Long Awaited Before and After Photos

Here are some long awaited photos of our new home in Germany.  As we said it was a bit of an older place with a lot to fix up but Anna has done an amazing job with our place so here we are:

Before Pictures

 

Living Room

Living Room

Former Master Bedroom

Hallway/Storage Room/Bedroom (Bad Wallpaper Room)

 

Former Office

Tub Room/Laundry Room

 After Pictures with Anna's Touch

New Living Room Curtains on Right

New Master Bedroom

Boy's Room

Ugly Wallpaper Room Transformed

A little more of a homey touch

 Well we hope you can get a glimpse that our home is growing nicer and we are definitely more settled into our home now that we've been able to decorate and put up our stuff. 

Feeling Thankful

22 November 2012

Tonight we attend our THIRD Thanksgiving dinner, so I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on thankfulness this year.  Here’s a list, in no particular order.

Home.  After being unsettled for 4 months, we are sooooo thankful to be unpacked and in our own home.  Our apartment is quite old, but we’ve quickly made it feel homey and loved.  Our shipment arrived on October 17^th at lunchtime, and I had everything unpacked by dinner!  I was really ready to be all unpacked!

God’s faithfulness.  I am so thankful that He’s always faithful, even when we struggle and doubt.  Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!  Lamentations 3:22-23

 
My three boys.  I shared this at our second Thanksgiving dinner and Austin quickly piped up:  “Mommy, you only have two boys”.  Well, I was including Clarence, trying to be cute.  ;)    I am blessed to have a wonderful husband and two wonderful sons.

Clarence’s team of co-workers.  All of the staff that Clarence works with are so great and encouraging.  It’s neat to see him thriving in his position as Middle School Chaplain.  Also, several of his co-workers are single females, and it’s been fun for me to get to know them as friends as well.

Skype, email, internet, phones, etc.  Modern technologies have helped so much for staying in touch with family and friends around the world.  When we first moved into our apartment, we had no phone and internet at home for a month, so we were especially thankful when we finally got it!

 

Heat.  Yes, Germany is a Western country, but the heat in our apartment often stops working, so I remember to be thankful when it works!

 

German chocolate.  No explanation needed.  ;)

A great team of supporters.  We are thankful for every single one of our prayer warriors and financial supporters.  We could not be here serving without you. 

 

Amazing students.  The students here at Black Forest Academy are all so great; it’s a blessing to be here serving and teaching them.  Our own boys love having tons of goh-goh’s and jeh-jeh’s (big brothers and sisters) to play with!

Our stroller.  Living in a small town, I love that we can do most of our errands – including buying groceries – on foot.  However, Silas isn’t quite up to that much walking yet, so I’m thankful for our sturdy stroller with a nice big basket underneath.  I’m also thankful for the warm stroller sack made by my Aunt Nancy.

So, Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends and Happy November to our Canadian friends!  God bless!

 

We have housing!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support and encouragement through this crazy housing process!  We have found an apartment to move into this week!  It's an older apartment and definitely needs a little 'facelift'.  A bit of a fun challenge to figure out creative (aka inexpensive!) ways to personalize the place for our own.  It's a two bedroom apartment - not huge, but big enough to work for us.  We will be moving the bulk of our stuff and doing some painting on Wednesday (a German  holiday, so no school) and then doing a final move on Saturday, hopefully.  We hope to post some before and after pictures of the place to you can follow along with our progress.  :)

Still Looking for Housing

Thanks to all of you who have been praying about our housing situation.  Please keep praying as we still do not have another place to move into, and we need to be out of our current place in 2.5 weeks!  I'm getting a little anxious; definitely teaching me about trusting God.  Again.  ;)

Thanks!

A huge thanks to all of you whom have been following, praying, supporting and loving us through this whole journey to BFA.  We are totally here because of you and we'd love to share a video message from all of those whom others have prayed and supported them here as well.  Click the link below to see a special message from the new staff of BFA for 2012.

http://vimeo.com/47933997

Have a great day from the Yau's :)

We've Arrived

So after two months of sleeping in different people's homes, hotels, college dorm rooms and on the airplane, we have arrived in Germany.  However, we are not in our final destination home yet, but will be in one week, Lord willing.  Thank you to all of you who have prayed and financially supported us to get here to embark on a new ministry with the Lord.

