Back

July 31, 2017

Walking in Courage - Katka's Story

While some sit in a circle on faded patterned rugs, a few straggling students make their way into the English Camp main room to join discussion groups. A hum of Slovak dialects begins to rise as leaders invite their huddled campers to engage in conversation. Although many leaders feel anxious or inadequate to lead a discussion group, God is working in the students’ hearts and the leaders’ lives as well. One of the Slovak leaders who has experienced this movement of God is Katka.

Accepting the Invitation

Although Katka has been serving God in Slovakia for five years, this year marks the first that she’s led a discussion group at English camp. Katka found out about English camp through her friend, who was working as a camp leader. Around the same time, Katka was wondering what she could do to better serve God and her community. She felt a strong need to be a part of something bigger, but she didn’t know where God wanted her to go. Her friend came to her and asked her to be a leader at camp. Katka was surprised and scared at first because she felt her English wasn’t the best. But with her friend’s assurance, Katka accepted the invitation and began leading at camp.

During the first four years of being a leader, Katka cleaned up around camp, played worship songs on her guitar, and started a prayer team with other staff members. Rather than leading a discussion group, she was content to stay on the sidelines and help behind the scenes.

“I felt all the time that I am a very bad person to share the gospel because I’m not even able do that at home,” Katka explained. “That was one of the reasons why I was asking if I was the right person.” She was hesitant about joining the English camp team because she didn’t think she had the skills or the boldness to evangelize. She remembers thinking, “I cannot be with students, I cannot share the gospel because I’m not good at it. But through the years, I’ve realized that’s not the only way to do that.”

Sharing Hearts, Transforming Lives

Before summer camp began this year, Katka decided that there are more ways to serve others than organizing items or cleaning around camp. She knew it was time to start sharing her life with the people she loved –the students at English camp.

“The main thing is not only to be here and tell people everything we have on our minds, but that we learn to hear their stories…to share ourselves as we are and to ask God to help us to have broken hearts for these people, to be open to them, too.”

Through leading a discussion group, Katka is able to help campers with their frustrations and has a better opportunity to see campers the way God sees them.

“So, this is what I realized: the only thing is to be near to God, to love Him and He will do everything else… be open to share our lives and our weaknesses… be ourselves and show students that we are really interested in them, that it’s not something someone told us to do.”

Katka loves serving at English camp, but she hopes to experience God just as much at home as she does at camp. Something God is teaching her right now is that the Holy Spirit is just as present during the year as He is during the summer. Katka reflects on her recent revelations with God saying, “When God calls us to do something challenging, He will definitely bless our courage, that we are obedient, and that we are exactly where He wants us to be. He will not only bless others, but He will also bless me.”

Will you join Katka in praying for the hearts of students in Slovakia and all throughout Central and Eastern Europe? Visit our Prayer Room now and join us this summer in the movement.

Jackie Grondahl

Related Posts

Read Story

Discipleship, Stories

Fruit in Hard Soil

Dear Friends, How does the gospel bear fruit in hard soil? Montenegro is one of the most beautiful countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Sandwiched between Croatia and Albania on the Adriatic Sea, it combines stunning beaches with soaring 8000 ft mountains, rushing rivers, and the deepest canyon in Europe. But this hidden gem has very few evangelical believers. Out of a population of 600,000, less than 300 believers attend a few tiny evangelical churches. How do you make progress in such a difficult place? When Josiah Venture staff Noah and Jill Ellenwood moved to Montenegro in 2020, they immersed themselves in the local language and culture and took every opportunity to build natural relationships. Following the instructions of Jesus in Luke 10:6, they prayed that one of these new friends would be a “person of peace,” a trusted insider who would open the door to others. Noah met Slavo while playing soccer with a group of guys and invited him over to their apartment for board games. Slavo asked if he could bring his friends, and what began as a small gathering quickly grew into a weekly tradition with more than ten people attending. Slavo was always the catalyst, inviting new people while consistently building relationships. During this time, Slavo was on a personal spiritual journey. He openly shared his exploration of various paths for inner peace, including Hinduism, Buddhism, individualism, and Christianity. Noah and Jill had many candid conversations with him, sharing their own stories of God’s transformation in their lives. Still searching, Slavo embarked on a six-month backpacking trip through Europe. Along the way, he encountered people from all walks of life—Muslims who invited him to join their mosque, those who dismissed Christianity as fake, and others who loved him unconditionally. Throughout the trip, Slavo sensed that God was calling him, though he wasn’t sure what it meant at the time. When he returned, Noah spent 10 months studying the Bible with him, focusing on themes such as identity in Christ, being adopted into God’s family, and understanding sin and how it separates us from God. During this period, Slavo began experiencing dreams that seemed to be God speaking directly to him. One day, Noah received a call asking to meet on a hill where they often walked and talked. There he was greeted by a joyful Slavo, who exclaimed, “I want to do it—I want to follow Jesus!” Sitting down together, he prayed to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Slavo quickly became passionate about studying the Bible. He would often cancel plans just to keep reading, feeling unable to put the Word down. His transformation impacted his family so much that they started joining him for church services. This fall Noah had the privilege of baptizing Slavo as he publicly proclaimed his faith in Christ. Perseverance, prayer, relationships, God’s Word, time, sacrifice, and commitment—each of these is needed to bear gospel fruit in difficult soil. But then the transformation is real and spreads to others. Thank you for your part in this movement of God.
Read Story

