The past month has obviously been so busy I haven't even had time to catch up with all my "blog readers." As of right now, I am scheduled to fly home on May 5 to get back to the "real world. But the past few weeks have taken me on an interesting journey of decisions and breakthroughs.
About halfway through my time here, my schedule picked up and I soon had something going on every day of the week. I spent most of my time during the day working on "Ron Stuff." Little did I know that I could update a website but give me a user name and password and apparently I can find my way around the back end of a site fairly well. This is just one of the ways that God has shown me I can do more than I thought. Other than that I have been able to catch him in various office tasks like designing letterhead and organizing files. Certainly not the most glamorous side of ministry work but extremely important none the less. The less time he has to spend sitting on his computer and in his office, the more time that he can be doing what he does best. I'm not sure what that is yet, besides giving us a healthy dose of a hard time, but I am sure I will see it soon. In all seriousness, Ron has an extremely important job here in Czech and excels at it. He is a great communicator and builds relationships easily - that trait is vital here. So I am glad to help him out in any way I can so that he can spend his time on the field, training leaders to be great communicators. Oh, and he plays the guitar in our Praise Team - without him we would lose the beat!
My other time is spent in various outreaches and ministry projects. As I am sure I have already mentioned, I teach English to my landlord's daughter Lida and to the Barnes' Czech teacher, Magda. I meet with Lida every Tuesday and Thursday night at 5:00 and I meet with Magda usually on Wednesdays when she comes to teach the family. This has been a huge learning experience for all three of us. As they have learned English, I have learned a little Czech and I have learned how to teach someone the basics of a language. Through teaching, I have learned how to learn. I also had the opportunity to teach the Seminary students an English lesson when they came to Budejovice for a day. That in itself was a task I was surprised I could accomplish. And finally for the past month, I have gone with the team to a local elementary school to work on English with 7th and 8th graders. This is one of my favorite parts of the ministry because I love working with younger people and I really enjoy getting to know the kids every week. Sometimes they get nervous about talking but it's always a new experience every time we go. I knew that I was coming here to teach English, and I underestimated it's difficulty as I prepared to come. Teaching something that we know as basic knowledge is harder than it sounds and I say this not to boast but to show God's greatness. He has given me the strength and the confidence to work with these students, hopefully having an impact on their language as well as their lives.
About the time that my schedule picked up, my heart began to soften for this city and this people. I had become very comfortable here and began to get accustomed to the ways of the area. It can be a discouraging ministry as many days will go by and you may think that nothing has been accomplished or no one has been affected. In one of the darkest spiritual countries in the world, the work here is often planting seeds and praying for rain knowing that we may never see the fruits of the labor. Yet I wanted to be a part of it. There were so many more things I could accomplish and so many more opportunities for me to get involved. There were relationships to deepen and new ones to form. With so many outreaches planned for the summer and even the breakthroughs I had seen since I had been here, I could see the land was becoming fruitful and the laborers were coming. The city is primed and ready for us to reap a bountiful harvest! I began to seek God about my role in this; after all my trip was only scheduled for two months and I have a job in the States that I did not want to lose. How excited I was though when God blessed me with the opportunity to stay, after a slight furlough in America of course! So now here I am in the Czech Republic again for three more months. I am overwhelmed at what lies ahead but excited beyond words and still in disbelief that God has chosen to use me! I would like to ask you to pray for me and the team here as we enter into the busiest time of the year. May we see this summer for what it is - three months full of opportunities to build relationships and show God's love, not a time to stress about the busyness. Please also pray that the financial support that I require to live here will come in God's great timing to take care of me. God Bless!!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
It's been a while but don't worry everyone, I am still safe and sound in the Czech. The past couple of weeks have been very busy and nothing short of amazing for me. I have done more than I ever thought I could do and God has shown me how easy it is to be used simply by surrendering and being willing.