Our boys are doing quite well and have adjusted to the time zone changes well and this morning we started German language and culture training with our fellow new colleagues.  There are some new families that are moving into the area so our boys are finding and making new friends, but it will take some adjustment.  Anna and I have been able to reconnect with old friends which was very comforting to see that there are still so many people from our time here before that are still around.  The Lord is a great God and continues to provide many servants/harvesters to the various ministry sites around the world that it continues to astound me and strengthen my faith as well.

We have done an amazing amount of the paperwork that involves moving to a new country and in record time I believe.  Within 2 days of getting here we have registered in the town we live in, we have received, insured and registered the car that we bought from some great friends whom are on home assignment this year.  It's amazing to see the Lord provide and encourage us with the wonderful people who are here to help us with settling in. 

Please continue to pray for our boys and also for us as we adjust to the new culture and surroundings and that we would remain humble.  I say humble because it can be very easy for us to say that we have been here before and we don't need to know all the basic stuff, but at the same time we are new and there has been change.  Pray that our spirits would be teachable and moldable. 

Auf Wiedersehn :)

Getting Ready...

The road tripping part has ended and we are now in Pandora, OH visiting with Anna's family and spending time with the grandparents before we see them again in possibly what could be 2 years before we return to North America.  The Lord has been so wonderful in providing for our needs over the the past 2 months as we travelled and met up with friends and family.  We have seen the Lord work in miraculous ways as well as he has provided the necessary funds that we need to be able to move overseas and care for our family and participate in the ministry of our Lord at BFA.

While at Orientation in Minnesota, a little over a month ago, we were given the vision and the mission of TeachBeyond from our director George Durance.  It served to me (Clarence) as a wonderful reminder and inspiration about why we have joined this mission organization and why the Lord has called us to be part of his good work in Germany.  I was reminded that we are being given this privilege to participate in the transformation of youth and their families so that the world will be transformed through them and through us.  One of the things that was mentioned was the time of slow growth was over for TeachBeyond and that there could be quite possibly an explosion of people joining our mission organization as they catch on to the vision and direction that the Lord has provided.  I totally agree as we saw 88 people commissioned to go to 18 different countries in the next 2 years.  It's amazing to see the Lord working over the past 10 years since I was part of the Janz Team (now TeachBeyond) community to bring about such a change and such a wonderful ministry/mission change.  God is so good and he has prepared us for good works, just like it says in his Word.

We will be heading out of North America on August 8 and arriving in Germany on August 9, but will not be living in our home for the year until August 15th.  Please continue praying that we will trust in the Lord as we are feeling quite anxious about moving overseas and leaving our support network here in Canada.  Please pray that our children and us will be able to find a good friend whom we can share our joys, our trials and our triumphs and our burdens with.  Pray also that we will be able to travel well through all the airports (4 in total) as we go overseas.  If you want to see pictures of what we've been up to please head over to my (Clarence Yau's) Facebook page.  If you are in the Pandora, OH area please let us know and we would love to set up a time to visit with you.

Calgary Meet-Up!

For all of you in the Calgary area, we will be having an informal get-together THIS TUESDAY, July 17 @7pm.  Located at Crossroad Community Church:  912-19 St. NE, Calgary, AB.  Come join us for some coffee and sharing!

Living in a Car

So, we are now about halfway through out big roadtrip!  We are currently in Minneapolis, MN attending Mission Orientation with TeachBeyond.  We just arrived yesterday and have already met tons of amazing people and been given a wealth of new and helpful information about going to the mission field.  It has been very interesting to see old and new faces here and to get a grasp of what the Lord has been doing in the lives of His children as we participate together in his kingdom ministry.

Our travels so far have gone very well.  The only real downside was Austin got sick for a few days in Chicago with a fever.  Otherwise, the kids have done extremely well with all the traveling.  They have made great friends with the various families where we've stayed.  Every place we stay Austin says that he wants our trip to be over so we can stay at that house with his new friends :) We've enjoyed seeing and experiencing the boldness of our young ones as they share with their new friends and complete strangers about our journey to Germany and to BFA.  We've received some strange looks when this happens, but overall people are amazed and awed by our boldness to do such a thing, but deep down we personally know that it is the Lord who is orchestrating everything.  Clarence and I have loved having a chance to visit old friends as well and reconnect and share stories about our lives together.  Check out Clarence's Facebook page for some pictures of our journey so far!

