The Light of the world

 

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

 

Merry Christmas to you all! May this Light fill your hearts now and always!

Merry Christmas and more!

"The Lord will guide you always;

 He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

 and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail."

Isaiah 58:11





What a great promise! These verses were mentioned at some point during my orientation at All Nations College and really encouraged me! Just to know that God will go with me to Costa Rica (even before me!) and will guide me through everything. And not just in Costa Rica...

 

But before I look into future, I would like to go back to this past month and presence. At the end of November I said bye to my colleagues at the Bristol Marriott Royal and to my job that I truly enjoyed! (our office Christmas buffet lunch the day before I left (bring & share) - on the left, Manu, Marco, Rafel just before I left) 

 

 

 I also waved bye to my church family and church Pip'n'Jay - this was even more difficult in this time of  year as I love celebrating Christmas there! But I am happy that I will get to see everyone one more time before I leave for CR in January. On first advent Sunday we made Christingles - I couldn't believe that this was the first time I made a Christingle in my life and in my 4.5 years of living in England!

 

 

I will rather skip talking about my stressful packing! :) I hope I don't ever have to do double or triple packing at the same time again - packing 4.5 years of my Bristol life into a limited number of suitcases - Costa Rica/Slovakia/What's left??? And I came to Bristol with one suitcase that weighted 15kg! Never mind!:)

Let's move on to a happier topic! On Tuesday 3rd December I started my one week orientation at All Nations College. Let me tell ya! What a great week it was! I learnt so much about God, myself, mission and Latin America! A week full of knowledge, closeness to God, new friendships and lots of encouragement! Praise the Lord! I was going to tell you more about what I had learnt but it's so much to share - this post would be very looong!

Right after the orientation I flew back home to spend Christmas and NYE with my family and friends in Slovakia. I haven't been home for Christmas for 4 years so it's good to be reminded of my own Christmas traditions :) So far I got a chance to enjoy Christmas markets in my hometown Trnava, then Bratislava and also in Budapest. It's been much colder here than in England but we haven't had any snow yet. And it looks like we won't have white Christmas this year either.

 



I've got my plane tickets!:)...Really?!!

I've got my plane tickets to Costa Rica and that means I have my departure day!!!

 

13th January 2014 it is!!!

 

Still hard to believe!!!

 

I think I am not fully getting it but that's probably a blessing! Otherwise I would either lose my focus on what I still need to do before I leave because of excitement or spend the rest of my time crying and thinking about whom and what I am going to miss!

 

My last day at work is 29th November - THIS MONTH!!! Again, hard to believe! 4.5 years at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel!

 

Then going to one week orientation at the beginning of December and then flying to Slovakia for Christmas and NYE! Finally after 4 years I will have a proper fried carp and potato salad and maybe a little bit of medovina (a honey liqueur) at Christmas markets! And hopefully white Christmas!

 

Then back to Bristol to say 'see you in 2 years! byes' to everyone at the beginning of January and then off to Costa Rica! 

 

Crazy! Thank you Lord that I can completely trust you and that your plans for me are good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trusting God

So many times I thank God that He is in control and not me! That He can see the bigger picture and knows what is best. Being a planner, I find difficult when my plans suddenly change and I have to adjust to new plans. This is something that I am still learning...

At the beginning of September I was supposed to go to my one week orientation for Costa Rica taking place near London. Less than one week before I found out that my grandma would be having a risky surgery that week. Couple weeks before she had been diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 82 and this surgery was necessary for her to live. Therefore I decided to go home and cancel the orientation. This postponed my departure for Costa Rica as I now will be attending the orientation in December and therefore leaving after Christmas/New Year's Eve. Looking at it now I am glad that I won't be leaving next month because it means that I can stay here little bit longer, go to Slovakia for some time before I leave and also it gives me more time to raise my support. So praise the Lord that He knows me so well and knows what is better for me.

Besides the departure time nothing else has changed. I have attached some pictures of the ministry in Costa Rica that I will be involved in. When I received them, I got really excited. I've also given notice at work, effective on 29th November - this made it feel really real! And also the fact that I have already raised little bit over 50% of my support! God is good and faithful!

Please let me know (via email - jana.laukova@yahoo.com or Facebook message) if you would like to know more about my ministry work in Costa Rica or if you want me to send you updates via email once I am there. Also, if you feel like donating and partnering with me, you can still do it through Latin Link website (www.latinlink.org.uk/donate) or I can give you my personal bank account information. If you choose the first option, please select my name under 'Start typing name to find person'.

There are few things that I would love you to pray for if you can:
- my grandma
- next few months when I will be preparing to leave - all the practicalities + spiritual preparation
- my new home, church family, new language, new culture

Thank you all for reading my blog and your support & prayers! :)

Time to update!

I am glad to be back with a little bit of update! I can now tell you where and what I will be doing in

the near future :) 

As I previously mentioned I will be going to Costa Rica for two years! I will be working in the Women's Social Work/Microbusiness ministry run by Students International (www.stint.com/si-ministry/countries/costa-rica). Their vision is to see lives and families transformed as women discover their value and identity in Christ, receive love and support as they reach personal and business goals. This ministry takes place in three poor communities of San Jose - Los Guido, La Capri, and Las Fuentes.

I will be helping women in these communities with their microenterprises, teaching them basic business principles such as writing a business plan, writing and keeping a budget, accounting, marketing, etc. This ministry also includes English classes, baking and cooking classes (yay!:)), support group for teenage girls and providing discipleship.

I am hoping to leave in October. But it all depends on how my support raising is going. As a missionary, I won't be paid while I am there. Therefore I need to raise enough money now in order to cover all my living costs once I'm there.

