Victory! USA Takes Third in World Ice Hockey Championships.

A Day at the Zoo

The first two Fridays in May were holidays here in the Czech Republic.  The first Friday, the church as a whole spent the weekend in the mountains but the second Friday our youth group went to the zoo.  Because of the holiday, some of the teens were free to spend the day wandering around the Ostrava Zoo and getting to know each other a little better.  We had several people not feeling well, some who needed to prepare for upcoming exams and others who had other plans for the day so a group of seven of us met at the zoo at noon.  One of the things that was great was that Anička was able to make it after being very busy over the last couple of months.  It was nice to see her again and I am sure she enjoyed catching up with some of the others from the group as well.  We spent about six hours together at the zoo checking out the amazing variety animals that can be found in God's creation.  Afterwards, we were able to come back and just relax together back at the church, play games and talk.  It was a nice way to spend the day plus I was pretty proud of myself because I was able to orchestrate all the travel with buses, trains, trams, and trolleys.  Here are a few pictures from the day.

Our little zoo group.

Patrik petting one of the goats.  I didn't pet any of them because I don't trust goats because of their rectangular pupils.

Anička enjoying some cotton candy, while Kuba looks on enviously.

Eliška showing us her wingspan and what kind of bird she might be.

Kuba showing off his new hair cut as well as the tiny hat which used to be his ice cream bowl.

A few of the elephants

And a poisonous tree frog from the Amazon.

Showing a little bit of American pride with my doughnuts. 

This it the closest thing that you will find to Dunkin Donuts, here in the Czech Republic.  I am not sure what the deal is with the flags but when they gave me a Czech flag I asked for an American one as well.

Good and Evil

It is interesting trying to balance what kind of lessons to teach on Friday nights at youth group.  Being that about half the group are believers and the other half quite possibly not I want to have lessons that challenge the teens that are believers but also have lessons that talk about our most basic need for Christ.  This past Friday night I address the topic of Good and Evil.  The Good being God and His angels and the Evil being Satan and demons.  I thought it to be a good thing to talk about because some people here, as in the United States believe that God and angels exist but don't give a thought to demons or even the devil.  As I was preparing last week, I was praying that God would bring just the right people that night to hear the lesson and join in the discussion afterward.  Although some of the people that I hoped would be there could not make it or had to leave early I am confident that God had the right people there to hear that particular truth from His word.  Please pray that this planting of seed and and watering of soil would begin to show more fruit in the lives of each and everyone of these teens.  I am thankful for what God has done so far but it would be so sad to see some of these teens week after week yet leave here, whenever that is, and still see their hearts hardened to the gospel.

Some of the group in the middle of a game.  I lost early on.

Matouš preparing for the balloon game.

Two of the three finalist, Matouš and Terka battling it out.  Bára smartly staying out of the fray.

The World Ice Hockey Championship

Over the last few weeks, Prague and Ostrava have played host to national ice hockey teams from around the world.  If you know anything about hockey you know that one of the best countries in the world in producing ice hockey talent is the Czech Republic.  Possibly there greatest point of pride is former Pittsburgh Penguin, New York Ranger, New Jersey Devil, Philadelphia Flyer, and current Florida Panther, Jaromír Jagr.  This was the main thing that people would talk about and many commercials on television referred to the tournament.  Last week I got the opportunity to go to one of the games between Norway and Belarus because one of my neighbors and a member of the church is a clerk for the city of Ostrava.  He gets many tickets to sporting events and concerts for free and I was happy to go with him and his daughter Klára, who will hopefully join our youth group next year when she turns 13.  Over the weekend the semi-finals and finals were played and it worked out that the United States played the Czech Republic for third place on Sunday afternoon.  The timing worked out so that even though we had to miss the first two periods we could watch the final period at the church together after the service.  I found myself surrounded by Czech fans with the United States leading 3-0 going into the third period.  So, I did what any intelligent person does, I left to get some snacks, hoping that the score would be closer when I returned, but it wasn't.  USA won, 3-0 and took third place, and everyone made me stand up and sing the national anthem when they played it at the end of the game.  Just one of the interesting circumstances you find yourself in at times as a missionary, I guess.  I am happy to report that relationships are still in tact, I think.  Although it may be a few weeks before I am invited for lunch anywhere.