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!!!!

Dear Key Club,

Summer is flying by! I can't believe July is here this weekend. I hope you have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Graduation has come and gone and summer vacation is in full swing. We've had the sadness of saying goodbye to a number of PCS'ing students and will continue to say farewell to several more over the coming months. We've also had the joy of welcoming new families into the Ramstein community. Over the past few weeks, we've said hello to 4 or 5 new students each week! It's the military cycle of life.

This Sunday AJ and I are taking a team of 16 students and 4 other staff to Hungary for a summer service project. We're partnering with LOGOS (a Hungarian English School) and Good Sports International (a community sports ministry) to help with English camps in the mornings and sports camps in the afternoons. Our contact (a Good Sports missionary) is well networked in the surrounding communities and is involved in 3 orphanages and 2 refugee camps. We've been collecting donations for a few weeks, and we're excited to able to take some much needed food, clothing and sports equipment to the orphanages and camps. We'll have an opportunity to visit one of the orphanages on our final day in Hungary.

In the evenings, we'll gather as a team to process and debrief our day's experiences and to spend time in worship and the Word together. We'll be going through the book of Acts throughout the week, taking note of the early church, the Holy Spirit's movement and whatever else God has in store to teach us. Bottom line - our team is really excited for it all. We're looking forward to serving the Hungarians and seeing how God uses and challenges us for His glory! Would you join us in prayer!?

1. Safety - expected drive time to Hungary is 11-12 hours. We'll be driving across Germany, through Austria and into Hungary. We'll be traveling in 4 large vans. Once we get there, it's going to be hot, hotter and muggy. Would you pray we'd stay hydrated and not have any weird food illnesses that sometimes occur while traveling.

2. Unity - we've got a diverse group of students, each with different passions and gifts. I see huge potential in each of them. Would you pray that God would unite our team and use us powerfully. We've also got some newer students to the group, would you pray that God would use this experience to connect them with other students well.

3. Hungary - we don't really know the spiritual climate of the community we're traveling to. Good Sports is a community based ministry, so hopefully we'll be able to help them build stronger connections with those in the local community through our camps. Please be praying for the missionaries we'll be partnering with, that we'd be a blessing and encouragement to them and not extra work.

Family News,

A few weeks ago, my brother received notice of a remote assignment to Osan AB, South Korea. And while he wasn't super excited about it, it will result in a follow-on assignment of his choice. He gets to request a few bases that he'd really like to go to after Korea, and he should receive one of them. (We're both hoping for Ramstein!) Would you pray that he'd be able to finish strong at Ellsworth and get a few things in order before moving. And for the more exciting news, just this past week, we found his name on the Tech Sergeant select results!! He hasn't been in too long and doesn't have many deployments for points towards promotion, so we're pretty surprised and excited to see him make it!

My dad leaves this weekend for another deployment to Jalalabad, Afghanistan to work as a contractor, maintaining the predator drones. This will be his third, and likely final deployment with the company. I think he's ready to "retire" again! Would you pray that he'd make it to his location safely and get settled into the work tempo and adjust to the time zone quickly. The Mabry's will be spread across 4 different time zones and countries soon.

Thanks so much for your partnership in ministering to the military community! It's a joy to serve with you and I'm thankful for your faithful prayer support.

June Update

Hey Team,

Summer is approaching fast - tonight is Ramstein's graduation. It's a bittersweet time. Many students are so ready for a break from school work and are looking forward to some rest. The end of the school year means the beginning of the moving season. In the next few weeks we'll say goodbye to lots of students - students heading off to college and students whose families are moving to new bases. Many families will return to the states for the summer to visit their family and friends, and will return in the fall. On a more encouraging note... in the past 2 or 3 weeks, we've had a number of new families moving into community. We've at least 6 new students visit youth group in June. Most of our summer ministry will focus on relational building, as we seek to plug new students in and go deeper with continuing students.

^Here's a picture of most of our graduating seniors... a few couldn't make it on our "Senior Night." We had a fun time sharing funny moments and affirming and encouraging each of the students.

On the first Saturday of each month, there's a HUGE flea market in Homburg. I thought it would be fun to take some of my girls for a day trip as a fun way to end our school year study. We had fun browsing the stands finding all sorts of things - antiques, kitchen gadgets, jewelry, hats, you name it. We each bought a fun coffee mug to remember our time. One of the gals will be moving in a few weeks, so it was a good chance to be together.

^Here's the gals! I started meeting with them in February. Since then we've read through the Case for Christ book together and discussed it each week. It's been fun to watch God knit our group together this past semester. Our Spring Break retreat was a big turning point for our relationships and since then, we've kept on growing.

Thanks so much for praying for our ministry!

