This summer has been quite different from summers past for us. Instead of us traveling around from camp to camp, or town to town, God has been bringing ministry to our doorstep….often to our kitchen island or living room sofa….
It has been a very sweet summer, as God has led us to step deeply into the lives of dear people.
And a clear theme has been coming thru each interaction….
I’d love to thank you all for your prayers during camp. I felt stronger knowing that people all
over the world were fighting this battle with us. And God heard our prayers! The camp was an amazing experience; I was challenged in so
many ways. At least ten friends
from my school showed up. One of
my good friends, Verca, kept surprising me with great questions on people
having souls and what happens to us when we die. She asked about my faith and what I believe in. She has continued going to youth group
with me and is open to everything going on there. She sings all the worship songs and prays with us….but I am
still praying she will see that she can’t live without God.
Another friend, Pavel, played it all cool while he was there, careful not to show interest in anything. But once we all got home, he wrote me saying he didn’t understand why all the people at camp were so different, “How could you love everyone, even people that you don’t necessarily like”? I had a great conversation with him about that, though he has kept his wall up. I am still praying that God is working inside him.
My friend, Vita, is a young believer and he really stepped up to the plate sharing his faith with his whole English class and anyone else who would ask. I was so thankful for how God used him with our classmates.
I was in a room with Lenka and we had great late night conversations about what her family believes. They are from Viet Nam so we both understand what it means to be a “foreigner”. She asked me about church, youth group, and Christianity. She seemed really interested and will hopefully be coming to youth group with me sometime soon.
Though no one gave their lives to Christ, it was clear God started working inside them. That’s what it’s all about…as I am in relationship with my friends, I can introduce them to Christ. God came thru and I am so thankful for that!
Well, We have been working non-stop on getting this bike together. There has been a few more details to finish than I had first thought...but isn't that always the case?
I think we have taken the whole thing apart several times and put it back together. The motor is now overhauled and the sidecar is getting a new coat of paint. I am having a hard time figuring out the wiring harness but I think we are close.
The part that I like most is the great time that Noah and I have been able to spend together working in the garage... talking about the trip, Summer and most of all, things about life and growing up as a Godly young man.
At this point, we are trying to have everything put together for a long 5 day weekend in September. Please pray that I can pull all of this together in the time that we have left.
I also wanted to thank everyone that has written or who has taken part (Dad, Mark and the guys in Minocqua) in this crazy adventure with us.
It really means the world to Noah and I.
Mel
We are embarking on a whole new adventure in the Ellenwood household. Noah turns 13 this August and we enter the "becoming a man" zone. 4 years ago we bought an old 1948 czech motorcycle for $30 and a really cool looking 1950's sidecar for not much more. We planned for all these years to take a week long ride across Czech, just Dad and son when he turned 13. We started work on the bike but found out that it was a very rare make and therefore we could not find the parts to fix it up, or they were over the top expensive. So that created a dilemma...
Just a week ago we found another old bike and we are working to get it in tip top shape, connect the side car and take a trip of a life time for a father and son. (I am so thankful for a supportive wife that sees the importance of a father and son trip like this)
Noah is a great kid, he really makes his dad proud. I want to really do a good job of living in the moment through this time of transition for Noah. I cringe at all the advice I gave as a (young) youth pastor, good answers but without the experience of walking with my own boy as he turns into a man...sorry parents(you know who you are).
I have two major requests... the first, If any of you Dads out there have already been through this and have some wise words or even some great stories... we would love to hear from you. I am looking for good
books or categories/topics that you used with your son(s).
The second request, That Noah would be caught by Jesus...that this journey would start a life long hunger to know his Savior deeply. That I would be able to communicate what it means to be a man after God's own heart.
Thank you for your prayers and support
Mel
Many of you have been following God’s movement in the heart of the director at Amy’s school. A couple of weeks ago, God opened the door to that relationship again, through our daughter Hannah.
“I just sat through a two-hour, co-ed sex ed class. It was mostly on anti-conception and protection against STD’s during which abstinence was the option most made fun of . They also showed a graphic animated video of a couple’s relationship and how it led to sex. It left me feeling so sad that what they decided to teach us students is that as long as you have protection, sex is fine. I felt like this was something I needed to talk to the principal about. So I went to her office, where she sat me down and asked what I wanted to talk about. I told her I had felt really uncomfortable during the presentation, because I made the decision to be abstinent and save myself for my husband alone. I felt like this seminar was completely ruling that option out, even making fun of it. Sure, they talked about prevention against pregnancy and diseases, but what about the emotional and spiritual side of things? I want my friends to know that prevention / protection isn’t their only option.
