Christmas News Letter 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

Christmas caroling can be heard everywhere. Can we fully comprehend the coming of God to earth in the form of baby Jesus? On December 19, the little choir we are a part of sang the Negro spiritual “He Come from the Glory” at our Gateway Community Church (a.m.) and at the community service (p.m.); and on Christmas Eve we sang the cantata “He is Born” in the two services of our church.

Many of you had a part in seeing our children grow up, so we want to include their pictures. How grateful we are that we could house-sit in Niverville, next to Deedee and Greg and their 3 teens, for the past two winters. Our oldest grandson, Connor, is studying at the Torchbearers in Capernway, England. Now, during the holidays, he is visiting Hardy’s nieces and nephews and their families in Germany… and in those weather conditions!

Scott and Daralee are constantly on the go with their 6 children. They are an outdoors family. Hardy went ice-fishing twice with them recently.

We happily share Delanie’s great news of her engagement to a wonderful Englishman. She and Max are busily planning their wedding for August 20, 2011, in Kandern, Germany.

Our 10th grandchild, Finlay, will be 2 years old in January. Dorina and Dion have a landscaping and snow  removal business which includes the Waterloo-Kitchener Airport. Dion is much in demand these days, sometimes working up to 48 hours around the clock.

An unforgettable experience this past August was touring with the Jubilance Singers and Orchestra through Switzerland and Germany, with a brief detour to Strasbourg, France. Hardy translated and Irene sang in the choir (see http://www.jubilance.ca/).

Frequently, we are asked if we are going to Micronesia again. As you may recall, we were teaching in the Pacific Islands Bible School on Weno, Chuuk. The larger Bible school with dorms was on the island of Tol and could only be reached by boat. These colleges, as well as the main college in Guam, were up for accreditation renewal. However, the island colleges could not pass the standard and would thereby have hindered Guam. They were temporarily dropped and a rift took place. The dorm college has continued without financial assistance as Faithwalk Christian College. The college in Guam is now Pacific Islands University (see http://piu.edu/). We are so happy to continue to have many contacts with our former students. Please keep the schools and students in your prayers.

Accreditation makes it possible for the students to get a Pell Grant from the States. Chuukese students are still going to Guam for further education. However, they need to pass a TOEFL test. English teachers are needed.

So, are we going to Micronesia again? Well, we just received an invitation from the PIU on Guam to go and teach on the island of Yap this coming spring semester. We are willing; and if all the bureaucracy (visas, medical, airline tickets, course preparation, finances etc.) works out, we should be on our way - probably for 3 months at the most. Please pray with us for the Lord to guide us in all these matters!

Snow is softly falling and the temperature is -30 °C according to the Weathernet on the computer, but we are “snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug” in our apartment on the 3rd floor of Happy Creek Estates (with a view of the Rockies). The forest where we can go for hikes is almost at our doorstep. We are one block from Hwy 16 (the Yellowhead). Look for the huge Canadian flag at the Husky gas station; we are right behind it. Give us a call (see below), we can meet you or you come here. It would be nice to see you.
Thank you for your Christmas cards, letters, and emails!

Always grateful to the many who have encouraged us through prayer and in numerous kindnesses these many years, we commend you to Jesus our faithful Lord.

May His peace and joy be yours at this Christmastime and throughout 2011!

Hardy and Irene Sunderwald

612-135 Mountain Street

Hinton AB, T7V 0B5 - CANADA

Tel.: +1-780-865-0131

E-mail: sunderwald@yahoo.com

Overheard at a Liebenzell Missions Conference in Germany

Sunday, September 12, 2010, Liebenzell Mission International

Fall Missions Festival in Bad Liebenzell, Germany, in the northern Black Forest.

The event, under the motto of “Being Genuine”, started with a service in the tent, with Hans Peter Royer giving the message. Royer is the director of the Torchearers’ “Tauernhof” in the Austrian ski resort of Schladming. In addition, he is working as a mountain guide and as an author of books. In his message Royer reminded us that there are Christians who see their faith as an employment contract. Their profession, career and family already put quite a strain on them, so that it becomes an extra burden for them as Christians to be actively involved in the church or in their community. However, these people have succumbed to a misunderstanding: “Jesus Christ calls people to Himself, in order to give them life, not to put extra burdens on them. He wants to be neither number one nor number five in our list of activities. He wants to be the Lord who goes with us into all tasks assigned to us,” said the speaker. He emphasized that God’s love is without limits. Many people have difficulties with this because they do not know such a love from their own life experiences. “Human love always remains tied to conditions. God’s love goes beyond our thinking and experiences. Only when people internalize this love of Christ, will they be free to be what God created them for. Then they can live as joyful children of God,” said Royer.

European Tour with Jubilance Singers & Orchestra, August 2010

Hello, dear Friends,                                                                     August 24, 2010

Would you believe it? The Sunderwalds are presently in Europe! It happened quite suddenly. On Tuesday, August 10, we received a phone call from the Liebenzell Mission in Canada. On Wednesday we drove five hours to Calgary, stayed there overnight with friends and were already in the air - from Calgary to London - on Thursday.

It came about like this: We were in the midst of furnishing our new apartment (from IKEA, Edmonton) in Hinton, Alberta, when the phone call came. The Jubilance Singers and Orchestra (see www.jubilance.ca), a non-profit missionary organization made up of born-again singers & musicians of all ages, were going on a European tour and needed an interpreter for the German speaking part of it (mainly Switzerland and Germany). We joined the group in Geneva, Switzerland, on Saturday, August 14. Our tour through Switzerland took us to Romanshorn, Winterthur, back to Geneva, to Lucerne and Interlaken; then to Germany: Crailsheim, Bad Liebenzell, Pforzheim, a side trip to Strasbourg in France, then Freudenstadt, Muellheim, Rimbach, Hildesheim and Hamburg.

While Irene joined the choir, Hardy was not only interpreting but also preaching in the open air and giving devotionals. Irene was also asked to put together a program part for the children that would attend the open air performance in Hamburg. She wrote a script about The Prodigal Son for some Jubilance members to act out. Needless to say, it was enjoyed by kids and adults alike!

Presently, we are with our daughter (and her fiancé) in London, England, trying to recuperate after that whirlwind tour. On August 30, we'll fly to Toronto to spend some days with our youngest daughter and family in Ayr, Ontario, before returning to Calgary and the five-hour car drive back to Hinton. There, we hope to set up our apartment and take up a more "normal" life again.

 

You can find 62 pictures related to the Jubilance tour on my Facebook entry (under Hardy Sunderwald).

 

Love and God's blessing to all,

 

Hardy and Irene

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Hello, Everyone!

This is my first entry on my Blog. Here I plan to share my thoughts, experiences and observations from travels and daily life, with an emphasis on God's great faithfulness.

Currently I'm visiting my daughter in England with my wife after a whirlwind tour of Switzerland, France and Germany with Jubilance Singers and Orchestra - more on that later!

Yesterday we had a scrumptious supper:  Angus burgers topped with bacon and cheese, served with french fries and a mushroom gravy and a salad - yum!

This picture is of my first rugby game. It was a charity match played by my soon-to-be son-in-law for Twickenham (in red and black) versus Egham (in green). The teams got together in order to raise money for one of the Egham team members whose son has leukemia.  "Ts" won by six points!

Later we rewarded ourselves with fish and chips at The Three Horseshoes in Laleham.

For tomorrow I will go to mass, which should be interesting for me as a Free Church Pastor, while my wife and daughter will attend Duke Street Church close by.

More to come!

Dr Hardy