As Always, The Lord Comes Through

English Conversation

I am beginning to fill up my schedule with more and more English conversation.  For the past few weeks I have been meeting with a small group of teens on Tuesdays and the group is slowly growing.  I have been asked by a sister from the church to help her with preparation for the completion of her English degree and will spend the next two months helping her out on Wednesday evenings.  And this Thursday we began the English conversation group for adults.  Petr Martinek, a man that I first met this summer at the English Camp, has been very faithful and enthusiastic throughout the year when it comes to English conversation but for the last month and a half there has not been a conversation group for adults as we have been transitioning from a English lesson for children to a conversation group for teens and a conversation group for adults.  Pray that the teen group would continue to grow and that the adult group would start well and would reach people that previously could not attend.  And most importantly, pray that these simple English conversation groups would draw people to the church so that they might possibly visit on a Sunday afternoon. 

Some of the teens from the Tuesday afternoon conversation group.

School Visits

Over the last week and a half I have visited several schools.  Yesterday I visited Eliška's school and met with two classes.  I spoke about American culture and gave a little plug for the English camp and the Tuesday afternoon conversations group.  Some of the students were a bit shy to ask questions but others were quite bold.  Pray that we might see at least one of these students attend something at the church.  I also visited the school of a women named Hanka twice in the last week and a half.  Hank used to attend Církev bratrská in Poruba but now attends the Orthodox church in Ostrava.  These students were younger than the ones at Eliška's school but they were enthusiastic about speaking English.

Speaking on David

Both this week and last were very busy with visiting schools, attending Czech classes, conversation groups, and running errands.  Because of this I did not have as much time to focus on studying for the Youth Revolution lesson last Friday night as I would have liked.  I began my studying on Thursday but wasn't sure exactly where I wanted to go with the lesson.  I spent the day studying and writing and woke up early on Friday morning to continue working but it just won't seem to come together.  After some prayer and with the youth meeting only 6 hours away I decided to scrap all the work that I had done and start over from a different angle.  The Lord was merciful because three and a half hours later it was completed and made much more sense than what I had put together over the previous day and a half.  It ended up being a lesson about going to God both in times of trouble and in times of joy using some Psalms and events in the life of David.  We ended the lesson with a time to talk to God about either a struggle that they are currently going through or thanking him for the blessings in their lives.  This was done in the quiet of their own hearts.  I don't know whether they all took it seriously but please pray that they would consider doing this more often on their own and that they would feel the Lord's presence.  Friday was also an interesting meeting because Nikča really began to come out of her shell.  She was in charge of the games for the evening and afterwards was laughing and acting weird with Barča and Klára.  This is great to see because only a month and a half ago she was worried to come to the group and thought that nobody would like her.

Some pictures from the games.

Speaking with Barča about her new weekly Bible study with Míla.

Me fearing for my life as Barča and Nikča "fight" each other

Kuba watching the craziness.

Please pray for Barča and Míla's weekly Bible study.  Pray also for Nikča as she is considering joining the study as well.  Pray that they would all grow in their knowledge of the Lord and recognize more and more the sacrifice that Christ made for them on the cross.  Pray also for this evening as we will take part in another gathering of the regional youth groups.  Pray that new relationships would be created and that the kingdom would grow because of this meeting.  Pray for the processing of some documentation that would make it so that I won't have to travel to Vienna to renew my visa.  This would save some time and aggravation for us.  Pray also for me as I consider how to bring the suffering and death of Christ home for the meeting next week, Good Friday.