helping hands / miss hamburg

so the theme of this post is our dear friend rachel--i mean, miss hamburg--and her very helpful hands. rachel just left the other day after spending 5 weeks living here. yes, she lived with us, and no, our apartment is not big. it's actually kinda small. two bedrooms (and there were 5 of us) and one very small bathroom. but as i wrote on a previous post, rachel is a trooper.

now why on earth would this beautiful woman of God come and live with us for 5 weeks? great question. because she felt the Lord place it strongly on her heart that she was supposed to come out and serve us and our ministry for the entire month of september.

she has a great job in l.a.
she has a wonderful life in l.a.
she has a comfy bed in l.a.

and no noise of screaming children.
yet she left it all for a month to join us here.
wow.

so she came here to serve us
(in any way she could)
and to join us in our work here
this is where the helping hands theme comes in
(please notice that all the pics include

rach's hands giving our children love :)

this past month rachel's hands:

changed diapers

took care of the kids
so we could go out together--
to dinner, to meetings, to the reeperbahn, etc.

plucked the harp as she walked among the 'fallen'

zipped up p.j.'s
scrubbed floors

waved to new friends

filled sippy cups
came together in prayer for us

hugged the kids

pushed swings
tickled the prince & princess

were lifted in praise

touched with grace the 'untouchable' of st. georg

cleaned the toilet

soothed our children to sleep

touched the lives of many



she basically served us in every way possible...and then some. her love for us expressed in action was at times even uncomfortable (imagine a friend of yours cleaning your entire house top to bottom? sometimes it can be hard to receive such goodness).

rachel also came at the perfect time--right when we needed a helping hand the most. the month of september was the busiest yet most exciting month we have had here thus far...and having two little ones, when it gets busy it can get hectic...so really, we needed her help.





and she joined us in our ministry, which was so awesome. she has a heart for hamburg and a heart for the women like we do, and it was beautiful to see her in action. she is a natural evangelist--not even by anything she might say but just by being who she is. who she is is attractive in itself--just rachel being rachel makes others want to know her Jesus. a highlight for all of us was the night when we went to one of the worst areas of town to talk with and pray with the women on the streets prostituting. rachel walked these streets while playing her harp (with 3 other people with her). the leader of the ministry said that in 7 years he's never seen such a visible, positive reaction from the people. people that never smile were smiling. women that never look at the ministry team were looking rachel in the eyes and smiling. it was beautiful.

but what about the miss hamburg reference? we gave her the nickname because in watching her 'in action' with the people of hamburg we quickly came to realize what favor she had with them. soon she would be walking to the park or down the street of our little town with people saying "Hallo Rachel!" many times we were asked "Where's Rachel?" Everyone loves Raymond (I mean, Rachel.). i mean, she made an impact everywhere she went--on the bus, at the store, at the coffee shop, at restaurants, at church. she left her mark of grace upon the people of hamburg in a very tangible way. we even joked that when she left for home the other day that hamburg flew it's city and state flag at half mast all day. all that to say that she had an incredible impact here--on the people, and on our family.



thank you, dearest friend rach.
thank you is not even enough to say
for all you did for and with us.
for your sacrifice and love and servantheartedness.
but thank you.
you are a delight.
you pleased Him greatly.
and you are already missed.
we love you, miss hamburg.