My March Madness

Escape Update
Thanks for praying me through Escape. Students heard about Jesus and many responded to the Sprit's moving. Our speaker talked a lot about forgiveness, both God's forgiveness and our need to ask for and offer forgiveness to the people in our lives. Many students went home and had some pretty deep conversations with family members on the topic of forgiveness. Praise God for not only stirring hearts, but giving students boldness to process and act on His stirrings. Our Ramstein students came home desiring to be known as a "youth group that likes to laugh together and be serious about studying God's Word together." We've got a pretty great group.

For the first time in many years, we made 0 trips to the hospital! 274 people and no injuries that a band aid or pepto couldn't take care of. Thank you Lord!

March Madness... but not the fun basketball kind

We started the month of March off with an Amazing Race like scavenger hunt for our high schoolers. The hunt took us all over Ramstein and some surrounding towns, to forests, climbing walls, lakes and abandoned logging trails. My team came in first!

And here's where the craziness begins...
I went to bed the night of the scavenger hunt exhausted. I chalked it up to running around all day. The next morning I woke up with a fever and headache, and proceeded to lay in bed for two days. My fever broke, but I continued to have a headache, swollen lymph nodes and feel tired. The following weekend, my landlord stopped by to tell me about some work he's going to do on our place. In the middle of the conversation, I felt myself get dizzy and lightheaded, and the next thing I knew, I woke up on the ground. I fainted and fell face first on the floor, splitting my chin open. I ended up going to the ER and got 8 stitches! It's healed quiet nicely though, I posted a few pictures below (sorry if it make you queazy).

A few days later I broke out in hives and was still struggling with fatigue. I finally decided that I should go see a doctor and get checked out. The doctor ordered a very comprehensive lab check, and they took 3 tubes of blood. I went back in a few days later, expecting to be told I had some sort of vitamin or iron deficiency, and to my surprise, they said all my vitamin levels were very normal. However, my liver enzymes came back abnormally high. The doctor ordered a few more tests and I went home to sleep. The labs came back negative, and I continued to sleep a lot. A few mornings later, I woke up with white spots on the back of my throat and after googling and webMD'ing, I went back to the clinic fairly confident that I had mono. (Did you know flu like symptoms, skin rashes, white spots and excessive sleeping are ALL symptoms of mono?) The doctor ran a few more tests, and called the the following day to confirm that I tested positive for mono.

Case solved. I was pretty thankful to have a firm diagnosis, as the week of waiting and extra tests was a bit nerve-wracking. I have no idea how I contracted it. There's no medicine, only sleep. It's estimated to last anywhere from 3-6 weeks. I'd suspect that I'm about halfway into it, though I'm not certain of then it officially began. I'd appreciate prayers for good rest. Please also pray for my co-workers, Kevin and Sharon, as they pick up a heavier load since I've been pretty absent from the office, and unable to help at youth groups and Bible studies.

Getting out of God's Way

Lessons from giggly middle school girls

I lead a middle school girl's Bible study every Wednesday from 3:30-5:00 at the base food court. Girls walk over from school, buy some snacks, we play a game and then we try to settle in for our study. While I dearly love each girl, this year's group is probably the most giggly and chatty group of girls I've ever led. For many, this is the first Bible study they're apart of. We're still working on listening, not interrupting and keeping on topic. Each week as I sush side conversations and whispers, I gently remind them that God's Word is important and they don't want to miss out on what He has to say.

We began a study a few weeks ago that addresses various issues teen girls face today. This past week, we started our lesson on "anti-conformity" by writing out a few things that make each of us unique, then we guessed who wrote what. It was fun to learn little tidbits about each gal. We then went to the Scriptures and began looking at verses that talk about not conforming to the world and living as foreigners here on earth as we await our eternal heavenly home.

One of the challenges of leading a study with a dozen extremely chatty girls, is keeping them focused. It's amazing how one moment we'll be talking about the Bible and before we know it, we're discussing nail polish colors. Remember the old Elmer Fudd cartoon? As Elmer tiptoed through the forest he'd sing, "Kill the rabbit, kill the rabbit..."? Knowing when to kill the rabbit trails and when to let them go is a bit of an art. So this past week, when one girl (who's great at bunny trails),  raised her hand and started to tell a story about when she was in third grade, I sat there listening, trying to determine when to cut her off and reel her back to our stated topic. Slowly, as she continued to share, I began to see the connection point.

