Tuesday 29 December 2009

News Update

Our first significant personal contact with continental Europe came in 1972 when two au-pair girls from Switzerland came into the small Baptist chapel in Surrey where Len was pastor. Both found a personal faith in the Lord Jesus during their 6 months with us and this aroused in us an interest and prayerful concern for German speaking Europe. It was more than 10 years before we, Len & Phyl and our two sons, moved out to Basel in September 1983 to begin a new phase in our life and ministry, but the seed of God's call had been first sown on that Sunday evening when the two Erikas had come into our home after the evening service in Horley.

This past weekend the two Erikas visited us again. This time in Haus Barnabas in Utzenfeld. Much water has flowed under the bridges of our lives during these intervening 38 years and of course we have kept in touch to some degree, but it was great this weekend to spend time together, to worship together and encourage each other afresh.

Monday 21 December 2009

News Update

We are encouraged to have about eight folk from the village coming regularly to special events we arrange and several of these are keeping in contact between times by coming into the cafe. It was good to welcome most of these to our Carol evening yesterday together with a few others from Todtnau and Schönau. We valued also the participation of our son Geoff with Ruth and Barney, Tim & Beatice. The picture shows some of the Utzenfeld villagers during a more serious moment of the proceedings.

Our Christmas arrangements with guests has developed in unexpected ways. A British couple expected are sadly now unable to come because of serious ill health, but over the Christmas/New Year period we are now expecting two individuals and a family from Switzerland.

We have had severe low temperatures and fairly substantial snow and were awaken last night by water cascading through the ceiling of our upstairs corridor, and to some degree down to the ground floor below, through a frozen pipe bursting and defrosting! Our work will be cut out to get everything dry and ship-shape before the first guest arrives on Christmas eve! There are no dull moments in Haus Barnabas but it is good too to see our Lord's providential timing of our problems. As friend Spurgeon once said, God makes his grace available in an unlimited way but metes out the gall and vinegar in carefully prescribed amounts.

Wednesday 16 December 2009

News Update

Snow has arrived here in the Black Forest. The attached photo was taken by one of our guests on the Feldberg last week. In the far distance is a clear view of the snow-capped Swiss Alps and on the Feldberg itself there was sufficient snow for skiing to have begun.
In Haus Barnabas we are engrossed in preparations for Christmas and also for the on-going work in 2010. We are planning for a Carol service in our lounge on Sunday evening which will be mainly in German but including well know English carols and are also busy printing our own Black Forest calendar which also includes information about the house particularly for those thinking of visiting next year. We are happy to send a copy of this to you without charge on request either by email to len.holder@haus-barnabas.com or by telephone in the UK to Rosemary Edwards on 01227 363857.
Len & Phyl plan to be in England again in January and all are invited to our 'Reunion' meeting at Stanmore Chapel, Marsh Lane, HA7 4HP on Saturday afternoon 23rd January, commencing at 14.30.

Saturday 28 November 2009

News update

During November Len & Phyl have been in Britain. It has been good to spend time with friends in different parts of the country, to take in Bible ministry for our own souls and enjoy Christian fellowship. However in these days of computers and the internet our office comes effectively with us and we have spent many hours preparing a power point presentation of the work and also a brochure/calendar for 2010, as well as catching up with some correspondance.
Our travels have taken us virtually the full length of Britain, from the south where we had the privilege of sharing about Haus Barnabas at a men (and women's) breakfast in the parish church hall in Patcham, to the north where after catching up our friends in the Baptist Church at Langley Park, Durham with the Lord's blessing on us in 2009, we were taken to see parts of the old Hadrian's wall, albeit in pouring rain! Among several highlights of our UK visit was a second annual reunion with friends in Yorkshire at Bethel Hall, Otley, and the kind hospitality of David & Margaret Harman in Ashford, who not only allowed us to use their home as a base and office but also welcomed various of our friends who came from quiet long distances to see us there.
The picture shows David and Margaret with granddaughter Grace during an October visit to Utzenfeld.

