Back Home In Ostrava

Great News From Ostrava

As many of you already know, on Friday, I received some long awaited and welcomed news from Petr that my visa was ready for me to pick up in Vienna. The Lord was definitely working because I was told that one of the ladies at the consulate in Vienna made my visa application a priority.  I felt so blessed to hear that news.  Because it was Friday afternoon it was impossible for me to travel there in time to pick it up that day so I had to pick it up on Monday.  The whole time that I was in Rovinj I was wondering why the Lord had me there and why He had me there for that length of time.  Last Sunday I was invited by Tina, the leader of the Croatian church's youth group, to come and speak at their meeting the next Friday.  I told her that I would love to but I had no idea whether I would still be in Rovinj.  So when I got the news from Petr we discussed what I would need to do to make the trip so that I could be in Vienna by Monday morning.  The transportation that we initially found made it so that I would have to leave on Saturday morning, travel to Zagreb, stay the night and then travel to Vienna on Sunday.  With that as the plan I was hoping to make the youth meeting on Friday but it was changed to Saturday at the last minute.  I was left wondering, "What is God doing here?"  Later that evening I got another phone call from Petr saying that Pavel had found another set of bus connections that would allow me to be in Vienna in one day.  That meant I would leave Sunday morning, allowing me to make the meeting Saturday night.  So on Sunday morning I got on a bus in Rovinj and rode for 5 hours to reach Zagreb.  I had an hour to get off the bus, buy a ticket to Vienna and get on the next bus and ride for another 5 hours.  I arrived in Vienna knowing only the address of the hotel where I had reserved a room but I was able to find a taxi that took me across the city to the hotel.  After a night's sleep I woke up, packed my things, checked out of the hotel and walked for 25 minutes to the consulate.  I have to admit I was a bit anxious sitting there.  I thought that maybe at the last minute there would be an issue and my whole trip would be in vain.  How quickly I forgot how the Lord had brought me that far.  Thankfully I got the visa and made an hour walk to the train station, boarded the train and headed back to Ostrava.  I met a guy from Nigeria who has been studying in Berlin and he made for a great riding companion.  We spoke for about an hour and a half before Radim, a brother from the Czech church boarded the train in Brno.  He planned his return back from Brno so that he could meet up with me on the train.  It was great to see him again.  Once I made it back to Ostrava I was greeted by Petr at my apartment.  He had my keys while I was gone.  It was great to see him and I was treated to a welcome back dinner.  It is great to be back.

Croatian Youth Meeting

So when I agreed to speak at the meeting I knew little about the make up of the group.  I was thinking that I was going to be speaking with a group of teenagers but what I found was a group of about 15 young adults and maybe one teen.  I gave my testimony and spoke of God's faithfulness and my own struggles to be faithful throughout my life and even on that trip.  But the Lord IS FAITHFUL.  Afterwards, I had some great conversations with a few people that said that the testimony of God's work in my life was really helpful to them.  That meeting really made me feel like my time in Croatia was worth it.  Below are a few pictures of people that I met that night.  They could all use your prayer.

The girl on the left is Tereza.  She is the daughter of the pastor of the church.  She was one of the only teens in that "youth group."  Pray for her as she continues to try to live out her faith with very few people her age at the church.  The woman on the left is Tina, the leader of the youth group.  Pray for her as she continues to serve at that church and for the health of her son that is having problems with breathing when he sleeps.  He may need surgery.

I love these three brothers in Christ.  From left to right their names are: Danko, Kristijan, and Dino.  Danko and Dino have been involved with that youth group for many years, Kristijan, their friend, is a new believer.  These guys hold each other accountable and encourage one another when they struggle.  It was great to hear about the work that the Lord has been doing in all of their lives.  Pray in particular for Dino and Kristijan.  Dino is only involved with the youth group but does not come to church for the Sunday service.  For some reason the service is difficult for him.  For Kristijan, he is a new believer as I said and is on fire for the Lord.  Pray that he would continue to grow in his relationship and knowledge of the Lord even when that initial feeling wanes.

This last picture is of Tina and her coworker, Adriana.  Adriana does not usually come to the group but was there that night because they were celebrating Tina's birthday.  Adriana is one of the people that spoke to me after my talk and we spoke a lot about her family situation and the struggles that she had with the divorce of her parents and many different issues that she has with her mother.  Because of some of the decision that her mom made when Adriana was growing up, Adriana has a hard time being involved in any church.  She said that she believes in Jesus and His death on the cross but with her mom changing denominations often and even becoming a Jehovah's witness for a time she has had a hard time looking past the sins of people, in particular her mom, to be involved in a body of believers on a regular basis.  Please pray for her that she might find a body of believers that she can trust and grow in her faith.

Looking Forward

Over the last three weeks or so I have been looking forward to getting back to the people here in Ostrava and the work that I came to do here.  In the next week and a half I will be leading English conversation groups twice, I will be speaking at one of teen's schools about the American holiday of Thanksgiving, I will be teaching at a regular youth meeting on Friday and then the following Friday will be the main speaker at a meeting of the area youth groups, and two days later I will be preaching to the whole Poruba congregation for the first time since I have been here.  Please pray for me as I prepare for each one of these different things.  That the Lord would continue to inspire me as choose things to speak on and give me His wisdom as I study and prepare.  Also pray for me as I have other things to do as well after not being here for more than two weeks.  Many clothes to wash and bills to pay.  I also want to once again thank you all for praying for me as I went through that whole situation and for sending me emails of encouragement along the way.  God Bless.