Beginning in third grade, her family experienced some extremely difficult times that impacted her socially and developmentally for several years to come. At school, she really wanted to fit in, yet she felt like an outcast. As we talked about verses that teach us to stand out and be different, she struggled to want to do that. She'd been there, done that, and it hurt.

Insert me. I started to explain how it's okay to want to feel loved and accepted, but God calls us to live holy lives that look different than the world. Another girl sitting across the table raised her hand. I hesitantly called on her, wondering which bunny trail her question would lead down.

And, that's when it happened.

She simply asked if she could get up and come around the table and give the other girl a hug. Then she asked everyone to clap for the girl's boldness in sharing her honest feelings and hurts. They each began going around the table and sharing what they do when they're sad and then they prayed for each other.

I must admit, I sat there a little dumbfounded. Since September, I've been praying for this group of girls to like each other and to speak kind words. I've continually prayed that they'd know Jesus personally and love His Word. There've been a number of weeks that I've walked away frustrated, thinking, "They just don't get it. Are they learning anything?" But as I heard them share and encourage one another, my heart was full of joy.

I felt God say to me, "get out of the way! Ditch your study, and head down those trails with Me." For the next half hour, the girls asked amazing questions about why there's pain and suffering, why did God let Adam and Eve sin and how did they not realize they were naked before they ate the fruit, why, why and why.... it was great. I loved it.

That night I came home to an email from a mom of one of the girls. She wrote ... "I just wanted to tell you that E had lots and lots to say about the girl's Bible study this afternoon. It sounds like you had a lot of tough questions from the girls and had a very interesting discussion with them. E was bubbling over with excitement and wanted to tell us all about the questions and the answers and ask more questions. It was wonderful to see her so interested and engaged in thinking about God's Word."

Praise the Lord. I need to get out of the way more often. : )

Thanks for joining me in this journey of sharing Jesus with students.

Beth

Fall Retreat

Thanks for praying for our middle school fall retreat to Switzerland, it was a fun weekend! 

We arrived on Friday afternoon, and after unpacking our vans and settling into rooms, we hiked to a nearby waterfall. That evening we kicked off our teaching theme of "community" by doing a few group activities that caused students to have to work together. On Saturday morning, we woke up to snow! It made for a fun day. 

Overall, we had a great weekend. Our talks focused on learning what it means to be part of the body of Christ, and how each person has something to contribute to the group. We often focus on things we can't do or aren't good at, rather than thinking through what gifts and strengths we do have. We challenged students to consider how they can use their abilities to encourage others. 

For one of our meals students couldn't ask for any food nor could they fix their own plate. After a little confusion, they figured out that in order to eat, they needed to make someone else a meal. For another meal, we zip-tied everyones wrists together and they had to figure out how to work together to eat their meal. It was a good visual of literally being "one." 

These group challenges went fairly well. Some responses made for prime teaching opportunities to lean into. We'd appreciate prayers that our group would continue to grow in unity this year and that students would be more willing to lay aside their selfish desires and look out for the interests of others. It's our prayer that students would grow in Christlikeness.

^A picture of our lodge surrounded by mountains. 

 Learning to work together...

 

 ^ In the middle of our group challenge, a farmer passed by our lodge with his cows. This picture doesn't do it justice, but each cow had a huge bell hanging around their neck. They were noisy! 

 Free Time...

 ^ Our lodge had an awesome yard... what a view! 

^ Our snowman!

Sept Review

Our students have a weird (one might call it disturbing) tradition of having a "___ is gone party" after someone leaves. Let me explain ... Living in such a transient community means we say goodbye a lot. In September alone we said goodbye to at least 9 students and 1 volunteer as they moved back to the states (that's not counting the dozen+ who already moved during the summer). One of the hardest parts of saying goodbye, is having to say goodbye multiple times. You say bye to someone at school, chapel, youth group, sports teams, etc. and then you run into that person at the commissary and exchange, so you say "see ya later" again. By the time that person finally leaves, you're almost relieved because so many goodbyes are extremely draining. Last year, during one such drawn out goodbye, Ashley told a leaving student she was tired of saying goodbye and that she was going to throw a "Sam's gone party" after he moved, so that people could return to being happy and celebrate that Sam was moving onto something new. Well, the tradition has stuck. This summer, as students have moved, their friends have come to youth group the following week with a poster and everyone gathers around for a picture that will be uploaded on Facebook so the student who moved can see it, and know that they're being celebrated and remembered.

