Highlights From Czech 2012

An update from Czech Republic! I anticipate this will be a 2 part update... This is the first part that I typed up yesterday afternoon... There's so much more to tell, but not too much time to update date it all right now. So I will have to do a "Part 2" tonight or tomorrow!

Ahoy! We can hardly believe that our week of teaching English is already over. The time flew by so quickly!

Here are a couple highlights from our week:

• Dave’s got his suitcase! It arrived Sunday evening, which was right when his extra carry-on clothing supply ran out! Perfect timing. Thank you for praying!!!

• The camp nearly flooded during the beginning of the week. The little stream that ran by the camp covered the soccer field and came up almost all the way to the parking lot. Crazy. (The camp actually flooded TWICE. I'll write more about the second time in my next post. The second time was way worse! But we were all fine.)

Flooding from early in the week

• Despite a week of exhaustion, our whole team has had excellent health (so far). Praise God! Please pray for our strength and health during these last few days.

• There is an ostrich farm right next to the camp. Yes, an ostrich farm. The male ostrich would do a crazy “intimidation dance” whenever he felt threatened. He was huge.

Fine Fella

• There are incredibly beautiful woods and rolling hills all around the camp. Breathtaking views that reminded us of God’s glory and creativity.

Beautiful woods near the camp

• We had amazing students. Really! We both had so much fun with our classes. We talked about life goals, relationships, idioms, culture clashes, slang, folk tales, past tense, future tense, crazy synonyms and homonyms, court room drama, forgiveness, and so much more. And we ate lots of Jelly Bellys.

Shena and her class



Dave teaching

• The evening programs were stellar. Dave got to play drums every evening with some really talented Czechs.  There were some remarkable testimonies given. Rebecca and Leonard Ahlstrom shared Meagan’s story on Thursday night. Please pray that this story of tragedy and God’s provision will continue to impact the Czech students in the weeks and months to come. Pray that they evaluate their own lives in light of Meagan’s.

Joel teaching theology on a Czech mountainside...

Sad to leave camp... :(

We really felt God’s presence at the camp. Hearts and lives were changed and are continuing to change. Please pray with us today, tomorrow, and onward! Both of us really felt an intense need to pray for spiritual victory at this camp. We know that seeds of spiritual awakening have been planted and watered. We are pleading with God and praying that these seeds take root. We desire for all of our Czech friends to know how deeply God loves them! During the final evening of camp (Friday night), the students were given the opportunity to spend time in meditation and to reflect on their week at camp. This was such a cool night. I will have to post more about it later!

Rain as we packed up the bus to leave camp...

Sleepless Flights, Missing Luggage, and Giant Pig's Necks, Oh My!

Ahoy from Pisek, Czech Republic!

After a flurry of last-minute preparations and packing we and our team have all arrived safe and sound. Thank you so much for praying for our travel safety. It's so appreciated! There was some turbulence on our first flight - some that actually made me fly up out of my seat! Thank you, seat belt. Dave slept a little on both flights. I did not. We watched We Bought a Zoo on the long flight from Chicago to London. Such a cute movie! :)

The only real downside to our flying experience is that the suitcase with all of Dave's clothes did not make it to Czech. Last we knew it was still in London. Please pray that it makes its way to us! Fortunately it has a tag with Dave's parent's address on it and a "Go Team" tag on it. It would just be so nice if he gets his clothes before the week is over!! (Side note - one of the reasons I love my husband: Instead of complaining or freaking out he simply says "I'm glad it happened to me and not anybody else."!)

We are staying the night at Hotel Bila Ruze in downtown Pisek - the most charming little riverside town in Europe! Pisek means "sand" in Czech and there are sand sculptures down by the water - giant animals and human figures. So very cool looking!

We met with the Czech team from Elim church, prayed together, sang worship songs, and went out to eat. One of our team leaders, Joel, and one of our team members, Leo, each got GIANT pork necks. Or maybe they were knees. I'm not sure. We're talking huge pieces of medieval looking meat falling off a big bone. I'm telling you - these hunks of meat were bigger than my face. I satisfied myself with Balkan salad (Balkan cheese - kind of like salty feta - with tomatos, cucumbers, and red and green peppers) and Pike fish. Dave tried to get a beef shank goulash, but they were out of goulash. So he pointed to something else and got some sort of dumpling, horseradish, pork thing. He said it was amazing. :)

Tomorrow morning we go to Elim church (Dave is drumming), have a quick lunch, and then drive 50 minutes into the countryside to begin our 6 days of camp! I hear that there are wild ostriches and cows at this camp. I kid you not. I will do my utmost to get photos!

Please pray for the following:

• Dave's suitcase to catch up with us.
• Physical well-being and health.
• Effectiveness at teaching English.
• Spiritual preparedness - we want this camp experience to be one of amazing love for all involved. We want to be vessels to share God's love with people who may not be used to experiencing it. Many of us are sharing our personal testimonies, both in small group and large group settings. Pray for our stories to help others.
• Lives to be changed. Please pray for spiritual transformation.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support! Oh, and if you're curious we raised a total of $4,190! Hiphip Horrray!!!! :) (In case you're doing the math that means we're $110 away from our original goal. If you're still interested in giving a tax-deductible donation, there's still time! Just shoot me an email if you don't know how to submit your donation.)

It's currently around 11:15pm Czech time as I type this... Which means it's around 4:15pm US time. And I haven't slept since Thursday night / Friday morning! Oh boy, my pillow is looking SWEET!

