all that God does is not for love or justice, but for his glory.

macbeth and harry potter

"fair is foul and foul is fair
hover through the fog and filthy air"

we're reading macbeth in my shakespeare class, and i began to realize the similarities between it and the harry potter series.

in macbeth, the three witches hail macbeth as thane of gaimis, cawdor, and then king. soon after they do this, he is promoted from thane of gaimis to thane of cawdor, and realizes the possibility of him becoming king. the only thing stopping him from being king is the current king: duncan.
so macbeth takes fate into his own hands and kills duncan.
would macbeth have become king had he not killed duncan? because it is this murder that causes macbeth to then give up his kingship. was it fate that macbeth killed duncan?

in harry potter, snape hears a part of a prophecy involving voldemort's demise. voldemort tries to kill the one who was prophesied to kill him, but through an ancient magic, harry survived.
so the question - had voldemort not tried to kill harry, would harry have been able to kill voldemort?

Being a Ginger

So for my advanced comp class we had to write a personal essay, and so i decided to write it on being a redhead. i'm not extremely satisfied with the ending, and i struggled a lot with a good way to end it. anyhoo, enjoy it.

On July 24, 2007, a group of about fifty redheads banded together in front of a Wendy’s fast food restaurant in protest of their logo, which they claimed does not represent redheads well. “GIVE WENDY SOME PIGMENT!” resounded through the streets; the passionate redheads protested their seemingly important cause. One redhead pointed to the logo and explained their shouts to an onlooker: “That is not what a redhead looks like, my friend.”

Upon viewing this protest on the internet, I was exceedingly aggravated with the redheads. “Like they need to bring any more attention to themselves,” I thought. “I can’t believe how ridiculous they’re being. They’re making redheads look weird!”

I am allowed to hold such strong feelings against the protest for good reason: the color of my hair is red. Although, the color of my hair is not really red; it is more like ginger or copper. It is not red, although I am commonly referred to by friends as “Red” or “Redhead.” Perhaps a change of nickname is in order.

But I have a confession to make.

I hold a slight prejudice towards some of my fellow redheads: I have never been attracted to redheaded males. This is mostly because I shudder to think of all the comments we could receive in simply walking down the street together. “Aww, what a cute redheaded couple!” No, it’s not cute. I don’t make comments about you because you both have brown hair!

I know that our audience would make comments for a fact because I have already experienced it in different settings. When I was around eight years old, my cousin, sister and I went out with my uncle and aunt. Of course we are the only members of our family who have red hair, and it was just the five of us. Old women began exclaiming about how we were such a cute redheaded family. Japanese people began snapping pictures of us. The word redhead was being thrown around as though we were not even there. I was honestly embarrassed at the reaction that we received from the crowd. I suppose I hadn’t realized how rare my breed is.

You see, these prejudices of mine are a result of our society. I have never minded being in the extremely small minority of redheads until the remaining population feel the need to make comments to me. I wonder how many times I’ve been asked if I’m Irish. “No,” is my response. “I have absolutely no Irish in me. But I guess you’re Chinese because you have dark hair.” Those asking don’t know how to respond to this, and I believe they begin to realize the foolishness of their thinking. I also tend to be questioned about whether I have a fiery temper. There is no better way to incite a fierce response than to be incessantly asked that absurd, disrespectful question. My reaction is not often consistent with my reply—my eyes widen and my nose scrunches as I belt out a piercing “NO! I DO NOT HAVE A FIERY TEMPER!” Generally, my questioner laughs at my response, under the impression that I’m making a joke.

Last year I was speaking with a fellow redhead about such comments as these, and she began to educate me about why we have red hair, and I was informed that we are both results of genetic mutations. She explained to me that hair and skin color are results of different types of melanin, and when there are two mutated genes, the product is a redhead. As a result of this conversation, my answer to where I got my red hair from has changed. “My parents both have brown hair, but I guess they both have this mutated gene that makes red hair. And apparently there’s only a one-in-four chance of having a redhead, but they have two redheads, so I guess that mutation was pretty strong!”

