High School Retreat

Students taking a break

Team-building activity

Micah Powers (small group leader and assistant principal of school) leading bible study

Sam Stemple (Chaplain) leading bible study

Meagan (right side)-enjoying down time with girlfriends. Meagan's parent are IMB missionaries here in Germany and are good friends of ours

Girls being silly

Worship time with Jack and Noah

Ellyn Purpero and Eddie

Girls bible study time

Having more fun. Anna Dunn (left side) lives at the dorm where we help out

High School retreat was back in March. Nolan and I did not attend for various reasons. But the kids had a great time! Here are some pictures students took over the weekend.

BFA Soccer and Track

Our team in the royal blue

Girls in their prayer huddle

Going for the ball

"Cheerleaders" on the side

Girls going for it

Soccer boys cheering for the soccer girls

A couple of weeks ago the soccer had their first games. It was kick-off for the season. Here are some pictures from these games. This coming up weekend, both track and soccer will have home games. I hear it is a big weekend for staff and students. We are planning to attend and will post some pictures of our undefeated teams!

Mission Trips

More soaking of culture in Scotland

Josh Manley in Slovenia, where his family works

Kids in the community

Duisburg, Germay mission trip. I have no idea what students are in these costumes :)

Lukas Schindler, reading to kids in Scotland

Students on a prayer walk in Scotland. Spring Break Mission Trip '08

The whole group on Scotland Mission Trip

Slovenia Mission Trip, the whole group

Having fun at the airport

Austen and Lukas soaking up Scottish culture

Thought I share some pictures from the various mission trips taken over spring break. These students had amazing stories, and pictures, to share. Even though these are missionary kids, some had never been on a mission trip outside of their parents' missionary countries. For some this was a whole new experience.

M&Ms in a Trail Mix

The other day in class we read Alice Walker's "Everyday Uses", a powerful story set during the Civil Rights movement. She addresses the importance of recognizing one's heritage. I had the students discuss and write about their own heritage, knowing this would be a sensitive and challenging task for these missionary kids, and being that they have lived in so many places and have trouble identifying their own heritage.

But I wanted them to dig deep and think about it. During our discussion one student saids, "We are like the M&Ms in a trail mix." This cleverly describes how sometimes these kids feel about heritage. They are a mix of so many heritages...blood and adopted. But they are like m&ms....just part of a mix....but a good mix! M&Ms are the best part.

Mosaic Gatherings

The Mosaic Basel church plant that we are a part of met Wednesday night for the first time in a couple of months. We are under some reconstruction, and a new team is kind of emerging. We met to discuss our next outreach for the community. We will gather somewhere in Basel, still praying about a location, to have coffee and music and share about the hope of Christ in a hurting world. We will model Derek Webster's gathering called Noomas that take place in Zurich. Please see the following attachment for info and prayer needs. Biggest prayer need is to find a location in Basel (praying for Starbucks to open their doors) for our gathering. The cool thing about Mosaic is we are trying to meet people where they are in community, and the one place you will find people is a cafe...especially in Europe. Here is an email Derek sent to us....please read to see what we are doing and what prayer requests we have concerning Mosaic Basel. Notice the last pss...the Moenches, an IMB missionary family here in Germany, just celebrated their 25th anniversary. Congratulations!






Dear Mosaic Basel,
I really enjoyed our time at last nights Gathering. I promise that next time I'll be there at least 15 min till start so that we can get going promptly. We won't go past 20:30 next month.
I just wanted to quickly remind you to pray during the next two days about Nooma Nights Basel. Pray if it is God's will and pray for possible venues. Know that I'll be praying for your contacts in your prayer triads, and more specifically, that as relationships continue to develop there, we would have ideas and insight to help you reach out to them.
Also please be in prayer about a venue for our next Mosaic Gatherings. Amanda and Aaron are easily some of the most gracious people I know, and are awesome hosts! At the same time, we don't want to abuse their hospitality and want to be able to have a 'neutral' venue to which we can invite others. Besides, wouldn't it be cool to hear Lucas amped? So please ask our God the Provider to provide a meeting space for that 1x/month.
If you have any questions or thoughts, our leadership is here and available to you.
In His Grace,
Derek
p.s. Those booklets that Roger passed out are hugely helpful. I want to encourage you to review them at some point during the next month.
p.p.s. Once again: A very HAPPY ANNIVERSARY for the huge 25th milestone that the Moench's are celebrating!

