Justin and Heather’s Blog

It’s been awhile…

So, it turns out that blogging is not one of my favorite pastimes. I would much rather spend time with real people, tool around on Facebook, or take pictures and edit them. However, just completing another Newsletter has given me pause and motivation to return to our weblog to say another cyber-hello from Germany.

Reflection on past year
Heather and I have been living just outside of Frankfurt Germany for over a year now. We are into our second school year working for YouthCompass, and leading a relational ministry to international youth here in the Frankfurt area. The past year has not been easy. It turns out that cross-cultural transition is difficult. Even though we are living in a “western culture,” it still takes some getting used to. Another thing that is tough is doing ministry as a job. It seems like everyone has expectations of who we should be or what we should do. Working for a “para-church” nonprofit brings in other challenges as well. Churches want us to be more explicit with our faith expression. Schools and other secular institutions think we are too religious to include us. Living and working in a fluid expatriate community that turns over every year makes for a lack of relational stability. So, you put those things together and you’ve got a lot of tough times. However…

…we still love what we are doing. We love being here. We feel like God has us here for a reason. We love the kids. We have met so many wonderful people. Our lives feel so rich through, and despite, the challenges.

This year we are privileged to have a team of 7 committed adult volunteers assisting us in youth ministry. We are excited about what God wants to do in this community this year. Our theme for this year is Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain….” We are realizing that for all of our efforts, if God is not in them, we are laboring in vain. Instead we need to ask God to build the house and join Him. We are excited about building deeper relationships with students, being more intentional about challenging them to think through the decisions they make on a daily basis and getting them to evaluate what they believe about God. I am convinced that these kids are in need of a Savior. There is so much crap that they deal with, and I can’t rescue them, but I know someone who can. I hope that we take advantage of the opportunities that we have to speak into their lives and that we can in some small way show them grace.

Heather and I appreciate your prayers and support as we continues to serve here in Frankfurt Germany.  Check out our October Newsletter and new photos

Project Compassion Video

I know that it has been a long time since we posted on our blog.  We have been busy finishing up a great first year of ministry here in Frankfurt. I want to write more soon, but for the time being I want to share a video with you from Project Compassion 2009.  Project Compassion was the week long service project we took 33 students on in April.   It was incredibly successful.  You can read about it in our June Newsletter that we sent out.  Many memories were made and lives were changed.  There is a video that has been put together that has been posted on YouthCompass’ website at http://www.youthcompass.org/vid.  I hope you get a chance to at least watch the week 2 video, which is the one that we were on.  I have it embedded here from Youtube.

A New Season

Okay,  I have to admit, I never intended to wait two months in between posts, but I can’t escape the fact that this has happened.  Sorry.  Things have been quite busy and I just have not given myself time to sit down and reflect.  Also, I have found that it is often difficult to separate myself enough to provide an update.  Things can become so “normal” that providing an update does not seem interesting.  Fortunately for our sake and for yours, a few things have been happening lately that have prompted me to wonder if we are entering into a new season here in Frankfurt.  God is undoubtedly at work.  

Our local board

Part of our job as Community Directors in Frankfurt includes recruiting and building a healthy board of adults who are able to support the ministry of YouthCompass and our efforts here.  When we arrived in July, the local board was in a bit of a shambles.  There had been 100% turnover among the board members in 2008 and their was a lot of work to be done to bring people up to speed and find new members.  Meanwhile we were trying to get up to speed with figuring out our job and what we were recruiting people to.  We weren’t exactly in the best role to be casting vision because we were trying to discern the vision ourselves.  After a difficult fall, our board is growing and maturing and become more and more able to support and encourage our efforts to reach international teens in Frankfurt.  We have four new board members who are doing a great job of stepping in and stepping up.  What a boost it is for us to begin to be surrounded by concerned parents and community members who are catching the vision of reaching out to international teens in the Frankfurt area.  We had a board meeting on Sunday and it was the most encouraging meeting we have had.  It was prayerful, missional, efficient, organized, and showed great initiative.  I really felt like the Holy Spirit was present.  As we shared what God is doing in our hearts and what is happening with the ministry, this group of adults really seemed to come together around what God is doing.  We even spent some time dreaming about the future and where God is leading us.  It is exciting to begin to see a little bit of where this ministry can go.  Please pray for our board and for their continuing development and vision.

