The Griffins

2010-05-26T21:08:00.003+02:00

It has been a long time... 5 months actually. Anyways, there has been a lot going on this year, hence the long gap in between responses. Like Jax mentioned it was encouraging to host her friends who are great, caring people and who brought joy to us both. I am really appreciative for how God has been working and growing Jax and I together, she has been a great blessing to me especially amidst an overwhelmingly long and difficult winter. We joined a marriage study led by Mark and Joanna Stewart who are missionaries in our church here. We meet once every two weeks. They have been great leaders and very open, even serving us up some love potion! A short summary has been that our marriage is not just supposed to be good and happy, rather about how we reflect God's glory as a couple to the world.

Baseball, ministry, and life, I won't elaborate too much, has been really challenging this winter. To some degree God is showing me some "idols" in my life and continuing to grow me, and on the other side life can just be tough, and then throw in some impatience with cultural things and it equals... challenging. However, I am not going to discuss or focus too much on those things but rather ask for prayer for some friends who we have had gospel conversations with. Pray for Gods Spirit to move powerfully in and through us transforming the communities here that we have influence in, leading the people even if only a step closer to knowing their Creator. Pray that God would begin to surprise and refresh us this summer with His grace.

Currently Kotlarka stands in 4th place at 6-6. We head back to Ostrava this weekend which is also a fun rival. Th European Championships for the National Team this year is in Brno, CZ so we are also preparing hard for this.

We are also in the middle of the Czech Project where we host Christian athletes for the summer discipling them and placing them on sports teams here to train and build relationships with Czech athletes. Its cool this year I believe all of them are leaders in the US in CCC ministries. Our AIA team are all thankful for the refreshing and enthusiastic spirit they bring here.

Thanks and love you all.

2010-05-26T20:45:00.003+02:00

I have had a wonderful 4 months full of Room 11 friends! In February, Eilen came to Prague for a week's visit. We had a lot of relaxing fun, walking around, seeing a czech opera, eating Walter's chocolate.. mm. In April Mitzimus and her newly beloved hubby, Ken, came to visit! This was a lot of fun as Ruthie-O decided to come as well! It was a reunion of miniature size, but it was a blast! Lots to see and do, and lots to eat! It was a lovely time to see them both here in Prague. The last visit was just this past weekend, I went to Holland to visit Maaike, in her hometown, Amersfoort. This is also the city that my family comes from, quite special to go back and get a glimpse of life there. My new favourite past-time is biking in Holland, I love it!

Maaike and I in her fabulous flat drinking coffee & eating stroppewaffles

Ruth, Mitzi, and I taking in a baseball game in Prague, a first for both of them!

Eilen and I at the opera

2010-01-25T18:22:00.002+01:00

Happy New Year!

Late, we know, but we wish you all the best in 2010!

Love, Mike and Jacqueline

2009-11-22T10:56:00.002+01:00

Michael and I had the opportunity last week to attend the 20 year anniversary of the fall of communism in Prague. It was a great evening, with lots of people! It first started with a students march that ended in downtown Narodni Trida. Followed by a recording of what happened in the streets 20 years ago as students were protesting the communist government. It was chilling to hear the police over the recording. Then there was a 'fall of the Iron Curtain' which was shown in fireworks (see video). Finally there was a concert, and the former president Vaclav Havel -who was elected the first president of the new Czechoslovakia in 1989, gave a speech. It was an interesting evening being among the Czech people and seeing how they celebrate! We feel honored to be living here in Prague, and thankful for the waves of changes that have allowed us to do so. Happy November 17th!

and the winner is...

2009-10-07T19:49:00.002+02:00

Kotlarka! The team had a wonderful end to a great season. Last weekend we beat Liberec (north of prague) in the play-offs to advance to the Exraleague!! I am so proud of our team and thankful for the opportunity to coach these players and pour into their lives. All three games that we won were close games and our young players performed well under pressure and got some key hits a the end of each game to lead us to victory. The final score of game 3 was 8-5, this game was a home game and we had a lot of friends come out and support us! I'm grateful for the AIA, Riverside, and friends for their support. Looking back on this season so many prayers have been answered regarding conversations with players about spiritual things. Our team displayed perseverance, discipline, putting other people before themselves, commitment, and sacrifice.

The AIA year has started and we are off with full force. Yesterday was an International Day of Prayer for Campus Crusade. So our team of 11 got together for 8 hours of prayer (with some breaks!). I was asked to lead a prayer for Asia, as I have spent some time there and I believe we really got a heart for for the people there and what god is doing there. I was reminded of what people are going through in the world. Our AIA team has worked with me building relationships with guys on my team and its really helped to have their support and wisdom in dealing with them. There are 5 guys whom I have had ongoing conversations with about Christ. One guy (Honza Blazek) has told me he is looking forward to attending a church service with me and Jax. His girlfriend Lucie has gone to church with Jax a few times now and has really enjoyed it. Her heart is soft..

