Far, Far Away

We had a great retreat this past weekend! A team of students from Truett Seminary in Waco, Texas led SEMP: Students Equipped to Minister to their Peers. It was a growth level retreat, for students who are believers and wanting to go deeper in their relationships with the Lord. It was also an equipping time for students to gain confidence in sharing their faith and ministering to their peers.

Far, Far Away was the theme for the weekend, which was a really relevant theme for our students on a few levels.

Our students are living Far, Far Away, because they are Americans living in Germany; they aren't living in their homeland. And even though they're living in Germany, they are living on American military bases, which adds another dynamic. Our students are also living Far, Far Away, because they are believers whose citizenship is in heaven. This earth is just a temporary home; heaven is their eternal home. And like many people experience, sometimes either God feels far away from us, or we feel far away from God.

The Truett team did a good job addressing these aspects of being Far, Far Away. Our students were encouraged and challenged by their large group meetings and small breakout seminars.

I asked one of our freshman gals from the weekend to share about her experience:

"I really liked being able to meet students form other bases who are Christians. It was awesome to not worry about being accepted, because we all had a shared bond in Christ.

The teaching times were good, a few things I learned where... it's not necessary to act a certain way or put on a mask to encourage people to come to Christ - we just need to be honest and be ourselves. I also learned that being a Christian isn't all sunshine, but when we face trials God will be us."

"Something went down in Frankfurt"

Dear Key Club,

Yesterday, as my middle school girl's Bible study was ending and I was saying goodbye to girls before they went out the door, my phone rang. Seeing it was my co-worker, I answered it. "You might not be able to leave the base, I think we're on lockdown." What? Why?, I answered. "Something went down in Frankfurt, and the base isn't sure if it was an isolated incident or if it's linked to a series of things." Still not knowing the full story or any details for that matter, I finished packing up my things, hopped in my car and headed for the gate, hoping to make it home for the evening before anything was shut down.

I was able to make it home. I went online and discovered that there had been a shooting at the Frankfurt airport, leaving 2 airmen dead and 2 injured. Wow, I had been at the Frankfurt airport earlier in that morning to pick up a new CSM couple and welcome them to the field.

As with any tragedy, our community was greatly impacted - both emotionally and physically. Immediately, the base went into a heightened security state, creating some delays and changes to the usual routines.

A good friend of mine is a missionary in a closed country - she has to be careful how she tells others about the work she's doing because it's a risk to be a Christian where she lives. As we were talking about that, I began to realize how much freedom I have as a believer in Germany. It's an open country where I can share my faith freely. However, the thing I have to be careful about here, is being a member of the American military community. Whenever we travel, it's important that we try to blend in as much as possible and to not stand out as an obnoxious American and to not share a lot (or anything really) about the military, so we don't become targets of terrorism. There are so many people around the world who do not support or remotely like our military and will do anything they can to stop or hamper our global efforts.

I feel this weight when I'm with students off base - whether it's getting coffee somewhere or traveling to a retreat. Our students safety is super important to us. Overall, I do feel very safe here. However, it's instances like these that serve as a wake up call and remind me of the fallen world we live in and the need for people to know and experience God's love and peace.

Would you pray for our students here as they process the shooting? With the travel opportunities in Europe and many cheap flight deals, a lot of families frequent the airport. Some students may really be fearful to get out and explore.

Would you pray for the families and friends of the fallen and injured Airmen? I don't yet know where they are from or what their stories are. I believe they may have just been passing through from another base onto a deployment.

On a different note...

This upcoming weekend, assuming the shootings and security measures don't prevent us from going, we'll be taking 8 students to a high school student leadership retreat. It's a weekend geared towards growth level students, who we believe are spiritually mature and have potential to minister to their peers. I'm encouraged by these students desires to go deeper in their relationships with the Lord and I'm really looking forward to time with them. Would you pray that God would continue to grow them and that He'd challenge them as they step out and lead their peers.

Thanks for praying team. You're a blessing to me and the military community in Ramstein. Thank you.

Blessings,

Beth

Escape Recap

Dear Team,

THANKS so much for praying for Escape. We had a wonderful time and it was encouraging to see and hear how God is working in lives.

Some Highlights:

Team Comp was awesome this year... the Multnomah team did a wonderful job of coming up with creative middle school friendly games. Their favorites were Tron (students had to rescue their team mascot and camp speaker from a virus) and Mission Impossible (students had to build a molecule to save their water source after the wicked white witch poisoned it while not being caught by pirates). During animal soccer (a slight variation of mud rugby) one of our students suffered a broken nose, however, he was able to finish out the weekend with us and had a good time.

The speaker communicated the Gospel and God's love for students well. He shared the stories of Jesus calming the storm and walking on water. The message of Jesus' unending presence during the storms we face in life resonated with students. On Saturday night I had a great conversation with one of my girls who was struggling in a few areas. The "storm" she was facing was trying to measure up to other peoples standards and expectations. As we began talking, it was clear that she was also striving for God's love. It ended up being an awesome conversation about grace and God's unconditional love for each one of us.

