In my (Gretchen's) English Class I only had 4 Czech students, which was actually good because they each got a lot of individual attention and had many chances to speak English. At the beginning of the week 3 of them said they did not believe in God or in Jesus at all. Now, at the end of the week (and after many discussions) one of them says she believes the gospel is true but it is not important to her, one says that "maybe" it is true, one says she is a follower of Christ (actually an Adventist), and one says that his greatest wish is to know God and see Him. He says that he could believe soon, but he needs a little more time and has more questions. I wish I could describe to you how BIG these steps are for these kids!!! HUGE STEPS towards believing in Christ. Gretchen's class picture below:
The girls in Gretchen's class:
Justin had 7 students in his class. The dynamic of his class was much different. The kids were not very talkative and it took a lot of motivation for them to speak out loud in English. But some of the kids also made great strides towards believing in God. Justin's main translator was not a Christian but translated the entire gospel and many other spiritual discussions into Czech for the whole class. Amazing! We are praying that he comes to believe the words he is speaking. One girl in the class is Hindu but has been very appreciative of the friendships she's made with Christians. She said she enjoyed last night's message, when Jeff shared the gospel with the entire camp. His presentation of the gospel was very moving and he had the translator in tears by the end. Lots of kids were moved by it and very thankful for his gentle and loving way that he explained it. Another girl in Justin's class is 90% convinced that the gospel is true, so Justin told her that he will pray for God to convince the last 10%. Justin's class picture below:
To be honest, we are tired. We still have a few days of follow-up to do with these kids after they leave the camp. But after that we will have done two full-fledged English camps. And one more to go!! Please pray for stamina and energy for us. And patience and love and humility... with each other and those around us :) God has sustained us thus far, and we can both honestly say that our marriage is stronger than it was before we left. Praise God! Yes, there have been moments when our frustration and sin get the better of us, but we are being refined and disciplined...and for that we are sooooo grateful! We feel so incredibly blessed to be here in Europe, witnessing to salvation through Jesus Christ. We are watching God work in hearts in amazing ways.
Thank you for your faithful prayers. We are depending on you to lift us up in your prayers. On Tuesday morning we head to Prague with our team, we have Tuesday night and all day Wednesday to debrief, then we all leave Prague on Thursday. Dan, Kevin, and the two of us leave for Albania, and the rest of team goes back to America.
Please pray:
- for safety in traveling, that flight connections would be made and that all our luggage would arrive on time!!
- for continued health for Justin and me - our health has been great so far...no problems! What a blessing!
- for gospel to speed ahead to Albania and that the Holy Spirit would soften hearts now to hear the gospel
- for our Albania team back home as they wrap up details and meet us in Tirana.
- for the church that we will be working with, that they would be able to fold the new believers in the church after camp
- for God to continue to bless our marriage - our 7-month anniversary is July 30 - can you believe it?!!
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