Too Fast...

So I had to share this with all of you! Before I tell you about the conversation that I had with Katie today, let me first share with you what happened yesterday. I was in our staff meeting here at the church when I received a phone call from home. It was around 12:20pm. When I said, "Hello," I was shocked to hear Katie on the other end of the phone. She was supposed to be getting out of school at 1:00pm, but she was already home and she had big news to tell me. What was it? SHE WALKED HOME ALL BY HERSELF. SHE KNEW THE WAY HOME! She was so proud of herself!

So today I thought that I would have a good time with her and walk with her home. I told her that I wanted her to show me the way that she walked yesterday. She would lead and I would follow. So this is where it gets funny. On the way home Katie began to say the following words, "Daddy, does this mean that I can have a key now? So that when I get home I can just open the door?" I began to think, 'Man she is growing up way too fast!' Then the following words continued to come out of her mouth. "And can I also have a phone? That way when I need to talk to you on the way home, I can just give you a call." OH MY GOODNESS! It is a good thing that she finished by saying this in her very next statement. "Oh wait, I don't know your number, so I don't need a phone yet, but can I have a key?"

This little girl is growing up way too fast!

Micah Continues Tonight

It has been a few weeks since we have been in the book of Micah. The previous two weeks I was gone at the Missions Conference in Austria and also a parent meeting for Katie's school. So I am looking forward to getting back into it. Tonight we are going to be studying through Micah 2 & 3. We are going to be considering the importance of godly leadership.
I encourage you to read ahead and if possible, come with a ready heart and mind to hear from the LORD.
Looking forward to seeing you there tonight!

Be checking in again as I will be posting some pics and information of what the Lord did this past weekend here in Herborn, Germany!

God is Able

In Awe

Awe. Humbled. Amazed. Grace. Prayer. Worship. Fellowship. Gospel. Jesus. God. Holy Spirit. Humbled. Awe.
These are just some of the words that come to my mind regarding my time in Austria at the missions conference. I am so thankful that the Lord provided all of the money for the expenses to go to this conference. For all of you who financially gave to help support this conference, I want to thank you. I do pray that the Lord blesses you abundantly in return.
Originally I was not thinking about going at all to this years conference due to lack of funds for the travels and conference cost, but when the money was provided for the cost of the conference, I began to think, "Maybe I could go." During this same time I had finished reading through some books where I was challenged to get away for a few days to really go seek the Lord for what it is that He wants to do in our lives. So I then talked about it with Rebecca, and she said, "You can go."
So to get more to the point, the whole purpose of this conference for us as a family, though I was the only one to go, was to really get away for a few days and go seek the Lord. So I really came with the expectation of, "Lord, I need You to speak!" And that is exactly what He did. Every single time in the Word, every single session, every time that I got away to go sit at His feet and spend time to seek after Him, He spoke. There is so much that I could share, and Lord willing in the future I will be doing that, but I simply want to testify to you right now, that when we as God's people seek after Him with all of our hearts, He is faithful to meet us and speak to us!
I was so blessed to re-unite with many of the missionaries that are serving the Lord all throughout Europe. The fellowship, times of worship, Bible Studies, times praying with one another, will be something that I will never forget!

I am so thankful and humbled to be in the midst of what God is doing here in Europe! I pray that HE will continue to be GLORIFIED in all that is taking place here!
Please read Colossians 4:2 and continue to be praying for the work that is taking place here!

Thank you so much!

1st Day of School

It has been almost two weeks now since Katie had her first day of school, but this is my first opportunity to post this video. What a special day it was to see our little girl make this next step in her life and go to school - ALL IN GERMAN!
We are so proud of her!

1st Day of School from Joey Roper on Vimeo.

Weather

Ok, so I have been wanting to write about this for quite a while now, but I am finally deciding to do it. I know that it is not really that important, but, hey, it is something that has to do with our daily lives here in Germany. As you may know, I am currently at the missions conference in Austria. God has been so faithful and has provided for me to be here! Thank you Jesus! I am so thankful! Actually it is quite humbling being here. Anyways, so back to this topic. What is it? THE WEATHER.
I have got to be honest with you! One thing that I do enjoy about being here in Germany is the fact that we do really have 4 actual seasons. Each one of them has their beauty! But this is the deal.... the summer here has absolutely stunk. Actually, we really haven't had too much of a summer. Some people in our church tell me, "Come on Joey, we had some warm days back in April." To which I reply, "That was spring! I am talking about summer." Anyways, it is kind of a joke, but I can honestly say that these past two days have actually been hot, sunny, ..... SUMMER. So this is another reason I am thankful to be in Austria right now.
The picture here is taken during my morning devotions on the dock at the lake.

Please continue to pray! God is speaking - still seeking to hear more!

Expecting to Hear...

So it is midnight here in Austria and I have safely arrived to the Missions Conference. I will be here until Saturday and then will fly home. I am so thankful that the Lord has totally provided for me to be here.
Although I will be joining in on the conference in the middle, I am coming with a completely open heart, ready to hear, and expecting to hear from my Lord.

I do ask that each of you would please be praying for my wife and I to really hear from the Lord this week. Although Rebecca and the kids are back in Herborn, we are really wanting to hear from the Lord.

Please pray for us!

thank you!

What is God Speaking?

