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.

Fall Retreat

Dear Team, 

I spent Columbus Day weekend in Switzerland with a group of 25 high school students and 4 other staff. We had a great fall retreat. During our morning and evening devos, we went through the book of Ephesians and talked about community and being a part of the body of Christ. We spent one afternoon hiking up to a waterfall and another afternoon watching clouds roll into the valley over the mountaintops and mist fall from the sky as we played games inside of our lodge. At least half of the students were fairly new to our group. It was a good connection time with so many new faces. Praise the Lord, everything went smooth travel wise and that relationships were built. Here's a few pictures from the weekend ... 

^Taken just outside of our lodge.

^ Our lodge came with a fire pit. We roasted marshmallows on Saturday night, the sky was super clear and it was awesome. Since we were talking about community, I used the fire as a teaching illustration. I talked about how important good community is for spiritual growth. I pulled one log out of the fire and we watched how quickly it burnt out. As soon as I placed it back in the fire pit - it started burning again. As believers, it's helpful to surround ourselves with other believers who will help us stay on fire for the Lord! 

^ One Saturday afternoon, we all hiked up to a waterfall. One of our students is in a wheelchair, and wasn't able to do the long hike. So I drove her and her sister to parking lot near the waterfall and we did a shorter hike to it. I'd done the hike before, and it was a bit more rocky that I remembered - but we got that chair up to the waterfall! I think Christie enjoyed it.  

^ All of us at the waterfall! 

2 years!

October 1st marketed my 2 year anniversary of arriving in Germany. My how the time has flown.

I'm headed to Switzerland tomorrow with 25 high school students and 4 other staff. Each year we do a fall retreat, alternating between high school and middle school. The 2010 fall retreat was one of the first things I participated in when I moved to Germany. It was a great bonding weekend for me, as I got to know a number of girls on the trip who would become my core Bible study group for that school year.

I was looking through this year's retreat roster, and 7 of the 16 girls coming, are new to our group. I'm really excited for these girls to build relationships within the group and feel connected. One of the girls coming only arrived in Germany on Monday! We're going to spend the weekend talking about our relationship with God and our relationships with others. They'll be plenty of downtime for students to hang out, go hiking and enjoy being in the alps!

A few prayer requests for the weekend ...
1. Safe travel - we are leaving after school (4ish) and it's about a 6 hour drive. We'll be caravaning in 4 vans.
2. Connections - I'd love to see students build/deepen relationships with one another, and return home feeling known.
3. God Conversations - as we talk about relationships in the middle of one of the most beautiful places on earth, I pray students will stand in awe of our amazing Creator.

A day in Worms

Yesterday Heather and I took few of our girls to Worms for the day. One of the girls is moving to CO next week and we wanted to spend a special day with her before she leaves. 

I asked them where they wanted to go and they picked Worms. They were interested in learning about Martin Luther and the Reformation. Worms is where Luther was summoned after he nailed his 95 theses on the door in Wittenburg. Rome called him to Worms to renounce his theses statements. It was in Worms that he is rumored to have said his "Here I stand I can do no other." It was really fun to walk around the city with the gals. One of the coolest parts of living in Europe is the history and it's fun to experience it with students and help them catch a bigger picture of the world. 

Outside the Dom Worms 

On the steps of the Luther Monument 

Only 2 weeks until school starts. This summer has just flown by. It's sort of a weird time - some families wait until the end of the summer to move so students have been heading out and we've said goodbye to some graduates heading off to college. On the flip side... a lot of students who've been in the states visiting family and friends all summer are starting to return to get ready for school. It's been fun seeing them again and hear about their summers. We've also had a lot of new students move in over the past 2-3 weeks and it's been fun!! New students seems to be excited about plugging in and making friends. I think we've got good momentum as we head into the new school year.