At this point I would like to ask you for your prayers (if you believe in the power of prayer). This is completely new experience for me. Since 18 I've always been dependent on myself (with some help of parents at the beginning) and had paid jobs. Next two years I will depend on God and His provision through His people. I am sure it will teach me lots of humbleness and gratefulness... Also please pray for the coming months as I will be preparing to leave that God will prepare my heart for what I am about to face and experience - new culture, people, language, work environment, new challenges... I'm looking forward to what God will teach me through this all. Though at the same time I know that it won't be easy to leave Bristol when the time comes. Please also pray for my financial support and all the other details such as my accommodation, protection and health, for all the paper work, etc. I could go on and on :)

If you would like to become part of my prayer support team or just would like to hear about my life in Costa Rica, please let me know and I will make sure that you receive my updates on regular basis. If you would like to partner with me and give financially (either one time or monthly), visit www.latinlink.org.uk/donate and type my name in ‘Start typing name to find person or project’ and follow the rest of instructions.

Either in the form of prayers or giving, I will be very grateful for your support. I am fully aware that I cannot do this on my own.

If you have any questions, please ask! Either grab me when you see me and we can arrange to go for a cup of coffee or as English people say for a cuppa!:) Or email me on jana.laukova@yahoo.com. I am looking forward to all the questions!:)

That's all for now. Though more details coming soon.

And thank you so much for reading my blog! :)

 

Latin Link

I thought I would tell you a little bit more about Latin Link - the organization that I will be going to Latin America with.

Latin Link is a Christian mission organisation with a passion for Latin America. Most of its members work in Latin America or with Latin Americans in other parts of the world. They bring their gifts, knowledge and skills in order to meet needs. They work in the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Spain, Germany, UK, Ireland and Switzerland.

I really like their mission- here it is:
"Our mission is to evangelise, to teach and equip, to prepare people for life and work, to develop their God-given potential and help them grow in the service of others. In Christian terms, Latin Link is about whole-life discipleship which we believe to be God’s heart for every person and every community." (taken from Latin Link website - http://www.latinlink.org.uk)

There are many ways how one can be involved with Latin Link in Latin America or here. One of the ways is to send people out there in the form of short-term mission trips (Step teams), individual placements (Stride - from 6 months to 2 years - that's what I will be doing :)) or longer, on-going service (Stay).

I heard of this organization for the first time almost one year ago. My friend mentioned it while we were having a cup of coffee (Starbucks of course :)) When I got home, I immediately went to check it out online and I suddenly felt this excitement in my heart (that didn't happen when I was looking into other organizations online). Couple months later (after lots of praying) I went to see their Roadshow in London. There I found out a little bit more about what they do. I could also see that they were really into Jesus! Praise the Lord! I saw this video there and it touched my heart (and still does every time I see it). Please watch it if you have a moment...

 

 

If you want to know more, please visit Latin Link website - http://www.latinlink.org.uk.

 

Talk to you soon! :)

And so it really goes... :)

Well...I am back to blogging as you can see...after long time! And I won't try to deny - I am a horrible blogger but this time I have a very good reason to use this tool and hopefully will keep using it for next couple years (at least!). And you can hold me accountable for that! ;)

For some time I've been wanting to share with you all what God has put on my heart. Some of you who know me quite well know that I love everything connected with Latin American culture - people, music, language, dance, customs, etc. I am not quite sure why and how it all happened. But after living in Miami (a city where you hear Spanish and salsa music pretty much all the time and where everyone has at least one relative who comes from Latin America) I really felt drawn to this culture and people even more. (Just play salsa music and you'll see what it does to me :))

Since leaving Miami I've been not only thinking about visiting Latin American countries but have been wanting to be more immersed in their culture. Unfortunately there are not many Latin Americans leaving in Bristol (UK) and if they are then they are spread around the city - no communities...So I often would have this crazy idea of moving to this part of the world but then I thought: "You seriously need to stop this! It's only the weather that makes you want to go plus you finally need to settle down! NO more travelling!" So I pushed these thoughts away but they came back. So I started to pray and I prayed that God would clearly show me my true motives. And I prayed for a long time until I realized that God gave me these desires. After that I started to look into different options still quite hesitant. I wasn't sure in what form this was meant to happen. So I prayed even more and when the option of going as a missionary came up, I thought - No, no, I wouldn't be able to do this. Plus living on someone else's support and not being independent...no, no, no. But hey! God is amazing and He does change our hearts and attitudes! And once again He did change mine so here I am now telling you (and finally getting to the point :)) that I am about to go to Latin America as a missionary! And I am really excited about it and feel at peace as I am trusting Him and His great plans!

Now, you are probably asking "Where...?!When...?!What...?!How...?!" I am not able to give you all the answers at this point as everything is still a work in progress...I've been working with Latin Link - a Christian mission organisation focused on Latin American countries (www.latinlink.org.uk). They are looking for a placement for me and it looks like I will be going to Costa Rica. There are few ministries going on there, they are mostly focused on working in poor communities, teaching English, working with local churches, etc. I don't want to give any incomplete information at this point as nothing has been confirmed. I should know more very soon and I will make sure to keep you all updated. For now I would like to ask you for your prayers. Please pray for the right placement for me - for a placement where all my gifts and skills can be used for His glory and His kingdom. And also for coming months as I will be raising financial support...Scary! :)

Please contact me if you have any questions. My email address is jana.laukova@yahoo.com. I will be more than happy to share more about how God has been leading me to this decision and what He has been doing in my life (if this is something completely new to you). May God bless you all and I will be back here soon! :)

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." 1 Chronicles 28:9