In August, I took Samantha to the states. She officially left the nest. It was hard on me as a dad. Samantha was like, "Bye Daddy, see ya later." This Dad shed many a tear on the way from OH to GA watching my little girl driving with her little sister in my rearview mirror, especially since Samantha hadn't had much of a chance to develop the needed driving skills to drive through cities on the scale of Columbus and Cincinnati.

She is staying in a wonderful home built to help missionary kids transition from the mission field to America. They were a great help and relieved a lot of my "letting go" angst.
I am very grateful for the special offerings for our car needs, my father in law's assistance in acquiring a good first car for Samantha's launch into college life, and the many people praying and helping along the way.

While in America, I reported to two churches we have not been able to revisit since becoming missionaries. Our support is spread out across the states. I visited 7 other supporters, a new Church plant in MO, and visited a college buddy who is starting a church in IA. They were three very busy weeks. From IA to OH to GA to MO and back to IA.

Upon returning to Germany, I had a short jetlag recovery and then started back into the swing of it all. I was privileged to speak to the parents of the entire school at the opening of the new year. Such an opportunity to spread the gospel is incredible. 10 min from law to grace. One of the Christian teachers stated that one nonbelieving parent was on the fence concerning the school, but those 10 min clinched the deal.

The next adventure was a three-day outing with 50 fifth graders. I served as the only male counselor, baseball coach, policeman, guitar player, paracord bracelet instructor and pastor. A fun-packed marathon! Teaching baseball to that many kids at once was fun, but the highlight was making those bracelets. With every knot in every bracelet, I taught that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” I always wanted to use my passion for tying knots to illustrate the gospel and here I was teaching fifth graders the gospel with more than 50 knots per kid, topping it off with three devotions reiterating those truths. I am excited to have several of the fifth graders coming to our weekly baseball now, where I have more time to share Christ with them.

I am excited about the growth in those who are in our church’s discipleship classes. I am grateful that Skyler and Johannes could fill in during my absence. Please pray for Skyler's health. He is taking part in clinical studies using an experimental medication for crohn’s. The emotional yo-yo ride of this sickness is wearing.

So thankful for all you do to help us do what we do,

The Sudbrock Family Aug-Oct