Hi folks!
Tomorrow I (Rach) will be running with friends in the Pardubice Half Marathon. We have been training for this since last year and we are pretty excited. Please pray for safety and energy!
Will post pictures later...
Thanks!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
After an unfortunate snowfall on Friday where we woke up to about nine inches of snow, I believe that Spring is here. The sun is shining bright and beautiful over Hlinsko today! Take a look at the live webcam shot of the main square outside of our apartment: www.hlinsko.cz/mesto/webkamery.
I'm not sure where January, February and March went, but it seems I woke up today and we are into the first full week of April! It is fun to be entering a second year here and looking back on how far we have come in one year. To have now celebrated our second Easter in Czech!! Maybe to an outside onlooker, it could seem that we haven't made much progress, but we believe otherwise. There are so many things to be thankful for, but we are really excited about one in particular. One of my (Rach) students has now come to church three times in the last two months! This coming Saturday we will enjoy time together as a church family at the YFC Conference Centre (Christer and Kicki's pastor from Sweden will come and will have some teaching sessions. There will be food, fellowship, worship and teaching). And my student told me on Sunday that he plans on coming! One year ago when I started teaching, if you would have told me that one year later he would be coming to church I might not have believed you. But praise God because for some time now I have sensed God working in this man's heart and drawing him to Christ. I pray that he will continue to seek, and will ultimately find! Please join us in prayer for him.
What else have we been up to? Well it goes something like this:
1. God teaching us new things. 2. Me teaching English. 3. Us learning Czech. REPEAT.
We believe that we have entered a time ever closer to when we will see a Drop In Centre opened here in Hlinsko. Looking back, we see that we were eager to begin when we arrived, but not ready. It seems that God has had a checklist of things that He wants to accomplish in us before we are ready to serve Him in the capacity that He will have for us. His plan is so much bigger and so much better than we could have ever imagined. And yes, part of that plan is learning Czech better. We have stepped up our studies to three times a week. Through a friend we have found an EXCELLENT teacher who we really enjoy studying with. She is a teacher at the school where Hannah will attend first grade next year. In fact, she will be Hannah's teacher! So not only have we been blessed with a new friend, but we have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with her as her students, but also as the parent's of one of her future students. She told me on Friday that our meeting was not by chance and how happy she is to know us. I couldn't agree more. Her husband and her split up about six months ago and life has been difficult for her. But I believe that God wants to heal her heart, and I pray that we will be obedient to whatever role He has for us in it. Please pray for her! And pray for us as we learn Czech.
This coming Saturday we are excited to get to see some friends from Ontario. The husband is in the military and they were able to get on a flight to Germany, and will come to Czech to visit with us. We got the confirmation about their trip yesterday and it has encouraged us so much to know that we will get to see and spend time with this amazing family! Please pray for their safe journey!
And last, but certainly not least, we now have tickets to be returning to Canada for a summer visit. We will arrive in Toronto May 31st and head back to Czech August 15th. It will be a wonderful time to spend some much needed time with both our families and also get a chance to connect with our dear supporters. If you would like us to come and share our ministry at your church during that time, please let us know. We would love the opportunity!
Blessings from Czech on this beautiful day!
I'm not sure where January, February and March went, but it seems I woke up today and we are into the first full week of April! It is fun to be entering a second year here and looking back on how far we have come in one year. To have now celebrated our second Easter in Czech!! Maybe to an outside onlooker, it could seem that we haven't made much progress, but we believe otherwise. There are so many things to be thankful for, but we are really excited about one in particular. One of my (Rach) students has now come to church three times in the last two months! This coming Saturday we will enjoy time together as a church family at the YFC Conference Centre (Christer and Kicki's pastor from Sweden will come and will have some teaching sessions. There will be food, fellowship, worship and teaching). And my student told me on Sunday that he plans on coming! One year ago when I started teaching, if you would have told me that one year later he would be coming to church I might not have believed you. But praise God because for some time now I have sensed God working in this man's heart and drawing him to Christ. I pray that he will continue to seek, and will ultimately find! Please join us in prayer for him.
