English Camp... AND I'M ENGAGED!
Dear Friends and Family,
For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
I sit now writing this at the end of an epic summer full of blessings, friendships, hardships, confirmations and joys. I just returned home a few days ago from a wonderful English camp. The team that came from Grace Community Church was an absolute blessing for me to have! They were so willing to do whatever was asked of them and served with love and grateful hearts. They will be missed greatly by our students and by me.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
English camps started out with a week of English classes held in the local schools. These classes are a tool we use to build relationships with new students as well as build a good reputation among the community here. Slovakia just passed a law this year that all students are required to study English in order to graduate. So this is a great opportunity for us native English speakers. This year we had around 130 students in all ages. Everyday these students heard teaching about God’s love for them and personal testimonies from the team. I always get excited and praise God when the gospel is shared in this town!
I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.
The second week of camp was held at Račkova Dolina in the mountains. This is a very special place that I believe God has blessed for outreach. This year we had our fair share of attacks and distractions from the enemy, but we all just held to the hope of the victory Jesus already claimed over this fallen world. This was the largest camp we ever had, 112 people. During the camp we had 20 people fall sick from stomach flu and strep throat (mostly Americans) and 6 had to make trips to the hospital. But God did not skip a beat in his ministry. No Americans were sick more than 30 hours and none of them had to be sent home. The students still got to hear the word of God preached every day, sing worship songs and hear examples of lives changed by God. Most importantly the sickness never became the defining thing about the camp and lives were changed for the Slovak students. Praise GOD!
Who is like you, LORD God Almighty? You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
A beautiful answer to prayer is my dear friend Julia. You may remember that she came to my first “Ladies Night” at my house. After I invited her to the teahouse and she has been coming ever since. She came to the English Camp in the mountains for the first time this year and God was working in her big time. I spent a lot of time at camp praying for her specifically and the last day of camp my prayers were answered. She came up to me and asked what supplies she would need for a bible study and if she and I could start one. My heart did a few back flips when she asked me this and I nearly cried when I told her all she needs is a bible and to show up.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
I am so very happy to report to you all another rich blessing that God has granted me. After two years of dating Chello asked me to be his wife and I said YES! It has been a great joy for me to serve alongside him in the Lord’s ministry. I am humbled by his servant’s heart and his peacemaking nature and he challenges me to be a better woman for Jesus. I can say with absolute certainty that I would not have been as effective in ministry if God didn’t bless me with such an amazing man. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life getting to know him better as we grow closer to God together. We haven’t had time to do much planning for our wedding but we are expecting to get married in April 2012 here in Veľký Krtiš.
Prayer Requests
That the Lord will lead my steps and I will let him
We are trying to plan a much needed vacation with friends and family. Please pray that the Lord will provide a way financially and make some time so that we can get some rest and rejuvenate.
For Julia that the excitement in her for Jesus will hold and God will give me wisdom in my discipling of her.
For Chello and I. The past five months we have been under heavy attack and these have been some of the hardest times in my life. I believe that the enemy would love nothing more than to see our relationship fail and for me to leave VK. Please pray for protection and perseverance as we serve in this ministry
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
As always I must thank you all. If it were not for your prayers and support I would not be able to do any of this ministry that I love so much. Thank you for being faithful to God in the ministry of Veľký Krtiš and thank you for being a rich blessing to me.
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