Dear Praying Friends
Even as I write Vic is preparing to leave California and take a red eye flight to Ohio. He will arrive on August 5th. Many of you probably are wondering what he did while he was in California; what does training look like?
This year Teachoverseas had several married couples, which is not the usual for them. The usual short term Teachoverseas missionaries are single females 23-30. These 200+ new recruits will be serving in different locations: Vietnam, Russia region, China, Northern Africa, and also Europe and Cambodia. Vic especially felt useful in ministering to the married couples these past two weeks who will be located in Hungary, Kazakhstan and Vietnam. Last Thursday he facilitated a married couples afternoon session where he addressed the area of finances, the challenges of serving on a majority single/female team, and general culture shock side effects within the marriage when serving overseas. He also joined the young couples for dinner in the evenings answering individual questions. Several days he taught the basic Slovak language course to the teachers coming to Slovakia and he also taught lessons on how to teach English as a second language in the area of reading. He participated in training and meetings in regards to our role as a "CA" Central Administrator of the Slovakia team and I think what he probably enjoyed most was teacher observations in the evenings as the new recruits practiced their ESL skills with the Hispanic and Asian population at a local church in Pasadena.
What exactly is involved in our job as Central Administrators of Slovakia? It involves acting as accountability partners as well as just good listeners. Pray that as we take on this role again this year, that we will build good relationships with those that we will be advising and that there will be a relationship of trust between us. Pray that we will be wise and discerning in our actions and reactions.We are excited to be continuing the work we began. God has blessed us with so many great relationships and we are thankful for the opportunity to develop these relationships further. We look forward to our teammates Kate, Katie, and Jenni joining us again for another year and for our new teammates Gina and Ashley. We trust that God will continue to use us in building relationships that will move His Kingdom forward. We have been encouraged through Vic's time in California and he is looking forward to sharing more about what we do as ambassadors for Christ here in Slovakia.
Please pray for Vic as he has speaking engagements throughout the next two weeks that his words will be anointed and ALL of God. His most current speaking schedule is:
August 9 Sunday Eve 7:00 Ripley SH Youth Ripley Church, Greenwich
August 13 Thursday Eve 7:00 HIPE North Fairfield United Methodist Church, North Fairfield
August 15 Saturday Eve 7:00 Ripley Men's Group Ripley Church, Greenwich
August 16 Sunday Eve 6:00 Willard Christian and Missionary Alliance, Willard (dessert social to follow)
In addition, Vic will be visiting two of our supporting churches for the Sunday services, On Sunday morning August 9 he will be enjoying the fellowship of the church family at New Haven United Methodist and on August 16 he will join the North Fairfield Assembly of God family for their morning worship.
It is our prayer that he also enjoys time with our new grandson Kennon and time with his mother and brothers and sister.
Also pray for Me, Dominic and Ana as we await our family being reunited again. We are so grateful for the 7 days we had to get away together and camp as a family before Vic left for the US, Dominic then left for camp in Serbia and returned home a few days after Dad had left for the US. The kids and I joined 15 students last week at an English Camp reunion at a local park and we now are blessed with a dear friend from the US visiting with us. God is taking care of us and we are thankful for His special care and provisions during this time.
Thank you for your ongoing love and support and for the love offerings you give so sacrificially. The new school year is fast approaching and we look forward to what God has in store for our students, colleagues and for us in the 2009-2010 school year!
Love Darla for Vic, Dominic, and Ana too!
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