Hello friends, I hope you are doing well and enjoying the cooler autumn temperatures. I have been back stateside for almost a month now and am almost finished with my quest to enjoy all the foods I do without most of the year. But on the flip side of that I get to experience some new and different foods in my travels, which I will highlight in a different blog post. But for now I would like to share with you some of the highlights from the English Connection’s summer projects.

Going into the summer we were coming off of two spring camps and trips to Ukraine and Belarus. While we were serving in Ukraine we made some videos highlighting the ministries we support. One of these ministries is called Nehemiah House. We are excited to work alongside this ministry and we have a short introduction video giving an overview of some of the ministry projects they do in Ukraine. You can see it here:

We hope to continue to grow our support for this ministry in the future and are looking for people to partner with us financially and also to travel with us to Ukraine to serve with them. If you are interested in serving with us in Ukraine please let us know.

In addition to Ukraine one other country where we began to serve in Europe is Belarus. In the summer of 2017 we are planning to launch the first ever, that we know of, English Camp in Belarus. It is an exciting time of loosened persecution for the church in Belarus and we are excited to be on the forefront of ministry in the last European country remaining under a dictatorship.

In July and August we were a part of five different camps in Czech Republic. The first was with the Majak (Lighthouse) Church in Vsetin, Czech Republic. This year at the English/sports camp five students made a profession of faith. This is an unusually high number for a camp in Czech Republic. A lot of people have sewn into this church and their youth group and we were blessed to see some of the harvest. One student who made a decision was from Prague and has been on his journey to faith for over a year. He comes to the student Bible Study we do each week in Prague and has still been active in this group and growing in his faith since the summer.

A couple weeks later we helped Majak again with a family camp. This was a camp where families somehow connected to the church would come and spend some time together in the mountains with English teaching and fun and games and some real BBQ sauce provided by a team who joined us from Memphis. It was such a good time of refreshment for us as well and we engaged in many deep spiritual discussions with adults who are convinced atheists or agnostics. Some barriers are beginning to come down but it is not an overnight work for people rooted in Communistic views of religion to come to faith quickly. Pray that these walls keep crumbling down and their hearts will soften as they encounter the Holy Spirit’s work.

In late July we joined in with Athletes in Action to serve at their Multisport Camp. It was our fifth time being involved at this camp and for the first time we saw a good harvest as well. Three of the participants made a decision at the camp. This year the camp was more evangelistic in tone and the results were definitely noticed. In 2017, we are going to be increasing our role with this camp. If you are a former athlete or know someone who is then we would love to have you join us for this camp next July.

Our final two camps of the summer were with sister churches in the Silesia region of Czech Republic near the border with Poland. They are called Fulhaus. We have been working with one of these churches, located in the city of Bohumin, since they began their summer camp ministry and this year was the best yet. They had around twenty students participate in the camp and many of these students are still involved in church activities each week. We already have a commitment from a church in South Carolina to send a team to work this camp next year. God is doing great things here!

Our last camp was another camp we have been involved with five times. It is with a church in the city of Cesky Tesin. This year unfortunately was quite a down year for numbers at this camp due to a few different factors. However, even though numbers were down we saw great fruit come from this camp. The church here is starting a music ministry for students called Fusion. Fusion is a part of a large ministry in former Communist Europe called Josiah Venture, our camp with Majak is sponsored by them as well. Since this year’s Fulhaus the church in Cesky Tesin has seen a large number of students involved in weekly meetings and going forward this will be a great connection point for youth in this city to the church.

After the camps ended we went to a worship festival called United. This is a great place where all the churches in Czech Republic come together and have concerts, workshops, and seminars. It is amazing to see the different denominations let go of their small differences and come together united as the body of Christ. When you make up less than 1% of the population in a country it is much easier to focus on the things you have in common versus your minor differences that all too often cause more divide than good. It is something we continue to want to support in Czech Republic and hope to see the body of Christ more united everywhere the Gospel is preached. It’s why we strive to make connections with fellow believers all over the world.

In November we will begin our year-end fundraising campaign. Be on the lookout for more emails and physical mailings arriving in your mailbox. God keeps blessing us with opportunities to serve Him more. But with increased work comes increased expenses. Please begin to pray about how you can help be a part of what we are doing here at the English Connection. In addition to financial support we are always looking for people to join us on trips and we would love to have you with us next year.

Thank you for your faithful support. 2016 was a great year for us and we couldn’t do it without support from you. We look forward to sharing many victories with you in the future. To God be the glory!