a war was going on. We couldn't hear the movie. The cacophany of bangs, pops and explosions went on for a good 15 minutes at least. Then it was over.

We flew back home the next day. We are so grateful to new friends for opening their home to us and making it possible for us to travel a little bit to distract ourselves from the fact that we weren't at home with our families. It will definitely be a Christmas we will remember for a long time.

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!

Care packages

I think any missionary would say that care packages from home are some of the high points of living overseas. They come at unexpected times, from unexpected sources, and that's some of the fun.

My friends at the NMI office where I worked for 3 years before we moved abroad surprised us with a fantastic package on Halloween. It was filled with fun candy, fun objects (handmade bookmarks, a coffee mug, a hand-crafted scarf, etc.) and some of our favorite things that we can't get here, including canned pumpkin, Starbucks coffee, cream cheese frosting, chocolate chips and American brown sugar for baking.

Let the fall baking (and eating) commence!

Thanks, NMI friends!!!

Other awesome care packages have had fireplace-scented incense, peanut butter cream Oreos, white chocolate chips, Progresso seasoned bread crumbs and more cake frosting, to name a few things.

You all are the best. :-)

Prayer request

PRAYER: Please pray for a miraculous healing for Martha Wielk, the infant niece of Eurasia Region NYI Coordinator, Sabine Wielk, whom we work and hang out with here in Busingen.

Martha was born prematurely in August and is fighting for her life against an aggressive bacterial infection in her intestines. She is currently hospitalized in Frankfurt. Doctors are treat
ing Martha with antibiotics prior to surgery on Tuesday (today). It is hoped this plan will save her life.

Please pray that the antibiotics will work and that God would miraculously touch and heal the diseased tissue. Pray also that God would guide the doctors during Tuesday surgery.

Pray for peace for Martha’s parents and for Sabine and the family.

Not alone

I should have noticed right away: I am closer to God than I have ever been; I shouldn't have been so surprised, then, that things seem to get exponentially harder.

Everybody has bad days or weeks. That includes missionaries.

People do things we don't comprehend. Sometimes it's cultural. Like when other drivers force you off the road to yell at you in words you don't understand. And then it happens again. And again. You don't know what you are doing wrong and so you can't fix it. Other times its just a simple misunderstanding that still cuts deep. Maybe it's the worry and strain of wondering where provision for needs will come from, and when. It might be feelings of failure, self-doubt.

The days seem especially difficult when you feel disconnected from your support system back home. You want to call someone up and just vent or pour out your heart of disappointment, frustration and hurt. But no one there is going to be awake for hours or they're all out about their daily business. In the interim, you feel guilty for contacting a friend or loved one just to complain. So you hold it in.

Whatever the cause, the end result is you just feel... isolated. Cut off. Alone.

It's this aloneness that drives us ever deeper into the arms of Jesus. I realize my temptation is to run to my friends or my family first. God wants me to run to Him. I am discovering the joy in recognizing that God is my rescuer, my protector, my defender. It has become a deep comfort to know that Jesus stands ready and waiting to hear my prayers, my heartache, my fear. That when the many other people who love me are out of reach, He loves me more than anyone.

As servants living far away from home and support, we depend on expressions of love and prayers from those in our home country. Yet, we can also experience the profound abundance of God's love and care when no one else is near.

Summer and Fall

It has been a month since Gina posted an update, and even longer since I have written so that I thought I would take a few moments to bring everyone up to speed on life and work in Büsingen from my end.

The last three months have been pretty busy. Around the end of May, I picked up three large projects - each of which needs to be completed before Sept. 1st. I am making great progress on each one, and anticipate that I will meet the deadline coming up in about three weeks.

First, I received an offer to teach Church History II online beginning at the end of August. This will involve four students from the Netherlands (all of whom I've worked with before, and look forward to doing so again) and one from Denmark. I had developed a large portion of the course already, but after taking the Introduction to Online Learning class my mind was filled with new ideas regarding how I could improve delivery of the material and harness the available technology for a more visual, less text-based experience. So I spent most of the summer re-building Church History II from scratch. The material is mostly complete, and students already have everything they need to begin.

Also, I began my studies with Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, UK this summer, enrolling in a single M.A.-level course that begins my preparation for admittance into the University of Manchester as a PhD student next year. The same September 1 deadline will complete the first half of the course. My third project involves writing a section of material for Nazarene Missions International (NMI) in Kansas City, and, yes, is also due on or before September 1! Despite a new school, new professor, and a switch from the American to British education systems (which is indeed pretty different), I am doing very well.

Working on each of these projects simultaneously has been quite the challenge, but everything is going well by this time and I anticipate meeting every deadline. Continue to keep me in prayer that God will provide wisdom, strength, and motivation to keep working hard each day until these things are done.

Throughout the fall, I will be teaching the Church History II class. Gina and I are both hoping to return to our long-neglected German language study as well. I will be preaching at our local church on Oct. 28. I did not end up mentoring the young man who visited our church earlier in the summer as they decided to attend elsewhere. There was also no time to pick up the Latin study as I'd hoped, and now (obviously) German is more of a priority anyway. I also have that major paper to write for my class with NTC, which will be completed before Dec. 1.

So, it will be good to be busy throughout the remainder of the year. I'm enjoying each project, and am excited about continuing to serve the Nazarene church in Europe through these various ways.

- Andrew