I do know about you, but I absolutely love reading the Word of God! This book has absolutely changed my life! It is the only book in the world that will truly change anyone's life - completely! I can honestly say that the first time that I remember the Lord really grabbing a hold of my heart and mind in regards to the Word of God was when I was in 6th grade. I was around 11 years old, when my Sunday School teacher said, "Bring your bibles next week. We are going to start to study through it." Although that is a very short and simple statement, that very statement gripped my heart and my mind. From that point on, the LORD really began to give me a hunger for His Word! I am now 31 years old and have been reading through the bible for around 15-20 years. Oh my gosh! Writing that down seems crazy! Although I have read through it and have learned so much over the years, I know that I honestly have so much more to learn. God is constantly speaking! Do you believe that? I do! I have been ENJOYING Jesus so much in His Word!Now I would like to ask you: What has He been speaking to you? What are you currently reading? How has He been challenging you? How has He been convicting you? Anything else you would like to share - go for it!

Simply do this - share your details through the COMMENTS - I really hope to hear from you!

By the way - I am super stoked and privileged to be able to teach His Word tonight as we start the book of Micha! Please be praying for tonight's study!

Do You Trust Jesus?

I am not sure if you have seen this short little video or not, but I think it is a pretty good one to check out. How much do we trust Jesus?

Last Night & This Week

Last night Rebecca and I were super blessed to meet with our support team over Skype. We had a few technical difficulties at the beginning, but the Lord worked everything out and we were able to hear from them and also share with them what the Lord is doing in our lives. This picture was taken when we had a chance to meet with them in April of 2010. We are very blessed to have a team that we can meet with bi-monthly over Skype and who faithfully prays for us. What an encouragement it was to dialogue with each of them.
Looking at this picture reminds me of how blessed we are as a family to have a team behind us, supporting us, praying for us, and so much more. But another thing I realize is that the Lord has not only blessed us with these great friends, but that He has also blessed us with another team, or better yet, I should say, our families back home who as well faithfully pray for us, encourage us, and so much more. So we want to thank each of you who faithfully support us through prayers, encouragement, finances, and so much more! May the Lord bless you abundantly!


THIS WEEK
This week there are a few things that we will be starting! One of them is the book of Micha. Starting this Wednesday night, we as a Church, will begin to study through the book of Micha! I am looking forward to what it is the Lord is going to teach us through this 7 chapter book. I do want to ask you to please be praying for us as we go through this book. Not that we would only be growing in our knowledge of God's Word, but that His Word would be changing us as a people and that we would become more like Him! I have been extremely blessed and challenged as we have been studying through the Minor Prophets and so I am looking forward to this next one!

Another thing that will be starting this week is..... Katie will have her first day of 1st grade TOMORROW and Aliyah will begin to go to kindergarten all by herself! Oh my goodness! We cannot believe it! How did our little baby girls who I used to be able to hold in my hand grow up so fast? Katie is already starting 1st grade and it is all going to be in German! We are so proud of both of them! We do ask that you would REALLY be praying for both of them as they make this next step in their adventure by themselves. Katie seems to be really excited right now and Aliyah is not! She doesn't want to go to school without her big sister! So please be praying for them! Thank you so much!

Church Retreat - so Thankful!

We have been back now in Germany for almost a week now since our time at the Church Retreat in Austria. So I want to give you all a little update of what took place during the church retreat. The first thing that I want to share is how extremely we were blessed to even be a part of the retreat this year. A few weeks before the retreat, I talked with Pastor Edmund and let him know that we were not going to be able to go to the retreat this year because we did not have the finances for it. We were bummed, but we were okay with it. A day or two after I told Pastor Edmund, I came home for lunch and saw that the mail had come. So when I opened it up, there was an envelope with the picture of the castle there in Austria and our name on it. I then opened the envelope, which had enough money for us as a family to go to the retreat! I asked Rebecca if she knew who did this, to which she replied, "I have no idea." So we immediately thanked the LORD and asked Him to bless whoever it was who did this for us. What a blessing! We still did not have enough money for the travels down there and back, but we knew that God was so good and that He would be faithful.

I do believe that the Lord really blessed this week and that a great work of His Spirit was done in each of our lives. One of the things that I really enjoyed was to simply watch our kids play with some of their best friends there at the castle. Sorry that I do not have a picture, but it was so amazing to sit there and kind of "trip out" on it all. There we were, in Austria, staying in a castle, our kids were having a blast, we were blessed with good weather, and so much more. Coming from SoCal, it still hits me as if it were the first days in Europe. God is so gracious!

Thank you JESUS for blessing us - even though we do not deserve it - such GRACE!

Here are a few pics for you to enjoy:

A picture of Joey teaching on "Servants of the Kingdom"

A picture of Kruno getting baptized, the swan joined in on the event!

Rebecca and I - we were extremely blessed - thank you JESUS!

Get Dominic Balli's CD!

A good friend of mine, Dominic Balli, has just come out with his brand new CD! I want to encourage you all to get it! I just got it through iTunes yesterday and am already loving it!

Book Recommendation

The other day I finished reading through Francis Chan's book, Forgotten God. This was a book that I have desired to read for a while now, but I didn't have it. Recently at a conference, I was given this book as a gift and so I was super stoked to read through it. Have already read through Francis Chan's book Crazy Love, I was looking forward to reading through this one as well.
I have personally read many books on the topic of the Holy Spirit and have also taught many studies on the Holy Spirit throughout the years. This topic is a very important topic and yet it is a topic that is very misunderstood. Being a missionary here in Germany now for almost three years, if there is one topic that needs to be continually taught, it is this one. The very work that is so desperately needed in this land, is the work of the Holy Spirit, and yet, He is so often neglected, rejected, and told to "stay away from."
May the following statement challenge you to get this book and read through it.

"POWERFUL. When is the last time someone used that word to describe you? It doesn't make sense that Almighty God would have children characterized by fear and insecurity. He put His Spirit in us so we could be known for our power. Sadly, most believers and churches are known for talent or intellect rather than supernatural power. What's worse is that we're okay with it. Could it be that we've forgotten the One who distinguishes us from every religion and cult in the world?"

The ONE you need