Welcome Back to Black Forest Academy - "School Year 2012 - 2013"

September 14, 2012

Thanks to our support team we are back again at BFA for school year, "2012-2013".  It is so exciting to be back!  We appreciate all the prayer and sacrificial giving that have gotten us here.  Of course this is the work of God and we thank Him for it, but it is the result of Him putting our ministry on the hearts of a lot of individuals to do the impossible.  He has given us our hearts' desire, to return and serve the students at Black Forest Academy. We are actually here!

Our transition back to Germany and to our ministry roles at BFA has been exhausting.  The day we arrived from the USA Sue had meetings to attend to, to help prepare her for her new role as Student Counsel Adviser.  She also had a lot of work to do for planning the senior class's "Rome Trip".  She has been looking to God for strength, one day at a time

Bob's maintenance supervisor gave him a few days off to get us settled and we were grateful for that. We have had a lot of moving in to do.  All of our personal belongings were either in the suitcases we brought from America or stored in boxes in our attic and garage.  For the past two years we had other families living in our apartment, so all of our personal things were put away.  The first year we lived in the Liel Dorm as dorm parents, and this past year we lived "on the move" for a time of service in Italy - and since Christmas - on Home Assignment in the USA.  It is good to be in our own place again!

Besides unpacking and settling in, we had to re-establish German residency and re-register our car.  We also had a German worker come the day after we arrived to replace the carpeting in our dining and living rooms.  That required our moving all the furniture out the day we arrived and moving it back in two days later.  Marshall and a few of his buddies supplied the needed muscle!

BFA welcomed a lot of new staff and about 55 new students to this new school year.  For the new students entering the boarding program that meant a lot of difficult good byes on the first day of school with their parents. 

We have just finished our second week of school.  Many of us are adjusting to new roles on staff and the fast paced school life.  There is a lot of joy and excitement in the air, as well as the sense that we are way over our heads and must entrust ourselves to God each day.  We ask that you think of us in your prayers, and in a particular way for those new students who are missing family and transitioning into living in the dorms, making new friends, and adjusting to their new teachers and classes. 

All of us on staff at BFA have set our faces to the vision that we are committed to, and for this we will pour our hearts for the next 9 months:  "To provide a quality, international, Christian education that equips its students to influence their world through biblical thought, character, and action".

We will be sharing more pictures in the future.  Our camera died the first day we tried to use it! 

Opening ceremony begins with our seniors entering the auditorium carrying flags from the nations.  Our students hold passports from over 52 countries this year.

Why we work as missionaries at Black Forest Academy

Our vision that drives Sue and I to serve at Black Forest Academy:

1.   Our burden is for youth to come to faith in Jesus Christ and pursue His calling upon their lives. 
2. It is our joy to serve children and teens with the love of God through mentoring and teaching.
3. We are passionate about serving missionary families by being involved in their children’s education and discipleship. 
4. We are startled by the statistics that the majority of young people are not continuing on in their faith once they leave home for college.
5. Children whose parents are either foreign missionaries, military, or cross cultural workers have particular needs that schools like Black Forest Academy can care for as their main focus.
6. Sue and I believe that the Biblical worldview education and mentoring that BFA offers its students provides a great preparation for the challenges in college and beyond. 

An excerpt from our daughter Alison’s blog site gives you an idea of why Sue and I are so passionate about working as missionaries and at the Black Forest Academy in Germany:


“After the four-week course I have been taking after church for the past four Sundays, I am finally a member at The Nations Church (in S. Korea)! The first time ever to be a church member not through family affiliation! I completely agree with their Christ centered, Bible believing core values, and I can tell that the leadership team is driven by the freedom, strength, and purpose that comes with a close relationship with Jesus Christ and a knowledge of the Scriptures. I’m hoping in the next couple of weeks to attend some of the worship team practices, get my feet wet, and see if I can be a part of the team. It’s a really international team, 30% Korean and the rest from a bunch of other countries. They are so genuine and all about non-performance based, humble, and spirit-filled worship, which I LOVE. And they are all very musically talented, which makes doing worship with them so much fun. I’ll have to learn to sing pieces of some songs in Korean (yikes), but I think, with God’s help, I’m up for the challenge.”

 (From her blog site: www.alisoninkorea@tumbler.com) 

Our daughter Alison graduated from Taylor University last May.  She has since served four months working with orphans in Uganda and is now working as a kindergarten teacher in a Christian school in S. Korea.  In less than 6 months she joined a church and has gotten involved in their outreach to the homeless and at an orphanage.  Alison came to understand that her growing up as a missionary kid with all its painful transitions were part of God’s preparation for His plans for her.

From Missionaries In Bologna, Italy:

A parent’s testimony from sending their son to Black Forest Academy:

“Mark attended Italian public schools from 1^st to 8^th grade.  Early on it was obvious that he had a learning disability, but in Italy it was considered “laziness”.  He was told over and over by his teachers to try harder but his efforts to do so didn’t solve the problem.  By middle school we were worried that he would fail.  I don’t think he ever passed a math test, but they passed him because he was a nice boy.  At the end of eighth grade his teachers told him to drop out of school because he wasn’t smart enough.  We sent Mark to BFA.  In four years he was constantly encouraged (a very new school experience for him), teachers believed in him and let him know it, dorm staff helped with studies and tutoring, and there was a special program for his learning disability. Wen he graduated in 2000 he graduated with high honors.  The boy that was told to “go get a job” by the Italian school system! When he graduated from Moody Bible Institute it was because of all of you. And when he finished his studies at Wheaton with an M.A. in Greek, Hebrew, and Theology again it was part of what you have done.  Was it worth investing in the life of a teenage boy from Italy?” 

Mark returned to Italy as a missionary with his wife and two little girls to work with a church planting ministry in Bologna, Italy.  This is the same city where he grew up and where his parents continue to serve as missionaries.