Holding onto Hope

Our God is an incredibly mysterious God...so much more so than we could ever understand. He works in invisible, untouchable, intangible ways...and sometimes that can be hard.

Our team came here with enthusiastic hearts and ready minds. Those two elements very much remain a part of our team. But we have also had to struggle with discouragement and weariness. As a once communist country, the Czech Republic is, in many ways, very closed off to God. We have met some amazing believers Czech believers here and our host missionary is a woman whose very countenance communicates God's love and grace. But some of us have struggled to understand how our daily tasks of teaching English and gym, and leading game nights are bringing God's Kingdom closer to the Czech and Roma (Gypsy) people. In the classes we teach, we are not allowed to speak of God. All we can do is build relationships and advertise Christian events, hoping that the students' desire to see us again will draw them to a place where they might hear the Gospel.

But today a group of us went bowling with Joanie and some of the Roma teens. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed our time in a unique, Czech bowling alley that was combination casino, pub, and video game parlor. Most importantly, however, was a story Joanie shared of a young Czech man who came to Christ unexpectedly after a series of interactions with American Christians. Some led basketball groups. Others led English camps. Some came across as too pushy. Others were more relational. But however insignificant any of the events might have seemed to human eyes, they made an eternal impact. A week after stating that he really did not feel the need for God, the young man quietly prayed on his own to receive Christ. Undetected by any human eye, God had done an eternal, miraculous, and wonderful thing. And He used in part English camp.

One of our translators shared a similar story. His faith journey, too, began with an English camp, though it was some time before the seeds planted there blossomed in his life.

Knowing that lives can be, and are being, changed by the kinds of things our team is doing gives us the strength and encouragement we need to keep going. We can refocus, knowing our efforts toward the Kingdom are not fruitless, but are part of a sowing that will have eternal results.The young man mentioned before is becoming an increasing source of light, strength, and growth in his own small community. He is serving as a beacon of Christ. If we can make one difference here (and I have faith we will) however small, it will be more than worth every moment here.

Lauren M. Peltier for the Czech Republic Team