Mision trip to Hungary

We had a GREAT week in Hungary, serving with Good Sports International. Thank you for covering our mission trip in prayer. It was beyond evident that the Lord was present and active during the week. He provided us with safety - the whole way there, during our week of service and the whole way home. He united our team and they served one another well, and with good attitudes. : ) Our students stepped out with boldness as they interacted with the Hungarian students and taught them English. I was really proud of the way they not only worked with one another, but with the way the reached out to the Hungarians.

 

^ Our staff for the week - they were great and loved our students so well.

 ^Our team spent some alone time in the Word each evening, then we would gather together and worship in song and teaching. We spent time reading Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians looking for one another statements and common themes throughout the letters. We focused on a lot on unity and how we are called to live and treat one another. Our theme for the week, "Shine," came from Philippians 2:1-4; 14-18.

"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me."

Our team time was rich and encouraging as students shared about the time in the Word and what the Lord taught them. It was fun to hear their desire for growth and to be a light to those around them. 

^ The morning English camp was a huge success, and very creative. Each day had a different theme. This is what the week looked like, and an example of some of the questions/phrases students learned: 
Shopping - I would like to buy a girl's shirt. I would like to buy a book for a child. How much? That's too much.

Restaurant - I would like a Fanta. This is not what I ordered. My food is cold. 

Airport Travel - May I see your passport? What is your seat assignment? 

Directions - where is the train station? May I buy a bus ticket? Do I turn right or left? 

American holidays - Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter

^ Our afternoon sports camp was a lot of fun, and we had a great turn out. Each day we did a different sports: soccer, baseball variations, frisbee and water games. Two evenings we played capture the flag with glow sticks - it was a huge hit. The Hungarians were super excited to play on both nights, and it drew a lot of kids (and their parents) out to the field. Some of the Hungarian girls didn't like to play sports, so our girls brought along nail polish, face paint and hair stuff and spent all afternoon doing nails and hair. It was a huge hit and a great way to connect with one another. 

 ^ In addition to the camps we helped with, our team collected donations for Good Sports. We were able to deliver some of the donations to an orphanage for children aged 0-6 in Debreceen. The Good Sports team has ben working hard to develop a relationship with the orphanage director, and these donations helped pave the way. The director even invited us into the building and gave our team a tour of the facility. It was a huge step forward! Praise God!

^ One of the highlights of our week was being invited to dinner by the local Reformed Church of Mikepercs. We were the first visiting group they've invited! It was similar to a good ole' American BBQ, except instead of burgers they served us an amazing goulash soup. It took a long time to prepare, and they let us help out a bit. It was a very special and tasty treat! After dinner, our team sang a few of the songs we'd been doing at English camp for the church members so they could get a glimpse into our week. They were amazed to see so many young people that were excited about their faith. It caused them to consider how they can begin pulling young people into their congregation. Currently, their church is made up of people well over 50, with very few children and teenagers. Our host said they couldn't believe that teens could be so on fire for the Lord and serious about sharing their faith. Seeing our team in action was both an encouragement and challenge to them as they consider the future of their church.

We're starving... going back for thirds

Our annual summer mission trip is coming up! We will be in Hungary July 13-21. For the third summer in a row, we will partner with Good Sports International to help with a morning English camp and an afternoon sports camp for students in the community. I'm excited!! We've got a great group of students (18) and staff (6) on our team this year. For many of them, this will be their first mission trip. They are pretty excited to step out and serve others. We'll be spending time each evening as a team looking through some of Paul's letters. We'll be looking at what it means to be unified and how we are called to treat one another. We will spend Friday afternoon packing and loading our vans, then we'll set out early on Saturday morning.

Would you pray for...
1. Team unity - pray that we'd be encouraging to one another (even when we're tired!), and that the Hungarians we interact with would see Jesus through our love for one another.
2. Safety - as we drive the 12+ hours to our destination and as we serve and play hard with the campers for the week.
3. Teaching opportunities - as students process their experiences throughout the week, pray for our staff as we lean in and encourage and challenge students in their faith.
4. Encouragement for the Hungarian Christians and American missionaries we'll be serving alongside - due to years of communist rule, Hungary is a very godless country and they often labor without seeing a lot of fruit. Pray that spending time with our team during our worship times would be refreshing for their souls.

