Please pray for Katie

Hey everyone, we want to share with you that these first three days of Kindergarten went really good with Katie. The first day was only an hour and she had a great time. The second day was supposed to be 1 1/2 hours but ended up being 3 because Katie wanted to play at the playground at the school. During her second day, she had a geburstag (birthday) party in the class. She really liked that and looks forward when it will be hers. But she was a little more shy and clingy to Rebecca. A few of the kids are coming up to her and talking with her, but she is not responding because she doesn't know what they are saying and doesn't know how to respond. We know that this will change over time, but it will take time and your prayers. The third day went really good. It was for two hours. Rebecca was with her the 1st hour and the 2nd hour she was on her own.
So this is why we ask you all to continue to be praying for Katie. This next Monday, I will be taking her on my way to my German lessons and just dropping her off. She will be there around 3 1/2 hours each day of the week. So please pray for her to be bold and brave and to really begin to understand the language and to love it!
Keep her in your prayers!
Thanks!
Love the Roper Family

Missions Conference 2009

It has now been a week since I came back from the Missions Conference that took place in Millstat, Austria. It was hosted at Calvary Chapel Conference Center (Schloss Heroldeck). I have to be honest with you. Being able to go to Conferences is definitely a highlight about being in the ministry. Some of the things that I love about the conferences are the following:

• to be refreshed in the Lord
• challenged
• receive new vision
• the fellowship is always sweet
• and so much more!

But I have to be honest with you. This past missions conference was probably the best conference that I have ever been to in my life! I could list some reasons why, but that is not what this blog is about. I want to share with you what the Lord did that week in my life.

First of all, it was such a blessing to be able to travel to the conference with a long time friend of mine, Edmund Coronel Jr. He is the senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Düsseldorf. We had both just come off of a busy week before the confernce, and so it was a perfect time for us to get away to Austria (by the way, this location is absolutely beautiful), and see what the Lord wanted to do in our lives. We met each other in Köln (Cologne), Germany and flew to Klagenfurt, Austria. It was so nice to fly. Not only was it cheaper to fly, but it only took us an hour to get there! Praise the Lord for that!
We arrived on Saturday, August 15, one day before the conference started. Our blessed friend Daniel Ornaleas hooked us up with a room to stay at in his apartment. Thanks so much Daniel once again! The next morning we went to church at Calvary Chapel Spittal, which is just right downstairs from Daniel's apartment. That morning, Pastor Robin was continuing his teachings through the book of Revelation. He taught on the letter to the church of Thyatira, which was amazing, because I had just taught it the week prior at Calvary Chapel Herborn. So it was a blessing to be reminded of the things that I had just taught! The Lord is good to do that!
We then were able to find a ride to the castle and register. Edmund Jr. and I were so blessed to find out that we were staying in the villa (right next to the castle - onsite)! We roomed together with Mike Harrington who had been teaching at the Bible College in Jerusalem for the past seven years. It was a blessing to be able to get to know him a little.
So now let me get to my point. The teachers at the Conference were Brian Brodersen, Lloyd Pulley, Chris McCarrick, Dimitri Nikifolos, and David Guzik. We had a main session in the morning and in the evening, and we also had a breakout session, one for the men and one for the women, everyday. It was amazing to see how the Holy Spirit definitely spoke through each of these men in a mighty way into all of our lives. There are so many things that the Lord spoke to me during this conference, but I would have to say that the main point that stuck out to me throughout all of the teachings was on the topic of prayer and time in the Word. Now I know that these are really the basics of Christianity, but, that was exactly what the Lord wanted to really speak to us on. The Basics! In fact, Lloyd Pulley started it off on Monday morning really talking about the BASICS of Jesus!

Now I have to share with you that before the conference started, the Lord had already been speaking to me in regards to changing how we as a family were living our lives. What I mean by that is... When we lived in California, we didn't always stay up late. But ever since moving here to Germany, I don't know what it is, but we have pretty much from the beginning been staying up primarily to midnight every night. So the Lord was speaking to me on this topic and how it needed to change. And so when the teachings began to cover this very topic, specifically by Dimitri Nikifolos, it was a confirmation of what the Lord had already spoken to me. Dimitri was saying statements like, "You need to crucify your activities in the evening, so that you can go to bed early, get up early, spend time with Jesus early..... go to bed early, get up early, and spend time with Jesus early." He really challenged all of us with the following verse... "... I will awaken the dawn." Psalm 57:8.
Now these are things that I have already known, but this is what I needed to get back into. And, you know what, that is exactly what we as a family have been doing. Going to bed early. I have been getting up early every morning, spending a lot of more time in prayer and in the Word, and just being obedient to that which the Lord was speaking to me and confirmed to me at the Conference.

So I know that I could go on and on, but I am going to just leave it at that.

