Hello Friends!
I hope you experience a piece of my passion to share God's love throughout the Czech Republic as you read these stories, prayers, and look through the abundant amount of pictures! I titled this blog "Love is a Universal Language" because it is one of the most important lessons I have learned on my trips to Czech. Even though the children I work with do not speak much English (and my Czech language is still in progress), I have realized that the demonstration of God's love is completely universally understood.
My theme verse for this missionary journey is Mark 16:15 (ESV). (This is also why the web-address is "universalMARKoflove".)
And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."
I started going to the Czech Republic in the summer of 2010 with my church on their annual short-term mission's trip. God placed an initial calling on my heart that only continued to grow after that first trip. I began working with the children's classes at the summer camp of 2012. In the summer of 2013, there were over 50 kids between the ages of 5 and 13 enrolled in the week of camp! God romanced my heart during this trip as a passion to show these kids His love overflowed. I realized one week of camp with 50 kids had stretched me thin, and I desired to invest more in getting to know each child. The youth pastor and I developed a plan that allowed me to come for three months of the summer in 2014. We used the same structure for the summer of 2015, and God used that summer to further instill a passion to reach the children in this city.
It was in the summer of 2015 that I realized my dream went beyond summer missions, rather I felt so connected to a city and the people that I knew it is God's plan to have me in the Czech Republic full-time. I moved to Letovice in July of 2016, a month after graduating from my university and have been living here as a full-time missionary since. When people ask me how long I intend to stay, my answer is always, "For as long as God calls me to continue in the ministry here, I will lean on Him and do all I can to remain in His will."