March 2025

Mission Weekend

The very first weekend in March was eventful as Friendship Church hosted a Mission Weekend to showcase and bring awareness to the missionaries they support and represent around the globe.  It is an event the church looks forward to every year.  This year, since for the first time I was back in the states when the mission event was hosted, I was able to participate and share with so many people about the excitement of the vision in the journey ahead.  It is amazing to see the outpouring of support from the church to their missionaries in an event such as this.  In many ways, I have been able to easily move into a new normal routine as I moved back to the states, and yet, I am still figuring out the rhythms of life back in the states after living abroad so long.  Coming together with a group of missionaries and friends gave so much encouragement and camaraderie that was especially uplifting in this season.

On Sunday, all the represented missionaries had tables/booths describing their ministry.  There are always lots of pictures, maps, stories, and candy around the tables.  One feels as though they have traveled the world by circling the room!  I have always had a heart to share about ministry with youth so that they are familiar with missions and grow up with hearts that are focused on spreading the gospel to all the nations.  To do this, I had some games for the kids at my booth for them to interact and hear about ministry!  There was a game of memory with places in Letovice - the city where I was living and will continue to return to to serve.  I also had a game that put kids in charge of getting their "team" on the tram through Prague to the train station avoiding all the closed stations.  The kids all loved this maze-like activity and a Czech visitor friend commented, "It is really like Prague chaos with closed stations!"  While the kids came and played the activities, I was able to share with parents a bit more about the ministry I am doing and the areas where I serve.  Although, watching the kids with joy come and play these games and begin to ask about missions in Czech made by heart full.

With the leader of the ministry organization I worked with in the Czech Republic (ELIM) and his wife visiting for the Mission Weekend, we had a gathering of all people who have been to Czech to do ministry with ELIM or English Camps.  It was so beautiful to see so many people come together who were part of ministry in Czech some years ago, some consistently for many years, and others who have only recently been.  To see the ongoing generations who have gone and are going as this year is the 25th anniversary of cooperations between the church in Letovice and Minnesota left an impression on many of us that day.

On Saturday of Mission Weekend, we had a Missionary Exposition where many missionaries shared for 45 minutes about their ministries.  Attenders were able to choose three different rooms to visit and hear from three missionaries, though the general consensus I heard was that there were so many ministries they had wanted to hear about and it was hard to pick just three!  I can relate - in the one free block we had, I had wanted to attend a handful of the other missionaries' talks.  We enjoyed the time as Global Link Partners team sharing about all of our individual ministries and how we overlap sometimes in the mission we do, but mainly how our focus is the same - to build disciples in reaching people around the globe.  

Ministry Visits

As I mentioned in the last section, the leader of ELIM in Letovice and his wife were in Minnesota visiting for the Mission Weekend event and to meet with leaders from the church.  While their schedules were very busy, I was able to meet with them a few times and even had a chance to take my friend out for coffee in their final days in Minnesota.  There is so much value in building those international connections, and I was happy to spend the time with this couple who I have served in ministry with for the last 15 years.  They got to see Minnesota March in it's finest - t-shirt weather one week, a snowstorm the next! 

In January, a friend from Czech was visiting.  In February/March, the ELIM director and his wife came.  Just when I thought I'd have to wait until my next trip over to Czech to meet with Czechs again in person, a couple friends and their three kids came for a drop-in to Minnesota on their rounds to supporting churches in the states!  These friends and I have known each other for many years, and the wife and I have a running joke that we have always been best friends since people who knew both of us separately assumed we were besties before we had only ever heard of each other!  Over the years in Czech, we would run into each other in various ministry endeavors as we encourage each others ministries in different areas of Czech.  It was such a delight to see them stateside!

Over the evening, I quickly made friends with their kids.  (The middle child had just been a baby the last time I had seen the oldest two kids in person!)  After spending an extended amount of time in America, the older two kids had already picked up on some very important English words like "tag!" and "play!" so they could have fun with their new little friends.  As the other kids had all left the open-house evening, I jumped in to play with the kids and had the most fun.  They loved that I could speak Czech with them, and we played hide-and-seek for many rounds.  All three of them had really string grips on me as we were leaving insisting that I go in the car with them back to their place.  I explained my car was parked a little ways away and if I didn't go in my car to my home, it would just remain there.  The oldest said, "And?  I don't see the problem."  Needless to say, I had the hardest time leaving these sweet children who gave me that little piece of "children's Czech" that I had been missing.  As they were leaving, my friend said to his daughter, "You made a good new American friend."  The girl looked at me and then looked at her dad before correcting him, "Daddy, she's Czech."

