First Blog of the Year...Too Bad I Waited Until March.

Now that I have given you all the shock of the week by actually emailing you and saying that I have a new blog, I am going to redirect you to the link below. At this lovely link, yours truly gives commentary on her life, teaching experience, ministry, and other information. 


I know that many of you have missed the rambling episodic melodrama that occurs when conversing with me, so I thought I would treat to such an experience from afar. lol. Really, I just could not adequately put into words what I wanted to say via the pen so I thought a speech may work better. I hope you enjoy! (Just so you know it was very strange to talk to yourself on a camera: you should feel privileged that I did it for you ;-) 


Please ask me some questions, if you want to know anything specific about my life over here or details about the CZ post away or email me! Miss you guys! 


"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14


Click here to watch the video. :-)

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. ;-)