the down low low down

heads up on follow up

2010-08-09T15:31:00.007+02:00

The boys tearing down after our Strak camp after party. Any kind of camp is great--it gathers people, encourages, motivates and often helps reveal a new vision for the following school year. Once classes start again, though, the CZ youth group team has to be wise about planning activities and energetic and loving enough to pursue individuals. Year long follow up is one of my fave things eva--I think about it constantly and am always trying to get better at it...please join with us in praying for the seeds from camps to keep germinating and the fruit to ripen!

Kuba and I during Alpha showing how Christ took on our sin and gave us His righteousness. In Strakonice, our follow up activities are Alpha for youth courses, sports afternoons, Bible reading and the faithfully random party/hang out/etc. When the school year starts, Strak will again host Monday English Clubs and VIP parties and most def small groups for the ladies AND the gents. In Pisek, English Club will be Wednesdays, smallish groups will be for sure, as well as basketball and soccer teams. And there are also parties happening at varius venues: mr's haus, Verca's garden, Iva and the girls' place.

Crossover 2010 Aug 2-5

2010-08-09T15:00:00.008+02:00

"The Denver Nuggets." I am not an athlete. In spite of that, I ended up being a part of one of our church's basketball camps with the help of Crossover Int'l. My role, uh, yeah, role was to be a link between the boys and Pisek English club. I was assigned to the youngest boys team and had a blast. :)

Ondra talking, me translating. The boys practiced and did drills all morning, and from 1-2pm had "Bible hour" which consisted of games, songs, testimonies, a devo and small groups.

Guys leading their partners in English through the court for points. The last day of Crossover there was an optional basketball English club--the guys were great and we added lots of important vocab that day: "trash talking" "layup*" "rebound*" and the ever popular Southern slang "finna" (thanks Rod and Andre!). **both of which I now know in Czech!--dvoutak and odskok...maybe...

Vojta and Kuba were at Pisek English camp and Crossover--please pray that they and others like them find a true home in God's family!

Pisek English Camp :) July 17-24

2010-08-09T14:26:00.007+02:00

On the hike with Marushka, one of my all time favorite people (even though she ruthlessly corrects my Czech :)

Cutie petuties Marketa, Dominka, Kamila, Julka. :*

Ivca's clasmate Bara came to camp for the first time and loved it--she's been hanging out with us ever since. Oh yeah, and Reid was there too :) As was the supercool team from Christ Community coming at us outta Elgin-ish IL! Bah BOOM!

Last day of camp--there was a lot of love up in that place!

The Sunday after camp we all headed to our church Elim. Dominika's holding our little Martin after the service was over and people were changing the sanctuary back into a basketball court.

Later that night we went to various restaurants to hang out and, mmm, eat. And take incriminating pictures. Here Zahry, Simon and Petr are looking tres intelligente at the Chinese fast food place. Love you Pisek!

campy with my Strakies: how it was

2010-08-09T14:00:00.007+02:00

This year's camp was quite large, but in spite of that we somehow maintained a family atmosphere. Miss you cuties!!!

One day the ladies decided to give each other hand massages and pedicures, so the guys decided to take off their shirts and tackle each other...hence, VIP girls and Viking football met during free time, in mutual appreciation of each other (I think).

Lucka from the CZ team with Ryan from the intern team. We loved the intern team BonJon as well as the wonderful team from Cherry Hills, CO! Come back soon peeps!

Max and Majda. Max fell victim to the dart game and Majda's taking advantage of his frozen state. The dart game's peak glory day (that is, Tuesday) came fast, but we all carry fond memories of it.

Back in Strak, after camp, at the island. Petr, Leni, me, Zuzka, Petr F and Martin hovering like an angel, er, a falcon. ? Please pray that the truth heard and experienced will grow and bloom this school year!

The Cramers at camp!!! Eeeeee!!! :))

2010-08-09T13:26:00.007+02:00

Danie taught English and did a GREAT job! They flew in Saturday and Sunday morning she had to dive right in, pushing aside the jet lag. Here she and her Colorado sidekick Aaron teach body parts. Dana was a champ: being a great mom, loving students, teaching, encouraging and even got to share her testimony!

Josh motivating his afternoon sports team. I thought Josh would have to spend more time keeping up on things back at the home office, so I was happy and blessed that he got to be with us and invest in our students, especially our young men.

The leader of the American team brought their 4 kids with them: Max, Miriam and Zeke had a blast playing with Hannah, Asher, Caiden and Hayes!

One of their favorite things to do was to play in the creek--that is, until the dry clothes ran out.

Zeke helped me teach English :)

I loved seeing the kids interact with our students. And our students were GREAT with them, even taking turns babysitting so the parents could teach English during the mornings. Here Miriam gets to hang out with Leni, who she knew from our trip to the States in 2007 :)

Hanging out at the Ellenwoods. I knew it would be great to have the Cramers there, but I had no idea how great. They blessed our camp, our students and me by the way they served selflessly and loved continually. It meant so much to me that they saw my world and got to meet people who are very important to me...and that my dear friends here could meet them...and that I got to be with the kids! Since they left, I've had these bittersweet flashbacks: going to the little store with Miriam and Zeke, doing the robot with Max, lunch at the Brno Ikea, talking late into the night with Dane and Josh, laughing with them and the Ellenwoods...thank you Cramers. I love you!

Strakonice English Camp 2010!

2010-06-28T23:08:00.005+02:00

Our camp this summer will be another big one with over 100 people. In addition to our Strakonice team and the interns (hereafter, Team BonJon) we'll also be joined by a group from Cherry Hills Community Church from Denver. Another group that's joining us from Iowa City is...

Josh, Dana, Zeke, Max and Miriam are coming to English Camp! I am so excited it's unreal! This is such a gift...I've dreamed of this for a long time :)

Of our campers, about half of them have been to camp before, and I'm looking forward to us making new friends. When I think about who's been a part of our group from camp last year--Martina, Bara, Ondra, Gabi, etc--I can't imagine our community with out them! And it'll be cool to see who the Lord adds from this camp. As you can see, the theme this year is Redeem, and our heartbeat is that students would find hope in this bent and coping life, that life would dawn on them. Please join us in praying that Jesus would redeem young lives this camp.

2 cool 4 school! June 10-15

2010-06-18T12:45:00.006+02:00

Every June, intern teams visit the cities that they'll be doing camp with. We knew that we'd have a full camp, so we didn't need to do promotion in schools, but we still wanted to do something with the interns...through this, "2 Cool 4 School" was born. Kakushe took elements of the Exit Tour we were a part of and created a program to encourage students in language learning and as a service for local high schools. Part of this program was the Reality Show Challenge where groups competed against each other. Here at the business academy Euroskola, they're competing in Fear Factor, to see who can eat the slimy (gummy) worm first.

Kakushe and I explaining the Top Chef challenge. Kakushe did an amazing job delegating, organizing and emceeing--you go girl! What a joy to see young leaders bloom!!!

Team BonJon introducing themselves. These guys were energetic, fun and had great conversations with our students. It was ESPECIALLY cool to see our very own Eva as part of the intern team: leading, translating, and growing in faith!

Top Model challenge--I was so impressed by how brave, creative and just GOOD the students at the schools were. Way to go Euroskola, Gymnasium and the Technical HS!

Students at the gymnasium--we did 3 blocks that day with about 50-60 students in each. We are super thankful to the English teachers and headmasters at each school and look forward to more cooperation in the future.

what's up--spring edition

2010-06-18T12:26:00.005+02:00

Our every-other-Sunday cooking club (aka VIP) is continuing to rock and roll--last time we even invited the boys to help us cook and eat.

English club, Strak style will go for 2 more Mondays and then...English Camp! July 3-10.

Volunteering at Jezarka Retirement Home (ongoing). Three of us visit some residents once a week or once every two weeks. We've also helped them with weeding a few times and we hope to continue this over the summer and add more volunteers once the school year begins. Yay! This has been a longtime prayer and desire of our group to get out in the community and serve, and God opened the doors through the amazing Ms. Kleckova, the home's director. We're pictured above with Bonnie and Jon's intern team.

weddings and loveisintheairrrr

2010-06-18T12:05:00.003+02:00

The Dicksons: May 16. Dania getting into the vintage Skoda. Even though it rained like mad that day, we partied like it was 1999. Later that night, the newlyweds, Lucka, Jitka and I all got stranded in the middle of a flooded field. Wish I had a picture of that.

The Nevrelas: Tomas and Lucka got married the next weekend--super fun and joyful. Yay! And more weddings to come this fall :)

very important peeps: secret identity overnight 4/23-24

2010-06-18T11:22:00.009+02:00

Hayley getting a hand massage from Irca and Eva. The first night, Amy challenged us to think about how we form our identity--by what we hear from others, media, friends? Is that who we really are or who we should be? We had discussion groups and one girl later confided that she'd never thought about these things before and that the talk and discussion "hit the nail on the head" for her. Then we spa-ed it up with massages, facials, a lots of laughing.

Zombie Kakushe and Martina attacking Gabi, the original VIP.

Breakfast--Jane (Naomi's mom) and Milena (Bara's mom) graciously agreed to take care of meals for the weekend. The teaching was powerful for them, too.

Amy teaching, Lydia translating. Amy talked about how God sees us and who we are in His eyes, and then read Max Lucado's You Are Special--that book makes me cry every time! At the very end we wrote encouragement notes to each other.

Eva and her small group. What a great weekend! We got closer to each other and the Lord, and many of us began to see the promised land--living in the freedom and security of God's deep love for us, regardless of appearance, performance, personality... :)

missionaries from CZ

2010-04-05T11:48:00.004+02:00

I met Natalka at Cesky Tesin camp in 2005. After the summer she contacted me about giving her brother English lessons, and both of them ended up coming to English Club. Around that time my friend Zuzka approached me about leading a Bible study together, and Natalka came to that. Because she was from a village she usually came early and stayed the night (with her crazy cousin Ania :). Natka became one of my favorite people. The next year, the two of us led a Bible study together and she started co-leading her church's junior high youth group and discipling girls in her village.

When she graduated high school in 2007, she decided to go to a Bible college in Slovakia to study missions and continued to serve in her church. Last summer she went with OM (Operation Mobilisation) Now she's in the midst of writing her bachelor's thesis paper and raising support to be a missionary in Nepal for a year. Her steadfast love for Christ, uncomplaining, sweet spirit and passion for discipleship will make her as fruitful among the orphanages and remote mountains of Nepal as she has been in Terlicko. If you have any interest in supporting Natalka Fojcikova, please click HERE!