What else have we been up to? Well it goes something like this:
1. God teaching us new things. 2. Me teaching English. 3. Us learning Czech. REPEAT.
We believe that we have entered a time ever closer to when we will see a Drop In Centre opened here in Hlinsko. Looking back, we see that we were eager to begin when we arrived, but not ready. It seems that God has had a checklist of things that He wants to accomplish in us before we are ready to serve Him in the capacity that He will have for us. His plan is so much bigger and so much better than we could have ever imagined. And yes, part of that plan is learning Czech better. We have stepped up our studies to three times a week. Through a friend we have found an EXCELLENT teacher who we really enjoy studying with. She is a teacher at the school where Hannah will attend first grade next year. In fact, she will be Hannah's teacher! So not only have we been blessed with a new friend, but we have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with her as her students, but also as the parent's of one of her future students. She told me on Friday that our meeting was not by chance and how happy she is to know us. I couldn't agree more. Her husband and her split up about six months ago and life has been difficult for her. But I believe that God wants to heal her heart, and I pray that we will be obedient to whatever role He has for us in it. Please pray for her! And pray for us as we learn Czech.
This coming Saturday we are excited to get to see some friends from Ontario. The husband is in the military and they were able to get on a flight to Germany, and will come to Czech to visit with us. We got the confirmation about their trip yesterday and it has encouraged us so much to know that we will get to see and spend time with this amazing family! Please pray for their safe journey!
And last, but certainly not least, we now have tickets to be returning to Canada for a summer visit. We will arrive in Toronto May 31st and head back to Czech August 15th. It will be a wonderful time to spend some much needed time with both our families and also get a chance to connect with our dear supporters. If you would like us to come and share our ministry at your church during that time, please let us know. We would love the opportunity!
Blessings from Czech on this beautiful day!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Record
Here is a link to an article written in the Kitchener Record about the hockey ministry in the Czech Republic.
As a point of interest, some of Jody's quotes are not correctly quoted. For example, when you read it, Jody is quoted as saying, "It was almost miraculous." He, in fact, believes that it was miraculous...not almost miraculous. :)
http://news.therecord.com/Life/faith/article/669983
Enjoy!
As a point of interest, some of Jody's quotes are not correctly quoted. For example, when you read it, Jody is quoted as saying, "It was almost miraculous." He, in fact, believes that it was miraculous...not almost miraculous. :)
http://news.therecord.com/Life/faith/article/669983
Enjoy!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
A torch in the hands of the Master
Several years ago I was living and working in Canada. I had been involved youth ministry for about five or six years at that point and knew that God had a call on my life. As a child I always loved the TV show the littlest hobo, for those of you who don't remember the show, it about a stray German shepherd that travels from place to place helping people. The dog always arrived as he was needed and then would leave again when his job was done. One day while telling Rachael about the show I realized that I was a little like that dog, God would use me in places and then call me on to the next place. "Maybe tomorrow I just might settle down, until tomorrow the whole world is my home" that was a line from the theme song and it was how I was feeling in my life. It was at that time that I began to seek God on His calling for me and what it might look like. After a few weeks of praying and thinking about things, God gave me a picture and a clear vision of His call on my life. He showed me that I was a torch in His hand that he would use to light fires for His glory. God would call me places and use me there for a season to light a fire. It is why I have always been more of a visionary and dreamer in my life, God made me that way for a reason. That picture God gave me was so vivid that I immediately shared it with Rachael and it is something that I have held onto tightly for the past several years. After moving here to Czech I have said to Rachael that maybe this time God will use us not only to light a fire but perhaps to tend the fire. To stay longer and be a part of something over the long haul. Only God knows for sure and that is the way it should be, but from our part we are committed to being here as long as the Lord leads. All of this is great and you may be wondering why now am I writing this, so let me share with you what happened today. I woke this morning and saw that I had a text message on my phone from last night. The message was from a girl in our youth group here and it read "the message is under the door mat” hmm that is a strange text to receive but it sparked my curiosity and of course I went to my front door and looked under the mat. There was a folded piece of paper, I opened it up and this is what I saw.
