Last week was one of the most difficult I've had. I struggled with discouragement, disagreement, disrespect, and in all likelihood, some kind of spiritual oppression. I didn't want to be there from the beginning, and I wasn't prepared in any way to serve.
It was a week with orphan kids. Some of their stories and faces broke my heart: I may end up coming home with 5 kids :) As young as some of them are (even the 7 year-olds), some of them are already speaking some of the most vulgar language and showing the most utter disrespect that you can imagine. They have made themselves unlovable, mocking you to your face, spewing out curses and hatred. (Though that's definitely not true of all of them! Some of them were very easy to love)
When I've heard the phrase, "loving the unlovable," I always imagined those of the lower caste systems who were looked down upon, or those sick with some terrible disease. I didn't picture the face of a teenager who kept pushing away, never allowing love in.
And my response was not godly. I answered their anger with mine. I ignored them, too frustrated to try. And yet at any sign of vulnerability or happiness, I was consumed with joy. They're finally letting us in!
But I am those children; I am unlovable. I curse in God's face, I ignore him, I don't appreciate all that He's done for me. Thankfully, He doesn't respond the way I did. He keeps pursuing, He keeps loving. And I'm sure that when I show those signs of vulnerability, He is filled with joy.
Pray with me for my heart, for their hearts, to be purged of "unlovableness" and filled with Perfect Love.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
Life in Czech
At our training in May, we learned a lot of things. One is that at most, we'll function at 60% while living overseas. I feel like 60% would be nice to get to right now. I've been losing things which is uncharacteristically Andrea, and all the emotions of being here is overwhelming and chaotic.
My friend from the training, Mary Beth, described the paradox of living overseas on her blog, which you can read here. Life is a series of "yay ducks" and "yuck ducks" which make a "pair o' ducks" - or a paradox. A few days full of tears, and a few days full of life. Through it all, Psalm 139 has been the theme.
I've been asking God to confirm my calling here, because it's so hard to see it when everything about living here seems so hard. And He has confirmed it, through giving me new students to meet with and allowing me to see how He's moving in Czech.
So, not to leave on a "yuck duck" note, here are some yay ducks I've had since I've been here!
My friend from the training, Mary Beth, described the paradox of living overseas on her blog, which you can read here. Life is a series of "yay ducks" and "yuck ducks" which make a "pair o' ducks" - or a paradox. A few days full of tears, and a few days full of life. Through it all, Psalm 139 has been the theme.
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
I've been asking God to confirm my calling here, because it's so hard to see it when everything about living here seems so hard. And He has confirmed it, through giving me new students to meet with and allowing me to see how He's moving in Czech.
So, not to leave on a "yuck duck" note, here are some yay ducks I've had since I've been here!
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| Vera is a Czech who lives in Canada. She has been praying for me and supporting me for the last three years. Our paths finally crossed, and I brought her to my girl's group to share her story |
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| After English Camp, we have follow up activities. I got to see more of the students! |
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| Petrunda and I took a mini road trip to pick up the hospitalized Americans and take them to Prague! |
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| Then we got to hang out with the Americans in Prague, which is exactly what I needed, |
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| My friends Petr & Petra let my roommate, Eliska, and I come stay at their home for a night. It was the most relaxing, enjoyable time I could have had right when I needed it. Plus I got to enjoy my favorite ice cream! |
English Camp
Move over, birthday! Because my favorite time of the year is English camp!
This year was a perfect mix of everything awesome and everything terrible. We had a lot of new students, probably more than ever before. But the camp as a whole felt like a family, and even after camp we've been spending a lot of time together. We really, honestly (mostly) enjoy being together!
The only negative to the camp was how many injuries and hospital visits we had. One American has to have surgery because she had stomach ulcers, and another American guy was hospitalized because of a concussion. On top of that, we had about 15 bee stings (thankfully no major allergies), another concussion, a broken pinky, and lots of fainting. There were hospital visits every day, and an emergency phone call in the middle of the night. I was never so glad to leave camp because of all the medical stuff!
