team Strakonice

Jozef and I looking really cool...I hope you can read his t shirt, cuz it's funny. Jozef is a student at an economics university in Prague and is the youth leader for Strakonice.

Alca and Martin Pospisil. Martin is a financial consultant and Alca serves in B-Kam (B for Bohemia). They are Strakonice's mama and papa.








Okay, if you click on this map you can see where everything is: Strakonice between Plzen and Ceske Budejovice (SW), and Cesky Tesin is to the southeast of Ostrava (NE).

welcome to this world, Carter Jeffrey Cox!

Megan and Tom have their second little boy as of yesterday morning! Congratulations Coxes and I can't wait to see all of you in real life...I love you all very much!

Not that I'm biased, but the people in my family have the cutest babies :)

Skupinka/small group

Darja, Natalka, Eunika, Aja, Marzka, Noemi, me and Lucka on the bottom (she was a guest at some groups).

These girls have been my pride and joy this school year! Aren't they beautiful? And they're amazing--these 15-16 year olds are involved in 2 different church plants, sharing the gospel with their friends, meeting with other Christian friends to pray for their schoolmates, serving in Sunday schools and youth clubs, and because of them 3 other girls came to the Lord this year. I have loved getting to know them this year and it's been a privilege to feed them. We went through Colossians, based on material that was presented at our JV fall conference. They memorized verses and did homework and laughed and prayed together. I'll miss them, but I'm also confident that the Lord will lead all of them.

Please pray for Natalka, she's in the process of taking tests to get into universities and has a lot of different possibilities. She's very gifted with youth and is considering mission work in the future. :)

Josiah Venture spring conference

It's amazing to me how God crafts his personal growth curriculum for each of us, for me. This conference Dave taught on personal transformation and used the lives of Saul and David as examples. I had heard some of what he'd talk about earlier because I painted the pictures for the main room (! you can kind of see some of them behind Lucka's head) and even then I was squirming in conviction. HOWEVER, as is always with God, he is so gentle. During the conference, he kept talking to me about stuff from Rome: me & my judgements (see below). But this time he took me deeper in and I saw the root of that sin, simply put, is looking at myself instead of at him. Huh.

Since conference (like I told one friend) I feel like I have a continual finals week--there have been so many tests, so many times when I have to choose if I'm going to judge or not, look at my self or look at the Lord, give in to self or believe the Lord. I don't know if it has to be this constant, really, if this is a season of discipline and I just have to hang on tooth and nail for a while, or if maybe there's something missing, something I still need to do. I don't know, but I do know that God is so good to me...really, his patience is unbelievable. Supernatural, even. :)

Moravia Camp Training April 27-28

Wendy and Hanka from Sumperk explaining the gospel to each other during one session at training.

For the past 3 years we've hosted English camp training weekends for Moravia and Bohemia (Eastern and Western Czech, respectively). The main purpose is so that we'll get some spiritual synergy on and realize what camp is about--that those who don't know Jesus will be able to meet him, that they'll hear the call of hope and experience forgiveness of sins--that they'll meet the lover of their souls.

Please join with us in praying this for JV English camps this summer! Oh how we long for students to really know him...Jesus is so GOOD.

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #23

FAQ ATTACK! a la David Letterman






















Perhaps no question is a stupid question, perhaps, but for sure some questions are oft-repeated, way oft. In this season of crowd interaction (school visits, trainings, conferences, etc) I'm reminded once again that some questions will be, and probably forever, asked over and over...so from 10-1...

10. How do you do? (ha ha! This is the best when carefully pronounced by first year English students! I heart British English!)
9. What is your job? (trick question: if I say I'm a missionary they think either nun or Jehovah's witness...worker with students? what?)
8. Where are you from? (Iowa, do you know where that is? You do? And all of our geography and state products? Why are Europeans so smart?)
7. Do you like Czech food? (yes oh yes)
6. Do you speak Czech? (I AM speaking Czech)
5. What are the differences between Czechs and Americans? (Can I just answer "your mom"?)
4. How old are you? (How old do YOU think I am? *wink wink* ...oh, and these next questions go in order, after they find out I'm not 18...)
3. When are you getting married?/Why aren't you married? (uhhh...uncomfortable. Is there a right way to answer this question?)
2. Would you rather marry a Czech or an American? (sure)

and THE most frequently asked question, hands down is:

1. What's the weather like in America?

Really, I don't know why, but that is THE question. And everyone seems disappointed when I say, "Where I'm from, it's the same as it is here." I'm sorry it's not more interesting.