Update #8: A Real Update Dear Friends and Family, Since my attempt at providing yesterday’s update did not go well, and now that I am finished crying at the loss of said update, I will give the update for today, Friday, August 9th. Backyard Bible Club and English Camp are both finished at this point. Nevertheless, we planned a trip to the Karlstejn (karl-shtien) Castle with some of the students from the English Camp. This was our first trip outside of Prague. Blancka, Vlasta, Vieira, Marek, and Alice came with us. During our time there, we discussed several things with them. For instance, school in the Czech Republic never closes because of snow. Weird, right? Then I told them that in Washington DC, we cancel school for less than an inch of snow. They laughed. I also spoke with the two older women, Vlasta and Vieira. The latter shared about her life during World War II; she was only five years old when her parents took her away from Prague. Although her English is elementary, she gave me a good idea of how badly the war affected her. Then Vlasta showed me a picture of her grandchild, an adopted Gypsy girl. She was incredibly cute. After our tour of the Karlstejn, which is a marvelous castle, we gathered our group and went on a hike. A little ways into the woods, we stopped by a tree for lunch and sang “Agnus Dei” and “Lord I Lift Your Name on High.” Jordan presented her testimony of how God changed her life through a friend with whom she shared common interests and a birthday. Despite growing up in a non-Christian home, Jordan still became a Christian. This might have been baffling to some Czechs because many of them believe that Christians are only Christians because their parents are. Jordan’s testimony, however, refutes that assumption and forces people to realize that God can reach anyone, whether or not their parents are Christians. After we ate lunch, we started back on the hiking trail. Soon, rain fell. Slowly at first; then progressively harder until we were in the middle of the woods and it was pouring. By the time we made it out of the forest and back to the train station, most, if not all of us were drenched. After a few of us changed our clothes, we boarded the train and headed back to Prague. Once there, we invited the students to come to the Swain’s home for a night of pizza and Dutch Blitz. Blancka, Marek, and Alice accepted the invitation, but all of us went home first and showered due to the rain. At the Swain’s house, we prepared the pizzas with Mrs. Swain, who happens to be an excellent cook. We baked eight pizzas, all from scratch. Our toppings included ham, peppers, two types of cheese, pineapple, olives, mushrooms, and tomatoes—not all on one pizza, of course. Mrs. Swain made the dough and we added the toppings. The pizzas were crisp, filling, and delicious. A true blessing to our American-sized bellies. After we prepared the pizzas, our guests arrived. We ate the pizza and they asked us questions about ourselves. Following dinner, we played Dutch Blitz! If you don’t know this card game, I encourage you to google it. It’s fast-paced and mind-bending. The time of playing games was great. At the end, we had to say goodbye to Alice for the final time, because she cannot be with us tomorrow. Before she left, Jonny asked if we could pray with the three of them—Alice, Marek and Blancka (the only Christian in the group). They were quick to accept. Jonny prayed. We said goodbye. I’m here in our hotel room with angled walls, because we are at the top of the house (the room is much like an attic in that regard) thanking God for the day we had today and resting in the fact that even in our mistakes, missteps, and failures He remains true and faithful. Who wouldn’t love a God like that? -Jeremy Perry
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 21:31:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015