Sometimes our actions lead us to God’s blessings. Sometimes our actions cause us to miss out on God’s blessings.
Corey & Jeanette were able to experience God’s blessings because they were willing to give up their seats on the flight from Prague to Atlanta. They were willing, but they did not have to stay behind in Prague. The Lord blessed them with some very comfortable seats on the flight.
I missed out on an opportunity to experience God’s blessings on our last night in Prague. I was interacting with a shop keeper who was having some problems. I prayed about the problems and was prompted to tell the shopkeeper that I prayed for him. However, I did not obey. The problem was solved without God receiving the glory. It was a missed opportunity to share God’s love and experience God’s blessings.
On the flight from Prague to Atlanta I had the most wonderful experience. I obeyed and received God’s blessings. It was an experience that I would not trade for a life time of first class seats. I was up walking around the cabin, making the loop from front to back. I prayed that God would teach me to love people — these people on this plane. “Lord, I don’t know anyone outside our group. How can I pray for them. Please lead me to pray for someone.” As I headed for my seat when the seatbelt light came on I noticed a young man reading his Bible. I decided that I should meet him, but how? As I sat waiting for the seatbelt light to go off and the refreshment carts to pass, I finished reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. The Lord prompted me to give the book to the young man. What! How could I give him my book? I had highlighted it for use in future teaching. What would I do without it? I was reminded that I may not live to use the book again, and if the Lord wanted the young man to have the book then he should have it. So, I headed to the back of the plane. It turned out that Hudson had the book already, and John sitting beside him was reading it at that moment. Hudson and John were not traveling together. These young men were in their early 20′s. We had a great visit about the book and serving the Lord. It was such a blessing to be able to visit with them. To have someone to pray for. I had obeyed and received God’s blessings of joy. I was excited and wanted to spend time worshiping so I put on my headphones and worshiped with some Chris Tomlin music. I did this worshiping by the front restrooms. As I was there a lady noticed my shirt (“Prague – Czech it out” a gift from the team), so I took off my headset to talk with Susan and her husband. They are Christians and we had a good time of fellowship. Susan said that i just had to meet her friend, Sharon, so she walked me toward the back of the plane and introduced me to Sharon and her husband. Sharon was sitting across the isle from Hudson and John. Sharon had overheard a little of my conversation with Hudson and John, so I offered that she could look at my copy of Crazy Love. She read the whole book during the rest of the flight. It’s a small book, but she is also a fast reader. Sharon intends to buy her own copy. As the flight continued, I had more discussions and fellowship with my newfound brothers and sisters in Christ.
Thank you Lord for your blessings when we obey. Thank you for the joy the comes from obeying you.
The night the conference ended, the Tech Team had our last meeting with those in charge of organizing our team for serving, including Courtney and Kirk from GEM. Someone asked the question, “Why bring a technical support team from the U.S.? Why not just get a Tech Team from Europe to serve at the annual conference for GEM missionaries?” At first I wondered about even asking the question; it sounded a little challenging, however, the answer helped me understand the situation that GEM faces in regards to their technical needs.
Courtney answered that eDOT (a technical arm of GEM) has a hard time recruiting technical people since Europe is lacking those having technical expertise. In fact, he has not yet met a technical European who is a Christian, except a few already sponsored from the U.S. (or foreigners living in Europe). Only 2% of Europeans are evangelical Christians, and very few of that number would be technically skilled persons. (He shared a number of other points such as, even if they were able to find technical Europeans willing to serve, there would exist a language barrier in trying to communicate technical solutions with the missionaries.)
In general, those in the technical field worldwide still have jobs and most are not willing to give up that income in these hard economic times. He has been trying to recruit technical people from his own church to come on short term missions, but most are unwilling to come because they do not see the need or have the heart to do so. It is difficult to bring IT people into the mission field. His assessment is that we are somewhat unique in that we are Christians with the necessary technical skills that are willing to come and serve. We offer our time, vacations, money, expertise, etc. knowing there is no pay for our efforts, only appreciation and verbal thanks.
We had another experience that deeply impressed me. A brother who teaches in Serbia brought a couple pages of typed notes of things that needed to be done for his computers. He thanked us profusely for coming to help. He especially asked us to thank those who helped sponsor us in coming to serve. He had been struggling with computer issues for months and said that he does not have technical support in Serbia; when he left this conference, whatever condition his computer was in, would be the way he brought it back for more help next year. We eventually were able to work through all his issues and it was a joy to see how his attitude and outlook change from being beaten down and discouraged (because of his ongoing technical problems) to smiling and hopeful because his technical burden had been lifted.
He then agreed to do a short video recording of his thanking us, which can be seen on our blog for this trip. He shared how he teaches Greek in the Serbian language, but his native language is English; having to work through technical issues by himself was almost like learning a fourth language. Having our help was invaluable to him and enabled him (and others) spend less time on technical issues and to be more effective as ministers of Christ.