In the midst of so many goodbyes, we've had the opportunity to welcome in a number of new students throughout the summer and into the fall. We kicked off our fall teaching series recently. For the next couple of weeks, we'll be doing an identity series in which we look at who we are as a youth group and why we exist. Our hope is that it will build unity and that students will understand what it means to live in Biblical community, committed to growing in faith together.
Bible Studies kicked off last week. Our middle school series is "His Girl" and we'll look at what it means to walk with the Lord in our world today. Our high school series is "Encounter" and we'll be looking through the Gospels as Jesus interacted with a variety of people. Please pray as we dive into God's Word each week, that God would draw us to Himself and knit our group together. 



Thanks for praying! 

Leaves are beginning to change in Germany and it's gorgeous! I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful country, and to constantly be reminded of God's wonderful creativity. I pray that your fall is off to a good start and full of special God moments that draw you to Him. 

Mision trip to Hungary

We had a GREAT week in Hungary, serving with Good Sports International. Thank you for covering our mission trip in prayer. It was beyond evident that the Lord was present and active during the week. He provided us with safety - the whole way there, during our week of service and the whole way home. He united our team and they served one another well, and with good attitudes. : ) Our students stepped out with boldness as they interacted with the Hungarian students and taught them English. I was really proud of the way they not only worked with one another, but with the way the reached out to the Hungarians.

 

^ Our staff for the week - they were great and loved our students so well.

 ^Our team spent some alone time in the Word each evening, then we would gather together and worship in song and teaching. We spent time reading Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians looking for one another statements and common themes throughout the letters. We focused on a lot on unity and how we are called to live and treat one another. Our theme for the week, "Shine," came from Philippians 2:1-4; 14-18.

"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me."

Our team time was rich and encouraging as students shared about the time in the Word and what the Lord taught them. It was fun to hear their desire for growth and to be a light to those around them. 

^ The morning English camp was a huge success, and very creative. Each day had a different theme. This is what the week looked like, and an example of some of the questions/phrases students learned: 
Shopping - I would like to buy a girl's shirt. I would like to buy a book for a child. How much? That's too much.

Restaurant - I would like a Fanta. This is not what I ordered. My food is cold. 

Airport Travel - May I see your passport? What is your seat assignment? 

Directions - where is the train station? May I buy a bus ticket? Do I turn right or left? 

American holidays - Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter

^ Our afternoon sports camp was a lot of fun, and we had a great turn out. Each day we did a different sports: soccer, baseball variations, frisbee and water games. Two evenings we played capture the flag with glow sticks - it was a huge hit. The Hungarians were super excited to play on both nights, and it drew a lot of kids (and their parents) out to the field. Some of the Hungarian girls didn't like to play sports, so our girls brought along nail polish, face paint and hair stuff and spent all afternoon doing nails and hair. It was a huge hit and a great way to connect with one another. 

 ^ In addition to the camps we helped with, our team collected donations for Good Sports. We were able to deliver some of the donations to an orphanage for children aged 0-6 in Debreceen. The Good Sports team has ben working hard to develop a relationship with the orphanage director, and these donations helped pave the way. The director even invited us into the building and gave our team a tour of the facility. It was a huge step forward! Praise God!

^ One of the highlights of our week was being invited to dinner by the local Reformed Church of Mikepercs. We were the first visiting group they've invited! It was similar to a good ole' American BBQ, except instead of burgers they served us an amazing goulash soup. It took a long time to prepare, and they let us help out a bit. It was a very special and tasty treat! After dinner, our team sang a few of the songs we'd been doing at English camp for the church members so they could get a glimpse into our week. They were amazed to see so many young people that were excited about their faith. It caused them to consider how they can begin pulling young people into their congregation. Currently, their church is made up of people well over 50, with very few children and teenagers. Our host said they couldn't believe that teens could be so on fire for the Lord and serious about sharing their faith. Seeing our team in action was both an encouragement and challenge to them as they consider the future of their church.

