Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wednesday Morning Prayer Requests (April 21)
Guten Tag!
As many of you have heard there is a large cloud of volcanic ash hanging over Europe. It has suspended all air travel for 6 days, and we are scheduled to fly out of Frankfurt, Germany on Thursday. Wycliffe Bible Translators is expecting us in Abancay, Peru on April 23rd to assist with the construction of a translation center. Our concern is that if our flight is cancelled we will be pushed to the end of a 7 million person line. Please pray that the skies will clear and we will be allowed to fly.
On a praise note, Thursday will also mark the end of our 3-month commitment with Military Community Youth Ministry. It is bittersweet to leave as we have built relationships with adults and youth to last a lifetime. The Lord has been at work in our time throughout Europe, and we have seen his hand on our ministry. We have seen dozens of lives changed by the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! Thank God for letting us be a part of what he is doing throughout the World!
Please continue to pray for our financial needs to be met, and prayerfully consider your participation in supporting us financially. If you feel led to become a part of our financial support team please follow the link below.
Austin & Katy Van Wyk
Burden Bearers International
Bringing Help - Building Relationships - Influencing Lives
The measure of a true servant is how they react when they are treated like one - Anonymous
As many of you have heard there is a large cloud of volcanic ash hanging over Europe. It has suspended all air travel for 6 days, and we are scheduled to fly out of Frankfurt, Germany on Thursday. Wycliffe Bible Translators is expecting us in Abancay, Peru on April 23rd to assist with the construction of a translation center. Our concern is that if our flight is cancelled we will be pushed to the end of a 7 million person line. Please pray that the skies will clear and we will be allowed to fly.
On a praise note, Thursday will also mark the end of our 3-month commitment with Military Community Youth Ministry. It is bittersweet to leave as we have built relationships with adults and youth to last a lifetime. The Lord has been at work in our time throughout Europe, and we have seen his hand on our ministry. We have seen dozens of lives changed by the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! Thank God for letting us be a part of what he is doing throughout the World!
Please continue to pray for our financial needs to be met, and prayerfully consider your participation in supporting us financially. If you feel led to become a part of our financial support team please follow the link below.
Austin & Katy Van Wyk
Burden Bearers International
Bringing Help - Building Relationships - Influencing Lives
The measure of a true servant is how they react when they are treated like one - Anonymous
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday Morning Prayer Requests (March 31)
Good morning from the Czech Republic!
We are currently in Turnov preparing for the first of three High School service projects with MCYM/Club Beyond! We will be filling the role of "head leaders" (which is a like a combination of head counselors and program staff for you Camp Elim people), and that means a lot of responsibility on not a lot of sleep :)
Please pray for:
1.) Productive prep time so that everything is in readiness for the arrival of students next Sunday
2.) Safe travel for all of the remaining staff and students who will be coming in from all over Europe
3.) Challenge and spiritual growth for all involved
4.) Good communication between the advance team of staff so that expectations will be clear
5.) That we and the entire group of more than 100 people (staff and students) would be a bright light in Turnov, a town of more than 30,000 with fewer than 150 known believers!
Thank you all so much for your prayers! We cannot tell you how necessary they are!
In Him,
P.S. We are working on our March newsletter. It will be out soon!
We are currently in Turnov preparing for the first of three High School service projects with MCYM/Club Beyond! We will be filling the role of "head leaders" (which is a like a combination of head counselors and program staff for you Camp Elim people), and that means a lot of responsibility on not a lot of sleep :)
Please pray for:
1.) Productive prep time so that everything is in readiness for the arrival of students next Sunday
2.) Safe travel for all of the remaining staff and students who will be coming in from all over Europe
3.) Challenge and spiritual growth for all involved
4.) Good communication between the advance team of staff so that expectations will be clear
5.) That we and the entire group of more than 100 people (staff and students) would be a bright light in Turnov, a town of more than 30,000 with fewer than 150 known believers!
