Our Little Czech Souvenir

over the summer minda and i were able to acquire some awesome gifts and keepsakes for family and friends. without a question though our favorite thing that we brought back with us from the Czech this summer is:

OUR BABY!

as most of you probably know minda and i are pregnant and so excited! it was not something that was planned by us, but we are extremely excited that we are able to be a part of God's plan for our lives! there is actually a really great story that may, or may not of ushered in our little Kumquat (the baby's current size 09/12). don't worry this is a story that you can bring the kids around the computer and read to them.

our first camp of the summer (Trinec) was nestled in the valley of a mountain range inside the town of Horni Becva. the owners of the hotel were very kind and loving to our team. in Czech everyone takes off their shoes before entering a home; the owners wanted us to take off our shoes before going into the hotel, but none of us had house slippers. so they went out and bought 30 pairs of slippers for all the Americans. these owners were really, really nice! they also had 6 children, 2 of which we invited to be a part of the english camp. the owners continued to be very friendly to us throughout the week. well one day, about the middle of camp they were talking with minda and i through a translator. they realized that we were married and proceeded to ask us if we were planning on having kids and how many we wanted. well we laughed and told them that we would love kids , but we weren't sure when.

the mother turned and looked at Minda. she pointed at a crib in the corner of the room, about 10 feet away from us, and she told her that if she wants a baby to go and rock the crib and we will get pregnant within a year. Minda "jokingly" hopped over to the crib rocked it a few quick times, turned and looked at me and  with a crazed look in her eye giggled. well according to our due date we got pregnant at this camp.

God has an amazing sense of humor! seriously, He is hilarious. we have some other cool news and updates, but we will put those up after a little while! thanks for "keeping up with the Walborns"!

Please keep us and our little baby in your prayers.

Love

Nik and Minda

our third and final camp: Zabreh

our last and final camp, and definitely the most unique camp this summer. we did this camp with a town called Zabreh, which is a very difficult name to say for me.....o well.

this camp was unique because of the fact that this was the very first camp for this town and youth group! it was a very exciting endeavor, that everyone was very excited for. it was also different because not only did we not have an american church team, but we were also missing Melissa from our team. she was at a different camp with the czech town that she has been working with throughout the year.

this was the smallest camp of the summer for us and one of the smallest camps in Josiah Venture's history! we had a total of 22 people at camp, and it was a blast!! this camp was extremely fun, and it was a much more intimate setting, that i loved being a part of!

i felt much more comfortable giving the evening talks this week, and my translator (Alca) was top notch; i was truly blessed to be able to work with her this past week and it was a cool thing to see her grow in her abilities to translate. and not only translate words, but to also translate the emotion and expression in the words, it was so cool!

Katka was a great camp leader to work with. she has amazing drive, and her worry for things at camp to go really well, made sure that they did! she is a really creative person, who was able to tap into her teams talents, gifts, and passions to be able to use them to their full potential, and really make their first camp something to be remembered! we had a pretty rag tag camp with 7 guys total including myself and Tom, (Katka's father, pastor of their Church) who turned 50 years old while at camp! we had a great camp facility, with our first practical sports field/area for the summer!

because we did not have an american team for this camp, we did follow up with Zabreh.

follow up is the day that camp ends (saturday). basically it is a time to really connect students with the church and youth group! it was really tiring, but so rewarding! the youth group had a mini amazing race planned that took place around town. we had great weather, and the race was a perfect length and another great opportunity to talk with students. after the race we met out behind the church for a picnic/bbq. we are really praying that the Lord will continue growing and working in relationships that were made at camp.

look out for the next post that will talk about our time in Prague for debrief!!

Zlin Camp

we just finished camp and now we have two camps under our belt. wow! i cannot even believe how fast our summer has gone. i mean we will be home in almost three weeks, unbelievable!

click on picture to open a much bigger size!

Zlin has a stellar youth group who were all eager to serve the students from their town. it really amazed me watching these students talk to, spend time with, and minister to their fellow students. they really were on top of every task that they had been given!

we had 63 people total at this camp.