Visiting Mommy's College

Thanks for your prayers for safety.  We will leave Orientation on Saturday (June 30) and then have another 22ish hours of driving ahead of us until we reach Calgary.  We're hoping to arrive in Calgary on July 4th, and then we will be settled again for a few weeks until we fly back to Ohio on July 20th.  Please continue to pray for safety and joy as we travel and share our lives with the people around us. 


New Friends

The Journey Begins! (and continues)

Okay, I guess our journey [of going to BFA] really began several months ago.  But the particular journey I’m referring to is our “Epic Road Trip”.  It officially began today with driving from Toronto to Ohio.  We will spend a few days here, and then continue on our big road trip totaling 4000km.  Here’s a rough overview of our itinerary:

June 12-15:  Pandora, Ohio

June 15-17: Mishawaka/Goshen, Indiana

June 17-20: Chicago, Illinois

June 20-23: Green Bay, Wisconsin

June 23-30:  Minneapolis, Minnesota – for Orientation with TeachBeyond

June 30-July 1:  Grand Forks, North Dakota

July 1-3:  Winnipeg, Manitoba

July 3-4:  Moose Jaw/Caronport, Saskatchewan

July 5-20: Calgary, Alberta

July 20-August 8: Pandora, Ohio

August 9 and onward – GERMANY!!!

So, this past week has been a crazy blur.  We packed up our house, got rid of all of our furniture, and moved in to stay with friends this weekend.  Monday we closed on our house, and Tuesday drove to Ohio.  It has been full of lots of sad good-byes as we say farewell to so many wonderful friends in Toronto.  Our church has really become a family to us, and we will miss them all dearly, but we’re very thankful for their blessings as they send us on our way in following God’s call. 

The past week has also been full of good news.  Our housing is finalized for where we will be staying in Germany, which we’re very excited about.  The school has recently purchased an old guesthouse/hotel which will eventually be turned into a girl’s dorm, but for this coming school year, our family will be living there on the main floor.  There will be another BFA family living in the bottom floor, and the upper floor will probably be available for guests and visitors to rent (yes, so we should hopefully have a nice place to house visitors!)  We also purchased a used minivan from another couple who works at BFA.  And finally, we bought our PLANE TICKETS!  Woo hoo!  It’s really happening!   We fly out of Detroit, MI on August 8 and arrive in Germany on August 9^th.  The only downside is that our housing will not be available until August 15^th, so we will be housed somewhere else temporarily for week or so. 

Finally, a support update.  I (Anna) am completely humbled and awed to report that we are at 98% of our monthly support!  God is so good.  I am so thankful that He has chosen to bless us through generous friends, family, and churches.  Praise God!

The Unintimated God

So, you may recall from our last newsletter, we set a goal to reach 90% of our monthly support by May 20.  Quite ambitious considering we only started support raising in February, so 3 months to get to 90% is fast.  Thankfully, God is not intimidated by big numbers or quick deadlines!  We are thrilled to report that we are at our goal!!!   Thanks to God's amazing provision through lots of generous friends and family, we are now at 90% of our month support!  This has truly been a faith journey for me as I've learned so much about trusting God.  He is always in control even when my faith is lacking.  Praise the Lord!  We are now on the 'home-stretch' of our support raising.  Just 10% to go, or roughly $650/month until we are fully funded.  If you'd like to help with the last bit, please let us know or you can donate online by going to www.teachbeyond.org and clicking the Donate button.  :)

I have been continually reminded of this verse lately:  Now to him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21

Mother's Day Sharing

Wanted to quickly inform everyone that we will be sharing about our ministry this Sunday, May 13 at St. John Mennonite Church in Pandora, OH at 9:45am.  Everyone is invited; if you need more details, please feel free to contact us!

April Update!

Hello again!  Hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the spring weather.  We have some exciting updates to share with everyone! 

