New wheels

We are so thankful for our new vehicle! The Lord blessed us with a 2009 Opel Meriva, which fits our needs perfectly. We are also so grateful that God kept our older car running for so long.

Although it's 45 minutes away, we've continued going to Garage Alouettes ever since we puchased the Astra there in 2003. Owned by a family of believers in Christ, they have been a tremendous blessing to us, giving us a major discount on all work done. We decided we wanted to get our next vehicle through them and when we approached them about a newer vehicle they not only went out of their way to find the right one, they also didn't make any money on it. Would you please praise God for Garage Alouettes and pray that God would richly bless them?

We also want to thank so many of you who gave sacrificially for us to be able to make this purchase. You are very much appreciated!

Thanksgiving … and Harvest Home

It felt like July was last week and last Christmas was only a month away. On Thursday, we'll be as busy as ever … doing our daily routine. Thanksgiving Day is an American holiday, but we're not in America! We celebrated Harvest Home back in October at the ingathering service at Basel Christian Fellowship. Jehovah Jirah was praised as the one who supplies all our needs. We indeed were blessed as everyone was asked to bring a main dish or a dessert, but quite a few (including us) brought both. What a feast! Imagine having a smorgasbord with choices from more than 3 dozen countries across the globe … Singapore, Scotland, Argentina, Ireland, Mexico, Japan, Romania, Nigeria, Korea … the list goes on! That's one aspect of BCF we enjoy and appreciate–the diversity of believers from many cultures. The other thing that strikes us is the diversity of occupations represented. Scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers, businessmen … some of the top minds in their field. When I read or hear of someone mocking believers in Christ Jesus as being mindless fools, just one look around at the congregation blows their ignorance out of the water.

We trust you have a blessed Thanksgiving day. Remember to thank our heavenly Father for His mighty gifts!

Amy's first photo shoot

It's been a busy week. The Multimedia department was given an assignment of creating three complete custom PowerPoint presentations in a week-and-a-half. We had to create slides from scratch, using imagery that wasn't already provided. So what did we do? We had multiple photo shoots! The presentations, all of which are promotional tools, focused on the book Meet the King!, Wondersurf.com and multimedia items. We needed a photo of a grandmother sharing Meet the King! with her granddaughter, so we used Amy and her Swiss Godmother, Liz. Tim Shirey did the photography, using just his flash and the white walls and ceiling to bounce. He also masked out the color on the entire image except for the book they're looking at. We're all very happy with the result.

You may ask "why do we do promotional materials? Aren't you focused on creating materials for children?" We're creating these so more churches can know what Child Evangelism Fellowship® can do to help them reach children in their community. It also explains the various projects in case someone would like to pray and give. We're hoping these presentations can be used in a mighty way to expand the work of CEF®!

Remembering Gabi

Yesterday morning, the Lord took our dear friend and co-worker, Gabi Bienen, home to be with Him. Gabi's life touched a lot of people. Letters from around the world continue to pour in offering condolences, attesting to the impact she had. Gabi was a worker. She made sure her job was done right. She usually sang while cleaning and was always laughing at my lame jokes during coffee break. She loved pulling practical jokes on Henry Berry, the national leader for CEF® in Ireland, sometimes filling his room with flowers or cleaning supplies or talking about "Bernhard," her imaginary boyfriend.

Yesterday, Jen was explaining to Amy that we wouldn't see Gabi anymore. She said "Gabi did something very special today … Jesus came and took her home." Amy immediately asked, "Did he hold her?" Jen, fighting back the tears replied, "All the way home."

Please pray for us at this time. It's tough. It was sudden and unexpected. She died peacefully in her sleep, at a mere 49 years old. We rejoice she is in the loving arms of the Savior, but we miss her.

Getting together

We've had the wonderful opportunity to have my father and nephew Jon with us the past two weeks. We've been able to see a lot of beautiful sights and go all over the country, but the highlight of the trip was traveling to Eastern Switzerland to get together with family. We first went to dad's birthplace, the Schäfli, to have a day-long get together with his late brother, Kurt's family. While there, dad was surprised by a quick visit with a childhood friend.

The next day we celebrated my twin uncle's 75 birthday and had a get together with the other half of the family. It was great seeing cousins I hadn't seen for more than 20 years. As a special treat, we all went up to the original Hautle homestead in Eggerstanden, Appenzell for a group photo. I'm thankful to have gotten together with my extended family, and am especially grateful to have dad and Jon here.

