Why Europe Rocks: Reason #10

And it's all within a five hour drive!

One of my favorite favorite things about Europe is how so many different cultures, languages and histories are so close. Here Romana and Lucka and I enjoy a little Starbucks action in Vienna: 4 hours away. (Feb 16th: Happy Birthday Luc!) We also have Krakow: 2.5 hours away, Auschwitz: 2 hours away, highest point in the Carpathian mountains: 5 hours away.

where I live...

Cesky Tesin isn't on the map, but if you look on the way eastern tip you'll see the cities of Karvina, Havirov and Trinec. Cesky Tesin is about where you see the "v" in Havirov. Czech is about the same size as Iowa, but with a population of over 10 million. The time it takes to get from Cesky Tesin to Prague is about 4 hours driving or about 5 hours by train.

wednesday night small group

(clockwise from the top middle) Magda, Zuzka, me, Zdenka, Ania, Natalka, Jana and Zanetka...these are some of the regulars at our girls' Bible study. Zuzka is the main leader of the group, and she does an amazing job of teaching the word. This weekend, we and some older women in our church are hosting a retreat for the femmes of our church. Please pray for us and our time!

Thanks for the t shirts, Kim and Adventure!!!

Ania oh Ania

Why Ania Rocks or The Wisdom of Ania

Ania (the blonde we're all pointing to) is one of the funniest girls I know...here are some of our favorite Ania quotes...

me: [telling a story in Czech] "...and then I said [blah blah blah]...and then my mom said [blah blah blah]..."
Ania: "And your mom understood you? Oh! I guess you were speaking English."

Ania: " I was looking on your bookshelf for Pride and Prejudice but all I found was Passion and Purity...that's not the same thing, is it?"

Ania: "Yeah, when I was 8 I liked to watch 90210...Kelly was my favorite, I think cause she's blonde and pretty...I always like blondes on shows...I really like Smurfette too..."

English Camp Training Weekend: Moravia

The final thing: all of us praying for each group. Here, we're gathered around the team from Letovice.

Romana drawing the web of discipleship to illustrate the impact we have on each other. Go Romama go!

Moravia Camp Training: Feb 3-4

90+ students, 5 denominations, 9 teams, 10 youth groups and 24 hours. The training started out with dumb skits, worship, lots of testimonies and a testimony/message by Romana. Dave taught the next morning about evangelism and the afternoon was group discussions about discipleship. It was fun and encouraging for the youth group teams and leaders.

For those of you who have followed this blog, you know that in the fall our e-team started transitioning. Mel and Amy moved into a new position of missionary care for all of Josiah Venture, and Nate began transitioning into his new role of e-team leader. All of us knew that this was of God, and that it was good, even though there were definitely moments of "what the hoo-hah are we doing?" But you know, it's been fine for the past few months, and I actually kinda forgot how the transition had been. Until this training weekend that we were doing--without Mel. Ahhh! Brad, Romana and Lucka had responsibility for it and were doing well with the planning...but something finally clicked for them about a week before the training. They had a meeting with Mel, and that became the catalyst for a vision and a passion for the weekend. And now, as Romana said, they own it. Amy's likened this to Moses and Joshua: Mel got us through the wilderness and now we have to go and take the land. And I think we're all finally starting to realize that we have to stop at hanging out at border: the land is ours.

the full evangelism team: nate, luc, trev, cass, greg, romi, me, brad

Why Europe Rocks: Reason # 9

the special anniversary church service

this actually took place in the fall, but I was going through my old papers and found where I wrote this down on the back of a train schedule. I guess that makes this ipso facto...or is it quid pro quo...uh, whatever, old news

Imagine this: you're in a packed church, and because you're late you end up sitting way on the side, up in the balcony where you really can't see anything except the squirmy 6 year old in front of you. It's a sign: today's a day of celebration, which means that you're really wishing you'd eaten breakfast because today's service is going to be longer than normal.

Order of events:
our church band--3 songs
our choir--2 songs
prayers
sermon # 1--our pastor
choir from our sister church in Slovakia--2 songs
Slovak youth choir--2 songs
sermon #2 (actually, I'm not sure if this was a real sermon, or a testimony that turned into one)
sermon #3--Slovak pastor
Slovak youth choir--2 songs
sermon #4--or was it a testimony?
Slovak choir-1 song
sermon #5--children's sermon

...that's all I have written down, but since it's unlikely we ended that way, I think there were probably prayers and a hymn at the end too. It's funny, because now when I got to church in the States I end up with this faint feeling of "what? is it over already?"