Time to say goodbye

On Thursday, 15 May the Kilchzimmer workers all gathered at the Hotel Erica. The occasion was a farewell meal for all those members of staff who will soon be moving to other places. Paul and Audrey Reid who have been with CEF for 43 years and most recently were head of the European Education Department are now moving back to Barcelona, Spain were they first served as missionaries many years ago.
The Mayhew family are moving to the outskirts of Paris where Philippe will be the National Director for CEF France. Suzanne Jones is moving back to Portadown. She has served as Roy Harrisons secretary for the past 14 years. Lizanne Dumigan is moving back to Northern Ireland ahead of her planned marriage to Lindsay McKee in August. She was my boss when I worked in the printing department (1992-96). She was head of the MultiMedia Department and Administrative assistant to the European Director.
All of these people have faithfully invested many, many years in serving our CEF workers across Europe. They will be sorely missed by all of us who remain. We wish them all God's blessing as they begin a new chapter of their lives. Please pray that God will soon provide those who He would have serve at Kilchzimmer in their place. If you believe God may be calling you to serve here - just drop me an email and I will be glad to get you more information!

A special visit

It has been 12 years since I last saw Andreas Hahn and it was such a joy to have him visit us today. When I lived in Switzerland and worked in the CEF print shop from 1992-96, Andreas was the part-time Pastor in the little church I attended. He was influential in helping me to see that God maybe had other plans for my life. Through his preaching, counsel, encouragement and example, I gained a heart for the local church and pastoral work. He accompanied me through the struggle I had about going to Bible College and fully supported me when I finally took the step to go to Bibelschule Brake in 1996.
Andreas and his family are now FEG Switzerland and DMG missionaries in Wrocław (Breslau), Poland where he is a lecturer at the theological seminary.

What's going on in the Cousins household today?

What's going on at the Cousins' today. Well, the boys were off school today for an exceptional closure so we got the paddling pool out for the first time this year. Claudia is doing very well after her operation. In the photo you can see the flowers I bought her :) Meanwhile with 24ºc outside, I am working away on the revision of the JYC manual.

Our neighbours throw a village party

Sunday lunch in the south of Germany. We are enjoying a BBQ on our balcony while our neighbors (the wine producers) are having their annual 'Hoffest' (yard party).
Most of the locals arrived on their bicycles and have parked them so that our lane is blocked (not that we need to get out or anything like that). Everyone is well behaved and enjoying their 'Pommes, Schnitzel, Bratwurst and Salat'. A local band is providing the background music. Every hour the steam train goes past and it's a very pleasant 21ºc.

Back home

I got Claudia back home today. She is looking great as ever. She says
she is feeling much better... less pain but still weak and sleepy.
Thanks to all who prayed, sent emails or left comments here on the blog. I passed them on each day to Claudia. We appreciate your love and prayers.

Operation successful

Thanks for praying for Claudia as she underwent surgery today to remove her gallbladder. It would seem that everything went according to plan and we give thanks to God for that.
You can see the little souvenir she got! I make it 24!!! No wonder it was painful.

Claudia's Creations

Did you know that my wife also has a blog? You can check it out here!

Camp Training Day

Here are some of the 25 camp helpers who attended the training day in our church in Germany on Saturday. It was so encouraging to see so many there and to see how keen they were to learn. I was thankful that Nadja Huss from CEF Tübingen was able to help teach with me.
It was also a good opportunity to introduce many of them to the ministry of CEF.

Together with other believers in the area, our church organizes two summer camps which are held in the open-air near a lake in the Black Forest. This year I will be involved for the first time.

Quick Multiplication 2Tim 2:2 style

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Poland - Youth Challenge Instructors Course - 30 March – 8 April 2008

Thank you for praying for the Polish and Slovak students who attended the JYCIC in Wisla, Poland (photo taken: 06.04.08).
Also in the photograph, back left David Cruthley (Instructor), back and third from left Lukasz (translator and CEF Poland National Director) and me back right.

