Staying Connected…
“I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 (NASB)
This week for me has been a blur of activity for Jesus. In addition to helping at Bible Base Camp for Vacation Bible School, I have been spending a lot of additional time in God’s word preparing for the month that I will be gone in the Czech Republic. This has included two camp talks (Jesus is “The Way, The Truth, and the Life” and Jesus is “The vine”), four Sunday School lessons (evangelism, “kingdom thinking”, “our heavenly country”, and “Jesus our king”), and one devotion in Czech from Proverbs, chapter 22. With three days left between now and our departure, my pace will slow down a bit, with only two devotions and one blog left to go. Admittedly, there have been times this week that I felt a little bit overwhelmed by the volume of teaching material that I needed to produce, but it has also been good for me as well.
Smell Check
“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” 2 Corinthians 2:15 (New International Version)
In 11 days the mission team will be heading to the Czech Republic and we are all engaged in a frenzy of last minute preparations. For me, this period of preparation always takes on a specific smell. It is barely noticeable as I enter the house, but it gets stronger as I approach my office. Inside the my “mission headquarters”, boxes filled with supplies for the trip are sorted and stacked as they wait to be packed into duffel bags. The aroma of chocolate, candies and marshmallows is unmistakable and would be quite pleasant if it were not for one simple fact: cardboard. The acrid stench of cardboard permeates the entire atmosphere bringing to mind a Frankenstein concoction of musty wet leaves and sour milk. I fight the urge to hold my breath every time I enter the space.
Attracting Followers…
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise Him up on the last day” John 6:44 (NASB2020)
The time to leave for the Czech Republic is almost here! I cannot believe that in just 3 short weeks, I will be getting on an airplane to fly to the place and culture and people that I have been praying for, for two years.
Up to this point, my main involvement in Czech ministry has been leading the prayer teams for the short term trips. I have been unable to physically go to the Czech Republic for the first two years because of nursing school and starting my job as a nurse. But I am so thankful God provided me a way to still be a part of this ministry even though I could not physically go, and He has taught me so much about the importance of prayer through this! And even though I am now able to physically go to the Czech Republic, I still want to remember the importance of prayer in this ministry as I go on my journey.
The Lord Is…
(Written by: Holden Carson)
“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…” Exodus 34:6b NIV
WOW! Two years ago, I remember reading the blogs for the first Czech trip and not wanting to get too involved with our ministry in Czech…And now, here I am writing a blog post! We’re less than four weeks away, and I am about to go where God has laid my heart to be for a MONTH this summer — the Czech Republic! God has made a way for this to be possible even amid many factors that might have prevented it. This is what HE has done, and it is amazing!
Czech Mission 2024 – Important Update
“That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us!'” Acts 16:9 (NLT Version)
During Paul’s second missionary journey, he had some definite plans of what he would do. When he set out, his plan was simply to revisit the cities that he and Barnabas had preached at in their previous journey together. But Paul was also motivated by a heart to preach the good news of Jesus where it had not yet been heard. Eventually , he found himself at the seaport of Troas, where he had a vision of a man from Macedonia pleading to hear the Gospel.
Going…
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” Matthew 28:18-19a
This week we celebrate the send-off of Aidan Carson and Andrew Mickey. They will be serving all summer long as interns for Josiah Venture. We are excited for them as they go and are looking forward to seeing them soon when the rest of the Family Bible Church team arrives for training in the Czech Republic in just over one month (wow!).
Czech Summer Mission 2024 – Kingdom Thinking
“Then he [Jesus] said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38 (ESV)
I am constantly amazed at how God has been growing our relationship and ministry within the Czech Republic. It has only been about two years since our first short-term mission trip as a church…
December 19
Endings are hard. Saying goodbye always has a note of loss in it for me. The good that we experienced, the service that we performed, will fade into memory. The moments we had can never be recreated. Yet, if I think about it, this isn’t entirely true.
December 18
We continue in home stay accommodations through today (Dec 19). Yesterday Aidan and Andrew had a great side trip to a local school to teach in English classes. The rest of us had a pretty calm day recovering from the intensity of the weekend. In the evening, we all regrouped for a follow-up event with the youth group. It was another great time of fun and conversations with our mini-camp students as well as many that were unable to attend this past weekend.
December 17
— Sorry for those following along that this didn’t post yesterday, I’m not sure why. I hope you enjoy it today —
Yesterday we completed English camp. Morning started with our regular devotion and worship time, followed by breakfast and a quick camp meeting. The likeness of Pastor Andrew Carson (by prerecorded video) shared about Jesus as our Prince of Peace and wished us a Merry Christmas. English lessons filled up the rest of the time before a quick lunch and farewells. Parents came, students left, and the retreat center was left in much the same way it started. Empty rooms with stripped beds and chairs stacked atop tables gave little hint of the excitement of the previous 48 hours.