Student Link

During the week, I meet with a few groups of young ladies as we go through a disciple making accountability program.  These times are some of my favorite in the week as I love watching how these girls grow in their faith, encourage each other, and ask questions!  As one student acted on a suggestion to another to set an alarm for prayer journaling, immediately the other girls in the group without a second thought asked their friend when she was setting the alarm and both simultaneously set the same alarms in their phones to be able to write their friend and encourage her in the challenge she had set for herself!  I sat back in awe as I didn't say a word and watched these high school girls encourage each other in accountability. 

The smoothie bowl meeting place was finally making sense with the nicer weather!

My co-leader and I will occasionally raise our books to have "private conversations," sometimes it is done even jokingly, and now we've realized that we have created little disciples in more ways than one!

Connection and Outreach 

Once a month, we have had lunch with youth pastors to encourage them and give them time for community.  While those who have been able to attend are mostly from the same church (albeit two different campuses), we have noticed more interest and others checking out this group and desiring that community with other youth pastors.  We are hopeful that this time together will be encouraging, resourceful, and focused on God's work in the churches in this area.  There is always a lot of laughter around the table and a good conversation!

One of the ministries under our organization, Global Link Partners, is A Skeptics Journey.  This ministry is focused on sharing the evidence of God and Jesus as the lecturer engagingly speaks about his journey to understand these pieces of evidence.  This past weekend, we had a seminar event with nearly 30 people in attendance as he shared for two hours.  The questions from the audience showed their attentiveness to the topic and also their desire to continue studying and learning.  I was glad a couple of my discipleship girls were able to attend as it gives them a deeper understanding of what it is like to share their faith with those who are practical and evidentially based.  It is amazing just how many ways God can meet us in those different places.  Knowing He has created us with different ways of understanding and knowing that He will show us Himself in those areas if we look for Him is an amazing reminder that comes through during this seminar. 

Toddler Tuesdays

Every other Tuesday, I enjoy the mornings with toddlers and preschoolers as their moms are in a Bible Study together.  We had focused three lesson on loving God and loving others before moving into a three lesson set on Easter.  March got the last lesson on Love and the first lesson on Easter, and it tied in so perfectly!  We made sun-catchers with "Love God, Love Others" earlier in the month and recalled the different people had shared who God loves and that we can love them like God loves them.  (One of the students remembered to say that God also loves one student who was missing from the class that day.)  I asked the toddlers if they can see some of the ways God shows His love for us.  A challenging question for toddlers and preschoolers, but they answered, "God shows us love by giving us food to eat, and warm houses, ... and POPSICLES!  Oh, yeah, God definitely shows us love with popsicles!"  

This last week, I introduced a lesson on Easter, starting with Palm Sunday.  The group colored crowns that said "Jesus is King," and I talked about the big party that the people had for Jesus as He entered Jerusalem.  Pairing that with the verse, "make a joyful noise unto the Lord," the kids danced around the room with their crowns as I played my ukulele to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It".  Although, we changed the words to "Because Jesus is King we clap our hands!" and had a wonderful party for King Jesus coming into Jerusalem.  As we talked about the story, I had a picture of Jesus coming in on Palm Sunday and the big party that happening.  One student looked at the picture and asked, "Why are those people angry?"  I looked at the picture to where the boy pointed, and in the middle of this big celebration, the Pharisees' frowns stood out.  I said to the group, "Those are the teachers, and they don't know yet that Jesus is the King, and they are questioning Jesus.  They don't believe He is the son of God."  The student who had asked the question pondered a moment longer before saying, "... but God still loves them even though they don't love Jesus."  Yes.  The perfect tie-in as we had talked the last three Tuesday meetings about God loving everyone. 

Youth Group Event

The high school youth group had an outreach event, so I volunteered to help!  Together with another friend, we made specialty juice drinks for the youth.  We enjoyed the time serving and chatting with all the leaders.  The best part of the night was after the youth competition, we played volleyball for a couple hours!  We waited out a thunderstorm that had rolled through and kept adding people onto the court to finally play 9v9.  It was crazy with lots of different skills all playing together, but it was a lot of fun! 

