Flame ON!!

Metaphorically speaking, there are three kinds of flames in this world…one is a spark, another is the flame that is kept burning by some type of super heated fuel, and the third is a flame which creates embers that smolder for a long time. Each has a purpose and to me each can show a different spiritual state.

The first, the spark, it the kind that jolts you into action. Saturday, I felt one of those flames. I was unplugging my computer when all of a sudden, I felt a shock so strong that I jumped about ten feet! It hurt too. I’m not gonna lie, it scared me (and my roommates, since I screamed bloody murder. Lol. No need to fear though, I am fine). I have realized that that is what those types of flames are supposed to do, they immediately jump start you into action. When we feel those sparks in our lives, it forces action in us. We no longer want a stagnant life, we have had a “shock” of some type and we want to change something. Often times, our first encounters with Christ are like that, especially for people who have never heard of Him. They experience this incredible moment in life and they want everything to drastically change right now when they become a Christian and that is fantastic! However, the problem with the spark is that as quickly as it comes, it leaves, both the literal and the spiritual spark. It is easy to allow lives to only be changed for a moment by the spark. Just like today, after the jolt of electricity, I checked to make sure I was okay and then continued on with my day as usual. Nothing had truly changed.

The second is a flame that is kept alive by some sort of super heated fuel, such as a gas, aerosol, etc. These flames burn quickly and brightly. They are incredibly hot. When I think of these flames, I think of blow torches and the like. I also think of a story I’m sure many of you know from the book of Daniel that included a fiery furnace so hot that when the guards ordered to throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the flame went up to it—they burned to death! In this case, the Lord saved His servants, but they were willing to do die if that was what was needed because bowing before an idol was not right.  The thing about these flames is that they are great fire starters. They will ignite the fire and will even burn for a short time. However, like the spark, the flames are short-lived. See these flames have nothing to live on. They quickly burn off the fuel they have been given and need more, so unless they are fed a fuel with more substance they will die out. A relationship with Christ can be like this as well. While the spark is the initial change, the flame is growing desire to become more like Christ and to know Him. At first, it can seem easy, but like any relationship, it takes work and can be anything but. However, Christ will always be worth it.

The final type of flame is a flame that seems to burn eternally. It may start quickly or slowly, but it finds a source of fuel that allows it to create embers that will smolder and keep the fire going. It will inhale all the oxygen in the area. It is the type of fire that burns buildings, makes-up bonfires, and makes excellent mountain pies. ;-) This flame has heat and power. This flame is all-consuming. This is the kind of flame that even has strong effects on those around it, because it gives of large amounts of smoke. You can tell that this flame is there and see the lasting effects of what it has done after it is gone. You can smell this fire; it will permeate clothing and wood. You can even see the scorch marks; nothing will look the same when this fire is done. Anything that it touches will be forever altered: land, building, or person. This type of fire is the most contagious of all flames, because it is the strongest of all. This is the type of flame that we should be spiritually. We should ignite those around us by being a smoldering fire ourselves. Only by keeping our relationship with Christ growing daily can we become contagious Christians.

Outside my window is a large factory. Since we arrived here, my teammates and I have been hearing about a large flame that burns from the factory. Previous ESI teachers and those from Ostrava have many different nicknames for it even. For example, the eternal flame the Olympic torch, and a few others. We even saw pictures of it on facebook and such. However, in the first few weeks, we did not once see this flame. When we asked about it, we were told that if this flame no longer burns, it will mean bad things for Ostrava. (While they meant economically, I think that there can be a much deeper meaning to this statement). For months now, I have been living in the Czech Republic and this flame has been dormant, until this week. On Tuesday morning, I awoke looked out my window. There, coming out of one of the smoke stacks was one of the biggest fires I have ever seen! It burned for about five minutes, giving off lots of smoke and pollution into the air and then stopped entirely. Now many times a day, the flame goes off and each time I am amazed. I watch in wonder as this 30-some foot flame burns brightly in the sky in the middle of the city. And I can’t help but do two things, one turn into Johnny Storm and yell “Flame on!” And two, compare this flame to spiritual status of this beautiful country that I have moved to. The Czech Republic has an incredibly rich spiritual history in which they even have the first Protestant movement that came over a hundred years before Martin Luther’s. Their flame of spirituality in Christ burned bright and strong, but they stopped cultivating it. They came to a time period where Christ was no longer needed; and like the flame outside my window, they stopped burning at all. They became dormant. Sparks might have been lit, but they were few and didn’t seem to last. But now, just like the “Olympic flame” that I look at everyday, some of the people of the Czech Republic have been lit with a fuel that is highly flammable and they are contagious. But unless, they are held up in prayer and their flame is fed by a fuel that will last, the fire will not grow.

The Czech Republic and Ostrava in particular has an incredible group of Christian leaders that are rising up, but they need your prayers and mine. They are flames that are starting to burn brightly. Remember though, being a Christian in this nation varies vastly from being a Christian in the US. They face many different challenges and those trials are not easy. I ask that each time you see a flame over the next few weeks, as I am sure many of you will be lighting candles during the holiday season, you would think of it as a symbol of the triumph of God’s victories here in the Czech Republic and pray for the things that He has yet to do through His people here.

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” ~Hebrews 12:28-29


Check out this video I made of the flame from my flat window...me talking about the flame. :-)

Turkey Day!

