Lisa taking her "treats" to school

Summer break is over, vacation is behind us, and Lisa has started back to school again.  Even the weather seems to be doing an about face since the temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-60′s this week.  (I know, all my Arizona friends are jealous.)

Lisa went back to school on August 24th, and on the 25th we celebrated her sixth birthday.  In Holland, the birthday girl or boy are allowed to bring treats to school for everyone, which is a fun tradition.

Central European Leadership Gathering in Budapest

At the end of May, I was privileged to be able to attend the Central European Leadership Gathering (CELG) in Budapest, Hungary.  I was there in my role as EuroCom (European Communication Team) coordinator to help Bec and Belinda (who are working with EuroCom in Central Europe) out with the logistics for the gathering.
It was also good to be able to network with the YWAM leaders in that region as well as raising awareness for EuroCom through one-on-one contact and simply being there to help out.  I was also able to give a 20-minute presentation on EuroCom and encourage the leaders to help us get connected with their communication people.
One of the things we also did, was filming stories of YWAMers that were there.  It’s great to hear these stories, but it’s also good to be able to pass these along in a video-interview format.  One of the stories that touched me most was that of a ministry in Romania that has setup a house for single moms and their newborn babies as an alternative to abortion.  With the highest abortion rate in the world, this ministry is very much needed in Romania.  They will soon be building a new building which will be able to accomodate even more mothers and their children.  For more information on this project, see their website.

A visit to YWAM Switzerland

In July, we went as a family to Switzerland where we stayed for a few nights at the YWAM base in the little village of Burtigny.  We also took a day-trip to visit the first YWAM base in Europe in Lausanne.  Both of those bases have good, strong communication schools, and I was invited to speak one evening at the School of Design in Burtigny.
I gave a short presentation about what YWAM Communication Teams are and about the various regional ones that exist.  I also spoke more specifically about EuroCom and invited them to come and work with us in whatever capacity God would have them to.
I was also encouraged by a couple of students from Africa who asked me (as representing communication teams in Europe) not to forget Africa and the fact that there are many talented, gifted African YWAMers who would love to work in a comm team such as EuroCom but who do not have the finances to do so.
One African man asked me if someone like him was interested in coming to work with us, would we be in a position to help pay for his way.  I had to answer honestly that at this time we don’t have the resources as EuroCom, but that I trust that God would provide if He sent someone our way.

Vacation in France

From where we were staying in Switzerland, it was literally a hop, skip and a jump to our vacation house in France.  It was great that we could plan it so that the whole family could come along with me to Switzerland (since they don’t normally get to come along on trips with me) and then we could go straight into vacation for two weeks.

We had a great time in France, and you can see a lot of pictures of our vacation on Flickr.

Back to Switzerland and Budapest

On Monday, September 7th I will be returning to Switzerland (alone, sniff) for YWAM’s University of the Nations Workshop (uofnworkshop.com). This is a 7-day gathering with the purpose to: “listen to what is on God’s heart for this time and season, to network and fellowship with each other, to sharpen our skills and to strategize for greater fruitfulness”.  It will be held in four locations simultaneously, Switzerland, Ukraine, Egypt and South Africa.  All four locations will be linked together using video-conferencing for the morning sessions.

I hope to meet communication staff working in Europe and maybe even do some recruiting for EuroCom.

On October 9th, I fly to Budapest again where we as EuroCom are giving a 3-day Effective Communication Workshop (ECW) followed by a 2-1/2 day EuroCom meeting.  I have sent out a general invitation to more than 150 leaders in YWAM Europe, hoping people will come who are interested in helping us work on communication issues for those 2-1/2 days.  I pray that the right people will be there for both the ECW and the EuroCom meeting.

Lisa and Sarah

As always, you can check Lisa and Sarah’s blogs: lisablevins.com and sarah-blevins.com.  I have recently updated them.

In closing, we would like to ask you all to be in prayer about supporting us with an extra $20 or $30 this month (or more) to help cover the extra upcoming travel and conference expenses.  Normally, those would come out of the EuroCom budget, but we are operating in the red at the moment, so that’s not a possibility.

Thank you once again for your prayers and support and for taking the time to read our email updates.

Blessings,
Rodney, Jolanda, Lisa and Sarah Blevins