Still more to be thankful for

Reasons 61-64
61-I'm thankful that Bible studies started up again on Monday nights with Father Hugh. He is such a good man with a big heart and a deep knowledge of the Bible.
62-I'm thankful for the classes I have this semester. I love each one of them.
63-I'm really thankful for the opportunities I had this week to read to children. It is so fun to read to them and to see their interactions with the texts.
64-I'm thankful for the ways that James takes care of me. He made me dinner for after class and it was really good and so thoughtful of him.

Continuing to be thankful (Reasons 58-60)

Reason 58: I'm thankful that I have been able to see a few of my old customers so that I can share with them that I'll be moving on from Starbucks soon.
Reason 59: I'm thankful that we have such a nice wine country in our back yard basically. James and I had a lot of fun going on a mini wine tour and it made me think of how people always talk about going to tour wineries in Napa or perhaps the Columbia Valley or in Italy or France and here just a half hour drive or so away we have several wineries all with really good wine and very friendly staff. It was a lot of fun!
Reason 60: I am very thankful that I've been given an opportunity to work with children and to get paid to do so. I had my first day at my new job and I loved it. I got to play UNO and LEGOS and read and laugh and it was awesome!

Reason 57/365

Today I am thankful that I was able to purchase all of my books for this semester for under $50! Given the high cost of books for school I feel really blessed.

Reason 56/365 (Thankfulness)

Today I'm really thankful that I have 3 fun and engaging classes this semester. I'm really looking forward to learning a lot this semester!

Reason 55/365 (To Be Thankful...)

Today I am thankful that I have a badge that proves I'm now an employee of the Boise School District. I feel so official!

Thankfulness continued...

Many have expressed how thankful/encouraged they've been to see my thankful posts on facebook. Since I'm shutting down my account on there the thankfulness will continue on here. Plus I will do my best every-now-and-then to post other things here too. So let's continue starting at Reason 54/365: Today I am thankful that I am so supported in my choice to take this new job...to take a risk and to leave all that I've known for so long behind. Risks are much easier taken with support of others!

On This Side Of The Ocean

It's been some now since I last wrote here, but I've been thinking through a lot recently and wanted to share some of it. This time last year I was on Czech, probably with bronchitis, getting to better know my team. This year finds me here, stateside thinking quite a bit about my friends and family over there in Czech and throughout Eastern Europe...

Waiting And What It Does
This past Sunday the topic in church was the story of Abraham. Mostly it focused on the day he led Isaac up the mountain but there was a bit shared on the prelude to that story. The part of the story where God comes and speaks to then, Abram, and says "You are to leave this land and go to the land that I will show you, a land where your descendants will live and where I will bless them in order that they might be a blessing to others (my paraphrase)" Up to this point, in the first 75 years of his life, Abram has not had a single kid. He and Sarai (later Sarah) his wife have longed for a child but have found it to not be "in the cards" for them. So for him to hear from God that there would be descendants was HUGE. And then...twenty five years pass by...and they are still childless. I know that there is a lot to be discussed in the story of Abraham leading Isaac up that mountain and that is what was mainly talked about Sunday...but for me, I have a hard time moving past this thought that Abram had to wait TWENTY FIVE years before he saw the fulfillment of this promise. Maybe it's just that I've grown up in this "instant gratification" world where waiting an hour in line for a movie, concert or ride, seems like it's forever...and it's only an hour! I can't stop thinking about what was going on in Abram all those years. "Wait...did I really hear God? Did He really say 'decedents'? Maybe I was just imagining it cuz I wanted it so badly" But amidst those questions there had to be this still small peace/hope/voice in him saying "Yes! Yes God did say that and He will fulfill the promise" And tho Abram didn't wait perfectly he did wait, and in the waiting a lot took place. So, after twenty five years of waiting and then seeing the fulfillment to God's promise, Abram could know, without a doubt somehow, all those years later on that mountain, that God would do what was best. Maybe he'd bring Issac back from the dead, maybe He'd provide another way. Abraham didn't know how, but he knew he had to trust God and he knew God would somehow come through. And later in the new testament Abraham is said to be the father of faith. He is the main example. And I know that Abraham is not the only one who had to wait to see the fulfillment of God's promise or calling to come true. Joseph, Paul, many others including perhaps even Jesus. And I find so much comfort in that, in knowing many have gone before me in this waiting. And we need to wait. Yes, we must have this time of waiting because in the waiting we are matured and refined and we grow more in our faith and trust. I also believe that we learn skills in this time of waiting that will be so valuable and needed whenever we do see the fulfillment. So this is where I find myself returning to and resting at as I wait to return to Czech. I don't know how God will bring me back there, I don't know WHEN God will lead me back there but I believe that one day He will. And until then I'll wait.


Continuing The Adventure
I'm not fully sure yet where I'll be going to school but I do feel that the next step for me will be to get my bachelors degree in secondary education. Given that my passions run deep for youth that are in the junior high and high school age ranges I just strongly believe that getting my education in how to educate this age group is going to be so valuable for me regardless of where I end up at in life. I have not been in school for a while so I'm sure it will be hard but I know that even if it is really hard it will be so worth it.

