earthsedge

Bonjour!

Well, actually it’s “hello” now…we’re back in the United States after a wonderful six months in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Last time we sent out a newsletter, it was, well…it was a long time ago! We had just returned from Amsterdam after our visa problems and we had decided to take a break from YWAM to focus on some courses we needed to finish. Here’s an update about how that went, and our latest mission project….

Switzerland

The reason why we went to Switzerland was so that Chris could finish two final courses for his BA in Intercultural Studies. The courses were great, and we enjoyed the new experience of living in a French-speaking region. Switzerland is a stunningly beautiful country and the people are wonderful. It’s also a very expensive country, but fortunately the chocolate is cheap! Aidan has really thrived over the last six months. We lived in a rural part of the country outside of Geneva, and Aidan loved his daily encounters with tractors and cows. He is talking up a storm these days and can even say a few words in French. It was a very busy, rewarding six months. With these two courses behind him, Chris is hoping to write his final thesis sometime in the next four months and then he will be done with his degree. Becka has one final ESL (English as a Second Language) practicum and she will be done with hers. It’s been a long, rewarding journey, and it’s a relief for both of us to have the end in sight! Neither one of us really planned things to work out this way, but as we reflect on all our experiences over the past five years, it’s amazing to see how God has brought things together.

As some of you may remember, earlier in the year we had decided to step away from our responsibilities with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) while we focused on finishing our studies. We also felt strongly to discontinue our support base since we would be focusing exclusively on studying.

However, there have been a few people who have graciously continued to support us through this season by financial gifts and loans, and we are extremely grateful to you for this unexpected kindness! We have also appreciated the emails, prayers, and even visits of our friends and family. It’s been amazing for us to feel so connected to you, even as we are worlds apart.

Amsterdam

So what’s next, for the nomadic Warners? Well, we’ve decided to give Amsterdam another go. We are planning to return in January. Our main reason for returning is to reconnect with our team at YWAM Amsterdam (the Intercultural Resource Center) and resume one of the projects that we’ve been planning for some time. We’ll be helping to facilitate a six-month intercultural training program called Foundations in Intercultural Studies (FIS). It’s a program that we were closely involved with planning when we were in Amsterdam previously, and something that we believe can make a significant impact in the city and beyond.

Of course, we have mixed feelings about returning to Amsterdam. We are looking forward to working with ICRC again, catching up with friends, dusting off our Dutch, and eating more stroopwaffles than should be legally allowed! On the other hand, there are some significant challenges waiting for us. The difficult housing situation hasn’t changed, and another uncertain visa process is looming. We’ve accepted that these challenges make it difficult to plan on how long we will be able to stay once our tourist visa expires. Even though we are craving some more stability and a longer-term commitment, we are trusting that our Father will still be with us-even if we can’t see over the next hill. We are still passionate about seeing the nations come to know the love of Christ.

Autumn to Winter

Would you consider praying for us as we prepare to return to Amsterdam? The next few months will be a very busy time as Chris is writing his thesis and we are working toward raising the necessary support to live in Amsterdam. We need to raise at least 3000 USD per month, which admittedly seems like a daunting figure. (To be honest, support raising has never been our strong point.) We’ve been able to live on far less than this in the past, but this is the minimum requirement for a residency visa. We would also appreciate your prayers that some suitable housing would open up before we arrive, and for a smooth transition as we prepare and travel from Illinois to California in the next few months.

If you’re interested, you can continue to follow our journey at our website, www.earthsedge.org. It’s kind of been dormant amidst the busyness of the summer, but we’ll be posting more regularly in the coming months. We try and post some videos or pictures of Aidan every so often-you will be surprised at how much he has changed! You can also find more information about the Foundations in Intercultural Studies course that we will be running, and all of our financial support information is available there as well.

We are looking forward to seeing many of you in the coming months! If we haven’t heard from you in a while, please drop us a line and let us know how your summer went!

Love,

Chris, Becka, and Aidan

Two Sundays ago, I took the ferry across Lake Geneva to Yvoire, France. Yvoire is a medieval village, enclosed by a high wall and built on the hilly shore of Lac Leman (as Lake Geneva is known “on the other side”).

