Danny and Manuela

A year in review

As staff we met at EMventure for our yearly Staff Prep Day.

It was a great day with lots of important information, fun games and delicious food. In the evening during our praise and worship time we looked back and thanked God for all his great works during the past year.

Here is a little abridgement from our praise and worship time:

We are thankful to our Father in Heaven, who gave us another good Bible school year 2010-2011 where we had the joy of seeing lives changed.

We are thankful for students who had an open heart and hunger to learn and to develop a good and strong relationship to God. We are thankful as well as for their servant hearts.

Praise be to God that He entrusted us with 47 Students and a full Discovery course and that we had 60 students in the Spring School.

Praise be to God who changes lives

We are thankful to our Father in heaven how He works in our outreaches:

A Powerhouse youth, who started hearing about God two years ago from a Holsby student at that time, accepted Christ as his Savior last year with one of the Holsby staff who went there on outreach.

We are thankful for the Slovenia mission trip where over 30 students heard the full Gospel.

We are thankful the basketball team could play in the league again and share testimonies with all other 5 teams.

Praise be to God our Father for the work we could do this summer to improve our grounds and buildings and that we had the money to do so:

- Renovating the bathrooms in Brunnsgården

- Finishing almost four rooms in Ekhaga

- Painting two buildings

- Starting the path behind the Chapel area

- Rejoicing that there were no accidents

– Giving the ropes course area a nice, new look, and a lot of little things to make the houses and grounds look better

Praise be to God our Father who is able to do far more than we imagine.

Praise be to God our Father in heaven for the birth of the twins Huxley and Hazel and for the birth of Oliver and for their healthy development.

We are very thankful for the groups which we had this summer.

Stopping and looking on back on the year was really good. There were so many things we had already forgotten. To stop and ponder about the things God has done in the past year truly made us thankful and brought excitement for the year to come.

The new students arrived

Little by little the new students arrived on Friday. Everything is new and many of them have still jet lag. For the fall we have 46 students, 21 of them from Canada, which is an unusually high percentage of students from the same country. Others are from the States, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Romania, England/Thailand and Japan.

Traditionally we hike to the ski hill on one of the first days after the students arrive. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed walking through the forest up to the mountain top. It always is a good opportunity to learn the names and get familiar with the new faces.

Together in our family groups we went through the high ropes course and did the giant swing.

We asked our new family members to introduce themselves to you. Here you go:

My name is Austin Huber and I am a Canadian, born in Alberta but raised in Saskatchewan.  I just graduated high school from a town of 700 people (loved high school), which makes me 18 years old. I love to play sports (any and every kind of sport) but my favorite is hockey and soccer comes in a close second. I love hanging with friends whether its gaming, in the city, movies or just hanging out. I love to joke around with people and laugh and something that is unique about me is that I wear toques year round.

Hi! My name is Bethany Cameron. I`m 18 years old from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I love going on walks and spending time outside. I`m so happy to be here at Holsby and I`m looking forward to seeing what God has planned for me for the next few months. My first few weeks here have been amazing. I love this school and all the people here.

Hey my name is Joel Pompu, I’m from Saskatchewan, Canada, and I’m 18 years old.  I play a lot of sports but my favorite is soccer. I have been playing drums for 7 years and I really enjoy it. My favorite hockey team is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Something unique about me is that I have worked at a honey farm for the past 5 summers producing honey.

Hi, my name is Kristin. I am 18 and I am from Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada. I am excited to be in Sweden this year and to learn more about God and to spend time with other Christians. I like sunny weather and spending my time with friends and family!

Hej!
I am Melanie Scholl, I am 20 years old and come from Germany (near Stuttgart).
I am excited to be here to fellowship with God and Christians from around the world.
It’s great that Holsby is surrounded by forest. I love being outside and do sports outdoors, that is why I chose to take part in the Discovery program.
I am looking forward to the months ahead.

Hey! My name is Josh (or Joshua) and I`m from Washington State, USA. I`m 18 years old and I have 6 siblings: four brothers and two sisters. I love cold weather, skiing, and wearing beanies, so winter is naturally my favorite season. I love seeing the snow falling on a cold winter day and watching it build up on buildings, trees, and form deep drifts. It`s like watching God paint a picture before my eyes! I`m excited for my year at Holsby, meeting new people, and seeing what God has in store for me. If you ever want to meet me, just look for the boy playing around in the snow!

Hello. I`m Alfred and I am from Sweden. Last year as a student was a great blessing for me, so this year the school accepted me to work as staff with maintenance and the discovery program. I`m really excited for that and expect a year of further growth. I really enjoy sports, music, the outdoors and I`m always up for adventure.

New neighbours

Since yesterday we have new neighbours. Jonathan and Trista moved in above us together with their 4 month old twins Hazel and Huxley. We are looking forward to many great years ahead sharing a house.

Brad and Cece together with Kayley and Oliver, who used to live above us, moved a few houses down the road.

Last Friday we had our all student canoe trip. It was great to catch up with Todd Kramlich, who was this week’s guest teacher. He used to be the principal when we were students 7 years ago. Crazy how time flies!

It was a gorgeous day and especially Manuela enjoyed being out of the office, getting some exercise and enjoying the beautiful creation all around.