VIP weekend: secret identity/skrytá identita

2010-04-03T16:50:00.004+02:00

When: April 23-24, 4pm-4pm
Where: the Koebels' in Milonovice
Who: all the Strakonice holky PLUS Amy and Hayley from CT!
Whuh: It stinks when someone disses your ensemble, or when you find yourself in the midst of crappy gossip (either on the giving or receiving end), or when everyone around you is always better than you...who doesn't want to rise above all that, to be happy about who you are and to stop competing with others? Discover the VIP within!

...all the single ladies...JV sl retreat 3.23-27...

2010-04-03T14:49:00.008+02:00

Who doesn't love food? Especially when Cari and Laurie D. are cooking, and everyone's talking talking talking...thank you Laurie A. for finding this amazing house in Alferton, England.

Brit and Laura taking advantage of the perks. And there was a trampoline out back too!

Daniela and Lucka and me! I love these ladies. Dania's leaving the SL ranks May 16th for wedded bliss, so I'm glad we got this last hurrah. :)

Class of 2010. Right. But that's some sweet wallpaper, huh?

Just for the record--I hate single's stuff. I don't even like Kraft singles (not to be all eurosnob but is that dairy? for real) Maybe it is snobbery...I don't like admitting I have special needs, or that I'm weird. I'm weird enough anyway: the minute I open my mouth people hear my accent/I'm 35 and look much younger/I'm allergic to apples (I know right)/I'm on this comedic plane that baffles the average person. No, that's not true, that's just what I tell myself when I'm the only one laughing at my own wit. *sigh*

Anyway, I wasn't laughing when I heard that there would be a single women's retreat this year. My reaction was "Nobody better friggin' tell me how great it is to be single." Really--I know how great it is to be single. I live it. I'm daily thankful for the amount and flexibility of time I have, for freedom from care and responsibility, for being able to do what I want, when I want...I serve, I travel, I have people over, get to read books and, you know, don't get woken up at nights by someone crying. I know I have a lot to be thankful for...I just don't want to be told that I do.

This retreat wasn't about singleness, thankfully. Two women from the US came and taught us about coaching (click here for more) and had individual coaching sessions with us. Guess what the core of some of my problems ended up being? Mmmm, singleness. Ohhh, the irony. Like I said, I appreciate the benefits of being just me, but it still chafes. Sometimes I worry about what people think about me, what's going to happen when I'm 60, and mostly I worry that the freedom from responsibility becomes irresponsibility. I worry about that a lot. I also crave family and a certain type of companionship that you just can't make happen. In this area, like no other, I am helpless.

But not hopeless. The awkwardness, the loneliness, the fears--in all that there's a call to something more: higher living, purer sacrifice and deeper love. I am a long way off, but the strains are wafting down...something like Psalm 16, something like Hosea 2, something like an invitation to great joy.

Yesterday was Good Friday. At small group we talked about Jesus, free will (God never forces us to be with him--neither in this life or the next) and I realized again how Jesus decided to love us, decided to be tortured and die for us. If he can decide that, I can decide to let my life be poured out however and for whomever he sees fit.

a few of my favorite things

2010-02-13T10:31:00.005+01:00

Elements grrrrls: me, Zuzka, Martina, Naomi, Sabca, Bara (not pictured: Kakushe, Alca, Eva, Leni, Lucka... :) In November we started going through JV's Elements study, designed for new believers (it's excellent and free--click HERE). These small groups are my absolute most favorite thing ever forever. We have great discussions about the trinity, what it means to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, abortion, sin... We pray for each other and all of us, wherever we're at with the Lord, are learning a lot.

Honzimil and Maruska at New Year's. Both are part of the team that prepares Pisek's English Club and they rock. They're 9th graders and have recently come to faith and are blessings to serve with, because they're fun, humble, creative and faith-filled, along with the rest of the team (Buna, Verca, Martina and sometimes mr. :)

Another one of my favorite things is a good party. Above is a party thrown by Kakushe for her younger brother's 8th birthday. I think parties are a super important part of ministry--it's a joy for me to provide a safe place where people's needs are met (food, acceptance, connection, laughter, etc) and where we can share the light of Christ. And where we can play with the whoopee cushion Jachym (in the front with the monkey around his neck) got for his birthday (hence the plugged noses).

English Winter Camp 2009

2010-02-09T16:36:00.006+01:00

Winter English Camps are always fun, but this one was special. Again--I know I say this every year--it's not fun to travel 7+ hours Dec 26th to end up in cold cabin for 5 days, BUT at the end it's ALWAYS worth it. Big thanks to Nicole (4th from L) who came all the way from Elgin to help teach English and be with people...and a special thank you to Tammy (2nd from L) who came from Western Bohemia to help too. :)

Jana, Eva and Jozef acting out the parable of the unmerciful servant. Eva co-lead--for the first time--this camp with Jozef and did an awesome job taking responsibility and giving her evening talk.

Zuzka, Houba!, Iva...winter camp gives us the chance to catch up with students who are either far away or too busy to be with us.

Hanicka, Kakushe, Gabi, Martina...we loooove these girls...

Martina, Zuzka and me in the kitchen. So, the first 2 days we didn't have water at this cute little cottage and I was in charge of food. If you know me, you know that I like to be hygienic, and knowing how poorly washed the dishes were as well as having 25 people just going--you know--wherever outside, and that handwashing was a luxury...I got a little tense the second day. I'm thankful for clean running water. :) And that I don't have flies falling from my ceiling. And MOSTLY that EWC was a place for hearing and experiencing God.

a bit of a fulfillment of a vision...

2010-02-09T15:12:00.001+01:00

I continue to be a big fan of the women's ministry team here in Czech. This year, a team of 5 from Christ Community Church (IL) came to teach, serve, share for many women in Malenovice (above) and for several women in the S. Bohemia region. Sharon, the main speaker, shared how for her this was the fulfillment of a desire she's had for a long time. As a now retired counselor of 25 years and a frequenter of Czech, she's wanted to see more Christan counseling in this part of the world. January 8-10 she and the team helped Czech women get some of the basics so they can help each other. This weekend many women learned how to listen actively and empathetically, how to ask good questions, confront in love, be a safe person, etc. May the fruit multiply!

Why Europe Rocks #...uhhh...

2010-02-09T14:51:00.005+01:00

Europe...EUROPE! We live in EU-ROPE!!!!

Kim, Lucka, Lauree, Leah, Katka, Emily all went to Milan, Italy to celebrate Katka and Kim's 30th birthdays and Leah's 35th. Thanks Wizz Air for super cheap tickets! No thanks to border control, though. We're missing Autumn who was "detained" in Poland because she didn't have her passport and we tried to get her into Italy. Epic fail, as the kids today say. :(

What a charming cafe in Italy, it inspres me to poetry: "Scusa mi? Table fee? I don't understand, what sayeth thee?" Ba-Boom, 2 euros a person and the little baby cans of coke were like, 5 euros. Questo e un plagio

The eventide brought with it lighter hearts, Autumn's release from the Polish foreign police (it's a long story) as well as a 7 euro all you can eat buffet. Oh, the tales that were told 'round that table...

Answer: Lauree. Question: Who would survive the longest as a homeless person? To save money, we slept at the Milan airport while waiting for our morning flight. Lauree kept us well supplied with cardboard mats/blankets and waited till the wee hours to get pole position on some benches. Milan was great, but this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Love you ladies!

Let there be men in 2010

2010-02-09T13:00:00.002+01:00

Since 2006, Lucka and I have formulated marital vision statements for each new year. Obviously, they're really working out for us. But we are still hopeful, well, until right this very second. I just googled "men in 2010" and know what came up?

Huh? Men in 2010? No no no noooooooo. Luc, this does not bode well for us...

as you go...

2009-12-09T11:53:00.008+01:00

Lydia, Eva and Naomi
In the great commission, Matthew 28:18-20, there are actually two imperative commands: "make disciples" and "lo." ("Lo" isn't in the NIV but is in the original.) In the English version, it looks like "go" is the command, but it's actually a verb tense that's more like "as you go." One thing that our Strak team has been praying for and working on is making disciples as we go: pulling people close, speaking and reading the Word, praying, living life with Christ together. As you probably know, making disciples can be exhilarating, difficult, painful, time consuming, fun, intense.

That's part of why the "lo" is so important. Lo means behold, look, see...it's as if Jesus is saying, "Look at me, I'm with you--you're not alone and I'm all powerful." Please pray for us, to have our eyes fixed on Christ and draw on His energy.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely [lo! Look!] I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -Jesus Christ.

make new friends/but keep the old/

2009-12-06T11:41:00.003+01:00

one is silver and the other's gold/
Eva and Kaja during a sleep over. Kaja went to the same school as Naomi and since camp this summer has been a sunny part of our gang :).

Naomi, Hanicka, Alca (plus "Bonus" the baby!), Sabina and Eva at our ongoing VIP parties, every other Sunday evening. Girls only, hahahahaaaaa...

Jozef, Leni, Jura, Martina and Bara during an after camp scavenger hunt. Leni is a dear old friend, and her extra fun classmate Martina has fit right in--it feels like we've known her forever...and Bara is an amazing young woman, kind and brave.

Old friends Martin and Martin at the Pisek Thanksgiving party. We love these guys!

life after camp

2009-12-04T15:11:00.009+01:00

English Club Strakonice! Every Monday night, we get together at my apartment for a few hours and play games, speaka Englisha and, um, eat and talk. It's super cool, as you can see by our fashionista selves. Special guest: Autumn! New words: apron, pony tail holder, skinny jeans. New friends: Steevee, Paja, Pavlina, Bara, Martina. Old friends: Naomi, Leni, Pavel, Jozef.

During "mafia" English club. Special guests: Klara B, Matt from Colorado and the Cherry Hills team! New words: vendetta, bribe, cigar.

English club in Pisek, every Wednesday at 5pm. Here old friends Marcel, Misa and I discuss the finer points of the past perfect case. Just kidding, we're either talking about Marcel's coin collection or Misa's recent trip to the States. I adore those guys. :)

MultiCamp, somewhere by Val Mez, 10.28-31

2009-12-04T13:31:00.007+01:00

...above: part of the English Camp part of MultiCamp...
It was a little strange for me to get used to the idea of teaching English at a camp for Christians, but being at MultiCamp was great. Seeing youth emcee, lead, and speak during the weekend made me so happy! Young leaders are inspiring.

The overall theme of the camp was relationships, and hearing different speakers preach transformation and not conformity or coping was refreshing. You don't even have to work with young people to know that matters of the heart are where battles for the whole person are fought. I can't tell you how many stories I've heard here of suicides due to rejection and pain from relationships...or stories of students walking away from the Lord because of boy/girlfriends...or sexual sin robbing them of peace, faith, hope. Over 100 students heard daily about biblical issues like respect, boundaries, communication, etc, springing from a heart filled by the Lord...yessss...!

Kolin, baby, Kolin!

