An Amazing Class, Skiing, and Missing Preston (Again!)

David "resting" on the mountain!

English classes have been going very well. We have three classes-beginner, intermediate and advanced. The intermediate class is using some bible stories and everyone seems to enjoy it. my advanced class has 4 students and we do only conversation--no grammar. They all have children in the English club downstairs, so they are very regular. I pretty much let them pick the topic of discussion, and 4 out of 6 weeks it has revolved around spiritual things. I am amazed at their openness and curiosity.

Last week I was telling them the true story of Easter. They had brought a traditional lamb-shaped Easter cake and I asked them if they knew why it was in the shape of a lamb. None of them did. We talked about Jesus being the lamb of God. I didn't get through the whole story of Easter because we ran out of time (class was 1 1/2 hours).

At one point, Gabriela stopped me mid-sentence and said, "I have a question... so you're saying that the only way to get to God is through Jesus?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Well, what if I don't know Jesus, then what happens to me?"

"Well, you can't know God unless you come to Him through Jesus," I said.

"No, but, what actually happens to me if I die without knowing Jesus?" she asked.

"Well...you go to Hell," I said reluctantly.

She accepted this, but surprisingly protests came from the other side of the table.
Suzanna is the only one of the group that attends church --Catholic Church-- and she said that Jesus wasn't the only way.

I told her that the Bible said differently. She said the Bible and Jesus were secondary to God and weren't necessary to get to Him.

"I will find my own way to God," she said.

Suzanna believes in Jesus, but also believes in Mohammad and Buddah--and she's the one who goes to church. The others are just as confused.

Suzanna #2 says that her path to God is nature. Ivana was telling her that she saw problems with that when Suzanna asked her what her path to God was.

"I don't have a path to God yet," Ivana said.

So this is where my ladies are spiritually. Please pray for them. I think Ivana and Gabriela are really hungry for truth. The two Suzannas are more ambivalent and skeptical. After class, all said they were looking forward to coming again after Easter to continue our discussion. Please pray for God to speak to their hearts over this holiday celebrating His resurrection.

Missing Preston
Preston is gone this week in Budapest. He is teaching a course on Systematic Theology. When I asked him how he was yesterday, he responded, "I'm great, I'm teaching!"

He loves to teach theology and the opportunity to do that this week is a real blessing. His trip to Portugal last month was wonderful. He met with church planters throughout Europe and they shared their successes and struggles. It was a really good time of fellowwhip and learning. The Ebenezer and SC Training conferences that took place before Portugal were very well received. God provided a great learning environment and seemed to be at work in our midst.

Though Preston has been gone a lot, we did manage to sneak away with the family last week to go skiing/snowboarding for a few day. We are so grateful to the Lord for providing for the trip through finances, a great place to stay and even snowy weather (which was surprising since we've had an early Spring!) The family time was so good, even though we were a little sore. You know its been a good trip when your 17-year-old says, "Wow, that was so great--I wish we could spend more time together like that!"

A Hostile World

As we began English classes last week, we were excited that 11 people signed up for this session. We had advertised it on the web and through flyers. We had said that we would teach Beginner and Intermediate English and use Bible stories to practice what we learned.

One man showed up with a bad attitude. He wouldn't sign up because he wanted to "check it out" first and make sure we weren't going to push the Bible on him.

"If you teach me English,that's good, but if you start reading the bible to me, I'm leaving," he said. "I'm an atheist and I'm happy being an atheist."

Since he was in the beginner class, there wasn't any bible reading on the first night because they aren't able to understand well enough to do that yet. The lesson was basically simple English.

As he left he said, "So why didn't you read out of the Bible? Are you going to use the Bible?"

Our Czech colleague was intrigued by him and said, "Why, do you want us to read the Bible to you?"

Though it was a question asked lightly, we all wondered later if he was protesting about hearing the truth a little too loudly. Since we advertised that we would indeed use the Bible, why did this man come to "check us out" if he was so opposed to hearing the truth. We're thinking he's hungry for something and that maybe he isn't so happy being an atheist after all. Please pray for this man, Mirek, and for the other students as we begin another session.