Thank you all so much for your prayers! We cannot tell you how necessary they are!
In Him,
P.S. We are working on our March newsletter. It will be out soon!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Hello from Italy! or Buongiorno! :)
Buongiorno di bella Italia!
It's been a couple of jam-packed weeks since we last updated! We have taken two 4-hour van rides, one plane trip, and nine trains to be in three countries (Belgium, Germany, & Italy) working with youth from four different military bases (S.H.A.P.E., AfNorth, Camp Darby &
Aviano) in the last 14 days!
Throughout it all, we have felt so privileged to have the opportunity to work alongside so many wonderful men and women of Christ and to know that this is our life now!
On Valentine's day we left the S.H.A.P.E. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) chapel for the middle school service project in Kaiserslautern, Germany! We worked with a local church there called City Mission and helped them with their ongoing ministry to the destitute population around them. We have NEVER seen a group of middle schoolers (from two different bases) work as hard or respect each other as much as we saw on this trip. In the evenings, after they had worked all day we had club times (like chapel) with a great speaker, Dale Mace who works with MCYM in Lakenheath, England. His theme verse was Genesis 1:27, and throughout the week we learned "because you're worth it!" It was an intense - physically, emotionally, and spiritually - four days, and we were so blessed to be a part of it! Especially since three of the girls from S.H.A.P.E. came to a saving knowledge of Christ during our time!
We got back to S.H.A.P.E. on Thursday night, and Saturday morning we flew to Pisa for a week at Camp Darby. Camp Darby is a much smaller installation, and as such there is only one MCYM staff person working there, Jessica, so she has to be very reliant on volunteers or handle the load alone. It was refreshing for her to have a "team" for the week.
We had the opportunity to run her middle school and high school club meetings (youth group), help serve the middle school students lunch on Monday, chaperone a high school ski trip on Tuesday, help with middle school girls group on Wednesday, and assist her with a huge BBQ fundraiser (for their high schoolers to go on service project) on Thursday!
It's been a couple of jam-packed weeks since we last updated! We have taken two 4-hour van rides, one plane trip, and nine trains to be in three countries (Belgium, Germany, & Italy) working with youth from four different military bases (S.H.A.P.E., AfNorth, Camp Darby &
Aviano) in the last 14 days!Throughout it all, we have felt so privileged to have the opportunity to work alongside so many wonderful men and women of Christ and to know that this is our life now!
On Valentine's day we left the S.H.A.P.E. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) chapel for the middle school service project in Kaiserslautern, Germany! We worked with a local church there called City Mission and helped them with their ongoing ministry to the destitute population around them. We have NEVER seen a group of middle schoolers (from two different bases) work as hard or respect each other as much as we saw on this trip. In the evenings, after they had worked all day we had club times (like chapel) with a great speaker, Dale Mace who works with MCYM in Lakenheath, England. His theme verse was Genesis 1:27, and throughout the week we learned "because you're worth it!" It was an intense - physically, emotionally, and spiritually - four days, and we were so blessed to be a part of it! Especially since three of the girls from S.H.A.P.E. came to a saving knowledge of Christ during our time!
We got back to S.H.A.P.E. on Thursday night, and Saturday morning we flew to Pisa for a week at Camp Darby. Camp Darby is a much smaller installation, and as such there is only one MCYM staff person working there, Jessica, so she has to be very reliant on volunteers or handle the load alone. It was refreshing for her to have a "team" for the week.We had the opportunity to run her middle school and high school club meetings (youth group), help serve the middle school students lunch on Monday, chaperone a high school ski trip on Tuesday, help with middle school girls group on Wednesday, and assist her with a huge BBQ fundraiser (for their high schoolers to go on service project) on Thursday!
On Saturday, we arrived at our next "assignment" assisting MCYM in Aviano, Italy. We hit the ground running on Sunday morning, helping with a big pancake breakfast (a fundraiser for their high schoolers' service project). Austin was able to perform some much needed maintenance on Pam(the community director)'s car on Monday, and we helped run their middle school and high school clubs on Tuesday! We will be here until the end of next week (March 13th), and will probably have many more stories by that time!