The only negative to the camp was how many injuries and hospital visits we had. One American has to have surgery because she had stomach ulcers, and another American guy was hospitalized because of a concussion. On top of that, we had about 15 bee stings (thankfully no major allergies), another concussion, a broken pinky, and lots of fainting. There were hospital visits every day, and an emergency phone call in the middle of the night. I was never so glad to leave camp because of all the medical stuff!
I got to organize a Survivor/Amazing Race activity that was totally my cup of tea. The point of this activity was to bring classes together quicker: each English class meets together in the evening to discuss the spiritual talk we just heard. It usually takes about 3 days before students will go deeper and feel more open, so we wanted to speed up the process. I think we accomplished it through a variety of silly, fun, and sometimes frustrating activities.
I brought a bunch of Salvation Army dresses from the States, and each class had to wear the dress one-by-one and go find a puzzle piece. Here's a little clip of what that looked like:
Then each team had to take their puzzle pieces and go put a puzzle together. When they were done, they had 10 different stations to complete however they wanted. Such as...
the whole class tying their legs together, walking down to the woods, and finding 6 natural things of different colors.
knocking over cans with a ball (which took way longer than we expected)
a food challenge! Bleu cheese, strawberry chocolate, onions, tuna, liver pate, milk, ketchup, mustard, and barbecue sauce blended together
The Americans on each team also had to learn the words to a Czech children's song, which had to be approved by a Czech judge. The last challenge, and my favorite, was that each team had to build a fire, put on the dresses, and dance around it singing the children's song.
a video of that here:
And a few more pictures of some fun!
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| Hike Day Geocachers |
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| Enjoying kofola at some old ruins in Czech with Terka |
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| cooking workshop: chocolate covered peanut butter eggs |
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| Photo booth |
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Breaking News!
This Just In! (not really...)
Folks, we are getting closer! In several ways...
I leave on July 21st to spend 3 months in Czech! I get to see these faces again...
The goal is to move there long-term, but for right now I'm so excited that I can return for the summer. I've been focused on the support-raising - the getting there - and not actually the being there. Now I've remembered my calling. And what an exciting calling it is! I'll get to join my youth group and different children's homes for camps all summer!
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| We're all jumping for excitement that I'm going back! |
And we're getting closer with raising support! We're over that 50% hump! And I desperately need your help to keep getting over the hump. I need $1350 pledged in monthly support, in the next 6 months.
Pray boldly with me to get to that point.
And don't just pray - GIVE!
And don't just give - help me by REFERRING me to others who would be willing to give!
And don't just make references - keep in touch with me!
I'll be keeping you updated on how my support raising is coming along, and all about summer ministry. Here are some ways to think about giving:
3 people giving $100/month
12 people giving $50/month
15 people giving $30/month
Go here to give!
Pray boldly with me to get to that point.
And don't just pray - GIVE!
And don't just give - help me by REFERRING me to others who would be willing to give!
And don't just make references - keep in touch with me!
I'll be keeping you updated on how my support raising is coming along, and all about summer ministry. Here are some ways to think about giving:
3 people giving $100/month
12 people giving $50/month
15 people giving $30/month
Go here to give!
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
and then it all went down....
this afternoon got super real.
we watched a video last night about Corrie Ten Boom. She and her family housed Jews during the Nazi occupation in Holland, and they were sent to prison and then a concentration camp for it. One of the questions that we were asked was what the movie showed us about ourselves. my friend Ashley responded that it made her feel like she had to go through that kind of suffering to be made holy and righteous before God.
so that opened that can of worms.
what about those families who are going to closed countries? persecution for them is a real possibility. the men - THE MEN! cried to us about their fear for their wives and families.
it is sanctifying, and holy, to be called to more. to our fears. and to answer that and say, yes God. it doesn't make us more holy....but it makes our callings so special to know that they're from God and that He's calling us to trust him.
