Dear Friends,
 Summer of 1994…one of the hottest summers on record here in the
Czech Republic. With a broken leg and a big cast on from hip to
toe, Caleb was an 18 month old baby that summer, I was pregnant
with Claire, and Tyler was a busy four year old. I remember that
summer well!But the most important event of that summer was the first
English
camp that Josiah Venture ever did. Borrowing Christians from a
few
other churches, Dave invited students from the high school where
he’d been teaching English that year. His brother, Josh, who was
working with military teenagers in Germany at the time, brought
a
group of high schoolers to build relationships with them. Before
we
knew it, the camp was full with nearly 80 people, and we were
off to
the mountains for that eventful camp! (See a much younger Dave
in
the front row, third from the right!)
Thirteen years later, we’re still doing camps. Only now they’re
being done in 10 countries with thousands of young people in
attendance – this summer there will be 62 altogether. Many
students
have trusted Christ through the years at these camps, and we are
praying that this year will be no different!
 Tyler and Caleb left on Tuesday for English camp
with our church –
they’re both serving on the ministry team this year. It is
Caleb’s
first year as an official camper, though he’s been going to
English
camps for most of the past thirteen years – thankfully only one
of
them was with a cast on! He’s excited to be certified as a real
camper this year, and is eagerly serving on the team in many
capacities. We stopped by last night to visit their camp and it
was
a lively, happy place!
Dave, Claire and I leave for Prague today where we’ll be for a
few
days. Dave is speaking at a large family conference there for
one
of the denominations here in Czech. He’s teaching three sessions
– one on fasting and prayer, one on work with young people, and
then a
session for the children on prayer. It’ll be a couple of full
days
for him of teaching and interacting with people, but he loves
that!
Claire and I will be at the conference with him tonight, but
then
we’re having a “Girls Only” day tomorrow in Prague. In the early
years we used to get to Prague in the summers quite often to
pick up teams of people coming over to serve. But now there are others
who
do that so we haven’t been there to spend a day in years. We’re
excited to just blend into the crowd for one summer day and
enjoy
time together!
Some other news around here – we are just days away from
finalizing
the contract to be able to purchase the land around the hotel
that
we’ve been working towards for years! It has been a long,
complicated, trying, difficult time trying to secure this land
for
the ministry – yet one that has stretched our faith in great
ways!
During the process we’ve been sued, the mayor of Malenovice and
his
council have been sued, police investigation has taken place,
we’ve
lost it and gained it so many times I can’t even remember how
many,
the price has fluctuated numerous times, it was nearly bought
out
from under us countless times, and YET!!! God has worked in our
favor and kept it for us all these years. So now we await the
final
contract which is being reviewed by lawyers right now, and VERY
SOON
we should own it! Thank you for praying for this through the
years
– your prayers have been answered!
 Summer is often a time of visitors for us, and this year is no
exception! A group of long time friends from Dave’s home church
in
Denver (even his 6th grade Sunday school teacher – sitting on
the
left of Dave!) stopped by Malenovice yesterday to spend a few
hours
with us in between conferences that they’re teaching at in the
church in Havirov where we used to attend. It reminded us of how
we
love and appreciate all the people who have tracked with us,
prayed
for us, loved on us, and ministered to us through the years…you
ALL
are a part of that! Thank you to all of you who stand with us –
we
deeply appreciate you!
As we enter into summer here, would you be praying for all the
young
people who will be at camps? Please pray that ears, eyes, hearts
and minds will be open to the Gospel as many hear it for the
first
time. Pray too for relationships being built – it’s often in the
context of loving friendships, new and old, that young people
are
drawn to Christ. So we’re praying for strong relationships at
these
camps, that young people will experience firsthand the love of
Christ through believers reaching out to them. We’re also
praying
that there will be few distractions at these camps so that these
students will be able to focus on the message being given.
Okay! We’re off to Prague now! For more news and updates you
might
want to check out my recently updated blog – there are all kinds
of
pictures and stories on there!
http://livingbylysa.blogspot.com
Happy Summer Days to all of you!
Connie
Dave & Connie Patty
"Equipping young leaders in Eastern Europe to fulfill Christ's
Commission"
Home Address:
Lubno 284
73911 Frydlant n.O.
Czech Republic
Cell: 011 (420) 603-532-196, 011 (420) 603 887 457
E-mail:
dpatty@josiahventure.com,
cpatty@josiahventure.com
Connie’s Blog:
http://livingbylysa.blogspot.com
Josiah Venture
PO Box 4317
Wheaton, IL 60189-4317
Phone: (630) 221.9332
Web:
http://www.josiahventure.com |
