My Final Youth Meetings
Several days ago, we celebrated my final youth meeting here with an end of the school year celebration. This is something that we have done the last several years, but of course this one had a bit more of a solemn tone. We were hoping for a nice sunny day to enjoy some sports and games along with some grilling, but about an hour before the meeting began a series of thunderstorms rolled into the area. Thankfully however, we were protected from the storm by a roof covered patio, so we were still able to grill and enjoy a lot of tasty food together. We had a nice turnout with several people attending who haven't been with us in months including Terka, Barča, Míla, Radim and Richard.
During the evening, people spoke with one another, enjoyed some food together and some played a little bit of Trivial Pursuit. It was a bitter sweet evening, because although we did enjoy the time together there was an overtone of sadness, knowing that it was our final meeting together. I handed out some individualized letters that I have written for them to hold onto after I have gone. Although I haven't yet finished all the letters I finished the letters of those who I was unsure that I would see again before I leave. There wasn't much talk about the sad reality however, because we spoke about it the previous week during my final youth lesson.
The previous week, I taught my final youth lesson here. The lesson was on John 17:6-26, Jesus' prayer for his disciples and for future believers. I spoke about what this passage means for them and then I connected to my particular thoughts and prayers about and for them. It was a very emotional week, thinking about the ways in which I have seen them grow and thinking about their individual and group needs in the future. There were a few tears shed during the meeting, but we also knew that we would still have several more weeks together as well as the camp before I return home. I'm sure that there will be more tears as the reality becomes more and more immediate.
Please pray for this group, as the future leadership and direction of it is still unclear. Pray that they would be united with one another and support one another. And pray that God would protect them from falling into the many temptations of this world.
Táňa's Wedding
The day after teaching my final youth lesson, I attended Táňa's wedding. The wedding was planned for the end of March, but was postponed for three months as the quarantine was put in place several weeks before. Although Táňa was disappointed by the delay, she came to cherish the extra time with her family and grew a lot in her relationship with God. It was a real honor to be invited to the wedding celebration as the Czech wedding traditions are a bit different from the traditions in the States. Here wedding gatherings are traditionally much smaller. Instead of inviting every possible family member and nearly every friend and friend of the family, the wedding celebration here is generally reserved for only close family members and close friends. Because of this fact, I felt incredibly honored to be invited to attend.
The law requires some government officials to take part in the wedding to make it legal, but Táňa also had one of her uncles give a short sermon. The sermon gave the biblical view of marriage and presented the gospel very clearly. This was wonderful, because many of the people in attendance, including Denis, Táňa's husband, are not believers. Later Táňa's mom told me that a lot of people shared with her how unique and beautiful the service was and remarked how nice it was that they chose to wait to move in together until after they were married. This is very rare, even for some professing Christians here. It was wonderful to hear that people saw the sweetness of God's way.
There were many things that the wedding celebration included, which were new to me. There were some things that I expected such as, food, drinks, dancing and a slideshow, but there were some others that I did not expect. One thing that was new to me was that after the wedding ceremony, the couple takes pictures with the entire group that attended, as well as taking individual photos with each person or family that attended. The celebration also included several games, most of them were for the newlyweds, but some were for the guests who wanted to participate. And lastly, the wedding celebration lasted the entire day. The wedding itself began at 12:30, but the celebration continued into the early hours of the mornings introducing more food, drinks or a new activity every hour. I must admit, I was not prepared for that last part and was exhausted by the time I left at 10:30, which was before the celebration had concluded.
Please pray for Táňa and Denis as they begin their life together. Pray that Táňa would not only hold onto and grow in her faith, but that she might lead Denis to saving belief as well. Pray also for their friends and family who are not believers, but heard truth during the ceremony. Pray that they would consider what they heard and desire to know more.
My Goodbye Party
Last Thursday, the church held a goodbye party for me. Although I'm still here for a little more than a month longer, they decided to hold the goodbye party last week before the summer holidays began. Many people leave for vacations during the summer, so they wanted to make sure that the vast majority of the people could attend. The party was a wonderful blessing. There were many friends, church members, youth groupers, people from English camps, and even colleagues from my work at local schools. There was also a lot of food, decorations and even an unexpected interview. It was a wonderful evening, but I must say that it was tough to try to move throughout the party and talk with this person and that, while often being interrupted by others who wanted to have a word or give me some small gift. As you can imagine, I didn't have much time to be able to take pictures during the party, but I was able to take a few pictures yesterday of the remaining decorations.
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