this week. it's been emotionally exhausting, overwhelming. we've dived into depths with people we've only known for two weeks. we've dealt with spiritual vitality, transitioning into our new environments, conflict styles (for 8 hours), we've learned how to not make assumptions about foreigners through a simulation that was intentionally confusing. we've worshiped together, met together in small groups to go deeper, eaten every meal together, watched each other's kids, gone shopping together, cried together, gone sledding together, shared our fears and anxieties about moving and support raising.
we watched a video last night about Corrie Ten Boom. She and her family housed Jews during the Nazi occupation in Holland, and they were sent to prison and then a concentration camp for it. One of the questions that we were asked was what the movie showed us about ourselves. my friend Ashley responded that it made her feel like she had to go through that kind of suffering to be made holy and righteous before God.
so that opened that can of worms.
what about those families who are going to closed countries? persecution for them is a real possibility. the men - THE MEN! cried to us about their fear for their wives and families.
it is sanctifying, and holy, to be called to more. to our fears. and to answer that and say, yes God. it doesn't make us more holy....but it makes our callings so special to know that they're from God and that He's calling us to trust him.
this week. it's been emotionally exhausting, overwhelming. we've dived into depths with people we've only known for two weeks. we've dealt with spiritual vitality, transitioning into our new environments, conflict styles (for 8 hours), we've learned how to not make assumptions about foreigners through a simulation that was intentionally confusing. we've worshiped together, met together in small groups to go deeper, eaten every meal together, watched each other's kids, gone shopping together, cried together, gone sledding together, shared our fears and anxieties about moving and support raising.
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| We got to experience this double rainbow together...and both ends of both rainbows were on our grounds! |
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| The same day as the double rainbow |
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| A role play to experience other cultures - we all formed different cultures according to some guidelines and interacted with each other |
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| ...and then we wrote down what we thought of each other |
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| today we talked about transition. here we see a "family" and a team all tied together |
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| they had to go over the "bridge," and we observed the individual and team dynamics of transition |
Friday, May 8, 2015
Hashtag: Crocorado
In the news: I'm at a month-long training in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We're learning language-learning techniques and strategies with living cross-culturally. Today we finished day 3...
I came here Monday - a complete rush of emotions and tiredness. For the first time ever, I rented a car - which just so happened to be a compact. Most of the drive to Colorado Springs is UP hill, so the poor little car was huffing and puffing to make it here. Much like me when I climb a flight of steps.
So what am I doing here for a whole month? I've already lived overseas and experienced Czech culture... Why do I need to go through training?
I'm staying here, at this conference center called Missions Training International. There are just over 30 other missionaries (plus a ton of kids) who are all in the same stage of life of getting ready to take the big step and trust God as they move overseas to share the Good News. It's been so good for me to connect with them - about anything and everything.
Along with that, a majority of the training for this week has been about language learning.
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| How sounds are made in our mouths |
- which has been helpful to me so that I can differentiate sounds. Sometimes when I speak Czech, I'm told that I pronounce it wrong, but I can't hear the difference. Now I can determine how sounds are made by watching lips and looking inside mouths :)
I'm also part of a growth group, and I meet with 3 other girls a few times a week. We've already been able to go pretty deep as we all share the same stages in our lives.
I could go on and on about what we're doing and how it's been encouraging and helpful. Thanks for your prayers as I'm here and making new relationships and preparing for the future!
Monday, March 2, 2015
so, what do you do? [featuring...my first ever vlog!]
I realize just how bad of a job I've done in communicating what I actually do in Czech! So here are 3 ways you can hear about:
1. My first ever vlog! Just scroll to the bottom for an awkward video of me!
2. A one-paragraph synopsis for those who get bored reading any more than that (that's definitely me)
3. A long, detailed summary! Keep reading :)
My ministry in Czech is almost all relational. Czechs as a whole are not open, trusting people, and they won't hear any of the gospel message until they trust the person who's sharing it. So in short, my ministry is two-fold.
-I work to help disciple young girls who are believers, so that they will know the Bible and Jesus well, and so that they will teach and disciple others.