Thoughts On Prayer
The other day one of my friends put as his status on facebook that it was amazing to wake and know that people back home were praying for him. I myself have felt this truth and blessing recently too. It is amazing that tho I'm here and many of my friends are in Czech, or Arizona, or Idaho, or Korea or Idaho or Texas and other parts of the world we can all find ourselves connected by prayer. So I wonder, when we can see the power, the effectiveness of prayer,why do we still so often fail to pray? Maybe it's just me but I think that I'm not alone in this. I think far too often many of us "forget to pray" because perhaps "we are too busy" but then, when we do pray we see the amazing results and we think again "I will never forget how amazing prayer is" but sooner than later, we do forget again. I am curious to know why this happens. It makes me sad to know all the times I have said I would pray but then I didn't...why do we do that? And I know that I cannot change what I've done, but I don't know how to say I will never again ever forget to pray...I'd really appreciate any insight that you guys might have on this.


Ways to Join The Adventure
*Pray for me to figure out the last few details of where to go to school and for all the paperwork to get in on time and all that goes into applying for school. Also for financial aid for school.

*Pray for what God is continuing to do in CZ this summer. My teammate Sarah from last year is back there for the summer, also my friends Josh, Autumn, Jonathan and Bonnie are leading teams again this summer and my friend Kha from Arizona is on his first summer internship. June is a good month for them to build team relationships and to meet students in schools. Pray for students to be excited for camp and the camps to fill up.

Thanks guys, I love you all!
Emily

Beforehand

"For we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

I was reading Francis Chan's book Crazy Love today and at one point he refers to this verse and talks about how God knew us before we were born and how He had created theses things for us to do. I know that some people get uncomfortable talking about the idea of predestination that they feel that you cannot have free will and predestination at the same time but I am wondering if you can. Tonight our church had an all church gathering which meant that the people from all three locations got together. It was amazing to see a bit of the "bigger picture" of Evergreen. Part of the service was a baby dedication. This was a time for parents to bring their babies forward and share with the church their hopes and dreams for their child(things like growing to be wise, and generous and loving, to be full of joy, to be an example to those they meet of Christ's love) and then the pastor prayed over the baby, prayed for these hopes and dreams and desires to become true. And as I watched this I began to be overwhelmed with the love of God and I could not help but cry. It hit me that no matter how old we are God IS our Father, and He has these hopes, these desires, these dreams or as it says also in this verse in Ehpesians, these "good works" that He has had for us from beforehand, from before we were even born. And I thought of how much these parents love their children, how much they will rejoice when they do, Lord willing, see these children grow up and become wise, and loving and joyful...and I thought of how much joy it must bring God to see us accomplish these things that He set forth for us to do beforehand. Does this mean we do not have free will? Do these children not have free will? Of course they do and we do as well. We do make our own choices, we can choose to live life based on our wisdom and our desires and God allows this, but I think it breaks His heart. However when we choose the things He has put before us to do, when we are living the life He has designed for us it must bring Him so much joy! Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm missing some part of this...but I don't think I am. I know for me this has brought to me a depth of God's love that I've not known before. There is to me this freedom in this verse. I don't have to work so hard to figure out my own way, to create my own "good works". There is a freedom to live and to live fully. I think of my friends who I love, since I don't have my own kids yet. And I think about how much I love to see them thrive in life how much I love to see them live full and beautiful lives and how much it hurts to see them choose things that harm them and others. And my love for them does not change when they are not living full lives. Nor do I think God's love changes for us when we do not choose to live the full life He has laid before us. But who wants to live a life that is not full, that is harmful, that is meaningless? So let us choose to live, to live a full life, to live a life where we get to discover these things that God has set out for us from beforehand. Let's live this life resting in the hope and joy that small children who know they are loved deeply by their parents live in. Let's walk away from the things that have entangled us, that have discouraged us. There IS hope! There IS a life to be lived and enjoyed. Sure, circumstances shift, really bad things will happen along the way but there is always a deep deep love for us from our Father who delights in us and who knew us long before we even entered this world.

What does this look like more directly in my life? In the adventures set ahead of me? Well I have been working on putting together a team from our church to go to Czech this summer. This is Evergreen's first ever short term mission team. They've sent missionaries out before but it has been more of an individual thing. It blows my mind to think that God may be using me to bring about this change. That He may be using me to launch Evergreen into the world of short term missions. So far nobody had committed to join me in this and I've begun to get a bit discouraged. to feel like this whole thing is far too impossible...BUT I've been remembering last year as I set out to go to Czech and how I wrote the blog here about how God makes impossible things possible and that shortly after I published the blog all the support I needed came it. God showed me the truth of what I had written. So I know and I trust that God knows what is going to happen this year as well. He knows my heart and the hearts of those at Evergreen. He alone knows the "good works he has prepared beforehand" and so I trust that if this indeed part of what He HAS set apart from long long ago, that it will happen. And if not, I know that He has something even better. I am supposed to know in a week if we have a team or not so that I can tell Josiah Venture. So we will see how God works and leads.

So here is to living life full of joy and hope trusting and resting in the truth that God knew us before we were born and loves us with a love so deep that He considered the death of His one son worth it so that we could be made clean and whole and we could enter into a relationship with Him. May the gospel become more and more real to each of us on a daily basis.

Emily

Ways to join the adventure:
-Please pray for God to speak to some people from Evergreen to join in the Czech trip. Pray for a guy leader and a few others to join.
-Pray for God to provide more summer interns for Josiah Venture. There is a big need for guys especially. This is what I did this past summer.
-Pray for God to reveal to you an ever increasing knowledge of the depths of His love

Three Months

As Long As I was Gone

Today is the three month mark. I was gone three months, from May 26-August 26 and now it is November 26th. I think I read somewhere it takes however long you were gone for life to feel like normal on the other side of your mission trip too, or to be readjusted. So I guess we'll see what that looks like. The past three months have been challenging as I've tried to find where I fit back into life here but they've been good too.