But I do not mind being a genetic mutation; I have in fact enjoyed being able to dress up like famous redheads such Anne of Green Gables or Ginny Weasley. I enjoy the uniqueness that it brings me, and how I can receive very pleasant compliments because of it. Sometimes random strangers begin talking to me because I have red hair, and I love having the opportunity to talk to new people.

However, I detest the redheaded stereotypes that I discussed. When I was younger, schoolmates would sometimes associate me with Pepper Ann, a redheaded cartoon character. Any comments implying that I was Pepper Ann were always greeted with an I-can’t-believe-you-really-just-said-that-scowl and some harsh words. I also was associated with Raggedy Ann and Anne of Green Gables, which leads me to believe that there is some conspiracy in which all ginger-haired characters must have the name Ann. I dislike that in being a redhead, it is hard to get away with a lot: I am not able get free things twice because I am easily recognized. I dislike that people can’t always keep their mouths closed about my hair. I dislike that I would be automatically associated with those protesters outside of Wendy’s.

I found out later that the Wendy’s protest was just a joke and realized the funniness of the situation. It would be so unusual to see so many gingers at one time in the same place. Perhaps the best part of the hair color is the uniqueness that it brings you, even if stereotypes are attached to it.

Flobots - No Handlebars.

memoir.

this is a memoir that i wrote for my advanced comp class. i left the last "when i was twelve" part out of the memoir i turned in because it doesn't flow well and i know that, but that section probably conveys my feelings toward england the best. so i'm leaving it for my own sake.

When I was twelve, I started Mrs. Liss’s seventh-grade English class. When I was twelve, I started a lot of new things that I don’t remember, but I will never be able to forget Mrs. Liss.

We called her the Grammar Nazi, a nickname we later stopped when we found out she was Jewish. She was the typical old English teacher – she wore big rings on her fingers that seemed to weigh her hands down as the rings always tapped the desk in front of her. She wore pink lipstick that she sometimes got on her teeth, and her hair was so thick that when she scratched her head, three imprints were left from her fingers.

That first day of English was awful. I didn’t know anyone in the school, let alone her classroom, and I was twelve, and I wanted to fit in with everyone but I didn’t because I had big glasses and an English accent.

That first day of seventh-grade English class, Mrs. Liss had her class do two things. In case we missed a day of school, she told us, we would have to call a friend to find out what we missed in English class. So she made us find a friend to exchange phone numbers with. I didn’t have any friends, so I asked the only girl who seemed nerdier than I was to be my homework buddy. She was my first friend.

Then Mrs. Liss had us take a test about subjects and verbs. I knew what a verb was, but I had never heard of a subject, and so when she gave us the phrase “We won!” I figured that it was missing a subject since we didn’t know what they won.

Mrs. Liss talked about a lot of new things I had never heard of before, and that first marking period, I failed seventh-grade English class. My mom went in to talk to her about how I always got good grades and was really good at English, but I had never been taught any of this grammar stuff in England.

I had always thought that I was good at English, and then I failed seventh-grade English class. What a surprise for me to learn that I had grown up in England and hadn’t been taught English!

And everyone knew me as the English girl, and I didn’t want to be known as the English girl, I wanted to be known as Andrea.

And as for my friends, I had my homework buddy and a girl who let me sit with her at lunch. And the girl who let me sit with her at lunch thought that English people drove around in horses and carriages on cobblestone streets, which I assured her we did not.

But all of my anxieties were taken care of. I made friends, and Mrs. Liss eventually gave me an A in English class (because I was from England, and I also won a writing award). Time always takes care of us in one way or another.

