It's ALL about relationships!

It’s all about relationships. That’s what we’ve been saying and that’s been the buzz for a while now in the body of Christ. When you come to a foreign country and have to learn the ways and culture of people that you’ve never met before, that phrase has a whole new meaning.

We are busy with work, yes. Tony has more than a full plate with responsibility over the vehicles, buildings and some of the administration at the International Office. I’m teaching, training and recruiting for Choose to Wait, networking with local churches, schools and NGO’s. We are a part of a local church fellowship and have regular prayer times and chapel with Christ’s Hope staff. Relationships? Yeah, I’ll say, plenty of them. The challenge is making those interaction times meaningful and Christ- honoring.

Here are some pictures us with fellow-workers (from Holland), and some of the students we are building meaningful Christ-honoring relationships with. It’s wonderful meeting and working with our European brothers and sisters, but it’s not so much fun saying goodbye.

We hosted 52 students last night for Saturday Night Live and they had a blast – singing, dancing, and playing. Can I just say that this “relationship building” is not a quick and easy task. Meaningful relationships require self-sacrifice, time and effort – purposeful sharing. We sure appreciate your prayers and support as we continue to press on toward that goal. We know it is all worth it because every young person we meet here has a story and each one is precious to the Father. We know that God has sent us here to introduce them to Jesus. He told us, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel…” So here we are modeling love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, peace….. and sometimes we use words.