A Day Of Thanks

Today is also Thanksgiving. As I reflect on this past year there is so very much for me to be thankful, my heart spills over in thanks! I had to work for several hours today but then I was able to join my best friend Sarah and her family for some good food and good company. So what is there to be thankful for? Well...quite obviously there is the summer in Czech, the fact that people prayed for me and decided to support me to get there. It was, as you may remember quite a miracle that I even made it there. I am thankful for all the new friends I met in Czech this summer. I am thankful for the team I got to spend the summer with. I am thankful for the friends I met in Phoenix. I am thankful for the old friends I was able to revisit while there. I am thankful for technology that allows me to keep in contact with my friends in Czech and Phoenix and Minnesota and Indiana. I am thankful that Nate and Emily Hughes were able to come visit last month and were able to come see Evergreen. I am thankful for a church that causes me to grow and think. I am thankful for my nephew. I am thankful for my friends here who have been patient with me as I've grown and changed, who love me however I am but always encourage me to grow. I am thankful that I got my job back the day I landed. And I'm sure there are other things too but those are the things that are most near my heart at this time as I reflect.

Life, Death and A Strong Faith

As the holidays approach and are, I guess, now here, I have been thinking of my friends who have lost people who are very dear to them. Some I knew, some I did not but still, I've found my life affected as I've watched my friends deal with death and continue to hold fast to their faith in God. There was Laura and Tony who I wrote about earlier in the year. And at the same time, Pavel. And recently my friend Jenn lost her fiancee Joe. In ways it seems it would be easy to just blame God for these deaths, to believe that He cannot be good when young people die, when people who are in the prime of their lives and are so full of faith die, some may become angry at God. But I have watched my friends deal with these deaths by choosing to still trust God. To believe that He is good and that He somehow has a plan still.

How to join the adventure:

1)Take time to thank God for the good things, the hard things, all that has made you, you this year. Tell those who you are thankful for that you are thankful for them, because the truth is you just don't know how long they'll be around.

2)pray for The Silva family, for Pavel's family and girlfriend Tessa, for Pavel and my good friend Mark, for Jenn and Joe's family and Joe's son as they all have their first holiday apart from those who they love deeply.

3)Pray for God to continue to direct me concerning Czech and next summer.

Thank you so much! Love to you all,

Em

On The Other Side Of The Ocean

A Month

Its been just a little more than a month since I've been back. For the majority of that month I had bronchitis (again) so I was pretty out of it. But I've been feeling much better the past couple weeks so now I'm trying to sort through how I fit back into life here.

Portland

If I had to wake up in Prague and fall asleep in any city, Portland was a good city to fall asleep in. I have some really good friends here and I was told by a friend I met this summer from Northern Ireland that Portland is one of the most European-like-cities he's been to in the US. Its getting cold here as fall is definitely arrived. But I am enjoying the sunshine before the rain sets in. I am just really thankful for the church I have here and the friends I have here that I have known for almost a decade now. Its nice to have friends that will remain my friends despite the changing seasons and years gone by and the summer I spent away.

Continuing The Work

I am really excited because I am going to be serving with Young Life this year. I am working with a school called Reynolds High School. We will begin our Club next Monday night. Then we will be doing campaigners which is more of a Bible study every-other-Sunday night and as I get to know the girls I will start to meet with two or three of them individually for coffee and discipleship each week. I really think this is going to be an amazing way to continue the work I did in Czech this summer and to continue to be involved in students lives who are right here around me. That is what I'd be doing if I were to spend more time in Czech long term so what a great way to put that into practice right here and now.

Wrapping up my time in Czech

Havlickuv Brod Camp

Camp started out a little slow. I think we were all tired being that it was our third camp. There was actually another town that joined us too, Podebrady. Usually at camp I find I connect pretty quickly with two or three students. This time I felt like I wasn't really connecting with any one certain person. But I realized I kept finding myself eating meals with the Podebrady students. Then, there was also a guy I'd met while we were visiting in June and over the course of the week at camp he and I had some really interesting conversations about politics and God. He has been going to church every-now-and-then but before camp was not a Christian and wasn't sure he wanted to be. He had a lot of questions about God and felt that he was fine just being a good person. But after camp he wrote us (the Americans) a message telling us that his life was changed at camp and that he has faith that is now his own. He thanked us for our hard work teaching English and for being there to relate to him and the other students there. Amazing!

Debrief and Depart

We had a good final week together in Prague. Eat some delicious food and just had time as a team to reflect on our summer. I loved being able to hear what God had done not only in our team but the other 5 teams. The Kingdom was advanced here in Czech.

Picking Up Where We Left Off

After Chris and Sarah left I took a small nap and then checked out of the Czech Inn and then spent the afternoon with my old friend Marek Macak and his good friend who became my friend this summer, Martin. It was a beautiful afternoon in Prague. We went on a row boat on the Vlatava and went to a really cool book store. It was so amazing to see that tho I hadn't seen Marek for 5 years he and I were able to pick up where we left off. That night I went to Hradec Kralove to go to Pavel and Veronika's wedding. Saturday night I went to Vysoke Myto and spent a couple nights with this girl Autumn who is a full time missionary here with JV. Sunday morning I was able to go to church where many of the people from my first camp seven years ago go. It was so amazing! I was so encouraged to see them still passionate about God. And I found that the same was true with them. Tho for them it had been 6 years it was almost as if it had just been last week. I left there Monday and have spent the past couple days in Cesky Tesin.