Sunday 1 November 2009

News update

Emily, seen here with Tom & Esther, has been a tremendous help to us in the house since the end of August. She is on a gap year before going on the study German and philosophy and when she leaves us during this month she will be working to raise funds for a three month stint in Uganda in a mission school with Mission Direct.
The Scripture text for our Sunday service was from Isaiah 30:18 - The Lord will wait that He may be gracious to you ... blessed are all those who who wait for Him. Often the Lord doesn't seem to be in hurry to answer our prayers but He knows the very best time seen from the many vantage points which He alone has access to. These words of promise are set within a chapter warning of the foolishness and sin of making our own plans and using our own initiative without reference to God and His word. Our deliverance and salvation is in returning to Him in restful trust when we will then find our strength through quiet peace and confidence in Him. (v 15).
November is a quiet time in Haus Barnabas as far as guests are concerned and Len and Phyl have various appointments in England.

Thursday 29 October 2009

News update

This past week has seen more activity in our garden than for any other week we've been here. We're extremely grateful to Andy Ninnis for his skill and hard work in rebuilding the 2 metre high dry stone wall which collapsed some months ago. (see picture). With his father's help he also felled six largish trees to let more sunshine into the garden and brought to light the old bowling alley of by-gone years. Peter Ninnis also contributed significantly to the spiritual ministry of the house in giving us an encouraging exposition of the book of Habakkuk in four sessions, which were ably interpreted into German by Deb. A full house of guests, including our Hungarian friend Gabriel and a local German bus driver appreciated this ministry greatly.
Also this week we have finalised arrangements with 'charitycards.co.uk' for the sale of Christmas cards with the Haus Barnabas logo which we would like to recommend for your interest as an additional way of supporting our work and ministry. The cards can be bought online through

Monday 19 October 2009

News update

We had a friend with us this past week whom we hadn't seen for 26 years. He very kindly told us we hadn't changed at all in the intervening period and wanted a few pictures of us. We've made one of them our blog picture for this week! At the end of this month we have a break from guests for a few weeks and are travelling across to Britain. We hope to get a bit of relaxation but have a guest reunion meeting in Otley, Yorkshire on 14th Nov - come and enjoy a Black Forest tea and an update on news and information - all are welcome, past guests, future guests and interested friends. See more information alongside here on blog spot. We also have a meeting at Langley Park, Durham on 17th and are speaking at a parish breakfast in Patcham, Sussex on 21st and at Herne Bay, Kent on 1st Dec.

Sunday 11 October 2009

News Update

Tom having enrolled for a second year of football training in the village is now playing short matches in the junior team against other local villages on a series of Saturday mornings this autumn. As the picture shows he is very proud of his kit, supplied by the village and with 'Utzenfeld' blazed across his back, and also his first real football boots. For his weekly training he wears an England shirt!! What will happen if he's ever chosen to represent the national German team?

This week we are providing the venu for the Utzenfeld pensioners' club's monthly meeting. This now happens several times a year. We provide food and drink and get to hear all the local gossip. This contact has also helped a number of the older folk to feel more comfortable about coming into our 'evangelical Christian' house. Some now come fairly regularly to our café and we were delighted when eight from the village came to the Marilyn Baker concert in September.

The second half of October becomes busier with guests before Len & Phyl come across to England in November. See details of our 'northern reunion' opposite.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

News Update

On Sunday our worship service concentrated on thanksgiving for harvest and all God's visible, material gifts to us. We noticed however that in Psalm 65 David praises God for both material and spiritual blessings and that the New Testament shows us that God's invisible blessings are eternal and therefore more important than His material blessings. (2 Cor 4:18). Our very simple harvest display, seen in the picture, illustrate His visible gifts given for the good of our bodies. They come to us with God's love, but the greatest demonstration of his love is His gift to us of His Son Jesus, through whom He gives us eternal life. When we know and receive this gift we begin to know God Himself, which should bring us to the position where we can be happy in Him whether the material gifts are there or not. The prayer of the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk illustrates this. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
After the service 17 of us enjoyed a fellowship lunch together.
Martin Leech from the European Missionary Fellowship was visiting us for the weekend and in our evening fellowship we valued hearing about EMF and its work. This led us into a time of earnest prayer for a movement of the Holy Spirit in revival across Europe and also more specificially in the lives of those we ourselves know and love.

