English Camp Reunion Night and a Morning With Some Brothers

Friday Night's Reunion

First off, thanks to all of you who were praying for this evening.  I know that your prayers eased my heart but also will work for the progress of God's Kingdom here in Ostrava.  We had 17 teens attend the reunion on Friday night.  Many of those teens do not live in Ostrava and so needed to travel, in one case about two hours, to attend.  We were able to Skype with a few of the people from the American team, Jim and Rachel Caley.  We also received a video message from Emily Brunton.  We spent some time worshiping and playing games.  I also spoke, with Petr translating, about how Jesus' compassion draws him to be with people.  Using examples from Matthew 8 and 9 I drew connections between the leper, the dead girl, the woman that touched Jesus' cloak, and Peter's mother in-law to show how even though we are dead in our sin, Jesus is able to meet us where we are and give us new life and that he does this in a very personal way.  We were together for almost 4 hours, it was great.  At the end, I announced the other good news, that we will be meeting like this on a weekly basis.  Please pray that God would open up the hearts of those teens to attend as often as possible and for the group to grow.  Pray also for boldness for the teens, that they would invite their friends to take part in our Friday night fun.

A Little Bit of History

On Saturday morning I got a phone call from Petr, the Czech pastor, that he and a teen named Radek were going to go and see some of the vehicles used for public transportation because this year they celebrated 120 years of public transportation here.  Radek, who lives a couple of hours away had stayed the night after the English Camp Reunion.  It was great to spend a few hours with these two brothers in Christ, enjoying a little bit of local history.

Not only did they bring out the old vehicles for people to look at but people were able to travel on these buses and trams for fun and many if not all of the buses and trams were replaced with the older versions for several hours during the day so that people could enjoy a little bit of the city's history.

Radek, practicing his shooting using a gun used to police training here.  Instead of wasting live rounds they can practice their aim with the use of a laser which registers the shot on a computer screen.  Radek would love to become a police officer himself because he wants to help people.  I love this brother!

Petr and Radek made me get into the driver's seat of this old bus.  I was waving to people like I was 5 years old.  You guys know how I can get.

Just a little reminder of the effect of Communism on this country.  A section of Ostrava was once called Stalingrad.

These police horses are trained to stay calm even with loud noises and smoke.  They are used mostly to handle rough crowds at futbol matches.

Lastly, pray for my visa process.  There is still much to be done and not a ton of time to do it.  Thanks.