Warrenton, Missouri, here we come! After nine years of serving with Child Evangelism Fellowship® at the European headquarters (Kilchzimmer), we have a change of location ahead of us, as we’re moving to CEF’s International headquarters.

So what’s changing with our ministry? Not much, actually. For the last few years we’ve seen our workload swing from 100 percent European projects to a more international role. Most of our work will still be for the ministry in Europe, but we’ll be tackling projects which have a worldwide impact.

When we first started with the ministry at Kilchzimmer, it was hard to imagine working from anywhere but the offices there. In the past several years, we’ve seen major changes happening. Face-to-face meetings are replaced by Skype conference calls as workers do their jobs from their homes or on the road. Files are no longer sent by CD or DVD, but are placed on remote servers.

For a more than a year we have felt unsettled here in Switzerland. We can’t put our finger on it. We just see it as God preparing us for a move. We see an interesting parallel as we read the story of Abram in Genesis 12. He was living in the land of Canaan when God used a famine to move him to Egypt. Has this last year been our famine? For so many years we’ve called Switzerland home. Whenever we were asked how long we would stay our answer was “until God takes us somewhere else.” We’ve enjoyed the beauty of God’s creation here … after all, it is the most beautiful country in the world (in our very humble opinion). Castles and ruins are everywhere. The springtime flowers have never been rivaled. The mountains proclaim the glory of the Lord. Yet, we feel God’s call to end our time here.

We take with us so many good memories and friendships. Lord willing, we go to make new memories, renew old friendships and make new ones.

We have a lot to do. We leave on April 24. Before then we have our stuff to pack (we’ve already been doing that for more than a month). We have a lot of our furniture and household items to sell, and we have our car to sell. We’ll need to do a major cleaning of our apartment before handing it over on April 20. We have many goodbyes to say.

Please pray for us that the Lord would give us strength and endurance. Pray we “end well.” Pray for the co-workers we are leaving behind. Pray the Lord would give our new co-workers patience as we learn the ropes there. Pray God be glorified!

More to come …

For nearly a week we’ve been experiencing very low temperatures here in Switzerland. I don’t ever remember a time when we’ve had such a long cold streak. A lot of people think Switzerland is normally very cold, but the winters, while there can be ample amounts of snow, have temperatures similar to what we experienced in Pennsylvania.

But as the temperatures dip, we see some amazing things happen. Geometric shapes start forming from the ice crystals on the inside of the car windows. The colors outside seem muted, almost as though God opened up Photoshop and desaturated the entire world. The air is so dry and cold outside, when we open our windows for our daily airing out of the apartment, steam rolls out.

We’ve been drying all of our windows at least four times a day and airing out our flat half that much. Airing it out? In these cold temperatures? Well, it’s in our renters agreement, and after living here for nine years, it’s become routine. It helps keep the likelihood of mold and mildew to a minimum.

The news reports coming from around Europe indicate we’ve gotten off rather well compared to Poland and the Ukraine, when hundreds have frozen to death in the streets. And then I have to think about God’s goodness … that we have a warm apartment to call home when others don’t.

And then something today struck me. A few years back, my father gave a copy of David Roper’s book Psalm 23; The song of a passionate heart. In it, Mr. Roper speaks so clearly about the Good Shepherd, who takes care of His sheep, especially through times of trouble. In reading it, I’ve come to find out that Ruth Bell Graham was a prolific writer. Mr. Roper often quotes others, and her prose is spread through out the book. In it, I found this gem:

For all who knew the shelter of The Fold,
its warmth and safety and The Shepherd’s care,
and bolted;
choosing instead to fare out in the cold, the night,
revolted by guardianship,by Light;
lured by the unknown; eager to be out and on their own;
freed to water where they may, feed where they can,
live as they will: till they are cured,
let them be cold, ill;
let them know terror;
feed them with thistle, weed and thorn;
who choose the company of wolves,
let them taste the companionship wolves give to helpless strays;
but, oh! let them live–wiser though torn!
And wherever, however far away they roam,
follow and watch and keep
Your stupid, wayward, stubborn sheep,
and someday bring them Home!

How often I have been that stupid, wayward, stubborn sheep! Choosing the freezing solitude instead of the warm embrace of our Heavenly father. Wanting to do my own stupid thing until I get hurt and go limping back. And then he takes me as I am. Freezing, shivering and hungry.

Thank you, Lord.

Winds of change are sweeping in Switzerland as well. Although we’re not homeschooling right now, it’s always been our desire to do so after our kids had spent several years in the Swiss school system. We’ve wanted them to have a good grounding in German, which, as native-English speakers, we could never give. We also saw the necessity of homeschooling as we would have furloughs every three years. It was a very good fit. Unfortunately, Switzerland has started becoming quite aggressive towards homeschooling. While some cantons allow it, the regulations are becoming more restrictive. In some cases, a teaching degree is necessary … something neither of us have.

