From Cowboys to Campus: Heidi’s Journey to Germany

Howdy!  (or hello if you prefer ),

my name is Heidi, and I am excited to develop international student ministry in Northwest Germany!  I just moved to the Gießen area from the United States this summer. 

Specifically, my heart is to grow communities of Jesus-followers who are passionate to know and share what it means to live as a part of the family of God – so that every student (German and international) gets an invitation to know Jesus and live forever changed!

A Little Bit About Me

If you didn’t catch it, I am from part of the US known for its cowboys  – originally, Wyoming (the cowboy state) and most recently Texas.  An ideal day for me probably includes coffee with God-Time, kayaking, curry with naan, good friends, a couple of puns, and a game of Settlers of Catan – sprinkled throughout with some deep conversations and wrapping up with tea and some C.S. Lewis or Tozer.  

While I am always excited to talk about culture (pop or otherwise), I am also a bit of a nerd – so if you’re up for talking about mathematics, classic literature, or philosophy, count me in!  But what I love most is how all of these areas point to Jesus.

HOW DID I GET HERE?

By plane, of course!  But really… While I was at university in the US, I ended up connecting with a campus ministry.  Within a few years, God had used it to radically change my life – I no longer hated people but loved them.  I no longer hated life but lived in hope.  I was no longer terrified of everything but had peace and knew my heavenly Father.  

I graduated with degrees in mathematics and secondary education – but more importantly as a whole person who had been healed by God.  Since then, I have gotten to share that invitation to be healed to high school students as a math teacher and to university students as a campus minister.  It has been so beautiful to see them encounter God and be transformed – and then become teachers, lawyers, medical workers, parents, and friends who invite those around them to know Jesus this way too.

Now, I believe God has asked me to help offer that same invitation here in Germany to the nations that are coming to the university campuses.  It is the invitation to belong in the family of God, to live in the freedom of the children of God, and to love others in a way that says “you belong here too.”  It is the invitation that changed my life, and that I believe Jesus is using to change eternity, starting right here in NW Germany.