Nolan's Birthday

Aaron, Nolan, and Chris

Casey and Nolan

Nolan, Johnathan, and Christian with matching South Carolina shirts....Christian and Sandrine gave Nolan this old t-shirt as a white elephant present. Anyone familiar with this game?

Ilona, Sandrine, and Amanda

Casey had fun "decorating" Nolan. Static electricity was effective.

Christian (proud of K-2, the church he will be pastoring beginning in July in Utah), Klara, Nolan, and I

Wow, it has been one busy week. By Friday I was completely exhausted, and it was all I could do to get through the day and finally crash on the sofa.

Monday was Nolan's ?????th birthday. He rather I not share with the public :) Some friends of ours had a party at their home for Nolan. A few of our closest friends here in Germany attended. We had wonderful German carrot salad and banana cake (which I made). We spent the evening sharing most favorite memories about Nolan thus far. Most ended in much laughter. Then we played a cool German game called Wizard.

Late evening, but worth every minute. Nolan shared the next day that this was one of his best birthdays in the past few years.

Go BFA Soccer!

The soccer teams left today for a weekend full of soccer games. Pray for the students and staff who will be traveling this afternoon. Pray that their weekend is filled with good times...and many wins! :)

Because so many students will be out tomorrow for these soccer games, it will be interesting how class goes. Hopefully, it will be a relaxed day! I love Fridays!

And one more thing, Nolan's birthday is Monday! I will not disclose his age.....we will leave everyone who reads this blog to guess. We will have a little get together at our friends Sandrine and Christian. Stay tuned for pictures.

Have a blessed weekend! And thank you for all the prayers and encouragement.

My Hometown Roots

Most of you know my fear coming into this new position of teaching American Literature. I had been teaching high school ESL, but not specifically American Lit. This past week I have been reflecting on this past school year, now that we are approaching the end. I see that American Literature was the right place for me. It had been awhile since diving into American writers and seeing what beautiful stories they bring to the Lit world.

Interestingly, a lot of the stories in the textbook are from the deep south. I had forgotten about the wonderful authors of my own region. By reading these stories, such as Huck Finn or "A Worn Path", it makes me proud of where I was born and raised. I never really thought much about my roots when living in Tennessee. I knew I was proud of my roots, but never really reflected on them. These stories have brought a new level of appreciation of where I come from. I also can bring my knowledge of the south to the class...and of the United States in general.

To look at the spiritual implications, I see that God knew I needed to be in this class teaching for various reasons, and not just easy ones (those who know of my struggles with certain behaviors in the classroom). The opportunity has brought more meaning in my life in many and diverse ways. I am thankful for the opportunity to teach American Literature. It has been a crazy journey this year, but in retrospect, I am thankful and honored.

More closing thoughts are to come as both Nolan and I finish out the school year. Even with this new found appreciation, both Nolan and I sense this is not where we are to be long-term. So continue to pray for us as we make decisions.

Spring Fever...and Prayer Request

So back to the reality of lectures, assignments, and grades for both the students and teachers. Actually, this first week back after 2 weeks of spring break, wasn't so bad. Students, including me, were in good spirits. Half of my students went on one of the mission trips and had wonderful stories to share.

I came back refreshed and ready to hit the ground running until the end of the school year. We only have 2 months left until summer break. Pray that teachers and students can endure and finish the school year strong.

Prayer Requests:

1. 2 opportunities Nolan and I were persuing for next year have closed. So we are at square 1. Please keep us in your prayers as we make decisions regarding next year. It was kind of a rough week, but we are staying positive and trusting the Lord. Trust and Faith are the key words....we have to hold on to this.

2. Mosaic Church plant. It is going under some reorganization. Pray for the team and for the outreach opportunities in the community.

3. My sister-in-law (Carol Cooper) has either cysts or tumors of the ovaries. She will go to another doctor Tuesday to get a 2nd opinion.

Final Day of our Northern Ireland Trip

McGladdery Family (newborn Johnathan), Becky, Brid, and I

Everyone again but with Nolan in the pic this time

So the last day of our trip was spent having coffee and tea with the McGladdery family before heading to Dublin. Another wonderful family we have gotten to know over the past 5 years. Another family who is also devoted in helping their community. Once again another great day spent with friends.