We're starving... going back for thirds

Our annual summer mission trip is coming up! We will be in Hungary July 13-21. For the third summer in a row, we will partner with Good Sports International to help with a morning English camp and an afternoon sports camp for students in the community. I'm excited!! We've got a great group of students (18) and staff (6) on our team this year. For many of them, this will be their first mission trip. They are pretty excited to step out and serve others. We'll be spending time each evening as a team looking through some of Paul's letters. We'll be looking at what it means to be unified and how we are called to treat one another. We will spend Friday afternoon packing and loading our vans, then we'll set out early on Saturday morning.

Would you pray for...
1. Team unity - pray that we'd be encouraging to one another (even when we're tired!), and that the Hungarians we interact with would see Jesus through our love for one another.
2. Safety - as we drive the 12+ hours to our destination and as we serve and play hard with the campers for the week.
3. Teaching opportunities - as students process their experiences throughout the week, pray for our staff as we lean in and encourage and challenge students in their faith.
4. Encouragement for the Hungarian Christians and American missionaries we'll be serving alongside - due to years of communist rule, Hungary is a very godless country and they often labor without seeing a lot of fruit. Pray that spending time with our team during our worship times would be refreshing for their souls.

I look forward to updating you after our mission trip on the work the Lord will do both in and through our team... so stay tuned for stories and pictures!

**

In other summer news... 

Our summer teaching series is on prayer in the Psalms. We've spent the first four weeks looking at what it means to PRAY (praise, repent, ask and yield) and we will spend the final four weeks looking at different prayer postures (hands, heads, singing, kneeling). It's been a good study so far and students are engaging well. Last night I taught on what it means to yield to God. We dove into Psalm 1 and compared the way of the righteous with the way of the wicked - and then spent time considering what path we're on and who/what we're yielding (giving way) to.

Summer brings a lot of unknowns to our group. Many families travel to America for the summer to visit their families and others take some time for family vacations around Europe. At the beginning of the summer we said goodbye to a number of students. We've finally begun seeing a few new families move into community. This past week we had 3 new students who are brand new to Ramstein. It's been fun welcoming new faces! In addition to saying goodbye to some students, we've also said goodbye to some key volunteers. A major prayer request we have as we move into the fall, is for more volunteer staff. We've been blessed to have a few new ladies joining our volunteer team, but we are in need of some men to invest in our students - particularly in our middle school group.

Graduation Time!

Last night I had the privilege of cheering on these 3 fabulous senior gals, as they walked across the stage and received their high school diplomas. Each gal has been very involved in youth group during their time at Ramstein. They are growing into wonderful Godly gals, and I'm excited to see the Lord continue His work in them as they step out into the world. I'm super proud of each of them, and so thankful to have been a part of their lives! One is off to University of North Dakota (go Sioux... that's where I began college!), another to a tech school in Wisconsin (my home state, so we will be able to meet up again!) and the other to Baylor in Waco, TX. Each is uniquely gifted and I'm excited to see what the future holds for them. 

We are in the midst of one of the more challenging seasons in the military community. Over the past 2 weeks, we've already said goodbye 5 students. As the school year finally comes to an end this week, we'll continue to say goodbye to many more families. It's always a privilege to get to walk alongside students and encourage them in faith and life, even if it's for a short season.

Would you pray for hearts as we grieve saying goodbye to friends, and preparing our hearts for new relationships.

Spring Break Recap

^ Everyone at Spring Break... all 200! 

 ^ Our Ramstein students

Thanks for praying for our Spring Break retreat, we had a great week. Highlights included ... 3 days of sun (a rarity in Germany!), roasting marshmallows and playing dodgeball at the foot of the alps. I really enjoyed my small group ladies! We had some great conversations as we discussed the speaker's messages and sought to make some real life connections and applications. 

(Above) Belly Bumper Soccer

(Below) Earth Ball

One of my responsibilities at camp this year, was to lead a morning worship track for students wanting to learn how to study their Bibles and get something out of their quiet times. I had way more students attend than I anticipated. We spent 3 mornings looking through 2 Corinthians 2-5 and looking at what it means to be ministers of the new covenant.