The ministry to international teens

The ministry is going better as well.  After Christmas we chose to scale back our clubs to every other week for Middle School and High School.  This has given us the opportunity to get involved in other ways.  I have started to meet with a group of 9th grade guys who are our core group of kids.  You can pray that this develops into a discipling group that can be open and transparent and can grow in faith.  Heather is taking on more of the Middle School ministry responsibilities while I focus more on the High School responsibilities.  This Friday Heather is hosting a Middle School girls sleepover and I am having a High School guys night.  I am excited to be helping coach track beginning next week, which will give me a great opportunity to get to know more students and help them with a sport that was a big part of my life through my freshman year in college.  

Bowling!

On Saturday night, we went Bowling with a group of High School students.  It was tons of fun.  I was expecting about 10 kids and about 22 showed up!  Here are some pics from that night:

A note about the second to last picture: The guy in the middle is named Ian.  I don’t know if you remember from our newsletter in the fall, but Ian was injured this fall on a school trip.  His body is still healing from that accident, but he was out their bowling with that annoying boot on his foot.  Though I am sure that his lingering injuries and protracted healing is discouraging for him, it was encouraging to seem him give his best and it was special to have those guys cheer him on.  Please pray for Ian as I have witnessed his demeanor slowly change since the accident.  I think that discouragement is setting in with regard to his injuries.  Pray that God would lift his spirit and that his body would fully heal.

That bottom picture is the source of another encouraging comment.  Not only have we seen an influx of board members recently, we have also had several volunteers commit to helping us.  That is Creedence, he is an Aussie whose job has brought him to Frankfurt.  He is absolutely ecstatic about helping out as a volunteer.  He wants to help in anyway possible.  His passion for God is inspiring.  There is no doubt that he is an answer to prayer.  His energy is contagious.  Please pray for him and for wisdom as our relationship unfolds.  

Club!

Clubs have been going well lately.  I feel like Heather and I are both becoming more relaxed as we learn how to connect and communicate with youth.  We are getting more comfortable around the students which helps us focus more on them. Here are some pics from High School and Middle School clubs recently:

They are tons of fun.  Sometimes I’m not sure who has more fun at Club, me or the kids.  Last week at High School Club we talked about Miracles and Jesus’ healing of the paralytic.  It was a really good conversation.  I was even surprised by what a few of the students said.  One student in particular, whose family is nonreligious, said that he believed that Jesus really healed the paralytic.  Please pray for this student as he inches closer to Christ.

Project Compassion

We have 33 students signed up for our Spring break service project to Romania.  We will be traveling to Taut, Romania from April 10-19 and serving the poor together.  This trip is also a time for many students to explore their faith and maybe even hear about Jesus for the first time.  Please pray for a positive experience and for safety for all these students and leaders.  We are also still looking for another male leader so we would appreciate your prayers for that as well.

Keep plugging away

So, if you haven’t realized yet, God seems to be up to something here in Frankfurt.  Heather and I are both feeling encouraged through these things, but also appreciate your continued prayers and support as we continue to serve these students.  We are more aware now of the spiritual battle that we are a part of.  There is opposition to the work that God is doing and there will continue to be that opposition as we press into what God has for us.  Please pray for our health as we have both been sick more than we would like.   Please pray for us as we discern where God is leading us and we prioritize what is most important for us to focus our efforts on.  Thank you for all your support.  We could not do this without you.

New Years Update

New Years

So, let’s start with what is most important: New Years in Germany!  Before we moved to Germany, we had heard that New Years was pretty great here, but we were not prepared for what we experienced.  Heather’s parents were in town for Christmas and we said goodbye to them on New Years Eve morning.  We were feeling a bit sad and like we just wanted to relax for the evening so we shared dinner at our friend Julia’s apartment.  We had been told that the fireworks in Germany can be quite a show to watch.  And what a show it was!  We bundled up and headed out onto her balcony at about quarter till midnight and waited as a few fireworks went off here and there.  Then, at midnight, chaos ensued.  Rockets went off from every street corner and yard.  Loud BOOMs echoed across town.  For the next 45 minutes fireworks went off all around us.  I shot this 3 minute video with my cell phone when things started to die down.  Notice the load booms and rockets going off in the middle of a neighborhood with people and apartments all around (make sure your volume is up)…

Christmas Break

As I mentioned, Heather’s parents came to visit us for Christmas.  It was great to get to celebrate Christmas with family.  We took some much needed vacation and traveled a bit with them while they were here.  Getting to show them around really helped us appreciate how much we have learned and settled in since arriving here five months ago.  We have really grown accustomed to living in Germany in many ways.  Even though our language skills are still lagging, we can communicate a whole lot more than we could when we arrived.  They helped us appreciate the things that we take for granted living here, like eating German food, living near architecture that is hundreds of years old, and having an incredible forest to stroll through.   It was sad to see them go home, but spending time with them helped us realize how much we love it here.