Although Thanksgiving was not technically until this week and in fact it is not celebrated in the Czech Republic at all, we O-town girls have had a week of Thanksgiving and it has been wonderful! Each year, Fishnet invites all of their students to come away for part of the weekend. What’s the attraction you might ask? English practice, learning about the American holiday, good food, a weekend in the mountains, and fun! Our ulterior motive—that Thanksgiving can be celebrated as a Christian holiday in which we praise and thank God for the things He has given to us. The whole weekend was a ton of fun! We did a photo scavenger hunt, played some English name games, and played some backyard American football! We also got to see the students act out a dramatization of our holiday’s history. It was hilarious! Boy, can they act! We also watched Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving—you think the poor guy would have learned, Lucy is always up to her same old tricks, dude! I was excited to spend time with some of my students. I had three come and two brought members of their family with them. They are all adults and it was nice to get to know them a little out of the classroom. They are fun and seemed to enjoy playing of the Thanksgiving games as much as I did (and we all know how much competitive Chelsea likes to play games). So it was fun!

The second half of our Thanksgiving consisted of another retreat. It was the annual ESI Thanksgiving Retreat, where all the Central Europe teachers that work for the organization that I am here with get together to spend the holiday, do some training, and relax some before heading back for the rest of the year. These four days were fantastic! We went to a secluded area about 2 ½ hours away from Ostrava, near Prague. When we got there, we were met by all of the great people we had spent the summer with, our friends that are now scattered all over the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It was a very joyful reunion. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner—gorged ourselves all weekend really on some delectable food that the conference center provided. (Traditional turkey dinner included). We spent time in praise and worship, fellowshipping together, we did several TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) sessions, and in our spare time goofed off! We played football, ping pong, cards, dice, bananagrams, read, watched Glee, and just had a good time together! After spending an entire summer of living together and then not seeing each other and barely having contact with each other for months, it was really nice to get to bond for a few days and celebrate the holiday. It was the closest thing that we could substitute for home. It was a wonderful weekend, full of friends and fun! I had a great time!

                                       Central Europe Team

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and that you got to eat lots of turkey and watch tons of football yourselves! (I hope you all watched the parade too, because that’s my favorite part and I couldn’t!) Talk to you soon!

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.” ~ I Chronicles 16:8-10

MIA from the Middle of Moravia

Almost two months without a word and then a crazy email about how you can make money…Reminds me of that old commercial, you know the one with the woman saying, “Do you want to make more money? Of course! We all do!” In the same way that that woman had no bearing on your personal life, for the last few months I have not either. With this blog, I aim to rectify that. I have made a Thanksgiving Resolution to be better about updating, in other words to do it once in a while…so this is going to be a newsy type of blog where I catch you up on my life. Don’t expect my usual attempts at wit, sarcasm, or sage advice, because I have a lot of catching up to do. However, anticipate a new blog in the near future in which I will foist upon you all the many facets of my perky personality. That being said, you may wonder, other than being hacked and having many other technical difficulties that make me much to angry to mention to polite society (have I stated yet that technology hates me?), what have I been up to?

First, I have been learning that I officially have a brain drain on my own English skills. While we are constantly told that our greatest skill that we provide to our new community is our ability to speak English as a native speaker, it is amazing how quickly you begin to lose parts of that skill. To explain, when speaking with non-native speakers the most important part of the conversation is comprehension. So when you are speaking, you constantly use synonyms and longer phrases instead of more difficult vocabulary in order to get your students and others to understand what you are saying. It sometimes takes a lot longer to explain, but it is extremely necessary. (It is also important to remember that speaking louder and repeating the same words over and over again will not help someone that is confused by what you are saying, *as seen on TV. Lol). While it is very useful for non-native speakers, we native speakers have realized that it is actually causing our vocabulary to dwindle. Frequently, as we put it, our English dies where we literally can’t think of the appropriate word to use in a sentence. It can be quite embarrassing when a student wants help thinking of a word or you are in the middle of talking and you actually can’t remember what an object is called. And while you may think that I am exaggerating, it happens to us more often than you might believe. Once while on Skype, I couldn’t think of what a light switch was called and had to take the computer camera to the switch so I could explain what I meant. Embarrassing!!

Enough about that though! One of the other things I have been doing and it has definitely been one of the most rewarding parts of being here is that I spend a great amount of time with the youth in the area. In Ostrava, Young Life International (YL) is a pretty big and thriving organization for kids to get involved with. One of the nice things about YL is that many of the kids involved are also in some way involved with Fishnet English classes (my school). It is a great way to do ministry. Both organizations use English to build relationships with the kids and it allows for natural conversations to flow. Since all of the leaders are Christians, the kids are often exposed for the first time to the Gospel and to Christians. It can be a way to dispel many of the thoughts that they have created about Christianity. YL and Fishnet are also great networking tools for those youth that are Christians. Unlike in the States, these kids don’t have countless events to invite friends to in order to help them share their faith with friends.

Many of you know that possibly my favorite weekend of the year is a specific weekend in May in which a group of fabulous teens get together, hang out in the woods and have a blast every year. Of all the things that I am going to miss this year, having to miss my girls’ senior year of the youth retreat is pretty high on the list. However, a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to join in on a retreat here with some great Czech kids. It was through YL and we went to Filmy Vikend!  For those of you that truly know me, you know it was a weekend after my own heart. We watched movies, discussed them, played cards and dice, and spent time outside in the mountains. It was beautiful! And I must say that God must have known what He was doing when He chose Ostrava as my Czech home, because you’ll never guess what game we played so I’ll tell you—MATTRESS RACES!! That’s right! We did a mattress race all the way over here in the CZ! It warmed my heart, Grace Youth! (Click here if you would like to view the Czech edition of this wonderful event, especially considering my team won!!) This weekend couldn’t have come at a better time for me, because while I truly love Ostrava, I am a country girl at heart. The area we went to looked exactly like I was looking at the views from my dorm room at college—minus the creepy graveyard. Lol. (I have also learned to remember, Czechs have a much different idea of an easy hike than I do, especially when I’m still carrying all my junk. J) 

We spent the weekend with kids who may or may not have been Christians watching movies and then talking with them about some off the serious issues that arose in the films and how a Christian might think about it. The youth were free to speak their minds and we had some really great discussions. It was a really cool experience and an awesome idea for a different, more out-of-the-box type of ministry that we don’t usually see done in the States.

