Paul & Beth Kostner Newsletter (Fall 2020)

Dear Friends, Family and Former Team Members,

This was the first summer in 50 years that Teen Missions has not sent out teams and we survived! There were many moments of “missing it” as we would walk through the Boot Camp property—we missed seeing the Big Top tents; we missed seeing everyone standing in line for meals; we missed the classes being held all over the property; we missed seeing and hearing the kids running the Obstacle Course every morning; we missed the evening rallies with music and speakers; but most of all, we missed the kids.

Despite not running our program this summer, the Promotions Department ran a program called #MissionHere. Over 100 signed up to participate, including a few who had never been a part of Teen Missions. The participants received a packet with a T-shirt, devotion materials and materials to aid their evangelism efforts. There were weekly zoom calls and even contests. From the reviews, this ministry was a success.

Teen Missions has developed a new website which involved setting up a new registration program and a new finance/donation program, among other things. I am learning how to put in the registrations in a new way. I won’t admit it to the computer geeks, but it is so much easier to input information. Now, if I can just remember WHERE to input that information...

Paul and I were supposed to be traveling to Lithuania, Nepal and India this month to set up new teams and visit our base in India. But...we cannot travel to those places YET. We hope to go sometime in the early spring.

However, we have been staying busy. Registrations have been coming in since the beginning of June (we already have over 180 registered!), and we were able to get started earlier with putting together everything needed for the participants. We have also been scanning all of the old registrations and we are up to the years of 2000+! It has been so much fun to look at our “younger and skinnier” selves and seeing our children as babies on Prayer Cards. The office and grounds are looking so much nicer also. Everyone continues to work hard and so far, we have all been protected from the coronavirus. 

Paul is starting to secure the travel for the 2021 teams and he is also starting to place leaders. We are praying that most of the leaders who signed up for 2020 will be able to lead in 2021. Please pray for godly leadership on all the teams and that we will have at least four leaders per team. 

I have put on a new hat. I was asked to coordinate our Bible school program (BMW) here at Teen Missions. I was the BMW Coordinator during part of the 90’s, but that was a LONG time ago! It was exciting to see 10 students (five guys and five girls!) arrive on September 7 to begin classes on the 8th. They seem to be a REALLY good group of students and they have already been a blessing in my life. They are enjoying their classes and their afternoon work in various departments. To be honest, they have helped with the hole in my heart of not having a team this past summer and for that I am thankful. There have been some positive changes in the school—new mattresses, some policy and grade changes and a couple of new teachers and they seem to be adapting well. Depending on the cost, in January we hope to renovate our former Print Shop into a BMW Center, complete with dorms, bathrooms, laundry facilities, study and music rooms and lounges. Please pray that these students will continue to be unified as a student body and that they will grow spiritually. Please pray for more students to take advantage of this free Bible school education.

Our children are doing well. Lindsay continues to love being an “Adoption Specialist” in Orlando and was able to work, despite the Covid-19 lockdowns. Colton is taking a break from school this semester and continues to work at a local restaurant. In addition, he is editing some videos for a friend. Danae worked at the local Target in the spring and summer. She was able to transfer to the Target in Naperville where she is living with four of her roommates from this past semester at Wheaton. She started a job this week at Compass, a mortgage company in the Naperville area. She will be a “post closing” specialist. She is excited about this new endeavor. She was able to purchase a “new to me” Ford Escape in August and we feel much better about her having a reliable vehicle, especially in the inclement weather up there. We were able to help her move into her apartment and meet her roommates again which was a blessing! BJ has been working at Discount Tires for the last couple of months. He was recently contacted by a local engineer who has asked him to work with him as an “Aerospace Technician”. He officially started there today. The company will help him go back to school to get a degree in this field. Needless to say, with living on the Space Coast, there are many jobs of this kind in the area. Please pray that they will seek the Lord in every area of their lives and for their health and safety. I thought it could be tough when they were children, but it seems to be much harder as they become adults. God is working on my “trusting Him” during this time in their lives!

On the home front, we are in the middle of a kitchen remodel that we have been thinking about doing for about 30 years... We were able to purchase some used cabinets at a reasonable price and Paul changed the footprint of most of the kitchen—he has had fun placing the cabinets on paper and then changing the layout several times. We are thankful to have our Honduras Coordinator, Chico, here in the States for a time. He is a superb “handyman” who is a licensed electrician, but can also do plumbing and everything else we need. Chico is very detailed in the work he does. We are thankful for not only his expertise, but also his servant’s heart. Our next big project (WAY down the road) will be windows and then flooring. 

Thank you so much for your faithfulness in praying for us and supporting us.
We continue to love serving the Lord here and we pray that we are able to for many more years. We couldn’t do it without you, so thank you!!!!

In Christ,

Paul, Beth, Colton, Danae and BJ Kostner