Middle School Fall Retreat

Over Columbus Day weekend, AJ and I took 27 middle schoolers and 3 other adult staff to Adelboden, Switzerland.

Overall, it was a fun weekend. The majority of our group is fairly new - we've got a lot of sixth graders and a handful of other students who moved in during the summer. We also had a group of students from a different chapel service join us. With so many new faces, we wanted to see students mesh together. Our goal for the retreat was team building. We did a few experiential learning activities that gave students a chance to interact with each other and work together to accomplish a few obstacles. AJ taught out of Romans and 1 Corinthians on the Body of Christ and what it means to be a part of the Church.

Even though we've done tons of retreats, it seems that every trip teaches you a few new things. Here's a few lessons we learned this weekend:

- We had one kid throw up off the top bunk, onto the bottom bunk and all over the wall in the middle of the night ... lesson: don't eat too many Third Degree Burn Dorritos before bedtime.

- A lot of our kids have lived down south most of their lives and have no snow experience. This was evident when someone threw an ice ball (not a snow ball) and "accidentally" hit a girl in the face, giving her a bloody nose ... lesson: snowball making lessons are important for southerners.

- The snowfall closed a lot of the hiking trails that we'd planned to enjoy in the afternoon. We decided to go to the local arena, and spend the afternoon ice skating instead. It was really fun! For many students, it was their first time on skates. With the exception of one cut from falling down, it was injury free! lesson: I didn't learn anything super profound during ice skating, but I was surprised to have to help so many students tie their skates (I spent the first half hour doing this) - I didn't realize that a lot of kids don't know how to tie their shoes tightly.

Praise the Lord for:

- Safe travel to and from Switzerland. The snow and rain didn't interfere with the driving!

- Some good conversations with students in the vans.

- The relationships that developed and deepened among students.

We got home from the retreat on Monday night, and on Tuesday we began our "Relationship Series" at youth group. AJ opened with a theology of relationships and talked about submitting to authority. This week he'll cover parents and next week I'll talk on friends. After that, we'll get into dating, marriage, sex, etc. Please be praying for this series! It's important stuff that kids are wrestling with. We'll end the series with a purity banquet in mid-November.

Well team, thanks for praying! Have a great week.

One year down ...

In the past year...

1. I've learned to drive a stick (including manual 9 passenger vans through the Alps and in big cities like Budapest!).

2. I signed a rental contract for the first time (the days of campus housing and living with parents have come and gone) - AND I've got an awesome roommate!

3. I've stood amazed at God's providence in getting me to Germany and sustaining me financially over the past year.

4. Enjoyed watching the Packers win their 4th Super Bowl. : )

5. I've been challenged to grow in patience and dependency on God and others as I've learned the ropes and how to navigate Ramstein Air Base and German culture (which continues to be a work in progress...).

6. Built some great relationships with students and some families.

7. Have been encouraged watching the Lord stir a hunger for Himself in the hearts of students.

8. Been blessed with strong community - with my Cadence family and the chapel and the Hospitality House ministry.

Thanks team for your prayer and financial support that has encouraged and blessed me since I began raising support in June 2008 and for your continued support this past year. It's been quite the journey so far, and I look forward to seeing how the Lord will continue to grow me as I grow in Him and as I minister to the military community He's called me to.

Fall Bible Studies

Hey Team,

Fall Bible Studies are off to a great start!!

High School girls are reading through Victory Over the Darkness by Neil Anderson. I read this book at Multnomah, and really enjoyed it. Anderson talks a lot about who we are in Christ and uses a lot of Scripture throughout the whole book. So far, the girls are liking it. They're doing their reading ahead of time and coming with questions and thoughts to talk about as a group. Last night we discussed chapter 2 and it was super fun. Girls were asking great questions and wrestling through some of Truths found in the Scriptures. As we started our time together, a few girls shared they were tired and felt out of it - but as we dove in and began talking, there was a fun energy in the group and we left not feeling tired. Praise the Lord for the hunger is stirring in these girls!!

Middle School girls are reading through Beginning in Jesus by Fields and Eastman (Youth Specialties). It's a book that teaches who Jesus is - a teacher, healer, savior, etc. Each week there are passages for students to read and questions to answer on their own, and then we get together on Wednesdays to talk through their reading and discuss the questions further and the lesson application. My middle schoolers are really sweet. Each week we start off with snacks and games (we meet right after school and they need some wind down time before we dive in). We're still working on them doing their homework and coming ready to discuss, but it'll come with time! Would you pray that they would get in the habit of spending daily time with the Lord?