This is the picture that was folded up and placed under my door mat. I immediately texted Nela (the girl who placed it there) and I asked her what made you do this and have I ever shared that story with you before? She said she had never heard me say anything about this before and this picture came to her while several ladies in our church were talking about a vision they had of God lighting a fire here in this town. What had caused her to share this note with me? She said she just felt like she should. Wow. Personally I was floored and extremely encouraged by this. Three things I noticed about this picture. First, obviously the torch, the picture God gave me of His calling on my life exactly as I had seen it. Second, the fire is not yet lit but it is about to be. And lastly, beside the fire sits a stack of wood, which to me indicates this is a fire that will need some tending.
This is the picture that was folded up and placed under my door mat. I immediately texted Nela (the girl who placed it there) and I asked her what made you do this and have I ever shared that story with you before? She said she had never heard me say anything about this before and this picture came to her while several ladies in our church were talking about a vision they had of God lighting a fire here in this town. What had caused her to share this note with me? She said she just felt like she should. Wow. Personally I was floored and extremely encouraged by this. Three things I noticed about this picture. First, obviously the torch, the picture God gave me of His calling on my life exactly as I had seen it. Second, the fire is not yet lit but it is about to be. And lastly, beside the fire sits a stack of wood, which to me indicates this is a fire that will need some tending.To me this is all way more then a coincidence and there is no other explanation for it. God is moving and confirming His call and plans for our lives. Praise God and may His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Amen
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
January 27, 2009
No, that's not a mistype on the title...I meant to write 2009. (Although writing 2010 sometimes is beyond my belief! A date like that still seems a little too futuristic to me.) Yet, here we are: January 27, 2010!
What is unbelievable about that date? Well it could be that Jane Fonda underwent arthroscopic surgery on her right knee in 1992. Or it could be that the World's longest subaqueous tunnel was opened in Honshu-Hokkaid in 1983. (http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/january_27.html) But who really cares about that? The date is significant to us because one year ago today we arrived in Hlinsko! One year ago! It seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye!
As they say, a picture says a thousand words. So here are some pictures to celebrate our first year in Czech. They are in reverse however beginning with Christmas 2009.
Our church celebrates God's provision to make a very large mortgage payment on the church building!
We say Merry Christmas to Jody's family over skype.
Rachael celebrates Christmas with her students.
The missionary team preforms the Thanksgiving story for the ESL students.
Grace's 4th birthday!
Rachael and Karna celebrate their birthdays together.
Hannah turns 5!
Jody's cousin Bethany spends the summer in Czech working at the YFC Conference Centre and being an incredible 'nanny' to our kids!
Jody turns 35!
The awesome youth we work with...Unified.
Our family visits with Rachael's students who are bee-keepers. Hannah gets to wear the bee-keeper outfit and get an upclose view of the hives.
Our friend Shelley comes for an encouraging visit.
Beautiful Spring in Czech.
Rachael teaching.
Making friends:)
Growing up in Hlinsko!
Jody's first goal with the Skulls hockey team.
One of our first family photos in Czech.
Here's to many more years in Czech!
What is unbelievable about that date? Well it could be that Jane Fonda underwent arthroscopic surgery on her right knee in 1992. Or it could be that the World's longest subaqueous tunnel was opened in Honshu-Hokkaid in 1983. (http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/january_27.html) But who really cares about that? The date is significant to us because one year ago today we arrived in Hlinsko! One year ago! It seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye!
As they say, a picture says a thousand words. So here are some pictures to celebrate our first year in Czech. They are in reverse however beginning with Christmas 2009.
Our church celebrates God's provision to make a very large mortgage payment on the church building!
We say Merry Christmas to Jody's family over skype.
Rachael celebrates Christmas with her students.
The missionary team preforms the Thanksgiving story for the ESL students.
Grace's 4th birthday!