I am not sure what you are thinking as you read this blog. You could have all kinds of thoughts flowing through your head. But I just want to encourage you to do the same if you are not already doing it. If you time with Jesus is laxing, getting less and less, or is not even there at all. Do this tonight. Go to bed early! Get up early! Spend time with Jesus early! Be obedient in these things and I know that the Lord will radically begin to refresh you in His presence!
God Bless you as you spend time with Jesus!

Update on Joey's Shoulder

Hey Everyone,
First of all, I want to thank all of you who have been praying for me on this situation.
Well, I went to the hospital today in Wetzlar and met with a doctor. I gave him all of the paperwork and went over a few details. Basically what happened is that he then set up my next two appointments. The next one is on September 8. This is when I will be getting the MRI (MRT for the Germans reading). The second one is two days later with a specialist who will look over the MRI and then we will go from there. So that is the update.
Please do pray that I would be very careful with my shoulder these next couple of weeks. Today it was definitely the soarest it has been so far.
Thank you and God Bless You!
Dankeschön und Gott Segne Euch!

Katie's 1st day @ Kindergarten

Well everyone, mark it on your calendars, today was Katie's first day at kindergarten! We want to thank all of you who have been praying for her. We do ask that you would continue to do so. These first three days are more of an introduction to the school. Rebecca will be going with her on these first days and then next week, she will begin going on her own. Katie has been so excited to start school! She is talking about it all the time, practicing her ABC's, counting to ten in English and German, and so much more. Here are a few pics from her first day!

Rebecca & Katie outside our house

Walking to school with her backpack ...

say CHEEEESE!

Entering school for the first time!

Katie with one of her teachers - Frau Bettina

Looks like she is getting ready for her future already!

some classmates

more classmates

Needless to say, we cannot believe that our little girl is already going to school! Boy, how time goes by so fast!

Joey's Right Shoulder

Hello Friends and Family
I am writing you in regards to my right shoulder. I am pretty sure that most of you heard that I dislocated my right shoulder this past week in Austria at the Missions Conference. Let me give you a brief story to let you know how it happened.
It was during the free time on Thursday afternoon and I was down at the dock along with many other people. I decided to jump into the lake one more time before I headed up to the castle. Right as I began to jump into the air a wasp was flying right in front of me. So as I went to swat it away with my right arm (going from left to right), in the middle of the air, my right shoulder dislocated out of socket. I then landed in the water and had to swim up with just my left arm. Once I came up I cried out for help and many began to help me up out of the water. Once I was placed on the dock and even before, I immediately began to pray and ask the Lord to put it back into place.
You see, this has happened many times in my life. But this was the first time that it was not immediately going back into place. No one on the dock really knew what to do, and yet I knew what they needed to do. But I wasn’t going to just let anyone try to pull my arm back in. So as they began to call up to the castle for help, there was a lady named Jacque, who is also a missionary in Germany, who is a sports medicine doctor. She began to tell me that she knew what was going on and had done this procedure many times with football players. She gave me the option of letting her do it or to wait for the ambulance and let the doctors do it. It was at that moment that Brian Broderson said, “Hey Joey, let’s pray and then let Jacque do it.” So we prayed once more and then Jacque proceeded to try to pull my arm back into place two times. Well, she tried to pull it back into place, but it didn’t work. You see, I know that the longer that the arm is out of socket, the harder it is to put it into place.
So we just waited until the ambulance came. Once they finally got there (around 40 minutes later) and they found out what was going on, they discovered that they didn’t have all of the correct equipment to get the job done. So they then called back to the hospital to ask someone else to come and bring the rest of the equipment that they needed. So it was about one hour that my shoulder was out of socket. They then put the IV into my arm and gave me some drugs that relaxed my muscles around my shoulder and then they were able to put it back into place. Of course I didn’t feel it at that point. They then put me on the stretcher and into the ambulance to go to the hospital. Once at the hospital they took three X-rays of my shoulder and I waited for the results. They told me that everything was back in place, but that I would need to have surgery on it. So now that I am back in Germany, I went to my doctor today and let him know what is going on. He then set up an appointment for me tomorrow at the hospital in Wetzlar. There I will be getting a MRI on my shoulder and then it will be decided what will need to be done.
So there is the story of what happened and the current situation with my shoulder. Please do continue to be praying for all of the details. I will try my best to keep you updated on all of this.
Some things that you can also pray about in regards to this situation are the following:

• Pray for Rebecca because I really need to be careful with picking up the kids. I obviously can use my left arm, but with my arthritis, it is really hard. So pray for her to continue to have the strength when I am not able to help out physically with the kids.

• pray for the worship ministry here in the church. Obviously I will not be able to lead worship for a while now. Please pray for those involved to really step up during this time and for wisdom in leading them through this time.

• Pray for wisdom for me as I go through this process to make sure to ask the right questions or to do the right things.

• Pray also for the financial side of all of this. We do have insurance, but I am not sure as to what will take place with it all.

