Vienna!

I promise will write about our wonderful trip soon, but you can just enjoy a few pictures for now! I think you should be able to click on each one to make it full size....

Substantial Grace

Tuesday was one of those days you are sure you'll laugh about later, but in the moment, laughter is furthest thing from your mind. I think it was the closest the group has come to a public emotional breakdown since we've gotten to Prague. To make a long story short, what we thought would be a simple trip to buy bus tickets turned into a several hour ordeal of being snubbed by various rude employees, waiting for half an hour in several wrong lines, and traveling to multiple ticket offices around the city, only to find that bus tickets to Vienna were sold out (that is, according to employees who don't want to bother with the hassle of working with someone who speaks English). Czech customer service can sometimes be culture clash at its worst. Train tickets were possible, though very expensive, and for a while, it looked like about only half the team could afford to go. Thinking about money is so stressful, and the combination of everyone being sick and sleep deprived served to escalate the emotions of the day. I was overwhelmed, but my day was redeemed when I spent some time alone up on the Stewarts' rooftop, finally taking a moment to breathe and allow the peace of God to wash over me.
I wish I could give you a panoramic view of what I saw up there, but this one angle is the best I can do.













The story does have a happy ending....the interns took Mark with us the next day, and after another hour long wait, we finally got bus tickets to Vienna! Five interns are headed out at 8:00 Friday morning, and we're coming back 8:00 Sunday morning.

Wednesday morning, I worked at Nadeje.....this time, a homeless man came up to me and said in broken English, "You are an angel, and when you die, I want you to go to God for me and tell him I did only good things." After thanking him as I told him I wasn't an angel, I asked him if He believed in God. When he replied yes, I explained, "I can't tell God that you did only good things. Only Jesus can take away the sins from your life." He sighed wistfully, "I know this Jesus, yes. I know Him in my head, but my heart, it is cold. I wish I could know with my heart." I said, "I will pray for your heart. God loves you, He really does." A smile broke across his face as he said "You are an angel, in secret. A hidden angel. God sent you to tell me He loves me."

Today I wondered alone around Prague most of the day. I tripped up two seperate staircases (completely fell all over the stairs in the midst of a multitude of people), slipped and fell as I walked in a store, and almost got hit by a tram...twice. Who made up that myth that dancers are graceful? This is why I shouldn't be let out alone too often.
In the midst of my wonderings, I went to several coffeeshops to read, and discovered my new favorite quote painted on a wall.

Maybe my amount of coffee today was a bit too substantial.... hmm





Prayer needs: Our trip to Vienna, that it will be a much-needed time of rest and relaxation... our physical health, that we will be well by the time we start teaching Vacation Bible School next week.....our team unity, as week four is known as the breaking point, where interns become quick to see the faults of others while overlooking our own, now that our "honeymoon" period here is over. Pray that we will be unified and show one another grace.... quick to listen, and slow to speak....quick to love, and slow to judge in anger.

I should be sleeping, not writing...

I'm exhausted and about to fall asleep as I type this, so bear with me if it sounds like a five year old composed my thoughts....

On Sunday morning, Mark took the interns to a Czech-speaking Protestant church. He calls it "the Prague megachurch," which translates to roughly 200 congregants on a good day. Considering that it was Jan Hus Day, a national Czech holiday, about half the congregation was gone from the hotel conference room where the church meets. It was amazing to hear worship songs sung in Czech, and to listen to an entire sermon in another language. We were blessed to have two translators who sat behind us and whispered the sermon to us in English. After attending an English-speaking, predominately expatriate church body for the past few weeks, it was wonderful to visit a thriving church that is filled with Czechs.

Sunday afternoon, back at Faith Community Church, we suddenly found ourselves scrambling to find room for people to sit when our small sanctuary became packed with a visiting group of 41 American high school girls. This might not sound like a large number, but in our tiny building, this meant that people were sitting on the stairs to the entrance and standing along the sides of the room. The regular pastor and his family just left for the United States, so Zach was preaching his first sermon of the summer, and as God's sense of humor would have it, 41 girls came in on the day he had to preach on 1 Corinthians 14 (which includes touchy topics such as prophecy, tongues, and of course, women being silent in the church). I thought this was pretty hilarious divine timing.

Monday, we had our last Czech lesson with our wonderful teacher Lenka. This lesson also included some delicious dessert....about a week ago, Jeremy and Lenka made a bet on a soccer game, and Jeremy lost, so he gave Lenka a homemade apple pie! We have all enjoyed these lessons so much, and I know we will miss them immensely. Even just the knowledge of basic phrases has enhanced my time here so greatly, and I wish I knew much more. If God chooses to lead me back here, I know that I absolutely want to learn the language if I have the oportunity.

