Time At Home
During the month of August, I had the opportunity to be home in Pennsylvania and spend time with family and friends as well as reconnected with the church and report about my second year in the Czech Republic as well as the English Camp. It was wonderful to be able to spend some time with my family and help around the house as my family has been really busy over the last few months helping to take care of my grandmother as she battles cancer. I also got the chance to see my grandmother and my uncle a few times while I was home as we helped to watch her when my uncle needed to run some errands. I was able to celebrate my birthday with some of my friends and do some of our favorite past time activities such as playing Sport Toss (Corn hole) and sing some late night hymns. While spending time with my friends I was also able to meet three new little people, Calvin, George and Oliver. These three baby boys had entered the world since I was home last summer. I also had the opportunity to spend some time with the young adults group, Vine and Branches once again and connect with old friends as well as meet many new ones.
This summer was extra interesting because Eliška, one of the girls from our youth group here, was able to come and visit with different families from the church as well as experience the church life and worship services of CEFC. She also was able to visit several major cities in the United States, which may end up being a once in a lifetime experience. It was great to have the people of CEFC meet one of the young people that they have been praying for over the last couple of years and hear about what her experience has been, growing up as a Christian in the Czech Republic. She only had wonderful things to say about her time in the United States and how people went out of their way to make sure that she felt not just welcome but loved. I can also say that it was also a growing experience for her as she was forced to step out of her comfort zone and grow in her self-confidence, especially in the area of her English speaking.
Below are some photos from our trip to New York City
Returning to Ostrava
A little more than two weeks ago, I returned to the Czech Republic and my apartment in Ostrava. After more than 30 hours without sleep and thousands of miles of travel it was wonderful to get back to my own apartment with my own shower and take a shower and head to bed. The next few days were pretty busy. The following day, I spent the morning unpacking some things and finding the refrigerator nearly empty, I needed to make a quick run to the grocery store. Before heading to the store I received an email from one of the members of Církev bratrská, that he and his family would be moving that afternoon and he wanted to know if I could help. So, soon after returning from the grocery store, I was off again to spend about an hour and a half helping them move. In about two weeks I will be heading back to that same apartment to help Radim and Míla as they move into that apartment. This is a very welcome move for them as they currently live about 30 minutes from Ostrava, making it a bit difficult to be involved in church activities during the week. After helping with the move I was headed back home to take a quick shower before the youth meeting. That's right, we had a youth meeting the day after I got back. It was wonderful to be able to catch up with the youth and enjoy an evening together playing games, eating food, and talking. Early the following morning I was up and out of the house as some of the people of the church traveled to Malenovice to attend a meeting of the CB churches of the region. As part of the day's activities I participated in a soccer tournament that we had actually won the previous year, but this year it wasn't meant to be. We were missing several of our key players so we ended up playing with several small children on our team. Although it was fun to get out there and run around and play, we didn't last very long in the tournament, losing our first two games. The following day, I was able to reunite with church body of Církev bratrská in Poruba. It was great to be able to see everyone once again and talk with them about how the remainder of the summer had been.
Last week, I got back into my normal routine, preparing youth group lessons and conversation groups. It was a little slow in going as a I was dealing with jet lag a bit, but I was able to complete the things I needed to complete. We had our first regular youth meeting of the year this past Friday and we began a study of the book of Romans. The group was quite small but we spent time talking together about the power of the gospel to bring salvation to those who believe. This was a wonderful truth to be reminded of myself and hopefully an encouragement to the young believers to share the gospel with those around them despite any fears of personal inadequacy that they might have. Pray for me as I seek to bring the truths of the book of Romans to the youth here so that they would see both their need for Jesus Christ everyday and that they would come to believe in Jesus as their personal Savior and grow in their love for Him.
Yesterday, several of our Chinese friends, who had attended the English Camp this summer, came to join us for our church service. It was great to see them again and talk with them a bit but it was also nice that Petr translated the sermon of Pavel into English, so I didn't have to work as hard to understand the sermon this week. Please pray for these Chinese brothers and sisters in Christ as they are awaiting to hear back about their documentation that would allow them to stay in the Czech Republic as refugees.
Yesterday, Petr informed me that we would be meeting with some leaders of another small church down the street from CB, because we have been in talks about having their youth group join ours this coming year. This has the potential to be a huge encouragement to the young people in both groups because they also have a very small group. Pray that God's will would be done in our discussions and that we would be able to encourage one another as we seek to collaborate.
Below are some photos of our game night at youth group
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