The houses are crumbling stone and mortar, crawling with vines and adorned with more flowers than you could find at your local nursery. There are more shops than actual residents and only a handful of streets to explore, but what it lacks in size, Yvoire compensates with charm.

Every detail of the décor of the town serves to make it one of the most eye-pleasing towns I’ve ever seen: flowering and broad-leafed vines spiral up the ancient walls;

artisan signs hang over every shop entrance;

and little antique embellishments are tucked-away, like the old grinding stone in a courtyard and a rusting bike leaning forlorn against a wine shop window.

But what’s a trip to France without eating a crepe? The highlight of the day for me was using what little French I knew to order crepes for myself and the three other girls I was traveling with: 4 lemon crepes with cream, from a street vendor. We sat down on a bench to try and eat them with our plastic forks (which is very nearly impossible, I have to say) when a man slowed down, smiled at us and said, “Bon Appetite!” By then, most of my unsubstantiated prejudice against the French had melted away and I was planning another trip to France. Hopefully Chris and Aidan will be able to come next time!

We’re off again…first to Switzerland, and then back to Amsterdam. I leave March 31, and Becka and Aidan will probably come a few weeks later.

In Switzerland: I have two core courses to complete for my degree (in Intercultural Studies), and Becka will be organizing a TESOL (English as a second language) practicum.

In Amsterdam: We’ll be reconnecting with our team for at least three months, and maybe longer. We still haven’t worked out the visas, but we have a plan b (and c) just in case. At the very least I should be able to finish my internship and we’ll be a part of some exciting projects, including some that were on the agenda before the visa hassles.

I know this is different from what we were thinking just a few weeks ago, and what we communicated to many of you. I had applied to a school out west, but even after we found out we were accepted, we just didn’t feel right about it. After talking with some people far wiser than ourselves, it became obvious what we should do: finish what we started, which incidentally is also what we love doing. True, there are some trade-offs, but there are always are, and there are far less going this route than the other. It’s a relief to have finally made a decision.

Thanks to all of you who have supported us during this time of transition, and we’d definitely appreciate your continued prayers for travel, visas, etc. As we will be full-time students (and not volunteers) for at least the next six to nine months, we’re not planning on raising support. (I know this is confusing, as by design the line between “work” and “education” isn’t always clear in our organization-but to our conscience it is.) Once we have a better idea of how long we’ll be in Amsterdam we’ll start thinking about how to fund our time there. To be honest, we’ve been re-thinking this whole area of support-raising in general. It’s never been our strong point. It seems like lately we’ve been living in the tension of knowing that God will provide (and we’ve experienced this again and again), but also wondering if there are alternatives or a better way of going about this then we have done in the past. Stay tuned…

29 and still holding on…

We are…

Off-balance. Uncomfortable, in-between, uncertain. In other words: in transition.

Life is full of transitions, some good and some not. But it seems to me that it’s the transitions that we don’t choose that are the most difficult. The foundation crumbles beneath you’re feet and suddenly you’re in a free fall, with no idea how it happened, how long it will last, or what things will look when the dust settles. If it settles.

We learn a lot during these times, but they usually aren’t pleasant.

As many of you know, we’ve decided not to go back to Amsterdam (at least in the immediate future), and we’ve informed our supporters that we’ll no longer be working with (again, at least in the immediate future) the organization that we’ve loved and served with over the past five years. I left those loopholes in there because, though there are a wide range of reasons for this decision, it is, to coin a ridiculous word, still a “bitter-clear” decision. Bitter, because we loved Amsterdam and our friends there; and our organization, for all its quirks and even flaws, and it’s sad to think this chapter together has come to a close. And clear, because it’s clear (in a muddled, foggy sort of way) that this is the right decision.

But what is not clear is the future. Hence the uncomfortable transition, and the blank stare if you’ve recently asked either of us what we are doing next. We have some ideas (right now we are leaning toward going back to school), but that’s all at the moment.