The Rush Before The Rest
Before the holidays I had a lot to do. I spoke at two different schools during the week, speaking on the topic of Christmas traditions in the United States. This was a great opportunity because I was able to talk a bit about Jesus in the schools as I explained the origin of some of the terms and traditions we have at Christmas. It was very interesting for me as I did a bit of research in preparation for the presentations. I learned the background behind the tradition of the Christmas tree, where we get the tradition and name of Santa Claus and even the history behind the name of the holiday, Christmas. It was also interesting to hear a bit about the family traditions of the students here. Unlike in the United States, everyone pretty much had the same Christmas traditions. In the States, traditions seem to vary slightly from family to family but here, every family did pretty much the same thing. Pray that students would consider some of the things that we spoke about, especially when it comes to the person of Jesus and why he is celebrated.
The last few days of the week were really busy. One of the teachers from Olgy Havlové, the school of Matouš, Dominika, Klára and Terka, invited me to come and see a play that some of the students had prepared. So, Friday morning I travelled downtown to join the school in watching the show. I was expecting it to be in Czech, but to my surprise, the show was all in English. It was really fun to see students that I'd met during different class visits do a little bit of acting, especially since the play was about American teens in the 60's. After the play I returned to my apartment to finish preparing for the Youth Revolution Christmas Party and movie marathon as well as finish packing for my trip back home for the holidays.
The Christmas Party and movie marathon went well but it was very tiring. We were under a time restriction because the church was having a special dinner together on Saturday evening and I needed to catch the last train to Prague by 7:00 Saturday night. Because of this, after we finished our Christmas activities we jumped right into watching all of the Star Wars movies. We watched 7 movies, one right after the other without stopping for sleep. Most of the teens fell asleep at different times throughout the evening and the following morning but I was awake the whole time cleaning up a little bit at a time and preparing tacos. We finished up by about 1:00 PM on Saturday afternoon and after cleaning up the church I returned home for a quick shower and a three hour nap because I knew that I probably wouldn't sleep again until I was back home in Pennsylvania on Sunday night.
Over the next day and a half, I travelled across the country by train, spent the night in the Prague airport, travelled from Prague to London and then London to Philly. The Lord was very merciful during my travels because despite fog in London and high winds in Philly, each flight arrived safely and on time. I know this was God's mercy because my friend, Dan ended up being stuck in London for about a day as he travelled back from Italy a week and a half later. It was wonderful to see the Christmas lights and decorations of the Philadelphia International Airport and my family as I have spent the last two Christmases here in the Czech Republic. It has been great to have families here invite me over to celebrate Christmas with them, but there's nothing like spending the holidays with your own family. Upon returning to Elverson, I grabbed some food and then joined my friends to take part in our holiday tradition of watching Christmas movies together. I was exhausted after only getting five hours of sleep over the course of three days but it was great to spend some time with some friends.
Wenceslas Square decorated for Christmas
Christmas At Home
One of the interesting things about being a missionary is that while you are in the country where you are serving, you always feel like you are working, even during the holidays. Over the past two years, I have spend Christmas with the Rýšánkovi family. It has been wonderful to be able to spend time with them and be welcomed as part their family, but rarely do I leave feeling very rested (they have four younger children). So, this Christmas while I was home I really tried to relax. I was able to spend time resting at home and hanging out with my mom, dad and brother. I was able to catch up with some of my friends and talk with some people that I haven't had the chance to catch up with in a while. I was also able to see the newly finished church sanctuary and worship with my brothers and sisters from CEFC on three different occasions. I also got the chance to hangout with some of the guys one evening and spend time with some friends on New Years Eve. Last year, I spent NYE in my apartment alone with a temperature of almost 104℉ (not so fun). Although the two weeks went by quickly, it was a nice break and a great chance to spend time with my family and friends.
Christmas Day Family Picture
A couple of friends on New Years Eve
Hitting The Ground Running
Upon returning to the Czech Republic I had to jump right back into things. After going 30 some hours without sleep during my travels I got a good night's rest and awoke to prepare a lesson for the youth meeting the following day and lead the Thursday night English conversation group. That Friday we had our regular youth meeting but it was a small group because some of the teens were invited to a going away party for Patrik and some others had other activities that evening. I would have loved to have been able to go to the party, but it happened at the same time as youth group and I was in charge of teaching. I did however get a chance to meet with Patrik on Sunday afternoon for lunch and talk about his move to the United States. I gave him a little advice about some practical things like auto insurance and other things and wished him well, letting him know that I would be continuing to pray for him. Over the next week, I returned to pretty much my regular schedule of conversation groups, school visits and youth activities, however, I really struggled with jet lag this time. Up until Friday night, I was struggling to fall asleep until about 4 or 5 in the morning speaking at a school all day long on only two hours of sleep, but thankful I seem to be back to normal, finally. This past Friday night we had a social event at youth group. Instead of our normal activities, we went bowling and we had a pretty good turnout. We had a total of 18 people including four people who have never joined us before. It was a great night of fun and laughing. Pray that future social activities would bring more newcomers and that those newcomers would consider joining us for our regular weekly meetings. Pray also for Patrik as he makes the transition to life in the United States.
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