ENGLAND 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #5

Nuneaton, England
Friday, April 3, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #5
Woke up and had family devotions this morning. Each of the kids all asked God to reveal something to us through His Word during our worship time. It was an awesome time as God gave each of us a verse or passage from Scripture. Justine brought us to one of the Psalms that talked about “our heart bursting over.” Jordan read from Psalm 2:1 about, “Why do the nations rage? And the people plot in vain?” Jonas was led to 2 Timothy 3:16-17 where it speaks about “the Scriptures being God-breathed,” and how they, “make the man of God complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
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Worked on the blog a bit this morning. Had more fellowship with some staff and students. Was planning on visiting a castle this afternoon, but found that the cigarette lighter socket wasn’t working, so we could use our GPS. Around the same time we were asked to stay longer here at The King’s Lodge. God works in mysterious ways. Through prayer and circumstances, we felt as though we should stay here in Nuneaton to fellowship and build relationships with staff and students rather than head on to the YWAM base in Scotland. So after quite a run around at one mechanic, who said it wasn’t just a fuse, but a faulty socket, we tried to follow hand-written directions to a junkyard that was pretty far away. When we got there, they said that they didn’t have the part, even though they said that they did over the phone. Finally got some help from a really friendly guy at the junkyard, who found that the problem was a corroded fuse. So he fixed it free of charge. This ended up taking all afternoon, so we didn’t get to the castle, but again, God is still on the throne, and we are okay with detours.
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Christian Young

ENGLAND 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #4

Nuneaton, England
Thursday, April 2, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #4
We have been offered by the YWAM staff to stay longer than a couple of nights, so we had the chance to spend some time today thinking and praying about it. After spending much time with the Lord, we have decided to stay through Friday night here at The King’s Lodge in Nuneaton, England, as we have been making some really good connections here, and then will head to the YWAM base in Seamill, Scotland on Saturday morning.
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We have taken most of the day today to relax, pray, worship and spend time in God’s Word, seeking His face. We were headed out the door to get some lunch in town when we were stopped by a staff member saying that Maged, the YWAM base leader here, wanted to meet with us this afternoon. We were delighted to be able to meet with him. And let me tell you, this guy is an awesome man of God with huge vision. Without going into too many details, as these things are all still in the prayer stage of things, there is a possibility of partnering with this YWAM base next year as they will be doing there “Mega Outreach,” possibly among unreached people groups in Africa. Our hearts were stirred with the possibility of partnering with these lovely people even before we make the journey from Mozambique to Mali.

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I have also been able to connect with a man named Justin, who is on staff here as well and is running the CDTS that is just beginning this week. The funny thing is, this is the exact CDTS that we were praying about applying for over a year ago. It is amazing that we “just happened” to show up here the week that it is starting, and have already had some fellowship with some of the incoming students, who we would have been classmates with. Crazy stuff. Justin, also, has a huge vision and has some amazing stories of what God has been doing, especially with these “Mega Outreaches” in the past four years in both the Philippines and South Africa. I truly hope that we will be able to do more ministry with these people in the future.

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I got a chance to prayer walk and do some intercession for the nations with a young man named Matthew, who just graduated from one of the schools here. We walked around the school property, facing the north, south, east and west, praying for the nations. It was a great time. I also ran into a young lady named Rebekah, who is from Germany, and got a chance to share God’s Word with her a bit. She shared many of the things that God had been doing inside of her at the DTS she is attending. She will be leaving on the outreach phase of the DTS to Birmingham for a week, and then to Thailand with her classmates. I told her I would give her a Faceplant CD tomorrow. It has been so neat to see how this trip has turned into so much more than just a trip to stamp our passports. And we thank the Lord for His leading us and for all of the divine connections.
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Christian Young

ENGLAND 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #3

Nuneaton, England
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #3
Woke up this morning to a lovely hot, home-cooked meal for breakfast served to us by Liz, who owns the place we stayed at in Canterbury. We got a chance to talk to her a bit more. Come to find out, she is the only one in town who even had a room for our whole family, that her place is the least expensive to stay, and on top of that, it is one of only two places in Canterbury that Rick Steves recommends staying at. Cool stuff. God definitely led us to that place. To top the morning off, we got to have breakfast with a Polish lady who is staying at Liz’s place. So we got a chance to speak the Polish we are learning, even though we are in England. Simply amazing.
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We then packed everything up and headed to the car, only to find out that our front right tire was completely flat. We didn’t notice it was flat until after we had already loaded all of our luggage into the back. So I had to take the luggage out, take out the spare tire, change the tire out, re-load the luggage into the back, drive to an tyre shop (they spell it that way here) only to repeat the whole loading and unloading thing all over again. Phew! Anyway, I guess the valve stem had broken and was leaking so it needed to be replaced. Again, the Lord hooked us up as it didn’t cost us much at all.

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We were planning on meeting a lady in Surrey around 2:00 pm at a Land Rover dealership, but since we had the set back with the tire, we decided to cancel and head to Nuneaton, which is in Warwickshire. It took is about three and a half hours to drive there. The reason we decided to go to Nuneaton is because Youth With A Mission (YWAM) has a base there called, “The King’s Lodge.” We were actually really considering coming to attend a Discipleship Training School here about a year and a half ago, but sensed the Lord leading us down a different path in foreign missions. Nevertheless, we still feel a close connection with YWAM as we hope to be partnering with YWAM in Mali, Africa in the not-too-distant future to plant churches among the Bambara people. We showed up on their front doorstep, completely unexpected, and were warmly welcomed and even given a room for a couple of nights. This, again, is more confirmation that God is leading us every step of the way. But of course, this is what we have been praying for and we really shouldn’t expect anything less.

