Pictured: Pastor Josh Carter praying during the sendoff for Dr. Rick Carter
Fellow laborers in Christ,
Year two. The end of February now marks fourteen months of deputation. It’s been a wonderful time on the road, met with unexpected encouragements and great fellowship. To start the year we’ve had meetings in Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, and Kansas. We’re now nearing 60,000 miles of driving with God keeping us safe along the way. We did have someone sideswipe us while on the highway last month, but thankfully the damage was very minor and no one was hurt – it could’ve been a lot worse!
A change at home. For those not aware, Pastor Rick Carter has stepped down as pastor and into full-time evangelism; God has led him to travel and share the experience and wisdom God has given him over the years in counseling and the Hope4Addictions program. We are thankful for a sending church that has fully supported him in this transition, as well as getting completely behind our current pastor, Josh Carter. On that subject, one of our desires is to utilize the Hope4Addictions materials in Prague, as addiction is quite prevalent in the country, particularly towards alcohol (Czechia ranks third in Europe in alcohol consumption). We believe it will be a great tool to reach a large segment of Czechs.
Getting there quickly. As mentioned in our previous letter, our desire is to head to the field by the end of November this year. That gives us 9 months to finish raising our support. Fewer churches took us on during the December/January period than what we had throughout the middle of 2024, although we still had new financial commitments – praise the Lord! We very much understand that God’s perfect timing is best, so please pray that God would direct our steps regardless of our desires.
Please also continue to pray for us in these areas:
- Prague Baptist, traveling safety and health, language learning, God’s leading on deputation, and our family to be used to minister to churches.
Enabled by Him,
Ethan Azwar
Missionary to Czechia
“And he must needs go through Samaria.”
John 4:4