In order to not completely overwhelm you, I am going to stop my update here. But know that another one is coming in just a day (it is almost finished)! But I just want to add that through these experiences, I have been able to begin building relationships with people. I ask that you would pray for some of these relationships as they continue to grow that they would be a time of fellowship and discipleship.

Bye for now! More tomorrow…

 "I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

Film Weekend Fun!!

Sweetest Sound

“Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’” Revelation 5:13

It’s dark, relatively quiet…impressive for a roomful of about 50-odd teenagers. Quietly, a few guitars begin playing. Two of the worship leaders, one being my boss—Adam (easiest Czech name for me to remember, I bet you can't guess why? lol), the other, my teammate—Shelly, begin singing.

Music has been described for centuries as the way we express emotions –when words just don’t seem to be enough for. Countless quotes are out there about music and songs, we use music to evoke emotion, whether on TV or in films, or in multiple other situations, and throughout the Bible music is referenced as a way to praise the Lord. In fact, a Psalm is a sacred song or hymn and if you never noticed it’s the longest book of the bible. ;-)

When Shelly and Adam began singing, it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Church here in the Czech has been great. Each week we go (meaning my team and I) and we sit in a section of the church that has headphones so that we can listen to someone translating the sermon for us. Anything that is said through the mic, is translated into English for us. It is wonderful to get to have the opportunity to hear God’s word still told to us in English and be a part of the community around us. We get to be a part of the body, fully. However, the one thing that is not translated for us is the singing.

All of the songs have been sung in Czech. It has been great practice so far to attempt to sing along and pronounce Czech words, but it is amazing how you can feel as though you are missing something when you don’t understand the praise and worship. As a team, we have made sure that we are being fed this way by worshipping together and such, but when you grow up in the Church, it can be something to get used to. (Don’t get me wrong, I find it incredible and beautiful to listen to those around me praising God in their native language. It’s just different).

But last night, at this youth meeting, these kids began singing and with all of our voices blended together, it was a perfect meld of Czech and English. Each song chosen was a praise song that had both English and Czech versions. If ever there has been a moment when I have felt God’s presence, last night when listening to 60 some voices singing in perfect harmony in two different languages glorifying the same Lord was it. To know that He can bridge age differences, cultures, politics, and anything else that could separate His children is a humbling and awe-inspiring thing. How amazing that we could come together from around the globe and praise Him together.

“Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.” Psalm 34:3

I encourage you to take the time this week to spend some time listening to some praise music and praying for missionaries around the world that don’t have the opportunity to have corporate worship. It is a powerful thing that I know I have taken for granted. I also feel very blessed that I have been placed in a region where I have the chance to worship with other national believers and my teammates. I ask that you would pray for these times with me and that God would continue to work in the lives of the youth here in the Czech Republic that are already Christians.

I Spy with My Little Eye

When you are first learning the bus system, here is my biggest tip of what not to do. Assume! We all know what that gets you in life. On the day that I took the picture above, my teammates and I made three major assumptions about public transit. One, that we were going to make it to the trolley bus on time. Two, that the coin machine would like our coins when we needed it to. And three, that the bus would go the way we wanted it to when we tried to go just one stop further than we usually took it. Why walk when you can ride right? It should make perfect sense! However, none of these things came to pass in the way that we wished. Instead, we missed the bus we wanted, the coin machine refused our money repeatedly and then proceeded to spit out all of our money back out at us (but why we voted me to do work with the electronic device I’m still trying to figure out and I think my roommates are learning that this is not a good idea either. Considering I have already had my computer break twice, my Ipod go haywire, and several other electronic things not work properly since we got here. They just don’t like me. Lol). Then we got on the bus finally and when saw where we wanted to go, there was no stop! The bus in fact turned and just kept going about 10 blocks in the wrong direction. In the end, we were about a half hour late to meet with the rest of the people we were to meet. I have to say though, I feel pretty blessed. That has been our only instance of being disoriented/lost/not on time and we weren’t really lost we just couldn’t get off the bus! Haha. Success has been the word of our time here in Ostrava so far! We have felt successful with each and every little thing that we have done. We have taken small steps to accomplish little things, and hopefully as the days go by, I will be able to do more than I dreamed I could here.

The picture above was taken just a few minutes after that story from the top of the city hall. You could literally see the entire city from there. Helena, a former Fishnet teacher, had met us and was showing us around the city that day. She was telling us where some of the different things were. To give you a little bit of a reference point, in almost the middle of the picture, there are two white and green church steeples side-by-side.  Although you can’t see it, right to the left of that church is my building. During my last video if I would have moved the camera a little to the right, you would have seen that big church right there. In the forefront of the picture, off to the right is Fishnet’s office and my other teammate’s flat. You can’t quite see either, but it is about a ten minute trolley bus ride from my flat to theirs. 