2009-12-04T11:44:00.005+01:00

It's pretty amazing to be able to do this in public schools. Exit Tour happens in local high schools as a prevention program, during the day there are seminars about drugs, smoking, sex, aids and relationships, World War II, cults, English, etc. Students are then invited to programs that local youth groups put on in the afternoons and the whole thing culminates in a weekend rock concert where they share the gospel. Above, playing a name game during the English seminar before moving into the "Reality Show Challenge."

Kakushe (red hair, black shirt, center) and Eva (red shirt, thumbs up, right) and I went to Kolin to help out with the Exit Tour for a few days at the end of October. Our part of the Tour was helping with the English/American seminar: translating and beefing up the Kolin youth groups. I'm so proud of Kakush and Evi for the way they served and loved the students. It's pure joy for me to be their friend and co-laborer. Above is the Exit take on "Project Runway."

Dizmas and us. A big part of it is DIZMAS (click here for more!) a rock band all the way from Cali spend a few months in Czech. They play in schools during the day (see video below), in the city at night and share Jesus Christ always.

Lauree, Becca, Daniela...some of the team that make Exit Tour possible. I love you ladies!

Střední odborná škola informatiky a spojů, Kolín - akce EXIT TOUR

2009-11-07T13:15:00.001+01:00

Exit Tour in Kolin!

what has been up

2009-09-25T13:06:00.009+02:00

Girl par-tay, girl par-tay...Kaakushe, Zuzka and Gabi modeling and making potato pancakes. They were super good, especially with stinky-butt cheese and sauerkraut. At camp this year we got to know some super cool people and are thankful to be friends.

Our JV Czech team (Kam) team building before JV fall conference officially began. [Author's note, I spelled "officially" 5 times before I got it rite. Write. Right.]

The Kam team in all it's beauty. At JV fall conference this year there were about 150 of us from 9 countries, and I would guess the median age to be about 22. What a joy to see so many national young leaders soaking up great teaching, encouraging and inspiring each other, and playing Estonian kiss tennis (yep, not a typo).

Right after Fall Conference, we from South Bohemia drove right to our English Camp Revival weekend and had a blast doing skits, singing [ha! Today really is typo day, I wrote "sinning"--and I just spelled "typpo"--ahahaha!] dancing, playing games...and we had great discussions. The Lord is soooo faithful to continue what he's begun in young people's lives! Above: Martketa, Paja, Verca and Karolina.

Pavel and Kaakushe as Mach and Sebestova. I wish I could explain it... :)

Strakonice Camp 2009... !!!

2009-09-11T13:41:00.002+02:00

The whole camp--ahhhh! I love these guys! This year's camp was a great mix of core students, old friends and a bunch of new faces.

Kaakushe and Ondra being cute.

We had reps from 3 different rock bands at camp so one night was a big concert...shown here is HI (aka, Hide Behind History) feat Naomi, Martin (below), Vaca, Petr. Also playing were Corsaires and The Average.

Dan tries Martin's emo rock star style...almost, Daniel, almost.

the AVERAGE

2009-09-11T13:40:00.000+02:00

Follow up, Strak style

2009-09-11T13:34:00.000+02:00

After the big follow up party Sunday evening after church, we had a kidnapping mystery game. Lisa and the winning team of babes! From the left: Martina, Eva, Lisa, Gabi, Megan, Peta.

Jon, Luke and Dan show that they're tuff enuff even with Luke's busted arm. (Busted during the afore-mentioned game). Follow up can be ruff, boyz!

Monday night after the official end of follow up, unofficial follow up was still going strong--here's Nik and the ladies hanging out at our fave restaurant "By the Pope."

I miss you team hotness

2009-09-11T13:33:00.000+02:00

Dan. Lisa, Martin, me, Nik--after Strak camp and follow up, after debriefing in Prague (as shown) they all flew back to school and I somehow try to continue life without them. *sigh* They served faithfully, full on, tirelessly and funily (?). I still laugh when I think about Lisa pretending to be Jola, Dan quoting anyone, Nik being Ol Gregg, Martin being Scottish...o, the memories!

Yeah!

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #41

2009-09-11T13:21:00.000+02:00

Sharing Europe with loved ones...!!!! Bex and Em came for 11 days of fun and food and travel and it was such a rich time--I love you and miss you ladies!

Bex in the Alps by Salzburg.

Bex and Em by the Charles bridge in front of Prague castle.

Me and Em being cool in Vienna.

Rollin with my homies in Strakonice!

One of Emily's many wins in the food dept. How come she got that and I got pickled hot dogs with onions?

Cesky Tesin Camp 2009!

2009-07-30T22:44:00.009+02:00

This was a sweet camp--it was so good to be with the old gang again...

...and what a blessing to serve with the new gang--in two years some great students came to faith and have added a lot of love and energy to the Cesky Tesin youth group. Above Terka, Vita and Hannah set the stage for a skit before evening program.

The extended intern team (missing Lauree our greatest rockstar): Dan, Martin, Lisa, Naomi, Lydia, Leah, Nik, Eva. Three of our Strakonice foxes came to Cesky Tesin camp to serve with our team.

Making disciples who make disciples...Dee, Lisa and Eva (with Martin being a bit creepy in the background).

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #40

2009-07-30T22:28:00.000+02:00

Seen in a restroom in Budapest--nuff said.

I am somebody...

2009-07-11T18:15:00.004+02:00

One of the staples of camp are these kinda lame (sorry, but let's be real) songs we sing with motions. Even though they're over 10 (15?) years old, I will always love them for the lyrics: "I am somebody/because God loves me/I'm accepted/just the way that I am/His love is higher, deeper and wider/than you or I could ever understand." Word.

Ceske Budejovice English Camp 2009

2009-07-11T18:03:00.005+02:00

My crazy class! John Paul, Marek, Maca, Matej, Sam and the girls: Mira, Eliska, me, Tyna. We had vigorous discussions about animal sacrifice, dinosaurs and creation, free will and Jesus' deity. And we do some great "Taxi Driver" skits.

Marek and Karol, looking thoughtful. This year at camp we are presenting the gospel in the context of the whole Bible by following God's redemptive arc through creation, the flood, the prophets and patriarchs ad finally Jesus and his church. It's definitely challenging for the students (and the leaders) but it's also been good to know that they've really heard the full gospel.

Bara, me, Sarka. The younger members of the CB ministry team did an amazing job of sharing Christ with their friends over meals and late night talks. Praise God!!!

introducing: the interns! and colors the ball

2009-07-11T17:45:00.004+02:00

Nik: 21, from Ohio, engaged to Minda and is majoring in youth ministry at Moody Bible Institute. Likes shopping, quoting Bon Qui Qui, ear candles and teasing. Dislikes Indian food, wasting time and mornings.

Dan: 21, from Wheaton IL, footloose and fancy free and also a Moody youth min major. Likes telling stories, speaking Czech, saying "No no no," singing and playing Carcassone. Dislikes having his toothbrush dropped in the toilet, nasal congestion and flakiness.

Lisa: 21, dating and is an el ed major from AZ. Likes running, sound effects, affection, chocolate and muesli. Dislikes unkindness, uptightness and too much white bread.

Martin: 21, from Blatna CZ studies IT in Scotland. Likes his super old Audi, all things Lonsdale, soccer, saying stuff with a Scottish accent and playing the recorder. Dislikes being teased about all the hearts he breaks, that MJ is has passed on and the food at Avia.

Leah: 34, from Davenport IA but lives in Strakonice CZ. Likes laughing loudly, clean floors, coffee talks, foreign food and dancing. Dislikes unresolved conflict, boring details and bad smells.

the month in review: june

2009-06-28T00:37:00.012+02:00

Holy cats.
So, the summer interns arrived on May 27th and life hasn't been the same since. The first thing we did was our JV version of the Amazing Race:

In Budapest acting out Batman. We also ate nasty super spicy pumpkin soup, balanced bats in front of a cathedral, interacted with carnies in Vienna. Highlight: hitchhiking in Slovakia.

The team! Nik, Dan, Lisa and me. Martin at this point is still finishing up school in Scotland. Highlights so far: sharing our testimonies, our 2 Corinthians study and our little vacation in Pavlov.

After a pretty intense week of intern training, my team and I hit the streets of Ceske Budejovice, Strakonice and Cesky Tesin doing:

School visits! Inviting students to camps and teaching conversational English in area high schools. Highlight: meeting Ewa Farna at the Polish HS in Tesin. As one boy told us "She's the Czech Hannah Montana." Or Avril Lavigne. Czech her out here

Manual labor! I love it! Here Eva joined us in Cesky Tesin and helped clean the youth leader's new apartment. Highlight: feeling good :).

Hanging out with students and youth groups! Here we are playing the monster game in Strakonice...

...and in Ceske Budejovice playing Jitka's foot game. Highlights: Carcassone with Dominik and the gang tonight, Nik falling into a ditch, meeting a girl who draws amazing anime, The Average concert at the Rokac...it's been so rich

Another fun thing we do is getting to know the people we'll be serving with at camps. Here, we're with Bonnie and Jon's team and part of the Strak team at the Strakonice castle after church last Sunday. Highlight: Kaakushe acting out Harry Potter and me thinking it's Star Wars. Generation gap?

Next week camps begin! This June has flown by, but it feels like eons since we picked up all the interns at the airport. I'm so thankful that we are on the same team and have gotten to live a lot of life together these past weeks. Today we washed windows at our church and hung out with some of the Strakonice gang. Tomorrow we'll go to church, take the train across the country for our work project. Tuesday begins US camp team training for our first camp, Ceske Budejovice, which starts on Saturday. Bring on July!

English Camps a-comin'

2009-05-23T15:34:00.004+02:00

...and so are the summer interns! This Wednesday everyone joins up in Vienna to begin the Amazing Race that leads us into intern training at Malenovice. EEEEE!!!

Southwestern Bohemia Youth Conference 2009

2009-05-23T15:08:00.002+02:00

Youth groups and individuals from at least 4 different denominations and several cities in this region came together for a weekend of worship, teaching, community service and hanging out May 3-5. The last night David Novak (a denominational youth leader) challenged us to come to Jesus and drink of the living water. At the front of the stage were pitchers of water and glasses and students went and drank as a symbol of taking a step of faith to receive from the Lord. Young people gave their lives to Christ and rededicated themselves to the Lord that evening, it was beautiful!

Eva Eve: Pisek Girls’ Weekend, April 24-25

2009-05-23T15:04:00.006+02:00

We ate, we talked, we threaded beads, we danced around a firepit--pretty much your typical weekend de la femme.

But what was so special about this weekend was that the age range was toddler to grandma; finally generations got to mix it up, hear each others' stories and encourage each other. Sweet times!