Other winds of change not so dramatic have been happening. We’re seeing a bit of a change in our ministry with CEF. We’re no longer working on projects reaching just the children of Europe, but that are having more of a worldwide impact. One project Brent is doing the layout for, the early reader daily devotional series Every Day with God, is one such example. It’s exciting to see materials we helped with be used throughout the entire world!

“How many children are there?” I asked.

“Ten right now.”

I knew we couldn’t let those children down. This was the fourth year we’ve had the clubs. This was the most children we ever had. Quickly I called our co-worker, Martha.

“Do you have Stefan’s number? He’s not at the club yet.” Martha’s exclamation was pretty much how I was feeling. “WHAT?!?” After searching we got the number and quickly dialed Stefan’s office number.

He picked up after a few rings. “Hey, are you still in the office?” I gasped. “Yea, why, what’s wrong?”

“What about our Christmas club in 10 minutes?”

“No. No. No. Nonononononono! It’s not until the 14th!”

I heard the blood drain from his face when I told him again it was in 10 minutes. He couldn’t say sorry enough. I told him we’ll try to put something together.

Running downstairs, I caught sight of Martha. “Hadassa is grabbing her guitar right now.”

We still needed someone to teach. The first thought to come into my head was Jürgen – a longtime CEF worker from Germany who was teaching at Kilchizmmer. We ran to his room I explained the situation as Martha went to find some of the students. He took a few steps back into his room where he picked up a packet off his bed. It was a Christmas club lesson he had been practicing that morning. He threw the packet in his case and grabbed his Bible.

“Let’s go!”

Rebekka and Ina ran to join us. They had their practical at our church in Balsthal a few weeks before and knew several of the children at the club.

We prayed and planned the whole way to town. Arriving at the restaurant 10 minutes late, the group quickly set up. I asked Jen for a headcount.

“Fourteen children.” She shared. Double what we had last year. Praise God. Not one of them had left as they waited for the club to start. Besides Amy and Christopher, three others from Holderbank came out.

During the next 45 minutes the children sang, Rüdi the raven paid a fun visit, the Gospel was shared through the story of the candy cane and the children learned John 8:12.

And what a Gospel! We celebrate the birth of God the Son who came to die for our sins!

We couldn’t have planned it better!

Lately, I’ve felt like I’ve been working in a fog as well. Ideas just haven’t been coming as quickly as they once did. Things that should take me a couple of hours now take twice that long.  This seems especially true with the Good News Club® resource packs. I’m realizing they’re becoming increasingly difficult to keep them fresh and new. It’s difficult to come up with new kinds of worksheets that can be easily translated.

I’m writing this not to wallow in self pity, but rather to ask you to pray for Jen and I as we put these packs together. We’re finishing up with Life of Christ 4, and hope to do two more packs before our scheduled furlough next year.

Could you please specifically pray for the Holy Spirit to give us creativity the way he gave it to Bezalel and Oholiab in Exodus 35. Please also pray we would be quick in completing not just the resource packs, but several other projects as well, including a redesign of Meet the King!

Thank you for bringing us before the Lord!

What makes the onion markets special are the various arrangements of onions, making an everyday, mundane object a thing of beauty. Interwoven colors of yellow, red, white and purple make for interesting patterns and shapes.

Crates on a hay wagon make up this political advertisement

OK, so this isn’t the literal translation of this sign … but that’s the spirit behind it. “A Farmer will sit in Bern” is just one of the many election signs going up around the countryside. Switzerland is a pure democracy. The people have power … and they use it. Not only are federal, state and local officials elected, but federal, state and local referendums are decided. The adage of “never bring politics and religion into a discussion” is thrown out the window as people express their support for a candidate, position or political party. Just this week we received a personal letter from friends, each pleading for support of their party.

And while the Young Republicans or the Young Democrats may tout an active role in getting the younger generation involved in politics, it’s passive in comparison to the Swiss system. One can vote for the normal candidates as well as group of younger candidates – making teens and young adults not just bystanders.

But a two-party system? No way. Too boring! Try twelve parties that have a representative in congress! Some parties have a broad spectrum of core values. Others are focused on one or two things. There are other parties as well. The Animal-rights party has just formed this year and there is a candidate running for congress.

A quick rundown of the parties that currently have a representative in Bern:

The Swiss People’s Party (Schweizer Volks Partei) Not a communist “people’s party,” but instead is a nationalist party for Switzerland. This is the largest party with nearly 30% of the vote during the last national election in 2007.

The Social Democrats (Sozialdemokratische Partei) Around since 1888, the SP is Switzerland’s oldest political party. The SP won nearly 20% during the 2007 election.

The Free Democrats (Frei Demokratischen Partei) The FDP’s tagline is “The Liberals.” They held nearly 18% of the vote during the 2007 election.

The Christian Democratic People’s Party (Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei) The CVP was first founded as the Swiss Conservative People’s Party in 1912. During the 2007 elections the CVP won 14.5% of the vote.

The Green Party (Die Grünen) is the environmentalist party in Switzerland. They won nearly 10% in the 2007 elections.

