Kicking Off Our Summer...

Summer break officially began for us on Wednesday, June 29 at noon! The kids finished school that day and our language teachers began their summer break. We are more than ready for a break from the craziness that comes with the school year. So, I thought I would take some time to update you on our ministries and our prayer list. I knew I was behind a bit, but was appalled to log onto the blog and find that my last post was February 1. Please accept our apology for keeping you in the dark for so long! We never want more than a couple of months to go by at a time between updates to you. You are our life line and a very important and crucial part of our ministry here in Prague!

So, what has happened since February? A LOT! Let me see if I can summarize quickly and let

you know what we have planned for our summer:

The end of January we went skiing with our friends Martin and Stepanka. It was a great weekend with them. And although Stepanka is a

Believer, Martin is not. Martin was not

interested in spiritual conversation during our trip together, nor has he been since. You can be in prayer for Martin and ask God to stir his heart and give him a curiosity to know more about Him. We just found out on Sunday that Martin and Stepanka are moving to

Belgium where Stepanka will be teaching Czech children at an international school there. They will be leaving the first week of September, so we don't have much time left with them. Please ask God to give us the opportunity to share with Martin in a way that will touch his heart, in the short amount of time we have left with them before their move.

Two weeks later we were invited to go to Tereza's cottage in the mountains and ski with her, her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend

. T

ereza and her girls are always open to spiritual conversation and always request we bring our guitar and come prepared to sing our worship songs with her. She loves singing American worship songs because she says they "make her feel good" and "they are beautiful". She wants to

make sure she understands every word. We

spent an hour singing with Tereza Saturday evening and over and hour on Sunday morning. Although she is very open to conversation and singing, she does not feel the need to have a

personal relationship with Jesus. However, during our time together she expressed an interest in meeting with me to read the Bible together. She said her schedule is full now, but that she would

like to begin meeting in the Fall for this purpose. Please pray that God open the door for me to begin a Bible reading/discussion group with Tereza, the ladies in my ESL class, and their friends in the Fall.

March brought with it two more weeks of travel, which made it a bit more challenging to juggle

our language studies, our ministries, and Clem's office duties, but the travels also brought with

them much needed rest and rejuvination. Our first week was spent near Frankfurt, Germany for a conference for those of us still in our first term overseas. It was a wonderful time of worship in

OUR heart language, and laughing and sharing our struggles with others in our shoes. We were very blessed to share this week with some good friends from our home town who left for the field

shortly after us. The second week of traveling sent me (Carrie) to Berlin, Germany for a ladies conference while Clem and kids braved it at home alone. I guarantee I rested much more that

week than the rest of the family! : )

In April, Clem began helping lead a Bible study through the Czech church that we attend. It is a

group of young college students and young married couples in their 20's. We felt it a huge honor that they would want Clem to be a part of this ministry with them! We attended their end of the year BBQ last Thursday, which was a precious time of fellowship and laughs (mostly at our language blunders!) and Clem looks forward to kicking of a new time of Bible study and

fellowship with them in the Fall!

Also in April, Carrie's parents came for a two week visit. It had been nearly two years since we

had seen them and it was DEFINITELY a

highlight of our Spring! We enjoyed showing

them our city and what daily life and ministry looks like for us. We also took a few days to road trip Europe a bit as we traveled to the Dolomites in the Italian Alps...WOW! God's creation never ceases to amaze me! It was very hard to see them go, but we feel so blessed that they were able to come so far to see us!

With April came Easter. And with Easter came another great opportunity to share with Allie's

Czech school about Jesus' gift of salvation to us. This year we were so excited to share this opportunity with the teachers and children who attend the Christian school that rents space on

the 2nd floor of the Czech school. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes participated. Each class

paired up by age and the children from the Christian school prepared their own special way of sharing the Easter story with the Czech children and Clem and I led the music. It was such a special way to share Christ's love with others and such a good experience for the children from

the Christian school to get to share their faith with other children. We're not real sure how much longer this opportunity will be available to us. This Czech school is very small and they're beginning to absorb it's students into a larger school down the road. The Czech teacher we have partnered with the last two years to get into the school and share is not sure that we will be able to come in future years because of this change. However, this change will occur slowly over the next two or three years. Please pray and ask God to keep this door open to us, and to allow these children to continue being exposed to His word and love through opportunities such as this.

