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

Its "a'blog" time

Its been a long long time since I last wrote and I'm not sure how to best update you on all that has been going on so I will try and break it up a bit. From here I'm going to try and write more frequently so I can just write and not feel the huge weight to update you on everything...

Stepping Out In Faith:

I am currently in the process of raising support and getting things ready to go to Czech as a summer intern with Josiah Venture. Raising support and trusting God to provide in this way is something I haven't done in so long it has seemed a bit foreign. It seems tho, each time that doubt and fear try to sneak in God keeps opening the doors and asking me to trust Him. He has put a friend  in my life that has said he will give just about half of the amount I need to raise. Another good friend who is a pastor in town invited me to come to their missions Sunday April 26th. The money has to be in by May 1st but at this rate its looking like it just may happen.  

Life and Death and the Hope of Christ:

This past week a few of my friends died. Two of them, Tony and Laura died in a rock climbing accident. Tony was on the police force here in Gresham and Laura's dad is a fire fighter. Laura and her husband (who is Tony's brother) Bobby used to be in my home group a couple years ago and when I was in college I used to hang out a lot with Bobby and his twin sister at their parents home. It was a really powerful funeral. 1500 people were there. And both Tony's and Laura's story spoke to a life of passion of Christ. Afterward there was a small copy of Heaven by Randy Alcorn for everyone to have. FIFTEEN HUNDRED PEOPLE. Many of them who did not know the Lord. May they not be able to escape the reality of Christ now that they have known Tony and Laura and have seen their life and death. On my way to their funeral I read my email and found out my friend Pavel from Czech died of lung cancer. Pavel also lived a life passionately for the Lord. I met Pavel the last time I was in Czech. He was the translator for class and he was also asked to translate my testimony. We had good talks that week about faith and trusting God and believing in His grace. We've kept in touch some through the years. When I bought my one-way ticket to Prague, that as you know, I didn't end up using Pavel was really excited to think of me coming back to serve for a longer time in Czech. I will miss Tony, Laura and Pavel. There are a couple things tho that really stood out to me at Tony and Laura's funeral and thinking about Pavel too, one is that it is so worth it to live passionately for Christ, to live fully and to live lives that are drenched in Christ's love. I'd way rather live a life of passion for Christ than to buy into the American Dream. Another thing is that with these friends of mine, with our friends that know and trust Christ, when they die then death does NOT have the final say. Death does not get the last victory. My brothers Tony and Pavel and my sister Laura are now with Christ! So when our friends, when our Christian brothers and sister die we do grieve, we cry, we hurt, but we also celebrate the lives and the examples that they showed us, we celebrate the passion that they showed us and we hope. We have HOPE. That, is amazing.

Prayer opportunities:

Please pray for me to be able to raise the support I need for this summer. Please pray for the Czech youth group leaders and the Josiah Venture staff who are right now getting ready for this summer. Pray for all the students that are going to come to camps this summer who don't yet know the Lord. And will you also please pray for the Silva family, for Bobby Silva who lost his brother and wife in the same day. Will you pray for the Gresham Police Department who lost one of their fellow officers. Pray that Tony's life/death would speak to the officers that don't yet know the Lord. And please pray for Pavel's family and for his friends in Czech and those who were close to him. Thank you so much!

More coming soon,

Emily