Fall, all finished up

We finished up a busy fall with Heather getting really sick with the flu the beginning of December.  It was pretty bad.  I got a little sick but was not flat for several days like she was.  Fortunately we are both feeling better now.  In December, we had “Christmas Club” for the High School students, which was one of our most fun and largest clubs yet.  There were about 16 students there and we played several Christmas type games.   This fall we had been talking about kings and kingdoms of this world and at Christmas club we talked about the birth of a different kind of King with a different type of Kingdom.  In addition to Christmas Club, we had an Elf Movie night, where we watched Elf and ate spaghetti with syrup and candy.  Mmm mmm good.   

Looking ahead to spring

We are thankful to have had a bit of a break and five months under our belt as we head into spring.  God is calling us closer to himself and we are trying to focus more on taking care of ourselves and making students a priority this spring.  Project Compassion, our annual service project, is in April and we have a lot of work ahead to prepare for that trip.  As we get back into our routine in the coming weeks, we appreciate your prayers and support as we serve Third Culture Kids here in Frankfurt Germany.

Wandering in Wonder

Heather and I went on an incredible walk today through the forest near our house. We went on a loop that took us on an archeological tour of some ancient Celtic ruins.  It was incredible to think about the fact that ancient civilizations inhabited the area right outside our back door.  I felt blessed to live in such a beautiful area and an area that has such a rich history.  

Having been here for three and a half months now has seemed in some ways like so much longer, and in other ways like no time at all.  We have become immersed in the work here so quickly, maybe even too quickly.  There is so much to do, from running clubs for students, to managing a local board, to fundraising for the community, to hanging out with students, to meeting parents, to writing newsletters, to spending time with God, to making time for each other, to going to church, to making friends, to learning German, to recruiting volunteers, to planning events, etc., etc.  The list goes on.  There is so much vying for my attention. It is not even bad stuff.  We are here to do a good thing.  We are here to serve Third Culture Kids and their families and share the love of Christ with them.  The fact that we are here is not an accident; it is very clear that God has us here for a reason.  I am realizing though, that there is always more to do.  There is always more work that needs to be done.  

Today, walking through the forest with my wife, laughing, holding hands, talking about how we miss home, imagining what life would be like as a Celtic peasant farmer, taking in the beauty of a bare winter forest, watching in wonder at the migrating geese overhead, today, I felt the presence of God.  I think the Holy Spirit snuck up on me sometime between when I was trying to visualize the outer wall of a Celtic settlement and when I looked up at hundreds of geese in perfect formation overhead, providing a visible reminder of the winter season soon upon us.  God was delighting in my delight.  In the midst of my wonder, I sense a greater One who is worthy of all wonder.  He had this gift waiting for me, all I had to do was step out my backdoor and receive it.  

Yesterday I was agonizing over trying to come up with the perfect talk to give the High School students at club.  I was perplexed that I simply did not know what to say.  I spend so much of my time worrying about everything I need to do.  Maybe God wants me to spend more time in wonder and less time worrying.  If I can go on more walks in the forest, a lot of other things in life will be easier.  A lot of other things will make more sense.

Adapting

So, time for another post. This month has been tumultuous, and a learning process for me. I have been hit with the hard reality of adapting to full-time ministry in a foreign country and how difficult it can be. Balancing my time has proved to be the most important thing to work on. I have realized that I cannot work well unless I set aside regular time to commune with God in scripture and prayer, time for Heather and I to just enjoy each other without being distracted by work, and time for my own rest and recreation as well. Since I last wrote, we have had several Clubs, connected with local churches, met with the administration at Frankfurt International School, and found ways to connect with kids.

Club!