We probably won't have internet at the camp. We'll check in again once we are back at the hotel next Saturday.

Love,
Shena & Dave

Czechs & Americans worshiping...

We are happy to be here!!!

We are so.dang.tired.

23 Days and 450 Dollars...

Oh my goodness.

We leave in 23 days.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *cue fanfare* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And we have only $450 left to raise.

Words cannot express how deeply grateful we are to everyone who is funding us, encouraging us, and praying for us. We are honored and we are humbled.

We only have two team meetings left - this Friday we have an English lesson-planning meeting and then one more meeting on Saturday, June 16th.

Would you pray for us during these final weeks of preparation?

Pray for...

• ...inspiration, creativity, and organizational superpowers as we prepare English lessons. Dave and I are co-teaching two separate classes, so part of the struggle is finding time to actually meet and plan with our co-teachers! Pray that we are able to effectively prepare and gather enough resources.
• ...team bonding. As I've said before, we have an incredible team. But we haven't yet had a team meeting where every single person has been present! Everyone does their best to make it (we even had one team member attend several meetings via Skype!), but it just hasn't been possible to get everyone there at once. Pray for team unity.
• ...for continued financial support. Dave and I have only $450 left to raise!!! But that's still... $450! Pray that we reach our goal within the next 23 days. And pray for our team as whole - it's a huge struggle for some team members to raise financial support, especially as many of them are college-students who live on very tight budgets.

Thank you!

Oh, and one more thing - We've been reading up on Jan Hus because Jan Hus day is on the 6th of July (while we are in Czech!). For anyone interested in theology or history, we recommend checking this guy's bio out. It's pretty incredible that this Czech priest played such a powerful role in the reformation... The Czech nation, which is currently so atheistic, has a Christian heritage. Blows my mind!

Photo Credit

Oh My Goodness...!!!

...We are getting SO excited for Czech!!!

We are about 64% financially funded at this point. And we are definitely feeling the prayers and encouragement. THANK you to all who are supporting us, whether through prayer, financial giving, or high-fives. You are blessing us big time!

Here are a few ways that you can pray for us right now:

• Pray for continued financial support. For us personally, as well as the members of our team.
• Pray for wisdom as we dive into lesson plans. Dave is co-teaching an intermediate class. Shena is co-teaching an advanced class. Pray that we are able to strategically prepare for the needs of our classes.
• Pray for smooth and safe travels. We're flying British Airways right before the London Olympics... Yeeeeeaaahhhh. Pray us up, please!!!
• Pray for bonding among our team. Pray that we continue to grow together in unity.

Speaking of our team, we had a team meeting last Saturday night, and boy, have we got a stellar group of people. Seriously. Goose-bumps at the thought of what a special group of people we have! At our team meeting we spent a lot of time laughing, praying, and sharing our hearts. We also gathered several Bible verses that we want to focus on as we prepare for this journey.

One that jumped out at me was Romans 15:13...

Photo Credit

Without Christ there is no eternal joy. Or peace. But when we trust in the almighty God, we overflow with hope! Ahhh!! *happy dance*

What verses stir your soul and make you wanna bust a move?!

Why We're Going Back...

Curious as to why we're going back to Czech this year? Check out this excerpt from our forthcoming support letter (P.S. If you want to know more, shoot us an email, comment, or msg... We'll put you on our support mailing list!)

After our Czech 2011 missions trip we came home overjoyed and exhausted. One of our Czech students began a relationship with Jesus. Another of our Czech friends began exploring what it meant to believe in a loving, caring God. And in the past year since our trip we have heard of more Czechs who have ditched atheism and embraced Christianity... And Czechs who have changed their life-path trajectory and are committed to helping their country recover from stifling Communist religion and the past several decades of agnosticism and atheism. To say we are excited would be an understatement. We are beyond thrilled to witness life transformation among our Czech friends and students! Last year’s experience was life-changing - for everyone involved.

So after our trip, we felt fired up. Fueled by excitement over the spiritual renewal of the Czech nation and giddy with passion for helping others to experience a relationship with a loving Savior! And we daydreamed about going to Czech again...

Someday.

But the idea of going back in 2012 was not something we planned. Expenses for another overseas trip don’t fit into our personal budget. And we know that they don’t fit into the budgets of our family and friends, either! So we put our hopes and dreams of returning to Czech on the shelf and went on with our busy lives...

But then God began changing our hearts. First it was a nudging - we were asked countless times to be a part of this year’s team, by both Czech leaders and American team leaders. Our response was always the same “We would love to go, but we cannot afford it financially and we can’t continue to tap our family and friends for funding!”

And then God began to provide. Before we even committed to the trip, nearly a quarter of our expenses were funded by an anonymous donor. And then a friend heard about our trip and funded another quarter! At that point we realized, who are we to say “No”? So we signed on the dotted line. And so, on June 29th 2012, we and a team from Christ Community Church will go back to the Czech Republic.

We still need to raise half of our support. And we definitely need all the prayers and encouragement that we can get! Some people go on missions trips. Some people pray for the ones that go. And some people give financially. But all play an integral role in sharing God’s love with a world in need. So we humbly ask you to prayerfully consider being a part of our 2012 trip to Czech.

Thanks!

- Dave & Shena

We're Going Back!

What can I say? We're going back to Czech this summer. I'm jumping up and down and doing a happy dance. WOOOOH!!!! :)

More posts to follow. Soon. :)