After language lessons, Joanna took us to do one of the things she loves in Prague...pottery class! Lindsay, Hannah, Will and I tried our hand at pottery, all with varying degrees of success. Joanna kindly referred to my mishapen clay box as "cool and funky," but I think this was possibly a tactful way of saying "the ugliest creation ever formed by human hands." Despite my utter lack of talent, I did have a great time. The lumpy blob of a box you see in the picture is what I painstakingly made in an hour and a half, while the lovely flower candle holder is what Joanna whipped out in about fifteen minutes....sad, I know.

Monday ended with dinner and Vacation Bible School preperations at the Syvertsons (have I mentioned that Chris Syvertson runs the Czech Inn, which is rated as one of the top hostels in Europe?) The Syvertsons have this incredible view from their terrace, which happens to overlook the gigantic Prague "baby tower" (it has these odd, sculpted metal babies crawling up the side of it), so I decided it was a good photo opportunity. What you might not be able to see is the dangerous, gigantic drop-off into space behind the fence I was sitting on....ahh, the price of fun pictures.

Please pray for our health over here, as sickness seems to be striking us once again....at the moment, I think Mark, Jason, Lindsay, Hannah, Jeremy, Mike and I are all sick, and we would like this to be as short-lived as possible!

4th on the 5th!

So, since July 4^th is just another day here, we decided to celebrate spend the night cruising down the river on a large boat. Prague at night looks like something straight out of a charming European fairy tale. The boat was ridiculously crowded and loud, but it was a fun, crazy, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Today was absolutely delightful. Lots of people from our church came over for a big 4^th of July cookout at the Stewarts. Here's my confession for the day: I gave in to utter gluttony...who can resist an abundant spread of delicious American food? The other two female interns and I got there about two hours early to help prepare food, which we really enjoyed doing (my primary contributions were Peach Shortbread, forming a mountain of hamburger patties for an hour, and some badly chopped cabbage...my culinary skills need some work). We had hamburgers, hot dogs, pork barbecue (which I can more fully appreciate after toting the actual pork shoulder through the streets of Prague), coleslaw, and fresh peach shortbread....YUM. Did I mention that Joanna baked all of the hot dog and hamburger buns from scratch? It was the most impressive thing I've ever seen, or tasted for that matter. The whole cookout lasted from about 2:00 to 8:00...time flies when you're spending an afternoon with wonderful people and eating amazing food.

Several people at the cookout today asked me how my time had been here....and all I could say was that I couldn't believe how little time I have left. Everything is speeding by in a beautiful blur of challenge, adventure, and joy. I'm trying to soak it all in the best I know how. I'm growing and changing every minute, learning something in every new day, loving this place and these people in increasing measure with every passing hour.

For those of you who pray....Pray that our whole intern team would continue to meet new people, and to have quality time to invest in the relationships we have begun here. Also, pray that I would continue to have my eyes opened to see God's direction for the next step in my life after this summer, particularly as it relates to being on the mission field. I am continually realizing how much I need to surrender all my best laid plans for my future. I've never planned any of the best things that have happened in my life.....I have a feeling that's never going to change. This summer is challenging all my preconceived notions and fears about my life and my calling, and I've never been so thankful to have the narrow walls of my heart and mind exploded and transformed.

A King and a Kingdom

I just put little Sasha to bed for a nap (I sang him a very long, improvised song about Frog and Toad), and now I'm watching "Once." If you haven't watched it....go do it. I've been listening to the soundtrack almost every day I've been here- it just feels so suited for the spirit of Prague. You hear a song from the movie in almost every restaurant or store you go in here.

Happy 4th of July to those of you reading in America! It's interesting to not be in there on Independence Day, but it makes me think of one of my favorite Derek Webb songs:

Who's your brother, who's your sister
You just walked passed him
I think you missed her
As we're all migrating to the place where our Father lives
'Cause we married in to a family of immigrants

My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
It's to a King & a kingdom

I am thankful for the ways my eyes are being opened to His kingdom around the world, that crosses and transcends all cultural and political boundaries. I am thankful to be in the Czech Republic today, to know that I love my country and and that I love this one, too.

Here's a few things for you today:

First, a picture of the view from my dining room, because it is beautiful. On the table is our first attempt at hospitality, and our first semi-fancy meal (cooking has not been a strong suit since coming here). We had a new friend over for dinner, who talked to us about the struggles of being a woman in the Czech workforce.
Czech culture can be very oppressive to women in a way you don't see in America- women have no recourse to object to sexual abuse or harrassment, and if they try to say something, they are often told it is their fault. If a woman goes to the police to say she is raped, there's a strong possibility she'll just be ignored. It's perfectly acceptable and common for a boss to make advances towards his employee, and for a married man to have a mistress. It makes me really angry, and makes me thankful for the ability women have to stand up to harassment in America, difficult though it may be.