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #39

2009-05-23T14:28:00.006+02:00

The Unbearable Uncertainty of Public Transportation

Monday, May 18

5:10--Emily and I leave apartment
5:30--get on bus to Jihlava
8:35--miss first bus, stay on bus, decide to catch bus from Brno, have a hot dog for breakfast with Klara
9:45--miss second bus
10:16--miss train
11:00--get into Brno, have to wait for next train which will get in at 13:47. Czech Embassy closes at 14:00. I call the number I have to see if they'll wait for us--the lady on the other end is not helpful.
12:16--get on train to Bratislava
13:35--call Autumn who's already there. She says she has to return to the Embassy in a half hour for her visa and will wait for us.
14:00--train gets in, Em and I run to the taxi.
14:15--Autumn, Emily and I all meet at the front door of the Embassy. Autumn gets her passport with visa and I beg the lady to please let Em and I get our visas. She's all smiles and helps us. !!!
14:40--say HI to Laura and run to take taxi to train station
15:00--get on train to Prague
22:30--arrive home to Strakonice! With our visas!!!

2009-04-30T22:39:00.001+02:00

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2009-04-30T21:31:00.001+02:00

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youth groove and gettin our camp on

2009-04-08T17:46:00.000+02:00

Our new and improved Strakonice youth team! Jozef (not a cannibal) and Dominik; me, Kaakushe, Alca and Eva. I love these guys!!!

Part of our 2009 Strakonice English camp team: Dominik, Jozef, Kaakushe, Naomi, Jakub, Alca and me (with Nate and Jitka in the bkgd)

Ondra vs. mr.--the birthday party

2009-04-08T14:05:00.009+02:00

The boys' birthday youth group--the intro to Ondra's song for Marcel. Smile Marcel!

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #38

2009-04-08T13:38:00.006+02:00

breakin' the law, Euro style: Michelle and me

Rumor has it that when the Obamas were in Prague this past weekend, Michelle caused a stir by not wearing nylons. Ha! Oh, Michelle, I know, I know. I personally hate nylons and cannot tell you how many times I've been called out for having bare legs during the spring or fall. When Monika got married, I went sans nylons and a Cesky Tesin granny touched my calves and said, "Dzuszko, kai mosz silonky?" ("Little daughter, where are your nylons?")

Michelle also got busted for hugging the queen of England. While I've never hugged royalty, I have MANY times hugged the wrong people and created awkward scenes. Like the time I hugged my new pastor, or a student's mom, or a teacher I worked with, an English student, uh...I dunno, I like people, I get caught up in the moment, I hug, I'm American and I'm Leah so, yeah, hugging. I would probably also hug the queen if we were talking about shoes and being girly like that.

JV Ladies 09

2009-03-26T14:03:00.006+01:00

Before the conference, I was feeling like a little butter spread over a big piece of bread (to paraphrase Bilbo Baggins--is it weird how often LOTR comes up in this blog?) I hadn't been so busy, but was still feeling worn. Spending time with women who understand meant sooooo much to me. Thank you Kristy (above, sharing about her life) for great talks!

And thank you Cassie (the foxy blonde sitting next to me) for serious encouragement. Between late night talks with Cass and the amazing teaching from Joyce and Jerri, I felt like a new lady by the time I left.

One of the tamer pictures: Amy, Lisa and Laura competing during game night. Believe it or not, we all got a little wild that evening...even missionary ladies need to let off steam sometimes, ahahhaaahhhhaaaa! :)

Mmmm, guilt.

2009-03-26T13:00:00.000+01:00

Jerri to Joyce: are you wearing that?

I feel guilty most of the time. I have this idol in my head of "perfect Leah," she looks kinda like Jesus and kinda like me; she says and does what the perfect missionary/discipler/friend/servant/daughter/etc says and does. She's hard to please. When I don't do what she wants, I whip myself and bring her the guilt offerings she requires: more props, more time, more energy. She's a--you know. Jerk. But bowing before her is as natural as the most comfortable outfit.

At our JV conference, my eyes were opened thanks to Joyce, Jerri (above) and the Holy Spirit (all around). It's so simple, you know, taking off the old nature, our "old clothes," and being clothed with Christ. Duh, right? But when you've got on, say, an ick lavender outfit (above) you've worn forever, or guilt that has been your favorite sweatshirt for years, it's hard to do without. But that week I took it off--the guilt sweatshirt that actually binds like a straight jacket--and pray that I'll keep it off.

The real Lord Jesus (not the one who looks too much like me, small and petty with a beard) came and kicked my idol away. Literally kicked it, with his big bare foot. And he said, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ" and gave me a new sweatshirt of righteousness. It feels great and looks much better: like peace and confidence and outward-focused love.

My hand still reaches for the old guilt, though. I put it on the other day and donned it again this morning. And took it off. And lifted my eyes higher to see the real Lord.

us 3

2009-03-26T12:58:00.001+01:00

These girls are so great! I love being involved in their lives and am encouraged by their faith and service here--yay Emily and Autumn!!!

Autumn's here!

2009-03-26T12:53:00.006+01:00

...and is making tea. :) Autumn is started her 2 year term as a missionary March 5th and is studying Czech, serving in Vysoke Myto part time, and living with Emily and I part time. Originally from Chicagoland, Autumn is 27 and lived here for a year 2 years ago, and helped with Exit Turbo. We're excited she's back!

Emily's here!

2009-03-05T00:08:00.007+01:00

Yay! Dear Emily K. flew in February 16th from sunny CA to serve in Czech until the end of the summer. She's newly 21, has a rad laugh, is brave and loves the Lord like crazy. And she speaks Czech like crazy, too.

Ha! Maybe you can't tell, but her accent is really good. Emily will be serving in Cheb (like 3 hours west of here) during the weekends and also doing a day in Ceske Budejovice. I'm so excited to have her here; we all are!

to the JLP from Czech with fondness

2009-03-04T12:28:00.004+01:00

I have a few addictions: coffee, pleasant smells, Full House and the John Larroquette Project. The first three are rather obvious, but some of you may not know about the JLP. It's this blog by a friend of my kins, and it makes me laugh out loud--well, sometimes it doesn't, but if JLP ever fails there're always the comments. Sometimes the adjectives are disturbing (like "supple") and sometimes the content is uncomfortable (like, animal hoarders) and sometimes you can find the a*word and sometimes he goes on about music that I haven't heard of, but overall I laugh just as much as I do at the antics of Stephanie and Kimmie Gibbler.

The reason why I'm writing this is because of a project we're doing for the upcoming JV Ladies retreat, to quote: "We will provide pretty A4 (that’s just regular sized European copier paper for those of you who may not know) sized notebooks for each of you, and we would like to fill it with something that you want to share with your friends. It could be:

A few new recipes that you’ve been enjoying
Some thoughts from a Bible study you’ve done recently
A Bible study that perhaps you’ve written and would like to share
A list of cool websites that you like to frequent
...
Money saving tips
Your favorite list of songs/artists/movies"

A cool website? Dy-no-mite. And then I knew I had to share the joy of JLP, specifically, the Michael Landon post. I tried to contact the author, but to no avail, so if you see him, could you please tell him that I properly cited JLP and am spreading glad feelings to missionary ladies all over central Europe?

life begetting life

2009-02-10T13:48:00.010+01:00

4.C's senior prom! This year some of our core students are graduating (Kaakushe, Eva, Jana)...they've come a long way, baby, from cute, sometimes silly 16 year olds to beautiful, wise 19 year olds who influence others for good.

Jana (14) reading Ephesians at a sleep over sponsored by the aforementioned Kaakushe and Evicka (see that good influence?)

Kaakushe's band Average and their first performance at a village pub. Fun times were had by all and Jesus even came up in conversation.

Iva, like a spravna Krestanka, brings her Czech and English Bible to small group. I wish you all knew Iva and the young women in our group, they rock--they serve our youth group like crazy, love the Lord and go through tough situations with faith. Growing with them is a privilege.

Why 34 Rocks

2009-02-07T17:22:00.005+01:00

Okay, here's the thing. We only have so much time on this earth and birthdays are a definite marker of the end advancing. Sorry, but it's true. At a certain age we start evaluating: am I happy? Am I who I want to be, who I should be? Am I achieving what I want, does my life have meaning, am I going the right way, etc...I think for some of us these questions start around the late 20s, and by the time we're into our thirties we're feeling the answers (or lack thereof) with more weight. It's still not too late to change course, but the fact is that we've already made many of those big choices and are living them out.

When I was about 27, I remember waking up one morning with this strong sense of my path diverging from everyone else's. Dana had 2 kids and was really a mom, and I was getting closer to 30 with no prospects in sight, and for sure no motherhood in sight. Of course, my dear sister isn't necessarily "everyone else," but you know that feeling probably. Like everyone's still on the highway and you're taking this exit that you're not sure you want to.

When I turned 30, I wasn't excited about it. You know what helped? Two things: Anastacia and Connie. Anastacia the singer. I heard that Anastacia said that she loved her thirties because she feels more confident in who she is. For some reason that struck me. Then, Connie and I once prayed together about me being who I am, a woman and not a girl. That was an important turning point for me, and I felt like I could totally let go of my 20s and embrace--not just endure--my 30s.

And it's true, what Anastacia said. I feel like my 20s were a lot about figuring out who I am: what's my personality, who are my friends, who am I in ministry. My thirties are--so far--about if this life I lead matters, what are my priorities, how can I pour my self out for the greater good, for God's glory. I wonder sometimes if I'm doing it right, if my life is too irresponsible--I don't own anything, my mvp is this 5 year old mac with Runaway Bride stuck in the dvd player--and I'm not trying to advance professionally or anything. But I DO have this strong sense of call that supersedes even my harshest criticism. In the middle of tension, doubt, restlessness remains a core of peace and joy. And that, my friends, is why 34 rocks.

Saturday

2009-02-02T16:14:00.004+01:00

I woke up before my alarm but didn't get up. Martina, visiting from Pisek and sleeping on the couch bed, got up and started getting ready. I was kinda sleeping, kinda thinking--I'm not going to the wedding, but not on purpose, kind of on accident, er, default, really. But I have a date with Mrs. Bělohubá and for some reason spending an hour of so with her every few weeks is of great importance. The wedding is too, but...I didn't wanna cancel. (I hate it when I so willingly follow the path of least resistance.) I got up and talked to Martina while she did my dishes. She assured me that it's normal here to buy deodorant and body spray for someone else as a gift. Autumn woke up, Martina left to get ready for the wedding and I asked her to hug the bride for me. Feeble. I got ready, went to town to mail cards and buy the birthday present. As I sped through the park I thought about Jesus, that he really is with me, even though the gray sky wants to blot out hope. The post office took forever, but I saw a girl from the high school, whose name I can't remember. She said she's going to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday and made him a cake--she had a picture on her phone, it was shaped like, uh, breasts--I sent off my stuff and raced back home to bake brownies for Mrs. B. I thought, if she's not there, if she forgot, maybe I would get a ride with Alca and Martin to the wedding. Five after 11, I grabbed the pan from the oven and took the whole thing, oven mitts and all, to the lunch.

