The Snyders in Germany

So Aaron met with the Visa man yesterday to inquire about all that would be needed for us to reapply. 

My first Pastor's Conference this week in Siegen, Germany was no let down.  It was an amazing time getting to know all the wonderful people there.  David Guzik (Calvary Santa Barbara) returned with guess speakers again and brought some great messages.  But as David so well put it "the real confering takes place between sessions."  I was so incredibly encouraged to hear of what God was doing with simple guys in Germany.  Several of the other youth pastors I spoke with kept saying "I don't know why the kids keep coming.  I can't figure it out.  We just meet and eat together and teach the Bible and they keep coming and getting saved."

No wonder God is using such people.  No "Ten Steps to a Cooler Youth Group" or "here's how to try and be as spiritual as me" but rather simple guys preaching the Word to the best of their abilities and God is blessing it.  I don't want to belittle their efforts or acheivements.  The churches by and large are not growing by the numerical leaps and bounds standards of American churches but they are growing!  In an increasingly post church culture where church membership is annually dropping off by several percent these brave warriors are seeing gains.  I spoke with one extremely faithful man from Kosovo who has been serving for the last fifteen years and has an attendance of 25.  One could jokingly say that such growth is about as fast as the birth rate.  That is until one considers that in these countries the population due to the low birth rate is actually declining at 1.3 children per couple in Germany.

No I am afraid things do not look good here.  I often feel as one in Constantinople about eight hundred years ago.  But God's Kingdom does not stop advancing.  Even if God sends his people into exile his Kingdom advances as he makes them a lesson for the ages.  Please do not cease pray for us few soliders standing in the gap for the thousands here in Europe.  Pray that God continues the steady growth of true believers here.  May he be gracious with us and may he spare America from the darkness that is still presently decending upon this land.  May he awaken the hearts of many through your prayers.
Pray specifically for Martin and Anastasia (JW friends who we meet with), Mark (a curious seeker) and K. (will soon be a teen parent).  Finally pray for our boldness especially in reaching youth and college students at the new college.

Grace and Peace be with you all in Christ Jesus,

Mr. Snyder in Him

This week was the evangelical alliance prayer week in Lippstadt.
The goal and hope is that the body of Christ in Lippstadt comes together nightly at a different church every night to pray with one another.
Sunday morning Aaron had the pleasure of bringing a greeting from our church to a Pentecostal church around the corner,it started at 10am.
we arrived early as a family, but it was a very crisp cold morning..
unfortunately the doors were locked so while we were waiting to hopefully be let in we were getting cold. Nobody answered the number we hoped would lead to the doors being opened.
Thankfully just right down the street was the EV FREE church so we went over there to get warm and wait until it got closer to service time. That was pretty cool because Aaron was able to talk to another dad who happened to come from a city where Aaron had gone on outreach to in Kirgizstan. We got warm and returned to the church where Aaron was given the honor of teaching God's word.
Thankfully God's word never returns void, this we are confident. Translation can make a big difference. It is
At this church alone we spoke with people of a Ghanian, a Russian, and people who were Polish, Spanish, and Italian.

We went out to catch the last bit of sunlight before dinner time later this afternoon as a family. We walked through town like we usually do. On the way I was able to invite a mama with twins to the Mommy Playgroup.
We usually let Peyton play on all the toys throughout town as we go,
and we had stopped to play on this big wooden Viking style boat that swings.
Then walked up a Chinese family, with a 20 month old.
Turns out Aaron had met her and her son in the summer time at the park one day!
The meeting could have only been ordained.
To keep it short, they have both studied the Bible, and almost read it all the way through,
they are wonderfully curious about the things of God and Aaron was able to share the gospel with the husband. As I spoke german with the mommy she mentioned how they don't have very many friends(although they've been here 4 years or so) and she was going to send her young son to kindergarten so he would learn german. I invited her to the play group, even though he is supposed to be at kindergarten during the morning time BUT she smiled so big and said, we won't go to kindergarten on Thursdays anymore, we will play with you!! I hope she is as excited as she seemed :)
Please please please pray for this wonderful family, we are hoping that they can be apart of the home group that should be starting up soon! We spent about one hour watching the kids play and talking.
Our little social butterfly was also able to make more friends with some little Italian girls.

update on our outreach to the JW family: we ask you continue to pray; for us to have discernment & wisdom and for them to have their eyes opened to the truth.