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July 3, 2018: Relational Preparation

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“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:34–35 (ESV) 9 days. 9 days spent overseas with your teammates. 9 days spent abroad with some of your closest friends. 9 days on a mission trip with a sibling or mother or daughter. 9 days of living with a group of people, some of whom are still strangers to you. 9 days of being without the privacy of your own room. 9 days of choosing to love others before yourself. 9 days of constant togetherness. 9 days. One of the most prevalent commands in the New Testament is that of loving one another. In John 13:35, Jesus goes as far as to say that by loving one another, the world will know that we are His disciples. This makes the love that we should have for each other pretty significant. If we proclaim Christ by having genuine love for one another, what are
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June 27, 2018: Cultural Preparation

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Nine days. NINE DAYS?! As we rapidly approach the 1-week mark for our trip, one of the most important things about which we can talk at this stage is cultural preparation. We've talked about the physical aspect of navigating a steep country with our Midwestern legs, the mental aspect of experiencing culture shock, the spiritual aspect of following Jesus wherever He goes each and every day , not just on mission trips, the financial aspect of trust, obedience, and investment in the Kingdom of God, and the emotional aspect of loving openly and sacrificially. Now we're going to talk about a few  cultural aspects of trip preparation as we make ourselves ready to serve internationally in a little over a week! 1)  Dobrou chuť - In Czech, the above statement is used to mean, "Enjoy your meal." Believe it or not, food is one of the leading causes of maladjustment when serving internationally. Here in America where food is life, we have this “life” available
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June 14, 2018: Emotional Preparation

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And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.    - Ephesians 5:2 (ESV) DISCLAIMER: Before we begin, let me preface this by saying: This is a long one, haha. Additionally, this brief look at Emotional Preparation may not be what you were expecting, but I hope that it will be helpful to you nonetheless! During my first trip to the Czech Republic back in 2012, which took place about 20 minutes away from the camp at which we will be serving, we spent three weeks teaching English in various schools, hosting nightly youth group events, and organizing larger youth/community events such as soccer tournaments, lock-ins, and presentations about the United States. We had 3 or so main translators helping us throughout this time and one of our translators, who I will call Patrik, seemed to struggle a lot with his faith and with God. One night, before my team and I were to take a group outing the next day to a nearby town, I
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May 30, 2018: Financial Preparation

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After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” - Genesis 22:1–2 (ESV) As I was praying for our trip last night--for our hearts, the airfare, for wisdom, and our finances--one of the things that I found myself asking was, "What do you want us to learn from this, God? Fundraising hasn't been as easy as most of us have hoped. What is it that you want us to learn from this?" I've asked this question often and to be honest, until last night, I had no idea what I would say regarding Financial Preparation. I could talk again about seeking God's Kingdom first and His righteousness, encouraging us that putting our money towards Kingdom work is never a waste, or  I could harken back to the Parable of the Talents to remind us that these are Go
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May 17, 2018: Spiritual Preparation

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As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Luke 9:57–58 (ESV) When we first look at this passage, it might seem that the unnamed man with whom Jesus is speaking is rather admirable. I mean, he even tells Jesus that he will follow him wherever he goes without Jesus  having to say, "Follow me" first! Yet, Jesus' response isn't what we were expecting. He doesn't say, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith," like he does in Matthew 8:10. Instead, he responds by telling the man that following him isn't easy, and that it requires more from him than what he thinks. I wonder if the man here is more like us than we'd dare to say. Often our expressed commitment to Christ doesn't exactly match our lived out commitment to Christ. Like the man in Luke 9, w
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May 9, 2018: Mental Preparation

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Imagine this scenario: the trip is getting closer, and you find yourself nervously excited. We board the first plane in Chicago, then the plane in New York, and finally we arrive in Prague. Ah, the splendor! The excitement! The newness! We arrive at the camp a few hours later and you think, “Well, it might take some getting used to, but I think I’m going to like it here!” The next morning, we head off to church and the experience is wonderful--everyone is so welcoming and kind despite the language barrier! You feel united with your Czech brothers and sisters after only having just met them and you’re excited for the camp to begin the next day. Then Monday comes. The day is long. The kids didn’t seem as engaged as you had hoped. The language barrier is hard to get over and you feel like you have more enthusiasm than all the kids at the camp combined. Day 2, while a little better, is still a struggle and you wonder if we’re making a difference at all. It isn’t as easy as you were
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May 1, 2018: Physical Preparation

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Greetings, all! As the countdown towards our trip continues, I thought it might be helpful to talk about specific areas of preparation! (I tried to come up with a helpful acronym but unfortunately, nothing was working.) These areas of preparation are as follows!  - Physical Preparation  - Emotional Preparation  - Spiritual Preparation  - Mental Preparation  - Relational Preparation  - Financial Preparation  This week, I want to talk about Physical Preparation! If you look at the photo included in this post, you will see an image that I screenshot from Google Maps that was taken in June of 2017 (as you might be able to see by the little compass icon in the bottle right-hand corner). This will be a portion of our walking tour route in Prague! What you might not be able to tell from this photo is that this walk is relatively steep. How steep, do you ask?  Well, let's just say that by the end of this 17-minute walk, we will have ascended (or gone up) 249. 34
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