May 21′ Family News

Ministry

Anja

Band

This month, I got scheduled twice instead of once. I guess the ministry leader forgot about me wanting to start with one Wednesday per month. However, I talked with the livestream leader and he said he was fine with it if I was and I was. Now there was one thing that made things a bit complicated: Planning Center, the software that we use for scheduling our services. Usually, every member gets their own account. However, the ministry leader asked me if I could share an account with Chris. This gave me access to all the necessary information, but it also meant that I was not visible as scheduled for the band and neither could I accept requests. Therefore, one of the band leader did not realized that I was scheduled and did not give me a song to sing lead voice in.

One thing that I was struggling with was that one of the band leaders, who I had been singing with before, told me that he would not give me a song to sing lead voice because last time, it sounded a pit pitchy…. At first, I was not sure what “pitchy” meant, but after I looked it up, I knew what he meant. The song he had me sing was starting very long and going up quite high and I was struggling on both ends to hit the tone… Nevertheless, it was hard to hear that. It reminded me though why I was in the band. It was not for my own glory, but to worship God and to help people to come into His presence. And I decided to do just that. Do you know what happened next? After the service, the band leader came up to me and said that I did really well and that he would give me a song to sing lead in next time!

The ministry leader organized a prayer and worship evening for all the people serving in the worship ministry. So we meet on the top floor of the “connection house” for a time of fellowship, worship and prayer for the ministry, the church, etc. around the fire. We had a great time and it was great that there was a fire because it gets quite chilly at night and most of us did not realize that we would be outside. So the fire really helped.

Photography Course

The photography course was held in Spanish and I was surprised at how much I was actually able to understand. The first class was quite technical, talking about shutter speed (the amount of pictures taken in a specific amount of time), aperture (how much light is coming in) and ISO (darkens or brightens a picture, the later with a loss of quality). I am still unsure about the theoretical part, but I do understand how they apply practically because the leader showed us pictures. To really get it, I think I would have to have a camera for some time and just play around with it. However, it is good to know a little more and it has already helped me with the video camera, although it is not quite the same.

In the second class, we applied what we learned in the first class and it came in handy that there was a women’s conference where they were taking pictures. Each one of us got to take pictures and ask questions. In the third class, we were talking about composing pictures, i.e. the point of interest (what you want people to look at in the picture) and the rule of thirds (the picture being divided into six equally big squares) and how to use them to compose a great picture. This part was not entirely new to me. I had taken a free online class on this subject. The last class is going to be on editing pictures with the software Lightroom. The leader already gave me a crash course once and since I used to work with photoshop and I have been editing my own pictures on instagram, I don’t think I will have a problem with that part. You can always see what you are doing, so it makes it easy.

Chris

Lights Team

This month we gained one of the former light masters back into the team. He could not do the lights on Wednesdays anymore because of his school schedule, but now he’s back on the team and doing the lights on Sundays. This makes a total of 4 light masters for the Sunday and Wednesday services. This also gives room to breathe a bit, because I don’t have to be there all the time. So was it possible for me to help the security team out to watch the parking lot on a Wednesday. On the other side it opens the possibility for me to take care of Ziva while Anja is at band practice before the service on Wednesdays. However, it also gives me a new challenge to keep in touch with all of the light masters and to keep everyone in the loop. There’s not a week where I don’t face a new challenge… God’s keeping me busy.

Another challenge was to finish the lights in our youth room. Since the beginning of June, they are having their services in there again. Having the new light controller in there is the perfect application to debug and finish it, to bring the software into a final and safe state. For those of you who have never worked on such a project, just know this: Most bugs appear when a user gets his hands on it…

Church Planting Class

Towards the end of the semester, we ended up being in the same class, having to preach our sermons in front of each other. Spouses are usually not allowed to preach in front of each other because it can cause tensions. Apparently they used to do that in previous years and the wives were way better than the husbands and it just didn’t create a good atmosphere in their marriages. However, it allowed us to actually hear each other’s sermons and the both of us were pleasantly surprised by how well the other one was preaching. It also gave us the opportunity to take pictures of each other 😉

• 

• 

We celebrated the end of the semester with a lunch (BBQ ribs, potato and rice salad) before we moved on to the regular part of the class. Anja is going to start the new semester in Spanish. It’s not going to be easy, but Anja says, she needs a new challenge and that it definitely is. We will be trying to listen to as many sermons as possible before the new semester starts so that, when the baby comes, we are already ahead.

