Another Quick Note

I was catching up with a dear sister yesterday and she was talking about how God graciously provided her some extra time to rest. She’s been ill, and God sovereignly arranged it yesterday that her son would play by himself for four whole hours, allowing her ample time to finish up some things as well as rest – a truly supernatural answer to prayer!

As I rejoiced with her, I mentioned that I’ve been noticing answers to prayer more, lately. It seems like every little prayer request is being answered swiftly and mightily.

I prayed for the opportunity to read a Christian book with a particular sister. Not only was the sister willing to read with me, but she’d received the very book I had in mind as a gift the previous week. I prayed that I wouldn’t run out of gas before I was able to get to the gas station. Just as I was coming up the driveway, my car began to splutter, leaving me just enough momentum to pull up to the pump. I prayed that my friend would be able to get enough rest this week. And you can see how mightily God answered this prayer!!

Even as I rejoiced with my friend and recounted God’s faithfulness in these instances, my heart grew a little heavy. Last Tuesday, another dear friend posted on her Facebook about a friend of hers who was recently diagnosed with Stage IV non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She and her husband have been posting to their blog every day since she was diagnosed in July.

As I read through their entire blog (about forty entries), my heart was burdened for them. What a terrible trial; I just couldn’t imagine going through such an ordeal. The couple was very candid in their blog, not only about how they were shepherding their hearts, but also about the physical pain, the discouragement, and even their anger at God for bringing such a difficult trial into their lives.

I kept remembering a line from their latest post. She had contacted a lymphoma society and they wanted to match her up with someone who had been through a similar ordeal, but were having trouble because most of the people who had had a similar experience passed away within a few years. Her husband wrote: “We cried tonight. They were not happy tears.”

So as I stood there, thanking God for so mightily answering prayers, I was also sad because I was certain He couldn’t possibly answer this one. No, her cancer was too far gone. It would be foolish to think that He would snatch this woman back from the brink of death just like that.

Oh, I have been so humbled. Oh, I have been so wonderfully, tenderly, amazingly humbled.

I read an update today, written less than twenty-four hours after that sad post that caught my heart, and it looks like the cancer is just about destroyed. Her prognosis is excellent, and she and her husband can’t believe the amazing, supernatural way in which God speedily answered their prayers.

My heart is full of joy and my eyes are full of tears when I think about how much grace God has shown their family. It is so amazing to see how God so obviously worked in this woman’s life and body for His glory’s sake.

And I’m humbled that God allowed me to bear witness to His power at work in this situation – and that He used it to show me how much greater is strength is than my faith.

Our God is amazing. There is truly nothing He can’t do.

***I highly recommend reading about Team Tuma's journey through cancer. Start here, at the bottom of the page, and work your way back.

A Quick Note

Ahoj from Nečtiny!

We arrived at English Camp yesterday, and it is a packed house! We have about 110 campers – it’s the biggest camp ever!

The campers are all sweet people who are eager to learn. One of the things I love about the Czech people is that they are so game – we started our orientation with a very silly song (“Aroostasha,” for those of you who know it), at the end of which we were all standing with our thumbs up, heads back, and tongues sticking out! Instead of being embarrassed or reticent, they threw their heads back and crowed, “AROOSTASHA!” at the tops of their big, Czech lungs!!

The group sessions have been so great – Jesse is doing a great job of leading everyone in song, and Emily & Janice gave a culture talk about American desserts (boba, cupcakes, frozen yogurt) that had us all drooling. Then, Eugene hit us with his life story, complete with pictures of Frostbites – the campers were audibly oohing and aahing as I furtively wiped the drool from my chin.

Camp is a lot of fun, but it can also be a challenge. The language barrier is definitely an issue – they came to learn English, and it can be difficult at times to understand what they need help with. But God gives much grace, and we’re communicating with them – by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We spent some good time in devotionals this morning, studying Titus. It was such a joy to reflect on the intimacy of fellowship we have in Christ. It’s because of the bond we have in Christ that we are able to work together so well and showcase the love of Christ to the nonbelievers here!

The Czech believers have also been a great encouragement – they are so eager to serve and to fellowship with us! I am so excited that our dear friends Eva Fejerová and Daniel Adamovsky will be visiting us in the United States after camp!

Gotta go – morning session starts in five minutes! But thank you SO much for your prayers – none of this would be possible without your fervent prayers on our behalf. We think of you often (every time we are having trouble articulating our lessons to our students) and are SO thankful for your invaluable ministry to us.

Ahoj for now!

We're Here!

Ahoj!

We've arrived safely in the Czech Republic -- thanks so much for your faithful prayers!

Many of your prayers have already been answered by the Lord -- all of our luggage arrived with us (praise the Lord!) and we quickly got settled into our digs. We're staying at a penzion (sort of like a bed & breakfast -- but without the breakfast ) in Lidice, within easy walking distance of the Smiths' residence.

The common area at our penzion.

