English

Das Berliner Blatt
The Stoddards' Life and Ministry in Berlin

Dear Friends and Family,

We are writing in the midst of open suitcases, piles of clothes and a laundry list of "to-do" items of over a page! The reason? We are getting ready to fly back to the States for a 3 month Home Ministry Assignment (HMA). We can hardly believe it has been over two years since our last furlough but the time has come again. Though it is hard to leave Berlin at this time, we do look forward to visiting our supporting churches, our friends and our families.
We will be in Escondido, Southern California, for the month of May and in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the months of June and July. We do hope to see many of you who live in those areas soon. If you would like to get together, please contact us.
We would like to give you a brief report on what has been happening, especially for those of you whom we will not be able to see and tell in person.

Die Lukas Gemeinde in Pankow
(church planting project)

We are pleased about the progress of the church plant. At times it seems like it is very slow going, but in recent months we have seen some definite steps forward. We feel like we share a common passion with a small group of Berliners which we call our "Vision Group" and are encouraged by their sense of ownership.
We praise God for the wonderful church services which have bolstered their confidence in the concept of church-planting. We praise God for our unbelieving friends who have come to the services and even felt free to speak up in the testimony time!
We still need to stay on our knees and very reliant on the Lord for the future of this fledgling church.

Martin Bucer Seminary

The Seminary is still going very well. We set our limit of students at 10 in order to keep a small-group dynamic. We now have 11 students and could probably accept more. So much for limits! We just find it hard to turn people away. The students are all learning and interacting well with both the lectures and the reading materials. They also appreciate that what they are learning is constantly applied to their areas of ministry, thus making their seminary experience intensely practical. Two of our students, Matthi and Clemens, will both complete their required course work in July and will begin their Master's thesis in the Fall!

Big Family Events

The biggest event for our family has been the arrival of Emmanuelle Joy on February 4th. What a joy she is! She is a happy and content baby with a very sweet personality. The other kids love her and she has fit right into our family.
The saddest family event was the unexpected passing of Edmund Clowney, Eowyn's grandfather. He passed away on March 20th, after complications from a fall. We were blessed to be able to fly over for his funeral and be with our family at this sad time. It was a wonderful time filled with both tears and laughter as we celebrated a life well-lived and mourned his loss. If you knew Dr. Clowney and would like to read tributes or leave a tribute, you can do so at www.edmundclowney.com.
Please pray for us, Eowyn's family and especially her grandmother as she gets used to living without her husband of 63 years.

Support Raising

One of the reasons for our Home Ministry Assignment is to boost our financial support. We have lost some support over the past two years and the Euro has been very strong of late. However, one very positive reason for our increased financial need is expansion. Team Berlin is growing and restructuring. We will be moving to 4 separate teams in the near future and David will be an MTW team leader for the area of Pankow. This new development means increased responsibilities such as recruiting a team, and raising additional funds for team leader meetings and leadership training. Whom are we recruiting? We will be on the lookout for people to fill the positions of team intercessor (someone who will develop a prayer strategy), teachers for the English ministry, a worship leader and other creative venues for evangelism. If you know of anyone who might be interested in any of the above or are intrigued yourself, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Funnies

David was preaching on the resurrection and the coming of the messianic age and with great passion announced: "The blind see, the lame walk, and"…insert drum roll… "pigeons hear (Tauben instead of Taube)!"
Jesse was asked to go check on the baby to see if she was crying. He comes back upstairs and says: "She's not crying and she's as quiet as a snail!"
Liam on the airplane: "Mom, let's count by cats". O.K, what's that? "you know, counting by cats, like this: The first cat comes and bumps into a tree, the second cat comes and bumps into the first cat, the third cat comes and bumps into the second cat" and Liam proceeded to count in cats up to ten and would have continued if I hadn't distracted him with the canyons of Colorado.

Prayer requests for our HMA

• For safe travel
• For a good schedule enabling us to visit our supporting churches and individuals
• For a balance between appointments and family life
• For a car while we are in Tennessee (June and July)
• For the needed support to be in before we fly back to Berlin on August 2nd (we will be needing an additional $500 per month)
• For a good time with family, especially with Eowyn's as they grieve.

Servants of the King,

David and Eowyn Stoddard
Berlin, Germany