Mili pratele,
Dear friends,
jsem moc rad, ze s Vami muzu sdilet nekolik dobrych zprav. Povazuji to za obrovskou Bozi milost, ze mame tak bohaty a pestry zivot, ale i tato radost a vdecnost nejsou schopny prekryt moji bolest, kterou nesu spolu s jednim z mych pratel.
It is with great gratitude for God’s mercy that I write to you today. My heart is rejoicing for three reasons, that unfortunately cannot outweigh the pain I feel for a friend of mine.
V pondeli jsem byl na pravidelnem odberu krve a vysledky jsou ciste!!! Pristi tyden tak muzu slavit 38.mesic remise! Jsem velice vdecny za to, ze navsteva nemocnice je “pouze” 4x do roka.
Pridejte se k nam a dekujme spolecne Bohu za moje zdravi.
On Monday, I had another blood test that came back clean. That makes me in remission for 38 months next week!!!!! I am very thankful that my trips to the hospital are “only” 4 times a year!! Please join my family and me as we are praising God for my recovery.
Ta dalsi dobra zprava je ohledne naseho bydleni. Uz dva tydny bydlime v nasem domku!! Holky cely proces stehovani trochu urychlily. Za vysvedceni jsme ji slibili prespani, a hned po prvni noci nas presvedcili, abychom uz tady zustali. Zacali jsme tedy postupne privazet vic a vic veci. Je to uplne jiny pocit po 2 stehovanich v roce 2016 se “konecne” stehovat do sveho. Pomalu si tak zvykame na nove prostredi. Postupne jsou dokonceny ruzne interierove detaily jako treba dvere na zachod a do koupelny, nektere jsou stale v procesu jako satni skrine a ulozne prostory, a nektere nas cekaji az povoli mrazy a budeme moci dodelat vstupni lavku mezi chodnikem a domem. Nase “kempovani” trvalo nakonec 7 mesicu oproti planovanym 3, ale kdo to ted bude pocitat, kdyz uz jsme prestehovani!!!!!! Jsem moc vdecny Bohu za takovou moznost, nikdy jsem si nemyslel, ze budeme nekdy bydlet v domku se zahradou.. A navic ted uz muzeme znovu privitat navstevy, pochutnat si na domaci kuchyni a peceni od Jane, a uzit si spolecny cas! Takze pokud budete na Praze 6, nebo planujete cestu pres Prahu, dejte nam vedet a radi Vas uvidime!! Mezitim nez k nam dorazite, muzete se prosim spolu s nami primlouvat za moudrost jak nejlepe dokoncit rozdelanou praci a taky za papiry a dokumenty, kterych je porad neskutecne mnozstvi k vyrizeni. Moc dekujeme!
The second update is about our housing. For the last two weeks we have been in our house!! Our girls talked us into moving into barely finished house as they were excited after sleeping here for one night as a special treat at the end of school semester. From that one night we never fully went back into our rental apartment and instead started to bring more and more things into our home. It is quite an adjustment after two temporary moves during 2016 to be unpacking knowing that we have arrived and this is our future home. Slowly we are settling in. We appreciate details that are already finished, (like doors to the bathroom), are in process of being finished (closets and storage spaces) and some that we still have to wait patiently for until the weather permits outside work again (connecting bridge from the street into the house).
So our family “camping” took 7 months instead of 3, but who is counting now, when we are in house, right? Very thankful to God that this is even possible at all. I never dreamed that it would ever be an option. Now we can open the doors, have family and friends over, enjoy together Jane’s cooking and baking and have a good time together!! So, may you find yourself in the neighborhood of Prague 6 or may your travel take you to Prague, please don’t hesitate to contact us and/or come on over!!!!!! In the meantime, can I ask you to pray for us as we settle in and there is still a lot of projects ahead of us that we would love to finish as well as paperwork that we need to deal with.