Friday 25 September 2009

News Update

With fewer guests and the much appreciated practical help of Emily in the house, who is with us for about another ten weeks, Len has been able to spend a few hours on two days helping our son Dan construct new cupboards and book shelves in the manse the family are moving into for their new pastoral responsibilities. After ten years of ministry with the Swiss Reformed Church in Muhen, Canton Aagau, Dan and Martina were unanimously accepted by the Church in Riehen-Dorf, Basel as a husband and wife partnership to fill the vacancy of their retiring pastor. The picture shows the church with the large manse on the right. The whole family are excited about the move but it will of course involve a change of school for the three older children, Sophia, David and Benedict. The Riehen Church has a long-standing evangelical tradition and the manse itself has a claim to fame being the childhood home of Leonhard Euler an important Swiss Mathematician, born 17o7.
www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Euler.html. Tim has this week been in England to celebrate his father's 80th birthday but since his return has also spent a day assisting in the move. We wish Dan & Martina much blessing in their ministry in Riehen, Basel.

Monday 14 September 2009

News update

Tom and Esther return to school and kindergarten this week. Tom beginning his second school year and Esther continuing at the village kindergarten. After six weeks of speaking essentially English this sudden re-immersion into their respective German-speaking environments can be quite traumatic. We have been praying for them. Tom also begins another session of football training with other youngsters in the village, this term on Thursday evenings. They both have local friends who they often play with outside of school hours and Deb encourages this as much as possible.
Emily who is helping us in the house for four months is a great favourite with the two children at the moment and this should be particularly helpful when Deb re-commences her English-teaching afternoon sessions shortly.
We have been pleased to have a guest from Bendigo in Australia this past weekend and others from the UK are joining her on Tuesday. We have shared our lives with more people than ever before these summer months and although the house has no 'empty' days before the beginning of November these next few weeks look like being a little less hectic as far as guests are concerned.
We pray that the following comment in our guest book may have been true for many of those who have been with us - 'Thank you for encouraging us through your life' - after all we see this as one of the more important reasons for the existence of Haus Barnabas.

Tuesday 8 September 2009

News Update

A retreat week in Haus Barnabas entitled 'Encountering God' and led by Tracy Williamson and Marilyn Baker culminated in a public concert by Marilyn in which she sang her own songs and gave personal testimony, as a physically blind person, to God's love and grace in her life. This is now the fourth such concert Marilyn has led in Haus Barnabas over the past five years and her name is becoming known locally here. It was tremendously encouraging to us this past Sunday evening to see nine Utzenfeld villagers walking in groups of two and three to the concert, most of whom had never been to any 'spiritual' event in Haus Barnabas before. We feel the café has helped people to feel easier about coming to us, as four of those who came had been in the café that afternoon and received personal invitations to the concert.
A few weeks ago Marilyn had fallen off the platform on to the rail at Tonbridge station when her guide dog had underestimated the the amount of space she had needed to get around a group of workmen. She testified of God's providential protection in enabling the oncoming train to be stopped just in time and that she had no broken bones. A visit to the warm thermal baths whilst with us together with prayer had helped to relieve the pain and stiffness which were hindering her sleep pattern and we praise the Lord that she and ourselves and each of the group of ten who took part in the week had found blessing from it.

Sunday 30 August 2009

News Update for week commencing 31st August

The glorious summer weather has continued here this past week and our guests have enjoyed an active week, walking, sight-seeing and generally relaxing. The free use of public transport as a benefit of the compulsory local tax has again been greatly appreciated this summer and the picture shows our guests of last week eagerly waiting at the'Engel' bus stop for the 10.00 am bus to Titisee or where ever. The morning devotions, Wednesday evening Bible study and Sunday service and fellowship has been appreciated and the comment has been made, more than once: "coming on holiday in a group with other members of the Church has enabled us to get to know one another in a new way." Thankfully this has always been said in a positive way!!

Although we have had the café open less hours this year, we do, as happened again today, have a few ladies from the village coming in for scones, jam and cream! We pray some will choose to come to Marilyn Baker's concert next Sunday evening.

