Sheppersons in Slovakia

It’s that time again. . . JV Kids’ Camp! One of the most anticipated events of the year: 26 American Kids, 15 staff, American food, games and the Sea. New for us this year is that Gwyneth is now old enough to attend. We are nervous to say the least. However, we have given our fears to the Lord and ask for His Peace and wisdom in our decision for them to attend. We believe He has given us that Peace and so Wednesday August 20th they will leave Slovakia in a van with their fellow TCKs (Third Culture Kids) and head to the sea in Zadar, Croatia. They are so excited about this. Please mark your calendar and help us pray for their time there:

• safety and protection- especially as they travel (it’s 14 hours away) and are in the water
• Gwyneth- at 8 she seems so young to be leaving home to go so far away and so long, please pray for peace for her during her first time away from home (and continued peace for me:)
• teaching and instruction- this year’s teaching will be about the Holy Spirit. We are praying for the Lord to really speak to them and teach them new things about Himself to deepen their relationship with Him.

• staff- that God will speak through them in every situation (big or small) giving them wisdom and discernment to be great leaders, teachers, models, friends and care-takers for this week.

How can we stay connected? Which campers will continue to seek after God? How do we follow-up those from out of town? What teaching do they need first? Who will take personal responsibility for parenting each new believer? These questions occupy the mind of our camp teams now that summer camps are over. This is when it’s easy to lose the ground that we have gained. Satan says, “great camp, now move on to another project”.

After the camp in our local town, we have about 14 students within our reach who need follow up. And across the country there are hundreds like them who had encounters with God at our summer camps. Kim and I have taken the responsibility for the official care for all these students from our local camp. So we have started a small group on Thursday night as the core of a regular connection time.

We already had a couple of times together since camp and we are praying that God will mold us together as a growing community of believers that will effect many others in our city in the months to come.

Please pray, when you think about us in this way:

* That Satan would not distract these new seekers of God with the cares of this world.

* That the camp follow up team would be loving and responsible spiritual parents.

* That the Word of God would do it’s powerful work of transformation in their lives.

It was the highlight of my summer camp tour! Three former summer camp students standing in front of a room of new campers, giving their testimonies of how God had changed their lives.

I compare the work in people’s lives here in Slovakia to the way Slovak houses are often built – slow but sturdy. Sometimes it takes ten years to build a Slovak house. And that is what came through in these testimonies. God is doing the “building” in His own way and in his own time in the lives of these students. Many times it’s not in connection with any program, camp or certain person. But they are always energized fully by His Spirit.

Here are a couple of intriguing quotes from their words.

“I tried my mom’s form of religion (Catholicism) and there was nothing there for me. So, then I

tried my Dad’s religion (atheism) and it was empty for me”. Then I came to camp and met real Christians”.

“I went to church and I knew about God. I remember going to church one Sunday and hearing about Jesus. I came home and remember thinking that I had heard about God but I was sure I was not familiar with Jesus. Soon after that, I met a schoolmate who was a Christian and I knew he had something that I didn’t.”

Now these former campers are the leaders of the present camp – meeting, planning, praying,
calling, building relationships. A new generation is rising up!

Thank you for your prayers and support for the work here in Slovakia. God is building his building year after year – slow and solid!

It was a sad report from one camp. Kids were withdrawing their camp registrations because of a rumor that the summer camp was organized by a cult. How was this God’s plan? What would this mean for the camp?

Finally, the local youth pastor who was organizing the camp locally, stopped returning camp registrations. The camp sight was already reserved, the plans made and deposits paid.

Now skipping to the happy ending –

by the close of the camp, the student’s who were forced to attend the camp, were texting to all their friends who withdrew their registrations. The messages were ecstatic. “This is the best camp of my life!” “I’m sorry you missed it”. And the others wrote back – “Can you please try to make a reservation for me now for next year’s camp?”

The story was clear. The bad rumor had dwindled the camp to 12 students. Had Satan had a victory or had God had a perfect plan in a smaller camp. It’s hard to say for sure. But the reality is that 12 students came face to face with the truth about God’s plan for salvation in Jesus Christ. They were visibly moved by the presence of Christ in the actions, words and ways of the camp teams (Americans and Slovaks).

In the end, they all returned to their villages to be followed up by the local church youth group that sponsored the camp. Only eternity will tell the reason for the rumor and the small camp in the mountains of Slovakia.

Zac and the Kompas staff will be traveling to America in the fall to attend both the National Youth Leaders’ Conference and our mission’s (Josiah Venture) capital campaign in Atlanta. We are praying for the possibility that the whole family can join him on this trip. We believe it would be a great opportunity for the kids to connect with family (Kim and the kids would visit family while Zac is attending his conferences) and be apart of the capital campaign in Atlanta as a family. The itinerary isn’t final at this point, but the trip could be up to 4 weeks for Zac. This is a long time to be without him.

We have tentatively postponed our summer family vacation, to put that money towards the expense of going to America. This doesn’t begin to put a dent in actual price for all of us to fly to America (tickets currently are around $1100 each), and so we are asking God to provide the rest. We believe it would be a great “unscheduled” visit for everyone, especially the kids, who are always asking for a trip to see grandparents and cousins! We are praying this trip will work out!

Starting this school year, Emili (and I) will be homeschooling! We made this decision after God made this plan very clear to us. It came as a big surprise and shock to us all (and not without resistance either). But you know that feeling you get when you know God is showing you something, and although that something may seem really scaring or threatening (or overwhelming), or something you would never consider doing on your own, but because you know it’s God’s plan, you have complete peace about it (please excuse the terrible run-on sentence)??? That is where we are now. God continues to give us little confirmations about this decision so that now we are at the place of excitement. We are excited to see what God has in store for Emili this next school year.

Please please can you pray for this situation:

• for getting the right curriculum- it’s already so late. I still need to choose curriculum. There are so many choices out there.
• getting paper work done to make it official- I don’t even know where to start
• activities for Emili outside of home that will keep her engaged with friends and Slovak language
• understanding for Gwyneth (who wants to be home schooled too)
• expenses- the one thing I have learned already is that it’s not the cheaper route (home schooling). It is expensive. One curriculum that was recommended to me is $850! Plus I have to get it to Slovakia, fast!

So we have officially moved and we have a new address:

Murgasova 8
010 01 Zilina

SLOVAKIA

It is quite close to our old house, only here we are closer to the city. It has been nice to take daily walks to the city for ice cream :) Unpacking is going slowly with our busy summer schedule. I would say we are at about 80% unpacked. I suppose that is a good figure (way more than half) however, it’s always that last 20% that gets you down (or is getting me down)! Many of the remaining things are awaiting something more than I can give ( some repair, or some addition, or some electricity!) I try to keep focused and do what I can, but some days are just better to get out and away and enjoy the nice days outside.

Speaking of weather we keep wondering when summer will arrive here! Today for example is beautiful and sunny, however the high temperature for today is only suppose to be 75! How great is that? We mostly are enjoying this, except the times when we wish it was hot enough for swimming! Last week we had to get out sweaters for everyone! How’s that for the end of July? What a drastic change from the Houston summer last year!

Please pray for me! That God would give me endurance and perseverance to finish up the packing and get everyone settled before the new school year.