This is Ostrava. I hope you like it. So far I am really enjoying this city!

Typical Day in Ostrava-So Far

Get up about 9:30 or so (if you know my feeling toward getting up, you know that’s a relative term), stumble toward the kitchen for something to eat (luckily, I have found my two favorite morning comforts—cereal and apples). The only problems I have had so far with morning breakfast thing is that instant coffee is definitely not my cup of tea (I couldn’t resist the idiom) and that you can only purchase milk in a liter container. It is so frustrating to use milk basically once and then feel like you need to go buy some again right away! Next, take my food into my room to eat and spend some introvert time before the day begins.

For the record, I totally have one of those beds that you see on infomercials where the woman jumps on it with the wine glass sitting right next to her. I actually tried it with my glass of water this morning that I had with my koláče! A koláče is somewhat like a cheese Danish. It is a very good Czech pastry with either fruit or cheese in them.

Random tangent, anyway, after dressing, which I am always sure base on the weather by checking through the 270 degree windows of our flat that you can see for miles out of, my teammates and I usually hit the public transportation system.

Ah, public transport! Come from a town that’s closest thing to public transportation is one extremely expensive “taxi” or the people that escort the Amish around in large vans, I think you either love it or hate it. In Belfast, I hated it and refused to use it. I walked everywhere instead or took a taxi. Here, so far it has been infinitely better. For the most part, it is almost always on time, can get you pretty much anywhere you want to go, and is rather cost effective. My only piece of advice is that you totally should not try to haul a large and heavy dresser from IKEA halfway across the city to your flat on public transport with just you and your teammate’s arms as movers! Although, it does make for a great bonding experience and a hilarious story! However, for the most part, I have really enjoyed the metro system. In fact, I already have plenty of crazy stories of the things that I have seen. And I have only been here for a little over a week!

Let’s see what else, oh yes! We spend some time at the office. We have been reviewing our grammar. As much as I knew about grammar in college and such, I have since realized (and no using this blog to base my knowledge on. ;-) I know nothing! Non-native speakers learn grammar in a completely different way than we do. Ask a native speaker and they will probably tell you that we have 3 tenses or something close to that. Past, Present, and Future tense. You ask anyone that learned English as an adult and they will be able to tell you that English actually has 12 tenses and they could probably tell you each and every one! While we all know what they are and use them everyday, we don’t know the names or definitions. We ESI teachers have spent a lot of time, both at training and here, in Ostrava reviewing and learning grammar so we don’t sound like fools when we begin teaching our students who will most likely know more about English grammar than we do!

The rest of my time I have spent exploring. We five girls, Shelly, Ashley (my two roommates), Erica, Jessica (our other teammates in the city), and myself  have done everything from buy groceries, go to the movies, eat in several different restaurants, see the different places we are going to be teaching, look at the city from the top of city hall, and much more! 

I have also had a lot of time to spend praying for the people of Ostrava. I would ask that you would pray with me for the people not only here but also the people that you come in contact with at home. Remember that that person that you meet on the street, your student, co-worker, or store clerk, you may be the only be the only person praying for them and you may never know what impact it might have on life. For the Bible says that the prayer of a  righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16b).

So sorry that it has taken me this long to post anything else about being here! I am going to post much sooner next time.

Below , I have also posted a video that I honestly can’t believe that I did, but here it is. Me in a ridiculous state with my teammates going back to our flat. Watch and see me humiliate myself. :-) All I can say is at least I am not a dork alone! Outside my flat with my goofy teammates. ;-)

We are HERE!

So after a full month of training and over a full day of travel, we are here in OSTRAVA, Czech Republic! We left for LAX at 10:30 am Pacific time on Thursday the 20th. It took an hour and half of rearranging and reorganizing, but we got all of our luggage and ourselves checked in. We left on time and flew over 10 hours to Frankfurt, Germany. I sat by a sweet girl and her boyfriend on their way home from their first trip to the US. She wanted to practice her English and let me tell you she was much better than I will ever be at my German. 
Then, we got stuck in customs for a few minutes. We literally had to sprint through the entire airport and ask them to hold the plane so that we could all make it for the flight. Thankfully, they would! Then, we had a short hour flight to Prague. We picked up our baggage. Every single piece made it! YAY! For every teacher on the Czech team which is a major blessing! 
After we picked up our luggage, we met Eva (our boss's sister-in-law) and she took on a bus and two subways with all our luggage so that we could catch the train to Ostrava. The train took about 4 hours to get here. It was a beautiful trip with lots of the countryside, although I'm not gonna lie, I did sleep for most of it. :-) 
Then we arrived and were met by the best welcoming committee you could ask for. While the five of us were concerned with getting our 20 pieces of luggage off the train before it started moving again, 4 people came dashing up to us asking if we were with Fishnet and began grabbing our stuff and helping pull it off the train. They gave us phones, keys, took us to our flats, showed us how to get to our teammates flats, made sure we could get on the internet, directions to church, and they gave us information for the week. It was great! We felt really blessed!
Well, we are here. Our flat is great! Tomorrow, we are going to a little bit more exploring. We are also going to be going to our first Czech church. It will be translated for us into English. I ask that you would pray with us that we would begin to mold into the community that we will be a part of. 

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:10-12"

Also, this is a video of my new flat so click on the link and you can watch. Hope you are having a great evening!   My new flat!

