Day Three

Today was a long day. Most of us did not get back to the hostel until ten thirty. This will not be a long post since about half of the keys do not work on this keyboard. I#ll have to get a better one tomorrow. I think I saw an internet cafe on the way back - I might be able to get a better price than eight cents a minute. We scrimmaged the team from Pillsbury in the rain today. The field conditions were pretty poor. The final score was MBBC two Pills one. The number keys don#t work and onlz one of the shift keys work.
We also attended the Wednesdaz night service for the church in Erlangen. More tomorrow. -C

Day 2

We are all feeling better today, although our morning sessions were a little long because at 10 am it felt like 3 am . . .etc. Everyone perked up in the afternoon, however. Most of us had a good night sleep - some more than others. One room slept in an hour because clocks that are plugged into the wall over here run 1 sixth slower, so their clock lost a whole hour overnight. The rest of us used wristwatch alarms and so did not have any problems. That room included Adam Steen, Matt Steen, Trevor Stricklin, Tim Reintert, Bryan Oliver and Andrew Solarek. Hopefully they will solve the problem by tomorrow.
We spent time today learning about the BMM mission effort in this area, learning about the German culture, and sharing testimonies about our reasons for taking this trip and about how God blessed us during the fundraising stage. We also spent a great deal of time in prayer. All of the teams here (Pillsbury Men, Maranatha Men, and Maranatha Women all got a 1.5 hour training session in the afternoon. It was quite cold (upper 50's) and pouring rain, but it was nice to get out and stretch our legs. The fields were very muddy and afterward we showered at the city pool just up the road - most had cold showers. ..
I have spent some time getting video of most of our trip and I hope to get some of it on this blog or at least make a DVD when we get home.
Let me know what kind of souvenirs you want. -C

Hello from Germany!

This will not be a long post since I have been up for almost 30 hours with no more than about 30 minutes of sleep. We arrived safely in Munich and ate the first meal of our four day training period at the church in Erlangen. Tonight all of the men will stay in a hostel in Nurnberg and the ladies will stay in a hostel in Erlangen. We had a great flight over we are excited about our ministry opportunities here. Please continue to pray! -C

Today is my last day to post from the office. We will all board an airplane on Sunday to fly to our mission field. If you were one of the over 150 people who donated over $54,000 to make this trip possible, we thank you once again. I would like to include an excerpt from an email from Christoph Ruttgers, the national pastor of the church in Ingolstadt where the men's team will be based:

We as the church want to say, that we appreciate your efforts for the Germans. We are happy to have friends like you in America, which have hearts for unsaved Germans. We are so thankful, that you and your team will devote your live to God for the germans. We are so excited to see you for us it will be a very special time to serve the LORD together.

Everyone involved in this trip has sacrificed to see it happen. Please pray for us.

Pray for boldness in sharing the gospel.
Pray for safety in travel.
Pray for our team members to "walk worthy".
Pray that the college students who will miss 2 weeks of work will still have the finances to return to school in the fall.
Pray that God would soften the hearts of those who will hear the gospel. - C

May 24 Update

The final donations have been processed and Lord willing all 29 of us will be on a flight to Germany this Sunday evening. Bryan Oliver is leaving from Denver. Sommer Rodolph, Carrie Rauba, Tim Reinert are leaving from Philadelphia and the rest of us will fly out of OHare at 4:10 pm on Sunday afternoon. We will all be on the same flight from Philadelphia to Munich. We plan to arrive at 10:35 am on Monday, May 29th.

The effects of jetlag on college students will probably be minimal - since none of them get regular sleep anyway. Those of us who are used to the routines of home life are probably going to struggle a bit more.

Hopefully Sean O'Morrow remembers his shin guards.
Hopefully Steve Roby wakes up in enough time to make the flight.
Hopefully Carrie Rauba's suitcase is light enough.

What Are We Doing?

Millions of people from all over the world will be traveling to Germany this summer for the 2006 FIFA World Cup—and members of Maranatha’s Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams will be there too! We may not get to a World Cup match, but we will spend two weeks in Germany helping local churches to get the Word out to people from many countries. From May 28 to June 12, the Maranatha soccer players will partner with Baptist Mid Missions and local Baptist churches to distribute gospel literature, share the gospel with individuals, put on soccer clinics, and participate in exhibition matches against local club teams.
The World Cup is the most well-known sporting event in the entire world. The churches are planning to take advantage of the fervor surrounding the World Cup by using college soccer players to increase contacts in their communities.
When the Maranatha team arrives in Germany, we will have four days of intense training to learn about culture and how to witness to unsaved people about Christ. All the contacts they make will be followed up by the local churches. You can be involved in what God is doing by praying for the team—for funding, for safety, and for success in ministry.
Germany 2006 is the trip of a lifetime for most of the team members. Please pray for us.

Who is going?

Here are the members of the mission's team to Germany. The men's team will be primarily based in the city of Ingolstadt and the women's team will be based in Erlangen. Please pray for us as we minister.

Women’s Team - Dave and Linda Adam
Kristen Kowalcyk
Lisa Kowalcyk
Jennifer Adam
Carrie Rauba
Angela Fenstermacher
Autumn Byers
Melanie Killingsworth
Abby Kalscheur
Hayley McGrail
Melissa Nichols
Julie Muse
Lyndsey Dykstra
Sommer Rodolph
Grace Komis

Men’s Team - Coach Caucutt
Stephen Roby
Kirk Riffel
George Tagli
Adam Steen
Andrew Solarek
Mark Kowalcyk
Timothy Adam
Sean O’Morrow
Stephen Van Horn
Timothy Reinert
Bryan Oliver


Click here to read more about our trip. - C

This blog will contain prayer requests, reports, updates and thoughts relating to Maranatha Soccer. We will be especially focusing on our mission's trip to Germany that is coming up next month. - C