In the intermediate class we are using bible stories from the beginning. Right now our students are Honza, Honza and Katerina. Please pray for the truth to sink into their hearts and make them hunger for more. Please also pray for the relationships that we will build with them--that they will be a bridge to their salvation.

Along with English, the next month will be full of training events that will keep Preston hopping. Being an introvert, these conferences always leave him pretty drained. Beginning Feb 27 we will have the Ebenezer conference. This is for our first term missionaries. They come to Prague and have opportunity to de-brief their first year on the field. We have found that it is a vital part of their longevity as it helps them to process the stress of cross-cultural living as well as the inevitable spiritual battles they face. This conference is the one I speak at as well. I will have 2-3 sessions and always spend the rest of the conference just trying to be a good sounding board for the folks, ladies imparticular. This conference will be especially challenging as many of the folks are actually living here in Prauge and I know them very well. It is one things to talk to folks who see you once a year and quite another to talk to those who walk and talk with you daily. Please pray for all of those who will come and for us as we lead.

Immediately following this is Strategy Coordinator Training. This is the biggest training event of the year as it trains our key personnel to reach their particular people group. Preston will be facilitating and teaching and counseling and advising and so forth. The families come with kids and stay for 31/2 weeks. It is an intense time. Please pray for participants, families, children, and volunteer child-care workers.

Thank you for your prayers. We serve a mighty God.

Merry Christmas from Prague.

This time of year always makes us think about the reason we do what we do. Emmanuel--God with us. That pretty much says it all. I'm always amazed at how, in this country, with so many reminders of the truth--manger scenes, beautiful hymns, christmas masses--the people here don't relate any of it to the real Jesus who came and dwelt among us. We're doing all we can to push back the darkness and share the light of Christ with each person we meet. We constantly pray that God's Spirit will move in the hearts of the people and make them long to dwell in this light. Thank you so much for praying with us. We are seeing God at work.


Our Sunday evening English Club for kids has grown enormously over the past months. We now have about 30 kids every week, 25 of whom are not believers or from believing families. Radek and Pepa continue to come, and Radek brings his sister Sara now. Last week he brought another friend, Thomas. It has really been awesome to see God at work int his group. Every week, they hear the gospel and are finding out this year what Christmas really is about. Please pray for our upcoming program next week, December 16. The parents will attend a very Chrsit-centered presentation.
We have also begun teaching English to adults. We have about 5-7 students each week. They are not believers either. Our prayer is that we will develop relationships with them and be able to share Christ. After Christmas we will offer a continuation of class based on scripture, for any who are interested. Please pray for there to be some who will want to learn more about our faith in this format.

Preston has also seen some very exciting things happen lately. On his last trip to the States for a mobilization meeting in Nashville, he was able to sit beside a lady on the plane that was clearly ready to hear the Gospel. She read Preston's bible all through the flight and before they said good-bye she had become a believer. It was so exciting for Preston, and it happened on his birthday.

He was also in a meeting recently in Romania that was very exciting. The Romanian church leaders have really caught a vision for evanglizing Europe. He was able to meet with many pasotrs and talk about their vision and future plans. Many of those he met with were former students. He will return in January to do some teaching there--in Romanian. Pray for his language abilities to flourish during this time. It's tough to keep Czech words out of his vocab when speaking Romanian.

Thank you for supporting us with your prayers. We love you all--Merry Christmas.

Musical Ministry

Our media team has been busy lately doing coverage on different types of music ministries. In August, Jeni Varnadeau and band came to Prague. Jeni is a christian artist who sang at the Southern Baptist Convention and has about 6 albums out. She is helping us promote volunteer missions for teens. She came here to shoot a music video that will be used for this promotion. It was a new experience to help shoot a music video--a lot of work goes into just one video. David and Lauren enjoyed helping with photography and gophering. We used several locations around Prague including our terrace and rooftop access for some shots.