Humbling...Yet Redeeming

In life, there are a few things that I feel I am talented at. 1) Talking—I can talk your ear off if I’m in the mood too and for those of you that have ever met me that is pretty much all the time. 2) Being independent—I am extremely confident in my ability to do things on my own. I’m ready for whatever it is that God has called me to in life as long as He is with me. And 3) Teaching—I have always been given great reviews on my teaching abilities in college and even as a high school student it was always where I felt the Lord had called me to be, mostly because I was good at it.



Nothing like setting yourself up for a fall, right?


Here at training we spend endless hours (or so it seems) in classes that teach those of us going with TeachOverseas how to teach English as a Foreign Language. I thought, “Not a problem” (or as I have since learned to say in Czech “Neni zac”). However, the Lord sometimes has other plans for us. Or should I say lessons for us to learn. The first night I went out with confidence. I was teaching a lesson to a beginner class on classroom objects. (Words like board, eraser, pencil, pen, notebook, and marker) Before it began, I was thinking that “this would be a great lesson!” No, I had never taught ESL, but I am a certified English teacher. How hard can it be?


Oh how the mighty do fall!


That night and the night that followed were some of the most humbling experiences I have ever had. Not only was I unable to communicate the definitions of the vocabulary to my students, but I did not even complete the tasks that I needed to in order to have a comprehensive lesson! For the first time as a student and as a teacher, I had utterly flopped. For those of you who have ever been in school with me, you know that does not bode well. My pride definitely began to show that week. In fact, God had to do a major humbling in me. I have had to entirely reevaluate the way that I teach. I have had to learn that teaching ESL is in fact nothing like teaching English. It is in fact more like teaching Spanish or French in an American high school and that is exactly what I will be doing. For some reason though, this had not clicked in my pea sized brain before. I needed to realize that, unlike me, my future students were going to mean business and I needed to figure it out.


This was a really hard thing for me to handle, but the Lord gave me a verse this week. It’s one of my favorites. “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4 I love that God tells us that no matter what we are going through when we rejoice in the bad times He is going to help us endure and it is going to be a cycle that will produce a well spring of hope and character. We tell our students and our children to persevere in all things, why shouldn’t we?


Next step of humbling—shutting UP! That’s right, I need to learn how to shut my mouth and let others do the talking. Not only in my classroom (GOAL—teacher talks 20%; student 80%), but also in life. I want to learn more about those that are around me and if I want to do that I need to close my mouth first—listen more and talk less. Doing this, I can find out more about what they want and need. I am also learning I do not say as many of those smart comments that I so often regret when I just hold my tongue a little while longer. Also, God can also speak to me through what others are saying if I just take the time to listen.


So I challenge you to memorize my scripture of the week with me. This week it is on asking the Lord’s help in keeping your mouth guarded.


“Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.” Psalms 141:3


I ask that you would pray for me in these areas that I have been struggling with and that you would let me know if I can pray for you in any similar circumstances. I would love to hear from you! I miss you all!!

Theme of the week…TEAMWORK!

     Hey hey! I wanted to let you in on a little of what I’ve been learning about this week. Session after session, we have been learning about the importance of teams. Common phrases “sit with your team,” “discuss this with your teammates,” “how would you and your teammates resolve this situation,” have been repeated during this past week of training. I began to wonder why. I mean I know we are going to be roommates (for the record, teammate=roommate), but I’ve had other roommates and even when it was difficult (and trust me I had some very difficult roommate situations) it always worked out and was peaceable. Being a studious little one, definitely the teacher in me, I decided to figure out if there was a biblical reason why.
     Low and behold, there is! Shocker! Throughout the New Testament, especially in Acts, the disciples and many of the early missionaries go to spread the word in pairs or groups. Paul works with several different men (Barnabas, Timothy, etc), Peter first sets out with John, and many others go in pairs. As teachers living out our Christian faith in nations that are known for their atheistic beliefs, it is important to remember the values that come from having fellowship with other believers.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

Matthew 18:19-20             

                      

     Each session or class that we (the teachers here at Teach Overseas Training) have been taught about a different facet of living together overseas in our city. For some, it means they will be the only foreigners. For others, they will be the only known Christians. My team and I learned that we have a high reputation to live up to. Teach Overseas or ESI has a long standing history in our city and school. Our school is excited to be getting more teachers, but we have also been told that this may make it more difficult to befriend colleagues or students since they know that we will probably only be there for a year or two.
     I have learned that while teams are important for the obvious reasons. While we are gone, we truly are the only human contacts that each other has to lean on. We provide fellowship, family, friendship, and familiarity. We are even one another’s co-workers. We do everything together. It is so much more than just a roommate situation. Our apartments or “flats” are our ministries. And our students, neighbors, colleagues, and national friends will know who we are by our love…or lack thereof.
    

I wanted to introduce the team...Ashley--the cutie from Indiana is the tiny one in the middle. Shelly--the one with the great smile is on the right and is proud to be from Texas.

    I ask that over the next few weeks you would pray for me and my team as we get to know each other. I will be praying for you and your “team” at home as well. Make sure and email me any special prayer requests. I would love to stay updated on everything going on!

Southern California is Super Cool...(At Least Figuratively w/o AC! :-)

So I made it!! Yay! Luggage and all (aka me) made it safely to Pasadena, California. I had a few delays. My first flight left on time. However, when it landed in Phoenix, the gate was not ready for our plane and we had to wait for almost a half an hour. This was a problem because I only had a half hour lay over to start with. By the time I got off the plane and made it to my next flight it was already boarding. Needless to say, I made it in the nick of time. The next flight was delayed about an hour due to plane malfunctions. But they got them fixed and we made it. I was able to catch the shuttle late which was actually a blessing in disguise, because I met 4 other Teachoverseas members on the same shuttle! Happy Moment!