When I was twelve, I sat on my mom’s lap on a plane and cried a couple tears as we flew over the country I was born in. But that was it – a couple tears. For the rest of the flight, the daydreamer inside of me took over, answering all of my family’s unanswered questions – where would we live? My daydreams were so vivid, and I knew that if it was up to me, we would move to where it snowed heavily during the winter, and I would have a big bay window in my bedroom overlooking our horse stables.

In hindsight, there are too many things wrong with this picture. My family had no experience farming horses, and I didn’t even really like horses. And the fact that we were a poor missionary family who had been living off of what others gave us for seven years didn’t delude the ideal of the bay window.

This was what I wanted, though I knew I wouldn’t get it – and what I did get was another bunk bed shared with my sister. But there were other dreams of mine that I knew would be attainable. I mean, how many kids got the chance to completely start over?

I would be a free spirit – my own person. I would wear big flowing shirts, and everyone would wonder about me. And I would also be a better Christian, and maybe I could even have Christian friends because in England I didn’t know any Christians my age.

Oh yes, I would have lots of friends who were Christians, and they would help me to actually be a Christian, because something that England had not given me was understanding and love for others, and the one thing I understood about Jesus was that He loved people, and I didn’t know how to love people. I knew that my mom loved it when I helped in the kitchen, but I only did it because I liked cooking. And me and my best friend, Jenny, didn’t like anyone. We even tried to make a potion to get rid of people we didn’t like. I always felt bad for making fun of other people with Jenny, just like I felt bad deep down inside when I was embarrassed that my dad would come into my school and talk about Jesus. I knew that I wasn’t a good Christian, but I also knew things wouldn’t change. And that’s why I was so excited to start over in the land of what many call opportunity.

But things don’t always turn out the way you want them to, like how I didn’t get a bay window, and I also didn’t make many Christian friends, and I didn’t really enjoy youth group so I tried not to go as often as I could.

So you just kind of exist and in the back of your head you kind of just hope that things go the way they were supposed to. And maybe my daydreams aren’t how it’s supposed to be, and you learn to be OK with that, and you also learn that that doesn’t mean you stop daydreaming.

When I was twelve, I very willingly packed up my small amount of belongings and left the place where I had grown up, and the place that I honestly loved. And I moved to a place that I honestly loved, and I forgot about my English home.

When I was twelve, we lived with my grandparents, and I cut corn, canned peaches, and made applesauce with my grandma. I always ate Honeycomb or Applejacks for breakfast, and my Grandma also stuffed an egg and piece of toast down my throat. That first day of seventh-grade we still lived with Grandma, and I could hardly eat a bowl of cereal I was so nervous. And a teacher yelled at me that first morning because I walked in the wrong door and didn’t know where I was going.

But when I came home from school, Grandma was working outside in the garden with her bonnet on, and so it was all OK. And that first evening, my cousins came up and we caught fireflies, and fireflies are what I think of when I think of our visits to America. There are no fireflies in England.

We looked at houses to buy and I chose the one with the coolest refrigerator, but my parents chose the one with the biggest yard. And lots of people gave us free furniture that didn’t match, and we even got two free cars, and it was then that I realized for the first time how poor we were.

One time in England during a flute lesson, my atheist teacher asked me how much my dad made, and I didn’t know, but one time I had seen a check from our church for £100, and I knew that they paid for our water and electricity, and so I told him that and he laughed, and I was mad at him because I didn’t realize what a small amount that was, but I knew that Mr. Ayers was somehow mocking him for it. I didn’t like Mr. Ayers and I wasn’t good at flute so I didn’t care, because I was happy as long as I could go home and eat crackers and cheese and watch TV.

And when we came to America I realized we didn’t have much money for clothes and I didn’t know that in England because I wore a uniform to school everyday, and unlike most girls, I enjoyed getting hand-me-downs because that meant my cool older sister had worn it.

So maybe ignorance really is bliss, or maybe it just didn’t matter how poor we were because we all loved each other, and maybe it’s true, maybe all a person really does need is love.

