Vacation marathon, but Czech bound once again...

I'm posting from Lawai Beach Resort on Kauai. We've been here 11 days with Ken's daughters Amy and Alisa, his three granddaughters and one of Ken's stepsons, Joe Turner. Our biggest struggle here has been how to get all the cats moving in the same direction. We've been doubly blessed to spend time with Jedediah and Verna Blake--he's the pastor of the little Southern Baptist mission church we attend here--and also with Jeannie DeVore, Ken's niece. Those double blessings came together on Sunday when Alisa and Jeannie both joined us for church and heard Jedediah preach powerfully from 1 Peter 1. We ask your prayers for Jeannie, a sweet-spirited woman of 46 who seems so tender to the Lord but is too open toward anything spiritual. We will spend a bit of time with her again today at Mahalepu Beach (my favorite one--a natural Hawaiian beach). I am praying for an open door to share about Christ. We also ask your prayers for Jedediah and Verna and their two kids, Jedediah and Tabitha, as the ministry here has been very difficult and challenging. It would be wonderful if the Lord would draw Jeannie back to their little fellowship, because Jedediah is a solid man of the Word and his family is winsome in how they reach out to people.

Two weeks from today we depart for the Czech Republic with the team from Christ Our Hope Bible Church. We covet your prayers as teams from the Kladno church, Spokane, Orange County and Michigan (we think) do an outreach English camp at Nectiny that begins July 11. Peter will be passing the baton to Marcus during the camp, so please pray that the Lord would grant favor to Marcus in this season of transition. We pray that he would have favor with the teams and campers, wisdom in leadership, discernment, and doors of opportunity for the gospel. We pray for good fruit to confirm Marcus and Amie's ministry as Peter and Sonya Smith and their children depart the Czech Republic following the English camp.

The Lord has graciously gone before the entrance of the Dennys' van, causing the customs inspector to stamp their paperwork exempting them from paying a VAT tax that would have been 1/3 of their original purchase price. They didn't know this had happened until they took it to a Czech friend who is an automotive engineer with expertise in the area of standards for vehicle licensing in the Czech Republic. Please pray with us that the Lord would show favor in the van's licensing process to minimize the cost (perhaps exempting them from modifications to their made-for-USA-standards vehicle).

Thanks for standing with us and for praying for the Dennys and the Czech outreach this summer.