The schedule since I have arrived is jam packed! We have lots to do! In some ways, I have realized that it is a lot like camp. We have a lot of bonding to do, but at the same time we also have a ton of learning. We are going to be studying about our specific regions and also learning how to teach English as a Second Language. The past two days have been crammed with meeting lots of people that are going to many different countries and with meeting my own teammates.

My roommates while I am staying here are Annie and Gwen. Annie is going to Hungary and Gwen is going to North Africa. We are roughing it by staying in an AC free room. And according to the locals, LA is having a heat wave this weekend. (I totally believe them! It is hot!)

My teammates are great and have a lot of the same questions that I do. So we are going to be learning lots together over the next few weeks. Ashley, Shelly, Erica, and Jess are the four other girls going to Ostrava with me. We have had a blast getting to know each other so far. We have decided it is going to be a fun city to be in for the fact that we will be together!

Today, we had a pool party to cool off and spend some down time bonding a little. Tomorrow, I hear they bring out the heavy artillery. I'm going to call home before it is super late for you guys and then get to bed early myself. Hope you are all doing well!

Less than a Week!

Less than a week…it is looming. Hanging above me like a big cloud, but not a scary storm cloud. More like the big happy sun hanging in the sky. It is pretty and beautiful, but almost too bright, you know? Exciting, but the whole gist of it is a little intimidating. Like perky people in the morning, you know? ;-) I’m not nervous or afraid, but really trying to get prepared and not sure how.

I think that is the most daunting part of it all. How do you pack for an entire year? I mean for anyone that has ever checked out my wardrobe, you totally know that it is not going to fit in two 15x18x48in suitcases…even if they are vacuum packed. So then the downsizing begins, right? Where do you start with that? What is a necessity? What is just sheer luxury? And really how do you cut out all of the shoes?! MY SHOES! (Mind you, this is just the clothes problem) So then you move on to the other items they tell you to take. Bible (missionary—obivious), games (don’t have to tell me twice, I am the child of a card shark!), medicine (the ridiculously expensive prescription meds I got? Oh, yeah, those), pictures of home, essential documents, 3-ring binder full of training materials, training book…oh my BOOKS!

If you have ever met me, you know that at any given time I have at least one fiction with me, one non-fiction book being read somewhere at home, and probably another spare “just in case.” Books are heavy! What to do? Well, thank heavens for wonderful family! Mine decided to bless me with the gift a Kindle. It is fantastic! I have downloaded so many free books (because most of the classics are free) that is insane! I am going to get to take an entire library with me in only a small little electronic device.

So the next week will be a whirlwind of suitcases, clothes, lists, and vacuum bags. :-) Hopefully, I can cram everything needed into the limited space within the weight limit. If not, I guess I’ll have to buy what I can’t fit when I get there. It’s not as though they won’t have stores.

The past few weeks have been wonderful and bittersweet. Kate and Jenna, my two forever friends, planned a fun and relaxing day at the river for us. Then, they had a great surprise party with our friends from high school. We had a blast! Silent Marco Polo, anyone? I also had to say goodbye to some of my grandparents and aunts and uncles. We had dinner which was very nice and relaxing. Also, some fantastic food was had! I also got to see my best friend from college, Sara, and her husband, Justin. My Sunday School class also did some very sweet things for me. I am very glad to know that I have their love and support while I am gone.

I have realized though that while these past few have been great, the reason I am actually getting to see everyone at once like this is because I am leaving in a week for an entire year! It is just now starting to sink in some. I know that I’m leaving, but in some ways I don’t think it will be truly sunk in until I have been gone for a while and I can’t just jump on the plane and be home in a few minutes. That’s the weird part.

But for now, I’m excited, ready to go, and just praying that God would lead me every step of the way. I know that it is going to be a long road and it is not going to be easy at times. It might not even be easy any of the time, but He will guide me if I am willing to follow.

So I ask that those of you that are reading this would partner with me in making that my prayer for the next year. Pray the Lord will guide my steps and that I will have a heart that is open to listen. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1

God-things

So since my last update, I have found out all sorts of cool and exciting things. I have found out the names of my roommates for one thing! I’m pretty psyched about that. Their names are Ashley and Shelly. They seem very sweet and as excited as I am.



A few cool things about them. First, I had barely even opened the email, found out their names and logged on facebook to “friend” the two of them, when I saw that I had a post on my wall from Matt Friedlund. His message said that I was going to be rooming with a friend of his. How small of a world right? Total God-thing as one of my favorite book characters would say. :-) I find it very exciting that God is sending me a mutual friend along for the ride in Ashley. Shelly, on the other hand, I have learned has already spent a good chunk of time in the Czech Republic and will be able to give me some great insight into the country. I’m really excited about the knowledge and love of the people that she possesses. It already provides me with even more of a peace about who God has chosen for me to live with while I’m talking to others about Him. I’m just ecstatic and I haven’t even met them yet!


This week I send in the second half of my visa paperwork. Major prayers that I understood all of the language stuff and did all of the details correctly!


Speaking of prayers…HUGE yes answer was that I managed to get all of my medications for the entire year today. Even though I had to pay for it out of pocket, I was able to do it thanks to the help of a lot of prayer, a lack of prescription health care coverage, and a very kind doctor and nurse that know me and my situation well.


Well, I have the 11th annual Grace Youth Retreat this weekend!! YAY! I’m so excited! I love these guys! Pray we have open hearts, safety, and for once, decent weather! Lol. Talk to you all soon! Thanks for everything!

