Midweek Update from 20s+ Camp

Wow...

I'm not sure what to write... But I want to write something now, because so much happens in each day here, that I'm afraid it will be too late to write about certain things by the end of the week.

To my prayer warriors out there - thank you. I cannot express my gratitude. One of the things I am personally (re)learning this week is the power of prayer. It has been one of my greatest struggles in the past several years. And I have felt a growing separation from God when He did not answer the cries of my heart. I let bitterness and cynicism take root because God did not operate in the way I wanted Him to. Pain from my broken family, hurt from seemingly ineffective prayers in relationships... I became jaded.

These feelings have sapped my passion. Coupled with the turmoil and drama that has occurred in my life this summer, I felt so unprepared for this trip. A couple weeks ago I did not think I could do it. I cried to my patient husband that I didn't think I could go. I wasn't ready. I couldn't leave home.

But somehow, God is using my brokenness here in Czech. One of the themes this week has been honesty. Our leader, Joel, spoke on the first night about being honest - no faking it.

So, I have been honest this week. And so have others - including Czechs. Christians from every walk of life are taking off their strong mantels and revealing their inner hurts and weaknesses. And their is such potential for beautiful growth because of it. I am so moved by everyone's hunger for renewed passion.

Please continue to pray. Here are some specifics:

- Pray for miracles. Pray that God brings about miraculous change in individuals. There are weary Christians that need renewed faith and passion. There are nonbelievers that are searching and seeking.

- Pray for healing. Joel spoke this morning about the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8). He highlighted the fact that Evil knows right where to attack us, to create a disconnect between our heads and our ability to feel... This message really spoke to people... There are a lot of old hurts and shame that people are dealing with.

- Pray for God to speak. There are hungry hearts, yearning for God's voice to whisper.

- Pray for worship. Pray that people would be drawn into an authentic and passionate worship experience with their Heavenly Father.

- Pray for lasting relationships to be built. Pray for community and accountability between the Czechs.

- Pray for renewed energy for our American team. I can't believe it's only Wednesday! It feels like we've experienced a week's worth of spiritual warfare, tears, and expenditure.

THANK YOU!

A bit blurry... But a snapshot of evening worship. Amazing!

 

Prayer Requests for the Week

Hey Friends and Fam!

We will likely be offline for most of this coming week. For the pray-ers out there, here are some prayer requests and insights into what will be happening this week:

Sunday, August 11th

• Church in Elim, where Eric will be preaching
• Campers, as well as our American team and the Czech team from Elim, will arrive at camp
• Pray for relationship building

Monday, August 12th

• First day of camp!!!
• Pray for our discipleship / community groups - that trust is established and relationships are built
• Pray for Joel as he delivers teaching on Jesus's invitation

Tuesday, August 13th

• Second day of camp
• Pray for Joel as he delivers teaching on Nicodemus's story
• Pray for deepening relationships in community groups

Wednesday, August 14th

• Third day of camp
• Pray for Joel as he delivers teaching on forgiveness
• Pray for leaders and team to be refreshed and continued unity

Thursday, August 15th

• Fourth day of camp
• Pray for Joel as he delivers teaching on what it means to be a disciple
• Pray that campers experience personal spiritual growth

Friday, August 16th

• Fifth and final day of camp!
• Pray for Joel as he delivers teaching on living sacrificially
• Pray for lasting relationships among the campers

Thank you for your prayers!!!

4589 Miles

We made it!

It was a long flight. Didn't sleep. Watched a movie that kept getting interrupted by the pilot on the PA system. Pretty sure I missed the major plot points.

We had a long flight to London, a couple hours of layover, and then a quick flight to Prague. When we arrived in Prague it was pouring rain and it continued throughout Friday evening. After a couple hours on a bus we arrived in Pisek - the small town where our partner church is located.

Being back in Pisek feels amazing. It's strange - driving in the bus in a foreign country, I cannot read any of the street signs or names of shops, but it feels like home. I know this town. I love these people.

A few snapshots from our trip so far...

We had some interesting company in the London-Heathrow airport...

Hey! Happy faces! Been up all night!

Friday night our team went out for an authentic Czech dinner. Only problem was, all the Czech places were packed. So we went to a Greek restaurant. Dave got fish! Poor lil' fishy...

Our hotel for Friday night and Saturday night. I love this place. So cute.

All the streets are cobblestone...

