29 / 36
Todd
(’89, ’93)
& Debbie
(’90, ’93)
Kramlich
“That’s Why”
Todd and Debbie Kramlich departed for the mission field with
their children in 1993, and for 16 years worked with Bible
college students, mostly in Sweden. In 2009, they moved
to Germany to work with the education-based ministry
TeachBeyond.
Life had gone pretty smoothly for them until this time of
transition. Their children, who had been fully immersed in
Swedish culture and schools, had to switch to German schools
where they were often the only foreigners in their classes
and became an easy target for bullying. In addition, their
youngest child was often in and out of the hospital as she
suffered from seizures and other illnesses. Their six years in
Germany included a house fire, car theft, 100 overnights in
the hospital, 12 ambulance rides, a helicopter evacuation, and
great financial stress. Currency fluctuation resulted in a loss of
equity in their home and they were suddenly underwater with
their mortgage. They even had to take on a cleaning job for
two years to earn money for a furnace for their house.
In Sweden, the family “looked pretty together,” but in
Germany people jokingly called them the “Job family” as they
were in constant crisis. Rather than being strong and able to
minister to others, Debbie and Todd often felt pathetic, weak
and unable to give to anyone.
In 2014, the Kramlichs were forced to leave Germany for
one year to honor a Social Security law. Wanting to keep
the children in German schools, they heard about a German
school in Thailand where they could continue with the
same curriculum. Over a year later, the children are thriving
and finding friendships in the German school, and Todd is
loving his work as a counselor at Cornerstone Counseling
Foundation, a place where missionaries from all over Asia
come for a time of intense counseling, allowing them to return
to their place of service. Walking through challenging times
in ministry has given Todd and Debbie a greater empathy and
sensitivity to those who hurt.
Debbie once attended a conference where the theme of one
of the sessions was, “That’s Why.” The speaker went through
her history of some 40 years in ministry and shared story
after story of how difficult times, years later, turned out to be
blessings in disguise. It was these moments where she could
look back and say, “Oh, that’s why . . . “ She learned from
experience not to despair in the hard times, but to trust in
God that one day she would understand, “that’s why.”
Todd and Debbie are both experiencing this to some degree
in Thailand. As Todd walks beside people who are going
through deep struggles, the Kramlich family’s past challenges
have prepared them to care for those who are hurting. They
are also seeing that their hard times were not “wasted times”
and that God also brought their family closer together in a
way not possible if life had gone smoothly. Debbie says: “we
are slowly learning to be thankful for these difficult times as
we begin to see a bit of the “That’s Why.” As the Apostle Paul
wrote:
God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He
comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.
When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the
same comfort God has given us. (II Cor. 1:3-4)
Todd
Joya
Seth
Ian
Levi
Gracelyn
Debbie
Tyler
Mercy
29
CIU Today
www.ciu.eduALUMNI PROFILE