These were just a couple of the experiences that made me realize how the technical services that we offer are desperately needed in Europe and why so many people seemed to go out of their way to thank us for the service we provided. I thank all of you who have supported us with prayer, finances, and encouraging words; you can be assured that your giving of yourself through our work has made an impact on the furtherance of the gospel in Europe at this critical point in history (which the missionaries talked about this week). Thank you!
Hello from 33,994 feet! Corey and I got free trials of Delta’s inflight wifi, so I’m trying mine out on the way from Atlanta to Portland…we’ll see if I can finish a post before my laptop battery dies!
God is good, and He is looking out for us every step of the way! I want to tell ya’ll about the bus trip last night in Prague, but that will happen later since now is a good time to share about our experience just now in Atlanta. We were to have under two hours to go through customs, pick up our baggage, recheck the baggage, go through security and find our terminal to depart. To add some fun to things, we were about 30 minutes late getting into Atlanta. “We can still make it,” we thought. Then we rounded a corner to find HUNDREDS of incoming passengers waiting to go through customs. We were told merely that we could catch a later flight if we missed ours. It was shortly after that point that the “other side” of the customs area was opened up and the people at the end of the line (that’s us, by the way…) got to go immediately through customs and on to the baggage claim! Praise the Lord! There is no way we could have made our flight otherwise.
The rest of the process went more smoothly than I have ever experienced at an airport. The airport personnel were very direct and almost rude in their persistence, ignoring the “but, but, but” they were receiving from passengers, but in looking back that is how they moved hundreds of people through baggage recheck and security is a very timely manner. We got to our flight as it was boarding and here we are!! Almost home!
And I still have battery left on my laptop. Whoo hoo!
Blessings!
We wrapped up our GEM conference responsibilities last night. The tech team completed 46 laptops and a lot of extra training. The pre-school team got a standing ovation from the missionaries. No. The tech team did not get one, but we are perfectly fine with that. Most of us had a chance to help with the pre-school kids at a game park. The ladies more than earned their adulation. Laptops don’t grab you by a thumb and pull you running through a knee high tunnel, or have accidents, or run you…well, everywhere 
We got back to the Prague airport, from Liberec, about 11:45, purchased our bus tickets and headed out on bus 119 for our hotel (see the post below for details about that ride). Once at the hotel, we spent time debriefing. Debriefing is a critical part of a missions trip. It can be done a number of different ways. We used a worksheet to guide us through some independent reflection time. The idea is to remember and reflect on what God has been doing in your own life during the trip. Reflection is an important activity in our spiritual lives. Our reflection worksheet is divided into four sections: The ministry; The people; What has God taught you; and Returning Home. Here are a few sample questions:
- List something about each team member that you valued during this trip
- Write down two or more stories about people to whom you ministered
- Write a concise answer to the oft asked question, “How was the mission trip?”
We spent about 1.5 hours independently and then close to that amount of time back together as a group sharing with each other. Because reflection is an intensely private activity between the individual and God, contribution to the group sharing was completely voluntary. We had a great time of sharing.
We will leave our hotel shortly after 8am tomorrow, catch the 225 or 108, transfer to the 119, and get to the airport before 9am. Our flight leaves at 11am.
Words alone can not express our gratitude for your support. The missionaries were very expressive about their gratitude for our work. The missionaries’ gratitude belongs to you as well. We could not have done it without your encouragement, prayers, and financial support. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Lord, I pray that you would bless those who have blessed the missionaries by sending us. Thank you for this opportunity to be your servants. Thank you for those who served through encouraging us, praying for us, and providing finances for this trip. Thank you for the missionaries who sacrifice so much more than we understand. I pray that our work will make their work more effective. May you be glorified in all that we do. In the precious name of Jesus we offer up this prayer. Amen.
Our group with John
We met John on bus 119 headed from the Prague airport toward our last hotel in Prague. John noticed me asking about a specific stop and offered to help. John escaped the communist take over of Czecheslovakia in 1969 by going on vacation and not returning. He worked for CSA (the Czech airline) and was able to get a ticket out. He helped a young lady flee shortly after that. She had to spend 8 months in a refugee camp in Italy before she could head to the US and meet up with John. The two were married and now live in New York. Since 1989 (the fall of communism), John and his wife have traveled back to Prague every year to visit friends and family. John is staying in a hotel just across the street from us. As we visited and learned about his life and the Czech Republic, John guided us to our bus stop, the transfer to bus 225 (although we took bus 108 because John told us it was the same route as 225) and the stop just past both of our hotels. The last stop is in front of the John’s grade school. John was so kind that he walked with us over to our hotel to ensure everything was OK. He told us about his friends who own the hotel he stays at and others who own a restaurant down the road. John told us to come and get him if we needed anything. It is a blessing to make new friends. We were able to pray for John and then take pictures with him.