I am leading an early morning men's prayer while my partner is back home with his family raising support in the US. We meet every Friday at 7:30 at a 'local' Starbucks. We've had some amazing experiences together sharing our faith and praying together.

Jax and I were approached by our friends the Stewarts to go with them and pray for the city and perhaps talk to prostitutes and pimps in the downtown area of Prague - where the sex scene and legal brothels are rampant. My friend Mark Stewart and I had a good talk with one fellow from Nigeria who works as a street hustler (getting men into the clubs and ultimately the brothels). It was a long conversation about God and Mark was able to exchange numbers with him as he was interested about church here in Prague. This is a very REAL part of Prague life although we don't see this on a daily basis in our own lives. Jax walked around with a YWAM pioneer named Doris and they prayed for the city as they walked towards the centre. It was a big challenge and step of faith for us both that we felt God had called us to do. We would like to do this again, even weekly, to continue to build on the relationships that this group has been cultivating for a few years now. Pray that we would be bold and not succumb to the anxiety and warfare we feel when approaching this matter.

Thank you for your continued support in reading what we are doing here in Prague. We value and appreciate you and also covet your prayers - especially for those who we share the gospel with.

2009-09-02T19:17:00.002+02:00

Hey Everyone!

Unfortunately i hate to admit, but i am kind of bad at this blogging thing.. i tend to forget about it as you can see!

Summer has come to an end for me (Jax) and i am already halfway through my first week back at school. We are setting up classrooms and getting ready for Orientation Day at Riverside!

We had an awesome summer, with visitors, travels and new experiences.

Here is a bit of what we were up to and not necessarily in order,

* hosting friends and family

* traveled to Scotland to see the Knudsen clan!

* toured Berlin

* watched/coached baseball

* I got to travel to Norway and have a roommate reunion with my YWAM friends!

* vegging!

it was a bit hard getting back into the old old old routine of summer holidays, but eventually i was right back into it! Michael on the other hand was very busy. Summer is a time where he gets put to the test here in Czech. He was/is coaching, he actually got to play in a few games (so the old man doesn't get too rusty!), and he was having private training sessions with players. He has been doing a wonderful job.. he will have to tell you all about some of the opportunities that are coming up for him. During the lazy summer days, i was craving a good swim. I terribly miss Nanaimo river so i was on the prowl for something that could quench my thirst. Found it! Machovo Jezero was the water hole. Although we only went there 2 times, it has become an oasis to me!

But back to reality and schedules now. We are stoked for the fall as baseball finals are coming up, always a tense and exciting time in our home. Michael can also tell you more about that!

Hope you are all well and thanks for reading!

2009-07-15T13:58:00.002+02:00

We had Mom (Karen) and Ashlee here for 11 fun-filled days! We went all over. Prague, Brno, Salzburg and Vienna, Ostrava, Auschwitz, and Karlovy Vary! We were mainly in Brno as Michael was coaching the 15-Under Czech team in the European tournament. They beat The Netherlands for third place. Baseball fans here are nothing like back home. They come fully equipped with drums, base drums, and cheers! It is a loud experience and I think that Karen and Ashlee enjoyed it!

Then it was time for a girls getaway to Salzburg. So we hit the road and headed for the Alps for the Sound of Music Tour! (Michael was SO sad to have missed this part of the trip!) We learned that Hollywood did a lot of scene changes as the tour was 4 hours long and across a 35km area! The tour guide was hilarious with little bits if information and jokes, which made it a lot of fun. Salzburg is a beautiful town of 150,000 that hosts an estimated 2 million tourists that come through every August for the International Music Festival. On the way back to Brno we stopped in Vienna for a little sightseeing and shopping. I was very thankful for all the great weather that we had this past few weeks.

Karen and Ashlee got a taste of czech food, czech beer, and czech driving (!) -courtesy of yours truly.

We ended their visit with a trip to a spa in Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad)! It was awesome having them come and spend time with us and seeing how we live here. It was sad to see them go, but we look forward to the next time we get to see them!

Michael is off again to Brno this week, as MLB Envoy has hired him to coach kids camps throughout the week. This husband of mine is always on the move! From coaching his own team in Prague to coaching the 15-Under team to kids camps. You may pray for his health as the camps are long and the weather is very hot this week.

Slowly but surely I am easing my way into summer holidays now.

I do have the blessing and opportunity to go to Noway in late August to visit my YWAM roomates! I am really looking forward to this mini-reunion. Its been 5 years since we have all been together!!

I hope everyone who reads this has a lovely summer, have a BBQ for us and if you're in Nanaimo head to the river! Blessings!

2009-07-15T13:50:00.002+02:00

On the Sound of Music Tour we stopped at this look out point just off of Mondsee. Beautiful.
Do, a deer a female deer!

