Quincy and Ashley

My job is a little different from quincy's to say the least.  I am assistant to the Chef here at school, as well as the assistant to the Campus Operation Manager.  My two assistant positions are quite different but equally important to the campus life. 

Assistant Chef---That means I am in charge of helping Hilde(the chef) prepare the daily lunches for the students and staff: gathering all the ingredients for meals from the Kuhl Haus (the big refrigerator); choping fresh vegetables everyday for our salad bar; making salad dressings; preparing the dinning hall(setting the tables and such); constantly running the dishes washer to maintain a hygenic atmostphere; and really anything else I need to do.  This may all sound fairly easy but I am up on my feet from 8:30 am until 2:00pm in the kitchen with about a fifteen minute break for coffee, and about twenty minutes for lunch.  On top of assisting the Chef, Hilde, I am in charge of ALL coffee breaks for student and faculty.  This is the scary part because if something goes wrong it's on me, and when people want there coffee and tea here, they are serious.  The coffee break consists of hot coffee and tea, cookies, fruit, and lots of refills.

Assistant to Campus Operation Manager---This job starts immediately after I finish in the kitchen.  I report to Ingrid, also new on campus and trying to find her way with her new position.  My daily duties consist of preparing rooms for any guests on campus; cleaning after the guests leave; laundering all kitchen towels sponges ect; laundering all beding from guests; ironing all tea towels used by kitchen and both girls and guys dorms; refilling all cleaning supplies and cleaning corners on campus; and really anything else that Ingrid asks me to do.  The problem with this job is that it is probably a two person job and by the time I get to this work, I'm already tired from all the other tasks I've been doing.

As challenging as this work is, I really feel like I am serving God, and the campus here.  I get a lot of interaction with the students and faculty throughout the day, as well as developing a friendship with the chef.  The chef,Hilde, is a new christian, and while she does proclaims to be a christian, for some reason has stayed away from going to church her whole life.   This is a very common regiment for the Swiss-German population.  I hope that throughout this year, God can use me and Quincy to reach Hilde and her family.  Well, i hope this gives a little better picture of what I do here everyday.  If you think about me throughout your day, please pray for me in all this unfamiliar territory of work and home.  God Stretches me daily through my work and I feel secure in his will.  And check out some of the pics of my work.  Blessings-ash

     My work has a lot of different meanings...I'm a gardner, apple picker, trash/compost man, bike repair man, furniture mover & soon to be a carpenter.   Once the winter is hear I will be assisting in finishing what a work & witness team from Ohio started.  There are  some apartments for guests & missionaries that are in the rough-in stage that need to be finished before Spring. Since it does snow hear in Switzerland I will also be snow plowing/shoveling when the snow falls.

     There is much to do hear on campus & not possible for only one person.  Uwa is the person I answer to.  Uwa is the person you go to if you have any question related to the campus.  He has been here for 30+ years.  I have a list of projects that Uwa has given me to do but he has told me to work at my own pace.  Of course he tells me not to work too hard, so i'm to take two coffee breaks during the day with the faculty-staff-students...i'm not complaining!  Me being here has taken the load off Uwa & allows ALL the things that need attention to be taken care of.  It has been hard work but very rewarding.  Thank you all for your prayers & support.

     I've put some pictures of my projects on the link to the left that says Q projects.  Make sure and read the discriptions below the pictures.

Quincy

We are really feeling challenged here with the community because we do not speak German.....we thought that we would be taking German classes immediately BUT as it turns out not enough students signed up so we must now wait till the spring.  This is hard for a lot of different reasons including the fact that: both of the people we work under are German, all of the people in the town of Busingen speak Swiss-German, and to reach the people we come in contact with we must know there language.  We have picked up the basics to get around the town and go to the grocery store but we have hit a wall.   I guess the real prayer request we have, having said all that is: Lord use us through our weakness of not knowing the language, but also Lord give us the knowledge to begin to study German on our own.  Send the right people our way to help us, and stretch us in our own knowledge and understanding.  We really appreciate the prayer support thus far.  We have felt Gods hand on every situation we have been in, and are having a fairly easy time adapting to our surroundings.  Don't get me wrong though, we have been stretched daily, and feel very frustrated and vulnerable at times, but it seems that God has really been able to work through our weakness so far.   We will keep the updates coming to you and feel encouraged by all the posts.  Also let us know if there is a prayer request we can be praying for. 

Q&A 

Our e-mail

 qnapickering@eunc.edu

Our Mailing Address

 Kapellenweg 1

Ch-8238

Busingen, Switzerland

Quincy's email ----- quincytaylor@hotmail.com

Ashley's email ----- ashleyaer@hotmail.com

Our email addresses will be changing as of the middle of August but up until we leave for Switzerland, we will be checking them on a regular basis.  If you have any questions just let us know.

Donation information

Since we are considered Short Term Missionaries, we are required by the Church of the Nazarene to get the support financially from our churches.  This is, second to prayer, the most important part of us being able to go and serve overseas.  While it is not the easiest and most enjoyable to ask others for support, we have really felt God's guidance through the whole process. 

We need 50% pledged and or given before we leave.  As of the pressent, we are still a couple thousand short of meeting our half way goal of $6000.  We hope to have the full amount of $12000 pledged and or donated before we embark on this journey.  It has been an amazing experience to get up in front of our church family, and share what God has been teaches us over the last year.

To make a donation to help fund the ministry that we will be doing for the next year, please make all donations to the General Treasurer of the Church of the Nazarene.  They will have an account set up for us to receive money.  In order for us to get the money, there MUST to be 3 things on the checks: To- General Treasurer of the Church of the Nazarene; Memo- Volunteer EUNC ; AND our names (Quincy and Ashley Pickering).  The address to the General Treasury of the Chruch of the Nazarene is as follows:

6401 the Paseo

Kansas City MO, 64131

We are trusting in God thrughout this whole process and ask for your prayers in these last couple of weeks before the big move.  We need your support, both in prayer and finances!!!! 

Thanx for your faithfulness to the ministry of the Church abroad