When I was twelve, after I got to know some girls, I went to a friend’s sleepover, and they started playing with a Ouija board. I knew that Ouija boards were bad, so I pretended to be asleep in the other room where they were watching a Stephen King movie. And I knew that I didn’t want to be there because I didn’t like horror movies or Ouija boards, but they were my friends. And one of my greatest faults is that I want everyone to like me, and I wanted them to like me, so I let it go and didn’t tell my mom.

When I was twelve, I found out that a lot less kids smoke in America than England – none of my friends had even tried a cigarette! I also realized that there weren’t many “scrubs” – our nickname we got from the song “No Scrub” by TLC which perfectly described the losers who would drive around looking at girls as we walked home from school.

And not that I didn’t observe smoking and scrubs in America, I just observed them a lot less. The worst thing that I witnessed was an older boy flicking a booger at me on the bus.

And now that I look back on it, I wonder what I would have been like had my parents not sat us down and told us we were moving to America. Maybe I wouldn’t have played Ouija, but maybe I would be sitting in the passenger seat of a scrub while smoking a cigarette.

I am not twelve now, and England is not a part of my life anymore. My time in England does not define me; it is just a cool fact about me. No, my past is behind me and there it belongs, and it slowly becomes less and less visible to me until it almost doesn’t exist.

a month later

i'm in my last year of school. crazy, right? i still feel like i'm in high school sometimes.
about a week after i got back from czech i went to one of my roommate's weddings. it was so encouraging to see real God-centered love.
here are two of my favorite people...rebekah and ariel. ariel was such an encouragement to me last year. she challenged me and loved me. and rebekah and i will just always be pathetically similar.
a little weird thing i learned about myself this summer was just how touchy-feely i am. that sounds weird, i know, but even now i find myself craving hugs from people. if i'm sitting beside someone and they're leaning forward, i really want to scratch their back. physical touch is definitely my love language, but i guess i should back off a little bit! :-)
this semester i'm taking an advanced comp class. it's just about the first time i've had in college to write creatively, and our first assignment, a memoir, is due next week. maybe i'll post whatever it is that i write about, but for right now i've just been typing out streams of consciousness, and i've actually been writing a lot about england. i am so disconnected from england, it hardly feels like that was such a major part of my life anymore. i guess it's not a major part of my life anymore. it's just a part of me that happened.
it's sad thinking of how life goes on. there are some really cool people you meet and then never see again.

life has gone on.

after Bohumin camp and follow up, we spent five days in Prague, hanging out and debriefing. Vojta, Silva, and Paja from Pardubice came to visit us for a day, and Michal from Val Mez surprised us and came to visit. here are some pictures:

we had a couple days of debriefing where all 30 Czech interns hung out and talked. we got to see the new Batman movie together, and then we had a dinner cruise on the river. the last night, my team had a nice dinner at a great steakhouse in Prague, and then hung out until 3:30 when we left for the airport.
so i don't know how i feel about being back. Nate had a lot of great thoughts for us as we come back, and that is that America is where i am called right now, so i can't be stuck on Czech. the biggest culture shock i've had is the high water level in the toilets :-)
Nate said that life has gone on for everyone and i haven't been a part of it. it's true, but at the same time, it seems like nothing has changed and i have so much. i hope that i can keep living in this change and not go back to the way things were before. i hope my love for Christ is renewed through the year.
keep me in your prayers, because it's so easy to go back to life and forget about my summer.
pray that i keep in touch with the students, and that the youth groups keep building relationships and caring for the students.
pray that i recognize my mission field in america and am satisfied to be here.

so here i am, and thus concludes my blog. sorry my entries have been so long, but in a way they've been more for me than anyone else. thank you for all your prayers!

