I love tools!!!

I NEVER KNEW POWERTOOLS WERE THIS MUCH FUN!!!! But they are, let me explain. So, as we have now been relocated from the church to two families (Girls are at the Epp's, Guys at the Warkentin's) I am writting this from our room in what seems to almost be an attic. The space efficiency of the Europeans continues to astound us and makes clear once again that when it comes to any kind of city planning/engineering we are far behind. We love it at our families places and I dont even mind the two hours a day spent on trains getting to the church and back. But back to the tools. The new windows for the church have arrived. No more drafts, no more boarded windows, the church is not a dark cement block anymore, but light is actually shining through the windows right now. And that is where powertools come in. Because in order to get new windows in, old ones have to leave. And guess who gets to help taking them out? US. And its been a lot of fun, we have been smashing glass, carrying heavy windows, setting up sketchy scafolding and many more fun things. Two highlights from today: 1) The garage windows were cemented into place, so I got to use a jackhammer of sorts, coupled with a sledge-hammer to completely demolish these windows. Hard work but tons of fun (yay for powertools that make tons of noise and demolish stuff). 2) Some other windows that we had to take out where welded shut. Whats the solution? Cut through the welds, which was so much fun and created a ton of sparks. It was a good day, needless to say.

Now, beyond the obviously boyish obsession with powertools I seem to have developed over the last 24 hours (unabashedly might I add, seeing as I am a boy and this hence it fits quite nicely with my overall personal profile) there is the visibility of change that is happening. We have only been here a week and somewhat longer, but the church is already our home, and we love it dearly and it is beyond nice to see how its being changed and made more beatiful, how light shining in now in what used to be darkness. And I cannot help but feel that this is the place of this church in the community it is at. Walking around the area one cannot help but feel like the area of Treptow even though now free from communist enclosure, government censorship and many other things has not found real freedom. I have said many times over the last little while that it seems to be an area in bondage. And into that darkness comes this group of Christians who are not just there but who want to change things. Renovating a delapitaded building is one thing, but much more than that this church wants to shine a light into the darkness and open the windows so that God comes in. What a privilege to be just a little part of that. Please also continue to pray for this church, its people and its leadership.