I look forward to updating you after our mission trip on the work the Lord will do both in and through our team... so stay tuned for stories and pictures!

**

In other summer news... 

Our summer teaching series is on prayer in the Psalms. We've spent the first four weeks looking at what it means to PRAY (praise, repent, ask and yield) and we will spend the final four weeks looking at different prayer postures (hands, heads, singing, kneeling). It's been a good study so far and students are engaging well. Last night I taught on what it means to yield to God. We dove into Psalm 1 and compared the way of the righteous with the way of the wicked - and then spent time considering what path we're on and who/what we're yielding (giving way) to.

Summer brings a lot of unknowns to our group. Many families travel to America for the summer to visit their families and others take some time for family vacations around Europe. At the beginning of the summer we said goodbye to a number of students. We've finally begun seeing a few new families move into community. This past week we had 3 new students who are brand new to Ramstein. It's been fun welcoming new faces! In addition to saying goodbye to some students, we've also said goodbye to some key volunteers. A major prayer request we have as we move into the fall, is for more volunteer staff. We've been blessed to have a few new ladies joining our volunteer team, but we are in need of some men to invest in our students - particularly in our middle school group.

Graduation Time!

Last night I had the privilege of cheering on these 3 fabulous senior gals, as they walked across the stage and received their high school diplomas. Each gal has been very involved in youth group during their time at Ramstein. They are growing into wonderful Godly gals, and I'm excited to see the Lord continue His work in them as they step out into the world. I'm super proud of each of them, and so thankful to have been a part of their lives! One is off to University of North Dakota (go Sioux... that's where I began college!), another to a tech school in Wisconsin (my home state, so we will be able to meet up again!) and the other to Baylor in Waco, TX. Each is uniquely gifted and I'm excited to see what the future holds for them. 

We are in the midst of one of the more challenging seasons in the military community. Over the past 2 weeks, we've already said goodbye 5 students. As the school year finally comes to an end this week, we'll continue to say goodbye to many more families. It's always a privilege to get to walk alongside students and encourage them in faith and life, even if it's for a short season.

Would you pray for hearts as we grieve saying goodbye to friends, and preparing our hearts for new relationships.

Spring Break Recap

^ Everyone at Spring Break... all 200! 

 ^ Our Ramstein students

Thanks for praying for our Spring Break retreat, we had a great week. Highlights included ... 3 days of sun (a rarity in Germany!), roasting marshmallows and playing dodgeball at the foot of the alps. I really enjoyed my small group ladies! We had some great conversations as we discussed the speaker's messages and sought to make some real life connections and applications. 

(Above) Belly Bumper Soccer

(Below) Earth Ball

One of my responsibilities at camp this year, was to lead a morning worship track for students wanting to learn how to study their Bibles and get something out of their quiet times. I had way more students attend than I anticipated. We spent 3 mornings looking through 2 Corinthians 2-5 and looking at what it means to be ministers of the new covenant.

^ The first day of morning worship

^ Some of my wonderful girls striking their best olympic pose 

(Garmisch hosted the winter olympics a number of years ago)

A mission's team from Good Shepherd Community Church in Boring, Oregon came to serve, and they were great. They helped to lead team competitions and some late night activities. The speaker was wonderful! He spoke on the theme of "Rescued" and taught how we're all in need of a rescue and only Jesus is able to save us from our brokenness and sin. He talked about fully surrendering our lives to Jesus. He used the illustration of a car, and how Jesus doesn't just want a ride in our car, He wants to drive our car... and He wants our full keychain, not just a few keys off the ring. 

Throughout the week there were a number of opportunities for our students to spend time together and get to know one another better. I felt that our students connected well and that we came home a more tight knit group. Of the 25 students we brought, 3 had never visited our youth group and 2 were fairly new. 

We were super blessed to have some great volunteer staff with us!! They loved our students so well and engaged them in great Jesus centered conversations. I couldn't have asked for a better group of volunteers. 

Thanks so much for praying for our week! 

There's just over a month left of school. The moving season is fast approaching. Would you begin praying for our coming months of transition. In the military community, June - August is the main moving season, at least one-third of students will move. It's a pretty tough emotional/relational period for everyone as we have to say goodbye to dear friends and prepare our hearts to welcome new families. 

