Summer snapshots

Summer time is always different from the rest of the year. It is mission oriented and there is so many opportunities to spend time with people. For us as ministry team it was a time when we were serving mostly with our local churches in our regions. And it was also time to rest and relax. This is a collection of our journal notes.

RACHEL
In June I went to Austria to continue my studies at TCM International Institute where I took another class for my M.Div. Theology and Practice of Christian Counseling taught by Dr. Paul Boatman. It was very practical and I could learn a lot of new things and could spend wonderful two weeks with Eastern European students.
One of my passions is to help single women and throughout years I could stay next to a few single women. This summer I went to a wedding of one of them to England and I was excited by being able to see how wonderful plan God has for this woman and how she is happy to enter this new season of her life! God is good to give as the opportunity to see the harvest of our care and prayers, praise be to Him!

Children´s Christian Summer Camp was an event that I considered to be my holiday. This time I did not work with kids but helped in the kitchen. I was tired physically but greatly encouraged and rested mentally. The kids camp was Indian and all kids learned not only some intersting things about native Americans but also heard a missionary story each day. And four kids decided t follow Christ! It was worth it and I could sense God´s presence and tenderness at the camp among kids and the wonderful team.
I finished my summer by a family event – my younger brother´s wedding in a castle. It was quite difficult for us because he did not marry a believer but it is my prayer that God would meet both of them on their way and show them His great love and give them His salvation. I believe He is greater than our hopes and desires so I continue to lift my brother and his wife to Him.

JANA
This was my first summer with our baby girl Klara. Being a mom makes things a lot different including ministry. Especially different challenging situations help me to see how God is working. When we are in charge of many things or someone close has a problem or when we are just overwhelmed – then I experience the great power of God because I am finally forced to give him control as I realize that I can’t work it out on my own. I experience God’s power when I pray with someone for specific people and specific problems. For example for people at our church English camp.

The most restful time for me was to be at home with no schedule. Sometimes going somewhere for a holiday can bring stress and it is more refreshing for me to stay home without meeting people and having responsibilities other than taking care of Klara. And when my husband or my parents help me with Klara and I can take a nap, read or just do what I need at home, that is really relaxing.

ZUZKA
I spent my vacation with my friends from Evagelical Pentecostal Church of Croatia in Pula. Everytime I am there the Lord inspires me with some story of local people. One story I heard this year was transforming for me. It reminded me of Noah building the ark even though no one belived his story about the flood.
There was a man named Nevio. The Lord put old and sick people on his heart. He felt he should build a home for them. In the begining he was alone for this plan. Just him and the Lord. People around doubted his intentions but some prayed. One day Nevio was given an old house in Grandići – a former school. This house needed a lot of reconstruction. Nevio believed and kept praying. He had a house and he had a date for grand opening. He didn’t have money and workers. So he started alone. Soon a few volunteers from church started to help him. Then he got a mail from France from a group of seniors who wanted to help. They came as a work team and made a difference through manual work and buying some tools. Then a team from Czech appeared to help. I was a part of this team. We helped with painting the walls. Still the house wasn’t ready for opening and the date was close. On the last day before the grand opening a big number of people, especially the youth, came to achieve the impossible – the house wasn’t ready at all and local construction inspector wouldn’t give the authorisation for the use of the house on the next day. The last 24 hours people worked as hard as they could and the Lord blessed their effort. When the inspector came, he didn’t find anything that could forbid his approval. The house was ready and approved.
I was struck when I heard all the story. When I was painting the walls a couple months ago, I had no idea about the big picture of this story I heard this summer. I thought I was just painting a wall. Nothing special. But I was a part of an amazing story from Nevio’s life. When the Lord starts something, it may seem impossible or hopeless at first, but He will find people who are open to hear and to act , He will provide and He will finish what He had planned. He is almighty and faithful! I’ve heard that Nevio has another house in Pula – for poor people who can’t afford to rent a place to live. So the story goes on.

LUCIE

This summer God reminded me again how amazing it is that we can share the Good News and our lives in Christ with so many people around us. I realized it one Sunday morning in our church when I was worshiping and our auditorium looked pretty empty because a lot of people were gone. During summer almost every Sunday part of the community was gone to some camp. I was overwhelmed by the feeling of the privilege to bear God’s image and to bear His message about victory in Christ to the darkest places of human hearts. It is so easy to think that it is just another summer full of camps and activities and it is very easy to lose the excitement and the feeling of something great, special and supernatural happening. Without getting the divine drive it is really hard to serve the Lord. This summer I was serving at the soccer camp for kids and I led an English camp for 20somethings. Both camps went really well. Especially my discussion group times at the English camp were very intense and Bible centered. I hope the non-believers experienced a good balance of Truth (which can hurt and provoke) and love (which heals and attracts). I pray I could be overwhelmed more often.
To relax I went on a canoeing trip for 3 days and also spend time with my family at my grandma’s house. My favorite time of rest was just to hang out with my closest friends. We went blueberry picking and visited Holasovice which is a UNESCO registered landmark. I also had a chance to dress up a little as I was a maid of honor at my best friend’s wedding.

