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

A Day in the Life of an American in Denmark

So, it's really interesting that every time I talk to people, they seem to know nothing about what I'm doing here in Denmark. I was just thinking about that, and thought, I must be a really bad communicator. SO... I thought why not give a little blog update on what exactly my life in Denmark looks like.

I live in an apartment with Kelly, my American roommate who is getting married the week before me in Ohio, to Martin's best friend, Johan. 2 Americans surviving together in Denmark can be a good encouraging thing, but we can also seem to encourage each other's "vent fests" when we are tired of the strange culture and language barriers. We have a lot of fun together figuring out this place.

Everyday I get up and ride my bike to school. Here's a few picture of the town I live in.

It's so fun because every day I leave my apartment, I can't get anywhere without seeing someone I know. It's really a "Mayberry" small town feeling. It really gives the sense of community that I've always loved (even though I've never experienced it at home)

I am a student at the International Bible College studying in the school of Missions. This is why I went to China in the Fall and on March 22 I'll be going to Togo, Africa. My days are filled with lots of classes, worship and spending time with some of the coolest people from countries all over Europe. I'm also taking Danish classes once a week, which is so not good enough. I'm trying to figure out a way to learn more in Danish.

On the weekends I spend time with my lovely fiance, relaxing, traveling a bit, hanging out with his family and planning our wedding and future together. We are the new TeenRadical leaders at the church. This new role started in January. We absolutely love it. We have big dreams for this group and are in the process of building and organizing a TeenClub that will be open to teenagers after school and some weekend events. We are so blessed with people in our life that are really investing in us.

Martin helps out as much as possible with the Mission School, especially as we prepare for our trip to Africa. Our dream is to work with Missions and teenagers, so it's amazing the experiences that we have gotten this year. God has really blessed us beyond what we could imagine.

We're getting married at Blue Lake Ranch on July 17, 2009! ONLY 5 months away now! Tak, Jesus! So wedding planning is really getting under way now. It's about to get a lot more busy. The next day after I get back from Africa, we're going to Sweden to Martin's brother's ski cabin, and when we're done with that it's going to be major wedding crunch time.

So, that's pretty much my every-day life in Kolding. Like I said, I'm always so surprised when I hear that people don't really know what I'm doing...so there is a really short version. God is good...he's teaching us a lot this year and I'm so thankful to be here.

Praise Jesus for lots of New Things!!

So, we've finally gotten the answer that we have been waiting for as long as Martin and I have known each other. He finally got his confirmation for graduating early!! The letter came in the mail yesterday. This means that he will be done with school on Sept. 18, 2009 instead of May 2010! This is so good for us because it opens up so many more opportunities for us to serve God together next year. He is so faithful and continually proving that he hears our prayers and is faithful when we call on Him.

This doesn't mean that we have a plan yet for after the wedding, but it does mean that now we know what kind of freedom we have as we are seeking God for his plan for us next year. We know that Martin won't have to be in school, and that in itself is simply wonderful news!

On another note, for those of you who don't know, we accepted the job as youth pastors of the Teen Radical teenage group at the church in January. When we came back from Texas we were a bit nervous about what that would be like, but once again, God has proven faithful. I believe that you grow so much more when you are challenged in new areas because you learn that you have to be dependent apon the Lord because you know you can't do it in your own strength. It has been such an amazing time so far. I always knew Martin could do it, but I was a bit insecure (and am still working on it) because of my Danish, but God has given me so much grace. I am understanding more and more everyday and can pretty much follow a conversation in Danish now. I respond mostly in English, but it's always fun when I know how to respond in Danish. He's also given me more connections one on one with the kids this term. Martin is doing a FANTASTIC job leading and has great visions for this group! We believe in God's vision for these teenagers and love to see them grow. I have developed such a heart for the teens in this area. The area of Kolding that I live in is filled with them. We have a Youth Mission School, Boarding School and Jr. High all in one area. Every time I leave my house I see some of the kids. It's kind of a "Mayberry" feeling, and I love it. They are in such need of Jesus, and we're so excited to get to disciple them.

Praise God for this new opportunity!

TEENRADICAL!

here are some of the kids on one of our event nights

AFRICA!

We have been preparing for our trip to Africa a lot in the last couple of weeks. We been blessed with a HUGE container that someone is going to ship for us to Togo and so our task is to fill it up with everything and anything that will be useful for the villages where we be spending time. We had an article on the front page of the news paper last week and had a huge collecting day on Saturday.

http://pdf.budstikken.com/seneste_udgaver/kolding.pdf

People from all over the area came and donated things. God blessed us so much. We got everything from beds, motorbikes, bikes, tables, chairs, sewing machines, computers, to clothes, shoes and toys. It was simply amazing. These things will be able to bless so many people in Togo, which is one of the poorest countries in Africa. We were overwhelmed by the response. Please pray for us as we continue to prepare for this trip. We will be leaving on March 22 and returning in the middle of April.

The night before, Martin and I spent with the teenagers making cakes to give away to the people who came and donated.

A Danish/America-Africa Couple. :)We got 60 top of the line mosquito nets donated...one of my favorites! Praise Jesus! :)
Some from the teamThis was only the beginning. :)
So, I think that is all the news for now. Please keep Martin and I in your prayers as we now are seeking God for what will come of us next year. :) We know that whatever it is, will be great because we just want to be in the will of God.

Vi elsker dig meget! (We love you a lot!)

Eating dessert and drinking coffee the way Americans do it. :)

David loves his Pops and Uncle Martin!

David celebrating his 1st birthday!

