back in the states

Wow! I'm now finally back in the U.S.A. again! It is great to be back to the American comforts I missed in Freiburg--ice in your drinks at restaurants, free refills, having consistent internet access, being able to communicate easily and clearly 100% of the time...!

This summer in Germany was simply amazing, though. God worked in tremendous ways both on and off campus, and has really blessed our team with relationships with Germans we can continue to witness though even now that we're home. When we were leaving the train station in Freiburg, a lot of the Christian students from the ministry came to see us off... it was a great surprise and very emotional to be leaving our fellow laborers in Christ.

Still, what was more touching to me was that one of the non-Christian students we'd been getting to know over the summer also came to say goodbye one last time. Robert had really gotten to know most of us during the course of the summer and had heard many times about Christ. Please join me in praying for his salvation!

Some of my other German friends this summer also need that same prayer--Barbara, Tabea, Mattias, and Angelika. Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer this summer and throughout the year. You have made an impact in German students' lives and eternities!

internet drama, but still pressing on!

I'm sorry this update is so late in coming! I found a new internet cafe which is much cheaper to use, but when I posted my last message, it somehow didn't save, and ALL of my update for you was lost. :(

Our time in Freiburg is quickly coming to an end... we leave Friday morning for Frankfurt. Still, I am encouraged that God doesn't get smaller if the time He has to work is shorter. Casey, one of the students here noted to me the other day that, 'God created the world in six day, and He raised Jesus from the dead in only three days.... Who can say He won't do big things in our last few days?'

I totally agree with her!

We have had the opportunity to meet and grow in relationships with many students here this summer, but are trusting God to continue the work started in them by bringing them the rest of the way to understanding Jesus' gift for them and receiving Him as their Savior.

One student I am trusting God to work in is Angelika, a girl I met in the cafeteria nearly four weeks ago and have been eating lunch with once a week since then. She is genuinely seeking to know the truth, but has been very hurt in the past and therefore has difficulty believing in God's existance. Please pray that as I meet with her tomorrow for lunch that she'll be ready to respond to the gospel. Last week I gave her a copy of More Than A Carpenter in German, and we will be talking through the evidence for Jesus and His resurrection tomorrow.

Rejoice with me in the work God has already done, and continue to pray for what He is going to do!

Keep pressing on for the sake of the gospel,
Katie

Juli 4

As all Americans know, tomorrow is our Independence Day! To celebrate (since Germans do NOT celebrate American holidays), we're having a 4th of July party/outreach. Please pray that German students would come!

For the last few weekdays, we've been inviting our German friends as well as any German students who will let us give them a flyer. However, since Germany won the soccer game last Saturday against Argentina, practically everyone in the country will be watching the next fußball game tomorrow night. We changed the time of our party to adjust (ministry is all about flexibility!), but prayers would be a tremendous help in getting students into Christian community tomorrow night.

Our YouDecide outreach last week was very encouraging and a great way for us to get into more spiritual conversations with students! We still haven't heard the stats on how many students from Freiburg went to the website, but I'll post those numbers whenever I find out!

Just from our first week on campus, though, our figures were over 200 conversations with German students, and about 75% of these convos included full discussion of the gospel message. How exciting that 20 of us could impact this campus so much in such a short time! We currently have two full weeks on campus down, and three to go.

Join me in trusting God for bigger things than we can imagine or hope for...!

Katie

YouDecide.com

This week we are launching a new outreach on campus translated, 'YouDecide.com'. It's a website in German that has a bunch of articles about God and spiritual issues for students to read and make decisions about. The gospel is clearly presented after many of the articles, and there are ways for students to interact with people if they have questions, or get connected with a movement of believers if they want to learn more about having a personal relationship with Jesus.

We're distributing postcards with the website on them, putting up posters, and wearing t-shirts that say 'DuEntscheidist.com' in bold print. There is really very little chance that students will not at least see the website's link posted somewhere on campus--they really will be confronted with making a choice.

Please pray for us as we share this website with the German students-- it presents an absolute Truth, and that is very offensive to people who believe whatever someone wants to believe is ok and even right. Pray that students will check the site out, and that they'll be open to talk about the topics listed on it. Pray that God would move on this campus!

If you'd like to see some of the content from the site in English, a similar one for American students is located at: www.everystudent.com

friends auf deutch

This week has been really fun for me in the Mensas (cafeterias)... I've made a few German friends! One of our project students (Mike) and I have gotten to know two German students: Barbara and Tabea. They both are very sweet girls, and we've been able to talk about spiritual things with them.

Tabea is coming next Tuesday with us to the Campus für Christus weekly 'English Cafe', and we are planning to meet with Barbara next week, too! Please pray that they both would understand the concepts we are discussing with them about God. Tabea is pursuing her minor in Theology, so she understands a lot about church history already, but Barbara hasn't thought about spiritual things as much, she says.

God is amazing in how He chooses to work both on campus and in our American students, too. They all have been challenged a lot in taking steps outside their comfort zones, and have been learning a lot about relating to Germans and experiencing their culture. We've been experiencing the World Cup a lot more than we would in the States! It's very popular here, so it's a great way to talk to German students. This afternoon, I'll be joining a lot of the Americans to watch our own team play Ghana at the local Irish Pub. They make us sing our national anthem before the game...! (Funny, but a good time provided by the Irish!)

Thanks for your prayers and faithfulness! The Lord is amazing and sovereign!

my first odd experience sharing Christ here...

Today one of the students and I met a German movie star on campus and got to talk to him for a long time about God and Jesus. Weird, huh? Vince was on campus here filming a new movie (translated 'Cats and Dogs'), and had a little while to let us ask him q's about his beliefs and thoughts on a variety of topics.

He seemed surprisingly aware of religious thought and had actually thought about spiritual things before (which is uncommon here), but was sadly very messed-up in what he thought to be true. I had a copy of More Than a Carpenter onhand (in German), and he (hesitantly) accepted it as a gift. Please pray that he reads it!!! Many of Vince's areas of confusion would be cleared up if he understood the concepts McDowell presents in that book.

I truly think Kristin and I had a divine appointment in sharing with Vince today. He is leaving Freiburg tonight, and will be travelling around Europe filming after that... praise the Lord for our conversation and pray that He will use it for His glory in Vince's life!

finally here in germany alive!

Hello from Germany! Our team arrived Tuesday morning (6 am German-time), and have been adjusting to the time change ever since. I think we're just about there....

So far, we've spent two days on the University campus meeting German students in the Mensas (cafeterias). There are many international students here, too, so today I met a Japanese student studying here. That can be difficult since German is our only common language and I know so little of it!

I love working with the students we brought from the U.S. They're simply awesome! I live with two of the five girls, and have had a fun time trying to communicate with our landlady, Frau Vilmar.

It's been great learning about the German students and their culture so far, and I've had the opporunity to lead one of the teaching times about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow we'll get to experience the blessing of attending church bilingually. Pray for us!

Please pray--

1. That we continue to honor and love each other as a team. (Again, this is a big part of our ministry... showing that Christians are loving because God is loving.)
2. That the language barrier would prove to be a blessing and a way we can trust God more and more.
3. That German students would be excited to talk to us about their beliefs about spirituality. So far, things are going well, but we want to be able to build deep friendships and point students to Christ!

Also, I have an address here!

Please send any mail to--

Katie Hammar

c/o Elisabeth Moe

Schoenauer Strasse 11

79115 Freiburg i. Br.

Germany

Thank you for your prayers and encouraging notes! You are a tremendous blessing to me and our team here!