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!

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