The Citizens Democratic Party (Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei) The BDP is a fairly new party, having been formed in 2008.

The Green Liberal Party (Grünliberale Partei) With the tagline “green to the core and liberal with our policy, the GLP won 1.5% of the vote in 2007.

The Evangelical People’s Party (Evangelische Volkspartei) A centrist party, the EVP was formed in 1919 and won 2.4% of the vote in 2007.

The Swiss Federal Democratic Union (Eidgenössisch-Demokratische Union) The EDU is a conservative Christian party that won 1.3% of the vote in 2007.

The Ticino League (Lega die Ticinesi) A party for the interests of Switzerland’s only Italian-speaking state, Ticino, the LEGA carried 1.3% of the vote in 2007.

The Christian Socialist Party (Christlich-soziale Partei) won less than half of one percent of the vote in 2007.

The Alternative Left (Alternative Linke) is the newest party, having been formed in 2009.

Usually we’re faced with one difficulty or another just before the course starts. The photocopier breaks down. An unexpected student shows up on our doorstep. One of the vehicles won’t start. Unfortunately, the difficulty for the Autumn course wasn’t with something … it was someone. A very important someone. Sonja Ballou has been the cook at Kilchzimmer for several years now, taking over from Liz Cannon when she retired. The Friday before the course started, Sonja slipped going down a flight of stairs and broke a bone in her foot. At first, the break wasn’t thought to be too serious, however, after a weekend of constant pain, Sonja went to the hospital the following Monday … where they prepped her for surgery. Sonja’s out of commission for at least six weeks, and Liz graciously agreed to come back and help … for a while. That’s a huge blessing for us, but we realize she can’t do it alone. We are in major need of prayer at the moment … for the right person or people to come and help as a cook at Kilchzimmer for the next two months. We would also really appreciate your prayers for Sonja as she was already having tremendous knee pain and was facing surgery for that. Now those plans are up in the air.

The good news is, the Lord is already helping in various ways. The students are a blessing. Always eager to help and quick in doing their chores. It’s fun getting to know them as well. We’ve students from England, Northern Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Romania and the United States. Their backgrounds are even more varied. Several students feel led to join Child Evangelism Fellowship®, which we are very thankful for.

In the Multimedia department, we’re grateful to welcome Grace Hughes, from Portadown, Northern Ireland. Grace is a talented photographer who has joined us for three months to help in any way she can. She is always eager to lend a hand and always has a smile on her face. She’s also willing to help with the house, doing some cleaning, which takes a tremendous load off of our already strained house team.

Please pray for Grace as well, as she gets settled in and gets used to working with such a wild and crazy team. Please also pray for Brent, as he provides oversight for Grace these next three months. It’s not something he’s used to doing and could use all the wisdom and guidance the Lord can give him.

As Jen does a lot of the “leg” work – assembling the various parts and compiling all that needs to be created or redone, her job is a tedious one. She tries to come up with new ideas for the take-home activities that will not only reinforce what was taught during the club, but will also be easily translated.

After going over the plan together, I get to design the packs, illustrating what I can or relying on our co-worker, Tim Shirey, to do the more detailed illustration. I couldn’t do these packs without him! Taking the illustrations together with the text, we try and make them as fun-looking as possible and still be easy to change into another language.

One of the toughest parts of these packs is how to illustrate the Bible memory verses and the Central Truths. Themes like “The Lord Jesus helps those who belong to Him”, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God”, and “The Lord Jesus can make you clean from sin” aren’t the easiest to try and summarize with one graphic illustration. Throw in Bible verses like Matthew 17:5, 1 John 1:7 and Matthew 16:16, and our heads start to spin!

We’re thankful, however, that we don’t have to deal with these difficulties alone. Various teachers and staff at Kilchzimmer have often been asked  ”how would you illustrate this?”  We also get help the CEF European Multimedia Advisory Group. They have been a tremendous help in the past.

Counting both the color and the black and white versions of each item, the Life of Christ 3 pack will have nearly than 120 pages! We’re excited to see how both teachers and children will be impacted through these materials.

Thanks for your prayers on our behalf. We’re getting ready to start the Life of Christ 4 pack, and humbly ask you continue praying for good ideas, creativity and an adherence to the Word of God.

We know we’re not alone. At dinner last night with a Japanese family, we heard their sadness as they were struggling with being away from loved ones back home who are facing cancer. Separation can be one of the most troubling aspects in a crisis situation.

I wrote how we were praying for our friends back home, but still had such a sense of helplessness as we couldn’t be there to help them pick up the pieces. I know that doesn’t sound very spiritual—after all prayer is the strongest weapon in our arsenal—but didn’t the prophets weep over Jerusalem from afar, yet express their desire to go back and place stone on top of stone with their hands? Encouragement came through a supporter who shared our prayers “are helpful enough!” It was as if they said, “you are here … through your prayers.” I may not have realized it, but I think I needed that little bit of encouragement.

In the end, we realize more than ever, the Lord shall be our Peace. Through these times we hate to face, He can and does bring comfort.