-I also have a ministry of outreach, which includes meeting with students, running an English club, and working with an orphan ministry called Hand of Hope: this includes running camps for orphans and visiting them in their homes.
And now the long, drawn-out version.
My mission and vision in Czech is the Great Commission:
Bible Study: I meet weekly with 4-5 girls, who range in age from 16-20ish, and some are not believers. We have a Bible study in English where we read through different parts of the Bible together. The goal of this is for the girls to learn how to independently study the Bible, and to become firm in their biblical knowledge so that they can relate it to others.
Discipleship: I personally disciple my girls, meeting with them individually to discuss life and relationships with Jesus. But together with other leaders, we've been developing a discipleship program, so that the female members of the congregation can start to mentor the girls of the youth group (and hopefully the guys will start this too).
Outreach ministries
English club: Throughout the year, I hold an English club. The goal of the club is for students to learn to speak English better, but it's also a way for youth group members to maintain relationships with those who wouldn't necessarily come to youth group. We've seen a good turnout to English club, and the students have been able to hear the gospel and be loved by others.
Orphan ministry: YFC is partnered with a ministry called Hand of Hope which reaches out to orphans who reside in childrens' homes. Hand of Hope hosts several camps throughout the year, and they are also trying to visit the homes more, so that they can build up relationships with children. For a greater idea of what this looks like, check out this video: https://vimeo.com/117043239
I have the joy of meeting with students, those I've known for a long time, and new students, every week. Support from you gives me the ability to be in full-time ministry, which means I'm available to spend lots of time with students.
Thank you for being a part of God's movement in Czech!
onto the vlog!
1. My first ever vlog! Just scroll to the bottom for an awkward video of me!
2. A one-paragraph synopsis for those who get bored reading any more than that (that's definitely me)
3. A long, detailed summary! Keep reading :)
My ministry in Czech is almost all relational. Czechs as a whole are not open, trusting people, and they won't hear any of the gospel message until they trust the person who's sharing it. So in short, my ministry is two-fold.
-I work to help disciple young girls who are believers, so that they will know the Bible and Jesus well, and so that they will teach and disciple others.
-I also have a ministry of outreach, which includes meeting with students, running an English club, and working with an orphan ministry called Hand of Hope: this includes running camps for orphans and visiting them in their homes.
And now the long, drawn-out version.
My mission and vision in Czech is the Great Commission:
"And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."" Matt. 28:18-20I work with the local youth group in order to build up and teach young women about the love of God, so that they in turn will share his truth. I'll list what I have been and will be doing in order to fulfill this vision:
Bible Study: I meet weekly with 4-5 girls, who range in age from 16-20ish, and some are not believers. We have a Bible study in English where we read through different parts of the Bible together. The goal of this is for the girls to learn how to independently study the Bible, and to become firm in their biblical knowledge so that they can relate it to others.
Discipleship: I personally disciple my girls, meeting with them individually to discuss life and relationships with Jesus. But together with other leaders, we've been developing a discipleship program, so that the female members of the congregation can start to mentor the girls of the youth group (and hopefully the guys will start this too).
Outreach ministries
English club: Throughout the year, I hold an English club. The goal of the club is for students to learn to speak English better, but it's also a way for youth group members to maintain relationships with those who wouldn't necessarily come to youth group. We've seen a good turnout to English club, and the students have been able to hear the gospel and be loved by others.
Orphan ministry: YFC is partnered with a ministry called Hand of Hope which reaches out to orphans who reside in childrens' homes. Hand of Hope hosts several camps throughout the year, and they are also trying to visit the homes more, so that they can build up relationships with children. For a greater idea of what this looks like, check out this video: https://vimeo.com/117043239
I have the joy of meeting with students, those I've known for a long time, and new students, every week. Support from you gives me the ability to be in full-time ministry, which means I'm available to spend lots of time with students.
Thank you for being a part of God's movement in Czech!
onto the vlog!
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