God gave particular travel grace to the youngest member of our team -- Baby Robert! He endured the journey like a champ, along with some help from his loving parents, of course!

Happy to be in Czech!

It was so wonderful to see all of our dear friends at the airport -- the Smiths, the Dennys, and our dear Czech friends Eva Fejerová, Daniel Adamovsky, and Markéta Hrabětová. Funny story -- I hadn't seen Daniel Adamovsky since last summer, which was before he professed Christ. When he saw me, he said, "Hello! Now you are my sister in Christ!" And he was so excited about greeting me for the first time in Christ that he gave me a big hug -- he actually picked me up off the floor and swung me around!

Our dear friends came to the airport to pick us up!

And that brings us to today: our first full day here in Czech. And what a true blessing it has been so far!

We started the day with a delicious breakfast at the Smiths' home in Lidice. It was so wonderful to see the dear Smiths (and their cousin, James Hawkins) and fellowship with them!

Peter and Baby Robert got on capitally!

We then went to the church office in Kladno to kick off a day of preparations for the quickly-approaching English Camp. Peter gave a super-encouraging overview of the book of Titus -- all of our daily devotionals will be taken from Titus. He reminded us that it's biblical for Christians to be zealous for good deeds because they are a manifestation of God's marvelous grace!

We got to meet our other teammates from Christ our Hope Bible Church in Spokane, WA. There were many familiar faces, all of which send their love to you (Ken & Becky Johnson, Roland & Gloria Kincher, Kevin Kimball, Carianne Smith). God has been so gracious to knit our hearts together in the love of Christ -- what a wonderful testimony of the uniting power of God's great gospel!

Roland & Gloria Kincher make friends with Baby Robert.

We discussed our schedule for the next few weeks and went over some logistical things, and we're currently getting ready to head to Tesco to pick up a few things before dinner.

"And He said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.'" -- Matthew 4:19

One of the highlights of the day has definitely been seeing the Denny family again. They are doing well, and were so thankful to receive all of your greetings and well-wishes through us. It has been such a joy to fellowship with them and give them hugs.

Tomorrow should be another day full of working hard with much joy! Please continue to pray that we would rely on the strength of the Lord for all things.

Thank you so much again for your faithfulness in prayer! You are an integral part of our work here -- what you do is just as important (if not more so!) than what we are doing here.

More updates soon!

The Gospel Changes: My Heart for Missions

The 2009 Czech Team: Joe Jhung, Eugene Kim, Peter Ahn, David Eng, Jesse Quesada, Elaine Jhung, Hazel Park, Emily Hwang, Janice Han, and Jeena Lim.

God has drastically changed my view of Czech missions since last year.

Last year, I went and had a wonderful time. God was so good to us, and His grace was evident at every turn. I had feared that I would be exhausted by the end of the trip. But God was so good to answer my prayers, and I was able to finish strong. I was so grateful to God for His grace to me in this way!

As time passed, however, I forgot to be joyful over God’s provision and began instead to rejoice in how well I handled the rigors of a notoriously tiring trip. It was with this heart of pride that I first volunteered to return to the Czech Republic this summer.

Sure, I also wanted to serve the Czech believers. I wanted to help the Smiths and Dennys; I longed to see the dear people I had met last year; I wanted to serve, serve, serve! But, in my heart of hearts, I congratulated myself for sacrificing and saving to return to Czech. I thought I was being so godly.

But God recently began an amazing work in my heart.

He began by moving Pastor James to preach gospel freedom and reliance on grace for sanctification from the pulpit at Cornerstone. He continued by showing me how completely bankrupt I was before the Lord; how I was not only saved by grace, but that grace works in me to sanctify me and serve through me! Freed from legalism by these gospel truths, my heart longed to be humbled before the cross and to rely on the cross alone. God has shown me how helpless I am, and now I can see God’s strength sanctifying me.

He finished this work by teaching me hands-on how grace fleshes out in the circumstances of life. From family difficulties to losing my job, God completely humbled me. He showed me that I had absolutely nothing to offer Him – or anyone else, for that matter. And then He began to provide – not the things I wanted, but exactly the things I needed to grow in humility and in faith.

I am so thankful that He is still allowing me to go to Czech. He could easily have taken that away from me, but He chose to show me grace. And I am confident that the Lord will use this trip for my sanctification – after all, He’s spent the last four months showing me where to look to watch His grace at work!

And He has already provided for my trip. We just haven’t seen exactly how, yet. I’m sorry that this opportunity is coming so late, but if God has moved your heart to contribute to this trip, I would love to have your financial support (I trust I already have your prayers).

But I cannot emphasize this enough: PLEASE PRAY FOR US. God has shown me that, because everything is by His grace, prayer is of utmost importance. So please, before anything else, participate in this trip with me by praying for us. I trust that God will use your prayers for His glory!

Thank you for your continued prayers and any financial support. God bless you with His infinite grace!

(If you would like to support me with your prayers and/or cash moneys, please shoot me an e-mail.)