Sorry it’s been such a long time since we’ve updated our blog, but we’ve been a little busy, and the Zürich airport doesn’t have free Wi-fi. This past week has been one incredible blur. All of our travels from Switzerland to the States went very well and were pretty much trouble-free. The children were extremely well behaved on both flights. The worst part was the descent when the air pressure was the worst I’ve ever experienced (And I do call myself an experienced flyer). Amy was crying her eyes out at the pain, and then *poof* our ears popped and all was better.

To be overjoyed to see family again is an understatement. It was so good to be with my parents again. Our trip to Schroon Lake was too short, but beautiful drive to Newark, NY was quite nice. We had a fantastic time worshipping at Second Reformed Church in Marion, NY, and was so thankful to be there again. They know how to make us feel at home.

We then traveled from upstate NY to Pine Grove, PA to stop for an overnight at Jen’s mother’s house. We had fun with her and Aunt Beth. We had a nice surprise as Jen’s father was able to have breakfast with us the next day.

And then on to Millersburg which we’ll call home for the next two+ months. I’d like to write more, but jetlag is starting hit again and I’m off to bed.

Thanks for praying! We can only give God the glory for our smooth travels so far.

-Brent

Our layout ministry is still going forward. The last couple of weeks Brent has been working with a CEF worker in Africa to do the new layout of the first three editions of the 60-Day Wonder Devotional Book in the Kinyarwanda language. It’s definitely not like any of the other languages we’ve worked with before. The writing uses Roman characters (As English does) but the combination of letters makes for some very interesting letter combinations. It’s been a fun project and the CEF worker there has been a joy to work with.

We would appreciate your prayers as there are still many things to finish. We’re synchronizing files, backing up hard drives, trying to get rid of our last few pieces of furniture, pack the rest of our belongings and plan our furlough.

Thanks for praying!

Friday morning rolled around, and we were very thankful for our first customers. Looking around the apartment, they filled boxes full of items and reserved a couple of larger pieces. Another man came at that time and purchased a handful of small items. Overall, we were pleased at how it was going. For the rest of the morning it was quiet, but since we had to prepare lunch for ourselves and the children, we didn’t mind. The afternoon was a bit slower, with four more customers who only purchased a few small items and were quickly gone. At four o’clock, we ended the sale as advertised.

We were thankful for what we sold – it wasn’t much – but it was a good start. We still had rooms full of furniture and household items to get rid of.

The doorbell rang that evening. It was our first customer who returned to pick up the bicycle she purchased, along with her daughter who was moving into a new apartment. She was interested in our exercise bike and gladly tested it out and purchased it, promising to pick it up in a week or so (which I didn’t mind as I’m trying to bike as much as possible).

We rearranged some of the items and got the displays in order. We prayed for a better day on Saturday. After all, that’s when to expect the most people who now have the time to look. We went to bed tired, but feeling fairly good.

Our doorbell rang the next morning, and our friend and co-worker, Marty, arrived to help out. The kids were overjoyed to have Aunt Marty there. We chatted, waiting for our first customer to come. I worked on cleaning up our grill, and after an hour, Marty and the kids went for a walk since it was a beautiful day. When the doorbell rang a few hours later I jumped, hoping for our first customer. Instead it was Marty and the kids, back in time for lunch.

We waited around the rest of the day.

Nothing.

Nada.

Nichts.

Nobody came. Our house was full. We were down. Cleaning up, the children were impatient to go to our next thing … a birthday party for a man at church. I found myself snapping at the kids after they asked when we were leaving for the fourth time. We were discouraged. I just wanted to stay home and mope. A few times I just wanted to bury my head and cry.

We arrived at the party and put our “happy faces” on, which quickly melted when we were asked how our sale went. Immediately someone asked about our raclette grill. We still had it. They wanted it. “Bring it to church tomorrow” was their reply.

We shared about a bike trailer that fit two children. Another couple was interested in it. ”Bring it to church tomorrow.”

At our usual coffee and chat time after church a young engaged couple approached us. “Did you sell your bedroom set yesterday?” My heart skipped a beat. Our bedroom set is by far, the largest item we have to sell. We arranged for them to come on Saturday to look at it and possibly even pick it up.

At women’s prayer time on Monday, Jen shared the events from the weekend. Several enquired about coming that afternoon to see what there was. One of them was moving soon and needed some furniture. Five women came at four o’clock and both childrens’ beds were sold as well as a number of smaller items.

It continued even today. More stuff was sold. We’re astounded at how God is working. We needed an exercise in trust more than we needed a big sale day. It’s interesting how the verse “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” can manifest itself in such a tangible way.

Coming back to the Krakow area has been a blessing. I’m spending the next few days with Bogdan Bassara and his wonderful family. Here for both meetings to discuss the way forward with our new ministry for Child Evangelism Fellowship® at the CEF® headquarters in the U.S. and for some recreation, I’ve felt very much at home here. We’ve got a list of things to work through, and it’s exciting to hear of countries needing materials.

I have no idea what’s in store tomorrow, but I’m sure it’s going to be great! Thanks for praying!

More to come.

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.