Time Flies and All That...

Well, the past week and a half have been a crazy week for news and events in regards to this whole experience. To start with, I was preparing to speak at Trinity EC which was really exciting. I felt a lot more relaxed and ready to go than I did when I went to my last speaking engagement. As Pastor Mark and I discussed, I felt like I had just word vomited all over those kind people and that’s just cruel. So, I was less stressed (no musical this time. Lol) and was just more myself. I think I surprised my mom. I think the organization of it surprised her which is not a shocker… (a not so well kept secret except from my young cherubs at school, I am about the least organized person on the planet. However, I rarely am so disorganized that I completely do not do what I need to do or do not accomplish things in a somewhat ok manner. I like to think that my life is somewhat controlled chaos), but I am a teacher at heart. It is my passion in life. :-)


Ok, I’m back from the bunny trail. Where was I, oh yes, big things the past few weeks. Trinity and all of the wonderful people there were a fantastic and generous blessing. I really enjoyed visiting there and speaking to them about all that I am learning about the Czech Republic. They also really helped to get closer to my financial goal and I am so grateful for that. It is amazing what God has done to put all of those details in place so quickly for me.


Also, in the last two weeks, I received two big phone calls from TeachOverseas. I had to make two different decisions. Both to me were unexpected, both will affect the next year of my life. One made me laugh at God’s humor and the other made me ask “why isn’t there a manual for this?” One, for me, was easy to make while the other was heart wrenching.


About two and a half weeks ago, I had sent in my information all about me packets. (Basically, the data in order to allow the TO Formation Committee to choose who would go where and with whom, like you fill out your freshman year of college). The next week I got a phone call from Laura, my extremely sweet and patient Regional Director, asking if I would be interested in working part of the time overseas with elementary age students. (For you who don’t know, I am a Secondary History, English, and Middle School Math Teacher. High School age kids are my deal. I like working with little kids and babysitting, but teaching younger ones was never my plan.)


Now for those of you that go to Grace, you may know that I help teach the 1st and 2nd grade Sunday School class. It can quite the wild bunch some days. There are about 12 of them in the class and they are mostly boys. I often feel as though it can be related to taming feral cats. Lol. In my mind, I often think of it as a temporary position, elementary has never truly been where I have felt called to be long term.


In fact, one Sunday after church I left so exhausted I flippantly said to my brother that I couldn’t wait until July when I wouldn’t be teaching little kids anymore because they tire me out!


He then said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if you ended up going to the Czech Republic and God had you teaching elementary school all year!”


Adam, you must be the new magic 8 ball! j/k. The long of it is I told Laura that I would work with the younger kids. It will be nice I think to have a variety of students. And I’m really looking forward to it. But God does have a funny sense of humor.


A few days later the phone rings again. It was Laura. This time she has another proposition for me to consider. While the Formation Team was meeting, they had some shifting and rearranging amongst the schools take place. At that point, they needed one person from the Czech team to move countries to Hungary. She wanted to know if I would be willing to consider doing so. This was a complete surprise to me. I was not ready to say yes immediately (In my heart, I have been preparing to go to the Czech Republic for almost a year and a half at this point) so I asked Laura for a few days to pray about the decision.


It was a rough couple of days. I wanted to make sure and do what God wanted me to do. I didn’t want to be in the way of the ministries that I know He has planned. Both places have their pros and cons. The Lord is going to do incredible things in both places. However, I was torn over the decision. One of my big concerns was the fact that I have been raising my support for quite a while now with the express purpose of going to the Czech Republic. I asked for prayer and the opinion of a lot of different people. My mom asked for prayer at her group that she goes to and at Wednesday night prayer meeting. Unfortunately, I still didn’t feel as though I had a definite answer. I called Laura back at the set time. Told her my concerns and she got me fired up and ready to go to Hungary. I told her that I was ready to go wherever it was that God needed me to go.


We hung up. (Me thinking that I’m now going to Hungary and Laura telling me that she was going to talk to a few other team members and call me back). I tell my mom, “I’m going to Hungary.” A few minutes later, Laura calls back.


She says, very excitedly, “You’re staying in the Czech Republic!! Another team is going to switch!”


From there on, things have begun to fall into place very quickly. I now know where I’m going to be, who I’m going to be living with, and all sorts of other details. I can’t wait to fill you all in. BUT since I have officially written a short novella this time, I am going to log off, get some other things accomplished in life and tell you all about it at another date. I turn the big “23” (which isn’t that big) in a few days and I have some extra work to do for SMILES and the Youth retreat to do so I should probably get crack –a-lackin’ as I tell my students. ;-) Talk to you all soon!! Things are going to be hopping from here on out! Blessings and Peace!

Letters...

So they still aren't sent out. I almost have them entirely ready though. I have them in the envelopes and all I have to do is buy the postage! Wohoo!! (not sure if that is how you would spell wohoo, but ya know). I spent a little of this weekend in bed. Not feeling the greatest. The belly has been rolling. I haven't really eaten to much and I have officiall decided that dairy is not my friend right not. Tonight the hockey extravaganza that is playoffs continues. Church was pretty exciting today and I feel as though I was able to be productive today even though I'm not quite sure what I did. lol. I just ask that you would pray that this week I would have some patience to get some work done. I have to get ready for the completion of my grad class and my project for it. I also am getting ready to speak at Trinity Church next week. I need to remember time management! I'll be busy. I'll talk to you all soon!!