Auschwitz and Birkenau

View my Auschwitz photo album

While in Poland I took the opportunity along with the rest of our group to visit the Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945).

From the moment you walk through the infamous SS guardhouse and look at the train lines that brought hundreds of thousands of men, women and children to certain death, you are struck with the realization that you are doing something very important. As you try to image the people getting off the trains and most of them being only a few hours from being gassed with Zyklon-B, the horrors of what really happened here leave you numb and speechless.

Our tour guide took over 3 hours to show us around both Auschwitz I (the smaller camp with the "Arbeit Macht Frei" entrance sign) and Auschwitz II (Birkenau) with the infamous railway tracks leading into the camp.

I was quite composed as I listened to our tour guide explain the way in which the Nazis processed the arrivals and how the camp itself was meticulously operated. Seeing the huge piles of human hair, shoes, glasses, suitcases etc leaves you in a state of disbelief. However it was to be one of the smaller displays in the museum that was to disturb me more than anything else. It simply contained some knitted baby clothes and a few toys. The moment I realized what I was looking at, I just had to walk away. Being the father of two boys I deeply love, I found myself filling with anger and a hatred for the evil men that would have ushered a mother with that baby in her arms into the gas chambers.

The horrors of Auschwitz and what happened there leave you shocked and searching for words. One of the many quotation plaques around the grounds reminds us that "The one that does not remember history is bound to live through it again". Yet as I was confronted with the evil crimes against humanity which the Nazis committed over 60 years ago and the lesson that this must never ever happen again, I was reminded of the killing that goes on every day in the hospitals and clinics of our world. How could previous generations be allowed to commit such atrocities? The same question could be asked of todays generation.

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Our visit coincided with that of the Canadian Prime Minister (read more).

Opened in 1940, Auschwitz was originally used to house Polish political prisoners after Nazi Germany occupied the country. In 1942, it started to become the first such facility to start executing European Jews.

Between 1.1 million and 1.5 million people were killed in the camp's gas chambers, the vast majority of victims being Jewish, before troops of the Red Army liberated the camp on Jan. 27, 1945.

Polish and Slovak students 'a joy to teach'

It is a real privilege and joy to teach these 8 Polish and Slovak students. Together with his wife, one of the students 'Karol', is preparing to become a full time Youth Challenge worker in Slovakia (from Sep. 08).
Thomek and Monika are CEF workers in the town of Suszec in Poland. The local area they are responsible for has 5 million people! After this course they plan to hold JYC courses to train future JYC leaders.

JYC Instructors Course in Poland

On Sunday, 30 March we commenced our Instructors Course in Wisla in SW Poland. We have 5 students from Poland and 3 from Slovakia. They are a great group of students and there is a very good atmosphere in the classroom. They are working hard and keen to learn. Please remember to pray for David and me who are sharing the teaching and especially remember Lukasz who is having to translate all of the classes into Polish. The Slovaks say they understand 90% of Polish and most of the students have a basic understanding of English.

JYC numbers for 2007

Our annual statistics for the past year have just been complied. The number of JYC's in Europe is down from 345 (2006) to 314 (2007). The number of young people attending JYC's is also down from 4425 (2006) to 4320 (2007)! (This may be due to more accurate figures being submitted this year.)
We now have 8 countries with 10 or more JYC's! 26 countries with only a very few number of JYCs and 10 countries with no JYC ministry.

1. Romania 73
2. Russia 54
3. Ireland 39
4. Ukraine 28
5. Germany 14
6. Switzerland 14
7. Poland 10
8. Slovakia 10

Continue to pray with us that God would be pleased to use us to see this ministry grow in the coming years.

Bible translations

Last summer, my sending church gave me the gift of a study bible which I could choose myself. I choose The Reformation Study Bible in the ESV (English Standard Version) translation. Click here to find out why I am recommending this translation. A video explaining the concept behind the study notes can be viewed here.