A Very Busy Weekend But A Very Good Weekend

Friday Night Youth Meeting 

Friday night was great.  Our youth group hosted a meeting of the Církev bratrská youth groups from the eastern portion of the country.  Each group prepared a presentation about some of the things that their group has done.  It was great to see some of the fun that the other groups were having.  I asked Matouš to do our presentation and of course he used it as an opportunity to have a little bit of fun with some weird pictures of me.  Each group also had one person from the group proclaim about how the Lord has worked in their life.  I asked Barča, whom I've spoken about previously, to talk about how the Lord has changed her life since the English camp this summer.  I was so happy that she agreed to do it because in general she is pretty shy and uncomfortable with speaking in front of crowds but she did a great job.  The B-Band was also part of the evening, leading worship for the occasion throughout the evening.  They invited me to sing a couple of songs with them and that was a lot of fun.  We also played some games together and I spoke to the group for about 20 minutes, encouraging them to speak to others about Christ as the friend that they need to know.  It was great to see teens from different groups getting to know each other.  Some from our group got to see some old friends for the first time in a long time but others from the group were a bit hesitant to branch out.  If we do this again hopefully they will be more willing to meet new people.  Lastly, we had a sleepover for any of the teens that wanted or needed to spend the night there.  It ended up mostly being teens from our group but they stayed up late watching the Hobbit.  Petr spent the evening there but I was back over there early the next morning to take over for him.  There were about 40 people there that night.  All in all a great evening.

Saturday Night's Worship Concert

After a long Friday, I was busy once again on Saturday, waking up early to make sure the the teens were supervised after the sleepover at the church and making sure that things got cleaned up.  After the teens left I needed to make sure that I cleaned up my own apartment for guests that would be coming on Sunday.  By early evening I was back at the church to help the B-Band with the worship concert but by the time to concert was over I was ready for bed because I was not feeling that well.  It was a great reminder from the Lord that even though I was prepared to preach I still needed His strength and Spirit to do it well.

If you would like to see one of the songs performed click on the link below:

Pulnoční

St. Martin's Feast

Upon returning to the Czech Republic, Radim and Mila informed me that they wanted to celebrate a traditional Czech feast with me at my apartment.  On Sunday, before church, Radim and Mila came over and began preparing the meal with a goose as the centerpiece of the meal.  They invited Bára as well.  The meal was great but the company was even better.

My arm got in the way of the beautiful goose in this picture.

Sunday's Service on Matthew 9:35-38

Preaching was a great experience.  It was the first time I have preached since arriving here this year.  The Lord was merciful in my preparation as well as allowing me to feel a bit better so I could preach.  Pray for our response to this passage.  That we would pray for the spread of the gospel not only in the Czech Republic but around the world.  That the Lord would be preparing the hearts of people to be ripe for the gospel despite the seeming lack of interest in spiritual things among the millions of people in this nation.  And pray that the Lord would continue to stir and equip people to teach and shepherd these ripe souls.  Thank you for praying for me as I prepared for this weekend.  Your prayers were definitely felt.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week.  God Bless.