We had three Clubs for High School Students this month and one for Middle School. The third High School club was kind of a breakthrough in terms of energy and enthusiasm. We had a “critical mass” of students who came, which generated a lot of excitement for the games and discussions. I am not sure who has more fun at club, the students or me. I am enjoying helping to create a safe place for students to come together at Club. The Clubs that we put on consist of eating food, playing games, skits, a talk, and a discussion. The purpose of Club is to give students a chance to have fun, meet friends, and discuss their views of God.  

Time with kids (Heather, the…coach?)

The time that I enjoy most with kids is just hanging out with them in a more relaxed environment, such as our apartment, or downtown Frankfurt, or on the soccer field. Heather started helping coach middle school soccer at Frankfurt International School and has really enjoyed this chance to get to know more girls. I have loved getting to know several kids. I really like a group of nerdy/creative/indie rockers who have an electronic band called Zap! Armadillo. They are sweet, and I like their music. This Thursday we are having a movie night with students at our place. It should be fun!

Other stuff occupying our time

Some other things that have been occupying our time this month are as follows:

• Acquiring our German residence permit. We can live here for two years before we have to renew it.
• Opening a German bank account. Now we can überweisung (a money transfer that is used for any kind of payment) like mad!
• Playing Ultimate Frisbee with teachers from the international school once a week. This is the highlight of my week!
• Having some training from our wonderful supervisor Julia, who has far more ministry experience than we do. Thanks for the help, Julia.
• Meeting with the FIS administration to talk about YouthCompass. So far, so good.
• Building relationships with the international churches in the area to encourage partnerships with YouthCompass.
• Heather has been attending a women’s Bible study to get to know mothers.
• We have started German lessons from a wonderful German teacher. We are learning so much. Now, if only we didn’t work with English speakers, we might be better at the language than we are.

For fun

For fun we have been riding our bikes in the beautiful Taunus area around where we live. Going swimming in the heated pool at the “Kurbad” (health spa) has also become a frequent habit. It is so relaxing to swim under the stars from station to station in the hot water. There is a hot tub, a whirlpool, a water massager, a bubbly bench, and monkey bars. What more could you want from a hot water experience?

Don’t forget

We have new pics up in our photos section from two of our High School clubs. We also have our September Newsletter in our Newsletters section. Thanks for all your support. We are growing and learning much here in Germany. Your prayers are greatly appreciated as we learn to adapt to the work that God has called us to as well as life in a new country.

In the pipeline

It has been almost a month since we posted, and so I would like to give a little update to let you all know that we haven’t forgotten about you. I feel like Heather and I are “in the pipeline” with our life and work here in Germany. Our days have been pretty busy as we experience the steep learning curve to adapting to a new culture and new job simultaneously.

LEAD

Last weekend Heather and I attended LEAD, a student leadership and discipleship retreat that was hosted by YouthCompass Europe. We took 11 students from Frankfurt and met up with others from Düsseldorf, Budapest, and Madrid. We were even surprised by some guests from Romania who are a part of the organization that we are partnering with for our annual Project Compassion service project. We had a great time getting to know our students better, and spending time inviting them to take their faith seriously. You could be praying for us as we follow up then and discern how best to involve our student leaders in this ministry.

Club Planning

Planning is underway for our first High School Club next Thursday, September 11. We are excited to get clubs underway, so we can meet more students and begin to build deeper relationships with them. We are feeling a bit overwhelmed as there is a lot to do. We need more volunteers, we want to meet with local churches to partner with them, and we have a lot of planning to do. Pray that we would use our time well and learn a good routine for balancing the planning and administration with the relational aspect to this ministry.

Accident

This week we experienced our first confrontation with the heart wrenching difficulty of ministry. Three kids from Frankfurt International School were involved in an accident while on a class trip in Erfurt. I spend a lot of time with Josh and his girlfriend Josefin in June. The other young man, Ian, I had just met at our water ski kick-off event three weeks ago. Josh and Ian were climbing a wall when it suddenly gave way, causing rock to come crumbling down. Josh was uninjured as he jumped away from the wall. Ian, who was higher on the wall, fell and badly broke both his legs and an arm and had a concussion. Josefin was below and was hit with a large rock. It slammed her to the ground, fractured her skull, and caused a large blood clot to form. In addition, her collarbone and rib were broken. Initially, the situation looked quite grim, as Josefin was in critical condition as they removed the blood clot. Miraculously, she now seems to be doing well. She remembers everything and was even joking a bit when she woke after the surgery. Ian has several screws in one ankle/heel and his other ankle/heel, the doctors don’t yet know what to do with. He also feels a large burden of guilt for the incident. When they were climbing, he grabbed a drain pipe that gave way, causing the avalanche of rock. Please pray for these students and their families. Pray for full and miraculous recoveries. Pray for the burden of guilt to be lifted from Ian. Pray for the class as well, as many of them were standing nearby when the incident occurred and were emotionally affected by it.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.  Check out our new photos from LEAD and the Water Ski event.