Emily is proving to be a tremendous practical help and the lads helping us in the past weeks have been great and greatly appreciated.

We are looking forward to, and preparing for, the retreat week with Tracy Williamson and Marilyn Baker due to begin Wed 2nd September, entitled 'Encountering God'.

Friday 28 August 2009

News Update

August is proving to be a month for groups in Haus Barnabas supplemented with additional guests. We have appreciated and valued the fellowship and input from a group from Nicholaston House, Swansea, (see picture), and this week a group of 11 from Essex and Cambridgeshire. It's so rewarding for us to see our guests relaxing as they get into their holiday and in 'becoming themselves' better able to take in nourishment from God's Word in a sincere way from the daily devotions, and contribute through their prayers and spiritual conversation for the mutual blessing of all.

Of interest for many of our friends is that this year for the first time we have seen a kingfisher on the stretch of the Wiese river by our house. Guests taking a walk before breakfast have reported this two days running. They have also been thrilled to see a family of dippers.

We have been pleased to welcome Emily this week who is now due to be with us for about four months on a voluntary basis as part of her gap year. We trust and pray we will all be of mutual blessing to each other and Emily may have opportunity to improve her German language skills.
Dave is with us for about another two weeks and the two young people are working and relaxing together well. Patrick left us on Wednesday to begin a job in Bern.

Wednesday 19 August 2009

News Upate

During outings with our guests to the Mainau - the Isle of Flowers on Lake Constance we will often deviate into the city of Constance to see the Huss Memorial Stone. John Huss was born in about 1380 in Bohemia and became a pastor in Prague and dean and rector of the university there. Being enlightened to biblical truths through the writings of the early English reformer John Wickliffe, he began to preach and teach in a new and vital way which soon brought the condemnation of the archbishop of Prague and eventually excommunication from the Church of Rome. The emperor sent him a certificate of promised safe-conduct to a Church Council in Constance in order that he might defend his views, but once he had arrived in Constance the pope refused to acknowledge the emperor's promise and John Huss was burnt at the stake as a heretic. A year later his loyalist supported Jerome of Prague was also martyred on the same spot. The stone seen in the picture above commemorates the spot where the two men died for their faith in Jesus and their steadfast belief that obedience to the teaching of the Bible was more important than adherance to religious traditions and what they saw to be a corrupted church system.

We are pleased to have a full house of guests for the rest of August and into the first week of September and there has been 20 of us around the meal table the last few evenings. It's good to have Tim & Deb and family back from holiday.

Monday 10 August 2009

News Update

Tim and Deb and children are having a weeks holiday on a campsite in France. We trust they have a really lovely, relaxing time. Len & Phyl are appreciating the help of Patrick in the house as three guests leave today, five more come Tuesday and then a further eight on Saturday. An increasing number of guests are using the Eurostar train to Paris and then the very fast TGV line to Mulhouse or Basel where we meet them.

It's a quiet time in Utzenfeld generally with school holidays and and some of the firms closing for holidays too, but the pensioners group which met in Haus Barnabas last week was well attended and with obvious activity in the restaurant a Swiss couple passing came in for ice coffees. We would very much like to be open more to the public as all coming into the house are confronted with evidence of our faith in Jesus and there are free bookets, Gospels and New Testaments to be picked up if they wish.

Patrick is helping us put the new website into German so hopefully very soon these pages will be added to the site.

Tuesday 4 August 2009

News Update

Last Sunday saw the largest gathering yet this summer in our lounge for our Sunday morning international service. There were four with us from the locality, one of whom was a gentleman with us for the first time who still had personal questions about fairly basic biblical issues of faith. We also had a couple from Holland and guests from north-west Wales, Cheshire, Bedford and London. After a day of fellowship there were 20 of us for the evening meal and we really sensed the 'house' was fulfilling it's ministry of bringing encouragement and blessing to the full spectrum of ages. The picture shows some of the Welsh group, who were with us for the week, at the Todtnau waterfall.
Dave leaves us this week, after contributing in many helpful ways in the every day chores as also in longer-term organisational aspects of the work. We hope to welcome him back with his wife Rachel in the not too distant future for a further spell of voluntary help but in the meantime Patrick, who is Swiss and from the Freie Evangelische Gemeinde in Balsthal is taking his place. We are very pleased to have Patrick with us and he is already showing his worth as a valuable 'Mitarbeiter'.

