Brent and Jen Hautle were both born and raised in Pennsylvania. Both of us came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at an early age, so child evangelism is something very important to us. Brent attended Bradley Academy for the Visual Arts in York, PA, and studied graphic design. Jen graduated from Liberty University with a degree in communications. Brent started working at Susquehanna Design and Printing in Millersburg in August of 1996. We married on October 19, 1996.

While attending David’s Community Bible Church, in Millersburg, we met Tim and Sue Shirey, serving at the Child Evangelism Fellowship® European Headquarters (called Kilchzimmer) in Switzerland. Because his father is Swiss, Brent was interested in the Shirey’s ministry.  We were amazed when Tim started talking about graphic design, artwork and desktop publishing for CEF®.

Several months later we found out Kilchzimmer was looking for an additional graphic designer. Tim was behind in his work and the center had been looking for someone to assist him for several years. Needless to say, we were very interested!

At the urging of the missions committee at David’s we applied to work at Kilchzimmer for one month, February 15 to March 15, 2001.

During that month at Kilchzimmer we felt the Spirit of the Lord moving in our lives, and it seemed like a perfect fit.

When we returned from Switzerland, we applied with CEF to become full-time missionaries to Kilchzimmer and were accepted. Since CEF is a faith-based mission, we needed to raise 100 percent of our support. We spent two years on deputation building our support team. We also had the wonderful opportunity to lead several children to Christ during the summer of 2002 while helping in CEF camp and fair ministries.

The Lord provided through several churches, as well as many individuals.

After packing, selling and giving away our belongings we said our goodbyes. On May 19, 2003 our dearest friends took us to the airport and we were on our way.

Who are we?

We met through working with Creative Ministries out of Lancaster, PA. Each weekend we would help out at Creation concerts and several summers helped at the annual Creation Festival. Our first real “meeting point” was at my home church, Evangelical Free Church of Hershey, where we were setting up for a Michael Card concert. I was wearing my brown leather jacket, and Jen really liked it. Her attraction to me started sometime later. We started dating in 1993. When Jen went to college we continued a long-distance relationship, got engaged and were married at her home church on October 19, 1996. One unusual thing that happened on our wedding day was that I promised Jen “one day I am going to take you to Switzerland.” We never imagined we would be living here!

Jen, born May 9, 1975. She enjoys making gifts for others, playing games (such as Phase 10 and Canasta) baking, reading Christian fiction, watching movies, spending time with family and friends, watching others having a good time and just feeling useful. As the youngest child never having much interest in taking care of children, Jen is experiencing a great learning curve as she is now Amy and Christopher’s primary caregiver.

Brent, born June 24, 1974. He started doodling while in elementary school (the math teachers didn’t like it). In junior high and high school he took as many classes on art, design, print shop, geography and history as he could. He grew up two miles away from Hersheypark arena and loves Hershey Bears hockey, college basketball and the Washington Redskins. Like Jen, he also enjoys playing games. He enjoys bicycling, which is a lot of fun on the many bike paths in Switzerland. He also believes very strongly in the four basic food groups: Chinese, Italian, Mexican and peanut butter. Since the birth of Amy and Christopher, he loves playing with them outside, taking them on hikes or bike rides and tickling them. His favorite book in the Bible is James and favorite verses are Colossians 1:21-22 and Psalm 121.

Amy, born March 10, 2005. She loves swimming and going to School. She enjoys reading (or being read to) before bedtime. Anything pink catches Amy’s eye, and she loves anything to do with princesses. Her favorite foods are green bean salad, hot dogs and snow!

Christopher, born September 10, 2007. He enjoys following Amy and mimicing her. He loves all kinds of vehicles – cars, trucks, trains, planes and boats. He especially likes riding in them! He also enjoys books and puzzles, but doesn’t like bedtime. He enjoys his chocolate milk more than anything else but might eat pizza, hot dogs, apples and oranges.