Dear Friends,

I can still remember the anguished wails of our son Caleb the first day we dropped him off for preschool as a four-year-old. It wasn’t just being away from Mom and Dad that overloaded his emotions, it was the fact that no one in the school spoke English, and he still didn’t know Czech. Like our other kids, he learned by total immersion and then faced the challenge of studying all of his subjects in a foreign language until he graduated 13 years later.

School starts this month, and for the 37 JV kids who are old enough to attend, this brings a particular challenge. Imagine bringing homework home and finding that your parents are no help at all or showing up the first day of school to find that everyone else brought the teacher flowers -and delivered them with the blooms facing down, of course.

European schools are challenging. They emphasize rote memory and random tests where any student can be called to the front and questioned in front of the entire class. These challenges are even greater when you come from a different culture and speak a different language at home.

So why is every one of our JV third culture kids in national schools? We believe they can do it and are convinced that the challenge will develop resilience and character. Even more importantly, we are convinced that every member of the family is called to be a missionary. These kids are “sent” to their local schools, to be salt and light and a witness to Jesus.

They make a real difference. Each of our three kids led classmates to the Lord – some of whom are headed into ministry today. In one youth group in Slovenia, they discovered that all of the new believers who came to Christ last year had been led to faith by kids of our JV missionaries!

Educational experts say we grow best in an environment that offers both significant challenge and substantial support. That is where you come in. Would you pray in a special way this month for the JV kids who are attending national schools?

Thanks for supporting our youngest missionaries.