September-October 2003 Newsletter

Dear friends,
Autumn greetings from the Czech Republic!  Here am I,
again in a country that can seem cold in more ways
than just the physical sense, and can often leave me
feeling lonely, yet I rejoice for I know my obedience
has led me here and His hand maintains me faithfully!
I want to remind you that I am with a Christian
organization called ESI (Educational Services
International) and they know their stuff!  I continue
to marvel at how well they equipped me, as I interact
with people from other groups or who have come here
independently, and the most valuable aspect for me is
the community of other teachers here with ESI.  These
other teachers are those that most encourage me and
sharpen me in my walk with Jesus.  I am so thankful
for ESI!
Each year I am responsible for raising $2000 of
support.  Because I,m on the leadership team this
year, half of what I raise is used to help equip me as
a leader with training, seminars, and other resources.
As a leader I pray weekly or daily for five other
teachers, I call them at least monthly to see how they
are doing, spend time with them, encourage them, be a
support, meet with their school once or twice a year,
try and resolve conflicts with their school, prepare a
monthly report regarding each teacher and their
school, and meet monthly with the five other leaders.
A portion of my support goes toward paying for our
team retreats (I,m the retreat organizer this
year-which has also been quite a demand on my time and
energy).  We have four retreats a year and presently I
am in the middle of organizing our big Thanksgiving
retreat, it has been quite stressful but I am really
so thankful to have my fellow brothers and sisters in
Christ here to celebrate with me.
The remaining amount of support helps pay for
communication with our home office and other needs.
At the end of this summer I owed ESI $2400 for this
year,s $2000, plus $400 which was left unpaid from
last year.  I would greatly appreciate your financial
support and would love to send you a Prague thank you!
Of course most of all I need and want your prayer
support, too!  I realize that if you are giving
financially you are a little more invested to remember
to pray for me, so although I do need your financial
support I most need your prayers.
To support me financially you can send checks to
either of two places, either to my church in Santa
Barbara, or directly to ESI.  If sending checks to my
church attach a sticky note with my name (and make
payable to: Living Faith Center) mail to:
Living Faith Center
4597 Hollister Ave.
Santa Barbara, CA
93110
Or if sending checks to ESI write my account number
(201040) in the memo and make payable to: ESI, and
mail to:
Educational Services International
444 East Huntington Drive
Suite 200
Arcadia, CA
91006
And to support me prayerfully, you can pray:
� Since I have many more responsibilities this year I
have really struggled with time management,
organization, and getting enough rest.  Please pray
for me that I will be diligent with my
responsibilities but also take time for physical and
spiritual rest and renewal.
� Most of my students have been open and comfortable
with me, even those that I didn,t teach last year and
class is a fun time of conversation and learning, but
some students seem to drag their feet to class or
think that they are in the cafeteria and sit and eat
and joke with their neighbor.  This is distracting for
me and other students.  Specifically pray that I can
help Pavel Fendrych (15 years old), Jan Rychetsky(15),
and Janis Korecek(19) in their English learning.
� This is my third year and in so many ways it is
good, but it has been harder than ever to be away from
my family.  Please pray for me as I continue to
struggle with homesickness and I mourn missing out on
time with my family.  I know I am being obedient, but
it doesn,t make it painless or easy.  That,s for sure.
� As a leader this year I am responsible for five
other teachers, above all responsible for praying for
them and touching-base with them, seeing how they are,
and also having periodic meetings with their schools.
Please pray for first year teacher Jessica Weaver
(she,s quite close to her family, and she is in a
small town on the German border with a high rate of
prostitution), and second year teachers Annice Joslin
(stayed here over the summer but saw her family for a
week in October), Tracie Fouret (very close to her
large family, suffered a death in the family this
summer that she is still dealing with), Hope DeLemos
(has been uncertain about her future), and Nicole
Adams (just turned 30 and not very happy about it).
PRAISES:
� Lately I have been really encouraged by others and
also the stress and hurry I have been feeling for the
last two months has been alleviated at least
partially.
� Sarah (my teammate- we pray together and support
each other, and roommate) and I are having a party
this evening- "FALL FEST 2003" and we have invited
some students that graduated last year, other ESI
teachers and friends from church.  We are excited to
see our students again and to have these various
groups of people mix together.  I look forward to a
fun time of food and games and conversation.
Another prayer request:
� You can also pray for this time and the
conversations that will take place.  Especially for my
three former students that are coming, Jan Schneider,
Katka Engelova, and Joe "Pepa" Vacovsky.
Thank you and God bless you!

P.S. For your information, I do plan on sending these
letters more frequently and in shorter length and with
more specific information about what,s been going.
P.P.S Let me know what,s going on with you and how I
can pray for you!