One Week

I only have one week left. Today I go to Frydlant for lunch with Mark Krupa (a missionary here who has really been a huge encouragment to me though the years. Then I go to Litomysl tonight. I will see more people from that first and second summer I spent here while there. Friday I go to Olomouc to see my friends Jered and Daniella from Boise who are now living over here. Saturday I will spend the day with the group from Podebrady and then Sunday I head back to Prague to see my friends from there that I haven't seen in 5 years. I leave next Wednesday the 26th back to Portland.

Thanks again for your support of me though the summer. Its been amazing to be here. I look forward to catching up in person soon!

The Beginning Of The End

New Family

One of the things I love most about Christianity is the way that all of us who put our faith in Christ are part of a large, ever increasing family. I love meeting brothers and sisters in Christ and knowing that we automatically have a connection, a common ground in Christ. For the camp we just finished with Prague KS we were joined by a team from Arizona. And they were AMAZING!!! I really fell in-love with each person on their team. Zach and Caitlin Moore led the team and they are both 26. The rest of the team was made up mostly of students from the youth ministry that Zach leads. I can't wait to find a way to go visit Arizona. This was their first time doing camps with Josiah Venture but you would have thought they had been doing it for years. They just jumped in and served whole-heartedly and were a HUGE blessing and help to me and our team. Also two girls from my class became Christians! So we have two new family members in Czech! It was a really incredible camp. It started out pretty rough. The kids from Prague are just more rough around the edges than those in Hradec Kralove. Its the edgy-ness of a big city. Many more students coming from broken homes and just harder back grounds. So at first it seemed maybe we'd all just have to take a deep breath and press though but it was really amazing to see the hearts of these students soften over the course of the week. And I am confident that the work that God began in the hearts of these students will continue.

Health

My health has continued to be well. I lost my voice for the first part of the camp but my throat didn't hurt. I think I was just yelling too much. The biggest health-like issue our team has been facing since I last wrote is an injury Chris got while playing soccer. At our last training we had, the day before we left for camp, they had a soccer tournament and not too long into the game Chris came down wrong on his ankle and at the same time was pushed so he had to go to the hospital. He had a cast put on it but was finding it hard to ice it with a hard cast so the nurse at the camp cut off the cast and got him a brace. Its getting better slowly but surely. Its just hard cuz Chris is a really active guy and so its been tough to have to be low action. We found out while in Cesky Raj and then through the summer Brad and Lucie have been telling more people that Lucie will have a baby!!! It was really cool that Chris, Sarah and I got to be some of the first people (after Lucie's mom) to find out. So Lucie, who is also usually really active, has also had to take it a bit more slow too.

The Rest Of The Summer

So the past few days Chris, Sarah and I have been in Sumperk where Hawaii (a guy who's real name is Josh but everyone calls him Hawaii cuz he is from there) team has been staying. Its been nice to just relax and not have much to do for a few days to be rested for our next, and final camp. This afternoon we will head to Havlickuv Brod and stay the night there. Then we will head to camp w/their youth group and Saturday camp begins. After camp our two teams will go back to Prague for debrief and we will meet up again with Brad and Lucie there. This session of camp Brad and Lucie are doing a camp with Vsetin youth. It will be a sports camp but they will also teach them English. Then Chris and Sarah take off August 14th and I will go to Hradec that night so I can go to a wedding there the next day of Pavel (the youth leader there) and Veronika. Its going to be in a castle near Hradec. Then I will see my old friends Daniella and Radek in Vysoke Myto. Then a couple days in Cesky Tesin then there's a few days I'm still figuring out and I end up in Prague somewhere around the 22nd and I will leave Prague the 26th. I am going to really really miss Sarah and Chris. I am excited tho to see my old friends from past years here. So I will try and  write again before I leave CZ but if not I will update as soon as I get back to Portland.

How to join the adventure:

*PLEASE pray for Chris' ankle. Pray it heals quickly so it can be better by the time he heads back home.

*Pray for unity with our team and Hawaii's team, that we can be a solid group.

*Pray for God to keep pursing those students who came to the Prague camp.

*Praise God for the amazing unity He gave us w/the Arizona team!

*Praise God for our two new sisters in Christ!

*Praise God for the baby inside Lucie! Pray it stays healthy.

*Pray for travel as we are having to carry Chris' bag as well as all of our bags

*Pray that God softens hearts of the students in Havlickuv Brod

*Pray for Brad and Lucie's camp in Vestin. That they will have energy to lead it and that God will work in the hearts of the students there.

Thanks guys! Love you!

Em

For the Love of Camps...

From top to bottom: Pavlina and I. She and Veronika were such great hosts to me when we visited for the weekend and for follow up too. Dani and I, Dani is a new friend I met. He is not a Christian yet. He and I had fun teaching each other our languages. Vita and I...Vita did the filming of this past camp and I have a lot to learn from him. He is a good brother. Sarah, Chris and I on top of the White Tower in the square in Hradec. And the last is of Hradec from the top of the tower.

One Camp Done Two More to Go

So Hradec camp went really well. There was potential for lots of comparisons to be made between this camp and previous years because this camp was run by a new Czech youth group leader and a new American youth group team leader. Many of the same people who had come to help in years past were not here. But the students didn't complain. They all embraced the newness of camp and jumped in. I had all girls in my class this week which was pretty fun. We had a higher level than usual in the beginning class so I had to work to make my lessons harder but it was fun in the end. My main goal was to help them use the English they already knew. One day we had a "girls day" and talked about personality and boys. Camp seriously FLEW by. It felt like three days not one week. I had a lot of fun improving my Czech language as well. I cannot tell you guys just how much I love camps! I'm sure it is because I grew up going to camp myself. So I think part of my love for camp stems from my own experiences but I think I also really love the time we get with these Czech students to share English and to share the hope of Jesus. So we have a team arriving from Arizona to help us with the Prague camp. 