A little summer time...

2009-07-15T13:32:00.002+02:00

When in Salzburg . . . .
Back of the 'Von Trapp House'
Coaches and Umpires = Bad calls
15-Under European Tournament. Czech vs. Russia 12-7
Karen and Ashlee at the Draci field in Brno

2009-06-27T09:37:00.002+02:00

Novomestsky Pivovar- We had a good bye dinner for Chelsa ( A fellow Canadian and 4th one down from the left) who works here for AIA, she will be greatly missed! She is a lot of fun and her joy and laugh are infectious. Good bye Chelsa!

Czech Project

2009-06-15T17:33:00.002+02:00

Right now we (AIA) are hosting 2 American athletes for the month of June, one soccer player named Rachel and one football player named Micah. It has been a month full of Discipleship Training in the mornings with outreach and team practices in the evenings which has seen both us leaders and the short termers grow. It has been an extremely busy time with our normal sports schedules and the AIA project schedule but God is moving and working despite spiritual opposition at times. Our AIA Czech leader, Billy Crossan, has put out the vision that he wants us to do more "cross-pollenization" between our different sports ministries. During this project we have been able to do more of this as we have had a lot of time together. Both our praying together, and who knows what else, has helped me tremendously because over the past few weeks I have been able to build good relationships with many of our players and have had countless great conversations about the important things in both our lives and about faith in Jesus. There is an openness on my team and in the Sports University that I haven't seen in a while but it is cool to experience and almost hard to believe at times. Please keep praying that the Holy Spirit continues to move and keep us united and working together.

On a second note... we are currently in the Final Four of the Czech Cup after winning 4-3 in a 15 inning game yesterday against Liberec! We are in first place in league play with a record of 12-1. Please pray that I can continue to coach and lead our team well.

2009-06-07T13:17:00.001+02:00

A little old, a little new..

2009-06-07T13:06:00.004+02:00

We have finally set up a blog! Oh happy day! It has been a few months since we sent out a newsletter to all of you, so for our first post, I thought we would include our past newsletter, which is a little old but anyhoo...

Hello family and friends! Well, it seems to have been a busy couple of months for everyone. We have heard a lot of news from many of you and really appreciate the updates and enjoy hearing from you. We have experienced some enriching and challenging times here. From having visitors to struggling through spiritual and cultural battles. But through it all we have been able to take heart because of the beautiful sunshine! 5 weeks of it! This newsletter has taken longer to finish for a few reasons. Mainly it has been a challenging time here and we don’t fully understand why. But I

think we have fleshed most of it out, living day to day We hope to hear from all of you and pray that you are experiences God’s goodness and grace.

We had the wonderful opportunity to have visitors this month (April)! Lisa (Jax’s sister) and Kathleen Moody came for Easter Break. We picked them up from the airport and quickly overwhelmed them with the city of Prague! The castle, astronomical clock, Jan Hus, the never-ending tourist shops, it went on and on! It was so great to see familiar faces once again and spend time quality time chilling out and relaxing with them. After a

week, Jax, the girls, and a girlfriend from Prague headed for a girls getaway to Split, Croatia. Its palace was built around 300 A.D. for the Roman Emperor Diocletian (a “retirement home” after his ruling). The palace is still in incredible shape and our flat was located inside the palace walls!

Fast forward a few weeks... This past weekend we (Faith Community Church) hosted a women’s retreat in South Bohemia. We had an American team come and join us, it was an amazing. One thing that Connise Dyar, our speaker, spoke about was how women easily fall into the trap of gossiping, grumbling and complaining. This really hit home for me, as its so ‘natural’ for me to do in my daily life and this is how a lot of us connect. It’s quite

challenging to train myself with God’s strength not to think and speak this way. Overall it was a great time with the ladies of our church, singing Disney songs while rafting down the Vltava River, and eating great food.

Mike’s Corner

Well the start of the baseball season has been good. We are currently in first place and playing well. During an AIA prayer meeting last week a good friend named Tim, a basketball player, hit the struggle some of us have been feeling right on the money. The meeting was about our spiritual battle and other aspects of the fall. Tim mentioned during prayer that Satan is holding on tight to this country and the hearts of the people that seem

lifeless. Death and dry are the best words that expresses the atmosphere here. But we talked about how God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and we must continue to be filled and live by His spirit and His strength, and He can give victory. So we prayed for victory in all the different ministries and struggles and we have begun to experience some of it. Recently, Jax and I, and our friends the Lyle's, had dinner with one of my players, the team captain, and his girlfriend who is living with him. Randomly near the end he asked Tim,” Do you believe in God?” This was the

start to a great night and conversation about faith. I am not focused on statistics but it takes most people around 5 years here after first hearing the gospel to receive Christ if they ever do. But him and his girlfriend are both very open to the gospel and we will see what happens as we pursue deeper relationships with them.