LENKA

Summer for me begun with our family vacation to Croatia in June. I love swimming in the sea and playing in the beach with our kids. God gave us beautiful and restful week. And God was speaking to me also. The owner of apartment we rented was a Christian. But I didn’t know that first. When I met him I saw an older man just in old black sweatpants, some teeth were missing. Not somebody you would like to be friend with J. But as begun to speak with him he showed as a very kind and peaceful man. One evening he was telling his story how God found him. He told how even as a non-Christian he heard Holy Spirit telling him that he should go to Evangelistic Christian meeting. And he obeyed even though all circumstances were against him. Than he was also telling how God speaks to him now and teaching him that he must lose his own ego. Then he will be closer to God and to people. As we had a chance to observe him the whole week I realized this simple man is so close to God. And it was so obvious that his ego is very small and his heart opened to people and to God. In his apartment which was in the midst of building he had his Bible wrapped in Newspaper to not get dirty. The whole Bible was underlined and with notes. And the lesson for me? It doesn’t matter how you look in people eyes and how you do in world’s measures. The only thing which matters is your close relationship with God and obedience and love for Him. Then you are most beautiful and happy person in the world. Then God can use you to serve Him and love people. But most important – “you should lose your own Ego” “God help me…I want that!”
I have lost my best non-Christian friend. Don’t be afraid, though. The reason is that after five and half years of our friendship she turned in my Christian friend! It happened after this year’s family English camp. The whole week at the Camp was a time for me when I saw God in work through his people. And we all felt His presence and mercy with us.
Matthew 16:25 "For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it."

CBV Conference 2009

Three April days reserved for a conference of Czech leaders and Christians in ministry were too short to fully enjoy the program and digest all the information, testimonies, social activities and moments of prayer and worship. Two seminars were offered to the conference participants in the morning teaching blocks– „The Church“ (about the Bride of Christ) and „I choose you“ (about marriage). The Women’s ministry team (Ráchel, Jana, Zuzka, Lucka and Lenka) met historically for the first time at one place! So you can finally see a picture of us all on our blog :). We were excited to have a chance to contribute to the program by a Friday workshop named „Home Alone with God“ on spiritual goal setting and a Saturday afternoon called „Extra for Women“. Our guest teacher Amy Ellenwood focused her message on developing intimacy with God. The women were inspired by the verses from Hosea chapter 2 and Luke chapter 10 and spent important time openly discussing in small groups and sharing their hearts.

We also had a good dinner with delicious raspberry cake for the dessert. Some younger women were a little envious of the men group spending the afternoon outside playing rough games and having a barbecue but all of us could experience assurance of Christ’s love and his deep desire for our undivided hearts and souls. We wrapped up the evening together in worship and prayer to be wise enough to chose what won’t be taken away from us as Mary did and not to pursue other „lovers“ but the One who is our Savior and eternal Husband.

New translation of the Czech Bible

Even though news of Obama in Prague has been getting a lot of coverage here, there is some more important news. The first new Czech translation of the Bible has been released a week before Easter. Czech scholars have been translating the Bible for over 15 years into the only available modern language translation of Scripture in this country. The release has been covered by news shows and radio shows. It seems that Czech academic scholars are excited, curious, and even supportive of the work. Strangely non-Christians and atheists are very excited that the Bible is now translated and available for them to read in their modern tongue. Please take a look at their website to learn more about it. www.Bible21.cz (click the British flag on the top right to get English).

During Easter a large crowd of people gathered at the historic Bethlehem Chapel to hear readings of the Bible from some of the most popular Czech actors and actresses. In addition to this event there were over 70 cities throughout the country participating in a Bible release and public reading of the Scripture. Many of these were hosted in conjunction with the secular government at the city public libraries. It is so exciting to see God's word finding a way into the Czech culture. Since this Bible translation isn't connected to any church people have a lot of willingness to listen to what it has to say.

Please join us in celebrating and also praying that God would bring His word into the hearts of hundreds of thousands of Czech people.