Rachael and Karna celebrate their birthdays together.
Hannah turns 5!
Jody's cousin Bethany spends the summer in Czech working at the YFC Conference Centre and being an incredible 'nanny' to our kids!
Jody turns 35!
The awesome youth we work with...Unified.
Our family visits with Rachael's students who are bee-keepers. Hannah gets to wear the bee-keeper outfit and get an upclose view of the hives.
Our friend Shelley comes for an encouraging visit.
Beautiful Spring in Czech.
Rachael teaching.
Making friends:)
Growing up in Hlinsko!
Jody's first goal with the Skulls hockey team.
One of our first family photos in Czech.
Here's to many more years in Czech!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
An Update
It has once again been too long since our last post. Life gets rolling and blogging seems to be another thing on the list sometimes! Why does the list always seem to grow and never shrink?
Anyways, it's time to give a bit of an update on our life here. The past few weeks have been busy for our team as we were preparing for a big Thanksgiving program/dinner for the English school students and their families. It was neat to see how our team really worked together and put together a nice event. The evening started with the students enjoying hot spiced apple cider and snacks while reading about the history of Thanksgiving that we put together. We had set up a tepee in the Entrance hall that gave the room a Native feeling, while 'real' Pilgrims and Native Americans greeted the guests. When it was time, the guests were invited into the dining hall where their first sight was a tribe of Natives, led by Chief Massasoit, sitting around the fire. After the guests were seated, music started and the Natives began a dance. After the dance, Chief Massasoit began telling the story (in 'real' Sioux, mind you) of when white men came to their shores.
After, the guests got to enjoy a dance by some of the youth group girls and a student of mine. The girls choreographed a dance to "Cherokee Morning Song". It was beautiful! Throughout the rest of the program, the guests saw the history of the pilgrim's crossing through video and live action. They saw the Natives, led by Chief Massasoit, befriend the Pilgrims and teach them vital life saving techniques for living in the new land. In the end, everyone was able to celebrate and enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner together. After dinner, guest were challenged to "challenge the Natives" with some silly games. Before saying goodnight, our school Director gave a moving talk about the Lord of the Harvest. We pray that there will be a harvest from this event, that students and their families would have seen the Spirit of God at work and felt his gentle call to become part of His kingdom.
We really enjoyed this event. From working with our team, to setting up, to visiting with the guests, to the last moment of going home. There are times when I, as their teacher, am frustrated by how difficult it can be to seemingly share Jesus with them. During class, I have to be careful that I don't preach at my students because they are paying to learn English. But during events outside of the classroom, we really try to be more evangelistic. It was a blessing to see this come together and hopefully bless people. Thank you for your prayers...please continue to pray that hearts would soften and students would accept Christ as their Saviour.
With some disappointment, we will be staying in Czech over the Christmas season. We have about $2000 that we still need in order to renew our visas, so there was no option to purchase airfare. Our visas expire the end of this month, and must be renewed by the 15th, so we have the paperwork about ready, and are trusting that if God wants us to stay here, He will provide the rest needed to pay for the expense of our visas. Renewing passports and visas overseas is significantly more expensive than doing it in North America, we have found out. And requires a lot more red tape! Lord willing finances and paperwork will all come together in time.
Although we will GREATLY miss being with family over the holidays, we are reminded that God has a plan in everything, and trust that His will is perfect and good. There will be many opportunities over the Christmas season to shine the light of Jesus to those we come in contact with. There will be a group coming from Minnesota over Christmas, so it will be nice to have some down time and hopefully some time of refreshing with the group through prayer and services.
We are also looking toward February and the hockey trip! As we hear, there is still space for some more hockey players and non players on this trip. We are praying that God would bring those He wants as participants. Maybe you know someone or you yourself should come? Please go to canadasos.ca for more information, or e-mail us directly.