LetFest Training 

During this time of preparation for LetFest, I have been asked by the LetFest American Team Leaders to join par of their meetings with their team to help train the group in culture/history, language, and English Class teaching.  After 15 years of attending English Camps/LetFests, I am happy to be able to share my knowledge in these areas so the team going can feel as confident as they can in these areas.  I am looking forward to hearing all the stories from this team as they go and share the love of God with those I have been so tightly connected with in Czech for many years and hoping the little nuggets of information I can pass onto them raises their confidence and excitement for the mission.

February 2025

Student Link Activities

This February, we celebrated 5 years of Student Link!  To celebrate all we have seen God do in and through this ministry, a group of us came together (both those who had completed and are going through the Student Link material) and spent the time together.  I loved seeing the pictures of all the different ways this ministry has reached out to people across the globe and the lives it has touched.  It is so cool to see how such a personal, intentional study with a few small groups of kids can create such a ripple effect of disciples who make disciples who make disciples!

The last Thursday of each month, we have been meeting to encourage youth pastors in the area!  It is a time for the youth pastors to come together to share joys, prayer requests, and learn from a nugget of teaching.  Our goal with this time is to pour into the youth directors who continue to pour out to their students and making sure they have time for refreshment and relative community.

Student Link - Disciple-Making Groups

I have been having so much fun with these Student Link groups!  I have the honor of discipling three different groups that meet each week as we build community and accountability with each other while looking at grounding truths of God rooted in scripture.  These ladies are so encouraging to me as they come with such hearts of longing to understand deeper and commit to good practices that strengthen their faith.  The girls are all right about at the same place as the groups started relatively closely with each other, so we have just finished up learning about the Trinity and moved into the fruit that comes with Salvation.

 

"Galentines"

As my co-leader and I for one of the Student Link groups were chatting, we realized we needed a space outside of Student Link where we could connect and get to know these girls who God has placed so ornately together.  Our idea - a Girl's Valentine's Party, or "Galentines," if you will!  We had a blast just spending the evening together and learning all about the meaning of different colored roses, how to make crazy romance stories with just magnet words, and challenged each other in sharing getting-to-know-you questions and using conversation candy hearts in messages!  The evening concluded in making verse mailboxes to keep a collection of memory verse cards.  We all really enjoyed the longer time getting to know each other and making memories!

Fun guessing games and verse mailbox decorating

The most iconic photo of the evening

These girls are so creative!

Palooza!

One of the ways I was able to serve this month was at a youth event called "Palooza!" With the swarms of middle school kids and their youth pastors from many churches jumping in and out of all the fun activities, I felt right at home in this crazy youth event! There were many activities for the kids to do, and the night flew by. During my break, I popped in on a couple other activities as was my first time at Palooza and didn’t know all that goes on. (I can’t imagine how the kids had time to do everything; it all looked so fun!) It was a place for the leaders to connect with their youth group, for the kids to invite new friends, and for high schoolers and adults to serve in many different capacities. For the night, I was on the Laser Tag team, which - in my opinion - had to be the most epic station as the entire basement level which was decked out in blacklight. As a team, we rotated into our different roles in such ease and quickly learned the strengths of our teammates. I loved seeing the youth stepping out in their leadership abilities! As the students were waiting to play laser tag, I got to have some fun conversations with a few of them. 

Found "Waldo" and a good friend who I had served in ministry with in Czech! 

The evening concluded in the chapel with a guest speaker who shared the way to God isn’t like climbing rungs of a ladder - and even if it was, that because of our human nature to sin, we will always miss the mark. However, God sent His son down to bridge that gap of imperfection. The message was filled with props, an archery target, and really great application for these middle school kids which, hopefully, was what remained on their hearts after an eventful night. 

Student Link Team serves at Palooza! We were divided in all different areas, but it was so fun knowing we were all there to serve the students!

Youth Group

The youth have been studying a sermon about Jonah in preparation for Mission's Week at Friendship Church.  They have looked all of Jonah's story as if holding up a mirror to themselves and looking to see how their lives are reflected in this story as it is so easy to point fingers at Jonah's disobedience and fleeing attitude.  As the series is soon coming to a close, they asked me to share about missions and answering "yes" to God's calling.  I had so much fun sharing stories from ministry - both heartfelt and humorous - as we looked together at God's rescue plan for the Ninevites and Jonah's response of anger rather than mercy in chapter 4.  The conclusion of the message asked the students to consider how they are making themselves available to God's rescue plan where they are right now.  We talked about how God, unlike a military or emergency service, doesn't use the "best of the best" in His rescue plan (ie: Jonah), but He uses who makes themselves available and answers His calling to go.  That it is often our weaknesses God uses to show His plan more clearly and to make His grace even more radiant.