Balancing act

Just a couple of weeks ago Jen took off the training wheels to Amy's bike and started teaching Amy how to balance herself. The first day, Jen let go for just a second or two. The following day, I went out, and Amy started going four, five, six seconds without me holding on. The next day, 10-15 seconds. Finally, we went over to the school and Amy took off, riding around in circles and shocking her daddy by how quickly she learned how to balance.

Next up … learning how to stop.

Trying out her gifts

Amy got a set of roller skates, a new helmet and elbow and knee pads for her birthday and she decided to try them out today. She did much better than her daddy ever did at roller skating! In just a few years we might tackle going from Olten to Solothurn togther – Brent on the bike and Amy on her skates. For now, Holderbank will do nicely!

Amy turns five!

We can hardly believe our little girl turned five this past week! It feels like we were bringing her home yesterday from the hospital. Amy delayed her celebration, having her very first party at school on Friday. She was the student of the day and got a chance to choose which order the children could go to sit at their seats. The boys and girls sang several birthday songs to her, each one made a special wish for her (one boy wished her a star) and she was the center of several games. We brought in cake for all the children and Christopher had a blast too.

God has blessed us with such a beautiful and healthy little girl, and we give all glory to Him!

December happenings

It's been a wild and crazy December, and there's still several more weeks to go! We said a sad farewell to the Van Eck family, who flew back to South Africa on December 3. Brent drove them to the airport and with tears in his eyes said goodbye. The Van Ecks became good friends over the past five years and we will sorely miss them.

We got our Christmas tree that next weekend and the kids had fun decorating it. Of course mommy and daddy had to fine-tune the placement of them, but it's a nice little tree.

A few days later we hosted a Christmas Club at our house. The local CEF® worker, Trudy Heininger, came to give the gospel story. Unfortunately, no children from our village of Holderbank came, but we did have two children from our church. We discussed it, and even though the results were disappointing, we're going to try again next year. It was certainly a learning experience for us. God isn't interested in our performance. He's interested in our obedience. All we can do is to keep on trying and praying.

Brent chaired his first meeting ever the next day at the Kilchzimmer workers' meeting. It was certainly harder than he thought and wasn't sure how well he did until he was unanimously chosen to lead the next one. (He still thinks it was because no one else wanted the job!)

Jen's been very busy too, baking Christmas cookies, sending out cards, wrapping presents and preparing for our Christmas open house, which is on the 22nd. Please pray for us as we have a chance to share the true meaning of Christmas with those who come. Merry Christmas!

Parade of lights

Earlier this month Amy had a chance to take part in the lantern parade in Holderbank. She made her lantern out of a large turnip (it's a different lantern in the photo) and placed a candle inside. The children gathered in three different locations and walked to the center of town, where they sang several songs to the crowd. It was a neat experience and we enjoyed the hot tea and "Nussgipfeli" at the end.

"God, why us?"

Most of the time, people ask that question when they want to tell God they wish something had not happened to them. When a crisis arises, we quickly ask God to calm the waters, to make things right again. Last Thursday, we found ourselves asking this question, but from the perspective of "God, what is your will for our lives and what do you want us to do?"

Our doorbell rang at 5 a.m. Jen sprang from bed as I quickly dressed. She answered it to a young woman who was acting strange, with arms folded tightly to her body.

"Sie mussen mich nach Krankenhaus nehmen. Ich habe meine Pulsader geschnitten." She repeated it over and over.

Now, at 5 a.m., we're not very awake. We would have trouble with English at that time, not to mention German. I immediately thought she was having problems with her blood pressure, since the only thing I understood was "hospital" and "pulse". I asked Jen to get her blood pressure cuff. The young woman waved me off and repeated her plea. I told her I wasn't understanding. She kept walking away as if to motion to us that she needed to go now, repeating herself. Jen ran and got the German-English dictionary. We were all getting frustrated. I was not about to leave Jen and the kids behind and get into an uncontrollable situation.

Right as a switch went off in my head that she cut herself, she stepped into a shaft of light emanating from our doorway. Blood. Lots of it on her clothing. She opened her arms to show me large lacerations on each wrist. Then it hit me: she tried to kill herself.

"JEN! Come NOW!" I cried. We told her to come in and sit down. Jen ran into the bathroom to grab her first-aid equipment.