I started reading through Radical with some of the other CSM gals in our community. We've been getting together weekly to discuss it. It's a great book - and I've heard a lot of buzz about it. It's a fairly easy read, but is convicting and challenging as I think about living out what it calls for. It deals a lot with the Americanized gospel - primarily a health and wealth, prosperity gospel - a gospel that doesn't call us to talk up our crosses daily and follow Christ, but a gospel that will make us happy.

That's my book update! These are all good reads, if you're looking for something.

September Update

Hey Team!

Hope this finds you doing well. Remembrance has been on my mind this past week.

On Friday, our Cadence Student Ministries team gathered in Mannheim, an Army post that is closing down. Mannheim was the first base Cadence did youth ministry at back in the 80s. The missionary who opened the base is now serving in Poland and traveled to Germany for the day to share with us about God's work in the community. It was an encouraging time to hear about God's faithfulness over the years in Mannheim.

On Sunday, as many of you did, I remembered back to 10 years ago. I was a senior in high school, sitting in my government class when I heard about the 9/11 attacks. In church we watched a few videos honoring the fallen of the day and reflecting on God's sovereignty. It was a reminder to me of what a privilege it is to minister to the military community. Although the attacks occurred 10 years ago, families continue to face deployments and increased security measures around the world that impact lives everyday. It's an honor to get to share the love and hope of Christ with this community! Thanks for joining me in this endeavor.

It's been almost a year since I arrived in Germany. I remember getting here a few months into the school year and feeling overwhelmed trying to learn names, understand the school and community and the youth group. It's been fun entering a new school year this past month and feeling like I have a clue of what's going on! God has been faithful in helping me transition.

Today I visited the high school for lunch and it was fun to see students. Most of them saw me and asked "what are you doing here?" When I told them it was to see them and say hi, they smiled. : ) It's fun to enter into their world and get a taste of their everyday lives.

Last week, we kicked off the new school year with scavenger hunts for both our middle and high school groups. In the coming weeks we'll teach through a "Youth Group 101" series. I'll be teaching on "Biblical Community" and "why we do what we do" the next two weeks.

Last Wednesday, middle and high school girls Bible studies started as well. I was really excited to have 10 middle school girls come out - that's double last year's turnout! This fall we'll be going through a Beginning and Growing in Jesus book, to lay out a solid foundation of who Jesus is and how we can know and grow in Him.

I also had 6 high schoolers come, and I look for a few more to join us in the coming weeks. We'll be reading through a book called Victory Over the Darkness - it's a great book on understanding our identity in Christ.

Both groups are hungry to learn about Jesus and grow in their faith. They're also pretty excited about our girls only time - the middle schoolers kept referring to our group as a family and sisterhood (they're an extremely sweet group of girls!).

This Saturday I'm inviting high school girls over to my house for mochas and then we're going to hike up to the castle that's right down the street! There's a lot of new girls in our group that I'm excited to get to know.

In family news...

My brother got married this past weekend (09/10/11)! He's stationed at Ellsworth AFB, SD and will be leaving in November for a yearlong remote to Osan, South Korea. He and his wife will move to Elmendorf AFB in Alaska after his time in Korea.

My dad is about halfway through his deployment to Jalalabad, Afghanistan and is doing well. He's enjoying working on the drone. When he leaves Afghanistan, he's going to fly to Germany! My mom will also fly here from Wisconsin and they'll both spend a few weeks with me, enjoying German Christmas markets!

Thanks so much for your continued to prayers! It's been super fun to watch God grow our group and stir a hunger for Him in the hearts of our students. I'm looking forward to a great year.

Flevo 2011

This past weekend, AJ and I took 5 students to Flevo - a Christian music festival in Holland. When I was in high school, I went to a similar fest every summer - Sonshine in Wilmar, Minnesota. That fest was my first exposure to Christian bands and I remember it being a lot of fun. It was cool to take students to it, and give them an opportunity to listen to good music. We have 2 English radio stations here, and they mainly play all the latest songs in America - and to say they are not good would be an understatement... Lady Gaga, Rhiana, Kesha, Katie Perry... their songs such horrible sexual and relational messages and it pains me to know students are listening to their garbage. It was nice for our students to be exposed to Christian bands, with good lyrics for a change.

Our "in tents" campers : )

Our gals, getting ready for Tenth Avenue North

One of the stages on the beach... in the water (apparently being electrocuted wasn't a concern).

One of my favorite concert pictures, during RED.

