DTS: Christmas Break and Outreach prep

During Christmas break (between the 20th and 28th of DEC), I was actually in 3 countries! First, me and a few other students (Jessica the other American, and the two Germans, Cornelia and Bettina) stayed for a few days at Sara's house in Gstaad, a ski resort up in the Swiss Alps. We decided not to go snowboarding, but we did go sledding. Apparently, in the Alps, you don't just go to a nearby hill, walk up it and sled down. We actually took a LIFT up to the top of a nearby mountain, and sledded down it. fortunately, the sled had brakes and a steering mechanism, else I'd still be in the hospital :P

Then, Bettina, Cornelia, and I left for Germany while Jessica stayed with Sara for the rest of the break. Bettina (who had a car and drove) took us to the train station in Ulm, and I left for Stuttgart, where I was going to stay with some relatives (I can never remember how we're related). I stayed there for Christmas, and then we (the relatives i was staying with) went to Livigno to go snowboarding in the Italian Alps. I only got a half day of snowboarding in, because I took a nasty spill and broke my wrist. Well, at least that's what the Italian doctor at the emergency clinic said. When we went to a Swiss doctor after the break was over, they couldn't see the fracture on the X-ray, so instead of a giant plaster cast, they gave me a nice brace (which I don't need anymore. i'm healed!).

After we got back to the base, there was a little teaching about Calling, and then we went off to a big staff retreat with the whole base. There were, like, 100 people there, and the DTS was there mostly to help with cooking, dishes, and watching the kids and stuff. It was really fun, and we all had a great time.
Before we left to go on the retreat, though, we heard the news about the election in Kenya being contested. When we were on the retreat, we got lots of reports of violence and riots and looting and stuff, so we prayed about it a bunch. The leaders prayed about it, and we decided to leave a week later than we had originally planned, on the 13 of Jan instead of the 6th (which was good, because if we left on the 6th, we would have had less than a day at the base, so this post probably wouldn't have gotten typed).

So, we spent this week praying and preparing for the outreach, and though the situation in Kenya still isn't completely stable, we've gotten so many impressions of God protecting us during the trip that we have faith in Him. I would still like you (my readers) to pray for us.

So, we'll be in Kenya for the next 7 weeks (we'll get back on March 3rd), where I will have very little internet connection, and likely will not be able to post much on the blog. But, for those wishing for updates, we are sending out a few newsletters during the outreach. Just email me if you want to be on the list (my email adress is on the bottom of pretty much every post, and if you don't notice it, it's macrovore@gmail.com)

Thank you, and God Bless
Frederick Beuttler
macrovore@gmail.com