Mrs. Bělohubá lives about 5 minutes from me and two houses down from her son. I found this out one day when I was visiting her before an English lesson and forgot which of the identical buildings her house is in. I'd rung her son's bell accidentally. He'd set me straight, and I'd wondered what he thought about me visiting his mom. But today and I got it right the first time and Mrs. B was there, even shorter than I remembered and wearing purple plaid on top and red & white plaid on the bottom, so cute. We use the informal form with each other, at her request, but the formal jumps to my mouth first. Today we talked about my new roommates, the Quad Cities, my family--I tried to explain that my sister works for facebook, but it sounded like Bex's a cosmotologist. Mrs. B is 82 and tack sharp, she speaks German and English. She got married at 34 "or 35." When I asked her if it was hard to wait that long she said, "Wait? I was too busy to get married before then." A year and a half ago her husband and her best friend died. We watched a Slovak Catholic TV program and I got teary when they were talking about poverty in Cuba. I like to hug Mrs. B, she totally reminds me of my Grandma C. I think that's actually why I started to cry.

After lunch I came back and talked to Autumn, messed around online and walked through the drizzle to take the train to dance club. Strakonice skies. Sometimes I get angry at those skies, so dull and draining. On the train, I thought about the wedding and a conversation I had with my dad once. "Distractions, everyone has to have a distraction--it's all about distracting ourselves from the reality of life." My dad's pretty philosophical. "Uh huh." "Even religion can be a distraction, Leah." "What if religion is the reality?" I'd asked. But I think about that. Sometimes my "religion" does distract me, or can, I guess. Staring out the dingy train window at the dingy landscape, I thought about that can of Adidas spray I bought. Did third world child laborers made the plastic lid? How many years it will take to decompose? What if I started composting? I had an urge to beat this reality with my hand until it shatters...and then slowly...

...what if the reality of life is a distraction, distracting us from glory? I suddenly wanted to scratch away the film with my nail, scratch away the train window, the rain, the dirt. Under that, Reality revealed: glowing forms having their being in the one holding it all together, thrilling battles being fought over the unsuspecting, like that kid listening to his mp3 player, everything pulsing with a light more sunny than the sun. Should I shake that kid, "Hey! Do you know you're eternal?"

Walking to dance club, I smiled at thoughts of the temporal nature of the temporal world. And started praying.

Dance Camp! Dec 25-29

2009-01-01T14:17:00.007+01:00

HSMIII! Yep, at this camp we worked on a dance that David (left) choreographed based on the song "A Night to Remember." In the evenings, elders from our church (who also all happened to be dads of our students) came and talked about leading double lives, dealing with temptation, following Christ selflessly...it was amazing how each night hit us right where we live. I'm praying for lasting fruit from things realized and decisions made.

Kaakushe, Hanicka and Danka being cute. In addition to dancing, we filmed Czech Butcher IV, which is a Dance Camp tradition to make a cheesy horror film parody where everybody dies. Hanicka and Danka's scene, playing up their blondeness, was so funny--these crazy girls added a lot to the camp.

Kaakushe, Naomi, Terka and I. I got to know some of the Pisek kids (like Terka) a lot better that camp, and I'm so glad...their depth and humor made hauling myself from northeastern Czech to a southwestern village the day after Christmas totally worth it.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T13:58:00.006+01:00

Czech Christmas, celebrated on the 24th with Lucka's family and Erin. Being with the Zagoras is almost like being with my own, except my family doesn't sing Polish hymns and my dad doesn't play the cello. I'm so thankful for the love they show to me and how comfortable it is to hang out with them.

Fish soup, a Czech tradition. I don't know how Eva does it, but this soup is what I look forward to every Christmas, even though it's made from fish bits that no one can really explain.

The gang at the Ellenwoods. It was a great time of hanging out, eating, watching It's a Wonderful Life and talking about what we learned about Christ this past year.

More fish, but this time I took Dana's sushi-making skills with me to Mel and Amy's for US Christmas on the 25th. Merry Christmas!

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #37

2009-01-01T13:50:00.003+01:00

Christmas Vienna

goodbye girls

2009-01-01T13:26:00.005+01:00

Missy A and Great grand Bonnie during the the dysfunctional ESI family portrait. Who knew at the beginning how much we'd grow to love each other? Aubree, Bonnie and I are pretty different from each other, but these differences only made us stronger...not only as we served together and functioned as a body, but also our examples challenged each other to grow and expand in different areas.

In Prague with Jozef the night before the girls flew out. Jozef was a good friend to the girls and Bonnie's Czech teacher. (Fyi-that's not snow on the ground, it's feathers and stuffing from a massive pillow fight that took place on the Old Town Square before we got there.)

Lucka L and Aubree at the girls' going away party. Aubree has an amazing ability for connecting with students, she actively pursues them, connects them and brings fun and joy wherever she is. Her gift of hospitality resulted in dinner parties, hanging out and the rockin' Thaksgiving outreach. She's also an ace Bible study leader and blessed me continually with her knack for expressing deep truths with clarity and style. I love you Aubree!

Bonnie and Maruska at the same party. Bonnie is a faithful friend and impressed me with the way she deeply cared for some key young women. Her intentionality with sensitively confronting sin either in conversation or in her preaching/teaching is bearing much fruit, and her gift of preaching blessed us many times. Her creativity resulted in the super cool Halloween Murder Mystery outreach and random pranks. I love you Bonnie!

the rest of 2008

2009-01-01T12:57:00.001+01:00

JV Thanksgiving conference at Malenovice, right when I got back from the States.

The Thanksiving outreach the girls and Martina organized for our youth group--lots of new faces!

ESI (extended summer intern) debriefing in Vienna...thank you Boyz II Men for the following insight: "it's so hard--to say goodbye--to yesterday."

Iva, Klara, Bonnie, Martina, me and Aubree after our All Star Girls' Bible Study.

English Club in Pisek, every Tuesday evening at our church.

what the New Year may bring

2009-01-01T12:08:00.007+01:00

Lucka, Jitka and I in Croatia looking to the future

Okay, you probably don't know this, but Lucka and I have a little tradition for the past few years. It started around the turn of 2006, when (probably) we were sitting in our living room in good ol' Svibice lamenting over our unadorned left fingers. From this was born our vision for that year: "Two guys for us chicks in 2006." To make it official, we wrote it on a piece of paper and put it on the fridge.

However, 2006 went down into the dusty tomes of history with empty lines in the "love and dating" section (although, I think there were some entries in the "crushes that ended in heartbreak" section, but that's sealed :) With the advent of 2007 came the need for a renewed goal, because you know what the Bible says people perishing for lack of vision, though that may be taken a bit out of context. The next motto was: "We don't wanna wait till 2011, bring it on Lord in 2007." Alas, again the annals remained empty.

2008 was perhaps our best one yet, and this time it was a community effort even involving Bob and Super Jen, and Daniela and Jitka also adopted this motto as they saw fit: "He'll initiate in 2008--it'll be great." Although Luc and I did experience some initiating, it wasn't really, you know, and again nothing. But the motto became our byword for being patient, and I have nothing big to add in the heartbreak section.

This year's slogan was possibly the most difficult, not only because it stinks rhyming with "nine," but also because of some early discrepancies between Lucka's and my ideas. I was a stickler about wanting more than assonance and didn't want to use the word "time." "Give me a sign in 2009" was rejected because Luc wanted more than a sign and I have a high distrust of signs. "A ring will be mine in 2009" looked like it would win, except that neither one of us really thought that actual engagement was feasible this year. After the conference call that garnered much commentary on facebook, we quickly agreed on the following vision for this year...

"We'll be fine in 2009."

To all of my single sistahs out there, feel free to adopt this as your own, and may contentment and peace rule our hearts.

...California here I come...

2009-01-01T11:23:00.001+01:00

When my pumpkins flew out, I flew over to San Jose to spend the weekend with my sister Becks and Emily...it was amazing, you know, I wasn't tired or drained at all from the two weeks with the gang and felt only blessed...but when I got to San Jose, I started feeling even more blessed. Bex and Em had prepared a choose-your-own-adventure weekend, which was perfect because it gave me some ideas and freedom. I got to go to a paper warehouse sale in So San Fran, see gorgeous landscapes in SF galleries, eat Cuban food...and...

...jump for joy at the Full House park! Deej, Uncle Jesse, where were you? AND...

...run around with Yuki at the beach AND...

...go to the farmers' market, watch America's Next Top Chef and Wall-E, and generally be spoiled and have a great time with the girls. Thank you and I love you Bex and Em!

US Czech Invasion! Week 2: Chicago/land

2008-12-08T23:07:00.006+01:00

Iowa was about making new friends, but Chicago was about reuniting. The infamous Kevin Clark (on the right) joined the boys at Bonnie's house for a few days. Kevin makes everything better!

With the Moody gang at Starbucks. Even though we haven't seen them since early spring, everyone picked right back where they left off.

Jakub with his entourage at the Czech Thanksgiving party Christ Community Church hosted. CCC and my church Elim have a deep and long relationship that made being in the Elgin area meaningful. We received a lot of love from them!

With James and the Blanchard gang in the city. We miss you guys! If I could steal you back from the Ukraine I would (sorry Ben and Kristy...kinda).

JV's Vision Night in Chicago was big and beautiful, and I was blessed that AmyL, Super Jen and Bob, Aunt Sandy and birthday girl Laurie all came. I love you guys!

US Czech Invasion! Week 1: Iowa

2008-12-08T17:20:00.004+01:00

Wednesday at Davenport North HS. The girls' dreams came true in the cafeteria :)

Girls Only! Dana, Miriam, me, Lenka, Eva, Zuzka chillin after Dana threw all of us a faboo sushi party in Iowa City.

Eva and Karen by the Mississippi. Our host families were probably what meant the most to us. Karen and her roommates Kelly and Vanessa gave up their bedrooms and slept in the basement so that we could have comfort and privacy.

With Christiana and Lucka. Christiana and her boys housed our boys and she and Lucka hit it off right away at the party Community Christian Fellowship hosted for us. Thank you Christiana and thank you Karl and Patty and the gang at CCF!

Leni and Eva in the mighty Mississip. Now they all know--Iowa rocks.

...how it really was...

2008-12-08T13:49:00.005+01:00

I loved having these guys in the States with me.

Before all of this trip to America started, I was worried about some things: what if something bad happens, what if I have to lay down the smack, or we get sick of each other or they're bored or I get all crabby, or I make terrible decisions, or, or...nope. None of that happened. Actually, it was almost perfect--the only thing I would change is that I'd make sure we spent more time with our host families. Eva, Jozef, Jarda, Zuzka and Leni were respectful, kind and thankful--they enjoyed everything and tried everything (even sushi) and weren't afraid to help out or speak up (especially in public). I was proud to be a part of them there, and I'm glad for the special bond we now have.

