*In honor of my sister Leah, I may use the word freakin' in this post. If I was really going to do Leah slang justice, I'd use crap a lot too, :)!

I was in college the first time my older sister Leah went to the Czech Republic for 3 months as a summer intern for Josiah Venture.  I remember at the time that our family thought that she was freakin' crazy (or maybe just I thought she was freakin' crazy) and it seemed like the strangest place to choose in the world - the Czech Republic, really?  Where is that?  She's going there to teach English to high school kids?  What the?  (Yes, #notquestions galore!)

Well, two years later she went back and moved there commited to serve a 2 year stint with JV.  Now here it is 10 freakin' years later and she is still kickin' it in Czech!

Czech is freakin' perfect for her, not only as a country but also how perfectly she was made her for the job she was called to do there.  It is amazing to see how many lives have been affected and changed because of my sister's love for Jesus and for others.  Those 10 years have seen much fruit and much heartache, and the hand of God was in them all.

As you can imagine she has always wanted family & friends to visit.  My mom, aunts, a few of her college friends, and just last year, my younger sister!  (The real shocker will be if we get Dad in a plane to go there!)  We Cramer 5 have always wanted to go and visit her but it has never been possible, both financially and logistically, or newborn-babily. 

2 years ago we got to see Josiah Venture's 2x3 Campaign presentation.  After seeing that, both Josh and I wanted to not only go and visit her for visiting-sake but also go there to see what Josiah Venture is doing in action.  It took those 2 years of praying, planning, saving & hard work by my husband (with a BIG load of thanks to Dave Ramsey FPU and "Living like no one else, so we can live like no one else" logic) to get everything in place and here it is...

We're Freakin' Going!

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!

For the first week we're there, we will be participating in one of Josiah Venture's Summer Camps.  They are English camps for high school kids, they teach English class for the morning, have sports in the afternoon, and have teachings in the evenings.  (With a theme song and hand gestures to boot!)  I will be teaching an English class for the week, Josh will be assisting, and our kids will be right beside us or Leah during those morning classes.  (Well, we'll see how Miriam does, :)!)

We are very thankful/honored to be able to get this first hand experience with Leah and the JV Team.  JV has an amazing impact in the Eastern European countries and I pray we don't mess it up!  (Insert Clark Griswald type of experience here, oy!)

If you would, please pray or keep us in your thoughts for:

- Prepared hearts of us, the Cramer 5. That we would be ready to love, serve and sacrifice for others and each other while on our trip, to be an example as a family, and to be able to pour out ourselves to the teenagers we come in contact with showing them the love.

- Prepared minds for our kids.  The boys are old enough to really "get" what we are doing.  I have been praying for them specifically how this trip will open their eyes to the world as a whole around them, moving out of the "me" centered mindset.  Miriam has a sweet, little, heart-filled attitude, so she gets what we are doing in her special way, so I am simply hoping she doesn't get hurt.  (We Cramer girls have more accidents than those boys, imagine that!)

- Prepared minds for all the teenagers participating in the camp and for what is in store for each of them.  "So, as the Holy Spirit says, if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts against Him."

- Safety while traveling everywhere, esp. with 3 kiddos in tow. No sickness, no pick-pockets, no theft, no emotional scars, no abuse, no trouble with the law, no hiccups, no anything!  Let your over-active imagination go wild and pray for safety from that.

- Protection for our business.  Being a business owner comes with a LOT of responsibility, which Josh takes very seriously.  Thankfully we have been given an amazing team of employees to trust to keep things moving while Josh is away but he will still be leaving a hole.

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