Me interviewing Rory, keyboard player and Jeni's husband

David at work

Jeni and the band

Last week I was in Moscow for another media team project. There is a team of our missionaries there that work within the Arts community of the city to reach people for Christ. They brought in a Jazz band from the States along with some swing dance teachers. We are helping to promote the team in an effort to build prayer support and mobilize volunteers to come and help. The week was exhausting, but very good. The band was wonderful-believers from all over the States who were truly incredible musicians. Great contacts were made with key people in the Moscow Arts Community. Several people commented on how they could tell there was something different about the group, how the seemed to "have a light inside that shines out of them." Of course we were quick to point out that this was Jesus. Please pray for the Moscow Arts team as they continue to reach out to a key segment of society. For more information, check out their website at http://www.moscowartsteam.com/

Me with videographer Adam Covington and friend Tiffany Lorey

Budicek (Booty Check)

This is the way we began each day at camp last month. The word means "wake up" and it was accompanied by either a shofar or a trumpet each morning at 7am. After exercises and clean up we were treated to a piece of bread with ham on it which amounted to breakfast and then the day really got going. English classes, sports, afternoon hikes and games in the woods. My favorite part was the evening campfires. One night we roasted sausages, another night marshmallows. We took cold swims in the pools filled with lake water, learned to make hot-air balloons, put on skits for the kids and told them about Jesus. All in all it was a wonderful week--a little less ambiance than we city-folk are used to but it was fun and we really bonded with the kids and adults at the camp. David and Lauren were a huge help and they also made friends, used their Czech skills and had a great time. Jess and Andrew had a blast after getting over the first few days of home-sickness (they were at the camp for 2 weeks, we came only for the 2nd week). We praise God for a great time and for evidence that the 40 plus kids there drew closer to the Lord during the week. Thank you for praying.

The campsite

Our little house

Pres and I relaxing

David pitching

Darin's baseball team

AWESOME AGM

Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is the highlight of our year. We gather with our Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) missionaries for a time of worship, teaching, training and fellowship. We have about 100 volunteers who come to minister to us. Doctors, children's teams, educators to provide testing, security professionals to teach us about survival in a hostile setting, a preacher, member care folks to help any folks with difficulties, a worship team and many others. This year our preacher took us through Colossians. It was such a blessing to be ministered to in English. The worship team was from Grace Baptist in Nashville. This was their 7th year. We love them!! We praise God for the time with friends and our refreshed spirits.

Me and my good friend, Rachel

Preston and Kyle Kirkpatrick



The kids also had a great time. Their VBS was entitled "Galilee by the Sea." Perfect for our setting in Greece. Although we were there in the middle of a heat wave, the kids kept cool in the pool several times a day.

Andrew and his buddies in the musical

Jessie as "Megan", a cool girl who needs to learn about the power of Jesus


We also have a youth team each year. David and Lauren had a week with their MK friends and awesome worship led by Bruce Northam from Houstan. Of course when you get that many kids together in one place there will be a lot of noise and very little sleep! They came home with renewed vigor for the Lord and a desire to serve him anew.

Lauren doing the "lawnmower"--a tradtion on the last day of AGM

David dancing to the "lawnmower"

"zzzzz" on the plane home

end-of-year celebration

English club ended well. We began the year with a handful of mostly churched kids and ended with 2 roomfulls of mostly un-churched kids. Who could ask for anything more? The kids are awesome and looking forward to returning next year. We ended with a special program with their parents and were able further relationships and point them to Jesus. Some of the kids will be at the English camp we are helping with in August. Please keep them in your prayers.

Kids singing "This Little Light of Mine"

(from LtoR) Robin, Vicki, Pamela, Kristina, Veronica, Nora

Parent's ordering food from the "English restaurant"

Precious Ukrainian family (From LtoR) Larissa, Nora, Esther, Robin, Karina, Tolea (David in the background)

Teaching staff and helpers: (LtoR) Debbie Hammer, Katka (translator), David Pearce, Lauren Pearce, Anya James, John and Alvine Routh, Me, Carol Hawkins, Iveta (translator), Shirly Whittington, Evelyn Williams