• 6 Americans from intern team
• 4 Americans from american church
• 2 Americans from a military base in Germany
• 10 Czechs from the Czech team
• 41 Czechs from Zlin or from surrounding towns

i was pretty nervous going into this camp, because it was my first time teaching all the night talks. i love speaking in front of people, but (being extremely honest) i get terrified when it comes to communicating the Word of God to a group. the week went very well though. there were no major problems, and i felt like i was able to really connect with some of the students. the theme of camps for this year is: Collision. 

the main theme of the week is about people in the Bible who have had collisions with Christ, and how those collisions have changed them.

we have seven talks during the week:

1. Christ is different than you think
2. Jesus and the adulterous woman
3. Jesus and Zacchaeus 
4. Jesus and the rich man
5. Jesus and Pilate
6. Jesus and the two thieves 
7. Jesus and Peter

this theme and the talks are meant to challenge students to (re)think who Christ is, and who Christ is in relation to their life.

it was a really successful camp! and i use the word successful in a way that may not make sense to the world. 

we did not have anyone (to my knowledge) give their life to Christ.

we did not have anyone (to my knowledge) want to join the local church.

we did not have anyone (to my knowledge) promise to change their lifestyle

BUT

we did have students ask for Bibles

we did have students tell us that they were interested in learning more about God

we did have students tell us that they had never thought about God, Jesus, or the Bible in this way before

we did have students that looked physically distressed in their wrestling of where they stood with God



in man's eyes i am sure that this camp would be deemed completely unsuccessful, but i know for a fact that in God's eyes this camp worked out perfectly in His master plan. and that is all i need to know.

we will add more soon telling more about his camp. stay tuned!

a better picture of camp

i realized yesterday that we haven't posted anything that would help you get a better idea of what our schedule is at camp and what we do every day during camp. we wanted to make it a bit clearer for you. there will also be another update coming later today or tomorrow about our second camp as well.

so this is what happens for a typical camp. we arrived to the camp location on:

Friday (this is the day before camp, students arrive saturday)

• dividing up bed rooms
• making banners, signs, and mailboxes for the doors
• setting up technical equipment for band/projection equipment
• praying for the camp, students, and our team
• spend a little more time getting to know the Czech youth group

Saturday (first day students arrive)

• check the students in 
• play games with them as they wait to be tested for English
• test the students on their English comprehension and speaking abilities
• place the students into classes
• take students to their room to get settled in
• eat dinner together as a camp, and introduce leaders
• first evening program
• announce English classes
• go to discussion groups

Rest of the Week (everyday has the same basic schedule with minute changes)


8:00 - morning meeting with all Christians

8:30 - breakfast

9:15-10:45 - morning program/English class starts

10:45 - break

11:00-12:15 - English class

12:30 - lunch

1:00-3:00 - free time/workshops (i.e. friendship bracelets, guitar lessons, art lessons)

3:00-5:00 - sports

5:00-6:00 - free time

6:00 - dinner

7:15 - evening program starts (i.e.  announcements, game, camp dance song (one shot - hawk nelson), other camp songs, evening talk)

8:30-9:00 - break out for discussions groups (same group as for English class)

9:00-9:30 - end discussion group

10:00-11:45 - free time/evening activity

12:00 - lights out


this is a typical day at camp! have any questions or comments? please leave a comment below this post and we would love to respond and answer any questions that you might have!

Trinec Camp

Trinec camp ended yesterday and it was such an amazing camp! we had just around 60 people total at camp, and it was a huge success! this camp was only the second for the town of Trinec, but it was almost like a brand new camp because last year they only had 2 students outside of the youth group sign up. this year we had over 20 students outside the youth group come to camp.

the american team that we had came all the way from Gig Harbor, Washington. the team was comprised of 2 leaders and 12 students from their youth group. they were a truly amazing group to work with. they were eager to help, and stepped in wherever we needed them to, and not only accomplished what was asked of them, but went above and beyond our expectations. i am praying that the Lord would make it possible for this group to come out and work with Trinec again for the next few years to come!

the Trinec youth group did a superb job of serving the students of the camp, and for all they knew, there wasn't even a youth group; that is how good the youth group was at getting to know new people. i get really disappointed at most Christians because they cannot seem to break out of their circle of Christian friends. this was not the case at this camp and i believe this is one of the reasons why our camp was so successful.