Sunday 26 July 2009

News Update

There is a path which no fowl knows
Nor vulture's eye has seen
A path beside a secluded river
Whose banks are always green -
For it is the way of prayer.
Holy Spirit, lead us there.
Amy Carmichael

Are we exploring this path? It takes time and quietness in our spirit, for first and foremost prayer is communion with our Lord. It's opening our hearts to Him and listening!

This past week has seen what we trust will prove to be the last stage in the 'healing' and restoration of one of our walls! It's a long story but over some years we were aware of increasing dampness in one of the original, nearly 2 ft thick, internal walls of the house. Eventually it was discovered that a hidden waste water pipe inside the wall behind the plaster was cracked and leaking. Thankfully we had insurance which covered this sort of damage but although the insurance company paid for the much of the repair work when they discovered fungal growth inside the wall and in some of the woodwork, caused by dampness over a long period, they opted out saying that fungal damage was not covered. It was pointed out to us that the 'disease' in our wall was similar to that described in Lev 14 where it is refered to as leprosy in the house. We left the wall open to dry, treated it chemically, prayed specifically that the treatment would 'heal' the 'disease' and eventually did some temporary plastering.
This year we've had a leak in another pipe which thankfully the insurance company accepted the responsibility to remedy. They decided that the most economical approach was to bypass the leak and to bring a new pipe into the down pipe in the above mentioned wall. Because this has meant opening up the wall again, they are this time paying for replastering the wall professionally and we have also been greatly encouraged to see that the inner wall has now dried out well and seems free from 'disease'. We praise God that we can recognise His hand on the whole situation and that he has given us a professionally restored wall at very little expense.

Sunday 19 July 2009

News Update

Have had a busy but encouraging week with guests. A Dutch couple with a knowledge of German were better able to appreciate a guided walk around the Feldberg with a German 'ranger' than many of our English-speaking guests, but a British missionary family from Tailand were able with them to enter into the interests of the bird and monkey park nearby at Steinen. The pictures were taken by Bernard Fidder our Dutch guest.

Since Wednesday we have been missing the help of Sarah but on Tuesday we look forward to welcoming Dave from the London School of Theology who is coming to help with practical things in the house until early August.

We found new encouragements from the book of Revelation in our Sunday morning service which as usual was preached in German with Phyl translating into English. Our heavenly Master is 'King of kings and Lord of lords' and we can be sure of the success of our service for Him in terms of the purposes He intends, as we follow Him and work with Him and don't allow ourselves to be distracted either by our own ideas or merely the expectations of others.

Monday 13 July 2009

News Update


Having worked on a new website off and on for many weeks we have now put it on-line and would draw your attention to it for your interest:www.haus-barnabas.com
The page detailing our guest rooms makes the following comment: “each guest room has been individualised with the name of a Christian whose life and writings have, under God, inspired and motivated us.” One of the rooms is named after Amy Carmichael and I have this week been reading her biography 'Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur' by Frank L Houghton and am finding it extremely challenging.
We pray that Haus Barnabas might be just as much used by God for the salvation and blessing of His children, in the particular way he chooses, as the home at Dohnavur in India was a century and more ago. However it is also clear that for this to happen our own attitudes, words and actions must be made to conform increasingly to those of our beloved Lord and Saviour.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire;
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
Amy Carmichael

Tuesday 7 July 2009

News Update

We are always pleased to have smaller or larger groups coming for holidays and retreats in Haus Barnabas and this past week we have very much enjoyed fellowship with a group of six from Herne Bay Evangelical Church. Although no longer in the prime of youth our friends enjoyed an active week as the pictures betray!

We have also been extremely grateful for the practical help of Sarah, whose school has allowed her to do 2 weeks work experience with us.