China...Denmark...Texas...Denmark

So on my trip home to Texas over Christmas, I realized that there actually were people who followed up on my blog, little did I know, so I guess I do need to keep it updated more often. :)

The trip to China was amazing. Thank you so much for all your prayers and encouragement for our trip. The Lord went ahead of us and prepared the hearts of so many people. I learned not to put boundaries on what you think the Lord will do because he's always got much more in store when you are walking in faith! I was able to teach an English class at a Sports University for students who were just beginning to learn English and it was a blast. We also did some sports camps, English corners, Earthquake relief work and helped to encourage other believers who were living there. I have a heart for another part of the world that I never thought much about before. God is doing amazing things there and I just pray for more!

I was pretty much sick the two weeks between China and Texas. The jet lag was worse than ever, and I was exhausted and had a cold plus I started right away with a very busy schedule the day after I got back. I did not slow down again until I got home. After about 2 days in Texas with my bed, good food and my family I was feeling much better!

Martin and I had a great time in Texas! It was SO good to spend time with my family and friends. Of course, I don't feel like I got to spend enough time with people, but I guess that will always be the case when you are traveling. But, it was a blessing to be home! I spent a lot of time with my parents and my brothers, Yvette and David. I think by the end of the trip, David definitely remembered who his Aunt B was and I'm sure he's missing me like crazy already. :) We did lots of wedding planning and got to celebrate David's first birthday with him, so that was special.

The plane ride back to DK was great! It went by so fast (probably because I slept the whole way) and we had no complications until we got to Hamburg and one of my bags wasn't there. I'm still waiting on that one to show up, but hopefully it will come today. It didn't really phase me because last year I learned a lesson about that. :)

It was a good feeling getting back to DK yesterday. I was just thinking about what a blessing it is that I feel like Texas is my home and I can't wait to get there, but I also feel like Denmark is my home now. I got excited driving in and settling in my apartment yesterday. We were greeting with a bright sunny ski, cold, crisp weather and snow on the ground. It was perfect! Coming back to school today was also refreshing. I really missed seeing everyone, so it was good to be back.

It's definitely the time of year where Martin and I will have to start making plans for next year because of all our paperwork that has to go through to make it legal for us to live in other countries. Please pray that God will present opportunities for us wherever we are supposed to be next year. It's hard being away from home, but we just want to be exactly where the Lord calls us, no matter where that is. We are still waiting to hear whether or not he will be graduating early, but we know for sure that we will be coming back to Denmark after the wedding, we just don't know for how long. So we're asking for your prayers that God will speak to us clearly about our future and that we will be faithful in the meantime to what he has called us to.

Please also pray for our new Leadership with the teenagers that is starting now. It's quite different going from someone who just works along side the teens to being someone in charge and this is an area that we really want God's heart for. We want our hearts to be stirred up for these kids to really be radical life changers and fall more deeply in love with God. Please pray that we can be the leaders we need to be, which that is being desperate for Jesus.

More updates with pictures soon to come. You can find pictures from China on my facebook.

News On China

Goddag min venner! (Hello, my friends)

I haven't been keeping my blog very updated lately, so I'm going to try and do better. The big news going on right now is that we are getting ready for our trip to China. We met with our contact person last night, who is actually a girl that went to school with Martin, so that was fun. She's a Danish girl who has been living in China for 5 years, but just recently moved back to DK. So, she will come with us and be our translator and tour guide. We'll be leaving the 23rd of November and returning the 4th of December.

We're going to a place called Chengdu. It's right near the center of China, they call it "The Gateway to the West" because you have to pass through it to get anywhere western. There are about 10 million people living in Chengdu (2ce the amount of people living in all of Denmark.) Here is a map, you can find it almost in the middle.

In May there was a really bad earthquake about 100 klm from where we are going to be staying, so for a couple of days, we will be up there helping out in the schools. A lot of our time in China will be teaching English. So, I'm the only native English speaker on the team, and actual English teacher, so I'm sure that will be mostly my responsibility. We will also be leading some sports camps and childrens programs in the area where the earthquake hit. This trip is what we are calling a "taste and see" trip. As a member of this kind of school, it's really important for us to learn how to organize and plan these trips as well as becoming more and more familiar with other cultures around the world. Our trip to Togo, Africa in the Spring will be almost 5 weeks and will involve much more.

So, please remember us in preparation for this trip and throughout our time there.

On another note, life at the school and with Martin has been going great! We had an amazing "Theme Week" last week that was so encouraging for both Martin and I because he got to come to some of the meetings with me. He is in the middle of a BIG project now building his brother's new house and he is loving it. It has just been Martin and Daniel building so far doing it all themselves, so he's quite busy, but it's been great experience for him. I need to get more updated pictures because they have come so far, but here are som just from the very beginning stages.

They now have the whole perimeter of the house done and the roof, so I'll get more pictures this weekend. Martin is loving it.

School has been great too. I'm developing some really good friendships with people from all over the world. I don't know what I'll do when I come back to a place where everybody speaks the same language. Of course, we all communicate in English here, but it's really fun to hear all the different languages all day long. I started Danish classes last week, FINALLY! So, hopefully it will come soon. I've learned all the basic sentences I need to know, like:

"Vi spise nu" (We're eating now) and

"Jeg vil gaerne ha nogle i drikker, ella spise" (I would like something to drink...or eat)

"Drengen er under bordet" (The boy is under the table)

Haha, just kidding, I know those are very random and all about food, but I'm getting the basics now and starting to understand a lot more!

I'm still loving Denmark...it's a bit cold, but I'm getting used to it. I've been wearing boots, scarves and gloves for a month now...ugh. But, overall de er rigtig godt! (It is really good!)