I'm Back!

Hey Key Club,

I got home Sunday night from our weeklong CSM conference in Switzerland. We had a GREAT time. A Biblical Counseling professor from The Masters College lead us in teaching times each morning. He spoke through heart issues and discussed ways to solve conflict Biblically. In the evenings our field director shared from Acts and encouraged and challenged our team with his insights. He challenged us to be Gospel driven, willing to embrace struggles and to be people who are willing to enter into each others lives to challenge and shape one another. We opened each session with worship and prayer. It was a refreshing time. Each afternoon we had free time. I went on 3 hikes in the area and spent an afternoon in the city of Thun. Check out my blog for some pictures. It was really fun to spend time with my teammates and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Our rental house was in the midst of amazing mountains. We couldn't have asked for a more majestic view. Just check out our team picture - I didn't alter it, that was our mountain view from our house parking lot! Thanks so much for praying for our week.

I returned to a normal ministry week. We finished our "Media Frontier" series in youth group on Tuesday. I taught on the dangers of Facebook (did you know psychologists now believe in a thing called Facebook depression!?) and how to be wise with social networking. In the coming weeks, we'll be honoring our seniors, graduating our 8th graders into the high school group, and farewelling students who are moving this summer.

I hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend. As we remember those who have served our country, I want to thank you for supporting military families in Germany through your prayers and giving. Thanks for joining me in this ministry!!

Blessings,

Beth

May Update

Hey there Key Club!

Hope this finds you doing well and enjoying spring. Summer's right around the corner! Since coming back from our spring break retreat, life seems to have flown by. Here's an update from the past few weeks...

Youth Group: We recently taught through a series on Biblical community in our middle school group. Our high school group finished going through the book of Luke. We’re currently teaching through a series on media, its dangers, and how to make wise choices in what we feed our brains, in both groups. A recent study reported that teens spend over 7 hours a day plugged into some sort of media. But with all the media multi-tasking they do, (watching movies while Facebooking, texting and listening to their iPods, etc.) they actually are exposed to over 10 hours of media each day. 10 hours - that’s a lot of influence.

Bible Studies: We’ve got just a few weeks left of Bible studies for the school year. This past semester, we looked at a number of women in the Scriptures as well as female missionaries with middle schoolers and in the high school group, we read through The Case for Christ.

Tomorrow morning I’m headed to Switzerland for our annual, weeklong Cadence Student Ministries staff conference. We’ve got a speaker coming from the states, who will be talking on how to resolve conflict Biblically. Unresolved conflict is one of the main reasons missionaries leave the field. The goal of the week is to equip us with skills to deal with conflict in healthy, Biblical ways. We’ll also spend time in worship and fellowship as a team throughout the week. It should be a great week to recharge our batteries as we transition from our busy retreat season to our summer ministry schedules. (I won't have e-mail access while in Switzerland.)

Coming Up:

Steven, a college student whose dad is a chaplain here at Ramstein, will be interning with us this summer. AJ and I are looking forward to having him join us in a few weeks. He’ll be helping out with the teaching load and doing a lot of relational, contact ministry. Would you pray for him as finishes out his semester and prepares for a summer of ministry. Pray that God would help him build relationships with our students and use him to encourage and point them to Jesus.

We’ve begun preparing for a service project trip to an orphanage in Hungary. We’ll be helping to lead a morning English camp and an afternoon sports camp for orphans and kids in the surrounding communities. We’ll also be doing some service projects around the facility and will serve in whatever capacity the staff are needing us to lend a hand.

Prayer Requests:

1. For youth group and Bible study teaching times - pray that God would direct AJ and I as we prepare and that we'd speak Truth to students in relevant ways. Pray that the hearts of students would be open to hearing God's Word and that they'd have courage to live it out.

2. With summer approaching, many of our students will be moving. Please pray for students as they say goodbye to friends - it'll be an emotionally challenging time.

3. For our staff conference - pray that God would work amongst our team and continue to shape us into men and women who love well and glorify Him in all we do.

THANKS so much for praying and for your partnership in reaching the military community with the Gospel. Your support is so encouraging!!!

Blessings,

Beth

Spring Break 2011

"Spring break at Shorebreak 2011 with Hume Lake in Garmisch was amazing. New friends and memories were made, it was sunny, it rained, and it snowed in the middle of April, outrageously long french mustaches were worn, epic duals with cheap wooden swords were commenced, and most importantly, God was glorified." - from a student's Facebook status post the day after camp

^ The view from our hotel - it's a Galp! (German Alp)

^ All 180+ of us following rec time

Shorebreak was great!!! Thanks for praying for us throughout the week, God was at work in the hearts of our students.