The highlight of my weekend... we went to the Charlie Hall concert. Sadly, there was a popular Dutch band playing at the same time, so there weren't many people there. But - that worked well for us. We were about 5 feet from the stage and he hung out for awhile afterwards chatting and taking pictures. During the Marvelous Light song, AJ and I lifted our hands and spun around (like the songs says to) and Charlie started laughing at us. It was cool. : )

Gungor was my second favorite group. I'd never heard of them before. They are a cool sounding group out of Colorado. They were a mix of folky, bluegrassy at points, middle easternish sometimes, and just good, easy listening. I sat through 1 heavy metal screamo band with a student (oh the sacrifices of a youth worker!), Under Oath. Not sure I'm into that whole scene, but it's cool to see such a variety of Christian bands. Other cool bands: Tenth Avenue North, Good Weather Forecast, Starfield, Abandon and LZ27.

Brian Head Welch, a former Korn member performed as well. I'd never heard of him before, but AJ filled me in. As a Korn band member, he was an alcoholic and drug addict. He'd finally reached his end while touring, and decided to go to church and met the Lord. I had an opportunity to hear him share his testimony and it was powerful to hear how the Lord brought him out of such a horrible rock star lifestyle and is now using him for His glory.

The lake and countryside of the fest/camping grounds was gorgeous. We had ran the first day and half, but thankfully our last full day there the sun came out and it was great. The sunset's reflection on the water was beautiful!

I'm not sure how many campers there were, but there were 4 campground areas. There wasn't any "personal space." People pitched tents where ever they could.

Overall, it was a great weekend. We spent the mornings doing devos with students. We talked about Christian Culture (things like music, tattoos, drinking, clothing, schooling, dancing...). It was interesting to observe the Dutch Christian culture - many of the things Christians "don't do" (don't drink, smoke or chew... or go with girls who do), the Dutch have no problems with. They like to drink, a lot, and they smoke, a lot (which we witnessed in the evenings). Their dress is rather immodest. Their dancing and public displays of affection are questionable. It seems like the Dutch church exists with no Christian culture of their own.

We had some good conversations about how do we engage culture as Christians. Where do we draw lines on the types of music we listen to, the movies/shows we watch, whether it's okay for a legal adult to drink and if so how much, if tattoos are okay, if it's better to homeschool or attend a private Christian school or go to public school, etc. It was fun to dialogue with students on these topics, as they are decisions that they are currently faced with and will continue to face as they prepare for life after high school.

Thanks for praying for our weekend. It was great!!

Oh summer, where art thou?

Leaves are starting to change.

Pre-season football is underway!

Back to school shopping is in full swing.

Labor Day plans have been made.

These all tell me one thing - summer is quickly coming to an end, and fall is in the air... literally.

I realize many parts of the US have experienced horrible heat waves and droughts this summer. However, the "summer" I've experienced in Germany has left me less convinced of global climate change. While we've had a few nice, sunny, summery days; we've had many more stretches of windy, rainy, dreary days.

While I haven't had a spectacular summer weather wise, I have enjoyed an amazing season of ministry. In my last update, I shared about our mission trip to Hungary. In this update, I'd like to share with what's been going on since then...

SOS: Summer of Steve

Steve Harvell has been interning with us this summer, and he's been a huge blessing. He's getting ready to enter his senior year at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas. Steve has been teaching through a Bible overview series (creation, fall, cross, now what, missions). It's been really great and our students seem to be resonating with the messages and asking deep questions.

Steve is a relational beast. All summer long, he has also organized ultimate frisbee afternoons. It's proved to be a great outreach event. We put an ad in the paper and posted flyers in the newcomers hotel on base, and it's worked. We've been able to meet a number of new teens this summer and have enjoyed getting to hang out with students.

VBS//Dodge Ball

My co-worker AJ and Steve helped lead music and games at VBS - they did great!! Many of our students volunteered and served the little kiddos throughout the week as well. It was a good opportunity for us to meet some new middle schoolers and invite them to youth group.

What can possibly make playing dodge ball and finger darts "funner"? Playing dodge ball and finger darts at a castle! (That's right, Germany's got castles all over the place) To cap off the VBS week, we had a night of fun games at a local castle ruin. We invited a few other youth groups in the area to join us, and praise the Lord, we had over 60 people come out! It was a great relational contact evening.

^ This is the Hohenecken Castle we played in... I took this picture from my new house (keep reading, I moved!) It's pretty awesome to have a castle view from your doorstep!!

Flevo

We're currently gearing up for one final event of the summer. This Thursday, AJ and I will take a group of students to Flevo, a Christian music festival in Holland - 4 days of concerts and camping (it's going to be in-tents!). We don't have any Christian radio stations here, so many of our students have very little exposure to Christian music. We're excited for them to hear some great bands. We're looking forward to spending some quality time with students before they head back to school.