Spotlight, Stories

The Light of Imagination

On Saturday, December 22, 2012, in my final year of Czech high school as a Josiah Venture Kid, a light came to our doorstep in Czech. I was preparing to graduate in the spring and move to the States for college. While I expected this Christmas to be the same as all the previous ones, it felt different because of one encounter on a chilly Saturday morning. Our neighbor Pavlina, who lived down the street, rang our doorbell to bring us a special and meaningful Christmas greeting: a flame from Bethlehem. This flame was lit in Bethlehem by a Palestinian boy, flown to Vienna, and taken by the scouts through Brno to Ostrava. Pavlina had woken up early that morning to take the one-hour train trip to Ostrava to light her flame so that she could spread the Light to our little town. The candlelight danced inside the lantern as she opened its glass door and passed the flame to a candlestick, which she used to light my candle. It was so cold that we could see our breath, and we lingered only for a moment at the door before she said goodbye and went on her way. Pavlina walked away with her lantern, but the light she still held was now also in my hands. We kept that flame alive throughout the following days until Christmas. Even after we turned off the lights for the day, it still glowed safely in our lantern on the windowsill. I was mesmerized. Growing up as a JV missionary kid, I often heard about Christ being the Light of the World. That Christmas, however, that flame that came from Bethlehem ignited my imagination. It brought the story of Jesus’s birth to life in a new way. We don’t only get to hear about the Light of the World; we get to experience him, just as I experienced the light and felt the warmth of the Bethlehem Light. This past September, I had the joy of hosting a workshop at JV’s Fall Conference and learning together with youth leaders and brothers and sisters in Christ from all over Central and Eastern Europe. The workshop, “Getting People Excited About the Bible,” centered around applying our imaginations to studying God’s Word. Back in high-school, the visual of the Bethlehem Light sparked my imagination as I considered the Christmas story. In the same way, when we apply our imaginations to engaging with God’s Word, we see it with fresh joy and wonder. In our workshop, we imagined ourselves as different characters and looked at Scripture through that lens. For example, we talked about being like a guest. As guests, our goal is to come in and try to understand the culture and the people in the home we are visiting, not assuming we already know what life looks like there. With that in mind, we explored the cultural traditions of Psalm 23 together. We also imagined ourselves as astronauts who can see the whole world from their space station. They can see how the continents fit together and how big the ocean really is. We again looked at Psalm 23, but this time to discover how it fits into the bigger picture of Scripture. Perhaps someone nearby has delivered the Bethlehem Light to your town, and you could find it, bring it home, and share it with your neighbors. Or perhaps you could discover and carry the light differently—by using your imagination to explore the story of Jesus and inviting others into this joy. Advent is a season of anticipation, a time to pause and let the beauty of the gospel stir our hearts and imaginations. Just as the flame from Bethlehem sparked awe and inspiration in me that unexpected December morning, we, too, can let the light of Christ illuminate our lives and draw others toward his truth. What could it look like for the story of Christ’s birth to come alive to you this Advent season? How might your imagination draw you into its beauty? Could this wonder then spread to those around us as we also bring the light to them? May this season be one of discovery, joy, and sharing the gift of Immanuel, God with us.
Read Story

Discipleship, Spotlight, Stories

In Harm’s Way

Dear Friends, Someone needs to protect the flock. Ukrainian troops continue to fight a grinding and exhausting war against Russian invaders on their eastern front. Many have fled the towns and villages along the front line, but some still remain, including many families with young people. Life is particularly bleak for these teenagers. In most locations a curfew kicks in at 5:00 pm, meaning civilians are confined to their homes with stores and businesses closed. In some places, the limitations only lift at noon the next day, leaving just a few hours for young people to have any connections with others. Most school classes are online, and teenagers have witnessed enough death and destruction to create a lifetime of trauma. In spite of these conditions, a handful of brave pastors and youth leaders, like Pastor Yehven, have stayed in harm’s way to bring the message of Jesus to young people, who often feel hopeless and abandoned. Pastor Yehven travels regularly to multiple villages and gathers young people in his church building for youth group during the few hours when they can congregate. Most come from unbelieving families, but there is nothing else to do in their extra time; the loving care of a shepherd is a beacon of light to them in a very dark place. Yehven leads five small groups, including a group for the blind, a youth group, and several home churches in communities where other pastors have fled. His aim is to continue serving until everyone has evacuated. But Yehven also needs support and care. That is why our Josiah Venture team travels to the front lines every couple of months to strengthen leaders like Pastor Yehven and provide resources and support to youth groups in harm’s way. This summer, we brought Yehven and his youth group out to the relative safety of the mountains in the west for an evangelistic summer camp. You can see them wearing camp t-shirts in the picture below. Yehven and his team have also been cared for by several trauma retreats our team provides to help them process the devastating experiences of war. The economy in this region is shattered, so we also send financial support to 20 key ministries and leaders who are investing in young people up and down the front lines. Our contribution of $400 a month for each of them makes it possible to continue their work in spite of the difficult circumstances. As they seek to protect the flock of young people who know Jesus and reach others whom God is calling to himself, we are working hard to protect and support them. In addition, our team is teaching young leaders how to make disciples like Jesus did at a key seminary in the region. God’s kingdom is advancing as courageous Ukrainians run toward the battle with the gospel of Jesus, rather than fleeing in self-preservation. Light always shines the brightest when it pierces through the darkness. Your gifts and prayers make this possible. On behalf of those in harm’s way, thank you.