Monday 22 June 2009

News Update


This past week we were pleased to have a group of five Christian men among our guests, two of whom were totally blind and a third with only limited vision. The week went well and the enthusiasm for the daily devotions and prayers and Christian fellowship was refreshing and encouraging. One of the highlights of the week was the outing to the Toggenberg mountains in the Swiss Alps which included a cog-railway and a cable car up to about 7000 ft.

Monday 15 June 2009

News update


Thursday last week was a public holiday in the Roman Catholic areas of Germany for the celebration of Corpus Christi. The body of Christ in the Mass is honoured through beautiful flower petal arrangements in and around the churches and a procession accompanying the consecrated bread through the streets. We watched this in our local town of Schönau where the above picture was taken.

By way of contrast, we, as evangelical believers, are so thankful to be able to concentrate our thoughts on a risen Saviour whose powerful presence is with us each day and as we eat bread and drink wine in fellowship together in rememberance of His body broken for us it's wonderful to believe and know that His presence is not so much in the bread but in our hearts.

This week we have a group of five men as guests in the house, two of which are totally blind and one only partially sighted. On Sunday we sang 'When I stand in glory I shall see His face' and one of our blind brothers pointed out to us the particular blessing this glorious hope is to him.

Monday 8 June 2009

News Update

The big news for this past week is the arrival of our new (one-year old) car. It's a wonderful provision from the Lord and although we still have other urgent outstanding bills to meet it's tremendous blessing to have a vehicle free of debt and so suitable for the work. Our guests will appreciate the better comfort and the air conditioning!

This week we have the Utzenfeld ladies club coming for their monthly get together when we supply the venue and food and drink for up to 15 members. It's a valuable opportunity to keep in touch with the community and to get closer to some of the significant ladies of the village!

It's good to have Tim & Deb and family back from their England visit and the children are now back at school and kindergarten for the final half term before the summer holidays.

At our Sunday service we looked at the account in Rev 1 of John's vision of the risen Lord Jesus. Our Saviour plays so many roles for us in our lives. He is our Shepherd, our Lord and Master and our Friend and its wonderful to see Him too as the powerful King of kings assuring each of His local Churches that He is with them, His very appearance giving that confirmation that we are on the side of victory!

Tuesday 2 June 2009

News Update


We are very grateful to God for giving us a happy and we believe successful family week with a children's programme each evening. The week finished with a BBQ in the garden followed by a 'party-like' programme when the parents and other 'grown-ups' were able to hear and join in with the songs and games the children had learnt during the week. We were also challenged by the main points of the Bible teaching the children had received and by the testimony of 'Uncle Aldo' who shared with us how God had called him to faith in Jesus when a wild and desperate young man.

Work in the house continues this week with more sedate guests and we look forward to the return of Tim and Deb and Tom & Esther on Saturday.

Tuesday 26 May 2009

News Update


Although still awaiting the delivery of our new car were able to borrow our son Dan's 7-seater family Espace for the guest airport and train station pick-ups at the week end. Dan & Martina and 15 month-old John were leading a church group to Salzburg and we were looking after grandsons David and Benedict, while Sophia was with her aunt.

The house filled-up on Saturday with a total of 21 of us including David, Benedict and their friend Maximilian sleeping in a tent in the garden! With Tim & Deb & family in the UK, Phyl & Len were extremely grateful to have the help of various friends from Britain - some of you have been praying with us for the help we clearly needed and we are so thankful that God is meeting this need.

The emphasis this week is a children's Bible club week and our nephew David with his wife Liz and 2 young children are leading this very adequately. We have four other children together with their parents, the uncle of another child and an older teenager too. David and Christine organised the week for families connected with their weekly Children's Club and are also with us. It's proving an eventful week and we pray for lasting blessing.

The Sunday service was different and the emphasis was to explain as simply as possible how the Lord Jesus has removed the 'big curtain' of the Old Testament temple which separated the people from God because of His holiness and our sinfulness. Jesus returned to heaven after His death and resurrection (during this past week was 'ascension day') to sit with His Father on His throne as our Saviour and Friend and to hear our prayers. Hallelujah!

Monday 18 May 2009

News update


The Lord has graciously provided for us to order a 1 year-old 7-seater Renault Espace Grand. We now await it's arrival from Renault! With Tim and Deb and family leaving for the UK on Wednesday it would be very convenient for it to arrive by Tuesday afternoon although our garage doesn't give much hope of this. We'll see!