^ The first day of morning worship

^ Some of my wonderful girls striking their best olympic pose 

(Garmisch hosted the winter olympics a number of years ago)

A mission's team from Good Shepherd Community Church in Boring, Oregon came to serve, and they were great. They helped to lead team competitions and some late night activities. The speaker was wonderful! He spoke on the theme of "Rescued" and taught how we're all in need of a rescue and only Jesus is able to save us from our brokenness and sin. He talked about fully surrendering our lives to Jesus. He used the illustration of a car, and how Jesus doesn't just want a ride in our car, He wants to drive our car... and He wants our full keychain, not just a few keys off the ring. 

Throughout the week there were a number of opportunities for our students to spend time together and get to know one another better. I felt that our students connected well and that we came home a more tight knit group. Of the 25 students we brought, 3 had never visited our youth group and 2 were fairly new. 

We were super blessed to have some great volunteer staff with us!! They loved our students so well and engaged them in great Jesus centered conversations. I couldn't have asked for a better group of volunteers. 

Thanks so much for praying for our week! 

There's just over a month left of school. The moving season is fast approaching. Would you begin praying for our coming months of transition. In the military community, June - August is the main moving season, at least one-third of students will move. It's a pretty tough emotional/relational period for everyone as we have to say goodbye to dear friends and prepare our hearts to welcome new families. 

We've begun preparations for our annual Hungary mission trip. Applications will go out in the next week or so, and budget/number crunching and planning will begin. Would you pray as we select our mission team and as we make logistical plans for the trip?

Dear Prayer Team, 

Hello! I realized this weekend that it's been way too long since I've sent out an update. I hope you had a good Easter last weekend. It actually felt like home… since there were snowflakes floating around all day. I know in the upper midwest snow this time of year is normal, but not so much here in Germany. I am looking forward to some sunny days! Germany set a record low this winter for the amount of sun we received. But speaking of sun and warming up… spring break is just days away! 

Spring Break

On Monday morning we setting out for our annual high school spring break retreat. We are spending a week in the beautiful German Alps. Our retreat theme is "Rescued." It comes from a Gilligan's Island spin off… stuck in need of rescue. Our speaker will be talking through the week on sin and the things that ensnare us and God's ability to save us. I think it'll be a really relevant theme for our students. I'm looking forward to time with my small group, a group of freshman girls whom I'll meet with each evening to discuss the day's talks. 

A few prayer requests for the week - 

1. Group unity - We've got a number of first time campers coming with us, and a several students who are brand new to our group. Would you pray that students would connect with one another and seek to build relationships. 

2. Safety – Please pray for physical safety as we drive about 6 hours to our location, for safety during the week as we play hard during team competitions/rec, and for relational and emotional safety as students share their hearts and process what they hear from the Lord.

3. Wisdom – Please pray for our staff (there's 6 of us, and only 2 of us have been on this retreat before). As we invest in students, pray that we'd have ears to hear what they say, and what they don't say and that we'd point them to Jesus well. Pray for endurance as camp is 5 full days! 

4. Camp Leadership Team – Please pray for our speaker and for his staff who will be helping with various components of camp throughout the week. Pray that our students would connect with them. 

5. Me – I'll be leading an optional morning devotional time for students who want to learn ways to study their Bibles during their quiet time with the Lord. We'll be working through 2 Corinthians 2-5. Pray that they'd be compelled by the love of Christ and would boldly lead their friends to be reconciled with God! 

In other news… 

Ministry is going well! This spring semester we've been going through a series in youth group that we've dubbed "Hollywood Mythbusters: Theology Style." We've been looking at how Hollywood portrays spiritual things like God (The Trinity), heaven, hell, angels, demons, end times, and we've compared that to what the Scriptures actually teach about these things. Each week we've busted a variety of myths ranging from – no, you don't become an angel when you die and no, Satan is not leading Richard Simmons aerobics in hell. Our students are connecting well with this series and come ready with questions each week. 

Bible studies are still in full swing. My high school girls have been watching a Mark Driscoll (from Mars Hill Church in Seattle) sermon series on the book of Esther. It's great and I highly recommend it! I listened to it this fall and found it really interesting and challenging and wanted my girls to hear the messages as well. I've been going through a understanding your Bible book with my middle school girls. They have all memorized the Old Testament books of the Bible and we're moving onto the New Testament! We're doing a basic walk-thru overview of the Scriptures to give them a better idea of what's actually in their Bible and what's the storyline. 