I always love jumping back with the group I joined as 7th graders my homestay stint in 2020 - now these young ladies are Juniors in high school! 

Youth Group Connection

As I mentor youth students and am connected with the youth mission trips, I am grateful to jump in on some of the high school youth events to support and encourage the youth there.  A couple of the students I mentor are shy in these "outreach" settings outside of youth group and Sunday morning, so it helps if they know I another person in events such as these.  I enjoy bringing people together to play a game or join in conversation.  Since it is now spring semester, there is a lot of buzz in the air about upcoming summer mission trips and even graduation!  These youth students have a tight bond together, and it is fun to see how they are growing and encouraging each other, and I love to be a part of that encouragement in their lives too.

Super Bowl with the youth

A trip to the zoo with our Czech friend visiting!

Toddler Tuesdays

Just like I had Little Linguists in Czech on Tuesday mornings, I once again have Toddler Tuesdays back!  Every other Tuesday, I am volunteering at FaithPoint Church to watch the toddlers during a Mother's Bible Study.  As the mom's group is growing and more kids arriving, there was a need to divide the babies from the toddlers with the hope the toddlers and pre-k kids would receive also a little study of their own.  With this short month of February, we was perfect to start with the love of God and Jesus.  We made letterboxes to write letters to God and colored cross decorations.  We talked about what love looks like from God and Jesus and the kids came up with a whole list of people who Jesus loves.  After running through all the names of family, friends, aunts, uncles, grandmas, and grandpas, one little boy said, "Jesus loves... my heart!"  It is fun to see these young children understand just how much Jesus loves them!

Always lots of books, games, and creating! 

Ministry Visit

Just as one friend from the Czech Republic left, another two arrived! The director of our Czech organization (ELIM) and his wife arrived for two weeks to to be involved at Mission's Week at Friendship Church.  This year marks the 25th anniversary of cooperation between the church in Letovice, Czech and Friendship Church.  It is so amazing to see how God has worked through both of these places in that time and how the friendship has only become stronger.  I am so happy to be a part of both ministries and serving in both places - though now looking a little different as I remain in Minnesota and travel back and forth to Czech for short time frames to be an encouragement to the youth and teams in ministry.  It has been really fun to spend time with these dear friends in their busy schedules.  Next month, I will share all about Mission Weekend as we have a Mission Expo and Sunday Service surrounding missions!

January 2025

 Discipleship Conference

With the holiday season all wrapped up, it was time to start some new activities!  A colleague of mine in our organization asked if I'd join her disciple-making ministry team, and I was thrilled.  I've gone through the disciple-making program, called Student Link, before and have been so encouraged by it's focus on relational accountability in biblical truth (more on Student Link later in the post).  We went as a team to St. Augustine, Florida to help at a discipleship conference organized by SonLife.  The week was spectacular, and as helpers, we were busy with set up, registration, clean-up and other errands.  We also joined in with the lectures, seminars, and break-out sessions to develop our own leadership skills individually and as a team.  I was very encouraged in all the sessions I attended.  The main speakers spoke about God's unfathomably great love for us as we begin, build, and be in our different ministries.  The lecture sessions were four blocks of time, and we looked at specifically the strategy of Jesus' ministry in the trajectory of His life from beginning to end.  Finally, the break-out sessions gave a feel for other ministries.  As a team, we divided and conquered and then shared notes from these different ministries - I was in on a really cool ministry that takes students on mountain hikes so they can experience God's beauty and to also push them in areas where they must turn to find reliance in their Savior.  In another break-out session, we went together and learned how to encourage future leaders in our ministries.

(1) Even with a busy schedule, we made it to see the ocean one late night! (2) one of the challenges we received during the conference was to share our faith with someone we meet.  I had such a fun time talking with these girls in town and hearing their stories while getting to share a piece of mine. 

 

While it had been a bit chilly in Florida when we were there, we still found a few moments of sun that were perfect for prayer, worship, and discussion as a team.