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A couple of their schools had just finished and they had their graduation/commissioning at 7:30 pm tonight, which our family was invited to. It was wonderful to worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to hear stories from the students and the staff. There is such a multi-ethnic group of staff and students here at this YWAM base. We also got to meet new people and fellowship with them over tea and coffee after the commissioning. Man, it is so radical to be around so many missionaries…around so many people with a heart for the nations.
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Christian Young

ENGLAND 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #2

Canterbury, EnglandTuesday, March 31, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #2
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It is so cool to just be Jesus with skin on wherever we go in the world. I shared the fact that we were missionaries in Poland with Liz, who owns the small guest house we are staying in. She asked if we could pray that her daughter’s car would work before she gets back from university. I told her, of course, that we would, and in fact, we did. I pray that even this answered prayer would be a witness to the power of Jesus Christ. We also went to a small restaurant near where we are staying. We went for fish and chips because we knew it would be less expensive than other restaurants in town, but they were out. They had a lot of ethnic-type foods (which we ordered) and we could tell that the two guys behind the counter were of Middle Eastern descent, yet both spoke with thick British accents. One of them took a liking to us right away. He began to ask questions about where we were from. We shared with him for a bit. I decided to give him a small tip, even though I know in that sort of restaurant, it is not expected. He was genuinely kind to us. I saw that his arms were tattooed, as mine are. So I felt prompted to go back after we got to our room, and give him one of my CD’s. I asked him if he liked rock music, specifically metal. He said that he did and started naming bands that he liked. I knew that if he liked those bands, he would enjoy the music of “Reckless Abandon,” so I handed him the CD and told him it was original music from my brother and I in America. He seemed blown away, jutted out his hand over the counter to shake my hand. I know that there was a connection made. I prayed as I headed back to the room that the lyrics of those songs would speak to his heart and that he would be drawn closer to Jesus through them. Once again, Jesus with skin on. One person at a time, for the Kingdom of God.

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Christian Young

FRANCE 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #2

Calais, France
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #2The signs soon turned from Flemish to French, and our GPS showed us that we were crossing over into France. It is neat to scan the FM radio stations as you cross into different countries. Only a few hours ago, we were hearing music and talk radio in German, then in Flemish, and now we were listening to it in French. Pretty cool. It didn’t take us long to arrive in Calais from the border. We had heard about being able to put our car onto a train, and take what is called, “the Eurotunnel,” from France to England, underneath the English channel. This blew our mind and we were excited to give it a go. We got our passports stamped at the border (which is a huge reason why we made the trip), and then was directed to literally drive our car, in a line of other cars onto a train. We were told to put the emergency brake on and keep it in first gear, and roll down the windows half way. Then, we began to speed into an underground tunnel. Within 35 minutes as advertised we had traveled, by car/train from France to England. Amazing!
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Christian Young

BELGIUM 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #2

Brussels, Belgium
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #2
Belgium sort of snuck up on us. We had just programmed our GPS to take us the quickest route from Sieberg, Germany to Calais, France. We hadn’t really paid attention as to what route it had drawn up. All of the sudden, we started seeing something other than German on road signs and for a little bit, I didn’t even know what country we were in. I actually stopped in to a gas station (which I couldn’t figure out how to use, because they only took some weird kind of debit card) and couldn’t figure out what they were speaking. Come to find out it was Flemish and that we were in Belgium. They didn’t stop us at any border like in Germany. Anyway, something that changed from Germany to Belgium was the scenery. All of the sudden there was grass on the shoulder of the road. The roads themselves were different and we went back to having speed limits. The cool thing is, Nick, the guy we stayed with in Germany, feels led to take a scouting trip to Belgium with a group from the Bible College, with the hopes that Calvary can someday plant a church in Belgium. We told him that our hope was to stop by YWAM in Brussels, probably on the way back through. With all of this in mind, we prayed as we drive through Belgium, both for this opportunity for Nick and Calvary Chapel, but also in general for revival in Europe. We prayed this way in all of the countries we have been passing through.
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Chris Chin Chung

GERMANY 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #2

Siegen, Germany
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
.Trip Across Europe DAY #2We all woke up this morning and were pretty tired. The drive that we made the day before was exhausting and we didn’t get too much sleep as we needed to get up a little early. We got up, packed up, ate breakfast and followed Nick and some students to the Calvary Chapel church in Siegen. We met some staff and students before their daily “devo’s” which started at around 8:25 am. Our family sat in the back row as students from Calvary Chapel Bible College gathered to pray, worship and share from the Scripture. Kata then asked if I would get up to share for 5 to 10 minutes with the students. Of course, I was glad to do so. I shared how we had a mutual friend in Paul Ainslie (and Becca Kaleda) about SkateChurch in Vancouver, Washington, about our call to missions, about our work in Poland, about our future plans for Africa and about our heart for the unreached people groups. I shared with them from Romans 15:20 where Paul says, “I make it my aim to preach the gospel where Christ is not named lest I build on another man’s foundation.”
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Afterward, we met more lovely students and staff, both from the U.S. and from elsewhere. We cruised over to the coffee shop that Calvary Chapel runs to get an espresso drink to go as we needed to hit the road to make it to the U.K. by afternoon. Two girls talked with us for a while at the coffee shop. Both of them were German; Michelle and Enis (sp?). They are both really neat women of God. We talked with them for a while and encouraged each other in the faith. I felt led to give Michelle a copy of one of mu CD’s. She was thankful for it. I told Enis I would give her one, as well, when we came back through next week. Our hope is to stay next Tuesday night, and, Lord willing, lead worship for the small group (made up of Bible college students) that meets weekly at Nick and Jessie’s house.

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Christian Young