Another Chapter in "Sole Stories!"

Greetings friends!

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!"

For the 7th year in a row, its our privilege and joy to come alongside our Eastern European partner Josiah Venture (www.josiahventure.com) to help on some construction projects at their Hotel Malenovice conference center and ministry headquarters in Frydlant nad Ostravici, Czech Republic.

 
This time, our theme verse is from Isaiah 52:7 ... and we're excited to write some new "sole stories" ... because we believe that every place that the soles of our boots step, are places where God is writing stories on the "souls" of peoples' lives! Our goal is to invest our time and talents so that others are encouraged, energized and better equipped to share the Good News of God's love with the young people of Eastern Europe!

God continues to use the ministries of Josiah Venture (JV) to make huge inroads with the Gospel into the lives of young people in Eastern Europe where less than 1% know God in any sort of personal way. We're so thankful that the facilities we get to work on and improve are in constant use to reach young people! We're glad to be able to invest in serving this way!!
 


Please watch for updates and pray for the 4 of us as we travel and serve in Czech Republic!

Dave J (Rhino)              Lil John (Honziku)       Smokey                 Dave S

On the Road Again!!!

Well!! ... as some of you know ... we don't stay put to long! ... so, now we're on to the next "adventure!" ... New Orleans!!

We have 15 very excited University of Wisconsin Eau Claire students ready to embark this afternoon on what we hope is ... "the best week of their lives!!!" 

Our first leg will depart from UW - EC this afternoon and will take us to Community Covenant Church, just outside St. Louis.  Hopefully we'll arrive by midnight!!

Then, tomorrow, we'll "roll on down" alongside the muddy Mississippi to "the Big Easy" ...we're we'll join up with 30-40 other folks who we'll be working alongside all next week!

Joyce and I are, once again, humbled and privileged to facilitate a team of incredible young people on a "Spring Break Trip" to serve in Central City New Orleans.  It's our joy to come alongside our New Orleans Partner, Urban Impact (www.urbanimpact.org) to help on projects that will bring a brighter light into their community!!!  Again, our overarching goal is to invest our time and talents so that others are encouraged, energized and better equipped to share the Good News of God's love with people in their neighborhoods!

Urban Impact has been building an effective ministry in the inner city of New Orleans for over 20 years!  God has used the ministries of Urban Impact and Castle Rock Community Church to help transform their neighborhood into a place where, "kids can ride their bikes, to a church that cares, to schools of excellence, to a home their family owns, and to a safe place to gather!  (click on the above link to see a very cool video!).  We are so glad to be able to facilitate a team like we have to come alongside UIM and Castle Rock and serve in this way!!

Stay tuned for updates and photos of this adventure!!! ... It's gonna be some road trip, for sure!!!

February 2014 Czech Republic Team Update 2

It's hard to believe we've already finished 3 days of work on the lodge/dining hall - "Marlenka" ... which will be the latest addition to Josiah Venture's conference and training center in Eastern Czech Republic.

We're getting a lot done, and hopefully will finish what we set out to do!  Tomorrow is our last work day ... as we're taking a short "field trip" on Friday morning before we travel by train back to Prague in the afternoon.


So, what have we been doing? ... well, take a look!

Scott installing furring strips and tongue and groove paneling

John pre-staining boards

Dave playing Grampa with the Bozon kids!

Our time has been well spent, between 8 - 10 hour days on the job site, and evening meals and conversations with the Bozon family.  It's wonderful to get to know this family even better ... and we've all be blessed by being with them!
  
We've had some additional great conversations with some incredible people!  In John Prechel's words ... "some really some magical moments!"  

Today, some of Dave's friends from Slovakia drove for 1 1/2 hours one way just to have lunch!  These young people have been a part of some of the English Camps we've helped to facilitate in the summer!  It's so rewarding to see these young folks pursuing faith and leading others as well!

Then this evening, our carpenter friend, Tomas, stopped by with his 2 year-old son, Tomas Jr!  What a treat!  He brought us some Czech carpenter pants to take back with us!  We're hoping to spend an entire evening with him and his family tomorrow.

Please continue to pray for us and our work of encouragement here!  We're working with hands and hearts ... and using words and actions to see His Kingdom come and His will be done in this part of the world!

We'll be working tomorrow and traveling on Friday, but maybe Friday evening we can share one more post with thoughts from our last days serving in Czech Republic

February 2014 Czech Republic Team Update1

Well, we just made it out of Minneapolis ahead of "Snowmaggedon 2014" ... and made our way across the ocean to Amsterdam and then on to Prague.  The guys were excited to get on the plane and in the air!