Our camp speaker did a great job of communicating the Gospel and Jesus' love for each one of us, in a very relevant student friendly way. Many students responded to the messages. I'm super thankful for several great conversations I had with kids. It's amazing how much students open up when they get away from the distractions and noise of their everyday lives back home.

My favorite conversation was with one gal towards the end of the week. Our speaker shared the story of Jesus calming the water after His disciples woke Him up while sleeping on the boat. The student shared with me the different storms she'd been facing - divorced parents and an absent dad who doesn't reach out to her, broken relationships at school and an unwanted reputation, an upcoming move to the states this summer... the list seemed to go on. She threw herself into time consuming sports to escape the drama and to avoid being at home. As she poured out her heart, I felt my heart breaking. She felt unloved, unwanted and alone. I had the privilege to share with her Psalm 139 and tell her how God sees her. I then asked her where Jesus was in the midst of the storms? Was He on the shore? The boat? Nowhere to be seen? She said, "I think Jesus needs to wake up." We stopped right there, and prayed together - asking Jesus to wake up and calm the storms. It's my prayer He'll make Himself known to her in profound ways and take her hand and guide her through the chaos of life.

Some of the other fun times of the week for students were the recreation/team competitions, a high ropes course, an afternoon walking around town shopping and eating gelatto, and an afternoon at an indoor water park on our way home. Fun bonding times!!!

^ Our Ramstein Community

^ Ramstein Girls during community time

^ Jordan and Christie, cheering on the teams during rec time
^ Small group gals, out for gelatto during free time

Many of our students got into the musketeer mustache look on double spirit day : )

^With my Stuttgart CSM friends

Faithfully Flexible

Hey Team!

Today marks 6 months and one week, since I arrived to the field. Time is flying by! Thank you so much for journeying with me.

Here's an update from the ministry front...

The Marine Corp motto is Semper Fi, always faithful. Our field director likes to joke around, that as missionaries to the military community, our motto is “Semper Gumby,” always flexible. In the past few weeks, we’ve had a number of opportunities to practice living this motto.

The recent/current events in Libya sent bases across Europe into heightened security levels, which have greatly impacted our upcoming high school spring break retreat. About two weeks ago, we learned that our selected facility in Italy did not meet the new security requirements (we weren’t going to be a near a base, and as a large group staying in one location for several days, we could potentially draw some unwanted attention). We had two options: move camp or cancel it.

So how do you move a camp for 180 people just 2 weeks before spring break? You pray. A lot. : ) God opened up doors and provided us rooms at a really nice lodge for military personnel and their families in the German Alps. (How this place had enough open rooms is beyond me, it’s a popular vacation getaway for many - especially over holidays). Praise the Lord!

Had things stayed as planned, I’d be leaving on a bus for Italy tonight. Due to availability at the lodge, camp will now run Monday through Friday. The shift in location and dates has thrown a few wrenches in the mix, as we consider how to change our program to accommodate the new reality. Our camp includes students from the Air Force and Army communities. This has caused some challenges, as both branches have different security measures and interpretations of policies that impact various camp components. But God is faithful and has poured out the endurance, patience, grace and favor to make it happen. He's also blessed us with great field leadership who've worked extremely hard in the past few weeks.

9/11 occurred the beginning of my senior year of high school. In the days, weeks and months that followed, I struggled with living on base and desiring a sense of “normalcy” in the midst of heightened security. I remember being late to school games and concerts because the base would go into a lockdown state to practice dealing with security breaches. I was annoyed that so much “real world military” stuff impacted my daily life. I didn’t sign up for the military, so why was I being treated like I did?

I see similar frustration in some of our students. “Why can’t we just have a fun, normal spring break at the beach?” “Why is it such a hassle to go on a trip?” I pray that God would use these as teachable moments, to remind us that the world is bigger than us and we’re not the center of the universe. I pray bitterness wouldn’t take root in the hearts of students.

I’m excited for next week (as I shared in my last e-mail, I'm excited for the students we have coming - they're great!!), and I look forward to sharing highlights with you when I return. Thank you so much for praying for our military community!!!!

Prayer Points:
Students - pray that hearts would be softened and students would be ready to hear the Gospel and boldly respond to whatever the Lord prompts them to do. Pray they'd leave knowing Jesus loves them deeply.

Staff - pray for wisdom as we lean into students and encourage and challenge them. Pray for endurance to run hard for a week, and for grace and patience when we’re tired.

Hume Lake - pray for our camp directors/leaders as they’ve traveled from California to lead our program (teaching, worship, games, tournaments). Pray God would use them in mighty ways as they serve our students.

Thank you team! You're a blessing to me and my wonderful students!

For the sake of The Name,

Beth