Pure blessings all over!

Eva Eve: grrrls unite!

2008-10-27T13:46:00.010+01:00

Lucka and Aubree illustrating "Eve to Eve."

Kakushe leading one of the sessions about safe sex and abstinence. She did an amazing job teaching! Alca was the leader of the weekend, and she stepped into it so naturally and beautifully, like she was made for it. Our little team was a source of joy for all of us.

Naomi and Hanicka reading the book Eva Eve as part of one of the sessions. For some of the girls, it was the first time they heard that waiting until you're married to have sex is a viable option, and that sex is more than just a physical act. They were also encouraged to take a good look at how they value themselves and to start thinking seriously about their priorities. Even for the girls who don't believe, they experienced a different viewpoint and were positive and open. Thank you for praying!!!

my churchie

2008-10-14T20:42:00.000+02:00

10/12: Everyone chillin right before things got started at our first Sunday Strakonice Elim service. Jozef had a short devotional and Alca led worship.

During the break between worship and teaching. Martin taught about church as a family and our little group definitely felt like one. We'll meet like this once a month.

Our church, Elim Pisek. I became an official member on the 5th. :)

Kuba Jarda during his baptism service last Sunday in Pisek with our pastor Martin.

Tomas and Jura praying for Lukas during his baptism three weeks ago.

Exit Club 2008!

2008-10-14T18:43:00.007+02:00

Pavel leading our first Exit club. It's great to work with him and the new team: Eva, Dominik, Lucka L. (and Jozef and Alca).

Kakushe, Houba and Zuzka at last week's Exit. The theme, "speaking the truth in love," generated good discussion.

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #36

2008-10-14T18:23:00.005+02:00

Smart Europeans

Here Jozef is explaining something about something to Bonnie out of a geography book before Exit club started last week.

REAL CONVERSATION

Pavel: Do you know how to say "kamzik" in English?
Leah: No.
Alca: It's a small deer, it doesn't have antlers like this [shows antlers on head] but like this [different antlers on head]. It lives in the mountains.
Leah: I'm from Iowa.
Jozef: Well, I'm from Czech and I know about tigers.
Pavel: Maybe you just call it "little deer."
Alca: [after looking in a dictionary] Here it is, It's "chamois," have you heard of chamois?
Leah: Ha ha ha! Uh, maybe that's British English*
Alca: [reading] "In America, chami." Have you heard of chami?
Leah: ...

*The phrase "maybe that's British English" works like a dream in almost all situations, fyi.

Josiah Venture's 2x3 Campaign

2008-10-06T08:26:00.005+02:00

You are invited to JV's vision night! My Czech gang and I will be at the party in Peoria, IL on November 8th and on November 13th we'll be at the Oak Brook party. To RSVP, go here!

2x3 Campaign

2008-10-06T07:06:00.000+02:00

One Percent from Josiah Venture on Vimeo.

Getting their visas at the US Embassy in Prague...

2008-10-06T06:40:00.005+02:00

Finshing the application forms in an early morning McDonald's at the Novy Smichov mall.

After waiting in line, going through security, waiting, being questioned, they all got their visas--USA here we come! (Also with us: Zuzka and Leni's moms and Jarda's dad.)

We're goin' to America!

2008-09-23T14:56:00.004+02:00

Jakub, Zuzka, Leni, Evicka, me and Jozef in the front. Yeaaaaaaaah! Monday we go to the US Embassy in Prague to get their visas so we can all go to the States. We'll fly into O'Hare November 4th, go straight to Davenport and be there until Nov 10th whe we'll drive to Chicago and be in the Chicagoland area until they fly out on the 18th. I fly out on the 25th.

The purposes of our trip are the following:

*For their cultural and language education--this means stuff like sight seeing, and also I'd love for them to be able to experience US high schools and also to be able to volunteer at various places.

*For my US peeps to get to know some of our students and leaders! Many of you have been giving and praying for me and the ministry here, and I know sometimes it can be a little abstract, so I really want you, my dear friends and family, to be able to get to know some of the people you're a part of.

*For us to be able to go to Josiah Venture's Peoria and Chicago vision nights (November 8 and 13). These vision nights are a part of JV's 2X3 Campaign...for more info or to RSVP, please go here.

*For them to reconnect with friends from Camps and from Moody visits.

More details to come! :)

Wonder Twin Powers, activate!

2008-09-18T10:08:00.010+02:00

Me, Bonnie and Aubree! I'm so thankful for these young women. They are already taking South Bohemia by storm! Bonnie has the very cool gift of preaching/teaching and already we’re reaping the benefits of God speaking through her—she’ll be a frequent teacher at Friday night youth groups. She graduated from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago with a degree in Communications and Missions. Aubree’s passion for discipling spills out in her spending tons of time with students and encouraging them to fan into flame their first love. She’ll be leading/co-leading a girls’ small group with Klara from Pisek. Both girls will also be discipling students, teaching at English Clubs, visiting area youth groups, and learning Czech. We’re also talking to the Strakonice High School about teaching English a few times a week. ☺

Aubree called an all-girl party with youth group and camp friends and eating chicken enchiladas (Cassie's recipe). I think I ate 3.

Sweet Pavla from English camp made her first tortilla.

Eva Eve: Girls’ Weekend, October 17-18

2008-09-16T15:08:00.000+02:00

YAY! Maybe you remember me writing about the book Eva Eve (for more info, click here). It’s a book by (mostly) Czech women for Czech girls about purity, dating, growing up with God, life. Based on the book are weekend retreats for girls and we’ll have our first Strakonice Eva Eve weekend soon! Alca, Kakushe and I are putting this together and we hope to have a lot of our believing girls, almost believing girls, and non-believing girls there. Please pray that they’ll come, come with open hearts and through this draw closer to Jesus.

If any of you are interested, this was all inspired by Dannah Gresh’s book And the Bride Wore White—you can also find material for doing your own retreats here.

Exit316 The Mission: Thursday nights, 5pm in Strakonice

2008-09-16T14:08:00.004+02:00

Exit316, a Christian Czech television program for youth, is on the air again! Each week the heroine of the show, Marketa, deals with different aspects of life (conflict, beauty, forgiveness, etc) and gradually discovers God’s perspective as we watch her from the perspective of angel Krystof and demon Desmon.

It’s being shown on CT2 at various times, but the real goal of the program is to jump start seeker small groups and Exit Clubs. Our Strakonice gang will have our first Exit Club this Thursday at 5pm at Alca and Martin’s. Please keep us in your prayers!!!

To see the the newest episode, click here.

EXIT316 MISE trailer

2008-09-16T14:07:00.001+02:00

It's here again, new and even better, more film like. The eternal conflict between good and evil. Go with it. It's already coming. From September. Watch your television: Exit 316 The Mission. Starting with the school year on Czech Television.

Croatia! JVKid's camp and vacation...

2008-09-12T10:08:00.000+02:00

Hannah and I--Hannah is the wisest 16 year old I know. Talking and praying with her that week was a joy!

All the JV kids and staff. Thank you so much Becca and Ken and Andrea for all of your hard work, teaching, and love. You make it fun to serve.

Luc and Jitka at the Sali sweet shop. Good times...even though our vacation on Dugi Otok was short, it's full of memories.

Probably my favorite place to be, by the sea, in the sun, READING and THINKING. What luxury! HaHA!

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #35

2008-09-11T00:16:00.006+02:00

See Cro-a-tia, in your Ki-i-a...

While stuck in traffic jams in front of the Sv. Rok tunnel leaving the Croatian coast, Lucka and Jitka and I started keeping track of cars and countries.

Most frequent countries:
HR (Croatia); SLOvenia; CZech; PoLand; SlovaKia; Hungary; Deutschland; Italy

Countries seen once or twice:
Sweden; DenmarK; LiThuania; BulGaria; CH (Switzerland); TuRkey; Boznia I Herzegovnia; MK (Macedonia)

Most frequent cars :
Opel, Renault, Skoda, Citroen, Seat, Toyota, Ford, Audi, Fiat, Honda, Hyundai

Least frequent cars:
Lada, Subaru, Alfa Romeo, Kia, Chevrolet, Mitsubishi, Suzuki

Cars with disputed country of origin:
Mazda (Japan, not Germany)
Alfa Romeo (Italy, not Serbia)
Audi (Germany, not Saudi Arabia)
Opel (Germany, not France)
Hyundai (Japan, not Korea)
Fiat (Italy, not Poland...but that was confusing)

What are YOU doing?

2008-08-16T05:58:00.005+02:00

Ahhhh! What am I doing?

JV Kids' Camp, Croatia: August 20-26
Vacation with Lucka and Jitka, Croatia: August 26-31
Exit 316 Weekend, Tabor: Sept 5-6
NaMax Festival, Trinec: Sept 8-11
S. Bohemia Camp Reunion, Pisek: Sept 12
JV Fall Conference, Malenovice: Sept 22-27

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #34

2008-08-15T10:59:00.007+02:00

Old Ukrainian men arguing politics on Lviv's square

Living History

"I speak German. I went to German school from 1943 to 45, but then the Americans came to Susice," the old brown eyes crinkled at the memory. "They stayed with us because we had a big house. There were tanks everywhere, and I got to ride in them and wear their helmets. I was 8 years old."

Today while Bonnie and I waited for the bus to Prague, this nice gentleman started talking to us about how his daughter lives abroad, how he wanted his children to travel as much as possible after communism fell. "[Right before communism] 22 of my friends left--America, Australia. They come back to visit sometimes. In those days, to travel you needed to have so many papers signed and then you were watched. It wasn't easy. I think about how it is for Northern Korea...."

Goodnight moon, goodbye team

2008-08-11T19:38:00.003+02:00

Evicka hosted a garden party to say goodbye to Ben and Josh before they left. We were well loved by the Strakonice (and Pisek!) gang.

Ben and Josh go back to Amerika, Ben to school and Josh to adventure. These guys lived Christ boldly this summer and we're all going to miss them.

The most beautiful girls on the...square. On the Old Town square. Most of these summer interns flew home yesterday, but some did not, including my own Aubree (2nd from the right, purple dress) and also the amazing Bonnie (5th from the right, green paisley). These young women will be living with me and serving youth groups in the S. Bohemian region until December.

Presov camp, Slovakia!

2008-08-11T19:01:00.005+02:00

Team Building Exercise 99, mmm, 08. We did a lot of stuff like picking up potatoes with spoons blindfolded, putting tires over poles, throwing dough, carrying logs, shooting, running, squatting...yeah...

Nika and Anka, what dolls! Anka translated for our class and is one fabulous young woman. Nika has a heart of gold and this camp gave her a lot to think about.

