Progress Report – 2024 – Summer

Diving is a great metaphor for our relationship with God. Often in our lives we are like swimmers who stay only on the surface, swim back and forth and never explore the depths of the water that carries us. We never dive holding our breath in astonishment about the profundity of God and his creation. However, once we find the courage to do so, a new world opens for us – a world filled with the power and love of the Creator. It is like when Jesus ordered Peter to put his boat out “into deep water” after all night of hard work during which Peter and his coworkers had caught nothing (Luke 5:4). Only in deep water and on Jesus’ command were they able to catch so many fish that their nets were breaking. Similarly, when we dive into a relationship with God, we can fully experience his power and miracles.

The 2024 summer in the CCE was full of diving into the relationship with God. It began with a J-Camp the week of June 24-28. Under the leadership of Paul and Pat Wickerts, a group of 11 people from the Hales Corner Lutheran Church, WI, along with our teachers, ran various activities for over a hundred 7^th and 8^th graders. They included Bible stories, sports, science, and crafts. Our students improved their English conversational skills and vocabulary. Reciprocally, our students prepared guided tours in English, informing our American friends about the city of Martin. It was a great time of friends sharing their knowledge and their faith.

With another dive-in, we experienced friendship with God during the VBS that took place July 1-5. More than 150 children and 40 teenage volunteers were “scuba diving” every day, exploring the depths of God’s love and mercy. Our traditional partner Grace Lutheran Church River Forest, IL, sent 17 missionaries, led by the youth and children ministry coordinator Julie Modrich. The program and the experiences were fantastic. During the final program, over 300 parents and grandparents heard about Jesus who left behind the depths of his divinity, became one of us, and even died for us. We were especially thankful for 11 Ukrainian children who dived into God’s love through this story of Jesus Christ.

Our summer mission continued with two weeks of English language courses (ESL) in July 8-19, taught by 43 members of the New Heights Church, Vancouver, WA. Once again, Shelly Johnson, the director of the Serving Slovakia brought a very skillful and enthusiastic team, serving to almost 300 Slovak and Ukrainian teenagers and adults. They not only helped the participants to improve English conversational skills but also shared with them their personal faith stories, diving into the relationship with God. In addition, four members of this mission crew were busy painting classrooms and improving our campus.

The depth of God’s love has no limits and can embrace all our problems and troubles. We are sure that 50 Ukrainian families in the war zone could experience at least a portion of this love when they received a Box of Blessing prepared in the CCE this summer. Every box contains groceries and hygiene items to sustain a family for a month. Also, the reconstruction of nine classrooms is successfully on its way. We appeal for your generosity and support to continue this project so we can start using them in September 2025.

Dear friends and partners, God’s love is immense. We highly recommend diving in it every day, just like we at the CCE did this summer of 2024. We loved it and cannot wait to experience it with you again next summer.

Yours in His service,