The experiential learning times helped students to further process the messages. We did two hands on group activities that lent themselves to talk about storms - Who do we trust when faced with challenges? What voices to do we listen to? In the midst of loud distractions, how can we hear God's voice?

Overall, I feel our students gelled well together and built good memories. We had youth group on Tuesday, the day after returned from camp and there was a fun buzz from the weekend. We gave students an opportunity to share some highlights and things they learned.

In the coming weeks we're going to begin a new teaching series for our middle school group. We're calling it "Community 101" and we'll take a look at what community is, why it's important, and things that build and kill community. We're looking forward to talking about relationships and encouraging students to grow in Jesus and with one another.

Some pictures of the retreat...

^The whole Ramstein community

Waiting in line for lunch

^ Team Comp Animal Soccer... some of our Ramstein girls really got into it. : )

^ Katie and I - youth ministry is dirty work, but someone's got to do it!

Escape Week is Here!

Hi Team!

Escape week is here. We've got 26 students and 5 staff from Ramstein going. We'll join with youth groups from bases in Baumholder, Kaiserslautern, Manheim, Stuttgart, and Weisbaden... over 250 people total. We're excited to see how the Lord will work in the lives of all of our students and staff. I put together some daily prayer points for folks to pray through this weekend for ESCAPE! Each day, I've selected a different topic/focus to pray through, to ensure that camp is covered in prayer. Would you join me in praying through these daily requests?

Wednesday: Speaker Russ

Russ is a youth ministry veteran with over 20 years of middle school ministry experience! He’s traveling from California to speak with our students this year, and we’re excited to have him. Please pray for Russ, as he tries to get over jet lag quickly and begins getting to know our teens. Although he’s new to the military world, he’s done his research and has asked a lot of questions about the lives and needs of our students in order to speak to them in a meaningful and relevant way. Pray that the Lord would speak through him mightily as he shares about Jesus and encourages teens in their spiritual journeys.

Thursday: Team Multnomah

A team of 12 Bible College students and 1 professor are traveling from Portland, Oregon to lead late night activities, participate in discussion groups with our students and serve in a variety of ways. They are a huge blessing! Please pray for them as they arrive today and travel to the camp facility to prepare for the weekend. Pray they’d adjust to the new time zone quickly and for boldness and endurance as they dive in with teens. Some of these students are nearing graduation and thinking of their futures, perhaps the Lord will use this experience to draw some of them into future military youth ministry.

Friday: Safe Travel and Community Building

As our community hits the road this afternoon, please pray for safe travel to the camp facility in Bitburg. Pray that the Lord would use our bus time to begin building unity in our group and that our students would have eyes for each other and seek to include one another in the things they do. Pray that students would help create and foster a safe and fun atmosphere where everyone feels welcome to share their thoughts and be themselves.

Saturday: Students Hearts

Please pray for the hearts of our students as they begin to process Russ’s talks and experiential learning activities. Tonight he’ll be sharing the Gospel and giving students a chance to respond. Some students will begin asking themselves if they’d like to enter into a relationship with Jesus, while others will be challenged to commit to going deeper in their faith. Pray that the Lord would tear down any walls built up in their hearts and that they’d feel free and safe to ask their leaders questions. Pray that they’d choose Jesus!

Sunday: Staff

Praise the Lord for the many adults who’ve volunteered their time this weekend to love our students and point them to Jesus. After two late nights and early mornings, lots of running around during games and free time, and deep, often emotionally challenging conversations, our staff may find it difficult to climb out of bed this morning! Pray for strength and endurance as we enter into another day of camp. Pray that God would provide opportunities to talk about last night’s Gospel presentation with students and for wisdom and discernment for staff as they follow up with those who made decisions to begin and/or deepen their relationships with the Lord.

Monday: Parents

On this last day of camp, please pray that students would return home with a newly found or renewed passion for their faith. Pray they’d remember what they’ve learned throughout the weekend and that they’d seek to live it out. Please pray for the parents of our students, that the Lord would give them wisdom, strength and grace to ask their student questions about the weekend and to help them process and solidify what they’ve learned.

Thanks for praying! I'm looking forward to sharing updates when we return. Thanks for joining me in this ministry - your prayers are vital and bring me so much encouragement!

For the sake of The Name,

Beth

February

Dear Key Club,

Hello team! I realized today that it's February 1st. I was thinking it was still January, since I'm still tuned into football - I guess I'm not used to the Packers playing football in February : ) Super Bowl game time is 1:00 am here in Germany, looks like I'll be staying up late!

I had a good January. I've started doing a little more teaching during youth group. We did a few outreach events - bowling, castle games and a gym morning. I'm continuing to meet more students. My co-worker and I have started visiting the school lunchroom on Mondays. It's fun to see our students in their world and meet some of their friends who don't come to youth group.

