Maják Baptisms!

Ahoj,

This is a special post that especially Mountain View people will be interested in, since they are more involved with the Maják church plant in Vsetín. Here I will post a few pics of the baptisms that occurred this past Sunday. You may even recognize some faces! :-)

So me, Kosťa, Iva and MaSlo went to a nearby village after lunch Sunday, where Maják was having a mini-retreat for some planning. My friend Ondřej Chytil invited me to Vsetín for this event, so thats why I was there for the weekend. :-) It was good to see him again. I thought only his fianceé was getting baptized, but there were 3 getting baptized: Hanka, a young girl of about 9 or 10, and a girl I met at camp in 2007 named Eva who is probably around 15.

When we got there, one of the worship leaders did a few songs in Czech and then one of the pastors led prayer. Many people in the church prayed aloud for the new believers before the pastor closed. Then Hanka gave her testimony, which was great to hear. :-) (Thank goodness for translating friends!) Then the 3 were baptized very quickly in an above-ground pool, outside where the weather was not very warm (maybe in the 50s...) and the water was certainly not very warm. :-) This was a joyful celebration for the church. We stayed maybe an hour or so after, speaking to Maják members who are people we know. I spoke with Daniel Hurta, the main pastor, and he introduced me to Marie, their primary teacher of English for their 3-month English program.

Long story short, look for another update soon about Maják's English weekend in November. :-) I was asked and also offered to help out and be a native speaker their to help Czechs with their conversational English, and I am excited for the opportunity! Please pray for this as well!

This was a huge blessing to attend, and I am sure that MVC will be getting even more details very soon in the Maják update.

Jsem Tu! I am here!

Ahoj,


Well I have been in Praha for one week. It has been a very interesting week in many ways. I apologize if I fail at brevity in this update but I will try. :-)


I arrived safe and sound to Praha Ruzyně Airport after an uneventful flight. My buddy, Lucie, was waiting for me as promised and so we headed to the dorm and arrived there no problem despite my heavy bags. :-D She helped me to check in and settle in, and I met my roommate, who also is from CSU in Fort Collins. I was slightly disappointed because I hoped for the challenge of meeting someone from another country right away, but I know He does what He does for a reason. :-) The three of us went almost immediately to Albert, the nearest grocery store (well, they're all over) and got some food. This was all Weds 10 September. :-)


So Thursday, 11 Sept., my buddy took Ashley (my roommate) and I to school to ask some questions, and we were frustrated that we could not register early or anything despite the fact that we saw our ID cards and packets laying completely prepared on a table. We were also again frustrated when we tried to buy a transportation pass (which is MUCH more economical than individual tickets) because they would not accept our US ISIC cards, so we again had to wait until Monday to purchase those. So, without internet at home, and no way of getting internet at school, plus transportation being expensive it was a frustrating morning. We went to Wenceslas Square and looked around some shops and had pizza for lunch, and then the rest of the evening Ashley and I spent mostly relaxing.


Friday 12 Sept, Lucie took me to do some sight seeing. We visited the Castle some and viewed the Cathedral from inside but decided not to go in this day because the line was hugely long. She showed me the beautiful Senate house, and Senate was in session at the time. We had a quick lunch of a 20kč (about 1.20) cheeseburger from McDonalds, saw the 35 second Astronomical clock chime (such a tourist trap...) and I used my limited Czech language to buy a yummy kobliha (donut--very different from US :-D) at a bakery. Then we both went to our separate homes. Ashley and I had dinner at the pub that is in our dormitory and hung out talking for a while before going to bed.


Saturday 13 September I left for VSETÍN! :-D This was rather an unexpected plan that I made just before coming to Praha. The main reason was for the baptism of my friend's fianceé with Maják (Lighthouse) Church, a small church plant in Vsetín (see above blog post). Saturday dawned quite cold compared to my first few very warm days in Praha and it was quite chilly for September... but I had the blessing of having a crazy train adventure (ask me sometime), hanging out with friends, going to the Mládež youth group Saturday night, spending the night with my friends Iva and MaSlo, going to CB church Sunday morning, attending the baptisms on Sunday afternoon, and being shown around the nearby city of Valašské Meziříčí (ValMez) before hopping on yet another train back to Prague. This is the briefest version of the weekend but it was sooo wonderful. :-)


Monday and Tuesday were rather frustrating for me. First, there were many long lines with the school registration Monday morning. That went fine, and Ashley and i got our transport passes, school IDs, and internet info (we were very excited for that). But we found out that evening that we still could not connect to the internet and the directions we were given were very poorly written. Plus I spent the evening sneezing a lot and that wasnt fun... especially when I woke up with a cold on Tuesday morning. Not a fun thing at ALL. I found out that quite a few others from Vsetín also developed a bad cold about the same time. Once again we had internet woes... I managed to connect with my laptop at school, but not at home. There were a few welcome events Tuesday that I also missed due to being sick. I could have gone to one but I missed it, and the party in the evening I chose to avoid because I didnt want to get worse or infect others (this is good...I heard it was very crowded and smokey).


