Moritzburg, Germany Part 1

As most of you know, I just returned from a ten day trip to Germany with a ministry called Come Before Winter. This is my fourth trip with this ministry. So far, on all four trips, I have gone as the praise leader. This was, however, the ninth trip the team has made.

I've tried to figure out an easy way to describe my trip and I think I've decided on captioned pictures. So, if you are interested in learning more about Come Before Winter, and about this trip specifically, then continue reading this post. I hope to cover as much as I can. (Don't worry, I will not post all of the 800+ pictures from the trip. I'll try to cull it down and use the ones that are the best at telling the story.)


Moritzburg, Germany is located about 20 minutes outside of Dresden in the Eastern side of Germany. The town, Moritzburg, is named for this castle, or rather, hunting lodge. If I understand correctly it was the hunting lodge of August the Strong, who was emperor or something. We did not get to stay in this "lodge", but we did stay in a hunting lodge, it just wasn't quite as elaborate.



The location could not have been more perfect. The hotel was beautiful and the service was beyond impeccable. As noted by the sign on the door of the hotel, it was closed the week we were there for an "International Conference", so we had the whole place to ourselves, which was an added bonus.

Our team of 14 arrived on Sat. Nov. 5 mid-afternoon. We unpacked, looked around and had tea. After dinner, we all crashed, which helped tremendously with the jetlag. Sunday was our Sabbath. We worshipped together, had down time, some had naps, it was a very restful day. We began working on our preparations about 5pm until dinner.

Monday morning was spent finishing preparations for the women to arrive. 37 women arrived Monday afternoon between 3 & 5pm.

When the women arrive, they receive a bag that has their name embroidered on it (see picture). In the bag are all their supplies they will need for the week (study guides, quiet time notes, a songbook) each of them personalized with their name on it. Also included are snacks (Rice Krispie Treats, Rolos, etc.), kleenex (a much needed commodity at any CBW renewal), pencils, and gifts (keychains from Brazil -- more on that later). At this point, they are a little overcome by all of the gifts that they did not expect. (Read Part 2 to learn more about gifts, and specifically how Brazil plays into the equation.)



At 5pm we began with our first session. This included a welcome, an extended praise time, introduction of the team and an overview of what is expected of them that week. As usual, this did not go quite as planned and so the 2 hour worship time was split in 2 parts with dinner in the middle (to allow for the latecomers to arrive).

Let me give you an idea of what is expected of them. They are asked to attend all of the sessions (except those specified as optional). They are asked to be completely here (which means turning off cell phones). They are asked to receive the gift of sabbath that has been offered to them by supporters of CBW (the only thing they have to pay is to get to the site -- everything else is covered by CBW supporters). They are told that they are not expected to be in charge of anything (for many of them, this is a huge relief, because they spend all of their time at home "on" - so to speak: giving, teaching, mentoring, counseling, etc.). And they are asked to be open to what the Lord wants to teach them.

Tuesday and Wednesday are very similar. They begin with breakfast, followed by praise time. Praise time is of course, a highlight for me, to be with these women in such a meaningful and moving way. But it is even more of a highlight for them. So many of them express gratitude for the time they get to worship through song in their heart language. One woman was a worship leader at her congregation and she was so excited to not have to be in front, but to be able to focus on communing with the Lord. What a blessing!

After praise time, the women are given an entire hour to be alone with God. We provide them with an outline they can use during this time, but it's not required. This hour each morning is one of the things the women love the most.



After quiet time, we have our equipping sessions. These vary in how they "look" each day, but the teaching is the same. We spent the week in the book of Philippians, learning and experiencing exegesis through lectures, case studies, small group time, etc. After lunch, there is free time till 5pm when they come back for another equipping session before dinner.

Each of the team members has a "cluster". These are 2-3 women who we have been praying for since they registered. After dinner each night, we get together with our clusters and discuss the day and pray together. There's more about clusters later.

Thursday is the culmination of the equipping. This is when the women share the main point of the section they have been studying, along with their "Monday Meaning" -- how they are going to apply what they learned to their lives on Monday morning. Each woman gets up in turn to share this with the entire group. This is a very emotional time, as well as a very refreshing time. For me, it's amazing to watch 37 women study the same section of scripture and apply it to their lives in such unique and different ways.

Once the stress of Thursday is over (usually around 3:30 or so), the women get some free time, followed by dinner, followed by a great stress reliever. A party! The party in Germany had the theme "Country Round Up". We brought queso (velveeta/rotel), tortilla chips, and moon pies. The chefs prepared the queso for us (they did think it a little odd that cheese did not need to be refrigerated). We played country music, all wore bandanas and let loose. It was so fun! The women loved it! See the pictures below.

Relieving a little stress with the Chicken Dance.


This is teammate Jana on the chair making the announcements for the party in her biggest southern drawl. After a few minutes, one of the ladies from Italy (native) said loudly, "Speak English Please!" Everyone cracked up. Instead of Jana speaking "english", Jeanene decided to translate for her. It was so funny!


Hilde, a Norwegian working in the Netherlands with YWAM, won the Chicken Dance prize.

The party lasted late (11ish). Everyone was exhausted when they finally made their way to bed.

Friday is the "Closing Ceremonies". This is probably the most meaningful time of the renewal. The women return to the meeting room from their final hour of quiet time to a circle of chairs (only enough chairs for them). The team stands on the outside of the circle. One by one, the team takes turns blessing the women in our cluster. This involves taking a pillow, kneeling in front of them and reading a blessing/prayer that we have written specifically for them. There are many tears and many hugs.




The Prayer Team (women on our team who came for the sole purpose of praying with/for the women throughout the week) complete the blessing time by reading selected passages from the Bible, making the words of the Lord the last thing they hear from us. It is truly an incredible time.

Lunch follows the blessing time and then the team retreats to our rooms, with the intention of making good-byes as short and sweet as possible. We know the lives of these women are filled with heartwrenching good-byes and we don't want to add to the stress of another one.

There are so many things I left out. Maybe if I think of something else I think is relevant to the story, I'll post it later. This one is long enough and I applaud you if you have made it this far.

Thank you to so many of you who went on this journey with me, through your prayers and support. I hope that this gives you a better picture of what it is we do and how it blesses these women who have given so much of themselves for the Kingdom.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

As I'm finishing this post, I realized I have not even written anything about the cloak, the missionary ambassador or the gifts. As this is such a vital part of this ministry, I will devote the next post to this. However, this may not happen until tomorrow. We'll see.


Here's my cluster: Erin (Croatia), Rosaria (Italy), Molly (Germany) and myself