Last night we arrived safely at our final destination in Phoenix Arizona. The travel yesterday was a welcome change from our trip to the Czech Republic. On our return journey, there were no significant flight delays or missed connections. Our layovers were comfortable, without seeming excessively long, and the team enjoyed our last day together on mission celebrating what God has done, encouraging each other, and looking forward to home.
Reflecting backward on the trip and the ministry year, there are a few things that i want to share with you as I close this blog
First, God has been incredibly faithful in the ministry this year. We have helped to put on 3 different English camps, hosted at least 5 different follow up events with students, invested deeply in the lives of over 120 young people, hosted missionaries from the Czech Republic, and grew in mutual appreciation of the Czech church that we partner with. God has provided for every need through the generosity of his people.
Perhaps of equal importance, there are at least 17 people from Family Bible Church whose lives have been changed forever. You see, it is impossible to grow in Christian love for the people we serve overseas and not also grow in love for the people God has surrounded us with here. Czech missions have left their mark on the hearts of all who have gone, and I see it in the way many of them are serving at FBC..
Maybe the last change that I see with the ministry is in how God has changed me. To be more effective at connecting in Czech culture, I have needed to learn to be more transparent with my thoughts and emotions – to let people see how God matters to me, a real person with struggles, joys, and pains. Americans have been described as having peach personalities – we have soft (superficial) outsides to our personalities that allow us to form many shallow friendships easily – but beware, we have a hard pit in the middle, that only a few can crack through. By allowing Jesus to crack open my peach-pit heart, he has shown me how to better connect with all the people he has put in my care.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. There will be a special streamed event where the team shares more about the mission trip. More information on this will be communicated separately.