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!

First Week at Euroclass...take 2!

(I had pictures in here, but evidently it's messing up my blog...so I took them out. I'll post some later :)

My first week at Euroclass was amazing! I just love it here!


The students arrived Sunday night and we had a welcome for them. They came in with all their parents and we helped them set up their dorms and their beds. Then, we had a little information service and dinner. Then, we took them to the beach and did lots of "getting to know you" activities.

The group of students this year are so great! I have really enjoyed getting to know each of them! There are 26 students and I like them all in their own special way :)

I started teaching communications this week and it went really well. I'm so impressed with their English. They are 15-17 years old, and I can't imagine knowing another language as well as they do at that age. But I guess it's necessary when you are a country that is so small it can fit inside of Texas 9 times! :) The way it works is that we will each teach a subject for 6 to 8 weeks and then move on to another. So right now, I am teaching communications so they can practice before their first outreach. Neil is teaching Creative Arts/Dance and Drama, and Julie and Thomas are teaching Alpha which is a basic Bible course.

AND...for the fun part. Guess who is taking over for Martin until he finishes school....me! So that means I am also teaching Sports and I take them on their morning run at 7:00am. It's 4.5 km through the forest. HAHA...I just laughed when I found out that would be my task. So, I guess I'm being stretched more ways than I thought living in Denmark. I have actually enjoyed it though. It's great when you are forced to do something...and do it with a smile because you are an example to the kids. God may be changing my heart for physical activity :)

So, it was a great week. Martin and I will be on duty at the school on Wednesdays which means we have to be there from the time they wake up until they go to bed. Normally, we will both be there so that one of us could leave and take a break for a while if we need, but, once again...until Martin is done with school I will be there all day. It was a long day last Wednesday, but I cannot think of a better job!

I have had so many good talks with the students they have really been opening up already. So, we are really excited for the year ahead! I think God has great things in store for the Espensens!

Please continue to pray for our apartment to get done. It's such a huge job to do in the spare time. Living downstairs in the office is really starting to be annoying and we cannot wait until this job is done and we can live a normal life. It is also a big stress on Martin, if you can imagine. We spent 7 hours in IKEA on Saturday. It was like a little vacation. :) We ordered a kitchen for us and for the TeenRadical club and also the bathrooms. It was a lot of fun!

My talented husband building the bathroom floor.



Our pastor, Jakob, helping spackle.


We LOVE y'all and send our love from Denmark.

why?

Why is my blog not working...I don't know! Can you see it now?

First Week at Euroclass

My first week at Euroclass was amazing! I just love it here!

The students arrived Sunday night and we had a welcome for them. They came in with all their parents and we helped them set up their dorms and their beds. Then, we had a little information service and dinner. Then, we took them to the beach and did lots of "getting to know you" activities.

The group of students this year are so great! I have really enjoyed getting to know each of them! There are 26 students and I like them all in their own special way :)

I started teaching communications this week and it went really well. I'm so impressed with their English. They are 15-17 years old, and I can't imagine knowing another language as well as they do at that age. But I guess it's necessary when you are a country that is so small it can fit inside of Texas 9 times! :) The way it works is that we will each teach a subject for 6 to 8 weeks and then move on to another. So right now, I am teaching communications so they can practice before their first outreach. Neil is teaching Creative Arts/Dance and Drama, and Julie and Thomas are teaching Alpha which is a basic Bible course.

AND...for the fun part. Guess who is taking over for Martin until he finishes school....me! So that means I am also teaching Sports and I take them on their morning run at 7:00am. It's 4.5 km through the forest. HAHA...I just laughed when I found out that would be my task. So, I guess I'm being stretched more ways than I thought living in Denmark. I have actually enjoyed it though. It's great when you are forced to do something...and do it with a smile because you are an example to the kids. God may be changing my heart for physical activity :)

So, it was a great week. Martin and I will be on duty at the school on Wednesdays which means we have to be there from the time they wake up until they go to bed. Normally, we will both be there so that one of us could leave and take a break for a while if we need, but, once again...until Martin is done with school I will be there all day. It was a long day last Wednesday, but I cannot think of a better job!