Ancient stone wall that has been around for centuries.

One of the oldest bridges in Europe. About 10 years ago there was a huge flood in Pisek and the waters were so high that they covered everything but the cross of the crucifix on the bridge!

We will try to update some more before we head to camp!

A few prayer requests:

- Please pray for Dave that he continues to feel physically healthy and well. He was battling some allergies last night and was very tired! He is feeling better today, but more prayer will definitely help! In addition to leading discipleship groups in the morning, he will be drumming every morning and night for all the music sets. He will also be in the worship band both this Sunday and next.

- Pray for our leader Eric. He will be preaching tomorrow at Elim Church in Pisek. Pray for effectivenes in teaching and that the translator would translate well!

- Pray for our leader Joel. He has been teaching at the church every night this week and will be leading the morning chapel and evening programs each night at camp. He is an amazing scholar and posesses an incredible amount of Biblical knowledge - pray that he doesn't get burnt out and that his gifts are well-used!

- Pray for me. Sometimes I struggle with cynicsm and doubt. Please pray that God will encourage me so that I can encourage others.

Thank you for your prayers and suport!!! We would not be here without all of our supporters! :)

Two Weeks until Czech

In less than 2 weeks, Shena and I will be heading out of the country again. I cannot wait to reunite with the people of Elim church in Pisek. I'm also hoping to see some familiar faces at camp as well. I know that there will be a lot of new faces too, as we've been told that the camp is completely booked and there are people on a waiting list.  I had a premonition that the Czech camp would be full, because God has raised up a lot of people to be a part of the team.  We have over 20 people, which is the largest team I have ever been a part of!

Shena and I are still receiving support letters in the mail.  We are about 90% funded! Woo Hoo!

We are incredibly thankful for everyone's support and prayers. Please continue to pray for the following:

- To have all of our bases covered at work.
- To continue our spiritual preparation (staying in the Word, focusing on the Mission, praying)
- For team unity
- For the hearts of the Czech campers that will encounter God in a magnificent way

Thank you all for your support. God bless.

- Dave Fowler

Yep. We're Going Back Again!

The rumors are true!!!

I don't know if there were rumors. But if you asked us a couple months ago if we were going back to Czech this summer our answer was somewhere between "Yes, totally!!" and "Uhmmm we're not sure..."

To be honest, every year is a step of faith for us. We never know how God is going to provide. And we never know if God will call us to go again.

But this year we definitely felt the tug to go. Complete peace - this is where we are supposed to go this summer!

We are so excited. :)

Just had our first team meeting last Saturday... Can't believe the trip is in just a couple months...

A couple things you can pray for:

• Spiritual preparedness. We are going to focus on the book of John in preparation for our camp. Pray that God would speak truth to our hearts. Also - pray that we would be diligent in our times of personal devotion. (This is something Shena really struggles with!)
• Financial support. We can't go on this trip alone. We need financial supporters to partner with us!
• Our team to bond together - we have a large team of over 20 people. Pray that we would forge stronge friendships!

Thanks for your support! We will update this blog as often as we can to keep everyone in the loop. :)

Highlights From Czech 2012

An update from Czech Republic! I anticipate this will be a 2 part update... This is the first part that I typed up yesterday afternoon... There's so much more to tell, but not too much time to update date it all right now. So I will have to do a "Part 2" tonight or tomorrow!

Ahoy! We can hardly believe that our week of teaching English is already over. The time flew by so quickly!

Here are a couple highlights from our week:

• Dave’s got his suitcase! It arrived Sunday evening, which was right when his extra carry-on clothing supply ran out! Perfect timing. Thank you for praying!!!

• The camp nearly flooded during the beginning of the week. The little stream that ran by the camp covered the soccer field and came up almost all the way to the parking lot. Crazy. (The camp actually flooded TWICE. I'll write more about the second time in my next post. The second time was way worse! But we were all fine.)

Flooding from early in the week

• Despite a week of exhaustion, our whole team has had excellent health (so far). Praise God! Please pray for our strength and health during these last few days.

• There is an ostrich farm right next to the camp. Yes, an ostrich farm. The male ostrich would do a crazy “intimidation dance” whenever he felt threatened. He was huge.

Fine Fella

• There are incredibly beautiful woods and rolling hills all around the camp. Breathtaking views that reminded us of God’s glory and creativity.