It Is God Who Chooses

At the last American team training they had a couple of Czech's who are interns this summer share their stories about how they became Christians. One was really into Darwinism and thought that Christianity was just for elderly people or people who were not smart. The other used his intellect to often argue against Christians and did not want to be a Christian. He went to camp a couple times and was fighting against God and becoming a Christian but eventually found that no matter how hard he tried to resist it, there was God's love for him. Hearing these two stories before camp was really encouraging for me. And I often would remember that its not me, or my team, or anyone besides God that is going to cause these students to give up their atheism and to trust in the hope of Christ. A verse that we read a few times in the morning sessions also encouraged me in this...John 15:16 "You did not choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name." I also was really encouraged by reading again about Paul's conversion. He was chasing after Christians in hopes of imprisoning them when he was met on the road of Damascus by Jesus. So you see, I really believe that, if we were all honest with ourselves, we did not choose God. It was not on our own initiative  that we who are Christians became Christians. In each of our stories if we are looking, we will see the truth that it was God who chose US. I feel like that gives me so much for freedom in sharing the gospel. Its not up to me to save the students at camp, all I can do is share the hope and truth and joy and love that comes in Christ and then leave the rest up to God and His timing.

Time flies When Your Having Fun

The summer is about 2/3 over. In one month from today Sarah and Chris will leave. I wish I could find a way to slow time down so this month could somehow feel like a year...to somehow find a way to get MORE time with these two, who have become my summer family and my dear friends. This is one of the hardest parts of the summer, building relationships with people you may or may not see again. But it is always worth it. My life will never be the same now that I've met Sarah and Chris. They and Brad and Lucie have impacted me a lot and I am blessed to get to spend another month with this family.

How you can join the adventure...

*Praise God for my restored health!!! Thanks for ALL your prayers. I still have a small cough but its more just regular asthma cough now. So thanks again. 

*Praise God for the work he began in the hearts of students at camp! Pray He continues that work

*Pray for the health of the Ottowa team that was helping us. Many of them got sick.

*Pray for our relationship with the team arriving from AZ and the Prague youth group. 

*Praise God for the unity that we had with the Ottowa team and Bri, Amy and Breanne.

*Pray that Sarah, Chris, Brad Lucie and I can continue to go deep with eachother that we can keep building these bonds. 

*Pray for safe travels between Malenovice and the camp.

Thanks guys for staying involved and for all the support and love. To God and His glory!

Em

July Has Begun!

Czech Paradise 

Brad, Lucie, Chris, Sarah and I spent five days as a team exploring Cesky Raj (ches-kee-rye) which translated means Czech Paradise. There were lots of really cool rock formations in the forest and caves and view points. It was a really fun time of bonding and feeling adventurous. I had a bad cough most the time but I still really enjoyed myself. It felt kinda like if Arches National Park were to meet the north west. With this towering rocks and deep forests.

And Now It's July...

July equals camps. Our team is being joined this first camp by six Americans from Ottawa, IL, two girls Bri and Amy from World Harvest Missions and an old intern Breanne from Colorado and the youth group from Hradec Kralove to start our first camp. This camp is at the campsite my first camp I ever did here in Czech so its really cool to be back here.We are going to spend this evening setting up the meeting room and preparing our teaching boards then the students will all come tomorrow The 4th Of July! And we will end the evening with fireworks. I will be teaching beginning level English again and will also being doing camp motions for the songs with Breanne. After camp we will go back to Hradec to do follow up and then we will go back to Malenovice for the second American team training session. I will write more then with stories from camp. Hope you guys have an amazing 4th of July and that you take time to think about freedom and where your freedom comes from. May you find it in Christ. 

Joining The Adventure:

*Pray for the students that are coming to camp, that they will see the love of God in and through us.

*Pray for team unity between our different teams represented this week.

*Pray for english class, that we will tach useful and helpful English lessons.

*Pray for our evening talks about The Story Of God.

*Pray for my lungs to be healed. I was diagnosed with bronchitis but I am taking antibiotics and am getting better slowly but surely.

*Pray for rest, for our teams.

*Praise God that He has brought us all here together for this time and that He knows the hearts of the students that will be here and has brought us all together in His wisdom.

*Praise God for my team. I love them more and more every day.

Keeping Perspective

Top to Bottom: 1)School visit in Havlickuv Brod. 2)Dizmas show. 3)Girls and Boys in Havlickuv Brod (Sarah, Dora, Erica me...Chris, Vasek, Austin, Robert and Ondra). 4)Castle near Havlickuv Brod (this photo and the one before were taken by Hawaii who is co-leading the other team we're joining.) 5)Honza from Havlickcuv's band playing at a small community festival outside the city. 6)Chris, Brad and Lucie with the athletica soccer team in Vsetin.