i have said some things about the different teams, but i haven't even touched on the most important team of all. that team would be the team that we all became when we met together at camp. i have never seen the czech, american, and intern team work together like ours did. it was so cool to see how Christians, literally a world apart, seperated by: language, culture, and history, can instantly come together with one common goal and work together for the Lord's glory!

the conditions for camp did not lend themselves to creating a good camp atmosphere, it literally rained over half of our time at camp. even though the weather forced us to stay indoors, it did stop us from having a blast from within our entrapment. Caro, did an amazing job of facilitating sports for camp indoors. we had a great amount of activities to do that kept us sane and in a right state of mind.

the night talks were given by Johnny, the leader of the american team, and he did an amazing job! he is a gifted speaker, and definitely helped the students engage with what was being taught and really challenge them to actively process and wrestle with what they were hearing.

english class went great, minda's fears concerning teaching english were squelched after she got into the teaching groove, and she found that she actually quite enjoyed it. and from the laughing coming from her classroom, i assume that her students enjoyed it as well! this was my only camp that i will be teaching english, due to the fact that i will be giving the night sessions talks for the week. i am looking forward to being stretched from this, but extremely nervous about it as well. i love talking in front of crowds, but i still struggle with being confident while speaking the Word of God; i want to do it well and do not want to leave anything out.

i have never seen students more open to hearing and talking about God before. it was really cool to have discussions about Him and have the conversation not fall into a negative light. by the end of camp there were two students that accepted Christ to my knowledge! what an awesome answer to prayer! i do not want to list their names, because of their personal privacy, but please be praying for these new believers, i am sure that they will need the support of their new family!

we have two days rest until we begin our next training and camp so please be praying for:

• the Lord to prepare me for teaching
• for our team to get much needed rest
• for the two new additions to our eternal family!!

Where's Waldo?: Find Minda!!

Natalie

i had the most amazing conversation yesterday and i just had to share it with you all. it is just another example of God's goodness and the amazing process of how He works in His timing.

i came to the Czech in 2009 as an intern for the summer. during one of the three camps that i was at for the summer, cesky tesin camp, i met this really cool girl named Natalie. she was one of those students that was seeking the answers to the BIG questions in our world. things like: why are we here? what is our purpose? does my life mean anything?

Natalie was in my english class and discussion group, and this was her 2 or 3 camp. at the time she was kind of into buddhist thought and idles. she talked about being good to people and how she thought that this would be enough to fulfill her. she is the type of girl who would not accept the status quo and would definitely not accept weak answers to her questions. we had a lot of difficult discussions as a group and one on one; and i am sure that there were more unanswered questions than answered ones. all that to say that Natalie left camp without making a decision to follow Christ. this was obviously disappointing for me, but a reality of doing ministry in the most atheistic country in the world.

maybe you are wondering why i am talking about this student? well yesterday i was at training for the american team (camps start this saturday) and Natalie comes up to me and greets me. i am super excited to see her and say hi, but my brain is not processing why she is here at training. i soon realize that she is a Christian now and a part of Josiah Venture's ministry and that of her local church. i had the privilege yesterday to sit down with her over lunch and hear the missing part of her life story.

Natalie told me that after camp she was still seeking the meaning to her life and seeking what would make her happy. she told me that she started attending youth group in cesky tesin and was learning more about God. she said that a few months before camps last year, that she felt in her heart that there is only one thing that will bring her absolute and fulfilled happiness and that is God in her life. so she accepted him and started serving Him at camps. this year she is the main translator for camp! this means that she is responsible for translating the night talks and communication of the gospel to students!

God is so amazingly good in how He reaches people. i am so completely at awe that i was able to be a small, small part of Natalie's journey to finding the Lord. sometimes we get so caught up on things happening in the here and now that we forget that God's timing might be somewhere else and in the future. the truth is, is that we never know when we might be able to be a part of someone's journey to God and we need to stop tapping our feet at God waiting for Him to work; but instead we should be seeking out every opportunity to serve Him, realizing that if we wait around for God to work on our schedule we might miss out in being a part of His amazing plan.

Natalie's testimony gets me so ridiculously excited! i cannot in words even come close to describing how good God is. just to know that He is bringing students to Him, and that they are willing to turn around and serve and reach out to their fellow peers is so amazing. the impact that Czech believers can have in students lives blow mine out of the water and that is my prayer; that Czech Christian students and Czech youth leaders would be able to have maximum impact in their villages, towns, and cities, bringing the gospel to their fellow countrymen.