Bohumin camp

what a wonderful camp. there were about 38 of us - we worked with another intern team because this year there was a lack of churches, and the one that had worked with Bohumin before backed out - a normal story this year for English camps. almost all the intern teams had at least one camp without an American church. i was nervous about working with another intern team for a couple of reasons - first, we were TIRED! an American church brings energy and enthusiasm, and as two intern teams we had given ourselves away to two other camps already. we didn't have energy for another camp. second, we had been to a cabin with the Bohumin group before as you may remember from an earlier blog entry, and i knew that they were a really energetic group, always having to do something...not a good mix for two tired intern teams. and finally, almost everyone on my team knew the people on the other intern team except for me, and when i thought about it too much i thought that i would feel left out of the groups. so because of all of these reasons, this last camp was the one that i was least looking forward to.
and even going into camp i had a bad attitude. meeting new people, teaching another week of English...ugh. but i started camp with the prayer of not only energy, but refreshment, and that i would need to depend on God more during the week. so i got into camp, played frisbee with them, sat at random tables with them, played dutch blitz with them (they are SO GOOD at dutch blitz!).
but before i go on, here's ania (and johnny, i loved these two!). you may remember a picture of her from earlier at the hillsong concert. she came to training for a few days with us before camp, and we were in the same room and hung out a lot. we really hit it off, and i think she was a big reason for my change of heart with bohumin. we loved each other right off, and she pulled me in and got me connected.
and as the week progressed, my heart did too. i really felt connected with almost all of the girls. here's another story and someone to introduce you to: Sarinka. Sara is a really funny and outgoing girl, and she can speak almost no English. when she came to camp, she seemed to like everyone but me. here's a clue about me: i want everyone to like me. so i tried with her so hard, and she still didn't seem to like me. i don't know when it happened, but at some point she totally changed with me, and started giving me hugs, and almost wouldn't leave me alone. we had the funniest relationship since we could barely communicate, but we called each other "moje kokino" - my sweet. at follow up she would carry me around on her back and we would pretend that i was superman.
we had such a fun group of campers. they were energetic, but God granted me these crazy spurts of energy every day - it couldn't have come from anywhere but Him. i did go to bed earlier than all my roommates though, and always felt guilty doing it because i knew they all wanted to talk to me. another way i connected: i had a group of kids who i called my children, and they called me their mom. it really meant nothing but i think it made us all feel special and loved.
(my class - in the back: me, emily, Andrea, George, Aneta, Dania. front: Martin (Bob), Mart'a, Martin)
especially with martin, who called himself bob - he is such a goof. he's a redhead, which you don't see that often in czech, so i called him my son and he called me mom throughout the whole week. he was in my class, and the other intern team had met him randomly in bohumin while they were playing basketball, and so he came to camp. he told us that he's now closer to being a christian than not. i hope that my other son, Johnny (he's a Christian, and the two hit it off right away) keeps connected with him.
and the other Martin in my class. here's a great story. he's from Prague, and so it was surprising that he would come to English Camp with a smaller town like Bohumin. one of the leaders spoke to his mom, and one of his teachers in Prague used to go to the Bohumin youth group, and suggested to his mom that he go to English camp. apparently Martin is pretty bad (thought i didn't get that vibe), and so as punishment his mom sent him to English camp realizing that only good could come of it. i had a hard time with him, not that i didn't like him, but i felt like we made no connection with him. he fell asleep a couple times during discussion groups, and i felt like we weren't getting through to him. but then one night in discussion, he said that he had some good talks with David. David - our translator wasn't even supposed to come to Bohumin camp with us - he was supposed to be in Bolivia! but it didn't work out and he felt like he should come, even though we really didn't need him. but it turns out we did. David prayed with him by the end of the week, and since David goes to school in Prague he's gonna get Martin connected there. i'm so excited for the two of them!
and finally, Andrea. she was in my class, and by the second day of camp she asked me to stay at her house for follow up, and i excitedly agreed to! she had come to english camp before, and didn't really seem too open during discussion. keep praying for her to be open - by the end of the week, she said she wasn't really interested in God but didn't know where her life would take her. she had a great family and i loved staying with her - she was so hospitable and loving.
and so i can't even fully describe this camp, but i really love them so much. all my fears about this camp were displaced - everyone loved each other. all of my fears just taught me that all I really need is to depend on God more.