City Visits

We have visited two of the three cities we are going to be doing camps with. Last weekend Sarah Chris and I joined another intern team in Havlickuv Brod. They will be our last camp and that week Brad and Lucie will be doing a sports camp with junior high students from their city. Then we will go with this other team and meet up with Brad and Lucie in Prague. But that's getting a bit ahead of schedule. We had a lot of fun in Havlickuv Brod, the youth leaders Honza and Ondra took us to a castle in a village near by which was really cool, we went bowling and saw Honza's band perform among other things! The weekend before our team went to Prague to meet the youth group that we'll be doing a camp with. While in Prague we saw a Dizmas concert. The show was in this club that is right next to the Charles Bridge. It was unreal to be back in Prague. There have been a lot of changes the past five years. Obviously some things have not changed, will never change...the Charles Bridge, the castle, old town square. The concert was really fun and the next day we met with the guys in the band and spent time with some students. While at the concert I randomly saw some friends from Lovocice which is the town Graeme, my leader in 2003 lived . So that was really fun. We will do our third city visit this weekend. Going to Hradec Kralove. I'm excited to go to Hradec. In 2003 our team often visited this city between camps because it was near where our camp was.

Learning to live with others

Tho there have been many amazing moments here the past couple weeks have been a lot harder than I had expected. I tried to go into this summer with zero expectations but I think that's honestly impossible. Especially when you dream about something for so long. So there have been a couple days the past couple weeks where I've broken down a bit. Back in Portland I got really used to my life being based on my time, my agenda. Sure, there was work at Starbucks, and church every Sunday but apart from that my time was basically spent however I wanted to spend it. So to live a life where there is a fairly set schedule and where other's needs need to be thought of too has been more challenging than I remember. But thankfully I've been put on an amazing team. Brad, Lucie, Sarah and Chris have been so patient and loving and have been really supportive of me as I process through these things. And I know that they and a few friends I've shared these thoughts with have been praying for me and I'm seeing God answer those prayers. Today was so good. We had a day to rest in whatever way we needed to. Last time we had a day of rest I spent most the day by myself just needing to recharge. Yes, I suppose I'm an extrovert but I really need time alone so that I can rest and be ready for time with people again. But today, I went swimming with Lucie and then later this evening Sarah and I went to the square to get some ice cream and we ended up seeing Chris with the couple he is currently staying with in a restaurant and so we joined them. God has met me right where I'm at. He's met me in my desire to not be so selfish, He's met me in the middle of reality looking different than my dreams, He's met me in the middle of missing Pavel, in the middle of wanting to see my friends from the past but being called to live in the present and to accomplish the things set before me and its amazing. Chris really encouraged me on the train the other day. He said that I don't need to worry about what I will do with my life. I only need to seek God and what He is doing with my life and I will be fine. Simple but true. And right now, God has me in Czech. He has brought me back to this country. He has put me on the amazing team. In His faithfulness and His timing He has led us all here this summer to love each other and the students and youth group kids we meet.

Choices

Along the same lines of learning to live with others, in a close community, I'm learning we are constantly asked to make choices. We must choose each day, sometimes moment by moment to be thankful or to complain, to choose life (which is found in God and His design and plan for our lives) or death (which is found when we choose to focus only on ourselves). There have been a few moments this summer, a couple days perhaps where I've chosen to complain instead of choosing to be thankful...where I've chosen me over God. But today, today I chose to be thankful, to choose life! And today was amazing.

How to Join The Adventure:

1)Pray for our visit to Hradec this weekend. Pray many student will be encouraged to come to camp. Pray for the Prague and Havlickuv Brod camps as well. Pray that many students from those two cities will come to camp as well.

2)Pray for our team's health. Chris has had a cold for the past few weeks (ever since the amazing race) and is just now starting to feel a bit better. However Brad, Lucie, Sarah and I all have a cough now. Pray also for our friends on the Slovakia team cuz they too have colds.

3)Pray that I keep choosing to be thankful, to keep choosing life.

4)Praise God for this team He has put me on!

5)Praise God for the ways He is at work here in the Czech and with my friends and family back home.

The Summer Begins

Pics are top to bottom: cathedral in Bratislava, our team (Sarah, Brad, Lucie, me, Chris) on top of a hill in Budapest, lion in Budapest, ferris wheel in amusement park in Vienna) and my friends in Ft. Wayne (top: Brian and Cari Foss, bottom Gabe Foss, me, Amy and Ani Foss)

A Reunion 

I spent a few days in Fort Wayne, Indiana before embarking on my summer in Czech. This trip was really fun. It was such a blessing to see my old teammates and I was so excited cuz I was able to be at church when Tony who had been on my team in 2003 got sent out from his church to go be a senior pastor at another church in Ft. Wayne. 

The Amazing Race

So a few weeks before we departed we all received an email from Sarah Bertrand the summer intern coordinator telling us we'd be participating in an amazing race so to "pack light". We all (everyone who is serving with Josiah Venture in all the different countries) landed in Vienna on May 27th. Then as soon as everyone arrived we set off. Our first clue was given to us in "Old German" and we had to find somebody to decode it for us. This sent us to a large garden and palace. From there we were sent to the main city square area and had to run all around getting different clues and taking pictures of different things to get the next clue. The final destination in Vienna was a giant amusement park. There we were handed two sheets of pictures taken from different rides in the park. We had to find the bits of picture and then write down the name of the ride. This took forever. After we finally finished at the amusement park our last clue of the night was to find a train to Bratislava, Slovakia. So we board the train and arrive back in 3rd/4th place (we got there the same time as another team). We sign in for the time we want to leave and sign in for the 3rd time slot (5:10am). The first clue we received for the morning sends us to Budapest. We again were given clue after clue to lead us to all different parts of Budapest. We hiked up some huge hills and climbed many stairs and saw a hand that had been persevered for hundreds of years. This second day ended as soon as we accomplished the task of balancing a baseball bat and passing it between members of our team. After many many attempts we complete this task and are free to either spend more time in Budapest or return to Bratislava where our hostel was. We decided to head back to Bratislava and met up with a team that will be serving in Slovakia while at the train station. So our two teams joined up and went to dinner at Slovak Pub in Bratislava. The third day sent us around Bratislava's town square and a cathedral there and then we were to board the train to Malenovice, Czech Republic for our week of training.

