Deep Thoughts With Jody :)

I (Jody) don’t often blog. In fact this may be my first time writing on our blog, but I have a lot on my mind and heart and just want to share some of it.

So much has happened in the two short and very quick months that we have been here it’s hard to know where to begin, so I will share with you what I feel God’s Spirit is speaking to me. Let me begin with our town Hlinsko and the meaning behind the name of our town. The name Hlinsko comes from the Czech word "Hlina" meaning clay. This area was once famous for the high quality potter's clay found here. That got me thinking and I opened the Word of God and was lead to John 9:6-7 NKJV. In this verse, Jesus heals a blind man with his spit and some clay from the ground. As I read this passage I began to wonder, "What if God is going to use Hlinsko (meaning clay) the same way Jesus used the clay? What if God is going to pour out His Spirit on the people of this town in such a way that He then uses them to restore sight to the rest of the nation and around the world." Why Hlinsko? What is so special about this town? Maybe that is the very reason why...there is nothing special about this town, but our God loves to use the ordinary to do extraordinary things ('Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:16 NIV). I can’t tell you why, but I can tell you that I really believe we are standing on the edge of a pouring out of God’s Spirit like few have seen. Here in Hlinsko we have a beautiful hill that overlooks almost the whole town; it’s a great place to go up and be alone. The other day I went up the hill to pray and I began to weep for this town and pray for God to move in the hearts of the people. As I was praying I felt the Holy Spirit whisper to me, “Tell them to wake up!” and so I began to say, “Wake up.” And then I felt the Spirit say, “Louder!” So I said it louder. And again He said, “Louder!” And before I knew it I was shouting at the top of my lungs, “WAKE UP!” After this I continued to pray and I felt the Spirit say, “Declare the name of Jesus to this town.” And so I began to say “Jesus” over and over, and again I felt the Spirit say, “Louder” and once again I found myself shouting the name of Jesus over this town. I shouted it in English, in Czech, in Spanish and in Hebrew over and over. It was one of the most amazing prayer times I have ever experienced.

I have been reading a great book on 24-7 prayer, Red Moon Rising, and I began to feel as though God was calling us here in Hlinsko to prayer 24-7. I shared this with some youth from our church and they told me that there is one youth who has had that on his heart also. And with that we have decided to press into God 24-7 in partnership with the church and youth group and begin continuous prayer the first Sunday of April.

I also now more then ever see the vision for a youth drop-in centre here. There is one particular building that we have been praying about and we will see how God moves and provides. The vision is to see a drop-in open during the week after school and on the weekends with Saturday night being a youth lead worship and praise service and every week a clear presentation and invitation to receive Jesus as Saviour. So for now I am working towards that vision as God leads and laying the foundation in prayer for a mighty outpouring of God in this town and nation.

View of Hlinsko from the hill

Hopscotch at Home

The girls and I decided to make an indoor hopscotch court today...in the livingroom! We used tape to make the floor and then had a great time!

Now I have to go get groceries and get ready to teach tonight...fun, fun!

Oops!

Yikes! It has been waaaaay too long since I last blogged. I have to make a rule about blogging at least once a week, because this is unacceptable!:) I have to give you a bit of an update...


We have settled in here quite nicely and are really enjoying our life! Hannah and Grace are still speaking in their own made up language because they want to learn Czech so badly. It is neat to hear how real Czech words are starting to pepper their speech though. We registered them for pre school (školka) last week! They got to see their school, meet the Director and even play for a bit. They won't be able to begin until the fall, but they are excited! The other day, Hannah prayed: "Dear God, please help me to learn Czech so that I can make friends here!" ...Talk about ripping a parent's heart out!


The hockey season officially ended last night with a win for the Skulls! Their championship game was last Saturday and it was also a victory! The team was so excited; you would have thought that they won the Stanley Cup. At the final buzzer the team threw their gloves and sticks in the air and were yelling, and hugging and spraying champagne into the crowd! It was a great experience for Jody and, from the outside looking in, it was neat to see how they really love him and are truly happy that he is part of the team. At least a couple of times a week, there is someone from the hockey team calling Jody and wanting to get together with him. It is awesome to see this openness he has with the guys!

Teaching English has been a wonderful experience for me. I am really seeing how it can be used to establish relationships with people. After six weeks of teaching them, I have begun to care for my students in a deeper way and I hope that we have more opportunities to deepen relationships and share about our Hope in life. I find teaching itself, enjoyably challenging. At the end of a class, my brain is on overload! I never realized how difficult it could be to try and explain certain words. It's funny because my speech becomes so simplified as a result of speaking on my student's level, that I sometimes forget that my family and friends can speak English and I talk to them like they are my students. Jody will often look at me and say, "Rachael, I can speak English!"