Ten years of serving as an Emergency Medical Technician in PA led Jen to know exactly what to do. She had kept a lot of her equipment and supplies. While Jen bandaged the woman, I ran and got a pen and paper. I thought "we don't even know who this woman is, I need information!" I asked her name, saying I need to call the ambulance. She started resisting, replying in German, "We don't have enough time. You need to take me to the hospital!" Then she got lightheaded and started passing out in Jen's arms. We grabbed her and laid her down, half in our living room and half in the hallway. We grabbed pillows to raise her legs to keep the blood where it needed to be. She immediately regained consciousness and calmed down. And then something amazing happened. She stopped protesting and started trusting us, as though a switch went off in her head.

As Jen stayed with her, holding her hand, we introduced ourselves. She replied "I'm Evelyn. It's nice to meet you."

That she need to go to the hospital was never in question. Our concern was getting her there. We have to walk around our apartment building up a flight of stairs to get to our car. We couldn't do that. I told her I needed to call the ambulance, and she said "ok."

I called and immediately said in German "My German isn't so good. Do you speak English?" "Nein" was the reply. All the sudden, without stumbling, I found myself telling the operator that we needed an ambulance, as we have a woman who has slit her wrists and has lost a lot of blood. He asked if she was awake and upon my positive reply asked to talk with her. I handed the phone over to Evelyn, and she stated her name and calmly said "I slit my wrists with a bread knife."

You might be laughing when I write "bread knife". The ones in Switzerland are used for slicing loaves of bread that have a tough outer shell. The blade alone is about 9" long and has a sharp, serrated edge.

The phone conversation ended fairly quickly after that. Help was on the way.

Jen had finished bandaging her up and was holding her hand.

"Evelyn, we believe firmly in the power of prayer to the living God. May we pray for you?" She responded positively, saying she believed in God, too." "May we pray with you?" I repeated. "Yes, please." "Ummm… do you mind if we pray in English?" She left out a little laugh. "Kein Problem." No problem.

I don't remember everything I prayed, but do know I pleaded directly to the Creator of this Universe, the Creator of Evelyn, and asked Him to intervene in her life. As I continued praying, tears welled in Jen's eyes and dripped from her face. Evelyn's sweet voice piped "Why do you cry? You don't need to be sad." Jen replied: "God loves you so very much."

I tried praying again, but nothing came out. I got up, grabbed the telephone and quickly stepped outside, calling a tenacious prayer warrior. "Marty, (a co-worker at Kilchzimmer) we need your prayers right now." Explaining the situation, she immediately went to intercession. With a covering of prayer, I waited for the ambulance to arrive, pleading with God to give us direction, strength and wisdom. After a minute or so and several trips to see how Jen and Evelyn were doing, I saw the blue lights coming down the road. I motioned to the emergency personnel and told them we have a ramp. The driver misunderstood me, and drove down the block and turned up the street behind our apartment block. They accidently pulled into the parking lot of the next-door apartment (which I didn't realize) and I started looking for them. They finally found me with a response like "Oops!" After showing them the ramp, I led them in to the house where Jen had a German-English Bible open. She had just opened it up and was looking for passages in the Gospel of John to comfort her with.

The emergency personnel got to work, asking questions, checking vitals and getting an IV ready. They were excellent. We wanted to give them space to work, but they ended up recruiting us to help. They got Evelyn ready to go and the driver went out to get the ambulance. I went outside to turn on the lights when a flashlight shined in my face. The police arrived. They introduced themselves and thanked us for our help, and quickly got to work, asking both Evenlyn and us questions. They were pretty shocked when they found out it wasn't her house and we didn't even know her.

Amy's door then creaked open and she came out, rubbing her eyes. I knelt down beside her and said "Amy, we have some visitors. One person is very sick, and there are ambulance people and police here to help her. Would you like to say hello to them?" She quickly nodded her head and I led her there. Amy immediately ran to Jen where she was scooped up.

The rest happened so fast, that I don't even remember Evelyn leaving with the ambulance crew. Jen noticed quickly and ran out, Bible in hand. "This is a gift for her." "Oh, ok" was the reply and they were gone. The police thanked us again and left.

The only thing left to do then was pray. We held each other and pleaded with God, uttering things that could not be understood in any language. God understood.