Second....
This is a quote from Mother Theresa I've been thinking a lot about recently, especially as I worked in the homeless shelter, about what it means to live the Gospel:

"And we read that in the Gospel very clearly--love as I have loved you--as I love you--as the Father has loved me, I love you--and the harder the Father loved him, he gave him to us, and how much we love one another, we, too, must give each other until it hurts. It is not enough for us to say: I love God, but I do not love my neighbor. St. John says you are a liar if you say you love God, and you don't love your neighbor. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live. And so this is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. It hurt Jesus to love us, it hurt him. And to make sure we remember his great love he made himself the bread of life to satisfy our hunger for his love. Our hunger for God, because we have been created for that love. We have been created in his image. We have been created to love and be loved, and then he has become man to make it possible for us to love as he loved us. He makes himself the hungry one--the naked one--the homeless one--the sick one--the one in prison--the lonely one--the unwanted one--and he says: You did it to me. Hunger for our love, this is the hunger of our poor people. This is the hunger that you and I must find, it may be in our own home."

I long to serve the kingdom with the love of my King....

I want...I need.... to learn how to love, to truly love.

Fun, Food, and Flattery

How is it July already?! Time needs to slow down....

Tuesday morning, Mark took us to Prague 13, a very different neighborhood than the one we live in. We learned that a large percentage of Czechs live in “panelaks,” pre-fabricated concrete high rise buildings that are a product of Communism. It's so different to see a neighborhood filled with these industrial looking high rise buildings, compared with the quaint little part of town where we live.

Yesterday afternoon, the girls got to go out to our favorite cafe with Sonia, a Russian girl that we just met this past Sunday who studies at the university in Prague (that's the three of us with her in the picture).It was really interesting to hear her talk about her Greek Orthodox religious background, and how different that was from her experience visiting our church here in Prague for the first time. She explained how strange it was to see women wearing pants, to see women without their heads covered, to sing worship songs and hear a sermon in English. She also had an interesting perspective on America, based on her love of American television shows. She said that the typical Russian idea of America is what they see on shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “Friends”....that we're basically all wealthy and independent and lead dramatic lives. As she put it, “We think everyone in America has a pretty, two story house, right next to one that looks just like it, with a green lawn all around it and a fence and two or three kids and they're all very happy and rich.” We explained that our lives were definitely nothing like that version of the American dream!

Last night was amazing. For Family Night, Joanna fixed an Indian feast. It was so incredible, and the girls even got to help cook, which was exciting. I need all the cooking practice I can get, seriously. Then for dessert, she made chai-infused syrup which we poured over vanilla ice cream- best dessert ever. After dinner, we all went out to see a guy from our church playing in his band at a local music club. Get this: it's a Czech reggae band, called “Afro-disiac” (I felt the need to hyphenate to accentuate the word pun). And yes, please mull over the phrase “Czech reggae band.” This is what happens when Jamaica meets Prague. Anyway, the band was really good, and we all had an awesome time listening to them jam. We went to see the band with our new friend Lucie, a beautifully sophisticated Czech girl who spent her teenage years in Canada. She offered to drive the girls in a car, and it was such a wild experience driving down the streets of Prague! For a few minutes, I honestly felt like I was back in America (minus the crazy narrow cobblestone streets). After several weeks of public transportation and walking everywhere, I totally associated being in a car with being in the States, and it felt incredibly strange. Lucie is a fast driver, and I could imagine for a moment that I was in one of the Jason Bourne movies, recklessly speeding past shimmering castles through a gorgeous European city in a high speed pursuit. Ahh, the good life.

My late night killed me (as I knew it would), because I got up at 7:00 to go work at Nadeje, the homeless shelter. Thanks to espresso and the grace of God, I stayed awake, and actually had a really good morning. A lot of the homeless people were quite friendly, and several even tried to speak English with me. One asked me where I was from in America, and kept saying “No or Soo?” After about 10 times, I realized he meant North or South, and of course, I proudly said the South. I got three different people who told me I spoke good Czech, and that was exciting, even if they were just being nice. I would point to myself and say “Spatne cesky!” (which could mean that I speak bad Czech or possibly that I'm a bad Czech person, I suppose, but lets hope they took it the first way). One man who spoke broken English told me he had a dream to live in Las Vegas and work at a casino. Another man who could manage a few words in English said as I gave him his food, “You have most beautiful smile. So beautiful.” About an hour later, he came back and looked at me, sighing as he shook his head and said, “Your smile...really, most beautiful I ever see in whole life.” They know how to dish out the compliments, let me tell you. I really do have to use my smile a lot at Nadeje, because it's the only way I know how to communicate sometimes. So then this afternoon, I was buying food at a Vietnamese grocery store, and when the cashier realized I didn't speak Czech, he started talking about me in Czech (I guess he thought I wouldn't understand anything) and I caught the words, “Heska americanka” (pretty american girl).

I also got TWO letters from friends in one day.

Apparently, I'm a big hit in Prague today.

My Sunday in Pictures

Lindsay and Me

The Prague Zoo...7th best in the world!

Faith Community Church

Hanging out after church....

(guys are not so great at simultaneously posing for pictures)

Zach
and
Jason

(girls pose beautifully, of course!)

Lucie and Dot