It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

EXIT Tour

UPDATE: Kevin Dickson, the EXIT Tour director in Czech, wrote a comment saying, “48 bibles were given out last night with over 40 people saying that they want to know more about Jesus.” Those are incredible numbers and we praise the Lord for his work in the lives of young people over here!

It’s late so I’m going to keep it short tonight. I had the privilege of being part of a ministry event tonight that is put on by the local churches called “EXIT Tour.” The Josiah Venture team helps put the event on and it’s an evangelistic outreach event that happens all week in public high schools and culminates on Friday or Saturday night. Throughout the week the EXIT team takes over schools doing music, teaching, ethics training, and just spends time with students. There are after school activities where they continue to build relationships with the students and the churches are involved. At the concerts at the end of the week the students hear the gospel, many of them for the very first time.

That’s exactly what happened tonight and I was there capturing photos and video alongside my teammate Daniel. We’re hoping to tell some of the story of what God has been doing at these events where over 60,000 young people have been able to hear the gospel since the tour began a few years ago. It’s amazing how music is such a universal language that can bring many people together.

Here’s a few photos from tonight, most of them of the band and the concert. A lot of great conversations happen after the concert, including passing out Bibles. If you think of it, please pray for this team and the churches here who will welcome many young people to church this Sunday.

November 7, 2014
From a Bear to a Boom

I shared yesterday that Titus was going to be part of some kind of event tonight that we honestly thought was a play. The directions we were given was that he was to have a mask or costume and have a paper lantern on a stick. Bethany actually ended up making him a lion mask because Titus wanted one and we thought there were two parts or something to the evening. For instance, maybe the kids come in masks and then they change into something else for a formal program. Either way, we weren’t sure.

Bethany commissioned me to go to the store and hunt for a paper lantern and a stick. I don’t know even know where I would find that in the States much less Czech, but we texted some friends here and they pointed us to the store that had it–a paper store in the town square. I found what we needed about thirty minutes before the program was starting, went home, and we all walked over to his school. When we got there everyone from the school was lined up outside and there tons of families still walking there. Below is a photo of a few pumpkins outside the school that were lit up which was a little confusing. Was this a Halloween thing? I also noticed the lights on the school were completely off which the made me seriously wonder if we were ever even going inside. As I looked around I saw kids dressed up as witches, skeletons, and had their faces painted. Are we trick or treating? What is going on? These are the questions that ran through my mind. When I saw Titus’ teacher she was dressed as a witch and had a broom. Oh boy…what have we gotten ourselves in to?!

After seeing some of the other kids outside we realized there was a little misunderstanding about having a light inside the lantern so I ended up running (literally) over to the store and getting a stick with a light for Titus’ lantern. I had seen them on my first visit and knew now what we were actually supposed to buy. We just wanted to make sure that Titus had what the other kids had because remember, we still think he’s going to be a bear in a play. While I was at the store everyone ended up walking around the town with their lanterns, including Bethany and the kids. Bethany took a few photos of their walk (below).

I met back up with the family as they were completing their walk around the park in the center of town. I put Titus’ lantern together with the light. Here’s a photo of him with it.

Mostly we just followed the crowd around which brought us back to the school at the end of the walk. We all walked into the school property and the all teachers were dressed up with bags of candy and wrapped treats. It was dark and very confusing for us so I stayed with Avery by the gate to the school and Bethany took Titus to the teachers with the bags. He got a little wafer bar with chocolate that he shared with all of us. The crowd began to move towards another part of the school yard so we followed behind. Everyone ended up sitting on the picnic tables and benches out in the playground area. Again, it was dark, so we just found a spot towards the back of everyone and just kind of sat there.

After a few minutes the teachers and kids started chanting something that we didn’t understand. This went on for a few minutes. How long will this last? I guess there’s no play tonight? Titus ran over to the slide and was playing because he knew his way around the school yard. He told us he played there all the time. Not 10 seconds after he came back to where we were sitting, we hear BOOM! and suddenly fireworks are going off about 30 feet from us. They were close and loud. The kids quickly covered their ears and Titus started crying and yelling, “I want to go home!” He’s not a huge fan of fireworks. I grabbed Titus and put him in my arms and told him he would be OK and that it would be over soon. Below is a photo of the slide he had just been on before the fireworks started to go off.

The fireworks show lasted about 2-3 minutes. Titus kept insisting we leave, but there really was no way for us get back to the gate with everyone standing around so we basically had to grin and bear it. I just started laughing. This is just not something you would ever see happen in the States: a bunch of preschool and elementary kids with their families standing a few feet from huge fireworks that are literally exploding directly above them…in the playground of the school. Welcome to the Czech Republic.

The fireworks ending signaled the end of the night and also confirmed that there was definitely no play or bear suits tonight. In the end it all turned out OK. Titus cried a little more on our way home, but we assured him, as we often do, that Jesus is always with him when he’s scared. We walked back to our place with some Czech friends from our church who have a son in the same class as Titus. They are a great family and that was actually the highlight of the night being able to spend a few minute with them.

I guess the moral of the story is we’re learning to trust the Lord in new areas. We have no idea what we’re getting ourselves in to sometimes, but we trust the Lord will lead the way as we walk by faith.

November 6, 2014
A Bear Named Titus

Bethany took the photo below of an announcement on the door at the preschool which we think has to do with school photos. It looks like you can sign up for a time and bring you kid in for some Christmas portrait? We’re not exactly sure.

