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!!!!

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