Our Cadence Student Ministries, Team Ramstein has changed a bit. As you know my last co-workers moved back to the states in July. This fall, Steven Harvell began a year long short-term assignment. In December, Kevin and Sharon Scheible, joined Steven and I. So together, we've been holding down the fort and loving on the students of Ramstein! Steven will be leaving (he recently got married, and will move to the sates with his wife) in June. It's been nice having him here this year, as that's allowed Kevin and Sharon to transition in at a more comfortable pace. Would you pray for our team as we learn how to work together and as we begin planning for our summer/fall? 

Thanks team! Your prayer support is SO appreciated! Hope you're doing well!!

For Christ,

Beth

Escape ... The Unexpected Journey

Our annual middle school camp is officially less than one week away! We have 43 students and 7 staff signed up from our community, this is the most we've had in a long time, so we are excited to see the Lord growing our group and stirring an excitement among students. We're doing a Hobbit Themed camp this year, the unexpected journey. Our speaker will be teaching 5 times throughout the weekend on the amazing adventure that Jesus invites us to join in.

A few prayer requests for camp ...

Our students - many of our students are new to the group. Would you pray for team unity, and that students would love each other well and speak words of life to one another. Pray that God would prepare their hearts to hear His Word and that they would respond to Him.

Our staff - Kevin, Steve, Rob, Shaun, Suzan, Donna, Hannah and myself as we lean in with students, point them to Jesus and encourage them in faith. Pray for wisdom, ears to hear, words to speak and endurance... 4 days of camp with many high energy middle schoolers : )

Our speaker - Dave Lambert, a long time Cadence missionary and friend is coming to speak, and I'm really excited about that! Pray that he and his wife have safe travels and get over jet lag quickly. Pray that he connects with students and finishes up his talks.

Our camp team - A group of students from Multnomah University are coming to lead various components of the camp. Pray that they also have safe travels and adjust to Germany time. Pray that they would dive in with students well! Many of these students are interested in a future with Cadence after they graduate. Pray that God would speak to them and perhaps lead them towards Cadence.

Safety - We are maxing out our facility! Praise the Lord for the highest turnout in recent Escape history. Would you pray that the Lord would keep us safe - both physically and emotionally/relationally. As we near camp, we are still waiting on some final safety approvals from the various participating bases/youth groups. Would you pray that God would grant us favor with the right people and that He would make it all happen, in His timing.

THANKS for praying!! Our students are super excited for the weekend, and I'm excited for them to hear the Word and learn about Jesus.

Welcome to 2013, we're off and running!

Equip 2013
We spent January 25-26 with 20+ middle schoolers that were interested in growing in their faith and ministering to their peers. Our theme was "Team Captains" and we talked through the weekend about following our leader (God) and leading others to Him. Each of our CSM took turns teaching. I spoke the first evening about "Why are we on the team?" and how God doesn't need us, but has chosen to invite us to join in His work. That night I also lead an experiential game where staff hid around the building with different flashlights and students were sent out to find as many as they could. Some lights were dim and flickered on and off, others were bright and easy to find right away. Afterwards we asked students what sort of light were they? Did their light shine bright? Or did they turn it on and off depending on where they were and who they were with? Overall, we had a great weekend with our students! Praise the Lord for middle schoolers who are desiring to grow in faith and seek to impact those around them for eternity.

Good News 

A new twist on an old classic - if you've ever volunteered for VBS or little kiddo Sunday school, you've probably made a salvation story bracelet.

Black is our sin, 

Red is Christ's blood, 

 White  is for being washed as white as snow, 

Green is for a growing faith and 

Gold is for the promise of heaven.

I thought it would be fun to make this more middle school cool, so with Isaiah 52:7 in mind "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peach, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"we did Gospel style pedicures last week.

Bible studies are off to a good start this semester. With middle schoolers, we recently finished up a character study, where we learned what Christ-like qualities we need to be putting on and growing in. With high schoolers, we completed a worldview study, where we read through a book about how Christianity compares to other world religions and practices. For the next two weeks, we're going to look at the book of Daniel and discuss what it means to "resolve to not defile ourselves" as we live in this world. I'm still praying about March, but I'm currently leaning towards a study of Esther. Would you pray for my girls as we prepare for a new study?

