Czech journal entry #1

During my recent mission trip to the Czech Republic, I kept a journal. The format I will use for these posts is to share (and edited version of) my journal entry, then provide commentary on it. Here is entry #1

Thursday 8/8/13 – 7PM (Chicago time)
I am on the plane and we are ready to leave. I am quite excited. In the airport, I met Kayla. She is on our flight, and is going on mission by herself to Central Asia for 5 months. At the airport, she ran into someone she went to high school with from Kentucky. They are both on our flight to London. God is already making divine connections on this trip. Kayla is also nervous about flying by herself, and she now knows many more people on the plane. It looks like I am getting two seats to myself, so hopefully I will be able to get some sleep on the plane. I am really excited to see what God will do on this trip!

My thoughts on this entry – God was making divine connections already on this trip What a great way to start. I was very moved that Kayla, who had to be no more than 22, and just up and went to serve in central Asia by herself (the country she was serving in was classified for the safety of everyone) for 5 months in a culture that doesn’t treat women the way we do in the US. God made sure that I met her to fully prepare my heart for those in the Czech who so willingly serve for the sake of the gospel.
Prayer was a central focus of this trip. We prayed as a team before leaving the Christ Community Church, we did a prayer walk on our layover at Heathrow, we did a prayer walk in Pisek with selected scripture readings (putting on the armor of God at the Pisek castle/old fort wall, reading about our fullness in Christ in front of Jesus on the oldest bridge in Central Europe, and praying for Elim Church, our local ministry partner), we prayed for people after service at Elim Church the first Sunday we were there, and we did a prayer walk when we arrived at camp. Prayer was a central focus in our preparation for the trip and this modeled how prayer just kept springing up at camp.