Months before we embarked upon this process of missions, Danny had felt a burden for Eastern Europe, specifically Slovakia and the Czech Republic. He began learning the language, studying the culture and befriending nationals via the internet in preparation for a trip he wanted to take over there. As we sought out wise counsel and researched missions and were we would go, it was amazing to see that God had already planted seeds in Danny’s heart for this unreached part of the world. God continues to amaze us as we watch Him weave this elaborate tapestry.
Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
We planned a trip to Slovakia and the Czech Republic in March of 2005 to meet with several missionary agencies and work alongside the teams. We were eager to know exactly what God had planned for us, especially since this was such a huge decision. God spoke through a missionary we were visiting during this vision tour in Eastern Europe. He simply asked where would faith enter in if we knew every last detail of our lives…if we knew the answers to every question. We began to ask God to show us the next step, to open the next door of this journey, instead of asking Him to reveal all so that we can be sure. We ask Him for the courage and faith to follow Him where we cannot see. This has been tested almost everyday for us. Are we putting our hope and faith in what is seen and known or are we putting our hope and faith in a God who loves us? As we continue to walk through each open door, so far every one of them leading to overseas missions in the Czech Republic, our faith has grown immeasurably.
“Why do we need to go when there are so many who still need Christ right here in the U.S.?” We raised this question early on in the mission process, and a missionary friend from Bosnia answered it so wisely…”There is a church on every corner in the U.S., and in some parts of the world there are no churches…” So God is calling us to go to the Czech Republic, a country of 10 million people of whom 20,000 are believers. After two generations of communism, the country is 95% atheistic. The remaining 5% are nominal Catholics or searching and putting their hope in the B’hai or Mormon faith. Our family will be serving in Ceske Budejovice (about 2 hours south of Prague in Southern Bohemia). There are relatively no evangelical churches in Ceske Budejovice (CB)…it is the most spiritually dark portion of this country. It is not an international community and we would be among a handful of foreigners in this city of 100,000 people. We have hooked up with Operation Mobilization (OM) and will be working with the OM team in CB teaching English, helping with the local church plant, and Danny will also be doing business administrative work for the team.
The people of the Czech Republic so desperately need the hope of Christ. I wish you could see it for yourselves…the country is beautiful filled with incredible architecture, and pastoral countrysides. But among this beauty rises, like a pox, the ugly and austere panalak (cement block apartment typical of the communist era). It so mirrors the spiritual decay of this country with such a rich Christian heritage that they have since walked away from. We have read that the Czech Republic is where America will be in 50 years if we continue to turn away from the God on whom this country was founded.
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