Dear friends, family and supporting churches,

We are thankful to say we’re back into a steady routine after the arrival of our newest, Annie, at the end of June. Adjusting to a new baby is one thing; adjusting to a fourth is another thing.

More on that in a minute, but first let me start by saying once again: Thank you. Thank you for making it possible for us to be here in the Czech Republic. Marcus is preaching through Romans right now, and today he preached Romans 10:14-15…

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

As we sat there we were filled with gratitude and a humble honour. Not because we felt important; rather because you all saw fit to help bring us to the Czech Republic.

At one point Marcus said: “I’m the product of a local church that understands that missions is the responsibility of the local church…Other saints carry the burden so you [BSKK] can hear the word of God, so that you can be in a healthy church, so that you can grow. They understand this text and they obey it.” (Of course, he said this in Czech.)

We gladly resonate and rejoice with this.

We trust that as you are reminded of your part in our life, and the proclamation of the gospel here, that it causes you to rejoice as well.

In this update: How the kids are doing, gospel opportunities, Czech studies, ministry, other ways to stay in touch with us. And, of course, many pictures throughout.

The kiddos…

Annie: Well, Annie is just delightful. Her smile is off the charts, she’s playful, and generally a happy baby in her daylight hours. Evenings… not so much. She’s still a tricky one to get to sleep. She’s healthy, very strong, and eager to catch up with ‘the biggies.’

Caleb: We’re figuring out this little fireball. He’s our more sensitive, emotional guy. Anger and complaining are the focus of our training right now. However, he’s also super fun, a major goof ball, loves to laugh, and has as many facial expressions as the trees have (or had) leaves.

Millie: Millie is a sweetie. She loves to serve. She loves art and beauty. She’s also a goof. She is shy about learning the language, but is still having fun with it, especially alongside Benny. She’s officially 5 years old, which makes her ‘a big kid.’ She has a sharp mind and memory, and strong creative senses. She has her issues too, of course, but overall she’s in a very sweet season right now.

Bennett: If you know Benny, you know how sweet he is. He’s been a great ‘oldest,’ and tries to take his job seriously of setting an example to his younger siblings. Right now… he’s a 6.5 year old boy. So focus, self-control, remembering instructions, and thoughtfulness are our emphasis with him. He started football (soccer) this year and loves it.

We’re grateful that, so far, our kids love to be together most of the time. The house is loud, and we struggle to be thankful for that at times. However, ultimately, when we’re in our right minds, we are filled with joy over our children. Praise God!

For the fellow dog lovers out there…

This is our friend, Stone. He’s a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (Swissie). He’s a very big, friendly, adventerous, one-year-old giant. He fits RIGHT in to this extremely dog-loving culture. He’s a great conversation starter with strangers and is a lot of fun to have around.

Gospel Opportunities…

We will mention here just two of many gospel opportunities we’ve had this past year and a half. Wow, even that sentence is a shock to us. We don’t speak the language fluently yet (not even CLOSE), and yet God is granting us opportunities to speak of Christ with English speakers.

One opportunity has been with Jared’s barber. Jared visits a barber in Prague. To Jared’s surprise he learned that this shop was run by young men and women all professing some sort of Christian faith. That is an extreme rarity here, and conversations with the shop workers show they are in great need of a healthy church. The young man who cuts his hair visited church once already and plans to again. Every time Jared goes there the time is filled by theological questions and conversations about how these questions must be tied to the essentiality of the Gospel in our daily lives. The young man repeatedly alludes to his desire to be sure of his salvation, despite the difficult questions he’s wrestling with. Jared gladly gets to proclaim that the grace of God and trust in Christ are what secure our salvation.

The other opportunity has been with a young couple in connection to Bennett and Millie’s school. They came to church once and plan to again. Before that visit and since then we’ve had 5-6 great conversations about the gospel. Their raw, humble, young, genuine curiosity is astonishing. We’ve had them in our home a few times, and we see them on other occasions. Jared will meet again with the young man this week, hopefully and Claire gets fairly regular opportunities with the young lady. Pray for them!

Pray we continue to pursue each of these relationships and new friendships well. We’ve expressed to them that we don’t only want to be their friends so that they’ll believe what we do; rather because we genuinely care about their lives and their souls. They have expressed that they see this to be true of us (and of their visit to the church), and they don’t seem to be ‘turned off’ by our intentionality. It’s also great simply to be making more friends, including with unbelievers. Praise God!

Language Learning…

The summary of it all is simply this: In it for the long hall. We’re pursuing daily faithfulness with studies, both passive and active.

Actively, we have our textbooks and drills and memorisation charts, and trying to squeak out a few sentences with friends and neighbours as best as we can.

Passively, there’s podcasts in Czech we listen to, training programs via recorded videos, Czech music, and Czech kids books. Not to mention, of course, we hear it everywhere we go, use it at shops and restaurants and grocery stores, and we do our best to absorb (and participate when possible) during Bible studies.

We’re regularly evaluating what we can do differently or better. Right now Jared is able to increase his twice-weekly lessons from 1.5 hrs to 2 hours each. Claire will do this when the baby is weaned. While a seemingly small adjustment, it will actually be quite helpful.

Claire will get a great opportunity with a sister from the church to meet with her at least once a week to practice Czech with her. She lives in our village.

Jared will increase his hours away from the house to enable greater focus, and plans to ask a brother to meet him semi regularly to practice speaking as well.

Just know that at any given point when you want to pray for us, language learning will be a constantly pressing need.

Ministry…

Language learning and child raising and marriage remain our primary ministries, as they should be. Evangelism is regularly on our radar as well. However the great privilege of ministry with the church body is still very present.

We have resumed hosting our Biblical Counselling group with a handful of friends. Pray more would be interested in this. You know friendships are being cultivated and the content is enjoyed when people express wanting to meet more often!

Men’s and women’s bible studies, as well as men’s leadership training are back in full swing. These continue to be essential for cultivating a culture of discipleship and fellowship.

Continue praying that God would call some men to fully entrust their lives and the lives of their family to the ministry of God’s word. This country needs more Czech pastors and elder-qualified men.

Pray men would more wholeheartedly pursue the call to lead their wives and families in exemplary godliness and zeal for the gospel.

Pray, as Marcus preached this week, that the church would grow in its will to respond to the call of the great commission.

These are the prayer of every church, aren’t they?

Jared gets to teach the youth on December 5th; he gets to preach for main service on December 14th; and he gets to preach for a church in Pilsen on December 28th. Pray for a good balance of Biblical studies with Czech studies over the next month.

Daily Insights…

Lastly, if you didn’t know already, we have an Instagram you can follow.

You’ll get short, pithy updates there too, but mostly you’ll see some fun, short videos of what daily life looks like for us a bit more (as best as social media can convey that).

Jared’s Facebook will also have every post we put on Instagram. Click the buttons below to follow us.

Until Next Time…

Please, let us know in the comments if there are any details of our life you’d be interested in knowing more about. Please also let us know how we can pray for you!

We think of and pray for you often. Once again, we are grateful for you. Thank you for walking with us, and trusting God with us.

That’s all for now, friends. Pray for us as we seek to discern what our first furlough should be like/when it should be.

Until next time.