| Some feedback about last month's requests: - School Festival - Well the school festival/carnival (can't think of a great translation for this great event that combines a school "open house", good food, a show put on by the students, booths of games, sporting competitions, an evening worship concert, dancing late into the night, etc. - "end-of-year-blowout-celebration") happened under sunny skies and was a beautiful time of teamwork and display of the richness of life and the blessings of the Lord. Angela manned a stand where she introduced the French to "Smoothies" - a big hit! Even the sound reinforcement went smoothly (from a sound perspective). BUT, though I had a great team and we enjoyed ourselves, it ended up being the kind of effort that I "feared". My role transitioned from more "doing" to "leading" which is valuable and important for me right now, but the complexity also jumped a notch this year, so even though I rarely had to be at the mixing console, my level of activity was not really diminished any. This has engendered some good follow-up discussions with our leadership about how to raise up additional capable people and about how to deal with our equipment needs.
- Summer Planning - Already deep into Noah and Olivia's schedules! Noah's in the middle of two weeks of volunteer construction work at our school with a great group of Canadians who've come to help our school as a short-term missions trip. Olivia, meanwhile, has been in the States for about a week now and having a fabulous experience!
- Olivia's Class Trip - This was a really great trip for Olivia's class. They went to Dresden and learned much about what they were really capable of with different challenging actives, such as volunteering at a ministry there that welcomes troubled youth to come in and hang out in a positive and safe environment. These were 8th graders from a French school connecting with 18-20 year old German young adults...in German, of course! They also learned much about breaking cultural stereo-types and bridging cultural gaps. This is HUGE in the region of Alsace where cultural mistrust runs deep. There is such a heart among the people with whom we work/minister to see a new direction, a new vision sown into these kids with respect to the scars that Europe has born over centuries of war and division. It's exciting to see concrete steps like this being taken.
- Health - Other than a bit of a heat wave the last couple of weeks that's sapped our natural energy, we're all doing fine health-wise. Thank you Lord!
- Family Camp Prep - I can't say we're all set, but we're starting to get the picture together for what we'll be doing for the worship at this camp. The momentum is building!
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| - School Work - As I mentioned, Noah's working with a great team of volunteers doing work at our Christian school. They finish up this coming weekend. They are working on some new classrooms, new toilets and replacing some rotted flooring. There will still be much to do after they've left but they will have seriously moved us forward. In the meantime, I'm also working on the school's IT infrastructure...the annual summer task of making big changes that I can't make during the school year. Please pray for the construction team that they would be safe in their work and see the Lord work in their midst. Several shared that they decided to come on this "missions trip" because they wanted to draw closer to the Lord. Pray for their spirits to be stimulated by the Holy Spirit within them as they serve. Pray for Noah's time with them as well. Finally, pray that they could get one classroom basically ready to be used in September. As for what I'm working on, please pray for insight on how to make complex new systems work correctly and how to implement the changes in the most effective way.
 Olivia's Trip - Olivia's in the States now and this weekend she travels to Kansas City to participate in the "Awakening Teen Camp" at the International House of Prayer there. Before she leaves she continues to connect with our family in the States. We're so grateful for how the trip has gone so far and are excited for what God will do in her and through her in the next 3 weeks. At the end of the trip she'll board a plane in Chicago and travel non-stop by herself to Frankfurt where we'll meet her. Please pray for her traveling safety in the States and coming home on the 28th of July. Pray for her family connection time and her connection with her country of birth that she left at 4 years old! Finally, pray for her two camp weeks for a deep deposit from the Lord and precious connections with others (she's going by herself). - Church Work - In addition to work needed on the school, there is work needed on our church. The week of the 19th, some folks at church are planning a week of practical work to move us forward in some of the smaller renovation issues. Each morning will begin with 2 hours of worship, then a shared meal, then a long afternoon to "git 'er done!" We'll be doing the worship on M-W-F for this week. Please pray for an exceptional turnout to really spur on the momentum of progress in this activity. Pray that this practical investment would be multiplied in terms of the down-payment needed to buy our building (and finish the rest of the renovation). Please pray for safety in the practical work. Pray for real freedom in the worship.
- Family Camp Prep - As mentioned last month, we're leading worship in August for a YWAM Family Camp. We still have much to do to prepare. Please pray for inspiration for Angela about the direction of these family worship times and our ability as a family to come together and model "family worship."
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