Back to America

Andrew and I have been in the States now for about 3 weeks. We came back in mid-March to participate in a face-to-face ordination interview in Colorado Springs. Andrew was a candidate to be ordained as an elder in the church. He was unanimously recommended, and so now we wait to hear whether the general superintendent will also agree to it.

Our first speaking date wasn't until April 7, at our home church of Colorado Springs First, but we spent the past three weeks working every day. It's been challenging to focus and concentrate in so many different environments. We've gone from my parents' kitchen table to their basement to my dad's upstairs office to Starbucks to Panera Bread to other local coffee shops. It's tough when you don't have an office anymore to find a place that is conducive to the work we do every day.

A big answer to prayer is that I have about 4 weeks of articles just about ready to go for Engage. That will make things a lot easier on me when we leave this Friday for our first full district speaking tour in Hawaii. We don't know what kind of time or Internet access we will have for the next month, so we've been scrambling to get as much done as we can in March.

It is also another answer to your prayers and ours that our presentation in two services this past Sunday went so well. Both Andrew and I can easily get choked up when we share what God is doing in our lives and in the Eurasia Region. This may possibly be the first time I have presented in a church service when I was able to maintain emotional control. :-) It made things much smoother! And the experience gave us a lot more confidence as we get ready to do a whirlwind of speaking in the next 10 weeks.

It's been such a blessing for both of us to have our evenings free and to be able to spend so much time with both sets of parents, as well as Andrew's sister my brother and his baby, Scarlett. We really needed and have valued this transition-to-the-States time in which we've been able to stay put in our home town, attend our home church and be with our families a great deal. We're looking forward, after our Hawaii tour, to being based in Colorado Springs again in May as we travel to visit with various churches across the state of Colorado.

We continue to value your prayers for us that God would strengthen us for all the travel, and speak powerfully through us at each opportunity.

Where we're speaking

Here are the times and places where we're speaking in the next three months. If you are nearby any of these and want to come hear what God is doing in Eurasia, pop in and say hi!

April 7: Colorado Springs First Church, Colorado Springs, AM worship
April 13-14: Windward Church of the Nazarene, Oahu, Hawaii,
April 17: Wahiawa Community Church of the Nazarene, Oahu, PM
April 19-21: Hilo Church of the Nazarene, Big Island, Hawaii
April 21: Paradise Park Church of the Nazarene, Big Island, 10:45 AM
April 28: Living Waters Church, Oahu, AM; Honolulu First Church, Oahu PM
May 1-5: Kahului Church of the Nazarene, Maui, AM
May 12: Lakewood Church of the Nazarene, Denver, CO, AM
May 19: Eastborough Church of the Nazarene, Colorado Springs, AM; Lamar Church of the Nazarene, Lamar PM
May 26: Cortez Church of the Nazarene, Cortez, CO, AM
June 2: Mustang Church of the Nazarene, Mustang, Oklahoma, AM
June 9: Paonia Church of the Nazarene, Paonia, CO, AM
June 16: Monte Vista Church of the Nazarene, Monte Vista, CO, AM
June 19-24: Working at General Assembly, Indianapolis, IN
June 30: We fly back to Germany

We would really appreciate your prayers as we prepare our presentations, travel to each location and while we are presenting what we believe God wants us to share about what He is doing around the world. We want these times together to encourage and inspire the churches, to ignite mission passion both globally and locally, and to also encourage us in our ministry.

A Valley of Dry Bones

Recently I was listening to the Daily Audio Bible on my iPod and I'm a little bit behind, so it was still in Ezekiel. However, sometimes even if you're off-schedule in your Bible reading, the timing of what you read can still be perfect.

That day's reading was the story about Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones.

37 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lordsays to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel.13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares theLord.’”

For reasons that we can't really fathom, the year 2012 felt like a year in which we were nothing but dry bones in a dry, scorched desert valley. It was a tough year personally and in our ministry. Some days we depended a lot on the prayers of our friends and loved ones to put one foot in front of the other,. So we sort of ended out 2012 with a feeling of "good riddance," but I for one have been looking at 2013 with a lot of trepidation. Sort of a "What else is going to happen THIS year?" feeling.

This passage in Ezekiel gave me a lot of hope that as cut off as I have felt from the things and people that normally give me a sense of vibrancy and motivation and life, God can still restore me from His own Spirit and resources. That is my prayer, that 2013 will be the year in which God breathes new life into these dry bones and makes them live again -- not just live, but thrive.

This is a good opportunity to say to all of those who have been supporting us in numerous ways, but particularly in prayer throughout 2012: THANK YOU.  There were days when I knew someone must be praying for me, and other days when I simply hoped someone was. The care packages brightened our days, and the contact with friends over Facebook, email or Skype was a lifeline. We look forward to increased partnership and relationship with our friends and supporters in 2013.

I know it's February now, but we wish you a 2013 filled with a renewed spirit and life.

We're coming home!

I (Gina) just signed a contract to go from being a "volunteer" to becoming a "specialized assignment missionary" starting on Feb. 1. This is a really exciting confirmation of God's call on our lives, and what we are doing in both regional missions and global missions.

While most of my job responsibilities and everything that goes with that will all stay the same, one new thing that comes with this designation is that we are required to return to the States for 2-3 months and do a speaking tour in churches.

We were already planning a fundraising trip home and so have partially scheduled a speaking tour. We have lots of dates still open, however. If you would like us to come and speak to your church, group, Sunday school class, home school group, classroom, youth group, children's church or anything else, here are some of the dates we still have available:

March 22-April 10
May 8-18
May 20-May 31
June 11-14

We will mostly be in Hawaii, Colorado, Oklahoma and possibly W. Virginia North. If you have an opening on one of the dates above, and we can get to you, we would love to come and share what God is doing in Eurasia and around the world!

Here is where we are planning to be in May and June at this point:

March 18: Fly into Colorado
April 12- May 5: Hawaii District
May 19: Eastborough Church of the Nazarene, Colorado Springs
June 2: Tentatively scheduled in Oklahoma
June 6-8: Colorado District Convention (attending, not speaking)
June 9: Paonia Church of the Nazarene, Colorado
June 16: Monte Vista Church of the Nazarene, Colorado
June 19-24: General Assembly (attending, participating, not speaking)
June 24-27: Indian Lake, Ohio
June 30: Flying back to Germany

We would really love to schedule about 15 to 20 more speaking opportunities, if possible.

We also would appreciate prayer that God would lead us to the places He wants us to share about what He is doing and our testimony of His work in our lives.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support!

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!