Reaching People thru Dance, Music & Drama

Hello from the Lefever Family! Happy New Year!  Time has gone so quickly, it's hard to believe that it's been a year since we returned to Lancaster.  It was an exciting, but challenging year as we learned how to best serve God as a family in missions.  We are in a very different place than we first expected yet as we reflect on the year, we realize how blessed we are to be involved in reaching out to people through not only our work in the immigrant community with Immerge, but also in serving hundreds of different groups that come to Refreshing Mountain each year and reaching the community thru the work of Cavod Academy. This month we want to share more about what we're doing with Cavod Academy of the Arts.  Cavod trains students of all ages in dance, drama and music with a goal of "raising the standard of godly artistic expression".   Our girls have been involved in classes there for several years while we have volunteered in various ways.  This year each of the girls are taking classes (even Mala) and Amy and I work in their cafe.  Bente is a member of Cavod Dance Company (CDC) which performs for schools, churches and other groups.  CDC is one of the primary ways that Cavod reaches out to the community and also serves as a deeper level of training and mentoring for company members.  Check out the trailer of their current production, "Not of this World":    cavod academy infusion trailer from Lavon Films on Vimeo.  You can learn more about Cavod and the dance company on their website: http://cavodacademy.com This year CDC is going international, with a missions trip to Capetown, Africa in June. Bente and I (Carl) will be a part of the team.  The focus of the trip will be on supporting the church planting efforts of an existing team led by Merle Shenk.  Our team will be doing street ministry and praying for people in evangelistic meetings that will be held in the evenings.  The mission team is in the process of raising the funds for the trip, which are approx. $2,600 per person.  We'll be doing some fundraising projects as well as raising personal support. If you are interested in donating towards our Africa trip, you can use the "Donate" button on the right to contribute online or see the info below to mail a check.  Please be sure to designate that the funds are for the Lefever Family - Africa Trip" As we look forward to all that 2014 has to offer, we are thankful for each of you.  It is such a comfort to know that others are interested in our journey.  Would you consider partnering with us in our ministry?  Here are some ways you can get involved: Prayer:  We are looking for prayer partners that will stand with our family and developing ministry.  Click here to join our weekly prayer email list.   Finances: We are raising funds for local ministry as well overseas mission such as the Africa trip.  If you feel led to support us, see below to donate.  Volunteers: If you feel the call to help others but haven't yet found an outlet, contact us.  We'd love to help you get connected! Thank you so much for taking the time to read our newsletter and for joining us in our adventures.  We will continue to send out updates via email and our blog on roughly a monthly basis.  Please feel free to share our updates with anyone you think is interested and if you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to one or more of our communication vehicles, use the links below.  Blessings, Carl & Amy Lefever "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

Stay connected with our family and receive our updates (click links to subscribe) If you prefer to receive a hard copy via mail, please let us know Facebook Website Email LinkedIn Share our adventures with your friends (click links to share) Forward to Friend Financial Support Tax deductible donations may be made in the name of "Lefever Family Missions" to Ephrata Community Church.  Click the Donate button below to give online via credit card, please be sure to include "Lefever Family Missions" in the special notes field.  Checks may be made out and mailed to Ephrata Community Church, 70 Clay School Road, Ephrata, PA 17522.  To ensure donations are directed to our ministry, please note "Lefever Family Missions" on the memo line.  Donate

