An Update as Promised... and A Request for Council

We write this letter to all of you with both excitement and fear. The excitement is that God may to want to use our family in an amazing place; the fear is because that place is not in the United States. When we felt God’s calling us to come to Holland this past summer, we truly believed that it would only be for the one year. We always said we were open to the possibility that He would ask us to stay longer, but even when we were told over and over again that it was a real possibility, we were pretty sure that we were supposed to go back to America – to our church, our friends, our family, … and our fast food :).

However, when we found out that Jeremy’s teaching job back in the states was no longer going to be available, we had a slight nudge that the U.S. might not be in God’s plan for us. We were still pretty sure … at least we were hoping… that God had something waiting in Arizona, so we started contacting different schools and districts who had open positions posted (and some who didn’t). When little seemed to be happening, we started getting a little bit nervous that God actually wanted us to stay, though we didn’t feel like where we are now was a long term niche.

During our training with GEM, and many times since we’ve been here in Holland, a school in Germany called Black Forest Academy kept coming up. It’s a Christian school made up of 90% missionary children, and 50% of these children live on campus because their parents are missionaries in other countries. They live in dorms of 20 to 30 students a piece, with two resident assistants and a pair of dorm parents. We had talked about how some day, when the kids were older, maybe we could go and serve as dorm parents, and/or Jeremy could teach English. But the idea of going there any time soon never really occurred to us.

Then, one day in a blitz of making contacts, BFA came up again, and we decided to send an inquiry. Oddly enough, they were searching for a junior high English teacher, a high school English teacher, and two sets of dorm parents. Our nervousness increased as we reluctantly sent in an initial application – perhaps more hoping (as we sent the application in after the deadline) for a nice rejection, and consequent confirmation that we were supposed to keep searching in the States.

As we waited for our, “Thank you for your interest, and we’ll keep your application on file for future needs,” we instead, received, “Thank you so much for your application. You seem like exactly what we’re looking for in dorm parents! Please fill out the attached full application, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.” Now “nervous” wasn’t quite enough to describe what we were feeling, and we took our time filling out the 20 page application complete with 12 essay questions. In fact, we took so long getting back to them that they called us to make sure we were still planning to send in the application. At this point, Heather asked them how serious they were about wanting us for the position and found that we were at the top of their list of applicants (this may be because right now we are the only applicants, or, as they said, that we possess the skills and traits they are looking for). I think this is when we reached the level of “fear” that God’s plan really could be different from ours.

We spent the next couple of days simultaneously filling out the applications for BFA and positions all over Arizona and praying that God would let us go back to the United States. Then we sent in the application and continued to pray for God’s will, whatever that was.

The next day we heard back that Black Forest had received our application, and they were very interested in us, especially as dorm parents. The next step was a video interview to see how we interact with one another. At this point we realized that we were becoming uncomfortably comfortable with the idea that we may not be headed to the U. S., and we decided that the best way to determine God’s plan for us was to keep following the open doors and pursue all options.

One of the things we decided that we should do was to take a trip out to Black Forest so that we could see it in person and get an idea of what we would actually be doing if we were asked to serve there. So we set up an appointment, and this past week we borrowed a car - actually two cars, because the battery on the first one died the day we were supposed to leave – and headed to Kandern, Germany. We asked God to clearly show us His will while we were there, and decided to be open to whatever that was.

Our time at BFA went really well. It has a small town feel, and provides the students a very stable environment and a Christ-centered focus. Over and over again we heard what a great and important ministry it is for the missionaries who have no other options for the education of their kids and would have to return from their fields were it not for BFA. We had the chance to meet the girls in the dorm with whom we would be working – to eat with them, play games with them, worship with them, and get to know them a bit better. And we were able to talk with the current dorm parents and see what our jobs would look like. We would be the acting parents for these 22 teenage girls, making sure they get to school, do their homework, eat, and do their chores. We would be responsible to create a family-like environment, to plan and celebrate birthdays and special occasions, to lead “family” Bible studies, and to build trusting relationships so we can help them through the tough times away from their families and home countries. Kaylie and Keiric would also get to be the dorm siblings, and already the girls seemed to love them!

There are many things that are intriguing to us about serving at BFA. So many of our natural desires and gifts seem to line up with the job responsibilities, and though it seems to be ridiculously hard work, we can’t think of a more worthy way to spend our time and efforts. But there is also a desire to return home to be near our families and friends. And one of our biggest concerns in accepting the position at BFA is that it is also a supported position, which means we would have to again ask others, people whom we know are already struggling financially, to give up even more. We would have to raise about 4,000 dollars a month in pledges as well as some outgoing costs. We also know that the assignment at BFA, a 2 year assignment, begins July 25^th, which doesn’t leave much time to work out the details – of which there are a lot – however, we know that if that’s where God wants us, they will work out.

We do not want anyone to feel obligated to continue their support, but we feel that a good indicator of whether or not Black Forest Academy is in God’s will for us is if the financial support is there, so for now we would like to take a survey to get an idea of what would be available.

Please take the time to pray about what God would have you do. Then, if you find that you have a heart for the ministry of Black Forest Academy and feel that God is leading you to support us financially as we serve, please email us at jerstephenson@hotmail.com and let us know as soon as possible. We are beginning a brand new support list for this assignment, so even if you are already supporting us and would like to continue if we go to BFA, we would ask that you also email us.

This is not a commitment of support; it is simply an inquiry to help us determine God’s will for our future, and we greatly appreciate your help. Please include your name, email address and approximate pledge so we can gauge most accurately.

If you would like to know more about Black Forest Academy, you can look at the school’s website at http://www.bfacademy.com/

Thank you for taking the time to read this, for praying for us, and for your reply and council as we make this decision. We look forward to hearing from you soon!