Our first home...

We have finally moved into our first home! After living for two crazy months in the church office, we REALLY appreciate our new home. Especially since Martin put so much work into it. The building was built in 1875 and is the oldest building in Kolding, so when Martin got the job to remodel it, he decided to tear out everything including the walls and the floor and start from scratch. So, he built up everything himself from there. It was such a blessing because it the building right next to the church in which the church offices are on the first floor and the top floor is our apartment and some teen facilities which Martin is still building. But, since it belongs to the church, we got to choose whatever kitchen, floors, counter top, appliances, etc. that we wanted, but the church paid for it! What a deal!

We moved in 4 days before going to England and manages a House Warming/Graduation Party the next day after we finished at 3:00 am. We figured it was the best way to make a deadline, just invite 50 people over and that's a little motivation to get it finished. :) It worked! We were exhausted afterward though...and then we left for England with 14 teenagers.

So, we've had the week off this week and finally got to enjoy our house. We have loved our LITTLE home! It's very tiny, but perfect size for Martin and me!

England!

Yes, I know it has been way too long since I have updated! Especially since I still get emails all the time with people asking me, “exactly what do you do in Denmark.” So I promise I will try to be better at updating.

This month Martin and I took our first outreach of Euroclass students to England. Euroclass is made up of 27 students and 7 full time teachers. 2 of the teachers do not go on outreach because they have families that they cannot be away from for that long. So, the team is split into two teams and the first outreach is in Europe. Two teachers, Julie and Thomas led a team to Romania, and Martin, Annechein and I led a team to England. Martin and I were the team leaders and Annechein is our dance and drama specialist. (You have to be much better in dance and drama in England than Romania, if you can imagine, there is a different standard)

The trip was a success. We worked full time for 2 different churches. One in Ramsgate (near the East Coast) and the other in Sidcup. (near London) During these two weeks were were almost daily working in Elementary Schools doing the main assembly. Public schools in England have no separation of church and state so we were allowed to come in and share whatever we wanted. Since it was mostly elementary schools, Euroclass usually did three dramas which talked about giving and loving your neighbor. My main job as a teacher at Euroclass is in Communications, so it was a big job to teach the students how to communicate the message of these pieces, in English, in a way that communicates the Gospel. It was a challenge for them, but also very exciting. We spent time in classrooms as well teaching about Denmark and Euroclass and sharing testimonies.

Another big project we were a part of was a Community Action project. Both churches we worked with were in a partnership with the government where they would take areas in the community and clean them up and start youth outreaches there where the really rough kids hang out. So we spent a lot of time digging, cleaning, mowing, and throwing away a lot of trash from really disgusting abandoned areas. I saw more huge, colorful, awful spiders in these places than when I was in Africa! But, it was a great experience to for the students to see the different they made at the end of the day.

Then, they would bring out soccer cages, portable skate parks and a converted double decker bus which was completely redone into a movie room, x-box center and hang out place into these areas and begin to have relationships with the kids that lived in the area. The government provides them with support because they do so well. It was inspiring to be a part of!

Overall, the trip was a success and a growing experience for the students and for Martin and I as leaders. Our next trip will be in May and June and the team will split again into two teams. One is spending 3 weeks in Kenya and 3 weeks in Zambia and the other team is spending 3 weeks in India and 3 weeks in the Philippines.

So, for now back at Euroclass we are back to daily teaching and preparing for the next big outreaches!
Thanks for your prayers and support that we received from so many of you on the trip! We couldn't do it without our prayer warriors back home! We love y'all!