Lefever Family Missions Adventures Fall 2013 Update

Hello from the Lefever Family! We are embarking on our next missions adventure and wanted to share what we are doing.  Since returning from our last adventure (check out our blog if you missed those updates or are new to our list), we've been making preparations to work in missions on a longer term basis. We have sold our house and have been working with our church missions board to develop a plan for further training and ministry. While we are still considering working overseas in the future, our next adventure will be right here at home! We've been accepted into a nine-month missions apprenticeship program through an organization called Immerge. Immerge focuses on serving the growing immigrant/refugee population here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Many immigrants arrive seeking refuge from oppression, only to find themselves isolated due to language barriers, cultural differences and the lack of a relational network. Our outreach will consist of developing relationships with refugee families and finding practical ways to helping them get established, including language coaching, transportation and job assistance.   In addition to working with Immerge, I (Carl) am working in sales operations at Refreshing Mountain, a christian retreat center, Amy is homeschooling the girls, we are serving on the outreach team at our church and helping run the cafe at the dance academy where the girls are taking dance and drama classes this year. Bente has been invited to be a member of their dance company, which will give her the opportunity to travel and perform. There may even be an opportunity for their team to travel to Africa! We are not certain where we will go when our apprenticeship ends, but we hope to do more work overseas. The apprenticeship with Immerge will give us great experience in working with foreign cultures and we will have weekly training and coaching from leadership team, each of whom have spent a great deal of time working in missions both here and abroad. The completion of our apprenticeship will coincide with the end of the school year and the expiration of our apartment lease, so we will be ready to go should the opportunity arise. We are so blessed to be a part of this team that  is serving the immigrant population in Lancaster and helping those in great need.  We would love for you to be a part of what we are doing.  Here are some ways that you can join in: Prayer: Please partner with us by praying for our family and immigrant ministry.  Pray that all barriers would be removed and that our work would be fruitful. Finances: Would you like to support us financially as we minister to immigrants here in Lancaster?  See below for info on how to give.   Volunteers: If you feel the call to help others but haven't yet found an outlet, contact us.  We'd love to help you get connected! Thank you so much for taking the time to read our newsletter and for joining us in our adventures.  We will continue to send out newsletters periodically, check out our blog and facebook pages for more frequent updates, prayer requests and stories (see info below to subscribe). Please feel free to share our update with your network via the links below. We are so grateful to those that have already been praying for us and for those that have supported us financially – it has made all the difference in terms of us continuing on this journey. We would love to hear from you and what is going on your lives too. Contact us anytime, Carl & Amy Lefever "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 Stay connected with our family and receive our updates (click links to subscribe) If you prefer to receive a hard copy via mail, please let us know Facebook Website Email Share our adventures with your friends (click links to share) Share Tweet Forward to Friend Financial Support Tax deductible donations may be made in the name of "Lefever Family Missions" to Ephrata Community Church.  Click the Donate button below to give online via credit card, please be sure to include "Lefever Family Missions" in the special notes field.  Checks may be made out and mailed to Ephrata Community Church, 70 Clay School Road, Ephrata, PA 17522.  To ensure donations are directed to our ministry, please note "Lefever Family Missions" on the memo line.  Donate

When one door closes, another opens...

"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand." 

-- Solomon, Proverbs 19:21

Wow, so much has happened since our last family update, it’s hard to know where to begin! In our last update (Feb 2013), we were less than two months away from our planned move to Florida to continue our missions training with YWAM Orlando. While in the final stages, we had some major details that needed to fall into place to make the move, including the sale of our house. As our departure date drew closer without an offer, it became clear that we needed a "Plan B".

Being fully convinced of our plan to work with YWAM, we hadn't really spent much developing a backup plan. Our assumption was that if things didn’t come together in April, we'd just head down there for the next semester. However, after that open door apparently closed, we decided to take time to reconsider some core questions: Were we really called to serve in missions long-term? If so, was our place overseas or here in the US? Was it best to continue working with YWAM or should we work thru our home church network?

As we wrestled with these questions, we realized that while our desire to continue working in missions was certain, the specifics on where, what and when, were still open to evaluation. For instance, our experience with YWAM was awesome and we would love to continue working with them, but our home church network (http://harvestnetinc.com) also has an expanding missions program where we could serve. YWAM has outstanding training programs, but there are other training programs that might actually be a better fit for our family. We’ve enjoyed working overseas, but we also see the great needs right here in the US.

Given these uncertainties, we decided it would be best to stay here in Lancaster, take advantage of the extra time to prepare and search things out further. Believing that selling our home was key to being free to follow whatever path opens, we decided to keep searching for a buyer, while also seeking out continued employment and opportunities to gain more training and experience in missions. In a very short time, several major items came together and our path for the next year or so is already clearly mapped out! Our house has sold, we found a nearby apartment, I have the opportunity to continue working at Refreshing Mountain (www.refreshingmountain.com) and Amy and I have been invited to join a nine-month missions apprenticeship program, called Immerge (http://www.immergecca.org), that will provide exactly the kind of practical training and mentoring we've been looking for and is based right here in Lancaster!