We've begun preparations for our annual Hungary mission trip. Applications will go out in the next week or so, and budget/number crunching and planning will begin. Would you pray as we select our mission team and as we make logistical plans for the trip?

Dear Prayer Team, 

Hello! I realized this weekend that it's been way too long since I've sent out an update. I hope you had a good Easter last weekend. It actually felt like home… since there were snowflakes floating around all day. I know in the upper midwest snow this time of year is normal, but not so much here in Germany. I am looking forward to some sunny days! Germany set a record low this winter for the amount of sun we received. But speaking of sun and warming up… spring break is just days away! 

Spring Break

On Monday morning we setting out for our annual high school spring break retreat. We are spending a week in the beautiful German Alps. Our retreat theme is "Rescued." It comes from a Gilligan's Island spin off… stuck in need of rescue. Our speaker will be talking through the week on sin and the things that ensnare us and God's ability to save us. I think it'll be a really relevant theme for our students. I'm looking forward to time with my small group, a group of freshman girls whom I'll meet with each evening to discuss the day's talks. 

A few prayer requests for the week - 

1. Group unity - We've got a number of first time campers coming with us, and a several students who are brand new to our group. Would you pray that students would connect with one another and seek to build relationships. 

2. Safety – Please pray for physical safety as we drive about 6 hours to our location, for safety during the week as we play hard during team competitions/rec, and for relational and emotional safety as students share their hearts and process what they hear from the Lord.

3. Wisdom – Please pray for our staff (there's 6 of us, and only 2 of us have been on this retreat before). As we invest in students, pray that we'd have ears to hear what they say, and what they don't say and that we'd point them to Jesus well. Pray for endurance as camp is 5 full days! 

4. Camp Leadership Team – Please pray for our speaker and for his staff who will be helping with various components of camp throughout the week. Pray that our students would connect with them. 

5. Me – I'll be leading an optional morning devotional time for students who want to learn ways to study their Bibles during their quiet time with the Lord. We'll be working through 2 Corinthians 2-5. Pray that they'd be compelled by the love of Christ and would boldly lead their friends to be reconciled with God! 

In other news… 

Ministry is going well! This spring semester we've been going through a series in youth group that we've dubbed "Hollywood Mythbusters: Theology Style." We've been looking at how Hollywood portrays spiritual things like God (The Trinity), heaven, hell, angels, demons, end times, and we've compared that to what the Scriptures actually teach about these things. Each week we've busted a variety of myths ranging from – no, you don't become an angel when you die and no, Satan is not leading Richard Simmons aerobics in hell. Our students are connecting well with this series and come ready with questions each week. 

Bible studies are still in full swing. My high school girls have been watching a Mark Driscoll (from Mars Hill Church in Seattle) sermon series on the book of Esther. It's great and I highly recommend it! I listened to it this fall and found it really interesting and challenging and wanted my girls to hear the messages as well. I've been going through a understanding your Bible book with my middle school girls. They have all memorized the Old Testament books of the Bible and we're moving onto the New Testament! We're doing a basic walk-thru overview of the Scriptures to give them a better idea of what's actually in their Bible and what's the storyline. 

Our Cadence Student Ministries, Team Ramstein has changed a bit. As you know my last co-workers moved back to the states in July. This fall, Steven Harvell began a year long short-term assignment. In December, Kevin and Sharon Scheible, joined Steven and I. So together, we've been holding down the fort and loving on the students of Ramstein! Steven will be leaving (he recently got married, and will move to the sates with his wife) in June. It's been nice having him here this year, as that's allowed Kevin and Sharon to transition in at a more comfortable pace. Would you pray for our team as we learn how to work together and as we begin planning for our summer/fall? 

Thanks team! Your prayer support is SO appreciated! Hope you're doing well!!

For Christ,

Beth

Escape ... The Unexpected Journey

Our annual middle school camp is officially less than one week away! We have 43 students and 7 staff signed up from our community, this is the most we've had in a long time, so we are excited to see the Lord growing our group and stirring an excitement among students. We're doing a Hobbit Themed camp this year, the unexpected journey. Our speaker will be teaching 5 times throughout the weekend on the amazing adventure that Jesus invites us to join in.

A few prayer requests for camp ...