Time with My Dad

Last week, from August 10-12, my dad and I took a trip to Bastogne, Belgium to go check out some World War II sites that he wanted to check out. Originally, I was pretty excited to go with my dad on a trip and to go check out some historic sites, especially with him as he knows a lot of the history that has to do with WWII. To be honest, I was beyond blessed, words cannot describe how thankful I was to be able to do this trip with my Dad. We had such a great time together on these 3 days in Belgium.
For any of you have seen The Band of Brothers movie series, you should recognize the name of the city of Bastogne. For those of you who have not seen this movie series, I would encourage you to get it and watch it. To see what these men (and many others) did for our freedom and the freedom of many countries, was absolutely amazing.

My Dad & I with our rental car - 2009 Mini Cooper!

The Big Red One Monument - in Henri-Chapelle, Belgium

On our way to Bastogne, we stopped in a little village called Henri-Chapelle to check out an American Cemetery. As I began to walk through this cemetery, my heart began to get overwhelmed with thanksgiving, gratitude, and amazement to think of all of these soldiers that offered up their lives for our freedom.

There are right around 8,000 soldiers buried in the Henri-Chapelle Cemetery

Fox Holes from 65 years ago

My dad in a fox hole

The Ardennes Forest - this is where the "Battle of the Bulge" was fought

Band of Brothers Monument - Dedicated by Tom Hanks

This is a little memorial that was made of General McAuliffe. He had the most famous single word answer in all of WWII. When the entire area of Bastogne was surrounded by the German Army. The military leaders of the German Army sent an envoy into Bastogne and offered the American Army to surrender. And his one word answer to that envoy was, "NUTS!"

The Mardasson Monument at Bastogne, Belgium

My Dad at the edge of the forest where "the Band of Brothers" fought in the Battle of the Bulge

Downtown Bastogne, Belgium

Entrance to a German Cemetery outside of Foy, Belgium

Alex Penkala Jr. is one of the Band of Brothers that was buried in Luxembourg

My Dad in front of General Patton's graveyard

Out of all of the locations that we went to, I would have to say that going into the Ardennes Forest and finding the exact foxholes that the soldiers fought out of around 65 years ago was absolutely amazing. For those of you who have seen the Band of Brothers can probably remember the name, Buck Compton. Well, Buck Compton, was actually my grandfather's best friend. There is a lot of history behind all of that, but to actually be in the same area where Buck Compton fought and was amazing. There is so much information that I could continue to share with you about this trip, but I want to just end it with two things. First of all, I want to thank my dad once again for everything! I had a blast! I will never forget our time together. Secondly, I want to end it with a quote from General Eisenhower that is mounted in the Luxembourg American Cemetery.

ALL WHO SHALL HEREAFTER LIVE IN FREEDOM
WILL BE HERE REMINDED THAT TO THESE MEN
AND THEIR COMRADES WE OWE A DEBT TO
BE PAID WITH GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR SACRIFICE AND
WITH THE HIGH RESOLVE THAT
THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY DIED SHALL LIVE ETERNALLY.

A visit from Opa & Oma

We were so blessed to have a two week visit from Opa & Oma (Grandpa & Grandma). This was my mom's third time here in Germany and my dad's first time. It was a great time for all of us to have time together as a family. It was the first time for my dad to see and hold his grandson, Noah. And now that we have been here in Germany for almost a year, the girls have definitely grown up since they last saw their Opa in person. We were able to go on walks, spend lots of time talking, take a boat ride along the Rhine, have them meet some people in the church, and many other things.
It was such a great opportunity to just enjoy each other's presence. We want to thank you mom and dad for coming out here to Germany and for all that you blessed us with. We do pray that you had a good time and look forward to the next time we get to see each other in person. Thanks for loving on us and taking care of the kids at times so that I could take my wife out to dinner. We love you so much!

Cliff with the grand kids - Dodger fans!!!

Rose & Cliff in Marburg, Germany

Noah spending time with Oma in his pajamas

Opa & Noah

Opa with his grand daughters!

Friends

One of the blessings being here in Germany is to be able to be co-laborers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with some really good friends. For years Edmund Jr and I have been good friends. The Lord definitely has used him in my life to challenge me to simply follow Jesus. Throughout the years we have been able to serve alongside each in the ministry. Although the Lord had called him and his family out to Germany around 6 years ago, whenever we would get the chance to serve together, it would always be the prayer of ours to continue to have opportunities to minister to God's people together. So it is such a blessing to be in the same country serving the Lord. Although him and his family are around 2 hours north of us in Düsseldorf, every once in a while we get the opportunity to get together and just fellowship. Here are a few pics of our kids playing together.... Enjoy...

our precious Aliyah

Karis & Caleb Coronel

Aliyah, Katie, and Karis - aren't they beautiful

I also want to ask you to be praying for the Coronel family. They have started Calvary Chapel Düsseldorf around 2 years ago and the Lord is doing a great work of His Spirit. Please continue to keep them in your prayers!!!