One-way tickets!

God is Faithful…and we are in Germany!

It is hard to believe more than a week has passed since we have been in Germany! No amount of speculating and planning could prepare us for the feeling that came from stepping off that plane last Tuesday. God has been faithful to us, and it is not because we are here that we thank Him, but because of His love and his commitment to loving us all along this journey to Germany. And this adventure has only just begun!

It has been over a year since we first heard of Youth Compass, and about a year since we sensed God leading us in this direction. Eight months ago we moved out of our apartment into the hotel I (Heather) was working at so we could begin fundraising. Seven months ago, we began fund-raising part time, while working. Four months ago we went on Project Compassion, and ended our respective jobs.  We have been living with our parents, and our friend’s houses and have spent the month of June apart, with Justin in Germany and myself in Poulsbo in order to attend a very special wedding in Spokane, Washington. It is not everyday where the best man and maid of honor at your own wedding gets married themselves! We would not miss sharing that special day with Catherine and Jacob Grady, as they are now, for anything in the world! Two Sundays ago, we were prayed for by our sending church in Spokane, New Community, and a day later boarded an airplane with six checked suitcases filled with our favorite clothes, books, two bikes, and, of course, our beloved Cutco knives! It had not yet sunk in that we were aboard the plane with one-way tickets to Frankfurt. It was quite unbelievable, and very moving to be finally on our ways to so many greetings after what seemed like a year of good-byes, and several years of dreaming for this day.

The amazement couldn’t last long before the Director and founder of Youth Compass, Tom Speckhart dropped us off at our apartment and I was putting the flowers he welcomed us with in a vase. In Germany.  The moment we moved in was so full of joy and excitement that we found ourselves giddy. The weather was warm, and we were aware of all the things to look forward to. A few hours later the tiredness of the last several weeks finally kicked in, and it has been in somewhat of a haze that the last week has slipped by. Justin unfortunately caught a bad cold and was out of commission for a few days, but is almost back to full health now.   Despite Justin’s sickness and our fatigue, we still managed to begin to learn how to function all over again this week. Below is a little list to give a brief synopsis of what it has been like since we arrived.

This week consisted of…

*Heather learning to drive a stick shift car on the autobahn (because the insurance is much more affordable for those 25 and over. Since she is the only 25 year old in the marriage, she will be the lone driver until September 1st, when Justin turns 25 as well)
*Two trips to Ikea to buy hangers, cups, and sheets to settle into our apartment, which is otherwise fully furnished
*Many beads of sweat and heart palpitations as Heather continues to learn how to drive a stick on the autobahn, where a lot of traffic rules are different or don’t apply (such as speed limits, for example). Plus all of the signs are in German and there are no North and South signs, but instead just the names of German cities to navigate by
*Making a few unintentional trips to unexpected areas, because of the aforementioned minutiae
*A warm welcome at the International Church of Frankfurt, where we will be attending for worship on Sunday’s, and will unofficially partner with in youth ministry to the international students, and warm hello’s to the family’s we have been hosted by on previous trips, as well as seeing the familiar faces of students who went to Project Compassion
*A trip to the city of Frankfurt with a few students to experience our first German festival. Apparently there doesn’t have to any explanation for the festivals here – they just have them.
*A few meals with families and friends that help out with YouthCompass.
*Lots of sleep as we adjust to a new language, culture, job, and lack of air conditioning, and high humidity. There is 80% humidity, and the occasional portable fan is the only respite from the heat. It feels natural, but muggy!
*Dreaming about, praying for, and readying ourselves for being hospitable to, building relationships and loving – the international students! We are getting really excited for the start of the school year in late August!
*Many grocery shopping trips where we come home with bread, and then more trips to the grocery store for more bread. It is heavenly.
*Communion with our community, in our new church
* Several planning meetings (attended by Justin and Heather) to go over the year ahead of us. We came in the off-season, where many families and students are still off on their summer holiday. We have had some time to rest, relax, and begin to ready ourselves for all this coming school year will have in store. We feel like this has been time to be humbled, get our heads around living in a new city and where nothing (including opening and shutting a door) is the same.
*Learning enough German to get by, and looking forward to attending classes in the fall! Though the international school will be all in English, we would like to begin to learn more so we can converse with our neighbors, and get by in our new neighborhood
*Hosting our first visitor for one evening. My dear friend Bethany, who happened upon a layover in Frankfurt on her way home to Seattle from Scotland, visited us last night! It was an incredible blessing to see a familiar face.