The weekdays have kept me busy with office work and attempting to update and organize Ron. He is actually a former pastor and has been preaching at their church plant here and I have found him to be no different than the crazy pack of pastors I work with at home. In my Czech "office" (i.e. the kitchen table) I have discovered there are many similarities to my WR office. For instance, here there are always random outbursts of songs (think Matt), loud obnoxious laughter (think Charlie), constant teasing and long discussions (think Billy), kids running around screaming (think Josh), wise advice being poured out (think Dennis), team meetings (think Bro. Jerry), silly jokes (think Randall), technical support (think Jim), and even praise team recruiting (think Brian). So, gaining the atmosphere that I'm used to takes nine pastors to accomplish at home but translate it into Czech and it is all rolled into one person: Ron Barnes. How's that for a pleasant work environment?
As crazy as it is though, it is so fulfilling and rewarding. Thought the seeds are not always visible and the plant doesn't always seem to grow, I know I am completing the tasks God set before me and helping assist a missionary who has an incredible passion and dedication to bring Christ to one of the darkest areas of the world.
When I am not working in the office, I have two students that I tutor one-on-one in English. Never did I think I would be teaching English and until now I did not truly realize how complicated our language is. These women that I work with amaze me though because of their eagerness and their desire to expand their languages. How often do we fuss for having to learn a second language in high school? Though the schools teach English, it is very watered down and difficult to walk away with a full vocabulary. Yet the students that we meet take extra time out of their lives to come and learn a language that is not even promoted in this country. We don't realize how we are limiting ourselves by thinking we only need to speak one language! My Czech words are few so there are often times when I want so much to be able to piece the words together into sentences so that I can communicate with these people. They realize the importance of communication and the need in their lives to know other languages. It has been a great learning experience for myself as well as for them.
When the weekend comes, it is almost as busy as the week. Last Friday, we had several couples from the church over to the Barnes house for a fellowship time. We made pizza and sat around talking with three extremely nice couples. This was a great opportunity for me to have more interaction the members of the church and learn the culture but I found it hard to find things to discuss with them. They are so friendly though and I soon broke out of my shell and began to converse a little more. After two couples with kids left to get them home, the younger couple stayed to play games. This turned out to be really exciting because I love to play games and I love to win even more. And I was called out for my competitiveness by the locals but I am not ashamed of my drive to be the best. Unfortunately, drive can only get you so far and in a game of "Spoons" speed is the real key to winning. Then they taught us games using only our hands and things got really silly after that. But I still had a great time and even better, the families had a great time getting to know each other more. It reminded me of a life group meeting....The part that stuck out in my mind most though was when I was talking with Ron and Jon about my church. They asked me how many people there were in my church and I said roughly 3,000 members. I then found out that in all of Czech Republic, there are roughly 3,000 Baptists. Let me say that again in case you missed that statistic. My home church, one church out of many churches in my city, has the same number of members as there are Christians in this entire country. This is indeed a dark country that needs our Lord and Saviour.
On Saturday, my roommate wanted to make sure I had every opportunity to explore the sights so she took me hiking up a mountain in a nearby town called Klet. It was really beautiful to see the area from high atop a mountain and though the hike was exhausting, it was a great time for us to get a break and spend some time together. Sunday I was a part of the Praise Team again and yes you read that right, I actually stood up in front of people and sang. Luckily there was no mic but I did play a pretty mean egg shaker. I think I could go on "American Idol" just with that. It was a neat experience though because I got to see how they worship from a better point of view. The culture here is so laid back that even in the church the worship is very soft, for lack of a better word. But the idea of the Praise Team is to get them more involved and help lead them into a spirit of true worship unto the Lord.
Like I said, every day is a new experience and I find myself stepping out on limbs left and right and though I may lose my balance or teeter on the edge, I never fall. God has held me the entire time and I look forward to every new day as a day that I can be used to encourage and plant a little bit of hope and light into a dark and dying country.