You could say there is an ongoing dialogue with Titus about just what exactly is going on at his school. His teacher does a great job of trying to give us some explanation of what is happening, but Titus usually tells us the full story. Today the teacher said the kids are doing some kind of play tomorrow in the late afternoon. Titus, however, said that he’s dressing up like a bear. He told us his teacher helped get into this so-called bear suit and put a nose on him. I guess we’ll just show up tomorrow and find out if our kid is going to be a bear. Ironically, Titus is supposed to play a bear in the Christmas play at our church here in December. They even gave him a line to memorize (all in Czech). He must just have those bear like qualities?

I finished up my retreat with the Creative Communications team today. Mostly today we spent meeting on a lot of different projects and how we can improve our processes across Josiah Venture. We had some great conversations and I think the team left with a lot of clarity about what the future holds and how we can be good stewards of the time God has given us. I’m really thankful for this team and their hearts to see God glorified in their work and the quality of what we produce and care for us as a team.

Tonight I have had to fight fatigue and tiredness. I realized on the drive home this evening that I needed to try and push hard to be “all there” for Bethany and the kids as I was returning from being gone for two days. It’s so easy to want to come home and just relax because I’ve been busy for two days, but Bethany has had her own hands full with the kids and she too needs a break. She’ll have to evaluate how I did, but it’s amazing how much you have to fight to serve and care for your family when you’re just plain old worn out.

November 5, 2014
Retreating

It’s been a full day and I’m pretty tired. I’m going to try and summarize the best I can.

First, had a great meeting with the international team this morning at the Josiah Venture office. We really just spent a lot of time sharing recent stories and happenings and weaved in prayer throughout our hour together. There’s always a lot going on in the lives of the team here and I was encouraged by how God is working in each of them.

After the meeting my team left for a retreat. All five of us had lunch together and headed to Josiah Venture’s retreat cabin called “Selah” (which stands for a place of peace and rest). It was designed for all of our missionaries to have a place to come and just rest. It’s a beautiful cabin in the mountains here in Czech. Our team is meeting here today and tomorrow to just regroup and think through projects for the upcoming year. This evening we spent some time working on getting a few things for our office to make it professional and hopefully a great place to work. I’m excited about what God is doing with this team and for our time today and tomorrow to just focus and plan for the months ahead. Below is the incredible view from Selah.

Tonight was kind of crazy because one of my teammates, Daniel, got a phone call while we were at the store from his roommate. His apartment was robbed tonight. Thankfully nothing major was stolen, except for some cash in one of his roommates drawers. We left the store and went to his place and I helped him pack up some of the important things he owns and of course he felt like he had lost a little trust in where he lives. The police came and fingerprinted everything and took photos so we’ll see what happens.

It’s already a late night and I’m off to bed. Only the Lord knows what tomorrow holds.

November 4, 2014
The Field Trip We Didn’t Know About

Bethany: “So, I think Titus went on a field trip today.”
Me: “Really?”
Bethany: “Yeah, he was telling me all about it.”
Me: “That’s hilarious.”

Why is that funny to me? Well, it’s because we had no idea this was going on today at Titus’ preschool. Other missionaries have told us repeated stories of this happening to them and today it happened to us. Our four year old went on a field trip some place without our knowledge.

Bethany got to the school this afternoon to pick him up and no one was there. She texted me and wrote, “So I’m here and nobody’s in his class? His coat is here so they’re inside somewhere?” She said she saw pumpkins sitting in their classroom but really didn’t think much of it. The kids were actually at lunch when she and Avery arrived so after about 10 or 15 minutes they all came out, she got Titus, and they walked home. On the walk back Bethany was asking Titus about his day and the conversation went something like this:

Titus: “We went to the pumpkin patch!”
Bethany: “Oh, really? Did you walk there?”
Titus: “No.”
Bethany: “How did you get there?”
Titus: “We took the bus!”
Bethany: “You took the big bus? You walked to the bus station and took the bus?!”
Titus: “Yeah.”

That’s about all we know right now. I asked Titus more about it tonight and he said something about playing on a playground there, but I’m not sure what that was all about. Bethany made a good point too, regarding pumpkin patches here. We’re not aware of any that are close and they’re not super common from what we can tell, so there’s a good chance that bus ride was out of town and to someone’s farm, but we’re just speculating. All we really know is that we paid a stipend at some point for trips like this so that’s probably what they used to buy his bus ticket (they use the city bus and not a school bus system). And apparently signing up your kid for school is all the permission slip you need for them to go on a field trip. That’s good to know!

In other news, we made cookies tonight as a family. IKEA had a little set of cookie cutters that we bought yesterday for a few bucks and we thought it would be a fun activity to do with the kids. Everyone got involved and the kids were excited to put on aprons and help put the ingredients together. Here’s some photos of the process and final result.

The cookie cutters are setup to make standing cookies. Below is the final result of Titus’ little tree he made.

Every day is a new adventure around here and tomorrow will probably be another. I am leaving for two days to go on a retreat with the Josiah Venture Creative Communications team. I’ll be gone for just one night, but I never enjoy leaving my family for any extended time. If you think of us, pray for Bethany and the kids. Hopefully Titus won’t go on any field trips without our knowledge, but if he does, I’m sure it’ll be on this blog!

November 3, 2014