Highs and Lows

I have been quite busy since arriving in Oberursel almost four weeks ago. Between adapting to life in a new culture and learning the ropes of a new job, things seem a bit of a blur. I helped lead the last middle school club and the last two high school clubs of the year. I attended a YouthCompass Frankfurt board meeting. I have spent time getting to know a few of the kids in the community. My hosts have been wonderful: I spent two weeks with a teacher from the international high school and two weeks with a family who has two high school kids who are involved with YouthCompass. I head back to the states on Thursday for a few weeks before Heather and I move for good at the end of July. Here is a random list of six highs and three lows of my time so far:

Highs

1. German windows: they can tilt open or swing open like doors. Check out a YouTube demonstration here. They also have the most amazing shades called “Rolladen.” Pure engineering genius. They make living in a German home a party everyday.
2. Getting a cell phone. It is great to be able to have a phone number that people can contact me at.
3. Hanging out with kids. I love the youth in this community. They are fun to hang out with and help me with my German. I have already had some good conversations with kids about things like baptism, hell, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and much more.
4. Euro Cup 2008! Soccer is big in Europe. Everyone gets into it and supports their country  with colorful flags and nonstop honking of their car horns if their team wins. When Germany won in the semi-finals, the town went crazy. Driving was impossible as random parties sprang up in the streets. People parked their cars, turned on their hazard lights, cranked their music and chugged booze. The final is Sunday, Germany vs. Spain.
5. Low pressure dining. In Germany, dining is typically a two-four hour affair, allowing ample time to talk and relax. There are no waiters dropping the bill off with the meal and then asking if you need anything else because they want you to leave so they can get some more people seated.
6. Water skiing. Last weekend I went to a lake to water ski with some friends. It was relaxing and fun. In Germany, you typically water ski via a cable system that pulls you around the lake instead of behind a boat. It is difficult to describe how it works, I found a youtube video that shows some people doing it here.

My first week in Oberursel, Germany

Greetings from Germany! I have been in Oberursel Germany for one week tomorrow, gaining valuable experience for the position that Heather and I will share as YouthCompass Community Directors in Frankfurt. Oberursel is a town of about 40,000 just northwest of Frankfurt. It has a large international community and there is a large international school there. It will be our new home for the next three years. I have been working with Jami, the outgoing Community Director, to ease the transition and plan for the future.  

Since I arrived on Monday, I have had some staff meetings, gone grocery shopping, helped with Club on Wednesday night, began to set up my office, worked at the bookstore at the main international school in town, moved some furniture to our new apartment, visited a church, and got to know some people in the community. I am experiencing a lot of joy and excitement as I adjust to living and working in a completely new environment and I am experiencing a bit of anxiety and sadness at learning a new culture and leaving a good community and friends back in the states.

I feel like this time is very valuable for several reasons:

1. It helps ease the transition for Heather and I. I am beginning the adjustment to living in a new country, learning my way around and getting acquainted with people and places I should know about. Tomorrow I have a lesson on driving in Germany! I am a bit apprehensive, but excited for the chance to learn how to drive a manual and understand the rules of the road. My adjustment now will help ease our adjustment later.
2. It helps ease the transition for the kids. By having Jami and I work side by side, it gives kids the chance to get to know a new face in a very natural way. When Heather and I begin work in the fall, they won’t have to get to know a new leader.
3. It helps ease the transition for Jami. Having worked with YouthCompass for over three years, it is helpful for her to be able to pass the ministry on to someone that she knows.  By planning together, it ensures continuity between what she did and what we will do.