Beautiful woods near the camp

• We had amazing students. Really! We both had so much fun with our classes. We talked about life goals, relationships, idioms, culture clashes, slang, folk tales, past tense, future tense, crazy synonyms and homonyms, court room drama, forgiveness, and so much more. And we ate lots of Jelly Bellys.

Shena and her class



Dave teaching

• The evening programs were stellar. Dave got to play drums every evening with some really talented Czechs.  There were some remarkable testimonies given. Rebecca and Leonard Ahlstrom shared Meagan’s story on Thursday night. Please pray that this story of tragedy and God’s provision will continue to impact the Czech students in the weeks and months to come. Pray that they evaluate their own lives in light of Meagan’s.

Joel teaching theology on a Czech mountainside...

Sad to leave camp... :(

We really felt God’s presence at the camp. Hearts and lives were changed and are continuing to change. Please pray with us today, tomorrow, and onward! Both of us really felt an intense need to pray for spiritual victory at this camp. We know that seeds of spiritual awakening have been planted and watered. We are pleading with God and praying that these seeds take root. We desire for all of our Czech friends to know how deeply God loves them! During the final evening of camp (Friday night), the students were given the opportunity to spend time in meditation and to reflect on their week at camp. This was such a cool night. I will have to post more about it later!

Rain as we packed up the bus to leave camp...

Sleepless Flights, Missing Luggage, and Giant Pig's Necks, Oh My!

Ahoy from Pisek, Czech Republic!

After a flurry of last-minute preparations and packing we and our team have all arrived safe and sound. Thank you so much for praying for our travel safety. It's so appreciated! There was some turbulence on our first flight - some that actually made me fly up out of my seat! Thank you, seat belt. Dave slept a little on both flights. I did not. We watched We Bought a Zoo on the long flight from Chicago to London. Such a cute movie! :)

The only real downside to our flying experience is that the suitcase with all of Dave's clothes did not make it to Czech. Last we knew it was still in London. Please pray that it makes its way to us! Fortunately it has a tag with Dave's parent's address on it and a "Go Team" tag on it. It would just be so nice if he gets his clothes before the week is over!! (Side note - one of the reasons I love my husband: Instead of complaining or freaking out he simply says "I'm glad it happened to me and not anybody else."!)

We are staying the night at Hotel Bila Ruze in downtown Pisek - the most charming little riverside town in Europe! Pisek means "sand" in Czech and there are sand sculptures down by the water - giant animals and human figures. So very cool looking!

We met with the Czech team from Elim church, prayed together, sang worship songs, and went out to eat. One of our team leaders, Joel, and one of our team members, Leo, each got GIANT pork necks. Or maybe they were knees. I'm not sure. We're talking huge pieces of medieval looking meat falling off a big bone. I'm telling you - these hunks of meat were bigger than my face. I satisfied myself with Balkan salad (Balkan cheese - kind of like salty feta - with tomatos, cucumbers, and red and green peppers) and Pike fish. Dave tried to get a beef shank goulash, but they were out of goulash. So he pointed to something else and got some sort of dumpling, horseradish, pork thing. He said it was amazing. :)

Tomorrow morning we go to Elim church (Dave is drumming), have a quick lunch, and then drive 50 minutes into the countryside to begin our 6 days of camp! I hear that there are wild ostriches and cows at this camp. I kid you not. I will do my utmost to get photos!

Please pray for the following:

• Dave's suitcase to catch up with us.
• Physical well-being and health.
• Effectiveness at teaching English.
• Spiritual preparedness - we want this camp experience to be one of amazing love for all involved. We want to be vessels to share God's love with people who may not be used to experiencing it. Many of us are sharing our personal testimonies, both in small group and large group settings. Pray for our stories to help others.
• Lives to be changed. Please pray for spiritual transformation.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support! Oh, and if you're curious we raised a total of $4,190! Hiphip Horrray!!!! :) (In case you're doing the math that means we're $110 away from our original goal. If you're still interested in giving a tax-deductible donation, there's still time! Just shoot me an email if you don't know how to submit your donation.)

It's currently around 11:15pm Czech time as I type this... Which means it's around 4:15pm US time. And I haven't slept since Thursday night / Friday morning! Oh boy, my pillow is looking SWEET!

We probably won't have internet at the camp. We'll check in again once we are back at the hotel next Saturday.

Love,
Shena & Dave

Czechs & Americans worshiping...

We are happy to be here!!!

We are so.dang.tired.