Catching up

Yes, we have been very lax on updating our blog! We found ourselves connected to the net only a few days a week and only then for a few minutes each time for our last month of furlough. After Summer Missionary Training School, we traveled back to the Millersburg area. We visited supporters and friends and shared at our home church, David's Community Bible Church, for the Sunday School hour. We traveled to Easton, Md. to visit another supporting church, The Church on Fire. We also had another great week of camp, this time in Valley View, Pa. We even helped out one evening at a Vacation Bible School. We hosted a special Swiss dinner at Echo Valley Grace Brethren Church were Jen grew up, and shared the following morning during the Sunday School hour and gave the message during the worship service.

After all that busyness, it was time to pack up most of our stuff and head for the final stretch in New York State. We traveled to Wayne County, NY and spent a fun weekend with the Allegretti family. While there we visited Second Reformed Church in Marion and had a wonderful day with them. We also had the opportunity to see the Erie Canal and Lake Ontario. Amy and Christopher had lots of fun tossing rocks into the vastness of water.

We said our goodbyes and drove to Schroon Lake to spend the last few days with Brent's parents. What a blessing! It was the first real down time we had the entire furlough, and we appreciated the slower pace of life. Brent and Amy went almost every day down to the beach at 

the lake. Jen enjoyed picking red currants from the garden as Grandpa and Christopher fed the fish or took trips in the wagon. Of course Grandma spoiled the kids, but not too much!

And then furlough was over. We flew out of Montreal to Toronto, then had an overnight flight to Zürich. The children enjoyed the flight and slept pretty well.

Thank you for all your prayers during our furlough. It was a whirlwind tour, and we are so thankful to have been able to spend time with so many of you.

Happy birthday Jen!

On Saturday we celebrated Jen's birthday with a game of minigolf and swimming. Amy loved the pool and Christopher finally warmed up to it. Jen's father was able to meet up with us in Hempfield, Lancaster County. We met with the missions committee of the Hempfield United Methodist Church where they treated us to dinner and birthday cake. It was a special time and we are grateful to be able to share the special day with those who pray and give to us and our ministry.

Hike to Goose Pond

Chris and I had a nice, long hike with my dad, going to Goose Pond near Schroon Lake. It was a beautiful day, and once we got Chris out of the hiking pack, dad went running after him. On the way back we stopped by some waterfalls, enjoyed a nearby woodpecker and basked in the sun.

Family time

It's been a whole lot of fun visiting with Brent's parents. The meals have been excellent, and the weather has been wonderful. Amy has enjoyed putting together a gingerbread house with Poppi, and Grammere makes Christopher giggle a whole lot. The men went out on a couple of short hikes already, taking in the beautiful wilderness. (Look for another posting for our hike to Goose Pond). The kids love the playground at the school just a couple of blocks away.

One highlight was going to both the morning and evening services at Mountainside Church. For the first time in years we had the privilege of being at a baptismal service. What a time of rejoicing! The preaching was wonderful and it was great to see how active the teens are in the church. We spend a few more days here until heading down to Pennsylvania. Keep in touch!

Talking about God

For Amy's birthday, we got her a Wonder Devotional Book – Early Reader Edition. Unfortunately, it's been a bit of a fight reading it to her. That doesn't mean we don't have chances to share with her, in fact last night was pretty funny.

Jen was explaining to Amy all she can tell God when she prays. Amy answered, "Sometimes God dies for me when I'm bad."

Jen responded, "but Jesus only had to die once."

Amy quickly interjected "and then He was alive again!"

Jen continued, "and God would like you to live in Heaven with Him."

"I don't like coffee. I only like tea" was Amy's reply.

"That's okay. God has tea."

Happy birthday Amy!

Amy turns 4 today! We celebrated with a small party on Sunday with her grown-up friends and had ice cream cake, games and prizes. We're thankful for our beautiful little girl and ask for your prayers that we would be Godly examples in her life.

Dumped!

We got dumped on with the snow this past weekend. At home we got about 18 inches and Kilchzimmer got two feet! A foot had been cleared, and then it snowed all night long – making the parking lot a quagmire.

While we enjoy winter, it's been a long one with the first snow coming in early November. We're ready for spring!

The joy of family photos

We had an exciting day getting our new family photos taken. Out of nearly 60 photos taken, you'll soon see the one that won out on our prayer card. In the meantime, here's three funny ones to show you what kind of day we had!

Kudos to Tim for his patience and ideas in getting a good picture of all of us.