Women's ministry teams offer opportunities to encourage and serve others in a cross-cultural setting, often in unique ways that only other women understand.

Women's GO Team to Prague, Czech Republic March 16-26, 2007

We enjoyed some delicious Czech food and visiting with the Swains. L-R Shirley Stevens, Sally Miller, Miriam Pacheco, Daniel Swain, Cindy Swain. George Swain is taking the picture.

Celebrating three-fold communion with believers in Prague was a highlight of our time there. Sally Miller washed Tamara's feet.

We had opportunities to meet with students at the Economic University where the Swains have a ministry in cooperation with Campus Crusade. Sally & Shirley presented a seminar on "Women in Business."

The women's conference about being a Godly woman was an enjoyable time to get to know the ladies better. We looked at the Scriptures to understand more about what God loves and what He hates; what we could learn from the lives of Ruth, Mary (mother of Jesus), Elizabeth, and Sarah; and how we could be more devoted to prayer.

Gathering with the believers in Prague for worship was a blessing and an encouragement.

Team updates:

Friday, March 23

It's hard to believe our time here is almost over! Two more days of ministry and then we're back on the plane heading west!

The conference got off to a good start last night with 7 ladies attending.
One of them was a young student who Cindy has been meeting with for awhile, and she accepted the Lord 2 weeks ago. She spent all yesterday afternoon with us going to the chapel where John Hus preached and where he lived, and we also visited the Charles Bridge. Then she came home with us for supper and for the conference. She is so excited about her new faith and she was so appreciative of the session last night. She is going home for the weekend, so will not be able to come the rest of the time, but she has certainly been a blessing to meet and get to know. Pray for Katya and her growth in Jesus.

The ladies seemed appreciative of our session last night about being on the journey to becoming a woman of God. They were very responsive and working with the translator went very well. Thanks so much for your prayers for that. This evening Shirley will be teaching on how a Christian woman should live in order to win an unsaved husband. Cindy says that is the situation for some of their ladies, and for others they have friends who are in that situation. Tomorrow Shirley and Sally will teach about Sarah, Ruth, Mary & Elizabeth in the morning, and then Sally will do a session on prayer in the afternoon.

Something sort of funny happened yesterday, but it was sorta scarey, too!
Sally & I went to the pension in the afternoon to get some things, and when we went in the gate, the lady's dog ~ a fat, pudgy English bulldog named Adam ~ came lumbering around the corner of the house and attacked my left leg. He jumped up on me and I thought his claws were going to rip my pants.
Now I've never been anything but friendly to this dog, because he is often in the house when we go in, but the owner is usually there, too. This time she was not around in the yard. I got him down from my leg and hurried to get the key in the front door and he attacked my other leg! Got him down from there and opened the door hoping to keep him outside, but he barged in and was ready to get us again. We went up a few steps into the rest of the house and he followed us there, so we shut that door with him inside and us still in the entry way. We were going to go back out to ring the bell at the gate, but then the lady came out of her apartment and took care of him.
He didn't rip my pants, but he did leave a little scratch on my right upper leg. Go ahead and laugh. I do now, too. Well, I'm still friendly to Adam, but I make sure he & I are never alone!

We had an easy, relaxing day today and even took a good nap this afternoon.
That's the first day that's been possible. Tomorrow is the conference all day, so please pray much for that. Thanks for your interest and prayers for our time here. It's exciting to see how God is drawing some to Himself in this great city.

Miriam Pacheco

Tuesday, March 20

This is a city of trams, buses, the metro and walking! It feels like we've probably logged about 1000 miles so far. :) By now Sally, Shirley and I can find our way around this section of the city and I think we could even navigate on the metro downtown alone. But we much prefer to travel with George & Cindy Swain. They are the folks who are working so hard in this beautiful city to bring the Good News of Jesus love to the many people here.
They have been so good to us and are taking very good care of us.

We have met with a couple Bible reading groups and today Sally & I went with two university students to the lookout point near the top of a TV Tower.
It's one of the tourist attractions here and there is a nice restaurant high above the city where we had some coffee and hot chocolate. The girls are from other parts of the Czech Republic and are here in Prague in school.
They had never been to the tower, so it was a nice experience for all of us.
One of the girls speaks very good English ~ she worked in a national park in Utah last summer and is going to the same kind of job in Alaska this summer.
The other gilr is working in England this summer and she wanted to practice her English ~ she's trying to learn and has some work ahead of her to become fluent. We were able to make contacts with these girls for the Language Center that Campus Crusade operates here in Prague.

This afternoon we (Sally, Shirley, Cindy & I) went with a young lady, Alena, to the Old Town Hall in the old part of the city. Here in Prague, old means hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and how amazing to see these huge, beautiful buildings still sturdy and functional. We saw the famous astronomical clock from the inside and the outside. On the hour as it chimes, there are two doors at the top that open and they display figures of the 12 apostles. It's quite a unique sight. Cindy has been meeting wtih Alena every week for some time, and we're praying that she will open her heart to the Lord.

Earlier this evening we met with a group of students who come to the Language Center for a Bible Literature Class in English. It's fun to go verse by verse with them and watch them gasp the meaning of the words in English. One of the young ladies has recently made the decision to beome a Christian and what a blessing to see her joy and her excitiment at the change Jesus Christ has made in her life.

Thanks for your prayers for us ~ the Women in Business seminar went very well. 7 students attended ~ 4 girls and 3 guys. It was very informal and they asked some very good questions.

Please remember especially the women's conference that begins on Thursday evening ~ Becoming a Woman of God. We 3 will share the teaching responsibilities and my turn is for the opening session on Thursday. We are looking forward to it pray that the women will benefit from sharing together in the Word.

It is rather cold and crisp here ~ today it was spitting snow! But we have hope for some warmth in the next couple of days.

I must close and get some rest to be ready for our quota of 250 miles tomorrow. :) :) I am loving getting all this exercise!

Sunday, March 18

Good Afternoon from Prague!!

We had a wonderful morning celebrating communion with the group that the Swains meet with on Sunday morning -18th. We were around the table in their kitchen and it was a great time of sharing together in the Word of God. We met Tamara, Hannah, Elena, Martina, Maria, Nate, and Daniella, and then there were Geoge, Cindy & Daniel Swain, plus the three of us on the team ~ Sally, Shirley and me. We'll be seeing more of each of these folks, plus others, throughout the week.

We arrived on time on Saturday morning and got settled in our pension (Bed & Breakfast), had some lunch and orientation and prayer time with the Swains, and then took the metro into the city to walk the square and eat some supper in a restaurant. We had black current juice to drink with our dinner.
Yum!! We were definitely ready for bed last night and slept very well!

Our room in the B&B is like a large, one-room apartment with a little kitchenette. But we eat breakfast downstairs prepared by the owner.
It's a delightful and beautiful place and about a 15 minute walk from the Swains. AND only about a 15 minute walk in the other direction from a huge brand new mall! Some day we'll visit that.

I'm hoping to be able to write more as the week goes on. We are counting on your prayers for strength and to be a blessing to the folks here.

Miriam

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