Thank you all for your continued prayers! It is so wonderful to know that we have such a big team standing with us in this ministry!
Anyone who would like to contribute financially is welcome to send their tax-deductible donations in the form of a check or money order to Harvest Bible Fellowship, 5567 Painted Rocks Road, Woodland Park, CO 80863. We are also able to accept donations through PayPal (click the "Donate" button in the right sidebar) which would allow you to use a major credit or debit card, or have funds transferred from a bank account. Donations made via PayPal are also tax-deductible.
Ciao!
Thank you all for your continued prayers! It is so wonderful to know that we have such a big team standing with us in this ministry!
Anyone who would like to contribute financially is welcome to send their tax-deductible donations in the form of a check or money order to Harvest Bible Fellowship, 5567 Painted Rocks Road, Woodland Park, CO 80863. We are also able to accept donations through PayPal (click the "Donate" button in the right sidebar) which would allow you to use a major credit or debit card, or have funds transferred from a bank account. Donations made via PayPal are also tax-deductible.
Ciao!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Bonjour de Belgique!
Here we are! Belgium. We have both said several times this week how surreal it feels to be here. It's incredible to see so many months and years of prayers and preparation come to fruition. This is very much the realization of a dream!
We arrived in Brussels on Sunday, February 7th. Our bags, however, did not get here until about a day later. When we did get them, Katy's bag had broken open, and apparently spilled because we are missing several items. That was an understandably discouraging way to kick off our time here, but thanks to a little ingenuity on Austin's part, the bag is now fully operational again!
Despite the somewhat rocky start, God is good, and it is evident that this is truly where we're supposed to be. This leg of our journey is the first stop on our nearly three-month commitment with MCYM (Military Community Youth Ministry). While in Belgium we are working with the Club Beyond staff on S.H.A.P.E. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe). On Tuesday afternoon and evening we had the opportunity to experience our first clubs, which are full out youth events that happen on a weekly basis. The Junior High club meets shortly after school, they do a snack, several games, and a Bible message. The Senior High club is much the same except with supper, since they meet later in the day. We were privileged to hit the ground running and serve in many aspects. We even had the privilege of running a couple of the games! It was a great way to get to know the youth, and exciting to see what God is doing through MCYM Club Beyond!
During the rest of our time here we will be chaperoning some of the youth from both the Junior HIgh and Senior High groups on different service projects throughout Europe. The rest of this week has been full of preparations to take the Junior High group on their service project to Kaiserslautern, Germany. Here is an excerpt from their support letter which explains what we will be doing there:
Service projects are also a great time for the kids who participate to grow spiritually, and some even come to a saving knowledge of Christ as a result of these trips. In addition to serving the people of Kaiserslautern, they will also have devotions every morning and chapel time and small group discussions every evening. The speaker's theme for our time is "Reflecting Christ." We are very excited and expecting God to work in big ways!
Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer as we continue to press on in this work God has given us! Here are some of our specific requests:
* Austin's health - he is on anti-biotics battling a serious chest cough this week, and is hopefully on the downward slope of it!
* Safe travels - we will be transporting all of the youth and leaders for the service project via the autobahn on Sunday afternoon.
* Service Project - for a safe and fruitful time in Kaiserslautern
* Baggage resolution - the airline told us that it can take up to 5 weeks to be compensated for our lost/damaged items
* Continued financial support - as we assist those individuals who are also financially supported as full-time missionaries our desire is to not create a burden for those who have asked us to join with them. As a result we continue to provide our portion of service project expenses, transportation expenses, food and housing expenses, etc. This can only continue to happen with the continued kindness and generosity of our financial supporters!
Praise the Lord for all of the safety and provision we have received thus far! God is so good, and we are so humbled and honored to get to do his work throughout the world!