First, we sold our house!  Hooray!  I have to confess, it was a little stressful and I (Anna) often choose to worry about things instead of trusting God.  Thankfully God is gracious and continues to provide in spite of my doubts.  We will be closing on June 11, so now we’re working on packing up our stuff and getting rid of our furniture.

Another big praise item: our church here in Toronto has officially approved us as missionaries and will be helping to provide a significant portion of our financial support.  Although we’re sad to leave our church family here, it’s wonderful to have their blessing and support.  Also, this means our current support level is 70%!  It’s amazing to see how much God has provided via our friends and family in such a short amount of time.  The last 30% still seems overwhelming at times, but we continue praying and trusting.

That brings us to our timeline.  This summer will be an exciting adventure of traveling for us.  We will be leaving Toronto around June 12 (shortly after we close the house and finish up other details).  We are then planning a big 2-month road trip across North America, which will involve visiting around friends and family and also attending a one week Orientation with TeachBeyond (our sending mission).  Our travel plans look something like this:  Toronto, Ohio, Northern Indiana, Chicago, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, Winnipeg, Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan), and Calgary via car (4000km!).  We will leave our car in Calgary with Clarence’s parents, then fly to Ohio.  After a few weeks in Ohio with Anna’s family, we plan to fly from there to Germany.  For those who live in any of these areas, drop us a line and we’ll try to arrange a visit!

We are hoping to fly to Germany around August 8^th.  However, we need to have 90% of our monthly support pledged before we can purchase our plane tickets.  The sooner we can purchase our plane tickets, the better, so we have made a goal to be at 90% support by May 20.  This means we need another $1300 of monthly pledged support.  Thank you so much to the many who have already joined our support team both in prayer and financially.  For others who would still like to join, we have attached another pledge form in case you misplaced the first one. We are looking for another 20-25 monthly supporters; if you would like to join this vision, please let us know!

SOLD!

Yeah!  Our house is sold!  I have to confess, the process was a little stressful for me (Anna).  Keeping the house clean with two active little boys was quite the challenge.  But most difficult was the waiting process; the 'what if's' that constantly plague my mind.  I have been learning about faith and trusting God.  He keeps showing me over and over that He has and will take care of us, but I still struggle with doubt somedays.  But right now I will focus on praising Him for bringing the right buyer at the right time.  Praise the Lord - our house is sold!  As Clarence said: no turning back now!  Our move to Germany is really happening; we can't stay here anymore!  ;)

God is Good

Hello again!  We are currently enjoying March Break Week (Austin has no school), including some very beautiful weather!  What a wonderful blessing that God delivered nice weather and we can be outside enjoying the time off of school.

We wanted to write a few updates about our move and our ministry.  First, a bit of clarification about our support raising.  Black Forest Academy (the school where we will be serving) does not pay any of the staff.  All staff are considered missionaries and must raise 100% of their own funds.  This includes all basic needs such as housing (the school does not provide any living accomodations), food, utilities, insurance, transportation, schooling for the kids, etc, etc.  As we mentioned before, the cost of living in Europe is quite high.  The amount of support we need to raise often feels overwhelming to us, but we know that God is amazing and able.  We continue to ask all of you to pray about joining our ministry through supporting us financially on a monthly basis. 

We are thankful that we have had some families already commit to supporting us monthly as well as several one time gifts!  Our church is in the process of deciding how much financial support they can give us as well.  As we have looked over our finances again, the amount needed does seem a little lower than we initially anticipated (we’re now estimating $6500 instead of $7000).  There are still a lot of unknowns, especially since our housing is not finalized yet, which is why the amount needed is still being adjusted.

On another note, we are getting ready to sell our house here in Toronto!  It feels a little scary selling our house, when we’ve just begun support raising.  But this is another big step of faith and trusting God.  Please pray that the showing and selling of our house will go smoothly.

 Finally, we wanted to mention that the website listed on our newsletter was incorrect.  The correct website for Black Forest Academy is:  www.bfacademy.com.  Thank you again for your love and support.  Please send us an email and let us know how you’re doing! 

