25 years since Heidelburg

25 years ago this month, I returned from a summer with MCYM. It had been a year of perspective shift. I had gone to Italy, Greece, and Turkey, started to see a life spent overseas as possible, started dating Arianna (who was certain that was part of her future), and then spent a summer on the Heidelberg base with a group of military kids, hiked the Alps, and was returning to my senior year of college. . .

I hadn’t thought of that experience specifically in a while, but a week ago while talking with a visitor, we realized one of our connections was my mentor and supervisor in Heidelburg – he gave me Phil’s number and I reached out for the first time in a quarter century –

Here are our messages back and forth.

Hey Phil! So cool to make this connection! Arianna and I have been in Kijabe Kenya for the past 13 years, she’s a pediatrician and I’m gotten into fundraising for the hospital. I think it’s pretty safe to say my life would be completely different if I hadn’t spent the summer with you in Heidelberg. That opened my eyes to the possibility – and joy – of living overseas and joining in with Arianna’s dream to be a doctor in Africa. Thank you!!! 🙏

His response: Wow, David, this is amazing to hear. 30 years ago I joined Club Beyond as a summer intern in Ansbach, Germany in 1996. Today I will receive the mantle of leadership as the CEO of Club Beyond. I am amazed at what God can do in our lives. Please keep in touch. So proud of you and grateful to be a small part of your story.

That summer, I would run to the base library and use the 15 minutes allocated online to write updates home to Arianna. We would talk once a week on the phone using an international calling card. We said I love you for the first time over email from Germany to Atlanta where she was living around the corner from my family and working at the CDC.

That summer, we learned to communicate with a separation of time and space that feels foreign in this world of instant connection. Writing emails daily, asking deeper questions and watching our friendship deepen into something more. . .by the time I returned to America that August, I knew I wanted to marry her (although i didn’t tell her for a few months).

It’s interesting to think how life changing things become untold stories, and this week we were reminded of a life changing trip the week of its 25th anniversary. . .