I have had so many good talks with the students they have really been opening up already. So, we are really excited for the year ahead! I think God has great things in store for the Espensens!

Please continue to pray for our apartment to get done. It's such a huge job to do in the spare time. Living downstairs in the office is really starting to be annoying and we cannot wait until this job is done and we can live a normal life. It is also a big stress on Martin, if you can imagine. We spent 7 hours in IKEA on Saturday. It was like a little vacation. :) We ordered a kitchen for us and for the TeenRadical club and also the bathrooms. It was a lot of fun!

My talented husband building the bathroom floor.

Our pastor, Jakob, helping spackle.

We LOVE y'all and send our love from Denmark.

Married, Building, Euroclass

Our Wedding in the Rocky Mountains




WOW, so much has happened since I last wrote in March! :) Oops! Martin and I had an AMAZING wedding the Rocky Mountains with our friends and family! We absolutely could not have asked for anything more in that week! God just blessed our socks off.

The week started with family, Danes and Americans arriving on Wednesday and checking into our Bed and Breakfast, Blue Lake Ranch. We had a picnic dinner set up in the meadow and it was simply perfect. All of my Danish and American friends and family became such good friends and we loved that! It was so important for both of us that we have "our worlds" cone together so they could better understand us. It was great weather and the food was perfect.

The next day we woke up and had breakfast together, then headed to the Event Center for a rehearsal. The rehearsal was great and while we were standing there, a heart appeared in the sky above our heads.
Then we all headed into Downtown Durango for lunch and shopping, and in the afternoon our White Water Rafting trip! One of Martin and my favorite memories of this week was being the last ones on the packed school bus and seeing all of our friends and family from so many places gathered together, ready to go rafting. It was so much fun...we dominated the river!

After the River Rafting we had a fantastic Rehearsal Dinner at ther Ranch. We honored our parents for all they had done for us.

The wedding day was beautiful! Everything was perfect, including the weather that we prayed about for so long! :) Our wedding was a mix of Danish and American culture and a new experience for everyone! Our friends and family blessed us with VERY creative speeches and toasts for 3 hours!! We shared some good food and then danced the rest of the night away! It was wonderful!

Back in DK
We are now back in DK and working hard on finishing the apartment so we can get moved in. Martin is finishing school during the day (5 more weeks!!!) and working on the apartment in the afternoons and weekends! It's a busy start, but we'll be so glad when these two things are done! We are blessed to be given a little apartment to live in until ours is finished.This is the building he is remodeling. It's the oldest farmhouse in Kolding, so it has a lot of history. He is building our apartment on the backside and the front half will be a teen club for the teens at the church.

Euroclass (www.euroclass.dk) There is a link for English
We started this week at Euroclass. It was a great week...very exciting, but also very hard on my brain. Everything in Euroclass is spoken in Danish, so I had a week of teacher orientation given in Danish. :) It will definitely help my learning this year! I will be teaching in English, though, praise Jesus! :) I will be teaching communications. I will teach the kids how to preach and share testimonies in English so that when we go on outreach to other countries they will feel confident. I will also be teaching bible lessons and discipleship. I'm so excited for what the Lord has in store for this year. Martin is coming on board at Euroclass as soon as he finishes his school in September, and we will be leading a team of about 13 kids on our first 3 week outreach in October! We feel so blessed!

Please Pray
Please pray for us that all the work that is ahead of us will get done quickly. (Martin building the apartment and TeenRadical club) and that he will also finish school and exams without too much stress. Pray for my Danish to come along. It's so important now, in my second year, that I understand when people speak Danish. Pray that I will have grace to learn fast and remember and practice!

I promise I will update more often! That is it for now! We love you...from Denmark!

It's Togo Time!

