Today...

Today I am thankful for 

sweet boys and nice neighbors!  

Gage asked our neighbor if he could pick some of her roses for me!  :-)   D'akujeme,  Emilia!!!

He brought me a dozen red ones and a few yellows.  Now I'm wishing I had learned more about flower arranging from my Grandma Heiniger!   :-)

EXIT Tour comes to BARDEJOV!!!

WOW!  What an amazing, too-hard-to-adequately-express-via-BLOG-post week it has been!  EXIT Tour was here, and for the first time we experienced what goes on during these JV outreach events that have been happening in Eastern Europe for a few years already...I think since 2008 in the Czech Republic.  Our hearts are full after this week.  We've seen God at work...speaking through these lecturers, moving in the hearts of the people here, building relationships between our youth group kids and the "unchurched" kids from these schools, and seeing the band members and lecturers getting to know the school kids and being a testimony to them...and it has been so exciting!

Ed and I went every morning into the schools with the EXIT Team, into a different public school each day.  The entire EXIT Team included our JV Slovakia EXIT team (members of our SK team who have committed to the role of making this tour happen), part of the JV Czech EXIT team (3 guys who came to mentor and walk alongside our Slovakia team as they are learning the ropes), the United Kingdom band called Faith Child (an amazing group of four guys who brought the message of Jesus via music, lecturers/presenters from 4 different countries who held seminars each day about their specific topic of prevention, and our local church youth group helpers who committed to the details of set up/tear down and after-school outreach events.

Can I just tell you how exciting this part alone was...that we were working together with people from 5 different countries, all different backgrounds and denominations, and different areas of expertise and/or experiences to bring the incredible Gospel of Jesus Christ to the youth of our town who desperately need Him???

So many kids heard the clear message of the Gospel this week, and so many have already responded with a decision to follow Jesus, or with an answer on a survey that they have a 5-out-of-5 interest to hear more about Jesus!  Now our youth group will be following up with those kids: inviting them to our youth meetings, getting them involved in small groups, and welcoming them to other outreach events.  Things are happening here, and we are thrilled and blessed to be a part of it all!

This is Tom and Caroline Graumann.  Tom was rescued as a Jewish child from the Holocaust on a Winton train...an incredible story!!  His talk was entitled "Twice Saved Child" as he became a Christian, too, as a child, after his escape from Czechoslovakia at the age of 8.  He never again saw his mom, dad or younger brother who all died in concentration camps.    This week he boldly shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these schools during his talk.

Zac Shepperson (our fellow American team member on the left) gave a seminar on "The Road to a Healthy Family".  This was an amazing talk full of foundational Christian values including purity, character, marriage, integrity, and raising children.  He was able to share the Gospel with the students who choose to stay afterwards to hear...and they stayed...and heard...and many accepted Jesus into their own lives!!!

The girl on the left is Sindy, a former prostitute who came to share with the students her story, and to tell the truth about the lies and dangers of pornography.  God is using her in mighty ways to tell the students that the world is feeding them a bucketful of lies!!!  And praise the Lord, she is proclaiming and spreading the truth!

This is Noro.  Noro is Roma (Gypsy) who was saved out of a life of drugs and prison when he accepted Jesus Christ into his life.  He shared this powerful testimony to these kids.  They listened and many followed his lead by accepting Christ into their lives too.

And this is Faith Child, the band from the UK.  They were incredible musicians...and tons of fun!  They gave a concert every morning in the schools before the students broke off to the seminars.  They definitely set the mood for the day with endless energy!

Every afternoon the lecturers, band members, and team came to our house for a coffee break.  They rested here and had some time to relax and snack and check their email and Facebook!  Plus we got a chance to know them that way!

Michael, the leader of the band, was great with our kids!

Sindy speaks for an organization called Pink Cross, dedicated to exposing the lies about pornography.

Gage had fun teaching Noro how to play a card game...in Slovak!

The perks of having Slovaks in the house includes having "professional" help with homework!  :-)

Every afternoon was an outreach event for all students from the schools to come to...this day was soccer day.

And the final night was the Grand Finale...the BIG concert.  We think that about 500 people attended, an amazing night for Bardejov!

And because the concert happened to be on Jaylin's 8th birthday, Michael picked her up and put her on the stage to dance with them all during one of their songs...it was the perfect birthday "gift" for her!  :-)

Thank you, Faith Child, for coming to Bardejov, and for being a huge asset to our EXIT Tour!  Thank you for bringing the message of Jesus to our town!