St. Vitus Cathedral
St. Vitus Cathedral sits in the center of Prague Castle. It is an incredibly impressive edifice. Construction on St. Vitus was started in 1344. The view of the stained glass windows from the inside of the cathedral is breathtaking, or so I am told. We did not stand in line to see the inside of the cathedral because the line stretched around the side of the cathedral and extended almost all the way to the back–probably more than 500 people standing in line. I do not know an official visitor count, but based on the line we saw there are probably thousands of people that see the inside of St Vitus each day. Many more simply walk around the outside looking up in awe at the grandeur of the building. I sat down on a step next to the end of the line and pondered what these people were coming to see. A building. Just a building. Old. Impressive. But still just a building.
Herrnhut
Herrnhut was founded in 1722 by Nicolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf. He was an aristocrat who took his Christian faith seriously. In 1722 he provided refuge for a group of Christian Moravians who were fleeing persecution. In 1727 a revival occured in the community that led to a large missionary movement. The Moravian Church continues to serve Christ around the world. They produce the longest running daily devitional (Losung or watchword — the daily text). It was started in 1738. A church member shared with us that the building is “not a sacred place. It is the living room of the congregation.” At worship times, “the pews are filled with no gaps between the people.” This is the body of Christ.
There were no lines to visit Herrnhut. No vendors catering to tourists. No mass of tourists wandering around contemplating the grandeur of what Christ has done for us. The tourists are missing the greater story.
It’s always interesting to try and trouble shoot something in another language. Here is a quick example of using bable fish as the translater
selecteer enn apparaat waarmee u verbinding wilt maken en tik op volgende
=
select an apparatus with which you connection wants make and taps on next
uw apparaat heeft geen verbinding gemaakt met BT. de netwerkverbinding is mislukt of de wachtwoordsleutel is onjuist
=
your apparatus has made no connection with BT. the network connection has failed or the guard word key is incorrect
Any ways. we have just one Day left of conference before we head back to Prague and then our plane. this is where we hit the crunch time, trying to finish all the laptops before people start leaving. Overall I feel like we have made lots of good progress.
Rebekah, Becky, Mary Kay and I have been having quite the exciting, exhausting, nerve-wracking, amazingly God-filled and wonderful time! We have not blogged as much as we would have liked simply because we are working from 6am until 11pm (setting up, cleaning up, preparing, eating-sometimes- and, of course, caring for the kids). Now it is 1030pm and we are all here to let you know and see some of our fun times we have had.
Here are some of the cute and funny sayings from our little guys and gals:
- On the first night as Samuel was putting on his shoes to leave, he said “You know, this was fun!”
- First child to class: “There aren’t very many little friends here yet.”
- When Eoin’s mom came to pick him up we were reading a book and when we told him his mom was here he said, “I don’t care.”
- While playing “train trip to Africa” Thomas said of “Jeanette the alligator” “that is one silly alligator.”
- Ethan was coloring a fish green and said “he is going to Greenland.”
- While walking through the tunnel that had lions painted on the wall we over heard this argument “The lions aren’t dead.” “Yes they are” “No they aren’t” …..
- Jeremiah came into the room and his dad said “Remember, no fun.” Jeremiah says with his arms crossed “Ok, I will.”
- When Danielle notices that Jeremiah came in she said “Gosh, he came here again.”
- When given a scarf to play with while singing Thomas says “This is a handsome scarf.”
- The teacher says “You guys are being so nice and so helpful to each other.” Then Sophie replies “I know, that’s because we’re little.”
We have been blessed by the parents smiles of relief and appreciation for having a fun and safe place to leave the children, we have had great support from the techies setting up computers so we can watch Veggie Tales (no DVD player here!!) and for playing with the boys for an hour one day AND for juggling in class one day!!
WOW, it has taken the whole body of Christ to pull this off….we thank you. We have had a great time.
Corey and Peter preparing to play with kids
So when we get a computer there is a process that we use to preform general maintenance and repairs. We do this so that we can have a base to troubleshoot any other problems that the computer may have.
So this is a brief over view of what we do/use for those that are interested.
- First off we create a restore point so that we can restore the computer if any of our changes causes a problem.
- From there we backup the registry so that we can restore them if we need to.
- We then use an open source program called CCleaner. This is a very handy bit of software that is use to clean up all the unused and unnecessary files, as well as cleaning up registry values.
- Anti Virus is next. If the Virus software is bad we install AVG. If it is good we make sure that it gets updated. In either case we then run a full virus scan on the machine.
- We run Combo fix after this to do a deep search of the computer for root kits and other malware that might be causing the computer problems
- we the run all updates on the machine using our WSUS server.
- after updates are performed, we run a series of miscellaneous procedures that help to improve the overall performance of the computer.
- At this point if there is nothing wrong with the machine we are done. If there is a problem we begin to troulbe shoot.
And that is about it.
We are at 35 Computers strong and counting.
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