Janka, me, Zuzka...these girls want to start going to Presov's youth group, yay!

Iveta and Zuzka, the sisters. Zuzka hated camp at first but loved it by the end, as well as her newfound sport frisbee :)

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #33

2008-08-11T18:06:00.006+02:00

Hutututu.

"I think if any youth group in the States played this, someone would get sued."

Okay, there's two teams on a small field with a line down the middle. One team sends a person across who takes a deep breath and says "Hututututututu..." while s/he is on the other team's side. That teammate tries to tag as many people as possible before running out of breath while on the opposing team's side. But the opposing team is trying to keep that person on their side as long as possible until the person runs out of breath. This is done by grabbing and tackling. If you're tagged, you're out, if you get stuck on the other team's side, you're out. Oh, and if you forget you're not supposed to take a breath and start screaming, you're out.

what I learned this summer: giving my/self away

2008-08-11T16:59:00.006+02:00

This pic is only to illustrate, I don't think Josh and I were conflicting :)

Back in college, my favorite verses were always the radical ones, about Jesus coming to bring fire on earth or being crucified with him or beating my body to make it his slave--you know, those verses. My IV friends and I all read "My Heart, Christ's Home" and wanted to give up all for God. That theme has cycled in and out of my life, and this summer it was back in full force. Being at the Matt Redmond concert marked the advent: do I really want Jesus to take it all? Am I ready to live a life of selfless praise? What does that mean? Having Ben, Josh and Aubree with me as living reminders helped, too. Their passion and eagerness to do whatever, go anywhere, at any price rekindled something dormant. I found myself asking the Lord what the next steps are for me to live fully for him.

Coming into the summer, I felt wary and distant. I'd been thinking through the issue of trust, trusting people, for several months with no conclusion. I had this sense of holding back from others, even if I did trust them, and I couldn't get past that. I talked to Amy about it, and she asked if I was confronting others, maybe that was where I was holding back. It was.

I hate confrontation, because I don't want to be wrong and hurt someone unnecessarily. I also hate being the bad guy, and I don't like having to defend myself. So, as much as I can, I avoid conflict. But that's not life, and that's definitely not ministry. And it is also the very place God was asking me to stop holding back and to start giving my self to him and to my brothers and sisters.

So I had honest, confrontational talks with several people this summer. I neither went about it all perfectly nor was I always right. But I was obedient. And it was good. And I knew I was giving all of me away, to God and to people.

I can see, though, where my habitual lack of confronting/speaking the truth in love has been detrimental. Even at my best (most faithful) I still was a bit too passive, a bit too weak, too slow. This is an area that needs more discipline and training year round, not just seasonally. That realization doesn't sadden me, but rather resolves me to strengthen my feeble arms and weak knees. :)

Strakonice Camp!!!

2008-07-27T06:43:00.003+02:00

Hike day at Zvikov Castle.

Pavel and I! He's been spending time with our youth group all year and is a great friend to us all.

Ben, Josh, me and Aubree--I love these guys!

David and Tomas. These two constantly cracked me up, loved being with us and are always asking when the next thing is.

The Spice Girls: Kakushe, Sabina, Zuzka, Hanicka, Pavla. Sabina and Pavla were both new to camp this year and made lots of new friends.

Ceske Budejovice Camp 2008

2008-07-11T23:20:00.006+02:00

Dominik (aka, Dr. Eddy, Dredislav) became a believer at last year's English camp and this year served on the Czech team. Thursday night he told the story of how he came to faith and it was beautiful. "I thought I would try Christianity for a week or month or so...so I prayed to God to become a Christian, and I was filled with Holy Spirit...." His telling of how he experiences love and peace with the Lord blessed the whole camp.

Oh girls...this summer, girls at camp opened up about eating disorders, fatherlessness, sexuality. Again I realized how both vulnerable and yet resiliant we females are. And it was also a reminder of how much girls--Christian and non--need spiritual mothers in their lives.

English class skits...Mira, Whiteman, Sam and Pavla from my group. Pavla made the (big) step from agnosticism to theism that week...please pray that she'd go all the way to Jesus!

Sweet Klara and I!

roll call: summer intern team 2008!

2008-06-27T09:16:00.009+02:00

Ben, Leah, Aubree, Josh...

...and sometimes Jozef!

Ben: 21, health care student, Arizona. Skills: hauling metal mattress frames, balancing our team budget. and writing English lesson plans way ahead of time. Likes: all food (even the lemon pepper hot dog skillet), one on one conversation, rock climbing and swing dancing. Dislikes: being sick and missing out on school visits and The English Patient.

Leah: 33, JV missionary, Iowa. Skills: hauling booty to the train station, changing plans at the last minute, forgetting to get receipts. Likes reading, talking, laughing too loud, dancing in the kitchen. Dislikes: dirty floors and too long fingernails.

Aubree: 21 (22 in 5 days!), BA in Spanish and International Relations, six month intern, Arizona. Skills: cooking, public speaking, private speaking, super-funny-comments-that-make-great-quotes speaking. Likes speaking, dancing with David on the square and headbands. Dislikes: stereotypical girl stuff and global injustice.

Josh: 22, BA in History, California. Skills: lemon pepper hot dog skillet, "Hour of Power" cleaning and random Czech phrases. Likes physical contact, jumping, big words like "to laud." Dislikes: the typhoid fever he picked up in Ethiopia and scalp itch.

Jozef: 23, Economics grad student, CZ. Skills: leading Strakonice camp, explaining things in detail, making good suggestions. Likes economics, that he can go with us to Presov camp and hanging out with students. Dislikes: romantic comedies and wastefulness.

I'm so thankful for this team! They have been serving whole heartedly and non-stop and are a huge encouragement to me and to those we're working with. Please pray that we'd be in step with the Spirit, that we'd be unified and also individually go from glory to glory as we become more Christlike. And that we'll have loads of fun. :)

A brief preview:
June 28-July 5--Ceske Budejovice Camp with Grace Church, AZ
July 8-11--Strakonice Camp training
July 12-19--Strakonice Camp with Soma Church, WA and Cherry Hills Church, CO
July 19-22--Strakonice Follow Up
July 26-28--Presov, Slovakia Camp training
July 29-August 6--Presov Camp and Follow Up
August 7-10--Summer Intern Debriefing in Prague :(

i luv summer 4-ever!

2008-06-27T08:25:00.001+02:00

This past month has been so full, here's a brief recap of some of the highlights...
Amazing Race, May 28-30

So, okay, this year the deal was to travel al over Czech and take pictures at various sights, so one of our tasks was to go to Karlovy Vary and get a picture in front of the Hotel Imperial and drink from a natural spring. However, no more trains or buses ran by the time we were finished, I didn't want to hitchhike, and the hotels were way too expensive. So we went to one of the bigger hotels, nursed Pepsis at a diskoteka until about 2 (above), and then snuck into a secluded corner of the lobby and dozed on the chairs until we got up at 5 to take our bus to Plzen.

...Intern Training, May 30-June 4...Staz: Final Project Presentation, June 2-4...Summer Intern Hang Out Day at Lucka's parents', June 5...

Visting Ceske Budejovice, June 13-15

We had such a good time with these guys! From playing volleyball to eating Chinese to praying together to going to schools and inviting students to camp (above), that weekend bonded our hearts to the CB youth group.

...Staz Final Week & Graduation, June 10-12...Pisek Celebrations, June 13-14...

Hillsong and Matt Redmond in Vsetin CZ, June 15

We took a quick trip across the country to join 4000 other Czechs (plus some Poles and Slovaks) in praising God! Ahhh!!! A theme that kept showing up in the text was selfless worship, giving our lives to follow Jesus...may that message take hold here.

...Visiting Schools in Prague, June 18...Leah at Coufals' Retreat in Olomouc June 20-22...Pisek Pre Camp Party, June 21...Strakonice Team Hike and Hang Out, June 22...

Life 'Round Here, June 16-26: washing chairs at the church, spontaneous dinner parties with old and new friends, teaching at the Strakonice High School, English Club Parents' Party, cleaning out an attic...

One thing I love is when people come together and eat! We met this graffiti artist at the park (far left). We were playing games and he thought we were a group of mentally challenged kids but then he played with us, came to dinner, and now has a new understanding of who Christ is.

And tomorrow, June 28, Ceske Budejovice Camp starts! Yeah!!!

Hillsong London in Czech Republic (Vsetín)

2008-06-27T08:20:00.001+02:00

Packing up Staz...

2008-06-27T07:19:00.006+02:00

David explaining his final project, Five Reasons Why Students Leave the Church. As the Staz interns each presented the papers, I wanted to cry. All the students showed how the Lord has individually transformed each life.

The culmination of it all was the graduation ceremony and celebration.

The Staz interns clean up great! I already miss these guys, but I's so proud of each one and have full confidence that they'll keep serving the Lord.

Coufals' Retreat, or How the Women's Ministry Team is Pregnant with Metamorphosis

2008-06-27T06:47:00.001+02:00

Lucka and Radka, Olomouc in the background. I love these ladies and am thankful to have gotten to serve with them these past years. Each one was an example to me of leadership, hard work, sacrifice, wisdom, grace and beauty. Both will be working in the public sphere as well as continuing to serve in the church. May God bless them in the next season of their lives!

Petr and Agnes, looking into the future (or watching the Jumping Drums concert). Agnes (who's due at the end of the summer!) is going strong with the Eva Eve (Eve to Eve) project. Several years ago, she picked up a copy of The Bride Wore White and started doing girls' purity retreats with Dannah's material. She eventually co-authored and edited a book, Eva Eve, about purity by Czech women, for Czech girls. She then changed the retreats to coordinate with the book and started training regional counsellors: women who teach at and organize the weekends.

Zuzka, a young woman who was part of the Staz program this year (left, with Marketa) just came on as a regional counsellor. So even though the womens' ministry team is technically ended, Eva Eve is taking off. Please pray for Agnes, Zuzka and this ministry.

English club Strakonice 14. 5. 2008 (with subtitles!)

2008-05-23T13:38:00.001+02:00

May 14
English club
Strakonice

Leah:
Every Wednesday we have English club here in my apartment and it’s super. We want to keep in contact with students from camp and we want to not only maintain these relationships but also show them more and more who Jesus is.

communication game ☺

Martin:
I hope to see more young Christians here who serve God. I would like to see us get together in small groups and see all generations together; to have church services here…. that we would be like a big family. Lately, I've been thankful that people are finally beginning to understand what I’ve been experiencing. I’m glad that we could step into the situation here and start to change and create things.

Jozef:
I come to English club so that I can keep up these relationships with students from English camp, or from our Pisek youth group. They’re all a part of our Strakonice youth group, which meets formally, informally—mostly informally. But, there’s life here, where Christians and non-Christians live together and influence each other.

