Jennifer Stahl here, giving an update on our Fusion/Kostel Jinak partnership! :)
This spring was an amazing opportunity to continue the partnership between Fusion at New Hope Church & Kostel Jinak in Šumperk, Czech Republic. It was an incredibly different trip than our November '14 Vision Trip because of the size of our team (2 people vs 9 people set us up for more personal conversations), the season (spring weather brought people out of their homes, into the streets, town festivities vs the chilly November weather kept everyone in their homes, staying warm), and stages of life (Czech students were busy with senior exams and people continued their daily jobs vs the novelty of having a larger group of Americans in town during the fall). The spring trip required a lot more personal effort on our part to initiate connections and conversations, and it was well worth the investment.
Since the spring trip, a lot has happened! One of our fall team members, Colson Wabshaw, had the opportunity to intern with Josiah Venture for the summer, help lead English camps, and immerse himself in the Czech culture. He'll be sharing more about that in a later posting.
The summer has also been a very long season of waiting. The last day of our spring trip, Kostel Jinak leadership invited Daniel and I to return for an extended amount of time of 3-6 months. Both Kostel and NHC leadership saw this as an opportunity to continue bridging between our two communities, initiate relationships and connections with the adult community of Šumperk for future evangelistic and ministry opportunities, and discipling and living life alongside our young Christian friends in Czech. Of course, Daniel needed to investigate what this meant for his job at General Mills. After General Mills invested time, money and resources into a legal team [to research what potentially working remotely overseas ramifications were], and after many silent months, we finally got the thumbs up for Daniel to work remotely in the Czech Republic for 3 months!
We'll share more details in future posts, but for now, here's a a bit of FAQ:
When are you gone?
October 22-January 20
You're still working?
Daniel will be doing some remote work for General Mills; Petr, in Šumperk, has reserved a nice desk space for him to set up in his own business office. I will have a replacement filling in for me at NHC while we're away.
What about your house & cat?
We found an awesome friend to live at our place and take care of both.
Where will you be living?
We'll be renting an apartment where Lida's grandfather used to live in Šumperk; it's approximately a 10 minute walk to Kostel from there and 2 minute walk to Daniel's "office."
Do you need support?
Yes, we are raising support. While Daniel is maintaining his role with General Mills, we still have many expenses that are necessary for this trip to happen (airline tickets, cost of housing in both countries, etc).
How can I help? Prayer and financial support. Here is the link for a form where you can contribute.
You can keep watch on this blog as well as our Facebook group called, "Daniel and Jennifer Go to the Czech Republic" for updates, pictures, and other postings. We're excited to continue that connection between our 2 communities of Kostel and Fusion and look forward to the many ways God is going to use it for His glory.
