Dear Prayer Partners
Thank you for praying us through this past month of "decision time". March 15th was decision day for the Slovakia team. At the beginning of January we were convinced that we should "stay the course" and continue on for another year here in Slovakia, but then we began to reconsider because of family concerns, mainly Vic's mom now being alone and our new grandson. February and the first two weeks of March were very emotional months. We just wanted to hear God's clear voice, loud and clear.
Another concern we had about continuing on was a church support for us. Being in Ohio in December really made me aware of our need to be a part of a larger body of believers. Being part of the Slovak church, we had very few people we could turn to for spiritual guidance because it is just not typical of the culture to reach out to each other within the church, and we have limited language capabilities. We always left church feeling like we were in the audience and not part of the body. In February God answered that prayer. We began attending a small Calvary Church plant. The pastor is American and his wife is Slovak. It is a small group meeting each Sunday for worship, prayer, and teaching, and sharing dinner together after service. We both feel like this church has been a breath of fresh air to us and is filling a need for spiritual nourishment and being part of the body. We are so thankful for God's timing that we could have a resource of prayer support and guidance here in Bratislava during the decision period.
Some practical aspects played into our decision such as Dominic being at the end of his Junior High years and finally excelling in academics here, both Dominic and Ana being in the middle of their orthodontic treatment, our VISA being current for 2 years, and students Lucy and Maja coming to the end of their high school years. The most influential part of our decision was simply the Lord is not leading us out. Vic says the decision experience for him during this time was quite the opposite, "the enemy is trying to push us out."
We will continue on with the work God has set before us. Four of the other American teachers on our Slovakia team will also return next year, and the other two team members feel like they are being led back to the US. Vic will be spending 3 weeks this summer at the Teachoverseas summer training in California preparing new teachers that will be coming to Europe for teaching assignments in late August. We were blessed with a great ticket price from LA to Ohio for $100 so he will also be in Ohio from August 5th-August 17th spending time with his mom.
Some other great news and answered prayer this past month:
Kvetka(Ana's former class teacher and new mom in my Moms Bible Study) and her husband Brano had a healthy baby boy on March 10th. God is really opening doors for Vic and I to be part of their lives. Kvetka is from East Slovakia so her mother is not close to help her.
We continue to be very involved in Maja and Lucy's life. They just completed their Maturita test (Graduation test) for Slovak Language. Next year in their final year of high school they will take the English Maturita and 2 other subjects. I have attached a picture of the BIG test day. Notice how dressed up they are? It is the custom for all students to come in their very best clothes on the day of Maturita (graduation testing), even the boys were wearing suits and ties. Lucy is going to the Calvary Chapel with us and she loves it! She even wrote this prayer request last Sunday, Please pray I would know what God wants me to do with my future. We are seeing so much growth in her just in the past 2 months!
Vic and I were blessed to be prayer support and participants in the "Make the Choice" Project for the Narnia 8th grade class organized by our team member Karin. Karin organized 4 Christian couples to come in and share with the students and required students to talk with their parents about these subjects as well(NOT typical of the culture). She then required the students to write an essay on what they learned through the experience. Students went into the project hating the idea and ended by thanking Karin for the project. Vic and I were one of the couples that participated, answering students' questions and discussing dating, sex, and marriage relationships.
Comments from two young ladies:
The fourth couple - Victor and Darla - was my favorite one. The story about their honeymoon and also about their dates was really funny. Darla said one sentences, which I really liked: “Baby is always a gift”. I agree. When someone asked her, what she thinks about the teen pregnancy, she was open, even her daughter experienced this. She said, that when they found out, that their daughter is pregnant they didn’t think about abortion at all. They were thinking about adoption but not about abortion. Their daughter decided to have a baby. “We are really proud of her, and she is really loving and good Mum“said Victor.
Is wedding in a church important? "If is God important to you, then yes. I think that if our commitment wasn’t in front of God, we would have been apart a long time ago." answered Victor
Simona
The last couple was Vic and Darla. They were also opened to us and nice to us. They talked about their marriage crisis. They gave us some advices to the future. What is necessarily in the marriage is love, responsibility, forgiveness, compromise and also God because only he can help us to go through all the marriage crisis.
Sara
God continues to break down barriers, open doors, and give opportunity for the Gospel to be preached. Please pray for Darla this week as she is preparing to speak at a women's retreat in Austria March 27-29th. Thank you for being such a faithful team of prayer and financial support. We are blessed beyond measure with the army God has gathered in the United States to go with us in His work here in Slovakia.
Following the lead of Christ,
Love Vic, Darla, Dominic, and Ana
