April-May 2013 Czech-Up 2.4

We appreciate your patience — it has been almost two months since our last Czech-Up! As you may know, our laptop got hit by a pretty nasty virus, and we’re still in the process of getting everything back up and running. In the meantime, though, God has continued to bless us, as we have now been pledged over 78% of our monthly support requirement (this percentage includes defrayed surplus of our one-time sending cost, which reached 100% several months ago, praise the Lord!). Keep praying! The Lord is our hope and strength!

“But Jesus often went away

to be by himself and pray. ”

Luke v:16

Early in the month of April, God provided us with two op-

portunities to briefly step back from our immediate ministry

context, getting some healthy perspective and time alone

with the Lord and each other. First we travelled to South

Haven, Michigan, where former TEAM-Czech church-

planter Mike Bowden hosted a directed spiritual retreat for

just the two of us! The various exercises and activities Mike

lined up really allowed us to prayerfully examine ourselves

and our ministry (both present and future) in a safe and

grace-filled environment. We were also amazed at how the

Lord used this retreat to prepare us for what lay ahead –

almost immediately upon returning to the daily grind, we

began to see why God had sent us on this retreat.

Upon leaving South Haven, Scott spent several days back at

Miracle Camp & Retreat Center, attending one of their

annual Man Camps with men from all around the country,

including a dozen or so from our sending church (Oak Bend

in Perrysburg, OH). Doug Swink of the organization

Winning At Home (winningathome.com) taught on many

key issues of Biblical manhood, and Scott was blessed to

work and fellowship alongside men of all ages and walks of

life/faith. We are very grateful for these recent retreat

opportunities, and are blessed by the fruit the Lord is

producing through them.

RETREAT! RETREAT! SPIRITUAL RETREATS IN MICHIGAN

Left and below: While on our spiritual retreat near South Haven, MI, we navigated several river crossings, an exercise in teamwork and courage especially signifi-cant given Scott’s long-standing fear of heights.

Scott & Caitlin Andrews, missionaries called by God to engage and administer Grace to the people of the Czech Republic who have dismissed Jesus Christ as irrelevant to 21st-century life.

Praise the Lord for His healing! Many of you have been praying for Caitlin’s recovery after her extractions (impacted wisdom tooth and rear molar) — well, the doctors are amazed at how quickly she’s healed! God is good, and prayer is mighty!

Please join us in praying for the many Vacation Bible School programs churches around the world will be putting on during the next few months! Pray these precious little ones would hear and believe!

Praise the Lord, for He has heard our prayer and opened the doors necessary to visit many of the churches we have been prayerfully seeking to visit! Pray our visits would be a blessing and encouragement to them!

Pray for wisdom in how we spend our remaining time in the US, however long God has ordained that to be.

Praise the Lord also for the favor He has granted us in the sight of the several churches and individuals who have newly joined our support team! Every gift is from Him!

PRAISES & REQUESTS

For more information about this ministry, click on the Czech Republic link under the Ministries tab at www.oakbend.org

As we prepare for church-planting ministry in the Czech

Republic, there is much for us to learn! Thankfully, there

are church planters here in the States who are gracious

enough to come alongside us and welcome us into their

congregations, so we can learn & serve. On April 14th we

visited LiFE Church in Amherst, OH, where Pastor Jeff

Ahlgrim and others have been hard at working planting this

new church; worship leader Roslyn Nicoloff invited us to

join her in leading the congregational singing, and we got to

speak with many of the people who gather there about

what the Lord is doing in the Czech Republic. The following

week, we shot down the road to Dublin, OH, where we led

worship at Catalyst Church, learning more about how the

Lord has been moving in and through them. We would like

to thank Doug & Nikki Schrock for their warm hospitality

and friendship, and we praise the Lord for the new

relationships He’s blessed us with at these churches!

CHURCH PLANT VISITS LOVING, LEARNING, SERVING

April-May 2013 Czech-Up 2.4

GOD-GIVEN MAY DAYS TIME TO REPAIR AND PREPARE

Compared to the first four months of 2013, May’s schedule

seemed like it would be much less densely packed—and

that was God’s wisdom! We didn’t know it going in, but we

would indeed need the extra time at home. Our computer

problems came to a head and needed more extensive ad-

dressing; Scott’s guitar likewise needed repair work, and

Caitlin needed to get some dental work done. We were

also able to dedicate more time to Vacation Bible School

preparations, as this summer we plan to assist in that

ministry at no less than four different churches!

It was a blessing as well to spend a several Sundays at our

home church (Oak Bend Church in Perrysburg, Ohio), and

lend a hand with several ministry events closer to home.

We thank the Lord that we didn’t book the month up on

our own, because He knew there would be plenty to do!

CURRENT FOCAL VERSE Luke xxii:35-37 “[Jesus] also said to [the Apostles], ‘When I sent you out without money-bag, traveling bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?’ ‘Not a thing,’ they said. Then He said to them, ‘But now, whoever has a money-bag should take it, and also a traveling bag. And whoever doesn’t have a sword should sell his robe and buy one. For I tell you, what is written must be fulfilled in Me: And He was counted among the outlaws. Yes, what is written about Me is coming to its fulfillment.’”

Oak Bend Church 11275 Eckel Junction Road

Perrysburg, OH 43551 419-874-0219

www.oakbend.org

The Evangelical Alliance Mission PO Box 969

Wheaton, IL 60187 630-653-5300

www.team.org

FEC International Ministries 1420 Kerrway Court

Fort Wayne, IN 46805 260-423-3649

www.fecministries.org

At LiFE Church of Loraine County, Ohio, we had the joy of leading worship alongside Roslyn Nicoloff.

SUMMER TRAVELS PLANS BEGIN TO TAKE SHAPE

Well, in answer to our prayers the Lord has given us what

promises to be an action- and travel-packed summer! In July

we hope to drive all the way out to Nampa, Idaho (our first

trip that far west) to visit Lakeview Bible Church (FEC);

Lakeview has been faithfully praying for our ministry for

some time, and we are excited to finally meet them all in

person! Later in the summer, we have plans to visit Bethel

Mennonite Church in Fortuna, Missouri, representatives of

which we had the pleasure of meeting at the 2012 FEC

Annual Convention. And to finish out the summer, we have

been graciously invited to return to Cannon Falls, MN to

serve True North Church, where Scott helped out last

summer; the good folk there are dear to our hearts, and it

will be great for Caitlin to be able to come along this time!