---

Family

Construction Work

The entrance to our gated community has not been accessible for some time now due to construction work on that road. They made a new road by breaking down parts of a wall and all residents have been driving over the dirt road leading through that patch of land within the walls. This also means that no one is really controlling who is coming in and going out anymore. Apart from the excessive amount of dirt everywhere, we have not experienced or seen any negative consequences.

The reason for the construction work is that the government is building a new waste water treatment plant and for that, new pipes had to be laid. It looks like the construction work is coming to an end since they have been closing up some of the holes, applying tar as well. We hope that the we will be able to use our gates soon again.

Chris’ Birthday

Then I got another cool Calvary Chapel hat. I could choose which one and after some time I decided to pick the one with a dark camouflage pattern. I normally don’t like camouflage (mostly because of the green), but the dark ones are quite nice.

And then from the money some of you sent me for my birthday, I decided to get myself a toy that would also give a learning (programming) platform for our kids… a mechanical spider. And as soon as it was assembled, Ziva tried to move the legs and was very interested in it.

• 

• 

Ziva

As usual, there is a lot to say about Ziva 🙂 She is now not using the baby swing anymore, but is holding herself on a regular swing! At first, we were a bit insecure about it and kept holding on to her, but Ziva is doing very well and lets us know when she wants to come down, so we can help her. She is also climbing up the ladder to the jungle gym all by herself and we only hold her with one hand when she is sliding down because she hasn’t mastered the landing yet.

Ziva can now reach the ground with her feet when she is on her tricycle and she is able to push herself forward. It’s just a bit difficult in the street in front of our house because it is not even. However, she did great on the playground. Ziva is so fast now, that we almost have to run ourselves, when she is running and she loves to run, especially downhill!

When we are on our walks, Ziva is pointing at letters and numbers she sees on posters, houses, gates, etc. and that are within her reach. She then wants us to tell her what they are. She doesn’t say any of them herself yet, but she seems to recognize the same letters or numbers. Ziva can also say a couple of new things: apple, ball (buw) and oops. She is not able to say them perfectly, but it’s close enough to recognize them. The other day, one of the media team guys was taking her foot, and the Mexicans were sure they heard her say, “Que haces?” (What are you doing?) We didn’t hear it, but then again, we are not native Spanish speakers. Besides, it is very possible that she is able to say that, assuming that it is a sentence that the ladies at childcare use often.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Ziva has been helping us a lot around the house. In the morning, she helps us with breakfast, i.e. she brings us the milk, the orange juice and the yogurt and puts it back in the fridge. She also fills her own water bottle as well as her and Anja’s cup halfway with water. She helps Chris when he is making us a peanut butter and banana smoothie by peeling the bananas and pouring the milk in. When we come back from grocery shopping, Ziva helps unpacking too. She is taking the items out of the bags and handing them to us so we can put them away. Ziva really enjoys helping us and we will try our best to keep it that way.

Ziva has her own phone where we only give her access to a bible app and a children’s messenger where she can call us. She has been making a lot of progress in navigating the app and using the phone. And she LOVES her bible app. The stories are being told and you are able to click on the pictures to see certain movements or hear certain sounds. It is a great app!

On July 25th, our little big girl is turning 2! If you would like to help us to celebrate her, you are welcome to purchase something from our Amazon Wishlist or to send us the money so we can buy it for you, whichever you prefer.

Pregnancy

---

Prayer Requests

• Financial provision (daily living, medical bills during pregnancy and delivery)
• Health
• Healthy baby and easy pregnancy

---