In April, we also taught at a weekend English camp. It was a great opportunity to make contact again with some of the students from last year's camps, as well as a time to encourage them to

attend this summer's camps. We all had a great time of teaching, playing games, hiking and cooking/cleaning together. And it presented another excellent opportunity to share Gospel. Many of the students were returning and the Gospel presentation led to deeper conversations in small group times. And for the new students it was a small, comfortable atmosphere to hear the gospel for the first time. We love these opportunities with students! Please pray for these students. Ask God to prepare their hearts for camp this summer, and to prepare us to share the Gospel and God's love in a way that reaches them exactly where they're at.

y was another exciting month for us! Hunter played "Scar" in his school's production of The Lion King, and played drums for his school's music concert. For a kid that has never enjoyed being on stage this was a BIG deal! We were so proud of him! The following week he participated in a school music recital, where he displayed his drumming skills. Allie finished her final lesson with her Czech tutor. Danice, her tutor has been such a blessing to our family, and especially to Allie as she has braved the last two years in Czech school. Allie is a bit shy if asked to showcase her Czech, but never shies away from correcting mine and Clem's mistakes or helping us when we can't seem to understand what is being said to us... she's the cutest little translator I know! : )

In May I was approached and asked to lead a women's Bible study at one of our Czech Baptist churches. I will begin in the Fall, and will be teaching a study based on the book "Pursuing Holiness". Please begin praying for this group of ladies and for myself as I begin to prepare for this study. The goal of this study is to provide an outreach for ladies in the community, and to bring the generations or ladies in the church together and form a spiritual support system for these ladies. Please pray that God will bless this ministry far beyond our wildest dreams!

Clem was approached by Ondrej, his Czech friend that goes street evangelizing with him, to help him with his sports ministries in the Fall. Clem will be helping coach soccer to elementary age boys every Friday night, and will help lead the devotion time with the other two college age coaches. Ondrej has also asked Clem to help mentor these other two coaches, and to guide them as they learn how to share their faith and disciple these boys. Please ask God to prepare Clem and the other coaches for the fall season of coaching and sharing their faith with these boys. Also ask him to work in amazing ways in these boys' hearts over the coming months, and to plant healthy seeds that will grow into a lasting faith.

June was a month of winding things down for the summer. We spent much of our month giving one last push for opportunities to share the Gospel with those we minister to before they head off for their summer holidays/travels. And building bridges that will enable us to pick these ministries and hopefully new ones up in the Fall. Clem spent a week helping a colleague in Olomouc with some outreach ministries there. There is a Czech church in Olomouc with a young, evangelistic pastor named Petr. He is doing amazing things in Olomouc and is seeing some first fruits from his efforts. Our colleague is trying to help Petr with his efforts to impact this community, and Clem felt honored to be a part of this week of outreach with them. They were joined by a volunteer group from Arkansas. It was a special week with more than 150 kids hearing the Gospel, and God's love being shared and spread throughout this town. Please keep Peter and his ministry in Olomouc in your prayers. Ask God to give him strength and to rise up national Believers to come along side him and impact their community in amazing and miraculous ways!

Well, July has now begun. We having a crazy summer planned with English camps. We are so excited to have a volunteer group from our home church in Missouri joining us at one of these camps the end of the month! Currently, Clem and the kids are away at children's church camp. I will be joining them on Sunday for the 2nd half of camp, but for now, I'm enjoying a few quiet days at home to catch up on some much needed rest, spring cleaning, and preparations for English camps. We can't wait to update you with pictures from our summer camps and to share with you how God chose to move in the hearts of these young campers! Please pray for theyouth/young adults that will be attending camp this summer. Please also pray for the volunteer teams, native English speakers, and national Believers that will be leading and teaching at these camps. Please ask God to move mountains in the hearts of all involved, asking specifically to save the lost and to do so in such a way that only He can receive the glory!

Quickly, I would like to apologize for the bad formatting of this post. Sometimes, what I design and how I format this page looks different in the editing process than it does once it's posted for you to see. I'm not technical enough to figure out the problem, so I think I'll be calling my sister for her knowledge in this area! Until then, please ignore the blunders and goofy formatting.

We pray that you will all have a wonderful summer and that you too will see God move mountains in your hearts and the hearts of those around you! Please look for the ways that God is working in and around you...and dare to jump boldly and blindly when God speaks to your heart and asks you to reach out to those around you! Let's commit our summer to looking for what God has planned for us each and every day...let us know what amazing things God accomplishes through you in the coming months! We'll be praying for you as well!

Love,

Clem, Carrie, Hunter and Allie