Hello friends and family!

We are one week away from our departure to the U.S. Here’s what our time in TX and WA will look like as far as we know (for now).

(A few photos are at the end as well.)

Austin, TX

As we’ve mentioned before, we’ll arrive first to Austin, TX on the evening of July 24th. We’ll spend time with one of our supporting churches, Grace Community Bible Church. Jared will get to preach there on July 26. We’ll also have time for a ministry update and Q&A on that day. Throughout the week we’ll spend time with several families and bible studies, and with our friends Henry and Allie, and their kids.

Spokane, WA

Next, we’ll arrive to Spokane, WA on July 31st where we’ll get time with Faith Bible Church and Trinity Church. Jared will get to preach on August 9th at Faith Bible Church, and on the 16th at Trinity. At Faith we’ll have a reception directly after 2nd service; at Trinity we’ll join the church for a picnic. We greatly anticipate time with both groups!

During the week of August 1-8 we hope to catch up with with people as much as possible from either church.

August 10-14 we’ll take a family trip to the Oregon Coast.

From August 17-26 we’ll again make time for catching up with various people and ministries of the church. We’ll head back to CZ on the 26th.

Somewhere in there we’ll find some time for rest as well 🙂

Until then…

We look forward to sharing with you what God has been teaching us here in the Czech Republic, how he’s working/leading in the church(es), and how you can keep praying. We’re also looking forward to continuing relationships and having a lot of fun with you all.

Until then, please pray for our preparation to leave.

More specifically, please pray for Jared’s back to recover. He’s currently having a major flare up due to some disc and joint issues. This will only be worsened by travel if he’s not better before our departure. It also makes him quite incapable of most normal activities, which is obviously not ideal for traveling with a family of six.

Pray also for our communication, humility, patience, gentleness as we approach the trip. May we help each other rejoice in all things!

A few events since our last update…

Another friendly visit: We served with Wendy and Dennis during our time overseeing college ministry at Faith Bible Church. Their children have also become dear to us. Fellowship with them was very refreshing.

6-Day church retreat: Joshua Mack from Cornerstone Bible Church in Fullerton, CA preached through Colossians 2-3. The focus was on living out the hope of the Christian life. Several men (including Jared) also preached in the evenings from Proverbs 3. These six days were a very fruitful time relationally and spiritually. Roughly 100 people attended.

VBS: A team from Cornerstone Bible Church in Fullerton, CA led a great VBS last week! Pray for the young hearts of the children who were there, and their parents! Both believers and unbelievers attended.