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.

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.

Thank you for all your prayers about our housing. We are so excited to report to everyone, we have found a house to rent. It is in the city, which we are really excited about. In fact, it is very close to the house we first rented when we orginially moved to Slovakia. Like that one, it is an older house. However this one is completely renovated in the inside. It has a large garden (back yard) a winter garden (sun room) and a terrace on the second floor. It has everything we prayed it would have! Everyone is excited about the move now!
We move in 2 weeks! It is sooner than we wanted, but the new owner couldn’t wait any longer to rent it. We desperately need prayer! This is the busiest time for us. In the next 2 weeks:

• The girls both have end of year tests.
• We have 3 more birthdays to celebrate (Kim, Samuel Green and Gwyneth)
• Summer English Camps begin next weekend!

In addition to the things we have to do, we are all fighting off sicknesses:

• pink eye- IN the last 3 weeks everyone has gotten it, and now it has seemed to start it’s second round
• Hampton Grey has has a series of other sicknesses going on: stomach virus, cough and now his eye again!

Please remember to pray for us during these difficult but exciting days. Even as I sit down to write this post, I am thinking of all the “lists” in my head of things I need to be doing instead.

However, I know that this huge task can not get done on my own strength (no matter how well I organize). My strength has to come from God. I rely on His Spirit to keep me calm and efficient as I work through this stressful time. Thank you in advance for your prayers!
There are lots more photos posted in the gallery, here.

Despite his sicknesses, Hampton Grey turned 1 last Friday! It was so fun to celebrate with him. He is changing so quickly every day. He continues to make us all smile. He is everyone’s favorite, and no wonder, just take a look at him!

Thank you to everyone who responded and prayed for Emili during her class trip. God really blessed her time there. At the end of the week, she was exhausted (and hungry-she didn’t eat so well :) She had a great time learning about nature hands-on. We are so thankful that her teacher is also our dear friend. She took great care of Emili and called us every evening to give a report. God gave us great peace while she was away. Thank you for praying for us all!

Gwyneth has been taking folk dance in school this year. They recently had their first performance at the Mother’s Day assembly at school. It was precious. I was so excited for her. She fit the part perfectly. After they performed, they presented each of their mothers with a flower. I was so honored. It made my Mother’s Day very special. (She’s the one in the middle, with the big bow in her hair)!

We had great week of refreshment and encouragement at our missionary conference in the Czech Republic. This year’s theme, “Fit for Battle”, could not have been more fitting for our diminishing Slovak team! Soon to be the only 2 missionaries left in Slovakia (us and a single girl in the capital city), we needed the lessons learned about preparing for battle. We left there empowered to fight against the devil’s evil plans to defeat us both personally and our team.

Our kids also had an amazing time, cultivating their much needed American friendships! They attended class, like us, during the morning and evening, with free time in between. They worked diligently every session (including free times) on a performance of Godspell. A very special thanks must go to the team from Christian Youth Theatre who came and worked so hard with our kids.

It was a very full week–Fantastically full! It was hard to leave, no matter how exhausted we were. I’ll get photos posted soon in the gallery. Until i do, check out these great links, here.

I want to give a quick update on our housing situation. We continue to search for a new place to live and explore possibilities for both renting and buying (through a loan). Prices here are crazy expensive. We have found that renting costs around the same as the monthly payment on a loan for the same house. So of course it makes sense to buy if it is at all possible.

Research from several banks here showed that foreiners can easily obtain a loan at the maximum of 70%. However, the remaining 30% is still somewhere around 70,000-100,00 USD (the price alone of some houses in the states)! It seems that there are ways to get that percentage raised to 80 or even 100 depending on your status (how long we have lived here, who we know, a guarantee, etc ). We don’t know exactly how far we should press this. For me, it seems so unattainable, so far out of our reach. We want this to be clearly God’s work if this is the direction He is taking us. We need wisdom and discernment.

Zac is working on the loan possibilities while I continue searching for renting options. Next Tuesday our local paper will run an advertisement about our need. We pray this will bring new possibilities.

Thank you for continuing to pray with us for this. We appreciate all the emails and messages, they are so encouraging during this difficult time. I’ll write again as soon as we know more!