We are very excited to tell you more about Immerge, but we are going to save that for a future post. For now, we wanted to give everyone a long overdue update on our adventure. Before I close, here's a quick run down on what we are up to this summer, as well a some prayer requests.

• I will be working on several interesting projects at Refreshing Mountain. In my free time, I'll be hanging with the girls, honing my meat smoking skills and will be attending the upcoming Circuit Riders School in Lancaster.(http://thecircuitrider.com/school-of-the-circuit-rider/lancaster/)
• Amy just completed an intense training program at YWAM Lebanon (http://www.ywampa.org), earning a certificate to teach English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). After a short rest, she's busy organizing our new apartment, preparing for homeschooling in the fall and preparing for all the other things we are doing in the fall. In addition to Immerge, Amy will be volunteering at the Cavod Academy of the Arts (http://cavodacademy.com/), where the girls are taking dance classes.
• Bente recently served as a a youth counselor at Kids Camp with our church and is now working in the kitchen at Refreshing Mountain. She will be attending the Circuit Riders School with me in August and then will be take a full load of dance classes in the fall.
• Ascher is busy with all sorts of creations, from the plays she and her friends develop, to stop motion movies and short stories. She will be taking some acting classes and piano classes in the fall.
• Soren continues in her aspirations to be a veterinarian one day by absorbing herself in every episode of shows like "Dog Whisperer". She's been spending a lot of time at the pool and has been a great play mate to Mala. She'll also be taking some classes in the fall including Hip Hop and Piano.
• Our little Miss Mala just turned three and she's got all of the spunk and energy to prove it. She won't be taking any classes just yet, but she's busy learning more everyday and enjoys keeping us on our toes from morning to night!

Our journey has had some unexpected twists and turns, but it's a fulfilling adventure and we're learning more everyday! As you think about us, consider partnering with us in prayer in the following areas:

• Increased grace as we learn to walk on this next leg of our journey
• Clear direction over this next year as we seek out our future in missions
• Praise the Lord with us that we have already received about half of the monthly support we will need during our apprenticeship (I will be transitioning to part-time hours at work) and for continued wisdom and provision as we work out a strategy for additional fundraising.

Bente, Carl, Mala, Soren & Ascher

Amy & her TESOL class

Mala & Ascher on Mala's Birthday

Our Next Family Missions Adventure!

Hello everyone, we are so thankful for each of you that have been following our adventures and supporting us through your prayers and words of encouragement. We are writing today to let you know about our next adventure, which is a significant step in this amazing journey God is leading us on!

Our first missions adventure as a family was something of an "experiment" - a short term commitment to see if our desire to be involved in missions work was just a passing desire or a true path for our family to follow. What we found was that we enjoyed it more than we ever expected and in a way that's hard to describe, we feel like we have discovered our life purpose. Instead of being weary from the work and longing for the comforts of home, we found ourselves energized by giving to others.  And while we enjoy being home, we find ourselves missing living in community, serving in ministry to people in need and helping others learn about the goodness of God.  

In our travels we became aware of the great need for more workers in the mission field and we felt a growing desire to be a part of the solution.  Before making any major decisions, we wanted to return home and spend some time reflecting, praying and talking with trusted advisors. Through this process we realized that these desires were lasting and with the support of our family and church leaders we have have decided to begin on a path towards full time ministry.  Our goal is not to start a new ministry, instead our desire is to use the skills God has given us to come alongside ministry leaders and support them in achieving the vision God has given them reach to the lost, poor and needy. Specifically, we hope to get involved with supporting discipleship training programs and urban street ministry as part of YWAM. 