 Upon arrival in Prague, we discovered that our short connection in Amsterdam caused our luggage to be delayed!  Oh, well ... approximately 36 hours and a shopping trip later, our duffel bags and suitcases arrived!!  And yes, the boys went shopping and were equipped with new sets of "work clothes" in order to start the work on Saturday!

Our primary job this week is to work on the interior finish of "Marlenka" ... which will be a dining hall and housing for a number of people who will be attending conferences, etc., at the Josiah Venture Hotel and Conference Center.  We got a good start, John did some pre-staining and Dave and Scott started installing furring strips on the block walls.  It felt good to get some work going on Saturday.

Sunday (today) we spent the first part of the day getting some regional history and culture, as we went on a visit to the city of Štramberk.  We ate cookies which have been baked here for many centuries in memory of the legendary victory of the Stramberk Christians over Mongolian soldiers on the 8th of May in 1241.  They looked like Shrek's ears (read about the legend by clicking HERE).  We then hiked up a hill to their famous ruins ... the Castle Strallenberg.  We went all the way up to the top of the cylindrical tower called Truba for some amazing views of the countryside!

John discovered a statue on the top of the castle hill that he's thinking about making a replica of and putting it in his front yard!  Wonder what Ginnie will say!!??             

After a fun and tasty lunch on the town square we made our way back to Frydlant nad Ostravici for the 4:00 pm church service.  We were welcomed by the congregation and tried our best to follow the sermon (Dave attempted some translation) ... !!!

Tonight we spent a little time with team devotionals, then John decided to get a jump on things and get a little pre-staining time in!  We're planning on hitting it hard tomorrow!

Things are going well ... and we're thankful for God's provision in every way ... as well as for your prayers!  Keep 'em up!

Serving in Easter Czech Republic ... Scott, John and Dave!

Time to RE-CONNECT!! KECY Camp 2013 in Slovakia!

We are "tingling with anticipation!" as we count the hours until we embark on another "ministry adventure!" Our "NEXT" adventure of faith and service will be to help 2 outreach teams in the country of Slovakia starting tomorrow!! Actually, we depart from Minneapolis, MN tomorrow afternoon and fly to Amsterdam and then on to Prague.  From Prague we will then take a 5 hour train ride to the city of Zilina, Slovakia where we will join with leaders from our Eastern European partners Josiah Venture and TCKompas (www.josiahventure.com).  Our teams will help conduct 2 Outreach English/Activity/Sports Camps for high school students in the country of Slovakia!

These kinds of camps consist of a ton of "American and Slovak" games, activities and sports ... (think water balloons, dizzy bat, football, baseball, and just about any other crazy game!!) ... along with a daily 2 hour session devoted to teaching English. Students are drawn to the camp because they can improve their English speaking skills by hearing and learning from native English speakers. Each evening will also include an evening program and "talk" ... with this year's theme being:

RECONNECT



Our hope is to help these students see that there is a God who made them and who loves them ... and wants them to "RE-CONNECT with Him!

 


We will be returning on Tuesday, August 6 ... but in the meantime ... we'll try to keep you posted here and on Facebook!


Serving the Risen Lord with you!

Dave & Joyce Johnson

**NEXT International is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, so all contributions are tax deductible.

Finishing up!

The Cedarbrook Czech work team finished up their efforts to build an amphitheater platform on Friday!  We were able to finish all the framing of the large oak timbers, complete with 18 additional "scalloped lookouts" ... affectionately referred to as gargoyles!

We made an awful lot of sawdust this week, reducing a huge pile of random oak timbers to a completed oak frame!  The oak decking was delivered on Thursday, with hopes that we could install it on Friday, but in the end we decided that, due to very wet and snowy weather, it would be better to let the timbers dry out, the snow to melt and the moisture to evaporate before we put dry deck boards down.  Petr and Tomas will most likely do that sometime in late May or early June.


As far as impact, we all definitely felt that God used us to accomplish a lot, but more so, relational bridges were built and great encouragement was felt across the board.  There is not doubt that God was present in leading us through this entire experience.  For everyone, the time here was truly life-changing.

There are a few more pictures we'd like to share from our last couple days ... you can find them in this Photo Album.

Thanks again for your prayers and support ... we're very blessed!

Connections and Easter Snow!

The Cedarbrook Czech Construction Team had an Easter weekend that we'll never forget!  It snowed over 20 inches overnight and on Easter Sunday! After church in the morning, we spent nearly the entire afternoon shoveling snow! Then, on "Easter Monday" we shoveled over 20 cars out of the Hotel Malenovice parking lot so the guests could go home!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we'll continue on with our work building an amphitheater platform out of oak timbers!  We'll have to a little shoveling, but we're hoping for good progress!  Please continue to pray!

You can see some photos of our adventures here -

Cedarbrook Czech Construction Team1

Cedarbrook Czech Construction Team2