This last week we have a group from Word of Life Church in New York here. This morning Jody and I were talking about how they don't feel like a group, but like family. This is the church from New York that we visited in December and it is SO wonderful to see them again! Their hearts for ministry, for Hlinsko, for serving, and for Jesus are as big as Texas! Pastor Greg preached on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as well as Dave and Clarissa (their worship leaders) led worship with our youth group on Saturday. It has been a time of spiritual blessing and refreshing for us as we have prayed with them and fellowshipped with them. We don't want them to leave!

Oh, another update...poor Jahoda our snail died. We are ok with it though...snails don't live forever:)

This week we have a group of Americans serving here in Czech. They are families of servicemen and women serving with NATO in Holland, Belgium and Germany. They have been visiting the English classes in the public schools, doing many work projects at the English school and the conference centre, and also having conversation with our English students at the English school. Being the first team that we have worked with that was not a SOS team; it is interesting for us to see a different team operate. And especially this one because it is a "family" team, ages ranging from one year to 50 years old.

Having gone from the hockey team leaving on Saturday to this team arriving on the same day, you can imagine how exhausted our missionary team here is! Please pray for us that God would rejuvenate us and give us rest! With a busy schedule, and with our family still adjusting to a new life and a new way of doing things, it can be difficult to find time for rest and family time, etc...

Hopefully in the next week and a half we will have a newsletter out again...time permitting!

Thanks for your prayers!

Jahoda, our pet

Our kids have been wanting a pet so badly since we moved here. And we have been telling them that when we get settled and if God gives us a house someday, we can get a pet. But we also told them that they can pray about it and maybe God will say 'yes' to their prayers and give them one sooner.

Today their prayers were answered. I was excited the other day because they had fresh strawberries at the grocery store in Hlinsko, so I bought some. Today I was washing them and cutting them up for Hannah and Grace to snack on, and I was surprised to see a snail snacking on them first! Naturally, Hannah being the all-things-slimy-expert, declared that he should be out pet now and live with us because he didn't have parents anymore.

We had just been practicing some Czech words with the girls and "jahoda" was one they were learning. It is Czech for strawberry. And so for the price of a pack of strawberries, we not only got a great healthy snack, but we also got a pet! Meet Jahoda the snail...

Winter Windows

This might be silly, but I have been looking at this all day and I think it is so beautiful! I'm not a photographer, so I didn't quite capture how it looks exactly, but maybe you'll get the idea...
The icicles have now almost reached the growing pile of snow on the window ledge. We have been getting pummeled with snow so much lately that I feel like I am back in Wingham! It's terrible to drive in here because the roads have little maintenance, but it sure is pretty to look at!

Powerful, Powerful Prayer

I have been feeling from the beginning of this trip that I was supposed to share a bit of my testimony. There were a couple of meetings with the team where I thought it was perhaps the time, but it just didn't happen. Then yesterday Faith mentioned that she felt like God was telling her that someone on our team was supposed to share something during the concert we would have with the campers. I knew that was me, and that it was time. Usually when I share my testimony I don't get specific with how my dad died, but I felt like I needed to this time. I just wasn't sure what the point was that I needed to make with it all. Faith and I prayed together before and I just trusted that God would give me the words...

The song before I spoke was "Mighty to Save" and one specific line in the song is very simple, but very powerful, "Everyone needs forgiveness." And I knew that was the point I needed to make. I shared that 21 years ago on the 16th of this month my dad was murdered. Those words are still difficult to say, especially in that setting. I shared how years ago, my heart was turning black because of the unforgiveness that I was holding for the person who did this. And how unforgiveness takes our life away. I shared how seven years ago I was walking around the lake on the very property where everyone is staying, and I knew it was time for me to forgive. I told God that I didn't have the ablility on my own to forgive, but that He needed to give me the forgivness. In His mercy He gave me forgiveness and I heart has healed. For certain there are two people in that room who that message was for, and I invited whoever to talk to me about forgiveness. I pray that God would continue to press on their hearts and that they would come to the place where they can talk, and forgive. And by forgiving, they can be forgiven.

Please continue to pray. I know that there are so many of you praying for us, and I hope that this encourages you that God's ear is open and his Hand is moving. Prayer is powerful and right now I have this picture of prayers for this little town being offered up like incense and they are sweet to our Lord.

May His work here continue!