Praise the LORD!!!

Zabreh and Provision

God is so good! over and over God provides for us, and i am constantly ashamed of my attitude towards Him during times where i am forced to trust Him. yesterday we learned that we are at full support for the summer. while posting on facebook, and talking with our family friends, i asked for your support, but to be honest with you i asked with a lot of hope, but very little faith.

minda and i are blessed in so many ways. we are love and supported by an amazing family in Christ. we want to thank you all for making this summer possible for us, and for God to be able to work through us to affect students. we have had so many amazing experiences and we haven't even started camps yet!

we are at Hotel Malenovice preparing for the first American team training, our first camp (with Trinec) begins this saturday and the american church should arrive here in the next hour or so. needless to say we are very excited for our first cam to begin. and we will send out an update after we get back from camp!!

our final youth group visit with Zabreh went really well! the youth group was a bit disappointed because there was only 1 student signed up for camp. while we were there we were able to visit 5 different schools and we were also able to have a huge interactive painting session in the center of town. two days after we visited schools and taught small english lessons, 2 students signed up and others emailed Katka, the Czech team leader who were interested in getting more information about camp.

I would ask you to pray that we get 10-15 students for this camp. this is the first english camp ever for Zabreh and we think that this would be a good number for a first camp. it is such an honor to be able to be a part of a first ever camp, and we are praying that this would be the start of many effective camps for Zabreh; where the Lord is able to use czechs and americans to show the love of God to students!

please pray for:

• our first camp in Trinec (pronounced tree-nets)
• for the american team, intern team, and czech team to work together well
• for students hearts to be open
• for more students to sign up for Zabreh camp (pronounced zab-chey)

we love you all and thank you so much for your love and support for us!!

Pre-Camp Prep

like we said in the last post we have been visiting the different youth groups that we will be working with at camps this summer. it has been going very well so far, we have visited zlin and got most of the planning taken care of. we are currently visiting trinec.

this youth group is lead by one of the few paid youth pastors in the entire country, Honza Merka. he is a young outgoing czech who has a giant heart for students. it has been an amazing time with the youth group with some great time being spent just getting to know each other.

yesterday we went on a hike with the youth group. we took a ski lift up to the top of the highest mountain in the area and hiked down. it was such an amazing view, we were able to see the entire city of Trinec from the mountaintop and we were able to take a while and pray for the students while looking directly over the city with the Czech team. it was the first time that i have experienced prayer for a specific people so tangibly.

our team is extremely excited to work with Trinec and get going with camps for the summer. this wednesday we will leave for Zabreh to plan the third and final camp.

this will be the first english camp ever for the town of Zabreh, so we are super excited to work with this youth group and hopefully help see the beginning of many great english camps for the town of Zabreh. more about this next week after our visit.

minda and i are doing very well, we miss all of you back in the states, we cannot believe that 4 weeks have already gone by! i am sure we will be home before we or the rest of you even realize. we have a few prayer requests for you all:

• we are at 90% support raised right now and have to raise a little over $800 before the end of the summer. if you would like to support us you can visit: Give to Nik and Minda. if you would like to pass this on to any friends you think would be interested we would appreciated it!
• our team is doing well, but the stress of the summer can get to us fast; please pray that our team morale stays strong and that we will be proactive in supporting and encouraging each other.
• pray that communication between myself and the Czech leaders is very clear and that we do not miss any details while planning camps together!

thank you for all your support and we cannot wait to tell you some great stories face to face!

First few weeks in Czech

So we have been in the beautiful Czech Republic for a few weeks now and it has been a life changing experience!
We first arrived on May 25th, had a few days to recoup and during that time we went to Poland for a Team Leader retreat! We had a blast! it was so great to be able to get to know all the different leaders and also to spend time in prayer for the upcoming summer.

After we came back from the retreat we had one week to get ready for the Amazing Race! Talk about an absolutely crazy adventure. We went to the airport on June 1st to pick up our interns and then we were off without a translator, no idea on how to use the public transportation, and a limited amount of money to survive for three days in Prague. The whole idea of the amazing race was for team building with the interns.... and it was awesome! We really got to know each other and also depend on each others skills.

