July 2006 Newsletter
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 We’re Back!
As many of you know our email address(sabrown@pobox.com) has not been running. We didn’t realize this for about a month because none of the emails that we were sending out were bouncing back to us. We did begin to wonder why no one was replying to our emails! The problem has been resolved and our pobox account works once again.
AGM
We just returned, Saturday evening, from 2 weeks in Mikolajki, Poland for our annual meeting with all International Mission Board M’s of Central and Eastern Europe. It was a fantastic time of worship, training, rejuvenation, fellowship, teaching from God’s Word, rest and relaxation.
We decided to drive to AGM this year. On the map we estimated no more than an 8 hour drive—that’s nothing! It took us 8 hours to get to and through Poland’s capitol city, Warsaw! 13 ½ hours we finally made it to the hotel.
Chloe, Vance and Sophie
Every year an awesome doctor from the States comes to our AGM to serve all of us medically. This year we had the doctor exam Chloe’s ankles. It wasn’t Chloe’s ankles the doctor was concerned about. The doctor determined that Chloe has scoliosis and genu valgum (knee-knocking). The doctor then wanted to see Vance and Sophie also. Vance has genu valgum (out-toeing, in this case his feet turn out), and Sophie has a mild case of genu valgum (knee-knocking).
IMB medical department will refer us to the best Orthopedic doctor that specializes in the
spine.
Thank You!
Thank you for giving through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to reach a lost world! We are excited to report that Southern Baptists gave a record amount – $137,939,677.59 – through the 2005 offering. Your faithful giving enables us and more than 5,100 colleagues to continue our work and to support new colleagues coming to join our efforts. Lives have been changed because of your giving. We are grateful for your faithfulness! Please continue to partner with us to complete the unfinished task.
Olomouc Bible Group
We started a Bible discussion group about 5 months ago in our city, Olomouc. We saw a lot of interest in the beginning, but with the warmer summer months arriving it has turned rather inconsistent. We thank God for Ivos and Elen who are faithful to come each Sunday as they partner with us in reaching Olomouc for Christ.
Chris Bowles/Packed month of July
We are excited that Chris Bowles will be serving with us the month of July. Chris is a much needed addition to our team as we have two groups of students coming to serve with us from the States.
Radiate Youth of Burnt Hickory Baptist Church
25 students will be showing the love of Christ in a practical way in Sidliste-Vinohrady with us from July 13-17th. They’ll be washing the windows in a school, picking up dog poop in the city, trash pick-up… They’ll also be singing songs of worship in the center of the second largest city in the Czech Republic.
International World Changers
International World Changers is bringing over 40 students to serve with us and Team Romany from July 23-26. Team Romany is the IMB ministry team reaching out to the gypsy people group in the 5 countries(Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova) of our Central Europe Field.
24 students will be serving specifically with us in Sidliste-Vinohrady through a block party, sports camps and English conversational classes. They will have opportunities for sharing their testimonies, performing skits and showing the love of Christ through the daily witness of their lives.
The final night we will be showing the “Jesus Film” as a means of clearly presenting the gospel in the Czech language to all of those interested.
English in Croatia with Czech Students??
There may be an opportunity for our entire family to head to Croatia for a week in September to teach English to Czech students. We are excited about the potential of this opportunity as this would be with students from a school we are currently working in.
There will also be Serbian and Austrian students attending. We are currently talking with IMB personnel in Serbia about sending one M to join us.
Arrest threatened!
About 30 kilometers from the Czech border on our way back from Poland I was pulled over for speeding. What I thought was a 120kmh zone was actually a 70kmh zone. Out jumped a Polish cop with his little sign telling me to pull over. I was told to gather all my documents and to come to the front of the police car. I did this and the officer showed me how fast I was going, 119. He then told me that he wanted over 400pln (polish currency), which is well over one hundred dollars, in cash. I told him I didn’t have that much and asked him to write me a ticket which I would pay after I was in the Czech Republic. He told me they do not do that and he would arrest me if I didn’t pay him. I told him all I had was 46pln and I couldn’t give him any more. He said that he would then arrest me. Repeatedly he told me that arrest was coming if I didn’t pay him, but I continued to telling him I didn’t have the money. He would threaten me if I didn’t pay and I would tell him I didn’t have the money. All through this I am speaking Czech/English and he is speaking Polish. Czech and Polish are similar, so I understood some of what he was saying. He kept putting his wrists together, so I was sure what arrest meant. Finally after he told me that American police are basically not as kind as he is, he let us go without paying a fine at all.
I wonder where that money would have went should I have been able to pay!
Praise the Lord for an incredible Lottie Moon Christmas Offering! Thank you, Southern Baptists!
We thank and praise the Lord for our refreshing annual meeting.
We praise the Lord for calling Chris Bowles to work with us for the month of July!
We praise the Lord for the churches who partner with us by sending short-term teams to see Moravia brought to Christ.
We praise the Lord for you, who partner with us through your faithful prayers.
We praise the Lord for Chloe, who is showing growth and excitement in her new walk with the Lord!
The Lord’s hand would be on Chloe, Vance, and Sophie. Pray for wisdom for us as we are sure to have decisions to make in the coming months.
We are getting bombarded by illness again(Steve currently with his patented puking and diarrhea). Pray the Lord would strengthen us, restore our health and protect us.
Sidliste-Vinohrady is said to be the most godless area of Brno, Czech Republic. No church or religious building exists in this community. Pray the Lord would draw people to himself through our efforts in July. We are praying for God to birth a church in this community, please join us.
We continue to study the Czech language. Pray that we would continue to learn and acquire this difficult language. Pray that we would become skilled in sharing the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ clearly.
Pray for our group that has been meeting every Sunday in Olomouc. Pray those that have shown an interest would come. Pray the Lord would draw many to himself through our outreach in Olomouc.
Pray for the people of Moravia (Eastern Czech). We long to see this region of the Czech Republic brought to Christ. Pray about how you can be involved in reaching the 3.6 million who live in Moravia.
We thank you and love you all!
Steve, April, Chloe, Vance, and Sophie
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