MythBusters, Theology Style
"You know how when good people die, they become angels? Does that mean bad people become demons?" This was a question we were asked last year from a student. Hollywood is doing a great job teaching our students false truths about God. This semester we are seeking to bust many bad theology myths that are running rampart in our culture. Like... do all dogs go to heaven? Is Morgan Freeman God? Do we have a juke-box Jesus? Should we really set the world on fire? Are we really born that way? In the coming weeks we'll be looking at how Hollywood and the media have portrayed God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), Satan, demons, angels, heaven, hell and the end times. Then we'll take a look at the church and how Christians are portrayed in the media, and how the Lord calls us to be His witness.

Side note, on my flights to/from the states this Christmas, I started watching a few movies that really troubled me so much that I turned them off within the first few scenes. Each of them portrayed Evangelical Christians as total idiots, and I was frustrated by them. Christians and holy living is being mocked in numerous movies and sitcoms today, and I think it's important that it's addressed with students.

We'll also spend time talking about love/relationships, anarchy, following our hearts, the American dream and zombies/witches/vampires. It's going to be a fun semester!

Would you pray for our study... that students would understand Biblical truths and learn to filter the information they receive from media and discern what is truth and what are lies.

CSM Women's Retreat

Our annual CSM women's retreat was last weekend. We went to Rothenburg, a beautiful walled in city, about 2.5 hours away. So far, Rothenburg is my favorite German city. It snowed most of the weekend, but that was ok, our rental had a wood burning fireplace in the main lodge, and it was awesome! 

This year, Heather and I planned the weekend. Our goal was simple, to build community. Of the 13 women on the retreat, five are fairly new to the field. Each gal was given an opportunity to share her testimony of how she came to Christ and how she ended up in Germany - the 2 things we all had in common. In addition to testimony time, one gal led us in a daily devotion about hope. She went through part of Psalm 131 each morning. 

My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. 
But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. 
Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore. 

During our free time, we got to check out the Rothenburg Christmas market. We also went to a night watchman tour on our first evening. All in all, it was a great time of fellowship with my Cadence family! 

SEMP 2012

This past long weekend was our annual high school student leadership retreat - SEMP (students equipped to minister to their peers). I was blown away by our sign ups. This was my third SEMP. The past two retreats we've taken 7 students each time. This year, we had 20 students sign up!! Awesome! We ended up taking 16 students (a few had to drop because of sickness and a few family things). Praise the Lord to have so many students desiring to grow in their faith and seek out ministry skills in reaching their peers with the Gospel. 

Our speaker talked throughout the weekend on two things. One, knowing the Lord personally by spending time in the Scriptures and praying. He also talked a lot about knowing your strengths and how God has wired you in order to be able to use those gifts to minister to others. 

Last night at youth group, one of my students told me she had a God conversation with another student at school. He was asking her a variety of questions and she didn't back down or shy away in answering them. She was really excited to have had the boldness to walk him through some verses in Romans and felt confident enough to explain what they meant! Praise God! 

On the final night of the retreat, we did an experiential worship night. There were a variety of themed rooms set up for students to walk through. They included... a campus room for students to pray for their schools (peers/teachers), a silent room where scripture was displayed and students could sit quietly before the Lord, a candle room to symbolize being the light of the world, two artsy rooms for students to express their worship through writing and painting, a distraction room followed by a throne room where students thought about all that keeps them from pursuing Christ and then bright and quiet room that represented siting before the Lord in awe. 

There was also an identity room where students could spend time with their staff. Each of us staff thought and prayed about each of our students and asked God what He wanted us to say to each of them. Most of my girls came to that room and it was a huge blessing and privilege to get to speak words of life to each of them. One girl came in and said, "I've never heard God speak to me, I don't know what I'm doing wrong." I looked her in the eye and I said, "Well, I've been praying that the Lord would give me verses to share with you and here's what He led me to." I reminded her that God speaks to us through His Word and often times through other people. So I read her the Scriptures I felt the Lord telling me to speak to her. It was powerful! 