During the amazing race there were 17 teams total, including ours. Through much running, walking, getting lost, sweat, and some tears of pain we made it to the final pit stop in 9th place! Our team was great! So cool to think that God can bring complete strangers together for three days to become great friends!

After the amazing race we traveled to Hotel Malenovice, a hotel owned by Josiah Venture, for intern training. Over 5 days we were taught how to make English Camps the best they can be for the summer; including things like training for: leading english class, games at camp, culture training, personality training, and getting to know our team even better! Our team is made up of 6 people: Myself, Minda, Melissa, Justin, Carolyn, and Tawnee!

Once we finished training we headed out to our apartment that will serve as our base of operations for the summer! Martina Pixova is letting us live with her at her flat, and it is such an amazing blessing! From June 9-12 we spent the weekend with the youth group at Zlin and planned for the upcoming camp in July and had a mini-retreat with them. It was a blessing getting to meet them and we are so excited to work with them for a couple weeks this summer.

We have a few days of break right now to spend time working on english lessons for the summer. We have a meeting this upcoming weekend with the youth group in Trinec pronounced (in english): "tree-nets". Our team is really hoping to have a great time with this group of students and we are praying that the Lord would make our time together fruitful.

Support Letter

the following letter is our support letter, to you our family, friends, and truly the backbone to our ministry. the Lord, through your thoughts and prayers has used us, and we thank you!

Dear Family and Friends,

Since our wedding last June the Lord has thrown us into a whirlwind of ministry. As you may already be aware, we have spent the last nine months reaching out to high schools students across the United States through character building assemblies. This journey has brought us through 20 states! It has been a journey that we will never forget and we are praying that some students will never forget as well. We are so blessed to have had the opportunity to have the adventure we have, and we are excited to ask you to be a part of the continuing journey that the Lord is taking us on.

The Lord has been kind to us in making it truly apparent as to what Arminda and my next step in our life together is. He has truly pushed us right into serving in the Czech Republic this summer teaching English at English camps. We will be working with Josiah Venture, leading an Intern Team on 4-6 people who will be helping lead three different English Camps over the course of the summer. Our goal for the summer is to provide quality English lessons to students of the Czech Republic, while reaching them with the message of the Love of Christ. I have done this same trip in the summer of 2009, although not as a leader. We are sure that the Lord will provide for us, and prepare us for this summer, because we know that without Him all of our efforts will truly be useless.

This is why we are asking you to partner with us this summer. We would like you to partner with us in three different ways.

1. Prayer. We need your prayer so badly! Your prayer is the literal cornerstone of our ministry. The Lord will use us, but we truly believe that your prayer will strengthen us and prepare us in ways that we will never be able to comprehend or explain.
2. Financial Support. We ask you to pray and ask if the Lord is calling you to financially support us. We have a staggering $8400 to raise in a very short period of time. This is an extremely daunting number for us to look at. We believe that this is the smallest insignificant grain of sand to the Lord, but right now it is the only roadblock in our path keeping us from serving the students of the Czech Republic this summer. Look below for details on giving.
3. Encouragement. We need your words of love and encouragement. Believe it or not Arminda and I sometimes get discouraged and feel inadequate. So please, if the Lord brings us or one of us to your heart, send us a text, comment on our blog, Facebook, or call us! We love you all dearly and would love to hear from you and talk with you personally!

We will be leaving for the Czech Republic May 24th and getting back the second week of August. If you feel like the Lord is calling you to support us financially you can respond in one of two ways:

Online Donation! For the first time ever Interns can recieve donations through online giving, we are excited to give you all a very convienent, easy option. If you would like to give electronically please follow these steps:

1. Go to www.josiahventure.com
2. Click the link at the top of the page labeled "GIVE"
3. Type in "Walborn" in the search bar that appears
4. Fill out donation form and click Submit.

Or you may send a check to:

 P. O. Box 4317 

 Wheaton, IL  60189-4317 

Our account number is 17017 

This account number must be on the memo line of your check or we will NOT receive your support!

We thank you for being an active part of the Lord's ministry in our lives and are excited to continue sharing it with you over the course of the next few months and the years to come.