I just wanted to send a quick update about my trip to Africa coming up next week and ask for your prayers over my team and I. This time there will be 18 of us traveling to Togo from March 22-April 15. Togo is on the coast of West Africa next to Benin. It is the smallest and one of the poorest countries in Africa. We will spending the 1st week in the Capital city of Lome, at the very southern tip of Togo. Here we will be working with different church ministries as well as orphanages. The second and third week we will drive about 1.5 hours up North to a city called Notse. Here there is a Bible College which has branched out from mine (www.iabc.dk) in Denmark. The BIble College, called CAFEM, is a cement building with different rooms and no running water or electricity. We will be doing a lot of practical work here, as well as preparing a Missionary Home, on campus for differently missionaries to come stay in. Also in this city, we will visit local clinics because the leaders of my missions school are doctors, and we will be doing some work there. Our main focus will be in a couple different Children's villages.

Our Container Project was a huge success and a God given miracle. As most of you know, we have spend the last 2 months gathering supplies to send in a container to Africa. This turned out to be a bigger project than we expected. We ended up in the Newspaper twice. The whole city and surrounding cities got involved in donating clothes, shoes, bikes, furnature, tools, and everything in between. We spent last week packing our container and it shipped off on Thursday. We are hoping that it will reach Lome while we are there so we can distribute the goods among the Children's Villages and to the locals that we are in contact with. We will return to Lome a couple days before we are to fly back to Europe.

Please pray for:
1. Safety in travel
2. Wisdom for God's leading while we are there.
3. Open hearts to hear the Gospel
4. Protection from sickness
5. Unity in our team
6. God's guidance in every step we take.

Here are a few pictures of our final collecting day. We spent two days packing this container full of the stuff we had gathered to send to Togo.






This is Helge (our Missions School Leader) and KoKo, our Togan friend, making sure all the holes are filled in.
Just an example of some of the stuff we gathered.

Barbara, always happy to serve. :)



In Denmark, they use tractors to haul things. :)

Baby Joshua stopped by to help. He found some things he wanted.



Momoko and I searching through the kids clothes.
I look a bit confused, but I promise, I had it all under control. :) My job was to register everything going into the container. It proved to be harder than I thought. Thanks for your prayers! I will keep you updated!

Euroclass 2009

Well, after lots of prayer and consideration Martin and I have decided to take the job at Euroclass next year. THANK YOU all so much for all the prayers and encouraging emails that I recieved! You have no idea how much it means to me to know that I have this huge prayer base at home!

On Friday I was still feeling a little anxious knowing that we had to have a decision made quickly. But, God is so good. In my "Equipment for Ministry" class we are learning about the different gifts of the Spirit. On Friday, the topic was Spiritual Wisdom, perfect timing! After the teaching he asked if there was anyone who felt like they needed wisdom over a specific decision. I asked for prayer and 4 girls prayed for me. I was given so much encouragement and prophetic words, it really made me feel so much more at peace about the whole situation, which was especially good because Martin called me a few minutes later and said that he had set up a meeting with Peter (Euroclass Leader) at 2:00 that afternoon. So, I went into this meeting feeling so much more at peace than I did before. In this meeting we just talked with them with some last minute questions we had should we take the job, and it was so good.

Martin and I left Peter and Sarah's house feeling so encouraged and uplifted. It's going to be such as blessing for us to work under this couple and be discipled by them as well as us getting to disciple the teenagers. I think my brother nailed it on the head when he said, it sounds like I'm a little homesick, but I know that God is not through with me here. That is right. I miss my home and my family and friends so much, and I hate that I am missing out on important things happening, but I also know that there is always a cost in following Jesus. He calls us to look straight ahead, not to the sides or behind and follow him completely, and that is what Martin and I want to do with our lives.

We are so excited about this opportunity. We are excited to be able to do what we love as our job. Euroclass is in connection with a boarding school (this is where Danes ages 15-17 go...kind of like high school) so I will also be considered an employee there and may get to teach some English classes as well. We are excited for the road ahead.

Thank you again for all your prayers and encouraging words! It means more to us than you know! Please continue to do that!! AND... we can't wait to see you all at the wedding! :)

Love from Lynsey and Martin

www.euroclass.dk