Dear People of God at Calvary,
I cannot thank you enough for the care packages that you sent to our unit in the past weeks. Some of the soldiers are so impressed by your generosity that they want to come to Calvary when we return to personally thank you for your kindness. These packages not only sustain us, they also show us who and what the church is. They show us what the church does. They remind us in a way that we can touch, and taste, and smell, that we are united to Christians throughout all time and space. You are truly a witness of the body of Christ to me and to the whole unit.

Unfortunately I have not been able to communicate with you as much as I’ve wanted. Even though people have been in this area for years, I still have limited access to phone and reliable internet. Although I haven’t been in contact with you, please know that I think of you daily. I pray for you each night when I pray evening prayer. Your names are on my lips during the prayers of the faithful during our little Sunday worship services (which by the way are growing)! We had 47 people in worship tonight…and another baptism! Tonight we did the whole liturgy “live.” We did it with two guitars and a small keyboard. In the past, I’d been plugging my ipod into a speaker to “lead” the liturgy. Today was an exciting Sunday for us. It’s amazing to see the ways we’ve grown since we began this journey. We worship at 5 pm, so we literally are praying with many of you on your Sunday morning.

After worship, many of us eat together at the dining facility. We’re creating a small family here, and it is wonderful to see people who have never been involved in church joining together around a table to continue our Eucharistic celebration. And we join you at the table as well. We join you with all our joys and our sorrows. We have had plenty of trials already, including a freak accident last week. We are all physically safe, but we are still in need of healing. Please keep us in prayer as we do you. We are all deeply grateful for your partnership in ministry, and we look forward to the day when some of us will see you face to face.

I miss you all very much, I love you deeply, and I am so grateful for your continued presence in my life.

Your grateful & faithful,
Pastor Kerstin

Statement of Our Faith