Among our guests this week have been a Baptist couple pastoring a church in Cumbria. What is encouraging is that their contact with us arose through a friend who has been circulating all the email addresses on a website of British churches recommending us on the basis of his own holiday at Haus Barnabas. Thank you Jeff.

On Sunday mornings I'm beginning to preach a series on Revelation. Today was chapter 1:7 – 'Look, He is coming with the clouds .... '. John uses the present tense for this statement. Although written 2000 years it was present then and is still present today. Jesus is coming back again! All that He has been doing and is doing is in preparation for His coming and in this sense it is the present tense; He is on the way! Are we living and working towards this too?

Monday 11 May 2009

News Update


Another eventful week - Our older Mitsubishi van effectively died on us after achieving more than 260,000 km and at the beginning of the week the only possible option for replacing it seemed to be some form of leasing arrangement. Remarkably before the week had passed our heavenly Master had indicated through promised provision from His children that we could go ahead and find a suitable vehicle to buy. As we have so often proved, we have a loving, faithful Lord whom we can trust to provide what's needed in His service. More exciting details next week!!

We have valued the fellowship and prayerful interest of our guests this week. Derek Prime, who was pastor of Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh for many years, is with us and a couple who helped us, (Len and Phyl), to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary two years ago are with us again and they invited a teacher from the Black Forest academy who they met at the Faith Academy, Philippines to join them for the weekend. On Sunday we all enjoyed wonderfully encouraging fellowship together and sensed very much our oneness together in the Lord Jesus. The afternoon saw a walk above Schönau around the hills of the Holzer Kreuz, familiar to many of our guests and illustrated in our picture.

Sunday 3 May 2009

News update


This past week has been an eventful one for us and we want to thank and praise God for a number of significant happenings:

1. Pastor Peter Ninnis gave us a helpful study on the Old Testament book of Ruth. He preached from Ruth chapter 1 in our morning service last Sunday and then gave us three further studies on the following three chapters on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. These expositions with helpful application for our faith and practise today were ably interpreted by Deb into German and were appreciated by both English and German guests in the house and one or two German friends coming in each evening. We would like to think that this can be the first of similar weeks of Bible ministry!

2. The installation of our new hot water and central-heating boiler was completed at the beginning of the week and proved itself very satisfactory until after the last guest had left on Friday when a significant part failed on Saturday leaving us without hot water or heating over the weekend. Our heating engineer was prepared to motor 30 miles to Freiburg on Sunday to fetch the necessary part to install but we told him we had no guests over the weekend and Monday would be soon enough, which he appreciated! New guests are due to arrive Tuesday.

3. John Lowther had worked hard on the en suite bathroom in Tim's old office in the roof and when he left on Wednesday there were only a few details for us to finish off before the room can be used by the 'helpers' coming to work with us at the end of the month when Tim and Deb and family are in the UK. Please pray with us about this week 23rd -30th May. We have a group of ten coming from Essex including 5 children. Several of the children are a 'Good News Club' and their parents are with them. David & Liz MacCann and family are coming to provide a programme for the children each evening and we are praying that this together with our Sunday service and the general witness of the house may be a real blessing to the whole group.

The guests had a very successful visit to Mainau, the Isle of Flowers, on Lake Constance with Tim this week, when the the snow covered Swiss Alps could be clearly seen across the lake to the south, the orchid house full of hundreds of blumes and the island's gardens and fields full of colour.

Guest bookings for the whole period May to October have continued to come in most days this week and we have had the first two bookings for the Tracy and Marilyn retreat week entitled an 'Encountering God renewal break' 1st -7th September.

Sunday 19 April 2009

News update

This week in addition to four guests we are pleased to have a good friend from Wales with us helping practically with the completion, we trust, of an en suite bathroom in staff accommodation on the second floor. We value greatly this form of voluntary practical help as there are a variety of jobs needing to be done. We would like to get some trees felled this year so any experienced voluntary help for this would be valued!!