Intern Training

So now we are in the middle of training. We will be here til the weekend. I can't get this giant smile off my face. After five years God decided that this summer was the summer to lead me back here to Czech and I am so thankful and so blessed to be here. We are being taught by some amazing guys and learning so many things from God's word and about God's story. It has been so amazing to see my old friends, my Josiah Venture Family and to make so many new friends as well. This truly is a dream come true and I am so thankful I waiting on God's timing and His provision.

Joining The Adventure:

Praise God for leading me here in His time

Pray for our team to bond more and more, to love each other deeply with the love of Christ. 

Pray for the youth groups we will be working with this summer, specifically Prague, to be bold in inviting their friends to camp. 

This Moment In Time

Boxes packed. Stuff moved to my friends house. Backpack packed. Bills paid. Phone calls made. All the loose ends I was not quite sure would be tied up are tied up.

I will fall asleep tonight in the state of Oregon for the last time for the next three months. Tomorrow Beth will take me to the airport and I will fly to Ft. Wayne to see my old teammates. Then Monday Amy and I will drive up to Chicago and I take off from Chicago Tuesday. I arrive in Vienna Wednesday and my team and I will take part in an amazing race from Vienna to Malenovice where our stuff will be waiting and then we begin training. 

Five years in the waiting and here I go...I am SO excited. I am confident that God is going to show up in huge ways this summer in and through my life. That is the one thing I know I can go expecting. The rest, well the rest will be an adventure. I know God has prepared me for this moment in time. The Emily K. Ford of today is supposed to be in Czech. Not Emily K. Ford of last year or the year before that or any other year since I was there last. Right here and right now. This moment in time. I go meditating on Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (NIV)" May these words be true of my summer. 

So here I go! I will update again after we finish the amazing race, when I arrive to Czech! Thank you so much for being part of this summer through financial gifts and prayers and words of encouragement. 

His and yours,

Em

The art of leaving and the power of love

Its now less than two weeks til I depart from Portland. So the time crunch is on, trying to pack/clean and at the same time see all my friends "one last time" before the summer. There has been some talk of a "going away party" but I'm not sure yet. It seems a bit silly to me right now to have a going away party when I'll only be gone for three months. Its a fine art I think because you're "saying good-bye" but at the same time its only three months. So its more I suppose a "see you in a few month" and to me it doesn't feel the same. Maybe its that I've moved so much, or that I've had so many "going away parties" only to return several months later but this time around, I'm just trying to do this leaving for the summer thing a bit more quietly. Yesterday I had my last Sunday at Evergreen til fall. It was cool to be able to share with them what I'll be doing this summer and then they all gathered around and placed their hands on me and prayed for me, sending me off with their blessing. I am really looking forward to returning to Evergreen when I return to Portland. I really do love this city. It seems there is always more to discover, more to experience and I love that.  So Portland and Evergreen, I'll see you soon. Today I went to lunch with my roommates. I will miss these two ladies. But they will have fun full summers as well and I will catch up with them when I return. 

The power of love. Do you believe in it? What is the power of love? What does it make you think of? For me, to be honest when I first hear that phrase I think of Marty McFly on a skateboard and the opening credits of Back To The Future 1. Hughey Lewis and The News "that's the power of loooove". But really, I think that love has more power than anything else in this world  to soften hearts, to mend brokenness, to bring about forgiveness and to transform lives. I find that sometimes I forget this simple but real truth. I think that sometimes I need to say something. To put in my two cents to shake people awake again. When that's really probably not the point. I think that more often than not love and humility will change lives faster than frustration and bitterness. I know for myself, when I was running from God a couple years ago if somebody had approached me in frustration or bitterness and told me to "get my act together" or whatever it would have probably made me wait a lot longer to come back around to God. But my heart was softened, my life was transformed by love. The love of my friends Eli and Mandy toward each other, toward me, toward their baby girl and the love of God that was shown to me through their love.  I've also been thinking a lot back to past camps. The thing that the students who don't know God (yet) notice the most is the love we have for each other and for them, a love we have because of God's love for us. That is what Jesus said in John 13:35 "your love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples" (NLT) Also been thinking on "Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 (NLT) So it has been good to think again on these truths as I'm seeing a couple friends of mine, who in the past have been huge examples in how to live this life w/Jesus, just choose to make decisions that are not good. There are times when the truth needs to be said, when the truth should be defended, but even then, I believe it should always be done in love. To share truth just for truth's sake is to miss the point.  I am sure I will have more to say on love in future posts but for now I need to go clean my room and get ready for work.

Prayer/Praise

*PRAISE God for bringing in ALL the money I need to go to CZ!!! Thank you guys so much for praying for this. It was amazing to see it all unfold. In a matter of two weeks I went from having not even quite half to all!!!

*Will you now please pray for my teammate Sarah to get all the money she needs to come!

*Pray for me to get everything wrapped up here, to figure out where to store my car and stuff and how to be able to see my family and friends before I take off.

*Pray for me to continue to be humble and teachable to all that God is teaching me.

Love you guys, thank for reading and being part of my life!

