Our First Short Term Missions Group!

The whole gang

In the beginning of June we had a group of university students from Appalachian State University come for a week on a short term missions trip. It was our first time hosting a real group like that so we were a bit nervous, but it all went really well!

They got to play at an open mic night at the cafe that Ryan helps out at

The group outside of the refugee camp. No photos are allowed inside.

Very excited to be putting flyers in mailboxes! 

They did a lot of work in a local refugee camp helping with the kids and also doing some music lessons. They also did some jobs to help out at our church, like go all around the neighborhood putting flyers in mailboxes to help promote an event that the church was hosting. They got to meet with two older men from the church who lived in Dresden during the GDR times and ask them all sorts of questions. This was (maybe selfishly) actually my most favorite part of the week because we got to hear the personal accounts of these two men who we see every week at church but never knew any of the crazy the stories that they've lived. Ryan and I have a major fascination with what life was like in Eastern Germany during the GDR period, so this was a really cool meeting that Ryan set up! The students seemed to really appreciate it as well. 

Of course, working in the refugee camp was the main work that the students were involved in, and hopefully very eye opening. We did mini tours of the Dresden's history Old City, ate some sausage and pretzels, got caught in a few good rain storms, and talked a lot about history, culture, atheism, and eastern Germany's desperate need for more Christians. We hope that God opened their eyes and hearts to what the spiritual situation is here, and maybe some of them will come back to do long term ministry! :-) We can hope, anyway. 

They were here for a Sunday morning service and a few of them played with Ryan on the worship team! One of the young men gave a testimony about their time in Dresden and some things that they have learned. The minister introduced all of them to the congregation, and you could tell that everyone loved having them there! 

Snuggling Felix was also a favorite activity :-)

All in all it was a very busy, exciting, and packed to the brim week! It was definitely a learning process for us but we definitely feel more prepared to host a group again if the event arises. We hope and pray that the group goes back to their university campus full of excitement about what God is doing here in Germany and in Europe. We hope that their experiences with the refugees helps them to be armed with hearts full of love instead of fear and hate, and that they can promote that love to the people around them. We also hope and pray that some of them come mack to Germany someday to help with ministry here. Thank you to those of you who were praying for us leading up to and during their time here! 

In Him, The Dillons 

Our 5 days in Germany

Well, it's been about 2 1/2 weeks since we returned from the conference in Germany. I would have wrote about our time there earlier, but I feel like I have needed these last two weeks to wrap my mind around our 5 days in Germany :-) Let's just say, this post is going to be the first of a few big posts about what's coming up in our lives! First of all... let's talk food.

Apfel Schorle- yummmmm. Apple juice mixed with sparkling water. I usually hate apple juice- but this... this is something totally different. We shared this on our train ride from Zurich, Switzerland (where we flew into) up to Germany. Along with the Schorle we also ate our all time favorite food...

oh yes, Döner Kebab. It's somewhat like a Greek Gyro but ohhh so much better! It was invented by Turkish people living in Berlin. Unlike a Gyro, which is made with lamb, a Döner is made with turkey (at least, that what I've heard). It had been way too long since our last Döner- almost a year! Anyway- just one more food blurb.

German Breakfasts. This photo is just of the remnants... I could never keep it on my plate long enough to take a photo :-) During our week there, I would go to bed at night so excited to be able to get up the next morning and eat more German bread... and salami... and nutella.... and honey..... and herb cream cheese.... and fruits... and, well, the list goes on and on.

We arrived Saturday and spent most of that day setting up for the conference that was to be held the following day. This Kontaktmission conference is an annual gathering of Kontaktmission missionaries and local supporters. The missionaries set up booths all around the conference center and supporters get to see how God is using Kontaktmission workers all over the world while also getting to hear great speakers talk about the growth of, mission of, and opportunities for Kontaktmission and it's workers. It's an exhausting day, but so encouraging and exciting to be a part of. And thankfully, there are headphones available with English translations for those of us who are not quite comfortable enough in our German skills to listen to speakers for 6 hours straight...emmmm yeah, I used those headphones a lot that week.... :-)

I was walking around looking at the different booths and I saw some familiar faces on some of the Kontaktmission flyers!!! :-) We're pretty much famous.

We're on the flyers that promote the summer short term mission trips that Kontaktmission puts together. Which is really exciting actually, because the first mission trip that Ryan and I went on together was on one of these same summer trips to Germany, Belgium and Austria back in 2007. And then last year we got to lead our very own Kontakmission short term summer trip to those same places! :-) We brought back some of the flyers to show some of our friends at our table during the conference.... but some of them got a bit jealous....

After the conference ended, some of us Americans took a little drive to the nearest big city of Stuttgart to have a bit on an adventure and bite to eat. It was great to catch of with these old friends of ours and hear stories about what they're doing for the Kingdom all around the world! After our little adventure, we headed to the retreat center where we would be spending the rest of our week. This retreat part of the week was solely meant for Kontakmission workers to spend time together in lots of prayer and worship, as well as hearing from each other and amazing speakers. We were in the same retreat center as last year and actually, Ryan and I very randomly got assigned the exact room that we had last year! crazy!

Ryan played all week for the little worship band. There was so much great music and talents shared! Wonderful times of worship and prayer were had everyday- it was all so very refreshing and encouraging.

We did get to have a very important meeting with the directors of both Kontaktmission and Kontaktmission USA about the direction of our future on the mission field! We have a couple of really awesome announcements actually.... so stay tuned! I'm hoping to have the first bit of news posted later this week! Thank you for your prayers and encouraging words! We had a great time in Germany, and are so thankful that we were able to be a part of this year's activities again!

-R&E

Hello again

Well, as you can tell we have taken a bit of a break from the blog world. The truth is that we have not had too much going on other than Ryan frantically trying to finish his classes so he can graduate this spring from his masters program and I have been working all the time at the day care and making tons of soap for awesome people to buy :-) It's not at all that we have in any way forgotten our goal of moving over to Germany, it's just that sometime God asks for us to be patient and wait for His perfect timing. It seems as though we have been waiting forever! BUT we do know that it is important to finish up our degrees, pay off school debt and make sure we are set and ready to start strong with full time support raising come May of this year. Our estimated time of departure for Germany is sometime in the year of 2013!

We do have a trip to Germany coming up at the end of the month actually! At the very end of the month Ryan and I will be leaving for Germany to attend a conference/ missionary retreat at the Kontaktmission headquarters in Wüstenrot. We’ll get a chance to meet with KM missionaries from all around Europe as well as to meet with a smaller group of missionaries to Germany to plan, discuss and pray. We are currently looking for churches and or individuals to prayerfully as well as finically support us so that we are able to go to this conference this year. We went last year and are still amazed at how wonderful of a week it was! We were to be able to make connections with other missionaries to Germany as well as other European countries. We will be flying standby to and from Germany to try and save on airfare, so all in all the week will add up to about $1,500. If any of you would be able to support us in any way (financially and/ or prayerfully), that would be so amazing! Please let me know.

Here are some pictures from last year's conference/ retreat:

We hope to keep up with this blog a lot more as we come closer to our goal of leaving for Germany in 2013! Stay tuned for more updates and to see what going on with me and Ryan!

Love and blessings to you all!