The installation of our new boiler is going to scheduled. We were relieved that they managed to get us hot water by Friday evening and now Monday should see the central heating radiators warm again. Thankfully the weather has been mild and we have our wood fired tiled oven downstairs which has maintained some warmth in the house.

It was good to have the café open over Easter and the warm sunshine enabled us to have tables outside which attracted several passers by. Two-tone yellow pansies in our car-park flower boxes are giving a nice splash of spring colour while in the forest it's good to see new growth driving away the drabness of winter and wood anemones, violets, celandines and ladies smock adding their colour to the fresh green of the opening leaves. However a little higher up the valley there is still snow up to your knees as I discovered with Tom and Esther when we went searching for frogspawn earlier in the week.

We are sorry that the Bible ministry planned to begin this Thursday has had to be cancelled due to Peter Ninnis suffering a minor stroke. He and his wife Marion have still been able to come to us as planned but it was considered wise to allow Peter a complete holiday rather than the seven nights of Bible ministry he had hoped to give us. Our times are in God's hands!

Len & Phyl & Tim & Deb

Sunday 12 April 2009

A wonderful provision from God

This week we are expecting to have a new boiler for hot water and central heating installed in Haus Barnabas. We praise the Lord for His gracious provision. It seemed an impossibility when we first contemplated this need! The sequence of events leading up to this miraculous provision runs something like this.

Last autumn a heating consultant whilst on holiday here without any prompting by us, took an interest in our heating system with the intention of helping us to reduce heating costs which are big! We sent him facts of the amounts of oil consumed at different times of year and he made several practical suggestions as to how to run things more efficiently. However he came basically to the conclusion that our old burner was an 'oil guzzler'!

At the same time our local heating engineer who had installed the system in 1968 and serviced the boiler each year was warning us it could give out without warning any time. Also it needed each year to pass a test in regard to exhaust fumes and in 2007 it failed on this although thankfully just scrapped through after being re serviced. Providentially it passed again in 2008.

After some discussion our heating consultant friend generously offered to finance half the cost of a complete new boiler if we could find the other half of the cost.

Five year ago we had paid to bring gas into the cellar when they were taking it into the house opposite and were advised this type of fuel would be an advantage for us.

We discussed our present needs with our local heating engineer and he gave us a quotation of a minimum of 18,000 Euro and nearly 1,000 more if we opted for a bigger boiler which we would recommend. We mentioned the situation in a letter to 'friends of Haus Barnabas' and then in our general newsletter. The following is part of a letter from a regular guest who has become a close friend and faithful prayer supporter:

'I'm writing to let you know that I have today sent a cheque for £8,000 to Bible in Action Trust to go towards your new boiler - No I am not a millionaire but I lost money on an investment and decided to withdraw the remaining funds and place my treasure in heaven. I have thought and sought wisdom from the Lord and this is the decision I have come to; so it gives me great pleasure to help you.
'

We informed our heating consultant friend of this gift I had the following email from him:

I am so glad that the Lord has answered your prayers. I will send a cheque to Peter tomorrow. Please can you tell me the balance required, as after conversion to pounds it may come to more than £16,000. If as a result of exchange rate changes or charges for moving money around, there is any deficit in the total, I will make it good later.

Yours in Christ,

We knew that the installation of the new boiler and all that involved with this would take the best part of a working week and since we would be without hot water or heating for those days the timing for the installation would obviously be important with regard to guests in the house. A family group due to come the week after Easter cancelled at the last moment because of illness and when I spoke to our heating engineer remarkably he said he would be able to schedule the work for this period.

A further factor in the best timing of the installation of the new system is the avoidance of the waste of expensive heating oil. We normally have to buy this 5000 litres at a time, but because of lack of funds the last order was for 2500 litres only. This ran out a week ago and since then we have been able to feed the old boiler from a measured supply in a canister.

We have been told that we should have heating and warm water again by next weekend when we are expecting new guests.

Surely we can see the Lord's hand in all this and we praise Him for His care and provision. We continue to look to Him for His further over-ruling and providential care until the job is completed and finally paid for.

This provision has encouraged us to pray on in faith for other pressing needs.

Yours in our Lord's service,

Len & Phyl Holder & Tim & Deb Brooks