Noémie has a father who is French and her mother is German. She is fluent in English, German and French. As a Young Life Amicus exchange student in 2002-2003, she lived in Colorado Springs with a host family. Through Amicus, foreign exchange students like Noémie live for one school year with American host families who want to open their homes and hearts to them.

At the end of Noémie’s exchange year, she attended Rockbridge with the rest of the ’03 Amicus class. In cabin times at camp, she was very ambivalent about who Jesus is and seemed indifferent about the whole issue of God in her life. My wife and I (who were leaders for the Amicus students) sent her back to Germany with only our prayers to accompany her in her faith journey.

Noémie continued taking steps toward the cross after her return to Germany, even though she had no church, no Young Life ministry and no Christian friends there for her. Noémie’s Amicus representative back in Colorado Springs, Marilyn Phillips, continued pursuing a relationship with her and didn’t give up on her. My wife and I moved to Munich, Germany, in March 2005 to develop leaders like Noémie all over Germany and Europe.

Then, in the summer of 2005, Noémie decided to serve on summer staff at Trail West. As she experienced the community there at camp, her heart caught fire, and she quickly developed an unquenchable spiritual appetite. There her summer staff coordinators taught her how to read the Bible, how to journal and how to pray. She was starving for spiritual guidance, direction and community, and she found that at Trail West.

Since her return from summer staff at Trail West, we’ve visited Noémie and involved her in the Amicus leadership team. She has shared her testimony with other German kids at Young Life events in Stuttgart, Germany. She raised money for her round-trip ticket from Germany to come back to camp and lead the Amicus class of ’06 through their final week of camp at Rockbridge in Virginia. She is excited about helping lead at our monthly “First Friday,” which is our Campaigner meeting in the Stuttgart area. She doesn’t want other returning Amicus students to have to do it alone, as she did. She is doing what her Young Life leader, Marilyn, and many others did for her — sacrificially loving kids, not giving up on them and telling them of God’s incredible love.

“I feel compelled to tell these young adults about the grace of God and show them the impact He can have on us and how wonderful He is,” wrote Noémie in a letter she sent to raise support for her trip to the United States this summer.

God is moving powerfully in the lives of European teenagers through the ministry of Young Life Amicus, and European teenagers are catching the vision of reaching this continent for Christ. Amicus is not just an exchange program, but a “leadership engine” that will produce global (Noémie speaks three languages), flexible, risk-taking leaders all over the world. Serving as a host family or as a Young Life leader to an Amicus student can impact the faith of that student, as well as the faith of others who are a part of the student’s community at home.