We came home from SEMP super tired, but joyful in the Lord and excited about what He's doing in our group. I'm really amazed at the growth taking place in our youth groups right now. I feel like God is working powerfully among our students and has really stirred a hunger in their hearts. For the third week in a row, we've had over 50 middle schoolers come to youth group. It's such an encouragement to know that students like coming to group and want their other friends to be there. We are almost done with Matthew's Gospel. In the coming weeks we'll be looking at what Christ did on the cross, celebrating His resurrection and challenging students with the Great Commission. 

 ^Ramstein Students

^ The whole SEMP group 

His Hunger Games

I was looking through youth group pictures today and I came across some from our back to school "His Hunger Games" event. We broke kids up into "districts" (teams) and had them compete in different games including ... Lord of the Rings/finger darts, ultimate ultimate (ultimate frisbee with a twist, like using a cow tongue instead of a frisbee!), and a mega relay - pictured below. 

We invited students from 3 different youth groups in the area and gathered for a great afternoon. We had over 70 students and staff come out! As we closed with dinner, Steve shared a short devotional with students, encouraging those who are hungry for the Lord and to grow in relationship to him, to come to youth group!!! 

Mark Driscoll

One of my "go to" podcasts is Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. He's currently preaching through the book of Esther and it's been a really great, challenging and thought provoking series, check it out!! Some of my other favorite series that he's done are "Religion Saves and other misconceptions" (the emergent church one is great) and his more recent "Real Marriage" is a great one too (I recommend the friends with benefits one).

Missionary Care Retreat, Split Croatia

I received a huge blessing this past week. I was able to attend a missionary care retreat in Split, Croatia. (Split is awesome - check out my travel blog for pictures!) There's an organization, based in Tennessee, that sponsors missionary getaways all over the world. They invite missionaries to come to a beautiful hotel for an all inclusive retreat - we just have to get there. Once we're there, meals and lodging are covered! Pretty cool!! I've had friends in the past who've been able to attend these, and was excited to go on one myself. Heather and I signed up, and our good friends Lou and Cathy also signed up. We've been extremely cared for. Lou and Cathy have been the Hospitality House directors in K-town and are getting ready to move to Yokosuka, Japan to lead the Hospitality House there. Heather and I are really sad to see them go, we were really happy to have some extra time with them this past week. 

It's been fun meeting other missionaries. Many are from Eastern Europe. We've chatted with people serving in ... Ukraine, Hungary, Bosnia, Serbia, Albania, Greece, and some closed countries that I shouldn't list for safety reasons. It's been humbling visiting with them. Even though I live in Germany, because I minister to the American community and have access to American goods on base, I sometimes forget that I live abroad. Heather and I brought some American goodies for people... Mac n' cheese, pumpkin pie filing, oreoes, peanut butter, baking chocolate, salsa - and it was awesome to see how excited people were to receive these things. One teenage girl that we've been spending time with was sooooo happy to have some comfort food from home. One man had been in one of the 'Stans, but when he was discovered to be baptizing people, he was scheduled to be executed. Praise the Lord he was able to get out of the country and continues to minister in a new location. A lady in a different county works with refugees and she actually met one of the men, the other guy had baptized. It's a small world. Hearing stories like that, and seeing the connections and sharing in all that the Lord is doing all over the world, makes me eager for Heaven. How awesome is it going to be, when we can all gather - from every tribe, tongue and nation and celebrate the faithfulness of God and praise Him together.

It has been a refreshing retreat. For the past two days, I've enjoyed sitting by the pool, looking out at the Adriatic Sea. I've read a few books, spent time in prayer and have napped on and off. We do so many retreats with our youth. I'm so used to taking care of things for them ... transportation, lodging, meals, making sure I have enough money in the right currency, keeping track of students, holding on to their passports, making sure kids are drinking water and staying healthy, etc. it's weird to come a retreat and not have any responsibilities! I've been really blessed by this retreat and I'm thankful for organizations who minister to missionaries. What a cool thing! Each evening, after dinner, everyone has gathered together to sing a few songs. Because I attend a military chapel, I forget that many people living overseas don't get to sing in English. So each night we sing 4-5 songs together, in English. I think people really enjoy that because it reminds them of home.

Sunset # 1 from our balcony. 

Sunset #2 from our balcony. 

Sunset #3 from the poolside 

Final sunset, we fly out in the morning. 

 I spent two afternoons soaking up vitamin d (I don't get much of that in Germany). 

The hotel had an infinity pool overlooking the Adriatic Sea... and it was amazing view.