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Volume 7, Issue 6 - June 2021

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Gifted with the Journey

     It was earlier this year that my mentee told me

about how their family had been traumatically
kicked out of a country where the father served as
a doctor and the mother as a teacher. It was quick.
It was unexpected. They were not permitted to go
Colossians 1:20

back to get their things or their cat(s). 

"...and through Him
to reconcile all
things to Himself,
having made peace
through the blood of
His cross; through
Him, I say, whether
things on earth or
things in heaven."
      This was two years ago, and the student came
straight to BFA after the event. In listening to them,
there was just a lot of anger, hurt, confusion....a
need for forgiveness. So, I suggested that we read
Lysa Turkeurst's Forgiving What You Can't Forget
together. The student was up for it, I ordered the
books and we started. 

      Halfway through the book Lysa tells of her

Want to partner with us
financially? counselor leading her to write down on cards what
Give through TeachBeyond
she needs to forgive and then going back through,
here:

https://give.teachbeyond.org/s one by one, after laying the cards out in a row,

upport/nathans/
putting a red dot on each card - and declaring, "I
forgive ___________, and what my feelings don't
Prayer - Praises & Requests
Praises allow, the blood of Jesus will cover." My student
- Spring Concerts were able to
related to this, but I didn't realize how much until
be done in person this year

- We are up to 79.9% support

the next week. 

- A refreshing summer break

- We were allowed to sing       The student came to me between classes, it

together in church this week!
had been a busy week. They said that they hadn't
Requests
done the reading. I said that I also had not gotten it
- For us to finish well with our
finished. They said that that made them feel better,
small groups and mentees, as
they are seniors this year. 
but that they had a plan for an activity. 

- For guidance as we continue

to seek the Lord on His will,       I was waiting in my office, like normal for our
way and timing for us meetings, at lunch time. The student handed me
regarding a family. 

- For the remaining 20.1% some index cards and said, I want to do what the
support
counselor had Lysa do, can you cut these up? I cut
the three-four index cards into six pieces each and
Calendar
June took out a pen to be the scribe as they ate and
4 Closing Chapel

 5 MS Celebration Night

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talked. 

6Past
High Issues
School Music Translate RSS
Ensemble Concert
       I wrote down each thing they mentioned on a
11 HS Awards Night

12 Graduation

separate card. They were full. We used them all.

14-17 Staff Work Week
Then, the student asked if I had a red marker. I
****Summer Vacation****
said I did and handed them the red sharpie. I
watched them lay out their cards on the floor of my
Josh's Highlight
office in a line, sit down with the red sharpie and
Three of the guys in my HS
Small Group successfully start, out loud in prayer. "Lord I forgive
completed the challenge I ____________, and what my feelings don't allow,
gave them last year to read
the entire Bible in a year!  We the blood of Jesus will cover". They then took each
started on May 24th, 2020, one and drew a red + over the card. 

and finished by May 23rd,

2021.  It was great getting to        I was still sitting at my desk. I had this feeling
talk with them about the
experience afterward.  All
of being on Holy Ground, more than I ever have....I
three noted how at first it felt didn't want to disturb this moment in any way. I
like a lot of reading, but then
after a while it just felt normal tried to stay very still, quiet. At the end they looked
and manageable.  One even at me. I said, "I'm proud of you". They said, "It's
said that he plans to keep
reading through the Bible only the beginning of the process, but it's a start". 
every year so that he'll read
through it for each year in
college!  We had a cookout to
celebrate the accomplishment, Want ideas on how to pray for us for the month of
and it was such a blessing June?

being a part of them forming

such a wonderful habit!
Here's our Prayer Calendar: 

Katie's Highlight https://mcusercontent.com/41f334f36c6f48632818

We just had our Middle School
Spring Concert today. It was
ad8bd/files/a2fcfa45-e890-0d6a-00b6-
such a joy to perform in 3c207203a0da/June_21_Prayer_Calendar.pdf

person. They did so well. They

didn't give up - even with  
Covid, even with on-line
learning. They kept pushing,
growing, learning - and I'm Katie's senior small group of girls. 

proud of them! It's been fun

and good! Katie's colleagues this year.

What we are learning

Being "flexible" is just as much
about being creative and
choosing joy amidst
circumstances as it is about
letting go of hopes/plans.

Local Culture

Germany can be an
interesting combination of
"common sense" and "rules".
While sometimes it seems that
Germans prefer to rely on
common sense rather than
laws, other times they defer to
creating a law. For example, in
Germany, people are legally
required to make their bed
every day. The idea is that, if
there's a fire, the firefighter
 should be able to know
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instantly whether or not a bed Translate RSS
is empty. If the bed is neat and
tidy, there's no one there that
needs rescuing. If the covers
are bunched up, then there
could be a person there that
needs help. So if you leave
your bed a mess, then you
could get fined for wasting the
firefighters time in a life-
threatening situation.

Circle of Friends
We are finally seeing some
traction with restrictions lifting.
Now up to three households
can get together of up to 10
people! And under certain
conditions, restaurants can
finally have dine-in again!

Our mailing address is:

Bahnhofstrasse 19/6; 79400 Kandern; GERMANY

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Josh & Katie at Black Forest Academy · Bahnhofstr. 19/6 · Kandern 79400 · Germany

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