This post was originally sent to our email newsletter subscribers.
Thank you for your continued support and for your prayers. Our family is truly blessed by you. We wanted to tell you how the Lord has been working over the past month and how you can continue to pray for us.
Application Process
Though we haven’t been able to update you since July, a lot has been going on this past month. As you may recall from our last email, we felt and feel strongly the Lord calling us to Czech Republic to serve with Josiah Venture. One of the major steps in the process of becoming a missionary with Josiah Venture (JV) is the application. The formal written application is a series of questions and essays and really gives a snapshot of our spiritual lives and what God has done in our lives. On Monday, September 3rd, our applications were officially submitted to JV for approval. This is big step forward in the process and we praise God being able to complete and submit them. We would ask that you pray for the Josiah Venture board and staff who will review our applications that they would be wise and that what we communicated would be understood clearly. We hope to update you as soon as we know more about the status of our applications.
Elder Meeting
This coming Monday, September 10th, we will be meeting with the elders at our home church (Placerita Baptist Church). We’ve been invited by the elders to join them around 7:30pm for prayer and to discuss this missionary process. We are hopeful that this meeting will bring clarity and encouragement as we seek to partner with PBC and have the joy of seeing them be our sending church. Placerita has been our home church for 9 years and it’s a great joy for us to walk through this process with them. Would you please pray for this meeting? We hope it will be a blessing to the elders and us and that much clarity would come of it for everyone.
Prayer Requests
- On September 23rd Shay has the opportunity to teach at a Placerita Baptist Church evening service. Please pray for clarity as he speaks, as well that his study time would be profitable. He will be speaking on the themes of the local church, discipleship, and missions.
- Pending application approval, we are scheduled to attend the week long Josiah Venture orientation in Chicago, IL on October 22-26. Please pray for us to be able to find friends and/or family to watch our two young children during that time as there is no childcare provided for the week.
Thank you for continued support of our family! As always, we covet your prayers! If you need to reach us for any reason, please don’t hesitate to reply to this email.
One story that still breaks my (Shay) heart was while I was sitting in “cabin time” after the Wednesday night talk on sin. The young men I was with were asked a question about whether they have ever felt hopeless and what that was like for them. As they began to answer, and as the translator began to share what they were saying, tears started to roll down my cheeks. Five out of the six of these 14-year-olds shared how they all had gone through a difficult time at some point, and all of them had considered suicide as an answer to their problems. This is just an example of the despair and hopelessness in Czech Republic. The need for the Savior is great!
We asked you to pray for the Thursday night camp meeting (aka: “Gospel night”) as the students heard the gospel, many of them for the very first time. That same night they were given an opportunity to respond and by God’s amazing grace, 8 out of the 40 students professed Christ and a few others desired to know more–praise the Lord! 8 is an incredible number, especially in a country where God is a distant thought on the hearts of many. What a blessing to see God change the hearts of these young people! The following week (after we left), the Czech youth leaders (who were also the leaders at camp) invited these new believers to go to church with them the following Sunday, right after camp. This gave the students an oppurtunity to experience church without the intimidation of going alone, or not knowing anyone. We are excited about what the Lord will do with these changed lives in the future.
One of the blessings of camp was the we felt like we “fit” while we were there. Both with the leaders and the students, we saw a connection and trust that God was working through those relationships. This was a huge blessing to us and really helped confirm our ministry there. Everything from playing games, doing crazy things with the students (e.g. Shay and 9 other guys stuffing themselves into a shower to make a “steam room”…don’t worry, we were wearing shorts), and having open conversations which led to deeper relationships were all part of what made camp a great experience and a God glorifying time.