The weekdays have kept me busy with office work and attempting to update and organize Ron. He is actually a former pastor and has been preaching at their church plant here and I have found him to be no different than the crazy pack of pastors I work with at home. In my Czech "office" (i.e. the kitchen table) I have discovered there are many similarities to my WR office. For instance, here there are always random outbursts of songs (think Matt), loud obnoxious laughter (think Charlie), constant teasing and long discussions (think Billy), kids running around screaming (think Josh), wise advice being poured out (think Dennis), team meetings (think Bro. Jerry), silly jokes (think Randall), technical support (think Jim), and even praise team recruiting (think Brian). So, gaining the atmosphere that I'm used to takes nine pastors to accomplish at home but translate it into Czech and it is all rolled into one person: Ron Barnes. How's that for a pleasant work environment?
As crazy as it is though, it is so fulfilling and rewarding. Thought the seeds are not always visible and the plant doesn't always seem to grow, I know I am completing the tasks God set before me and helping assist a missionary who has an incredible passion and dedication to bring Christ to one of the darkest areas of the world.
When I am not working in the office, I have two students that I tutor one-on-one in English. Never did I think I would be teaching English and until now I did not truly realize how complicated our language is. These women that I work with amaze me though because of their eagerness and their desire to expand their languages. How often do we fuss for having to learn a second language in high school? Though the schools teach English, it is very watered down and difficult to walk away with a full vocabulary. Yet the students that we meet take extra time out of their lives to come and learn a language that is not even promoted in this country. We don't realize how we are limiting ourselves by thinking we only need to speak one language! My Czech words are few so there are often times when I want so much to be able to piece the words together into sentences so that I can communicate with these people. They realize the importance of communication and the need in their lives to know other languages. It has been a great learning experience for myself as well as for them.
When the weekend comes, it is almost as busy as the week. Last Friday, we had several couples from the church over to the Barnes house for a fellowship time. We made pizza and sat around talking with three extremely nice couples. This was a great opportunity for me to have more interaction the members of the church and learn the culture but I found it hard to find things to discuss with them. They are so friendly though and I soon broke out of my shell and began to converse a little more. After two couples with kids left to get them home, the younger couple stayed to play games. This turned out to be really exciting because I love to play games and I love to win even more. And I was called out for my competitiveness by the locals but I am not ashamed of my drive to be the best. Unfortunately, drive can only get you so far and in a game of "Spoons" speed is the real key to winning. Then they taught us games using only our hands and things got really silly after that. But I still had a great time and even better, the families had a great time getting to know each other more. It reminded me of a life group meeting....The part that stuck out in my mind most though was when I was talking with Ron and Jon about my church. They asked me how many people there were in my church and I said roughly 3,000 members. I then found out that in all of Czech Republic, there are roughly 3,000 Baptists. Let me say that again in case you missed that statistic. My home church, one church out of many churches in my city, has the same number of members as there are Christians in this entire country. This is indeed a dark country that needs our Lord and Saviour.
On Saturday, my roommate wanted to make sure I had every opportunity to explore the sights so she took me hiking up a mountain in a nearby town called Klet. It was really beautiful to see the area from high atop a mountain and though the hike was exhausting, it was a great time for us to get a break and spend some time together. Sunday I was a part of the Praise Team again and yes you read that right, I actually stood up in front of people and sang. Luckily there was no mic but I did play a pretty mean egg shaker. I think I could go on "American Idol" just with that. It was a neat experience though because I got to see how they worship from a better point of view. The culture here is so laid back that even in the church the worship is very soft, for lack of a better word. But the idea of the Praise Team is to get them more involved and help lead them into a spirit of true worship unto the Lord.
Like I said, every day is a new experience and I find myself stepping out on limbs left and right and though I may lose my balance or teeter on the edge, I never fall. God has held me the entire time and I look forward to every new day as a day that I can be used to encourage and plant a little bit of hope and light into a dark and dying country.
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