Nate Hampton In Ostrava: Speaking With People About Christ and Taking In Some Culture

Speaking with people about Christ in the park

Twice this week I had the opportunity to assist Jarda, a woman from the Czech church, with asking people if they are willing to answer questions about Christianity. On Monday and Wednesday evening we traveled to several of the local parks to see if people would be willing to answer questions about Christianity. I had the easy job in all this as I really can't speak much Czech, Jarda did almost all of the talking. Most people we attempted to talk to did not want to talk so we would move on. We did however come across several people who were willing to speak with us. Two in particular come to mind, both of whom we spoke to on Monday night. The first were two young men between the ages of 17-20. Neither of them knew very much at all about Jesus or Christianity but one of them, Robyn, seemed much more interested in both speaking and listening. He took a tract from Jarda before we left. Pray that he might read this and be changed. The other was a young woman named Pavla. She was very interested in not only answering the questions on the questionnaire but also asked to hear both of our testimonies. Jarda, translated for me as I spoke. We spoke with her for about 20-30 minutes and at the end I asked to pray for her. She explained that just that morning her mother found out that she may have cancer. Pray not only for Pavla's mother but also for her. She was well aware of where the church is and was pleased with how nicely it has turned out. Pray that she would look positively on her experience with us and consider visiting the church.

First week of Youth Revolution

Friday night was the first normal week of Youth Revolution, the name given to the revamped youth group at the church that I am helping to lead. Last week was a special event as the focus was mainly reuniting with the teens from camp. I spoke the first two weeks and have been getting a lot of positive feedback from both Petr and the teens about the lessons. This week I spoke on finding our identities in Christ. One of the big challenges is that about half of the kids who have attended are unchurched and so some things need to be explained a little bit more. This is a problem because I am trying to keep the lessons a bit shorter and with the need for translation even a 10 minute talk becomes 20 minutes so I have to find creative ways to hold their attention. The Lord was gracious this week and I believe that I found the right mix. We had only 10 kids attend this week but there were several from the 17 the previous week that informed me beforehand that they would not be able to make it this past Friday but they wished they could. Please continue to keep these kids in your prayers as they as hearing the truth about God every week now. Pray that the Lord would work in their hearts and my own as we all need the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The question that I asked several times throughout the talk on Friday was "Who are you?" I ended it with this song from Casting Crowns. "Who Am I"

Třebovický Koláč

As I have said several times already over the last few weeks, the members of Církev Bratrská in Poruba-Ostrava have been wonderful in making me feel part of their church family by inviting me to spend time with them outside of church; for lunch, a weekend trip to visit family, or tickets to a baseball game. One of the members of the church invited me to attend an annual Czech folk festival with her and her two girls. Not only did she want me to check out this festival but she wanted to introduce me to another American that she knows and works with. So on Saturday we met to attend the festival. They had many activities for children as well as folk music throughout the day. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the experience.

Just some of the great costumes that people had who were involved in the festival. Their heritage goes back a bit further than ours in the United States.