Kristiansen Family Euro Missions

This is a little window into our lives right now and the process and progress toward missions in Europe. Thanks for reading!

Lars & Maria


From Lars:

Yesterday afternoon our little family was listening to Pandora on our micro speakers but the sound of Irish music was enough to make even a Danish man tap his foot to the beat. Maria was not sure what to think when I requested the “Battlefield Band” to be put on. It does not sound so jolly. However I remembered hopping on a ferry from Esbjerg to Fanoe in Denmark to enjoy this great band. I found myself in a room full of senior citizens who were extremely ready for Battle…………great memory. We are trying to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for life in Northern Ireland so why not try the Battlefield Band. Who knows, maybe this band is really not Irish as I remember….they could be Scottish and this experience would mess us up when we are arrive in N. Ireland!

Most of my time throughout the week is spent with Vecinos Coffee Gallery in downtown Muncie. My job is to learn as much as I can about running a coffeehouse so that we can take that to Europe with us. We don’t think that a coffeehouse is going to happen in Newcastle but we can see a Lars version of Vecinos down the road. I am learning a lot about myself in this process. People ask me if I like what I do and you will find that my answer varies from hour-hour sometimes. It is hard for me to be squeezed into a new mold and a different pace. I have been selling $2000+ chairs and tables and now I am peddling $2.02 ‘cups of the day.’ I love talking with people and it is hard for me when I can’t continue that conversation I was having due to business.

When I am not working with coffee………..I have come to enjoy reading books again after 20 years of inactivity. Sure, I read books before, but now I am looking forward to a new book, and it is all thanks to my sweet wife. The kids get funnier by the day and I just love watching them interact with each other. Wrestling is becoming part of daily life as well as pretending to be a dinosaur, donkey, monkey or even a turkey. Google Sketchup is my faithful friend and I get some of my strange ideas sketched so that they don’t burn a hole in my brain.



From Maria:

My Mom life consists of taking care of the boys, getting Luca to preschool three days a week, enjoying time with Silas, reading lots of kids books, meal preparation and shopping, attending a mom’s group, activities with Luca in the afternoon, praying for God’s grace in parenting and protection over my children.

My Wife life consists of managing bills and schedules, helping Lars with homegroup, learning to dream again about the future,nightly prayer time, the occasional and savored date, European mission planning, making steps for healthy living and healthy changes, and enjoying one another’s company.

My Maria life consists of soaking up as much time with my precious friends as possible, lots and lots of reading (I read 40 books last year), taking pictures, scrapbooking. I started running in the fall and hope to start that back up again once there isn’t ice on the ground and stinging cold temperatures.

Whereas my roles are not separate in my daily life, they are all important to who I am and I have learned that a good balance of all three areas really helps me to be ME! I feel a lot of joy in my life now and am thankful to God for such a great family and friends and a powerful, Loving heavenly Father. I look forward to continuing to serve him and see how he makes us usable in missions in Europe.





From Luca (age 4 ½):

“I want to go to Ireland play on the jump castle and tell people about Jesus.”



From Silas (age 2):

When asked what Ireland is like: “Water, more water”

At 2pm when he still was not snoozing: “Don’t wanna take nap. I go Ireland.”