Eight years

Eight years ago today we officially came on board with CEF. I remember going into the meeting with the board of trustees and answering lots of questions, but what I remember most while we were waiting for the board's decision we were pacing the hallway of (what was then known as) the Conference Center. Jim came out of the room, extended his hand and simply said "Welcome to CEF". It was as if a ton of bricks had been lifted from our shoulders and I burst into tears in thankfulness to God!

Wanting to give

Since starting Kindergarten this year, we've decided to make a daily goal chart for Amy. It includes some simple goals like waking up on time, eating breakfast (ok, some days that's not so simple) and getting dressed. Other goals are more difficult, like not talking back and making her bed. There are a total of 19 items she can get credit for each day, and she gets to stamp her chart. For every five goals she accomplishes, she gets a 5 rappen coin. (Equivalent to a nickel). If she gets all 19, she gets an extra coin for the day.

We're glad for her wanting to achieve her goals, but there's something extra special.

We told Amy in the beginning that she could save her coins and buy a treat each week, or she could put them away in her bank. We also said she could give them for the missionary offering at church.

Her eyes got big, and she loudly proclaimed her intention to give all her earnings to missions!

How humbling for us, and how grateful we are for her enthusiasm toward giving to Jesus!

"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.

Just Smashing!

A few months ago a designer from the Czech Republic introduced me to Smashing Magazine, a Web site loaded with tons of incredible information for graphic and Web designers. Yesterday's article on logo design and it's connected articles is one of the best resources I have read on the subject. Kudos to Smashing! Here's the link to go directly to the article.

I have such a yearning to grow as a designer. Please pray for me as I thirst for both the Word of God, and a creativeness that can only come from the Creator Himself.

Amy the Kindergartnerin!

Amy started Kindergarten today! Just before she left Daddy prayed for her and then she was off! The Kindergarten is a very warm and inviting place for the children and Amy had a blast. She was overjoyed to hear that she can do it all over again…tomorrow!

In the beginning GOD

One constant theme that popped up time and again during our furlough was of the creation of the world. It all started when Jen and I were given tickets to see Sight and Sound Theater's production of In the Beginning. It was a fantastic production, though they admittedly used "artistic license" for some things not specifically mentioned in Scripture. It gave us a greater understanding of the creation of the universe. During the two weeks of camp with Child Evangelism Fellowship of Schuylkill County, the first verse the children learned was Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." That word "God" is translated from "Elohim" in Hebrew, which means "Creator". "Elohim" is also the plural of "El", directly pointing to the God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It's interesting how much doctrine is in the first ten words of the Bible!

That theme continued on while my father and I were hiking on Skiff mountain in the Adirondacks. When we reached the top, the view was fantastic, and there was nearly an acre of beautiful, ripe, wild blueberry bushes. As we hopped from rock to rock, stuffing our faces, our discussion turned toward creation. Our talk intermixed with so many other topics—the flood, the tower of Babel, humanism—but ultimately led back to "In the beginning God".

It takes my breath away to think the very Creator of the universe—from it's countless stars to the tiniest molecular structure—personally and genuinely loves me.

To God be the glory, great things He hath done!

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.

Back to school!

Yes, we went back to school! CEF's Summer Missionary Training School, that is, along with 51 eager summer missionaries and a host of staff. We had a wonderful time getting to know the high-school and college-age students who are fanned out across Pennsylvania this summer teaching 5-Day Clubs. Each day we explained our ministry to the students so they would be able to tell children across backyards all summer about us as missionaries and how they, too, can be missionaries. Amy and Chris were treated like royalty, the food was great and it was an honor to work alongside some great people. On Tuesday, Brent had the privilege to accompany Mark Wyland, the State Director for CEF in PA to the other training school held in Bucks County. Brent was blessed getting to know Mark and his heart for the children.

Back to childhood

We had the wonderful experience of being the camp missionaries at the CEF® day camp in Rock, where Jen went to as a child. The children were excited to hear someone from their backyard is areal live missionary! We started out the missionary time on Monday with Jen running from seat to seat, checking them out as I tried getting started. She was looking for where she used to sit! Amy was able to take part in the camp, too, being on the yellow team. Besides learning about us as missionaries, the children learned about the names of God, heard the Gospel each day, played games, had devotion time and learned memory verses. They loved having Christopher around and he loved the attention. We helped in the afternoon by making snow-cones, which gave us funny-colored hands in the end. We're excited about another week of camp in Valley View from July 6-10.