Em

Making The Impossible Possible

I had a wonderful dinner last night. My roommates and I had two of our girlfriends over. All of us at the table have been on the mission field more than once so it was really encouraging to talk to them about their experiences and it made me even more excited for my upcoming journey to Czech. Afterward Tiana and I cleaned up the last few dishes and got into our Bible study. We began an old Testament read-through in the end of January and are almost done. We have been reading it in the Jewish Bile order. This week's discussion was on Esther and Daniel. I find it incredible because Lamentations ends with 5:21 "Restore us to you, O LORD that we may be restored; renew our days as of old, unless you have utterly rejected us and are exceedingly angry with us." And then Esther is a story of God appointing her to a position so that tho Haman tries to destroy the entire Jewish race she is able to convince the king to restore them. Mordecai encouraged Esther to have faith and to stand up for her people saying that even if she didn't God would eventually restore His people. And then after Esther you have the story of Daniel. I have always loved the story of Daniel and his friends. Of their faith in the face of a lions den and a blazing furnace. That they all believed that even if they did die, God was still God. 

After our discussion of these two books Tiana and I began to talk more about how God makes the impossible possible. We talked of testimonies of our friends who have beens saved from all kinds of evil and crazy things and brought into the Kingdom of God. And she was saying that sometimes when we don't have wild crazy lives before Christ its hard to remember that He does amazing things to save and restore His people. And as I lay in bed praying for a friend of mine who is going through a really hard time I began to recall stories of God making the impossible possible. I thought back to Abraham, the "father of the faith" and how God chose to enter into covenant with him. And in this covenant He told Abraham that he was going to be a father of many nations. Most people, maybe everyone (actually even Abraham, then Abram) thought that this was an impossible task. An old man with a baron wife becoming a father of many nations, as many as the stars in the sky?! Impossible! But God did just that! He gave Abraham and Sarah Issac. And when it was looking like Issac might never find a good godly wife Abraham sent his servant out to find one. And Rebekah enters into the scene. Not just a godly woman but a woman from Abraham's own relatives. And tho it is seemingly impossible for the second-born child to have any inheritance of worth Jacob got the blessing, got the birth-right not Essau. The God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Of course the bible is full of stories like this (I feel I'm rewriting Hebrews 11 right now). God delights in making the impossible possible. When the men who had spent three years following Jesus saw the man who they believed was the messiah, was the Son of God hanging, bleeding. dying on a cross there was no more hope. Their friend was dead. He was buried in a tomb. End of story...but NO! What may have seemed impossible, the most impossible of all things, became possible three days later when Christ was raised from the dead!!! 

So what is your story? What is my story? I am on the verge of this dream I've had for five years now coming to life. I'm about to go back to Czech. At this point I am still low on funds. Yeah, to some, it may seem impossible to raise such a large amount in a short time. Some might say that given this economy and the recession its just "not possible" but I don't believe them. I have too much evidence of God making the impossible possible to buy into the fear around me. Yes the economy sucks. Yes there is a recession. Yes people are loosing their jobs left and right. But the LORD is still the same today as He was in times of prosperity. He is still the one who provides all our needs. He is still, as He has always been a God that delights in making seemingly impossible situations possible. So I want to encourage all of you to asses your life from that perspective. What things in your life right now seem impossible? Is it a loss of a job, a loss of your health, a broken relationship, lack of money whatever it is take time to see it from the eyes of faith. The eyes that Daniel and his friends had when facing the lions den and the blazing furnace. Lets be part of the story that is highlighted in Hebrews 11. Lets be people of faith that believe that God exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Ways to pray in response:

*Pray that God will bring in the rest of the money quickly. That He will encourage the hearts of those I've sent letters to that He wants to participate in this journey by giving financially

*Pray for God to even now begin to pursue the hearts of the Czech students I will meet, some who at this point might not even believe there is a God.

*Pray for my Czech friends who know the Lord to be bold in inviting their friends to camp

Love you guys, In Jesus Faithful Name,

Em

Simplicity and Excitement

Through The Eyes of A Child:

I was able to take a trip home this last weekend to see my nephew for his 3rd birthday. It was so fun to be able to see life from his perspective for a couple days. To see that there is magic and wonder in simple things like train tracks and sprinklers and throwing balls. I hadn't seen him since Christmas but we reconnected immediately. He would ask "where's Em-oh-lee" everytime he'd loose sight of me. I hope to keep that perspective, to see the joy and fun and magic and wonder in all small things and not just the big things. John Eldredge talks about this  in his book "Walking With God" he says we need to see what God is giving rather than focus on what He is not giving. I like that. May we not be too focused on what is missing from our lives to miss the small but wonderful gifts we have right here and now

The Countdown:

In five weeks I will be landing in Vienna! I will meet my team there and we will begin our summer adventure of impacting the Czech students with the love of Christ, with the hope of the gospel. I just found out who will be on my team yesterday. My leaders will be Brad and Lucie Kaspar. I met Brad first when I did my internship in 2003. And I met Lucie last time I was in Czech in 2004. She is a good sister and I am so excited to serve with them both. Also on the team are two new friends Sarah who is 19 and from Illinois and Chris who is 23 and from Minnesota. I can't wait to get to know them. We have a smaller team but I think this will give us more opportunity to get to know each other. 

How to join the adventure:

1) Praise God for my nephew Damian! Pray he grows to be a man who loves the Lord passionately and be a light to his/our family.

2) Please pray for our team, for Brad and Lucie as they get the last of the preparations ready for us to arrive and for the five of us to be united even now, before we meet. That we as a team will be an incredible picture of Christ's love to the Czech students (and to each other)

Love you guys! Til next time...

Em