Every third Saturday Jody and the teens have been hosting "The River", a youth led church service for youth. Each week a topic is prepared, there is worship, there are videos and a short but pointed message all following the theme of the evening. It seems that God is really moving in this area, and we look forward to seeing what more He has for this ministry. Jody especially feels called to this work and putting his heart into it. He enjoys working with the youth to prepare each service and feels God's anointing as he is preaching the message. The hope is still to one day have a drop in centre where these services may take place, but today, God has given us a great building where it is working. We pray that we can be faithful in this work.
Thank you for your prayers and support! Drop us an e-mail sometime and say hello!
Anyways, it's time to give a bit of an update on our life here. The past few weeks have been busy for our team as we were preparing for a big Thanksgiving program/dinner for the English school students and their families. It was neat to see how our team really worked together and put together a nice event. The evening started with the students enjoying hot spiced apple cider and snacks while reading about the history of Thanksgiving that we put together. We had set up a tepee in the Entrance hall that gave the room a Native feeling, while 'real' Pilgrims and Native Americans greeted the guests. When it was time, the guests were invited into the dining hall where their first sight was a tribe of Natives, led by Chief Massasoit, sitting around the fire. After the guests were seated, music started and the Natives began a dance. After the dance, Chief Massasoit began telling the story (in 'real' Sioux, mind you) of when white men came to their shores.
After, the guests got to enjoy a dance by some of the youth group girls and a student of mine. The girls choreographed a dance to "Cherokee Morning Song". It was beautiful! Throughout the rest of the program, the guests saw the history of the pilgrim's crossing through video and live action. They saw the Natives, led by Chief Massasoit, befriend the Pilgrims and teach them vital life saving techniques for living in the new land. In the end, everyone was able to celebrate and enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner together. After dinner, guest were challenged to "challenge the Natives" with some silly games. Before saying goodnight, our school Director gave a moving talk about the Lord of the Harvest. We pray that there will be a harvest from this event, that students and their families would have seen the Spirit of God at work and felt his gentle call to become part of His kingdom.
We really enjoyed this event. From working with our team, to setting up, to visiting with the guests, to the last moment of going home. There are times when I, as their teacher, am frustrated by how difficult it can be to seemingly share Jesus with them. During class, I have to be careful that I don't preach at my students because they are paying to learn English. But during events outside of the classroom, we really try to be more evangelistic. It was a blessing to see this come together and hopefully bless people. Thank you for your prayers...please continue to pray that hearts would soften and students would accept Christ as their Saviour.
With some disappointment, we will be staying in Czech over the Christmas season. We have about $2000 that we still need in order to renew our visas, so there was no option to purchase airfare. Our visas expire the end of this month, and must be renewed by the 15th, so we have the paperwork about ready, and are trusting that if God wants us to stay here, He will provide the rest needed to pay for the expense of our visas. Renewing passports and visas overseas is significantly more expensive than doing it in North America, we have found out. And requires a lot more red tape! Lord willing finances and paperwork will all come together in time.
Although we will GREATLY miss being with family over the holidays, we are reminded that God has a plan in everything, and trust that His will is perfect and good. There will be many opportunities over the Christmas season to shine the light of Jesus to those we come in contact with. There will be a group coming from Minnesota over Christmas, so it will be nice to have some down time and hopefully some time of refreshing with the group through prayer and services.
We are also looking toward February and the hockey trip! As we hear, there is still space for some more hockey players and non players on this trip. We are praying that God would bring those He wants as participants. Maybe you know someone or you yourself should come? Please go to canadasos.ca for more information, or e-mail us directly.
Every third Saturday Jody and the teens have been hosting "The River", a youth led church service for youth. Each week a topic is prepared, there is worship, there are videos and a short but pointed message all following the theme of the evening. It seems that God is really moving in this area, and we look forward to seeing what more He has for this ministry. Jody especially feels called to this work and putting his heart into it. He enjoys working with the youth to prepare each service and feels God's anointing as he is preaching the message. The hope is still to one day have a drop in centre where these services may take place, but today, God has given us a great building where it is working. We pray that we can be faithful in this work.
Thank you for your prayers and support! Drop us an e-mail sometime and say hello!
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