Alca:
Recently I sense a need for us to focus on caring for the students individually. It happens in some ways, but kind of randomly and not systematically. For example, there are many students that I’m not able to say have any kind of quality care, and I would love to see that change and for us to focus on that.

What’s happening in Strakonice
Find it on our church website
www.elimpisek.cz

Sjezd mladeze/National Youth Conf/May 8-11

2008-05-13T21:25:00.008+02:00

Lucka R. introducing Kaakushe's testimony--she did great, even in front of 1000+ peers.

Our Elim youth group section--several students made significant steps that weekend.

Sjezd ROCKED. The Lord did a ton of beautiful things at this conference, and in thanks I'll name a few:

*Students confessed and repented of sin. One thing that I've been feeling lately is this desire for public repentance--strange maybe, but true. During the last night we all got a candle to light and paper to write our sins on, and silently walked up a to where there was a cross and a fire. The long line of little lights snaking up the hill to "Gethsemane" filled me with joy that many--if not all--were experiencing freedom in areas of their lives.

*Godly young men. From Tomas and his band leading worship and prayer to Freddy and David and their so right on morning devotionals, I got to see young men really step up in leadership and godly influence--YAAAAAAY!!!!!!! It's so encouraging to know them over the long haul--it gives me hope for our sometimes crazy boys :)

*Discipleship in action. Kaakushe (above) is taking care of a wild bunch of younger girls. David and Tomas are speaking into the lives of the boys in our group. Many more examples exist of spiritual parenthood, too. Keep on, my brothers and sisters!

Thank the Lord that he's so in control, and that his kingdom is coming in the Czech Republic.

JV Spring Conference 2008: Fit for Battle

2008-05-07T11:46:00.006+02:00

April 30-May 4

Trevor and Tyler leading worship. Ray Prichard, author and former pastor, spoke on asymetrical warfare and our enemy, and warfare in the last days. Dave also spoke on map reading and commander's intent. Thank God for timely, practical teaching.

Josiah Venture 2nd culture missionaries (ie, non-native), spouses and guests. It's so encouraging to be around those who are older and wiser and have weathered life's storms with faith and grace, and I loved spending time with my sistahs from anothah mistahs.

Christian Youth Theatre (CYT) came and put on a production of Godspell with the missionary kids, which they performed the last morning...their talent amazed us all.

No, Eowyn wasn't mentioned at the conference, but she was on my mind. If you know me at all, you know that I love LOTR a lot. A lot. So whenever spiritual warfare is discussed, I always flash to that scene when Eowyn stabs the nazgul guy in his invisible face--you go girl. But, as we talked about at this conference, real life spiritual battle is a lot less romantic and a lot more serious. Our enemy doesn't fight fair. He's sneaky and covers himself with the seemingly innocuous. There are a hundred little battles we fight, whether we realize it or not, and our daily, normal obedience can make a huge difference. This conference inspired me to be a woman of deeper love and strength, and, like our girl Eowyn, to have the sword of the Spirit ready.

English Camp Trainings: Bohemia & Moravia

2008-05-07T09:30:00.010+02:00

April 18-19/19-20

This year's theme song motions, Bohemia training. The song is "Friend Like That" by Hawk Nelson. These trainings are for the Czech youth groups we do English camp with, for them to get excited about camp, to learn/be reminded of why we do this in the first place, and to get some tools for camp and follow up.

Kaakushe by Nate (as are all these pics, except for the first, but I don't know who took that one). At Bohemia training, it was super encouraging to see students who became Christians in the past year or two on the English camp ministry teams.

Games at Moravia training--there were a lot of new groups at that training.

Brad and Jitka, teaching about pride and humility with this year's theme in the background, "Being Human."

Why Europe Rocks: Reason #32

2008-05-06T20:56:00.002+02:00

European Ingenuity

Do you know what you're looking at? Genius, my friend, genius. Mr. Divis and son installed this clothes drying rack shortly after I moved in (& after I already bought the standard kind) and I still marvel at how handy it is. You unhook the string and the bar comes down for you to hang your wet clothes on, and then you hoist the bar so high up that no one even notices your drying unmentionables, so high up that even a vigorous shower can't touch 'em. Smart! I love Europe for ever!

dear Ukraine

2008-04-21T15:38:00.006+02:00

April 10-18

Sweet little kids at the temporary (90 day) orphanage. The little boy in the bottom middle was especially cute.

The home for mentally challenged women. They totally got into the songs (with motions) and duck duck goose (even though we had to shut down this surprisingly dangerous game)...

At the home for mentally challenged girls...I think this was my favorite place, we didn't spend a of of time there, maybe because of the tb quarantine, but I got to hug a lot of cute pumpkins.

Sunday night the pastor and his wife, Michal and Halia, invited us to come to there house to use the sauna and they surprised us with piles of great food: cream cheese crepes and cream puffs and chocolate and kvas and tea and....

Our team in Ben and Kristy's van. Our team loved the Williamses, the people at New Life and everyone we got to meet. This trip was my first little mission trip and *siiiiiiigh* it was one of the top experiences of my life.

my ukraijna...

2008-04-21T15:25:00.005+02:00

outside the prison hospital, downtown lviv

When Ben wrote us that we'd be doing some prison ministry, I got nervous. It wasn't that I was scared of the inmates, but I wasn't sure if I could take seeing human beings in that setting, regardless of what they've done. With "bad people," I often think of them as babies, and wonder what happened in their lives that they made such terrible choices, how the original sin that's in all of us happened to manifest in extreme ways...anyway...

The prison/juvenile delinquent home for young buys (ages 7-13?) was fine. When we gave them stuffed animals they pressed their faces in the fur and stared into their glass eyes. We played soccer and frisbee and learned each other's names. The Ukrainian guys and Ben go there pretty frequently.

Then we went to the prison hospital. It was a little chaotic at the beginning, we were trying to help Halia (the pastor's wife) make up bags of food (sweet crackers, candy, tea, garlic--it has a lot of vitamin c) and then we realized we were actually going to go room to room and talk to the prisoners. The first few rooms were women's, so Sceava (the youth group leader) told us girls to go in first. As one of the men from their church was telling the women about Jesus' death and resurrection, Sceava whispered that when he was done I should share something. I said a little something about what Jesus Christ means to me as a woman, and it was one of those moments when you know know know that the Lord is speaking through you. Two women knelt on the cold floor and gave their lives to Christ. Kristy told us later that many of those in the prison hospital die there. In one of the rooms, a young blonde man stood out from the rest. Not only was he smiling, but his face seemed to almost radiate. He'd become a Christian before and the guys from church knew him well. He was in for murder.

At the bigger boys' prison, some of the Ukrainian men preached, Tomas told the story of how he came to Christ, and Marketa challenged the boys--and the guards--to take a step towards God (that girl has the gift of evangelism). Seven boys came to the front and prayed out loud to receive Christ. Sceava had teddy bears for those that had birthdays that month and even the older boys rubbed their faces in the bears' fur. The guys from their church also go to this prison regularly.

I haven't totally put this together yet, but I've been thinking about Maslow's heirarchy of needs and Christians. I think that we can get so wrapped up in our existential, self actualizing issues that we can miss the call of Christ to feed the hungry, comfort the downcast, preach the gospel. And that we can get so sophisticated that the power of God to transform the "worst" people and the "worst" situation seems like foolish naivete. Maybe that should be: "I can get..."

Serving in this way fed deep parts of my soul that have been neglected for years. Serving in this way humbled me.

10 things you probably didn't know about me...tagged by Dana

2008-04-09T01:29:00.005+02:00

1. I can't tell my left from my right. Even when I make the "L" with my thumb and forefinger I get confused (which way does the "L" go?) Its too hard when there are only 2 options!
2. I am a maniac reader. If I could, I would read all day, every day. I read so much when I was younger our babysitter Sue once hid my book to force me to go outside and play. And I've read Lord of the Rings 7 times.
3. Johanna and I used to smoke Swisher Sweets on the balcony of our apartment in Rock Island. I quit because Dad asked me to.
4. When I was in jr. high my friends and I made a master list of which people were in what cliques and then ranked the groups by popularity. We were 6th. Our scheme to become more popular was to systematically date boys in higher groups and climb to the top. It didn't work. But a few years later...
5. I was prom queen. Make that Prom Queen. Actually, quite a few people know that because I pull the PQ card every so often. But what you don't know about that is how it happened. During my lunch hour senior year I didn't have anyone to sit with, so instead I skipped lunch and spent time with the disabled kids. They'd just been mainsteamed into our school and it was pretty rough for them. So, when prom rolled around and the ballots came out, the teachers and aides "helped" these students fill out the forms by marking my name on all of them.
6. Once when I was about 8 I tried to change my identity. I tied a shoelace in my hair and called myself "Sneaker."
7. My senior year at Augustana, one of my roommates had a big Sunday school style picture of Jesus hanging up in the living room. My friend and I colored his blue eyes brown with a marker over the glass to be more ethnically accurate. Conflict ensued.
8. Before Czech, I worked for about 2 years at a domestic violence shelter in Rock Island. It was great, and also so hard and growing.
9. Oh, and before that, I was a carpenter, I restored stained glass, and did a little lumberjacking on the side. Really. :) I worked for Auggie's art gallery's director's husband, I started out doing the stained glass--which is so fun--and then when he had more carpentry projects I'd go down to the shop and help, and then he started this whole mill thing so I'd go and stack the drying kiln or help haul trunks.
10. I started walking at 9 months.
***correction, 10.5. I confused myself with my sister Dana. Sometimes I confuse myself with Rebekah, and forget who graduated from HS in 1997 (oh, not me:)***

Okay, I'm tagging Nathan Pitcher, Krista and Natey! And I'm facebook tagging Bex and Lucka.

Ukraine, baby!

2008-04-08T11:35:00.005+02:00

Ben and Kristy and young Ukrainian leaders at a training conference they held this month.

This Thursday our team makes the journey east to Ukraine. We'll be there for about a week, returning next Thursday or Friday. In the mornings and afternoons we'll be helping to remodel their church building, in the evenings we'll do things like visit a hospital and a youth prison and help kick off an outreach club. JV missionaries Ben and Kristy Williams are hosting us and we're stoked. The whole point of the Internship program is transformation, and what better way to practice Romans 12:1-2 than to leave our comfort zones to serve. Yaaaaayyyyy....

Please pray for:
* our trip there and back, safety and no breakdowns and no border problems :)
* our team, for unity and growth and guidance
* that we'd be an encouragement to the church, New Life
* that Jesus Christ would be proclaimed, in word and deed!

Also, we haven't yet raised *all* the money for the trip, so there's till time to give--you can send a check to: Josiah Venture, P.O.Box 4317, Wheaton, IL 60189 and make a note in the memo line: Internship Account # 4016170.

Thank you for joining us in this!