God bless,

Clarence and Anna

Ewwww......Sickies

Well it's been a little over a month since the Lord has called us to our new ministry.  This weekend I (Clarence) was at our annual winter retreat with our high school students called Sno-Camp and over the last 6.5 years, it has never failed that I would be sick before the retreat but usually I am better by the time the retreat comes, except this year.  Though the retreat was lots of fun and a really enjoyable time, I bet that it would have been 10x better had I not had my illness.    What I didn't know was that back home, Anna was battling with illnesses at home with Silas vomitting and having diarrhea and then Austin had a fever this morning and then Anna had a stomach bug.  I am still recovering and who knows how long this will last, but I believe that the Lord will take care of us.  Needless to say we need a lot of prayers for our family to recover so that we can continue preparing for the journey that lies ahead.  Thank you to all of you who have followed us so far and please continue to pray for us especially for healing but also that the Lord would raise up people to join our adventure through their financial partnership. 

Take care and We'll Catch you later :)

Where we're going

Of course the short version is:  we're going to Black Forest Academy in Germany!  However, I thought we should take a little time to explain this more thoroughly. 

First of all, what is Black Forest Academy (BFA)?  BFA is an international boarding school serving primarily Missionary Kids (MKs) whose parents are working as missionaries in Europe, Asia, and Africa.  It is located in the Black Forest region of Germany, also known as Schwarzwald, in the far southwest corner; just a quick jaunt from the France and Swiss borders.  BFA plays a huge role in supporting missionary families by helping to educate and care for the children.  BFA follows a North America curriculum and aims to help prepare the students to attend college or university in North America.  Some of the students also come from famlies where the parent(s) work in international businesses or even in the military.

As mentioned in my last post, Clarence will be working as the Middle School Chaplain.  This basically means pastoring/shepherding the students in the Middle School, grades 6-8.  It includes organizing small groups, coordinating chapel services, teaching Bible classes, organizing Friday night outings, caring, listening, and praying.  A lot of the job description seems fairly similar to what he's been doing here in Toronto for the last 6.5 years as a youth pastor.  It's neat to see how God is allowing Clarence to keep using his gifts and passion to serve Him in a different area.  Clarence is excited about the new position, but of course sad to leave our church, and especially sad to say goodbye to so many youth adn adults he has invested in over the years.

I (Anna) will not have a specific role at the school.  Since the kids are still fairly young, my job will be primarily to care for them.  Austin will be attending German kindergarten part time, and Silas will be at home full time with me!  I'm looking forward to also seeing other ways I might get involved such as helping to care for other staff members and getting to know the students at the Middle School with whom Clarence will be working.

Where we've been

 A little background about us, especially for those who are just joining our journey and need a quick 'catch up'. 

Clarence and I (Anna) both went to Black Forest Academy (BFA) after graduating from college.  I went in 2002 and Clarence went in 2003, both to serve as Resident Assistants in the dorm.  So BFA in Germany is where we met, dated, got engaged, etc.  We left there in 2005, got married, and then moved to Toronto where Clarence has been working as a Youth Pastor at North York Chinese Baptist Church.  Honestly, neither of us ever expected to be working/attending a Chinese church, but we have found a wonderful church family here including great friends who care for us and our children.  Austin was born July 29, 2007 and Silas was born January 16, 2010. 

We always said that we would like to go back to BFA, someday.  Last summer an opportunity was presented to us to possibly return for a short-term position for a few months while working out details with some incoming staff members.   The opportunity ended up falling through, but we definitely felt this was God's way to nudging us and asking us if we were really serious about returning to BFA.  So, we began the application process last fall (2011), exploring various options and timelines of what would be a good fit for our family.  After lots and lots of prayer and discussions, Clarence has accepted the position as Middle School Chaplain, starting in the fall of 2012.  I will primarily be staying at home to care for the kids, and probably finding lots of other things to fill my time.  We both really excited about this chance to serve God in a new way and return to Germany.  More details on that in the next post . . .

A hop, skip and a jump...



This is our family.  Anna, Austin, Clarence and Silas.  Together we are embarking on a journey that we thought would happen later in life, but God had some different plans for us.  In August 2012 we will be travelling to the Black Forest located in Germany to serve missionary students at Black Forest Academy.  So maybe it's not quite a hop, skip and a jump, but definitely it will be a huge leap of faith as we follow the Lord and his calling.  We invite you to enter The Yau Zone and join us as we follow God together in this chapter of our lives.