The next leg of our journey will take us to a YWAM base in Orlando, Florida, where we will receive the additional training we need to take on a staff position within YWAM.  The training will involve both classroom learning and practical application via local and overseas outreach work.  YWAM Orlando is a large missions base that is training hundreds of missionaries every year and sends out teams all over the world, so it's a perfect training ground for our family (http://www.ywamorlando.com/outreach). As part of our training, we will develop a longer term ministry plan, which will including identifying where and how we will serve for the next few years.  All YWAM workers are responsible for raising their own support, so we will be working out a plan for fundraising during this time as well.  

We leave for Orlando at the end of March, which is less than two months away! In preparation for our departure, we have been focusing on practical things like selling our house, downsizing our possessions and getting ready for the move. We've also been spending time with family, meeting with people to share what we are doing and trying to squeeze some fun with friends in too!  Please keep us in your prayers: chief concerns at the moment are that our house would sell before we leave at the end of March, that our family would have grace for the preparations and the move and that we would have the faith to trust God for his provision and favor as we step out into a whole new way of living and working as a family!

Please feel free to share these links with anyone you think would be interested in following our journey, we'd love to share our experiences with everyone.  If you want to receive our updates automatically, like our page on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LefeverFamilyMissionsAdventures) or subscribe to our blog (http://lefeverfamilymissionsadventures.blogspot.com).  

Street Ministry

One of our favorite memories of our time in Australia is of the various people we met and the things we witnessed God doing in their lives during street ministry in the city of Adelaide.  Our approach to street ministry was a little different from the stereotypical idea of people standing on street corners, handing out tracts and confronting random strangers, which often results in pushing people away from the kingdom.  Instead, we "adopted" a small area of the city called Rundle Mall and Hindley Street and visited there many different times each week, frequenting the shops, walking the streets, hanging out meeting people as God led.  Sometimes we just walked and prayed and other times we found ways to connect with people by giving out water, sodas, flowers. etc.  Our main focus was simply to be available to join in with whatever God was already doing.  Some nights it seemed very small and weak, but every time we found opportunities and through these simple acts, God moved in amazing ways!

Rundle street has a open mall with many different shops.  During the day the mall is full of shoppers, vendors and street performers ("buskers").  At night the streets are much quieter, but there is still quite a bit of foot traffic, made of a mix of business people, lingering shoppers, street performers, homeless and revelers.  There are many benches throughout the mall area and free wi-fi, so there were always opportunities to meet interesting people who were just hanging around.  We ran into Michael and Rod almost every night on the mall and were able to develop a connection, praying with them about their struggles and having some very deep discussions.

Hindley Street is known as the entertainment district of Adelaide.  This is also the area of Adelaide where many of the underground brothels operate out of the back of nightclubs, karaoke bars and massage parlors. Many nights we simply walked and prayed in this area, as many people were not really open to talking, but over time things really opened up.  This was the place where we met Richard, the man whose testimony we featured in a prior blog post.  God was really after Richard and he used our encounter with him to bring about a total transformation in a very short time.

No matter what we did or where we went, we found that if we would just be willing to look around and really see what was going on, it was actually very easy to find people that needed some help, a little bit of encouragement or just a kind word.  It was amazing to see the reactions when they asked why we would come from all over the world just to walk the streets and talk to people.  It gave us a great opening to talk about what God has done in our lives and in many cases led to opportunities to speak into their lives and prayer for issues or speak into opportunities that He was highlighting in their lives.


Our approach to street ministry was inspired by a movie we had watched as a team called "Father of Lights".  There was one story in particular that impressed us all, which followed a man named Todd White (who happens to be from PA!)  as he simply prayed for people he met on the streets.  I don't have a direct clip from the movie, but here is one of his videos on YouTube, which is a great example of the amazing things God does to demonstrate his love and interest in his children!

Kids on Outreach

Hello everyone!  We are finally over jet lag and are settling back into "normal" life for at least few months before our next adventure!  Now that we are sleeping at normal hours, we have been able to get around a visit with friends and family and get back to our home church in Ephrata.  As we meet old and new friends, we get to share a lot about what we did with YWAM during our school in New Zealand and outreach in Australia. One of the most common questions we get is about what all of the children did while the parents were in school or involved in ministry.  In this post we'll highlight their involvement and provide some pictures and videos to so that you can share in the experience.