Got pulled up on stage for one night - a conference of youth pastors includes song actions, always! 

As a team, we divided during between tables for registration, SonLife information, and a table further describing all the aspects of our Global Link Partner's ministry.

Student Link Ministry

Back in 2020, a friend (and now colleague through our mission organization) created a disciple-making program called Student Link to build students into disciple-makers and encourage accountability.  This ministry has been growing - she's even had the material translated into Czech for my students overseas!  This month, in addition to the disciple-making groups, we also started meeting Wednesday mornings for prayer and breakfast!  Our Student Link team (those who also went to the Florida conference) come together one morning a week and we are encouraging students to come as we pray over their youth groups, schools, and activities they are a part of.  Additionally, this month we stated hosting a once-a-month gathering for youth pastors in our area.  The goal is to bring connection and encouragement to these youth pastors who are mentoring and discipling in their churches.  As we had heard many time at the conference in Florida, a youth pastor can only give from the overflow of his/her own spiritual "being" and by "being" rooted in God in our personal learning, we can give overflowing-ly out.  We hope the monthly meeting will be that refreshing, filling time for these youth pastors. 

We kicked off the new year with a hang-out for the group of students and leaders who are currently working through the Student Link disciple-making lessons together.  As I had just moved back to the country, I was invited to join in and share that time with them.  It was fun to see their connection and how they are encouraging one another.  

Student Link Group

Student Link is a disciple-making accountability 52-week study done either one-on-one or in a group.  A co-leader and I were praying about starting a group in this new year, and it was so fun to watch this group come together!  While many times the groups that are formed for Student Link are already mentor/students, in this group none of us really knew each other, but somehow we got connected and formed this beautiful little group.  Last fall as I was praying for the youth on their fall retreat, God continued to put a couple names of students on my heart to pray for - younger siblings of other students and leaders who I knew were on retreat as well.  Having never met these girls and only knowing names, I trusted just that the Spirit was simply encouraging me to pray.  I would have never guessed in four months these same girls, whose names I only knew, would be our next Student Link group!  

As we were praying over this group and beginning to ask these girls if they were interested in joining a disciple-making program with us, I had an underlying thought of, "it's a nice idea - it would be a dream, really, but I'm really not sure how it will work."  After briefly meeting these gentle, busy teenage girls a week later in passing, I again thought, "it's a nice idea, but I don't think this will work."  They work, have sports, school, and on top of that, they are in different grades and at different church campuses!  Plus, I really thought my bubbly, energetic personality had scared them off.  I continued to pray.  Suddenly, one of the girls decided she wanted to try Student Link.  My co-leader had found a time and planned a meeting and we went with it.  I texted the other two who had miraculously also availability at that time between work, school, and sports schedules and were super excited to join!  That first meeting was perfect - these gentle-spirited girls bonded, laughed, and studied scripture together.  I am so excited for what the future will look like as we continue to study God's truth together.  

Czech Ministry

I have been transitioning back to American life and beginning to find a new rhythm and routine (especially still giving myself still time of rest and reconnection after the holiday momentum has depleted and getting sick this month).  To help with the process of transition back to the states, I had been registered for a debriefing week with missionary professionals that was unfortunately cancelled last minute.  The counselors and organizers were saddened to have to cancel (due to low attendance) and knew how necessary debriefing in a sabbatical or time of transition is, so I was able to set up an online call with one of the debriefers to walk through steps for this transitional period.  

Throughout the days, I am still in regular contact with many of the Czech youth, leaders, and students I have been connected to for so many years.  I am grateful for technology that allows me to continue pouring into them and encouraging in this way.

One dear friend from Czech is visiting Minnesota, and it has been fun to connect with her and be an encouragement to her in the time we get together.  As she is connecting more with the youth students and ELIM in Letovice, it great for her to see the ministries here in America and add that to her understanding of working with youth!  It is my big hope that this connecting between the youth groups will continue in the future allowing young adults to visit and develop leadership skills gaining a larger worldview background.  It is exciting to see how the passions of these young adults grow for outreach in their home country after visiting and seeing other youth groups!  The encouragement of a stint in another location to observe and participate in ministry is so valuable for renewal of energy, ideas, and personal development.  I have loved watching this one friend grow (she affectionately calls herself my "little sister") and see her passion for sharing Jesus with the next generation spark and overflow.

2011 & 2025