Will You Pray for the Moms?

This is an old photo, but since some of these faces are the ones I'm thinking about today, I'll put it in so you have a visual of who I'm talking about.

These are some of our JV ladies, at a women's retreat three and a half years ago. While a few have moved on to other things in their lives, many are still with us. And we're growing. If we took a JV ladies picture today, there would be a lot more faces!

Some of these dear ones will join us tomorrow as our JV Fall conference begins at Malenovice.

But most of them will stay at home.

Our fall conference is for training and equipping in ministry, designed for first and second culture JV missionaries.

JV is made up of four different categories of people. There is first culture, which is someone who lives and serves in their passport country (such as a Czech who lives and serves here). A second culture person is someone who is serving in a country other than their passport country (like me, as an American, who lives and serves here in Czech).

Then we have a third culture (TCK's is the official term), which are the children of second culture parents - like our kids, Tyler, Caleb and Claire. And finally we also have children of first culture missionaries.

Did you get all that?! I know it's kind of complicated. But it's who we are! And we design different conferences and retreats throughout the year to meet the needs of these different cultures.

Since fall conference is only designed for first and second culture, our JV Kids and national children don't come to it (unless they are teenagers who are actively involved in the ministry and want to be equipped).

This means that a lot of moms don't/can't come either as someone needs to stay home and keep life going for the kids. And they're the ones I'm thinking of today, the unsung heroes of JV!

This week while their husbands are here for training, many moms in fourteen different countries will be at home with their kids managing life. Without dad.

Will you pray for them?

It's a big job, especially for those second culture moms who are living cross-culturally. But for sure both first and second culture moms will encounter difficulties and opposition this week and need the Lord to carry them through a week of having dad gone.

I love these JV women a lot!! And it would mean the world to them, and to me, if you'd join me in praying for them this week: for strength, safety, courage, patience and a big dose of of trusting the Lord in the midst of whatever might happen this week while they're on their own.

PS. In the hour since posting this I've already heard from some of these moms about washing machines overflowing, dogs making an unusual messes, tears, loneliness, kids struggling and more. SO PRAY!! These moms need our support.