Today has been much better... I worked out my internet problems, which is how I am now updating you. :-) Me and Ashley went on a little "adventure" out to IKEA to get a few things for our room like dishes and an extra pillow and blanket, and had dinner at the canteen and are spending the evening resting because we are both tired and I am still battling a bad cold and need to rest. I can barely talk right now... :-( Not fun!


Still God has proved faithful...

Praises:

• Safe arrival in Praha
• Getting everything set up here, despite the frustrations and delays
• The man God provided on the train who happened to also be going to Vsetín and was able to help me when something went wrong!
• The baptism and profession of faith of 3 new Maják believers! :-D
• How God uses my friends in Vsetín to encourage me when I feel alone out here. :-)

Please Pray for:

• My buddy, Lucie, and my roommate, Ashley. both not believers, pray I can be a witness in word and action. I have talked some with Ashley about our differences, please pray for boldness to speak the truth in genuine love and without fear...
• for my friend Adéla who is a rather new believer to have a desire to come to mládež and seek the fellowship of other believers, pray I can deepen my relationship with her
• Pray for my cold to go away QUICKLY... it seems maybe Satan is trying to attack, as many of us are sick who are attending Sport Weekend with Mládež this weekend.
• Pray for Sport weekend, there will be spiritual talks in the evening and pray that the Holy Spirit will work through Athletes in Action and move the hearts of unbelievers and encourage the hearts of believers. :-)
• For my future involvement this semester with Mládež... this is where I hope to be involved when I move here, so I am THRILLED that God seems to have opened the door for me to be in Vsetín more this semester. :-) SO excited!!!

Promíň... Sorry this is long. :-) feel free to email and comment! will update on Mondays usually, but always look for the email too. :-)

One Week... :-) Jeden Týden

Ahoj,

Well I leave one week from tomorrow, Sept. 9. Crazy! I am nervous and excited all at once. :-) Some new developments have come up since my last post and most of them are pretty awesome.

I learned recently, through documents received by email which include a "master schedule" of all the CESP courses, that I will probably not be able to take all of the classes I had intended on taking. I am a bit disappointed honestly because I was really looking forward to those classes. I should still be able to take at least 2 of the original 4 (I really hope that Czech history is included in this. :-) ) but will probably also take classes in business and or economy that I do not know much about. Oh well, I am sure they can be useful in some way. But on a brighter note, I contacted the professor for the "elementary Czech" class and it looks very possible to take the "intermediate Czech" class which would be much more challenging for me, and a lot more productive! Yay! I have been studying a lot more Czech grammar lately and in my "quizzing" I have done pretty well... practice makes perfect, I hope!

I also have been in contact with my "buddy". The buddy system at the school is for foreign students to have a match-up VŠE student who will help them to get around, talk to people, etc. and just generally be a friend in a new place. So my buddy, a girl named Lucie (Lucy) emailed me for the first time just over a week ago and we have been in touch. She is near to my age and we have some good things in common (even a dislike for the taste of most alcohol :-) ) and I think I will enjoy getting to know her even more.

I do have a dilemma, and I am unsure how big of a dilemma it really is but I could use some prayer. the first weekend before school starts there is an "Icebreaking weekend". It is described as follows:

*What is it about?*- You will meet and get to know your fellows for Fall 2008;- You will meet us, Buddy System Team, a group of Czech students who willorganize various events, parties and trips for you during the whole term;- You will party!!! Friday's night: International party; Saturday's night:Freak hat party!- Teambuilding games, sports, lecture of Czech language and many others...

*Where?*- Holiday resort Radost (http://www.rz-radost.cz/): surrounded by beautiful Czech nature with sport areas, social and barbecue area and bar (of course!)

*When?*- *September 19th - September 21st* (Friday morning - Sunday afternoon)- Transportation by buses from the square in front of V©E universitybuilding (2-hours journey) is included in the price

The dilemma comes partly in the cost (it is about 90 dollars with the current exchange rate) especially in relation to the activities. I see on one end that this is an opportunity to intentionally get to know people and possibly hear about more of what activities there are in the semester (there is a basic schedule online also)... but, especially seeing as I KNOW there will be a lot of "partying", meaning a lot of drinking, do I really want to spend 90 bucks to go and sit there being bored while everyone else is drinking while "getting to know each other"? Even though there are other activities I have very good reason to believe, based on what I have heard about the program in the past, that the drinking will be heavy and I just do not think that is an environment I want to spend my weekend being around. Not for 90 dollars. If it was joining people to go to a bar or a pub in Praha I could understand because then I could spend what I want and come and go as I please.
please pray for me in this... especially that I can have good opportunities to meet people in a more positive way and participate in things because I do not want to ignore the many good opportunities the program provides, or the chance to make friends with people from around the world and maybe even make a positive difference in their lives. I want God to be able to use me where I am at.

In general I am pretty excited to get going... :-) I have already started packing! Definitely a little nervous because I have never spent 3 whole months away from home completely with no one I really know. I think this could be a very positive growing experience in every aspect of my life.

Your prayers and correspondance are greatly appreciated. :-) Look for another update within 2 weeks... I will post one within a week of arriving.
Dobrý den!