Showing posts with label MCYM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MCYM. Show all posts
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 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
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
October 2009 Newsletter!
Hello!
We hope this letter finds you all well! We are writing to share some very exciting news! After much consideration and prayer, we have decided to take the leap into full-time ministry!
Throughout our lives, while I was growing up in Colorado, and Austin was living in Iowa, both of our families were heavily involved in the church and lots of different forms of ministry. We were both very involved in our church youth groups, Austin was a member of his church's youth leadership team, I spent my summers volunteering at a church camp, and we were both blessed to be able to serve on more than a dozen short-term missions teams. Before we ever knew that the other person existed on the planet we both had the strong desire to be involved in ministry as our career.
We both attended Emmaus Bible College and graduated with a One-Year Bible Certificate. During the time that we were dating, and since we have been married, we have had many opportunities to serve together as a couple. We were both on a team of students from our college that spent a month in France and Switzerland learning about how to reach out to people in a culture that is very different from that which we were used to - basically experiencing what missionaries would during their first few weeks in the field. Austin and I and our friend Doug travelled to Honduras and spent a week teaching English at a Christian school there. We were also part of a team from our church that traveled to New Orleans to help re-build a homeless shelter in one of the areas that was the hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina, and Austin received valuable training in the form of Youth For Christ's Summer Institute.
It has been very exciting to see how God has used and is using the seemingly insignificant details of our lives to move us into a place where this dream can become a reality. Everything from working together to re-construct our house, to the incredible experience and training Austin has received through his current job in assessing and restoring homes that have experienced catastrophic loss has shown us that we are uniquely equipped to minister to others in some very down-to-earth and practical ways.
Lord-willing, our missions journey will begin at Urbana 2009 (www.Urbana09.org) in St. Louis. Urbana is a missions conference with many challenging seminars as well as a huge “trade-show” for missions organizations where we will be able to discuss our passions and vision with representatives of several different organizations along with receiving invaluable training from experienced missions professionals.
Immediately following Urbana, we’re right on into 2010. 2010 is shaping up to be a jam-packed, adventure-filled year. January's plans are undecided at the moment as we are prayerfully considering two different options that will take us in very different directions, either in Central Asia, or the United Kingdom.
In February we will join with Tim & Angella Cole with Youth for Christ/MCYM Europe working with the children of military personnel on US military bases. We will help them lead the Junior High and Senior High groups on large construction service projects in February and April respectively. In between the two trips, Tim has lined up various fill-in ministry responsibilities for us to assist with the Youth for Christ programs throughout Europe.
We will be home for a short period of time during the month of May, and then we’re off again for a two-month-long intensive hands-on-training trip with Launch Out Ministries (www.launchoutministries.com) “The vision of this trip is to equip Christians and to awaken them to who they are in Christ. As you travel to about 10 nations, on 5 different continents you will learn from the lives of the local missionaries and Pastors in these countries. Not only will you be taught in a classroom setting, but you will learn from their lives as you interact with them.”
Upon our return to the states, we will begin the process of joining with a larger organization for a longer-term assignment. Our long-term vision is to create a new ministry organization called Burden Bearers International that will be dedicated to coming alongside the body of Christ – wherever they may be – and shouldering their burdens in very practical ways; however, at the recommendation of our pastor, we are going to pursue ministry with an established organization for a time before attempting to create our own entity.
We treasure your prayers as we move forward with this incredible adventure. Aside from travelling mercies and safety abroad, our most pressing needs include: 1) That God would continue to present opportunities for service and direct us to where we will be most effective. 2) Preparation for us physically, emotionally, and spiritually for hard but very rewarding work. 3) Wrapping up the details of our lives here in Iowa so that we will be ready to leave in January!
We are also looking for people to partner with us financially. We realize that in today’s economy funds are more strained than ever, but we believe that God has gone before us and is preparing a way to provide for every penny! Your tax-deductible donations in the form of either check or money order made out to "Harvest Bible Fellowship" can be mailed to:
Harvest Bible Fellowship
5567 Painted Rocks Road
Woodland Park, CO 80863
Or you can use the "Donate" button in the sidebar to donate via PayPal.
Blessings,
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