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 

December 2024

 CZECH

Little Linguists

For the final two weeks Little Linguists met in December, we embraced themes surrounding animals with Sea Creatures and Zoo Animals.  The toddlers loved all the decorations that enhanced the theme and made it feel like we were really exploring on a safari or in the ocean.  

Decorating Treasure Chests and Popping Bubbles

 

When a birthday celebration left their balloons, I repurposed them to bring dimension in our dramatic play area!  The kids loved making the balloons move like waves and looking at all the sea creatures on the backdrop.  We also worked on catching some fish!

I always try to find some books to include as I am setting up the space for the toddlers that can relate to the theme.  Finding those ways to bring these themes into their world is so important - and teaching them at a young age that books can offer more information, stories, and experiences is so great for growth!

In our final theme about Zoo Animals, we had a lot of fun acting out various animals and lots of animal sounds.  In this theme, there is always a lot of matching - finding animals that are the same in toys, books, interactive play cards, and pictures.  For this age, I also like to introduce matching animal patterns and seeing how the child may sort some animals that don't completely align with the animal pattern presented.  It causes them to think outside of the box and create their own "rules" for the game.  I found that even though the lion didn't have the tiger stripes, the toddler sorted the lions on the tiger pattern to keep them with the "big cats", whereas, the spots on the turtle's shell offered a "cheetah print" style and grouped the turtles with the cheetahs.  I love watching children this age make deductions and seeing how they will fit the pieces into their game - some toddlers leave the animals that don't match in the box and others find a way for them to be included in the game - adjusting the "rules" accordingly.

Interacting with stacking animals!  I loved watching the toddlers clap for themselves after successfully balancing a new animal on the stack! 

Matching patterns and exploring animals in books with our craft for the day - binoculars!

Toddler hugs are one of the purest things in the world (because as any teacher or parent can explain, a toddler hug is genuine and is rarely given without full willingness).  I loved all the "tackle hugs" this toddler gave on our final day!

Kid's Club - Letovice

To kick off December, our club day included a full Christmas Decoration of the club space!  We set up the Christmas tree (and added a "this tree has survived 0 days of toddler destruction" sign after fixing a toppled tree multiple days in a row!), we decked out the room with lights and garland, we framed Christmas pictures the kids drew and added snowflakes to the chalkboard above the snack bar.  To finish out the final touches of the decorating, we pulled out the Window Markers and created winter and Christmas scenes that were the cherry on the cake of the decorating day!

Since the start of the school year and our kick-off event to the year, we have noticed a group of 6th graders who come consistently to club on weekdays!  They show up in a group and stick around with each other until the bus leaves for the village to where a couple live.  It has been really fun to get to know this group of friends and see how they engage with one another and quickly jump into games, art projects, and competitions.  Czech surveys say the average age for children in Czech to start smoking is about age 11/12.  With the advancements of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products, that starting age is lowering.  This is the crucial age for the students to come to our club centers so we can pull them into other activities.  I had a deep talk with some of the girls about thinking for themselves and not following the crowd or doing things just because their friends say it is cool.  I was happy to be able to chat with the girls about that and share this bit of encouragement with them as they are at such a vulnerable age and wanting to fit in with their peers.  Thankfully, they have found a community at clubs with us and are enjoying their time there!  (Also, Czech government is trying to pass a law limiting the purchases of energy drinks to 15+ after finding out many younger children are buying these drinks and consuming multiple a day.  I am grateful the government is looking into this and concerned for the health of their future generation.)

Art activities that are fun for everyone!

BINGO never fails

Kid's Club - Boskovice

Though our crowd of students in Boskovice are older than those in Letovice, they are kids are heart!  It has been really fun to see these students jump into games like BINGO or create their own competitions (my new favorite is getting the Spikeball to bounce off the net and land in a bowl for a candy!).  As the evenings get dark quite quickly and all activities were kept indoors instead of using the outdoor space, we are happy the indoor space is large for more movement activities in this season.  While talking with some of the students, a couple brought up they felt they have already made too many mistakes to turn their lives around.  My heart broke for these kids - one who I have known for many years - to see them without that hope.  I shared what hope looks like in my life and how faith has given me that freedom from mistakes. While neither of the students said it was what they want for their lives in that moment, both looked relieved to know that there is an option for that freedom in Christ.  They asked questions, were skeptical, but ultimately found encouragement in the conversation, and I was grateful for their openness to share those deeper feelings (and then passed this bit of information to a leader who would be regularly in contact with them in my absence).

Youth Group

I taught youth group the first Friday of December with a theme about the arrival of shepherds at the manger.  I shared how the shepherds left immediately to find baby Jesus and appeared before Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus without anything to offer them.  That's how we still come to the feet of Jesus - without anything to offer but ourselves.  To remember this, we decorated mirrors that I encouraged the students to place under their Christmas Trees to "give themselves back to Jesus" in this holiday season.  The younger youth students had to leave for busses at the end of the mirror decorating, but the older youth students and I had lots of fun sharing candy, chocolate, popcorn, fries, and ice cream throughout the evening as we played games and talked!  (Yes, it was not the most nutritious "snack" but we worked with what we had for the evening.)

Goodbyes

This season was like one I had never experienced.  There were many joyous moments of reflection on the past eight and a half years and while looking to the future of how this ministry will continue to grow, while also many difficult goodbyes (or "see you laters" as one friend accurately insisted).  

As I move into an itinerant missionary position that will include ministry in both the USA and Czech, I am excited for all the ways God has already shown the connection between these two places.  I am still figuring out how everything will look, but the current plan is to return to Letovice 2-3 times a year to encourage their team while also maintaining the relationships with students I have mentored to be a support for them from afar (I truly believe this is what my youth need during this next season to give them the support and still the space so they can succeed).  Furthermore, I will be continuing in ministry in the USA to jump into more discipleship opportunities with my team for Student Link (a disciple-making outreach through my organization, Global Link Partners) as well as helping team trainings for our regular teams going to Letovice as they need my assistance.  I will also be volunteering in other areas of ministry and looking into ways I can further connect Czech and USA ministries.  In today's society with connections being at the tips of our fingers, there are so many ways I can continue to encourage and mentor those I have been in contact with over these years, and I am grateful to God for this continuation in mission.

My volleyball group that I joined regularly

Our Christmas event with our team and youth - and they honored the work I had done so memorably.  Throughout the final weeks of my time in Czech, I continued through all my normal activities and tried keeping things as normal as I could.  There are so many gifts God gave me in this ministry, and it was the regular, normal activities that I continually found joy in.  Watching many of these kids grow through those years of the regular activities is one of the greatest blessings.

Due to international travel laws, there were too many risks and restrictions to bring my dear bunny companion with me to the USA.  We've done seven years of life together (a stunning age already for this rescued "farm rabbit"), and I never expected how attached I'd grow to him.  He's with a wonderful family now, and they take such good care of him!  Here are some pictures of our last day together.

A friend recently told me something along the lines of, "If all of this was only so you could grow closer to God, then it was already worth it.  And the fact that you have seen such fruit from your answer to God's calling is evidence of the overflow that you focused first on God in you."  Praise Jesus.

USA - Some highlights of time with family and friends

As I was traveling back to the states, I had two sets of aunts and uncles (and two cousins) also arriving back on the same date from their mission fields!  One aunt and uncle were even on my last flight!  We all came back to the cold north and enjoyed the holidays together.  I have loved meeting up with friends as I have been back and feeling encouraged in this time of transition and have been easing myself back into American lifestyle.