Could Our Future Hospitality House Be In The Town In This Picture?
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.” Psalm 67:1-2
So many of the Psalms seem to be appropriate in describing our recent trip to Germany, but this one stands out for several reasons. First, God was gracious to us, blessed us, and really made his face shine upon every little detail of our trip. We praise Him for that just as the Psalmist later does in this Psalm. But we also see Him blessing us so that we can bless others. We want to pass along the blessings He has shared so that His ways will be known to include His salvation among the military community in the Grafenwoehr and Vilseck area.
One major theme that stood out to us during our six days in Germany was something that was shared the very first night. Some good friends of ours who live there hosted a dinner in which three chaplains and their wives attended. It became readily apparent how excited they are for us to come partner with them in their ministry and how much they need us there. The need for a Hospitality House in the Graf/Vilseck area was something that various people stated over and over during short time there. In fact, we believe that it would be great for there to be two Hospitality Houses—one at Graf and one at Vilseck! (These two bases are located about 20 minutes from each other and many people commute between the two and our Hospitality Housw will be located in this vicinity.)
We later had office calls with three chaplains and met several others chaplains at different times. We did not meet one single chaplain who showed any hesitancy about a Hospitality House coming and in fact the opposite was quite true. We also were permitted to share our video and give a brief presentation in the Graf Chapel service and Aimee did the same at the Vilseck Protestant Women of the Chapel group (a weekly Bible study). Both of these had very positive responses as well. In fact, without us specifically seeking out financial support, our monthly commitments went from about 25% to 50% of our needed monthly support!
We learned that both bases are growing and that Graf will continue to grow significantly. These people live on the Army post and throughout the local German towns. In order to meet the need for the increased number of people, the Army is also building a town of 850 homes just outside of Graf. This community will include a new elementary school, a new middle school, and a new chapel. We are excited about the possibilities that exist in ministering to this concentration of people.
Vilseck is composed primarily of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment which is a combat arms unit currently deployed to Iraq. Combat arms soldiers are typically deployed more often and for longer periods of time which presents great ministry opportunities to their families that remain behind. We feel a great longing to minister to this unique group of people as well.
Finally, we got to visit the Bamberg Hospitality House for their Friday night dinner and service and really enjoyed our time with Matt and Tina Huischen. We were sad to not have more time with them but were blessed by the fellowship, worship, teaching, and also seeing how they do their ministry.
I am sure that I have forgotten to mention something, but as you can see, God did so many amazing things that it is hard to remember all of them! He is so good to us.