V jedne z predeslych zprav jsem psal, ze v roce 2017 se nejenom prestehujeme, ale take se pripojime ke skupine lidi co pujdou zakladat novy sbor. Uz tretim rokem jsme soucasti mezinarodniho krestanskeho spolecenstvi Faith Community Church, a nekdy od leta by tento sbor vyslal skupinu cca 20 dospelych a deti do noveho mista. Spolecne se modlime a hledame misto i nazev pro tento sbor, kde bude zaznivat Bozi slovo anglicky i cesky. Radi bychom, aby v novem sboru nasli svuj prazsky duchovni domov jak Cesi mluvici anglicky, tak cizinci, kteri ziji dlouhodobe v Praze, stari i mladi, proste vsichni ti, kteri jeste zadny sbor nemaji.. Jsme velice vdecni za tuto prilezitost, ze spolecneho vikendu pripravneho tymu jsme prijeli nadseni a tesime se na dalsi kroky, ktere jsou pred nami. Modlete se prosim s nami, abychom opravdu nasledovali Bozi vedeni.
As I mentioned in my previous post, in 2017 we will not only change our home address, but also be a part of a church plant. Growing out of Faith Community Church in Prague, which we have been part of for about three years now, a group of about 20 adults and kids is committed to follow God’s lead to a new location to present the Gospel to Czech/English speaking Czechs, expats and internationals. We came home from a weekend away with the launch team very encouraged and praying that God will open our eyes to things that we need to see to make good choices about the location and the name. We would love to have a name that somehow reflects who we are and what we are about, but it also needs to work in Czech and English. The group is a great mix of Czechs, internationals, US expats, singles and families, old and young (I can say that, because I am the oldest at the moment..). We are very grateful to be part of this group and would you pray for us and with us that we literally go where God opens the doors.
Tak a ted to co me trapi. Uz jsem psal o tom, ze otazka “Proc ja?“ me netrapila na zacatku me nemoci, ale trapi me ted behem uzdravovani. Nekolik z mych kamaradu uz nezije a jeden z tech kdo je pod tezkou palbou rakoviny, je muj kamarad Brian. Jeho diagnoza melonomy prisla cca 2 mesice potom co jsem si ja vyslechl tu svoji s leukemii. Od te doby Brian statecne valci, obcas se zda ze se mu podarilo vyhrat a nemoc se zastavila nebo dokonce malinko ustupuje, ale pak se zase objevi novy nalez a ten je vetsinou horsi nez co bylo predtim. Mohl bych Vas pozadat, pokud se pridate k nam a budete dekovat Bohu za me zdravi, muzete se take prosim primluvit u naseho nebeskeho Otce za Briana? Kdyby jste meli zajem o vic informaci, ktere chodi v emailove podobe, rad Vam predam kontakt.
Now the hard part. If you read my past blog posts, I struggle with the question “Why me?” as I am recovering and some of my friends have passed away. My friend Bryan, who was diagnosed with melanoma about two months after I heard the diagnosis of leukemia, has been fighting for five years with small victories in battles, but the war is still raging big time. May I ask that if you join me and my family in giving thanks to God for my health, you will pray for my friend Bryan, his wife Bethany and their two small children, Thad and Sage?
If you would be interested to be on their email updates with prayer requests, please let me know and I connect you.
Nepovazuji to za samozrejmost, naopak za velikou nezaslouzenou milost, mit okolo sebe skupinu tak vytrvalych a vernych pratel. Radi bychom se modlili i my za Vas, poslete nam prosim jednu nebo dve veci jak se za Vas muzeme modlit. Jeste lepsi by byla navsteva a videt se nad salkem dobre kavy, ale budme realisti a vdecni za to co mame.. Dekujeme Vam vsem, ze nadale vytrvale jste temi, kteri prispivaji svoji pritomnosti v nasich zivotech k memu uzdraveni.
It is a privilege to have such a solid group of friends close and far to stand around me and my family. May you take a minute to let us know how can we be praying for you? It would be awesome to catch up over good cup of coffee but lets just be realistic and work with what we got..Thank you friends, your presence in our lives is part of my healing journey!
In Christ,
Martin