uselessness.

i have found that uselessness can actually be a good thing. as i mentioned ealier in my prayer requests, the youth group in val mez did an amazing job at reaching out to students. during the night of the gospel presentation, we had a cajovna (tea house). i was able to talk to one of my roommates for a while before david butted into the conversation and took over in czech. so after that conversation was over, i realized that i had no one to talk to because all of the czech christians were talking to all the students! i had no idea what to do, and i felt so useless. but it was the best feeling i could have had at that point, because for the first time i realized my position as an american: to be american. the Val Mez youth group is solid, and it's a sweet feeling to know that the campers are still gonna be pursued and looked after by the youth group. and my job is to facebook the campers and still love them.

the group was so easy to fall in love with. the camp was younger than pardubice and had a lower level of English, but they were amazing kids who wanted to speak english and spend time with us. it's so fun to see the difference from the beginning of the week until the end, when students don't know each other and then when we're all so comfortable with each other. one girl kept to herself at first, but after days of everyone reaching out to her, she was laying on top of us and hugging us all.

we worked with a team from san diego and they were just what we needed - they were energetic and funny, and they loved the students. they were such an encouragement to us interns and really took care of us. they brought us american food and bought the girls some bath and body works shower gel so we could smell like girls again. i was so impressed with how everyone honestly connected as one group. i now have good friends in san diego who i can hang out with too :-)

here's a picture of the two american teams:

this is us being tough :-)

i did something different at this camp: i taught an almost beginner class. i've only ever taught higher level classes, but i really enjoyed teaching a lower level class. we really only covered three topics because there was so much repitition, but it was fun. it was more challenging for discussion groups for me - after having such great discussion groups in pardubice, i now had a younger group who hadn't thought through as many life issues (this year's topic is about being human - about experiencing different needs - love, success, failure, belonging, the difference between body and soul). it took awhile for them to really open up, but my co-teachers, amanda and john, really helped by being open with the students. kamila, my translator, and vaneta, the youth group leader also took awhile to fully begin leading discussion groups, so for awhile it was a little awkward having everything translated and having the americans try to explain everything. but by the end of the week, they had taken over discussion which was exactly what we had been praying for.

here are two pictures of my class.

this is our serious family picture. in the front are the teachers: me, john, and amanda. in the back from the left are klara, peter, kamila, radim, and vaneta. they were a really fun group, and they were active which was nice since we could do some awesome role plays!

we also had them each take turns translating everything that the americans said into czech. klara was probably at a higher level than the boys, and so i think translating made her feel a lot more confident in her ability. they were a very cool class - very different from what i'm used to, but it was what i needed.

amanda and i also got along really well and i'm excited to have a new american friend when i go home!

i wrote earlier about a girl who became a Christian, and that was klara who was in my class. she was cool, and definitely felt like she belonged at english camp and that that was where she was really accepted. she, kami, and vaneta really got to know each other well and i know that she will be well looked after and discipled. she's nervous to let her mom know of her decision. czech culture is so different - i know a lot of stories of kids becoming christians and their parents in turn kicking them out of the house. this happened to vaneta when she was 16 - her parents only gave her a backpack and then she was left by herself. but she knew that what she believed was true. pray for klara as she tells her parents about her decision and sticks to it! this kind of thing is so encouraging to me. here's a picture of klara with me and melissa. klara was really on my heart the whole week.