DTS Lecture Phase (located on the YWAM base in Matamata, New Zealand)

While in New Zealand, our main focus was attending daily lectures, participating in corporate worship and prayer and other community events and serving in practical ways around the base.  While we were in lectures, Bente, Ascher and Soren were homeschooling with the other kids on the base in a classroom that was monitored by one of the full time missionaries on the base. Mala spent her school time in the "creche" which is the term for nursery school in New Zealand, where she made quick friends with the teacher there, Niede.


There were lots of other kids in the homeschool, so everyone made lots of friends and had a lot of fun running around the playground and fields around the base.  On some weekends they had games or other events for the base, like one week we all participated in the Family Olympics! The kids had a lot of opportunities to express their creativity. They developed a passion for Risk and have always liked the Chronicles of Narnia, so why not make a Narnia version of Risk? Some of the older girls got together and organized a drama class that they ran on the weekends and performed one of their dramas at our graduation dinner.  

The kids also received some formal training while they were on the base.  From time to time the speakers that were teaching our lectures would spend time with the children.  For instance, we had a entire week on "hearing God" and our speaker, Cheyne, spent time with the children teaching them the principles of how to listen to God's voice and even had some practical application in praying blessings over each other!  On the last week of school we had a special treat in that a YWAM team from the Kings Kids base on the South Island came and taught the children a series of dramas that they could perform on outreach.  They were taught to pray before every performance and use their talents to bless others and open doors for the gospel.  Here is a link to one of their practice performances that they did on the base, this one features all of the children that participated.

In addition to learning and community life on the base, the girls had lots of opportunities to experience the culture and sights of New Zealand.  Each week we had trips into town and several sight seeing tours in nearby areas, including visiting Tauranga, a city with great beaches and mountain views, Hamilton Gardens and Hobbiton, where Amy and Ascher toured the movie set of the Shire, a scene used in the Lord of the Rings series and most recently The Hobbit.

DTS Outreach Phase (located on the YWAM base in Adelaide, Australia)
Our girls were very excited to visit Australia.  They had made a lot of friends in New Zealand, but they were looking forward to warmer weather and the chance to meet some koalas and kangaroos!  Some of their friends came along too, as we traveled with five families, made up of 9 adults and 14 children.  We stayed in a large house that was once used as an orphanage and then a governors mansion.  The kids loved being able to run around the large house and play together, which at first caused quite a stir in the base!

As part of our outreach, we tried to share God's love with the people in Adelaide through simple acts of kindness.  These proved to be great opportunities to involve the kids in things like handing out free waters, giving out flowers, picking up rubbish at local parks and sharing free ice pops to the kids after school.  In each case, the kids had a lot of excitement and showed a genuine interest in helping people.  Many times they displayed unusual boldness in approaching strangers, offering a free gift and even praying with many.


In addition to serving on the streets, we did a lot of practical service on the YWAM base, at churches and in the community.  The children all participated in various ways to help maintain the base property and jumped in to help with several of the projects we did in the local community and at a local church.  They also had the opportunity to perform their dramas at one of the local churches we served.

One of the highlights of our time in Australia was the performance that the children put on for the service that we did for the crowd at the Salvation Army one Saturday night.  Our girls were part of the team that did two different drama performances and Ascher even gave a personal testimony in front of the crowd!  There was a lot of interest in the performance as they don't usually have any live entertainment at the shelter - there over 50 guests in attendance and the the staff said it was the best service they had!

We did a bit of sightseeing in Adelaide as well.  The girls visited the Adelaide Zoo and a Wildlife Reserve, where they got to see lots of animals and even petted kangaroos!  We visited the oldest German settlement in Australia, called Hahndorf, which ended with an full course German meal.  We frequented several beautiful beaches and spent lots of time in the city of Adelaide, where one of our favorite stops was the local "Hungry Jacks" which had soft serve ice cream for just 50 cents!   On the last week we had a community outing at a wonderful (and free) play park where they had amazing rides and activities.