We had a great conversation about abstinence and how we could bring Christian people in to teach students from that point of view. My director isn’t a Christian, and thru the whole conversation I felt like God was really guiding everything we talked about. I felt like I opened up to her and in return she did the same. It was a great conversation and I am so thankful for the way God is opening doors for me, my mom, and other Christian students to spread the gospel throughout our school.
I’m already inviting classmates to youth group and English camp. I get to serve on the English camp team for our youth group and help prepare and pray for this outreach. Will you please pray for us?"
As you know, we work in the Czech Republic training young leaders. What joy for us to
We are gearing up for evangelistic summer camps. Over 60 summer interns are due to arrive in less than a month. Will you join us and ask God to draw many unbelieving students throughout eastern Europe to Himself?
Pray that we proclaim the Gospel boldly, and faithfully point the lost to Jesus Christ!
Ten years ago this month, we boarded a plane with our three small children and left the familiar and beloved for the unknown. I can remember looking across the aisle at my exhausted wife as she cuddled our two daughters (who, at the time, were covered in scabs from chicken pox!), as I searched my heart again for that certainty that I was leading us all according to God’s plan. And the call of God was so clear….so pressing….that there was no question in our hearts that we were doing the right thing.
But if I’m going to be honest, there have been moments since then when that call wasn’t so clear…when we questioned whether or not we’d heard aright…when the press wasn’t coming from a conviction in our hearts, rather it was coming from a battle that felt too fierce.
I can remember in my first year of youth ministry, during a discouraging season, a dear friend reminded us that God’s timetable is very different from ours. 
I want to thank you for your support.
I
t has meant a lot to me that you sent money just for me to be able to go to Africa and serve. And also that you prayed for me as I prepared to go, and during my time there. I could really tell people were praying.
One of my favorite places was the baby house at New Hope. We went there almost every day while we
were in Uganda. We helped with whatever needed to be done. The babies living there are from ages from 0 to 5 years old. We got to hold the babies and play with them. We even took them on walks, and got to feed the four month olds. My favorites were Lily (4 mos) and Kajesu (about 1 yr). They were sweet. I would’ve liked to bring them home with me.
One day we also worked in the fields and helped cut grass with a scythe for about 3,5 hours. We also dug up weeds. It was hard work but we were glad to do it! And I got to meet our sponsor child Atahaire Eve. We’ve been supporting her since Hannah went to Uganda, and it was really great to meet her face to face and play games with her and her family in the evenings.
One way God changed me is that before the trip I always wanted to know what was next. At home, I was always asking mom what was for dinner really early in the day. But in Africa I never knew what would be next. Laurie even told me I couldn’t ask! That stretched me and since I’ve been home I haven’t asked what is next. So it is great for my mom!
Every morning we had about one hour to read the Bible. One morning I read Psalm 118 verse 6: “The 
Lord is with me, I will not be afraid. What can human beings do to me?” I was afraid of leaving home and comfort to take a step faith. But once I did, God took that fear away and it felt good. I really loved it in Africa. Even the food was pretty good! It wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be to eat new things!
Thank you so much again for your support and your prayers!! I hope and believe God used me,
...but I know most of all, He changed me.
Hayley
On November 19th, our Labradoodle, Emma, gave birth to a litter of nine puppies. Since then we’ve embarked on an incredible journey, watching Emma grow through her pregnancy, watching the miraculous birth of 9 puppies (when we were expecting 6!) and witnessing the even more miraculous evidence of God’s creative hand as mother and pups learn life skills so quickly on their own.
Last week, though, we lost one of the pups due to what the vet believed was, from birth, a malformation in the digestive tract. It’s amazing how quickly we’ve become attached to each little pup. So our whole family went through a kind of grieving. Noah worked through his emotions by going out to the garage and building a little wooden cross to mark the site where he and Mel buried “Lexi”. I was looking out the kitchen window this morning into our backyard and noticed that Noah had written, not only “Lexi” on the cross...he’d written “Lexi E.” She was already part of our family....an Ellenwood.
And I thought, with a grateful heart, how...
“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” (II Corinthians 9:10)
.
God has been gently massaging my tired heart back to life with truth....bringing me alive with a new passion....and it all has to do with the very reason I came to eastern Europe. Back when Amy and I were at Moody we were stirred deeply during our annual mission conference by a message passionately spoken through George Verwer. We knew, in that moment, that God was calling us to lay down our lives for the Gospel....He was inviting us to join Him in the harvest.
These past months I’ve realized that the pressures of the everyday fieldwork had cluttered over our ” hope of a plentiful increase” in these ripe harvest fields. And to be honest, I have failed to sow the seed of God’s Word ....indiscriminately...passionately...and with abandon. But, thankfully, God has been faithful to renew that vision in me. He has promised to supply seed if we would but sow.
