BFA w/ the Canadians

Week 1 - Vacation Bible School in the Bronx, NYC
Week 2 - News Release Basketball Camp in Lorrach, GER
Week 3 - Black Forest Academy (southwestern Germany)
Week 4 - London, Oxford, Edinburgh, Scotland, Southern Europe
Week 5 - Southern Europe, Tokyo
Week 6 - Tokyo, Hong Kong
Week 7 - Los Angeles

Chapter 2.2
In the front yard, bright green grass under my feet, dazzling blue sky in the background, two swings hanging from thick wood, and a signpost covered from top to bottom in signs all pointing toward the country written on it: Brasil, Australia, Japan, Kenya, France, Italy, Romania, Russia...

This snapshot epitomizes my week interacting with the people of Black Forest Academy in Kandern, Germany. From all over the world, missionary kids and some locals attend this school spread out across a few small southwestern German villages. I spotted the sign post on my last day with the team from Canada outside an all boys' dorm in Holzen, just down the road from my host family's house from the week before. Interacting with the families during new teacher orientation week was enlightening. All of them had raised full financial support to come and serve as teachers (and other positions) at BFA. Some knew they wanted to work in missions, some came because they wanted to teach internationally, some felt called there specifically and simply stepped out in faith. An all English-speaking school, the expectation level is very high for students' performance within the German school system. To compete with the highest level schools in Germany is no easy task and many students are brought to new levels, therefore teacher training is rigorous as well.

My home church of Grace Bible Church in Monmouth has, for a long time, supported Don and Cyd Storrs with the organization called TeachBeyond. Now the Storrs have shifted over to Greater Europe Mission, but Don was able to connect me with the Director of Mobilization for TB who paired me up with a team from Canada. Led by Englishman Don Ansley, it was quite the surprise for me to find out on my first evening meeting the group that they were all retired couples (4 couples total) from Canada that were good friends or family of Don and his wife.

Aka...my parents would have fit right in :). But, like my parents, thankfully these wonderful Canadians loved laughter, exploring, working hard, and they were all a wealth of knowledge and experience from woodworking to computers to musical theater to education. We had a wonderful time serving with BFA. Don Ansley has come for years to serve for the first quarter of the school year as handyman and substitute teacher if needed. Long time educator, he and his late wife consistently ventured east to support the BFA family in any way they could during orientation prep and the start of the school year. I joined the team from Tuesday to Friday afternoon and pitched in with two other women for morning childcare. Going from young adults as coworkers to young-hearted adults ;) was about the same shift as going from my teenage girls' Bible study group to toddlers (10 mos to 3 yrs, plus a 5 and 8 year old). Slobber and diaper changing aren't high on my "no problem!" list so it was a huge blessing to have two BFA students knocking out volunteer hours beside us.

Spaghetti ice cream is a thing. (Looks like it, not tastes like it)

A dorm mom's prayer request for the kids in her dorm: safety for their families. In nearly every terrorist attack we have heard about in the States on the news, with their global network, these kids know someone that was directly affected by the attack. A best friend was killed, parents had been in the cafe an hour before it was bombed--those were just a few examples given. Fear is an awful thing. Please continue to pray for safety for our missionaries.

If someday I can have the treasure trove of random facts about language, history, art, music, culture, travel, education, etc that my teammates have, it will be a miracle.

BFA also stands for "Be Flexible Always". That comes in handy as my game plan for my free two weeks constantly evolved. Here's the "final" sketch:

London/Oxford, England ✅
Edinburgh, Scotland ✅
Lisbon, Portugal
Barcelona, Spain
Nice, France
Turin, Italy
Naples, Italy
Then off to Tokyo!

Cheers from the Highlands of Scotland! More about these adventures next chapter!

M