In Christ,

Nicholas and Arminda Walborn

set in stone

God is good! our job is drawing to a close and we are looking forward to this summer in the Czech. we have officially been accepted to the Czech Republic this summer and are able to start support raising in the next few days! our journey over the past 8 months has been a rewarding one. minda and i had an amazing conversation together yesterday, we talked about what we have gleened from this experience. we both talked about how we have grown during our journey through the United States. we have had such an amazing privilege to have the possibility to reach over 100,000 students with a message of encouragement. it is truly a sobering fact to realize that God has worked through two completely broken unworthy people to reach students with a message of hope. we have both grown in many ways, too many to talk about here, but we would love to talk with you personally about them if you would only ask us.

arminda and i are so, so excited about this summer. we are a little apprehensive about the financial aspect of our trip, but we know 100% that the Lord has called us to the Czech this summer and that He will provide for us. we ask you, our family and friends to seriously pray and consider if it may be possible that the Lord is calling you to support us this summer. we understand that economic times are extremely hard for everyone, but every single dollar counts. and if you are unable to give or you feel that the Lord is not calling you to support us financially, we sincerely ask that you pray for us and for our potential financial supporters. we only have a couple months so we need your prayers now more than ever!

we will have information on how to support us financially with our next update!

so what are we doing this summer?

for those of you found yourself asking this question, well, it is a good question. during my time with Josiah Venture, i served as a summer intern, so i have a pretty good grasp of what is expected of us this summer. although there are some differences. because we will be serving as intern team leaders our responsibilities will be different. i am going to attempt to give you all a good idea of what we will be doing this summer, but i know i will leave things out. so we would really appreciate it, if you have any further questions, to get a hold of us so we can answer any questions you may have!



arminda and i will be intern team leaders. our general responsibilities will include:

• growing our team in Christ individually and as a team
• planning, executing, and leading English camps
• preaching during night sessions and leading small groups
• planning and teaching English lessons during camp

2 weeks - training

• our first two weeks will be spent getting to know our team of 4-6 interns.
• this is a bonding, preparation, and training time for intern teams.

5 weeks - preparation

• the next 5 weeks will be spent visiting the 3 towns that we will have English camps in later in the summer.
  
• during these visits we will be meeting with the Czech youth group that is assisting with the English camp in their town during the summer
• we will also be visiting public schools teaching English, basically recruiting students to our English camp for the summer
• this is also a time of preparation of our English lessons 

5 weeks - English camps

• the next 5 weeks will be spent at English camps
• camps are 1 week long with 2-3 days of follow-up
• camp schedule looks like this: breakfast, English lessons, lunch, sports, free time, dinner, night session, small group time, free time, sleep, repeat
• 2-3 days of follow up consist of hanging out with students in their hometown connecting them with the local churches youth group
• repeat

1 week

• debrief time with team personally
• debrief time with all intern teams together in Prague

our approximate cost of the summer is anywhere from $8200 to $8500. this will all depend on the currency exchange rate and the price of airfare. the money for the summer will cover:

• plane ticket
• all food
• all lodging

this covers pretty much everything in a very general way, but we hope that this will give you a good idea of what our summer will entail. an important thing to remember is that while teaching English is the main priority at camps, students know they are coming to a Christian camp and reaching students with the love of Christ is just as high a priority for Josiah Venture.

our summer plans!

family and friends,

we have spent the last six months praying that God will reveal what will be next in our endeavour to serve Him. as most of you know our current job with Camfel Productions ends in may which will leave us jobless, homeless, car-less, and free to move on to God's next ministry. we have not, very surprisingly, been stressed or bothered by this fact. this is definitely uncharacteristic for minda and myself. i am someone who needs to have a plan, know my goals, and execute those plans to the best of my abilities. well, the past 6 months have had some parts of that equation, but have definitely been lacking in the forethought part. we usually don't know where we will be 3 weeks ahead of time, what people we will be working with, the type of facilities we will have at our disposal, heck even the weather has been crazy over here on the east coast! i am not saying this to complain at all! this job has been an amazing time of growth between arminda and myself! we are so blessed by our family, new and old friends, co-workers and our team manager, this has been such a perfect way to learn how to trust in God to provide for us spiritually, mentally, and physically. i have had to trust the Lord, to take care of us, instead of relying on ourselves for provision and strength.