And the Slacker Award Goes to...

So it has been a while. This I know. I would love to blame it all on my busy schedule. However, I can't. Not sure what I can blame it on but myself. Anyhow, I have been busy doing all sorts of new fun stuff. This past week I spoke at Grace's youth group. I talked about what it means to work on a team. I am learning a lot about that and how much easier it is to accomplish something when I work with others. Some of the verses we talked about were Ecc. 4:9-12 (That one in particular brought back memories of Whitehall and the many crazy but fun things that I did and learned there), James 5:16, and Prov 27:17. I hope that as some of the youth go through the rest of the year, we can both learn and grow together on this topic.

Anyway, lots of other stuff has been changing and occurring. This week I hope to send out my letters. Sometimes that is a very hard thing for me to get done. I don't usually know the right thing to say of the best way to say it I guess I should say the PC way to say it. So I procrastinate even longer than usual and aggravate my family. lol. BUT tonight, I intend to end the irritation. :-)

Also, I sent out the info for my visa since my update. Crazy! I agree with my mom. The language is super hard to read. haha. In fact, I can't read a word of it. I guess it is a good thing I am going to teach English. But I will work on that. I also sent in my packet of info in order to find out what team I'll be put together with when I go. So hopefully, I will know sometime at the beginning of May what city I'll be in and who I'll be with. I'm excited!! I'd appreciate the prayers and I hope you guys are doing great!!

Whirlwind!

So the last month I have put in some crazy hours at the school and doing different things to complete some hours for my term of service with AmeriCorps. The school has been preparing for their musical. We are doing Beauty and the Beast. The sets are incredible and the kids are doing a fantastic job! It has been a blast to help with. However, it has also been insane in the amount of time it takes. But it is all paying off, I have got to meet a lot of different students I didn't know before and everyone that is attending it seems to be really enjoying it. Tomorrow is my first speaking engagement to talk about my trip. I am currently trying to write it. Yes, I know a little bit of procrastination occurring, but it was not on purpose. I just haven't been able to do anything but school, work, and musical stuff for the last few weeks. So I ask that you pray for me as I prepare for this. And that the Lord would lay on my heart what he would like me to say. Talk to you again soon! I'll let you know how it goes. My first deadline is coming up soon too, so please keep that in your prayers.

waiting...

Hey all! ("All" being a figurative word that most likely means just the few people that my mom has shown) So I just thought I'd say hi! I am at my grandma's waiting for my aunt to show for her party...lol. It is snowing hardcore here. But anyway, already I have fallen behind with my posts for the Czech fact of the day. So be forewarned that that is most likely what will happen. I'm not always the most dedicated when it comes to remembering things like that, especially as I've been super busy this week. But I will eventually get to it. Promise. Other than raising support, the only things that I really have to do at this point in order to leave is transfer some of the power of attorney to my family, send my passport and other items like that to TeachOverseas. I have to get ready for the first financial deadline that will be coming up soon. We'll see how it goes! Keep it in your prayers! I'll be praying for you!

Crazy week!

So this week starts the beginning of being super nuts for a while. For example, tonight I worked at SMILES (this is the place in charge of my AmeriCorps service) putting up Dr. Seuss stuff, then I had church choir practice, then I found some old bikes at my grandparents farm to use as props in the muscial, then musical practice and set discussion, all after a full day's work. And this I fear will continue until after the production is over! Being this busy reminds me of being in school and I feel somewhat energized. Anywho...the whole point of this monologue was to say that I may not be as consistent with the posts as I hope to be in the coming weeks. So please bear with me. If you would keep in your prayers as everything is going on, I would appreciate it!
      I have begun telling more and more people about my trip this week. Some people totally get it and others :-/ not so much. Some do not seem to realize that this isn't going to be just a vacation away from the States. I am going into this to see if full-time missions is something that I want to consider. I'm not saying absolutely, but for the first time in a while I am saying I'll give it a shot. I know that no matter what I do, God has some great plans set aside for me if only I would "holy" open myself up to what they are.
      Caio, mi amicus!

Big steps for my short legs...

     About a year and a half ago, I realized that I had no clue what I was going to do following graduation from high school. Knowing that I wasn't sure just what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go, I started looking into my options of where I could teach (as my degree was in Secondary Social Studies Education), For example, I thought about grad schools to attend and private schools and public schools to teach in in different locations along the Eastern Seaboard. North Carolina was my favorite of these choices, for both.
     Then I began to feel this nagging notion in my mind that maybe that wasn't at all what God had planned for me. When this feeling wouldn't let me go, I googled overseas teaching ministries. The results were headed with a website called teachoverseas.org. Easy enough, right?
     After checking it out, I realized that this was something I really wanted to do. I began the application process and was accepted in to the program. However, once this occurred, I chickened out. I couldn't believe that I was even considering leaving the US and my home for that long. So I began applying for jobs here in the States. I did not get any of the jobs I applied for. In the end, I got a great opportunity to work as a tutor for the year with AmeriCorps. But God did not let me forget about full-time ministry.
     About a month ago, I decided that I couldn't ignore him anymore. I would be going to a place that I had always had a heart for--Eastern Europe, specifically the Czech Republic. The people of this region and all that they had gone through in the past called out to me. They suffer in a way that is different than what most in America view as a place needing missionaries. They may not need food and medical aid, but all the same they have been deprived of being allowed to hear about Christ and his love for them. My desire is to use my gifts and training as a teacher to reach out to those that I come in contact with and tell them about Jesus when I can. ;-) Sorry to ramble! Cheers!