Our students - many of our students are new to the group. Would you pray for team unity, and that students would love each other well and speak words of life to one another. Pray that God would prepare their hearts to hear His Word and that they would respond to Him.

Our staff - Kevin, Steve, Rob, Shaun, Suzan, Donna, Hannah and myself as we lean in with students, point them to Jesus and encourage them in faith. Pray for wisdom, ears to hear, words to speak and endurance... 4 days of camp with many high energy middle schoolers : )

Our speaker - Dave Lambert, a long time Cadence missionary and friend is coming to speak, and I'm really excited about that! Pray that he and his wife have safe travels and get over jet lag quickly. Pray that he connects with students and finishes up his talks.

Our camp team - A group of students from Multnomah University are coming to lead various components of the camp. Pray that they also have safe travels and adjust to Germany time. Pray that they would dive in with students well! Many of these students are interested in a future with Cadence after they graduate. Pray that God would speak to them and perhaps lead them towards Cadence.

Safety - We are maxing out our facility! Praise the Lord for the highest turnout in recent Escape history. Would you pray that the Lord would keep us safe - both physically and emotionally/relationally. As we near camp, we are still waiting on some final safety approvals from the various participating bases/youth groups. Would you pray that God would grant us favor with the right people and that He would make it all happen, in His timing.

THANKS for praying!! Our students are super excited for the weekend, and I'm excited for them to hear the Word and learn about Jesus.

Welcome to 2013, we're off and running!

Equip 2013
We spent January 25-26 with 20+ middle schoolers that were interested in growing in their faith and ministering to their peers. Our theme was "Team Captains" and we talked through the weekend about following our leader (God) and leading others to Him. Each of our CSM took turns teaching. I spoke the first evening about "Why are we on the team?" and how God doesn't need us, but has chosen to invite us to join in His work. That night I also lead an experiential game where staff hid around the building with different flashlights and students were sent out to find as many as they could. Some lights were dim and flickered on and off, others were bright and easy to find right away. Afterwards we asked students what sort of light were they? Did their light shine bright? Or did they turn it on and off depending on where they were and who they were with? Overall, we had a great weekend with our students! Praise the Lord for middle schoolers who are desiring to grow in faith and seek to impact those around them for eternity.

Good News 

A new twist on an old classic - if you've ever volunteered for VBS or little kiddo Sunday school, you've probably made a salvation story bracelet.

Black is our sin, 

Red is Christ's blood, 

 White  is for being washed as white as snow, 

Green is for a growing faith and 

Gold is for the promise of heaven.

I thought it would be fun to make this more middle school cool, so with Isaiah 52:7 in mind "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peach, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"we did Gospel style pedicures last week.

Bible studies are off to a good start this semester. With middle schoolers, we recently finished up a character study, where we learned what Christ-like qualities we need to be putting on and growing in. With high schoolers, we completed a worldview study, where we read through a book about how Christianity compares to other world religions and practices. For the next two weeks, we're going to look at the book of Daniel and discuss what it means to "resolve to not defile ourselves" as we live in this world. I'm still praying about March, but I'm currently leaning towards a study of Esther. Would you pray for my girls as we prepare for a new study?

MythBusters, Theology Style
"You know how when good people die, they become angels? Does that mean bad people become demons?" This was a question we were asked last year from a student. Hollywood is doing a great job teaching our students false truths about God. This semester we are seeking to bust many bad theology myths that are running rampart in our culture. Like... do all dogs go to heaven? Is Morgan Freeman God? Do we have a juke-box Jesus? Should we really set the world on fire? Are we really born that way? In the coming weeks we'll be looking at how Hollywood and the media have portrayed God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), Satan, demons, angels, heaven, hell and the end times. Then we'll take a look at the church and how Christians are portrayed in the media, and how the Lord calls us to be His witness.

Side note, on my flights to/from the states this Christmas, I started watching a few movies that really troubled me so much that I turned them off within the first few scenes. Each of them portrayed Evangelical Christians as total idiots, and I was frustrated by them. Christians and holy living is being mocked in numerous movies and sitcoms today, and I think it's important that it's addressed with students.

We'll also spend time talking about love/relationships, anarchy, following our hearts, the American dream and zombies/witches/vampires. It's going to be a fun semester!

Would you pray for our study... that students would understand Biblical truths and learn to filter the information they receive from media and discern what is truth and what are lies.