all this to say that the Lord has truly answered our prayers He has literally dropped the answer to our prayers in our lap. over the past few months, Nate Hughes, an awesome missionary who works in the Czech Republic for Josiah Venture, he is in charge of getting summer interns over to the Czech to help run english camps for the summer, among many other things. he has been very adamant in encouraging us to pray for guidance from the Lord to determine if we could possibly come to the Czech this summer to be a part of teaching english and spreading the love of God to the students of eastern europe this summer. i have been to the Czech with Josiah Venture on 2 different occasions; once with moody bible institute for a short term trip and second for a 3 months as a summer intern. honestly, the students have captured my heart, and returning to the Czech has been on my heart since 2009.

i brought this up as a possibility to minda last august, but it didn't seem a likely possibility. we have been praying ever since and we truly believe that returning this summer 2011 is what the Lord is desiring of us in this time of our lives. Nate would like to bring us on as Summer Intern Leaders. it would be a whole lot more trusting Him to provide for us; when i went it was easier, cause i was a "semi-solo" adventurer there, now that we are married there is so much more responsibility and stress; that being said the thought of working with students this summer side-by-side with minda is an idea that literally makes me giddy. wow, that sounds lame, well, it's true!


we are submitting our paperwork this week and will begin raising support soon after. this is definitely the most stressful part of preparation this summer. raising support for one person is tough, but for two, we are entering into this summer with faith that if this is truly the Lord's will he will provide. provide in ways that i am currently uneasy about. because of our tight budget and very limited personal time we are going to try to raise as much support as possible through word of mouth. we ask that after reading this, you would tell your friends and family about us. anyone who reads this blog definitely knows us, thank you for your continued support despite the lack of my diligence in updating.

according to our information we approximately have to raise $8400 for the summer. over a fourth of that is used to pay for our plane tickets to the Czech and back. the rest of that number will be used for travel, lodging, and food costs. we want everyone to know that this is strictly a missionary endeavour; we will NOT be receiving any of that money as payment. we appreciate your potential gifts beyond your comprehension, but even more so we would like to ask for your support through prayer first! we need strong prayer warriors praying for:

• the Lord to prepare our hearts
• the Lord to prepare the hearts of students
• for funds to be provided supernaturally
• for our trust and faith to be in the Lord

we currently unable to begin raising official support through Josiah Venture until we have our account setup, but as you might of noticed there is a "donate" button at the top right of this screen. If you feel you would like to give directly to us through paypal, feel free. 100% of your donation will go towards our trip this summer. although, once we get our JV account setup you can send your gifts to them and you will be able to get a tax rebate. once again please pray for us, we NEED your prayers!

we will be updating soon letting you know what we will be doing this summer, but for now here is a short video of a guy i worked with in summer of 2009 and he came back summer of 2010!


Summer Camp Internship from Josiah Venture on Vimeo.

on the road again.....

three months have gone by and i am ashamed that we stopped posting like we did. how are others supposed to support us in prayer if they have no means of contact with us? well hopefully with your prayers and encouragement we can keep this blog updated as much as possible to keep all of you informed and connected to our lives!

Christmas break was amazing! it was a blast spending time with family and honestly it was the best to spend our first year of marriage together with both of our families. we are so blessed by them, we definitely would not of made it through the Christmas season without them!

our schedule has been pretty relaxed over the past three weeks, giving us time to get reacquainted with our equipment and transition back into the working mindset. that being said we do have a rough few weeks ahead of us so we would appreciate your prayers if we come to your mind!

additionally we have had a significant amount of technical issues with our equipment. we need some serious prayer for our equipment! we believe that the cold is making our dvd players freeze at various times during the show, so please pray that the Lord would miraculously work with our equipment each day to provide the best show possible for our students without any distractions!

we have spent the last three weeks between New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Seriously this job has been an amazing experience for Arminda and I. has it been challenging? yes, but it has been such a unique opportunity for us to grow as individuals and as one as well. our team manager, Andrew, has been a huge encouragement and a stud to work for! he has given us advice and criticism when we needed it and encouragement and grace when we don't.

minda and i have been working on our future summer plans! and we really want to divulge them to you all, so be looking out for our next post that will be coming out really soon! (hopefully!)