The Goings on of the GO Conference

Things are going very well at the GO Conference and we are thoroughly enjoying meeting and connecting with new and old OMers and networking for future outreach opportunities around the world. It is exciting to be with 450 other OMers, 250 of them brand new and just heading off to new fields.

As usual, we are in a different category then most and never have an easy answer for the common questions floating around a conference like this. Where do you come from? Where are you going? Common answers to the latter are: Bosnia, the Ships, Chili, Nepal, etc. We, on the other hand, have a bit longer answer that goes something like this: "We are from and based in the states, but go...everywhere. We have actually been with OM for a year now. We work under OM Arts and have a performance based outreach where we travel the world using the unicycle as a tool to share Christ." And then we have to explain how that works.

We had a spontaneous blessing yesterday. Some of the leaders we just met asked us to be one of the prayer stations during the night of prayer. Everyone went from station to station to learn about a ministry field and pray for them. Dustin shared a bit of unicycling and about our ministry and then people prayed for us. We did this 4 times as groups came and went. It was special to receive prayer and share about OM Arts, offer ourselves as resources to other fields and inspire young missionaires to explore creative ways God can use them.

Kazakhstan okay. Papers good, you may enter.

We were blessed to spend our time between TeenStreet and the GO Conference with our friends, the Sachs Family, just outside Stuttgart Germany. They welcomed us into their home and made us feel like family. We had an opportunity to share with their church about our ministry with OM Arts. The church blessed us very generously and we are so thankful for their partnership with us.

After a 7 hour train ride on August 19 from the Sachs in Germany to Delden Holland, we arrived at de Kroeze Danne for the GO Conference. We were greeted immediately with the words, "Your passports are here!" Whew! We are praising the Lord, especially after we found Kazakhstan Visas inside!! God is good!

Day trip to Frankfurt for Kazak visas

Well, after a several hundred dollar day trip to the Consulate of Kazakhstan in Frankfurt Germany for our visas we have no feeling of satisfaction, no visas and now no passports.

From everything we read online, getting a Kazakh visa in Germany requires a personal visit to a consulate. So, on August 13 we left Sharnhauser Park at 5:19a to get to the consulate in Frankfurt before they opened at 9a. About 20 other people had the same idea, and we all gathered to wait for the gate to open.

Once entering, we stood in one of the lines and upon arriving at service window A we were directed to the back of the line at window B. We waited in line again and upon arrival at window B the person could not understand English (we don't know German or Russian) so we ended up being helped by the person from window A because they knew English and weren't helping anyone. Once we turned in our paperwork they said "Thank you, come back in 7 days." It took some time to help them understand that we could not return on the 20th of August to pick up our visas since we were leaving the country for Holland on the 18th of August. In the end, we had to go to the post office to get a postage paid envelope to leave at the consulate so they can send us our documents in Holland.

Please pray with us that our visa applications will be accepted and that our documents will find us safely and quickly in the mail!

Despite our disappointment about the wait for getting our visas, we still saw some neat old buildings and the European Central Bank in Frankfurt and had a pretty good day.

"Now this is TeenStreet"

We ended the week of TeenStreet with a UniShow. We had a great turn out with the show in the round and multi-level. It was great to be able to challenge so many students at once and show those who worked so hard in the workshops how God can use their unicycling, or any other gift God has given them.

After the program on Friday we connected with OM leaders from other countries who are interested in having us come to minister with them. One comment we heard about the UniShow afterward was, "Now this is TeenStreet!"

We are so thankful for our superstar leaders, Ewout, Ali and Gideon who set up the workshops and fully organized this last event. They were very thoughtful and thorough and helpful each step of the way and we wouldn't have made it through the week without them!

But wait...there's more (unicycles)!

Even after Dustin converted his double wheel into a freestyle unicycle, we realized four standard unicycles were not enough for all the interest we had in the workshops. We decided to order four more cycles from Unicycle.com Germany. The shipment arrived just in time for our Wednesday workshop and once we assembled the new ones, all 8 unicycles were in constant use. We hope to sell a few of the newly purchased ones before we leave here.

We will have a UniShow performance Friday night to cap off the week. Please pray that through Dustin's testimony and message many students will be challenged.

Workshops and Playshops

We continue the daily workshops for students at TeenStreet. The workshop is supposed to be from 2:15p to 3:30p. However, each day the steady stream of students have kept the unicycles in use until 6p when we finally have to put them away so we can eat dinner. It has been fun to see kids come back determined each day and make progress.

A few Swiss students brought their unicycles with them and have had fun playing on the structures with Dustin. One of the guys broke off his seat in the process but that didn't keep Dustin from riding it.

iMpossible...or not?

Dustin had a brief appearance in the main session, called iMpossible because that is this year's theme based on Hebrews 11:6. He rode up and down the bleacher stairs as part of an illustration of what one might consider impossible to do. After that he rode an inverted table down the stairs with a couple other guys. He is in the crowd picture in the middle where the spotlight is...just trust me, he really is there!

Each session is spoken in English and translated from stage into German and into 11 more languages transmitted to wireless headsets. You can see the interpreters hard at work back stage in their cubicles.

Dustin was also featured in the Monday newsletter, also translated into many languages (click on the picture below to read the article). It doesn't take much to be a teenagers hero. Just be a world champion unicyclist, for example, and get a little publicity. He is getting more popular around here by the day and he's using it to encourage kids and challenge them in their walk with Jesus.

TeenStreet Begins

Today was the first official day of TeenStreet Germany 2009. The convention center grounds are full of excited and energetic teenagers and it is beautiful!

We did our first workshop today with a limited number of unicycles thus a limited number of students. A few kids brought their own unis and had some fun honing their skills while the others persevered through the beginning wobbles of their first rides. Dustin shared his testimony with them and gave them a taste of what unicycling looks like after 27 years of riding to inspire them.

At the worship service tonight it was neat to see the students expressing their love for God in creative ways.

Thanks for your prayers for our ministry here at TeenStreet. We need them as we ask God to use us how He sees fit!