Exciting News

Dear Friends,

It is always exciting to see God at work in our lives and in the lives of the people around us.  As you know Evan and I are preparing to share the love of Christ in Czech Republic as missionaries. While we are still raising support and cannot yet go long-term, God has opened the doors for us to go for several weeks this summer.  We will be leaving on July 10 and return August 13.  We're very excited! 

We will spend about a week in Zlin visiting with people, seeing some apartments, and visiting some schools.  All of it will help both of us (and especially Evan) get an even better picture of life for us.  We will also spend a week at English Camp.  I will be teaching an intermediate English class, and Evan will also attend a children's English class.  We will also be able to visit friends in Slovakia, as well as the church plant in Trnava.  

The following is a short slide show that I put together for my home church.   It has pictures of previous English Camps,  our new co-workers, and the faces of Zlin.  Enjoy and try to guess what song it is.  

As I was thinking about how best to talk about the great need of the gospel in Czech Republic.   It's not an "attractively poor" country as one of my friends would say.   The standard of living is not low.  But is a a country that is spiritually impoverished.  The definition of the word pagan is a good description.  Merriam Webster defines a pagan as, "one who has little or no religion who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods; an irreligious or hedonistic person."  It is an apt description. (By the way the song is Shout to the Lord.)

The people of Czech Republic desperately need to know, hear, see, and experience the love of Christ lived out before them.

Please pray for us!  Pray for us as we travel - almost 15 hours of airport time (not counting the five hours of time in the car), for English Camp, and for our time in Slovakia.  The church in Trnava, Slovakia is the midst of deciding how best to use their limited financial resources - pray for wisdom and discernment.

Thank you SO MUCH for your love, care, financial support, and prayer support!

In His love,
Miriam and Evan

PS. If you don't yet partner with us and would like to - please click on the following link:  Mission to the World - Miriam Grady.

Visiting in Chattanooga!

My brother Ben entertaining the young cousins- 9 kids and the oldest is 6!  Dale (the oldest at 13) found something other than playing ball and Ring around the Rosy to do - eat cake:)

One of the many joys we have is having the opportunity to meet with so many of you!

Evan and I spent the first week of May in Chattanooga, TN celebrating my cousin Brian Hess' graduation from Covenant College.   Brian's whole immediate family was able to go to Chattanooga too.  We had a wonderful time getting to hang out.

We got to spend time with an old college friend, who is now a professor at Covenant!  And then go to a baseball game with sister Karen's family.

Johnny and Annette Johnson (the couple that I have the honor of working with in Zlin) and their daughter Erin were also able to come out to the cabin and meet and visit with much of the family.  They were treated to the very fancy meal of hobo dinners.  If you don't know what that is, it's when you take aluminum foil and put ground beef, potatoes, carrots, etc. in the foil and then wrap it all up and cook it over the fire.  Very fancy:)  It was so much fun!

Two of the great delights of being at my parents' cabin is being outside and getting to catch bugs, frogs, turtles, and even snakes.  (I'm trying to teach Evan that even though I think they are all pretty gross -- they are still cool:) )  The other delight is the joy of fire!  Since it was still chilly while we were there, we took every opportunity to have a fire!

Proudly holding a snake that my Dad killed with a shovel

 More photos after the jump....

June 2013 Update

When are you leaving?  How are things going?

Our initial plan was for us to be able to be long-term in Zlin, Czech Republic by this summer.  At the moment that is not going to be able to happen.  As you can see we still need 22% of our monthly support.  In amount that translates into about $1500/month more.  God has worked through so many of you to get us to where we are right now.  My heart is so full when I think about how many of you are giving so sacrificially to be able to spread the love of Christ!

It is the desire of our hearts to be there as soon as possible.  If you are not currently partnering with us, will you please partner with us?  Please know too that main sources of our support come from individuals giving $10, $25, or $50 a month. 

How can I partner with Miriam and Evan?

You can pray for Evan, for me, and for the people in Zlin, Czech Republic.

You can give financially - either one time or monthly or both:)

You can give on-line through MTW's secure website at:  https://donations.mtw.org/donate/AddDesignation.aspx?No=12730.

OR

You can call MTW at phone: 678-823-0004, and they can set you up.  Our account number is #12730.

We are asking you to come alongside and partner with us as we hold out the words of hope in Christ to a spiritually lost nation!

Thank you so much!!!

With great love and thankfulness,
Miriam and Evan Grady

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.  Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.  And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.  Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
2 Corinthians 9:12-15

 

Getting ready for life in Czech Republic!

Which of these pictures is clearly untrue?!

Mountain climbing, bee keeping, or horse-drawn trolleys/street cars?

I certainly hope that you guessed the horse-drawn trolleys!  In Zlin, there are trolleys or street cars - although not with horses!  Public transportation in the form of trolleys, buses, and trains is a very common form of transportation.  Czech Republic has about 50,000 bee keepers, so hopefully Evan will get to help with bees at some point.  (Thanks to my brother-in-law's new beekeeping hobby, Evan is fascinated by bees!)  Czechs in general really like hiking, so we will have many opportunities to go hiking - and maybe fit in some mountain climbing!

 

 

Visiting with cousins

 

Our mailing address is:
1222 Georgetowne Ct.
Sarasota, FL  34232

Our email address is:
mirgrady@hotmail.com

Our blog address is:
miriamandevanincr.blogspot.com

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