Prayer Requests:

AJ and I are super excited for the upcoming year. We're excited about the growth in our group and the excitement there seems to be within students. Would you pray for us, as we think through how to reach teens with the Gospel and disciple students. This past week during youth group, I realized that 19 of the 43 students are new to our group. We're not sure where everyone is spiritually. Would you pray for us as get to know students and learn their needs.

I moved!! The gal I had been living with is an Air Force nurse, and she is separating from the military in the coming months. I now live with Heather, a fellow CSM missionary who ministers to students in the other school district in our area. She arrived on the field this past spring, and we've been on the look out for a place that would work for the two of us. The Lord's timing has been great. We found an awesome apartment in a great location and for a great price. We're slowly getting things pulled together and settling in. Pictures to come : )

Thanks team, for lifting me and the Ramstein community up before the Lord. It's been super encouraging to see the Lord grow our group and stir a sense of excitement in our students this summer.

For the Gospel,

Beth

Our Hungary Team, We're Starving!

Hey Team - THANKS so much for praying for our summer mission trip to Hungary. We had an amazing week.

Our team in Budapest... by the castle church (above) and the citadel (below).

^ Our Hungary Staff, Steve, Rachel, Jessica, Ben and AJ

I was super proud of our students - they dove in and loved kids well and really encouraged each other. Our theme for the week was "Greatness Training." According to Jesus, if you want to become great, you have to become a servant to all and be last. Each day we had a "Greatness Sighting" time where students to could give shout outs to their friends for their acts of service. The Lord definitely answered our prayer for team unity!!

Each morning, we met in the town square around 9 and played with kids until camp started at 9:30. Students from Cedarville University led the English camp, while our students assisted them. We had the opportunity to lead skits and songs on a few of the days.

Group 1: Some of our team went to an orphanage to play with kids, sing songs, perform skits and share testimonies. Three of our students were adopted. Two of them, a brother and sister, were adopted from Poland at ages 5 and 7, and they remember living in orphanages. Another gal was adopted as an infant from Russia. It was powerful for them to share their stories of not only being adopted by wonderful parents, but also being adopted into God's family.

Group 2: I took a few students to a second English camp in a town 30km away. This second English camp was a bit different, in that many adults attended. We primarily helped with an intermediate class that focused on vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar. At first our students felt out of place trying to help adults, but they slowly came out of the shells and engaged well.

Group 3: The remainder of our group helped with a sports camp for kids in the community. Each day they learned a new sport - baseball, frisbee, football, and soccer, and they ended each day with massive water balloon wars and watermelon eating contests. Many of the girls didn't want to play sports, so our girls brought nail polish and face paint and spent the afternoons painting away. It was a great community outreach.

Almost Viral

One of the Cedarville gals is a dance choreographer and she came up with a dance we could do in the Debrecen town square (a big town nearby) to promote a future English camp they will be leading. Our students were super stoked to take part in a Flash Mob, and we practiced a lot to get all the beats down. However, we found out that you have to have a special permit from the city to perform anything with music. We weren't able to get the permit and weren't willing to risk a fine. We were able to perform the Flash Mob for the local church at a barbecue and at the Mikepercs town square for our morning English campers. It was fun to get to do it, but a little disappointing to not be famous on YouTube. : )

Our missionary contact in Hungary is involved in a number of ministries throughout Hungary. While we mainly focused on his English and sports camps, he shared with us about a few other things he's involved in. Hungary is an entry point for many refugees who are seeking political, religious and economic asylum. Once they arrive in Hungary, they go before a judge to plead their case, depending on the process, the judge's ruling and the immigration bureau, people may stay for a few weeks/months to a year before they have a final answer. Russ shared about a Sri Lankan pastor who'd been granted religious asylum from the government, but was denied by the immigration board which is causing a lot of unknowns and confusion for all involved in his case. It was a real eye opener for our team to see such harsh struggles people are facing because of their faith.

Our first full day in Hungary was the Fourth of July. It was interesting to celebrate our nation's freedom in a country once ruled by communism. And while Hungary is now a part of the European Union, communism's lasting effects are still visible. Considering this, reminded me how thankful I am for the freedoms we have in America.

Thank you so much for praying for our trip to Hungary. I believe Jesus was glorified through our team and students were profoundly impacted by the experience. It was fun to be apart of what God is doing in Hungary through a variety of ministries. Thanks for joining us through your prayers!!!!