Blessings,
Phil 2:1-11
* tax-deductible donations can be sent to:
Harvest Bible Fellowship
5567 Painted Rocks Road
Woodland Park, CO 80863
Here we are! Belgium. We have both said several times this week how surreal it feels to be here. It's incredible to see so many months and years of prayers and preparation come to fruition. This is very much the realization of a dream!
We arrived in Brussels on Sunday, February 7th. Our bags, however, did not get here until about a day later. When we did get them, Katy's bag had broken open, and apparently spilled because we are missing several items. That was an understandably discouraging way to kick off our time here, but thanks to a little ingenuity on Austin's part, the bag is now fully operational again!
Despite the somewhat rocky start, God is good, and it is evident that this is truly where we're supposed to be. This leg of our journey is the first stop on our nearly three-month commitment with MCYM (Military Community Youth Ministry). While in Belgium we are working with the Club Beyond staff on S.H.A.P.E. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe). On Tuesday afternoon and evening we had the opportunity to experience our first clubs, which are full out youth events that happen on a weekly basis. The Junior High club meets shortly after school, they do a snack, several games, and a Bible message. The Senior High club is much the same except with supper, since they meet later in the day. We were privileged to hit the ground running and serve in many aspects. We even had the privilege of running a couple of the games! It was a great way to get to know the youth, and exciting to see what God is doing through MCYM Club Beyond!
During the rest of our time here we will be chaperoning some of the youth from both the Junior HIgh and Senior High groups on different service projects throughout Europe. The rest of this week has been full of preparations to take the Junior High group on their service project to Kaiserslautern, Germany. Here is an excerpt from their support letter which explains what we will be doing there:
This year we are going to Kaiserslautern, Germany from February 14-18 to work with a church called City Mission. City Mission clothes and feeds over 800 people each month, by sending out 20,000 lbs of food to 9 locations. They work alongside four German businesses (including “Toys R Us”!) in an effort to take care of the poor in the community. Over 25% of the children in their immediate community live in poverty. Many of the homes they minister to lack even basic toiletries and will even burn wood inside their apartments for warmth without the use of a proper fireplace. Each day we are there we will go into surrounding communities where the residents live in poverty. Many of the people in these neighborhoods lack even basic necessities like toilet paper and food! We will take vans filled with donated food into these neighborhoods to distribute to the families. But we won’t just give them food! We’ll have a chance to spend time talking with them and showing them that we care about who they are. Each afternoon we will participate in service projects at churches around the area doing projects like painting, organizing food and clothing pantries and cleaning up trash in neighborhoods.
Service projects are also a great time for the kids who participate to grow spiritually, and some even come to a saving knowledge of Christ as a result of these trips. In addition to serving the people of Kaiserslautern, they will also have devotions every morning and chapel time and small group discussions every evening. The speaker's theme for our time is "Reflecting Christ." We are very excited and expecting God to work in big ways!
Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer as we continue to press on in this work God has given us! Here are some of our specific requests:
* Austin's health - he is on anti-biotics battling a serious chest cough this week, and is hopefully on the downward slope of it!
* Safe travels - we will be transporting all of the youth and leaders for the service project via the autobahn on Sunday afternoon.
* Service Project - for a safe and fruitful time in Kaiserslautern
* Baggage resolution - the airline told us that it can take up to 5 weeks to be compensated for our lost/damaged items
* Continued financial support - as we assist those individuals who are also financially supported as full-time missionaries our desire is to not create a burden for those who have asked us to join with them. As a result we continue to provide our portion of service project expenses, transportation expenses, food and housing expenses, etc. This can only continue to happen with the continued kindness and generosity of our financial supporters!
Praise the Lord for all of the safety and provision we have received thus far! God is so good, and we are so humbled and honored to get to do his work throughout the world!
Blessings,
Phil 2:1-11
* tax-deductible donations can be sent to:
Harvest Bible Fellowship
5567 Painted Rocks Road
Woodland Park, CO 80863
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