February 18-21 is ESCAPE! Our theme is "Escape with the Dawn Treader." We'll be talking about living with a bigger picture in mind - not just living for the here and now, but with an eternal perspective. What is Escape? It's a 4 day retreat with 250 of our closest friends... we'll have large group "chapel-like" meetings with skits, music and a teaching time, experiential learning activities to reinforce the chapel message, and small group discussions so students can process what they're learning. We'll also build community and shared fun experiences through team competitions, late night crazy games, and free time activities like dodge ball, crafts, swimming and ice skating. We are taking 24 students from our community, along with 5 adult staff. This will be my first retreat with our junior highers, so I'm really looking forward to getting to know our girls better.

Would you pray for...

- Safe travel and good weather (last year snow storms caused some major delays for the retreat)

- Community building - that God would knit our group closer together and that we'd be a joy and encouragement to each other

- For the hearts of students - that God would speak profoundly to them through the messages and activities.

The middle school girl's Bible study I've been co-leading with a volunteer staff is going well. We just finished studying Esther and are moving onto Elisabeth Elliot - a wonderful Godly woman who took huge risks (like Esther), by sharing the love of Christ with an unreached tribe in Ecuador. We've had some good conversations about taking risks and looking for ways we can step out boldly in our faith. I hope Elisabeth Elliot's story inspires them to risk and be bold for the sake of the Gospel. Praise point - our group is growing, 2 new 7th graders started coming to Bible study this past month!

The high school girl's Bible study that I was hoping to begin leading this month hasn't fully kicked off yet. I feel that our high schoolers are just flat out busy. Busy with school, sports, work, friends, family, traveling Europe... there doesn't seem to be extra room for things not already in their schedules. The time that I had intended to meet seems to be a bad night to connect with girls, so this week I'm reevaluating the day/time. While attending church and youth group is important, I do think spending time in smaller groups with other gals is crucial to spiritual formation and relational growth. Would you pray for me as I consider the best way to reach out to our high school gals and try to plug in with them outside of our larger weekly youth groups and chapel.

Coming Up:

March 3-5 is our high school growth level retreat called SEMP: Students Equipped to Minister to their Peers. We'll take about a dozen students, who are committed to growing in their faith and wanting to go deeper and reach out to their peers. Would you be praying for the students who are considering coming on the retreat?

April 8-15 is our high school spring break retreat (similar to Escape). We'll start advertising and encouraging students to sign up in the coming weeks. Would you begin praying now that God would draw students on this retreat? This is an outreach retreat, and we hope to draw in students who don't typically come to youth group or chapel.

THANKS team for your support! It's fun to see God at work in the lives of military teens and their families. Your prayer support is so crucial to our ministry here, so thank you for faithfully praying.

Blessings,

Beth

January Happenings

Dear Key Club,

Hello and Happy New Years! Hope this finds you all doing well!

I'm feeling really settled, now that I have a car, cell phone and apartment. Over the Christmas break I moved into a longer-term housing arrangement - which I'm very excited about!! An Air Force nurse stationed here, heard I was looking for a roommate, and invited me to live with her. I feel very blessed to have a wonderful Godly gal to live with, as I think the fellowship will be really encouraging.

Now that I'm feeling more settled on the life front, ministry life is picking up!

Beginning next week, I'll start leading Bible studies for middle school and high school girls. I'll be taking a look at a number of women in the Bible with the middle school girls and talking about what it means to be a Godly gal. In the high school group, we'll be reading through the book "The Case for Christ" and talking about Christian theology and apologetics. I'm really looking forward to the groups and diving in with the girls.

We're entering into our retreat season. In mid-February we'll take middle schoolers to a retreat called Escape and in April we'll take high schoolers to Italy for a Spring Break camp. Both camps are outreach focused, where the Gospel will be presented in relevant ways for teenagers. Students who already have a relationship with Jesus, will be encouraged to go deeper in their walks with Christ in tangible ways.

In the coming weeks/months, we've planned some fun events in hopes of meeting unchurched students who we can invite to the retreats. This week our youth groups are meeting at the bowling alley. We'll also do a night of castle games and an afternoon photo scavenger hunts.

Sign ups are already underway for Escape and will continue for another week, would you pray that God would draw middle schoolers to the retreat and that He'd be preparing their hearts for the teaching times during the long weekend.

Would you join me in praying...
- For our regular students to boldly reach out to their friends and peers at school and invite them to youth group, Bible study and the camps.
- For the students in the Ramstein community who don't know the Lord and aren't plugged into youth group, Bible studies, or chapel. Pray that the Lord would draw them to Himself and open their hearts to hear His voice.
- For the girls Bible studies starting up next week.

Thank you so much for your faithful support and encouragement!

Beth