'The hills are alive with the' . . . okay, so maybe it's a little corny, but who can NOT burst into 'Sound of Music' while twirling around a freshly-mown highland meadow overlooking BCM's picturesque Centro Maranatha tucked into a lush, green fold of central Italy's tall mountain range (see attached pictures)? We arrived home late Monday night, July 2nd, with two strong impressions of the last three weeks across five of BCM's Western Europe ministry fields: 1) that God has chosen some of the most beautiful nooks of His creation for our BCM camps around the world, and 2) that we are indeed privileged to serve together with the dedicated missionaries, associates, and volunteers that God has called to be part of the BCM ministry team in so many countries around the world. Stay tuned for a whirlwind blitz of these last three weeks.

      PHILADELPHIA: Courtesy of a thunderstorm and U. S. Airways, we spent 24 hours stuck in the airport in Philadelphia, along with hundreds of other stranded U. S. Airway passengers (the other airlines having miraculously managed to move their passengers on). After standing in various lines from 11 PM till 2 PM the next day (yes, that's right, 15 HOURS just to speak to a to a U. S. Airways representative; for most of the time until the local news made a stink, they had only 1-2 people handling their hundreds of stranded passengers), we were able to rebook with a Delta flight leaving from JFK, which necessitated a mad dash cross-country from Philly to New York.

      SPAIN: We arrived in Madrid the next morning. Our luggage did not. It went to Lisbon. We didn't see it till a week later when Delta managed to pry it loose from U. S. Airways and send it on to France, where we'd arrived by then. The delay cost planned meetings and a barbecue with BCM leadership there. But we were able to spend a full day Centro Biblico Betel, a BCM camp set within the grounds of Spain's summer palace about two hours from Madrid. It is the only privately owned property within the high walls and cobblestoned streets of the township that supports the palace. How it came into BCM hands is a story for another occasion (keep an eye out for the upcoming issue of BCM World, our mission magazine), but its beautiful gardens and spacious courtyard are an unexpected surprise to find behind its old, wooden gates. Campers hadn't arrived yet when we were there, but we had a great ministry time with BCM missionaries and camp volunteers (see attached pictures).

     FRANCE: From Spain we flew to Toulouse, currently the center of France's aeronautics industry, so got to see the world's largest new airplane. Marty spoke Sunday at the house church (see attached pictures), held on the BCM property which holds campground, offices, cell church as well as the home of BCM field leaders . We also visited Center Seven in downtown Toulouse, an abandoned school facility with a full 6000 square meters that town leaders had traded for their original church property when this was torn down for construction, another exciting story that must wait for later. In this fiercely secular society, where evangelical Christians are a tiny minority and churches very small, the vision of Center Seven is to be a facility and outreach to the entire evangelical Protestant church of Toulouse and surrounding area, offering  leadership training, youth and community outreach, evangelistic events and concerts, and facilities for any number of church groups to hold services, not just French, but Congolese, Gypsy, Vietnamese, and others. A side activity was a trip with other BCM personnel to nearby Carcasonne, the medieval walled city where Kevin Costner's Robin Hood was filmed.

      ITALY: We flew then to Rimini, Italy, right on the Adriatic sea coast. BCM camp Centro Maranatha is about an hour or so up into the mountains, a historic three-story stone farm house and outbuildings set on 10 acres of land in a high mountain valley that truly does look like the opening scenes of Sound of Music, right to the church bells ringing in the distance. Here children's camps were in full swing (see pictures). A side note to all our BCM Europe camps is their longevity, three generations so that now grandchildren of original post-WWII campers are attending. This is important because western Europe is right now as hostile to Bible-believing Christians right now as any closed country, and churches are scattered and small, often with a handful of children in Sunday school. Camp is often the only place where they meet other Christian kids, and friendships developed each summer at camp run deep, maintained by letter, phone, email during the year. Youth groups are even smaller, often one or two teens in a church, and the number of Christian couples who've met their future mates growing from BCM children's camps through teens and young adult every summer, is beyond counting.

      NETHERLANDS: From Italy we flew to Amsterdam, where we took subway and train out to BCM Netherlands camp and retreat center, Bijbel Club Centrum De Herikon. Their camping program has a slightly different shift in that it runs camps from children all the way to senior citizens, again bringing together Christians from all over Netherlands who have often gotten to know each other as children in the same camps and look forward to seeing each other at camp every year even as adults and seniors. An added pleasure was to interview some of the members of BCM's first post-WWII Amsterdam houseboat Bible club, who had grown up to become overseas missionaries themselves, now retired. We also took opportunity to visit Anne Franks' house and do a canal boat tour of historic Amsterdam.

       GERMANY: Our last BCM field was Germany. Instead of flying, we took the train to Frankfort, then another to Fulda, closest city to BCM field office and church planting project. One side note about Germany and Netherlands. They have SO many rules and regulations for everything, but one can forgive that when you see their countries. They are as neat and beautiful and manicured as a garden. Marty spoke at the BCM church Sunday and shared BCM ministry (see pictures). It is a big church for Germany, about 120 in attendance, and has already sent out a number of missionaries. Jeanette's Parker Twins children's series had recently come out in German and been read by a number of children in the church so they decided to hold an author's interview and book giveaway at the same time. A BCM short-term team of 12 teens and 4 adults from a New Jersey church was there doing a building project on the church, so Ellie joined in with them for several days while we traveled about 3 hours north to visit BCM's ministry to handicapped people there. A final treat for the team and us was a boat trip down the Rhine where we were able to see a number of castles, with which Germany seems to be filled.

       BACK HOME: Our trip home was uneventful, though U. S. Airways managed to lose our luggage again (if this seems to be a plug NOT to fly U. S. Airways, you've got it; this was our worst experience to date with them but far from the only one, and we've decided enough is enough, no matter if they are the cheapest on Priceline.com). Ellie made so many friends across Europe (not to mention all those castles), she didn't want to come home. But we arrived Monday night to a note from Ellie's cheerleading coach (she just made squad) that they were to be in the Independence Day parade Tuesday evening, July 3rd, so we got to see her march with the other cheerleaders, and now she is looking forward to cheer camp and friends here. There is definitely a plus to moving to small town America. Lititz has one of the oldest continuous 4th of July celebrations, this year being the 190th anniversary. We plan to enjoy the community celebration and fireworks today.       

        AND POINTS EAST: Then tomorrow Marty leaves for Asia. Please pray for Marty as he travels July 5th for another three weeks through India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and the Philippines. He will be speaking some 20 times as well as meeting with field leadership in each country. Larry Tomlinson, our videojournalist will be traveling with him, carrying on what I (Jeanette) did throughout Europe in filming, still photography and interviews with each ministry for the Media Department. Please pray for safety for both of them and for Marty's health. He is VERY tired and jet-lagged and now faces another 14 hours of time change. Pray for BCM headquarter administration and decision-making (which Marty keeps up with through Skype phone and email no matter where he is). A number of crises emerged during our travels, including one BCM India missionary beaten and left for dead for preaching the gospel. He has been evacuated, but there have been other death threats against our India missionaries and pastors. PLEASE UPHOLD THEM IN PRAYER ESPECIALLY.

        More when we get the next issue of BCM World finished, which will focus on our Western Europe fields. We will have travel pictures up on our website as soon as possible (www.windlemission.org), but we've attached just a few. Meanwhile have a wonderful 4th of July if you are stateside, and a great day anyway if you're not. We'd love to hear from you!

 

            In the service of the King,

 

            Rev. Martin and Jeanette Windle (and Ellie)