let me introduce two other girls who were as well: my roommates. eliska is blonde, and her sister is a part of the youth group. she brought along her friend, kacusa. they both have amazing english, and i really loved both of them. i enjoyed talking to them and joking with them and just taking naps in our room together. kacusa is such a thinker, and as i said earlier, i was able to talk with her during the cajovna. she studies history and religions by herself and is really interested in studying more religion, especially christian thelogy. i encouraged her to study the major world religions, and david gave her a mere christianity book by c.s. lewis. she was amazed that such famous philosophers and writers like c.s. lewis and tolkien were christians. i really loved these girls and found myself basically following them around all week. i hope that these are relationships i can keep.

i loved it.

i've been thinking a lot about my future, and i've always been going back and forth about whether or not czech is in my long-term future. i will always return to czech, but i really feel like this is where i belong in the long-term. i hate leaving english camp not knowing when or if i'll see some people again. the outreach here needs to be relational, and it's the hardest thing leaving people who i really began to love.

well, time will tell.

just a couple thoughts...

just some randomness. i'm seeing the end of the trip in sight, and though it's been AMAZING and indescribable in some ways, i am excited to go home and see my family, especially knowing they're all on vacation together this week. but i'm realizing more and more how necessary this trip was for me...i needed change. i needed to be here to be broken by God again, but i'm also realizing how much passion i don't feel for God and it hurts me. i wish that i could feel Him and just long to praise Him. camps have made me so dependent on God which is amazing, but i still wish i could just love God with all of me.


after camp with Val Mez, Keith and i decided to take a trip back to pardubice to visit some friends. here are some pictures:






just as a disclaimer, i have shorts on under my skirt. from the left is Vera, Vojta, Keith, Vitek, me, and Helena. these are my good friends from pardubice, i'm so glad i could go there and just spend time with them.




they took us to the top of a hill where there's a castle and we hung out and watched the beautiful sunset. really...it was so gorgeous.












the next picture is at the same place of me and keith. i think it's such a cute picture and keith likes it because he "looks manly." and he doesn't look manly that often ;-)

and now, finally: the big change. last time i pierced my nose, here's a picture of it (if you can see it). i love the piercing! this time...i tried putting blonde streaks in my hair. Vera and Helena tried doing it, but it didn't work. apparently red hair is really hard to dye - Larissa told me when she gets highlights her hairdresser uses a special dye and leaves it in for longer. so here's a picture of me trying to get highlights:

and here's the nose!

prayer requests!

here are some prayer requests-
-there seem to be a couple people who are sick, and i got a cold and a couple of bumps and bruises at the last camp. pray for our health!
-energy. my whole team is really tired, and it seems to be so hard to catch up on sleep. we're not feeling energized or refreshed, so pray that we're filled up for the last camp. it's our job as americans to bring energy, and we don't have any.
-there are a lot of new people coming to the next camp (Bohumin), so pray that we're able to reach out and make awesome. this will be especially hard since it's our team's last camp together and we'll want to spend time with each other. pray that everyone feels connected!
-praise God that at our last camp everyone did feel connected! there were 35 of us there and i feel like we were all really comfortable with each other and just enjoyed being with each other. also praise God for the Val Mez youth group from the last camp because they did an amazing job of reaching out and connecting with the students. and one girl became a Christian! more to come on these topics...
-pray that the Bohumin youth group will be the same in reaching out to the students. as americans we can't keep such good contacts with the students, and it's so important that the youth group make connections and relationships.

the a-team

let me introduce you to my amazing team.

we call ourselves the a-team for several reasons: awesome, allergies, ADD, andrea and amanda. and it seems as though we've gained a new member to our team. in the center of our hug is david, a friend from pardubice. he lived in america for a year and is an amazing translator, and so our team payed for him to come to our last camp with us and now he's coming to our next camp with us. it's fun actually having a czech on the team :-)

david's a funny guy who enjoys hugs but pretends that he doesn't. so for a team picture we just all had to hug him...look how happy we all look and how sad he looks ;-) to the left is amanda from chicago, then melissa from colorado. keith from arizona has his arm around david, and jerry from texas is in the back with a big smile on his face. this team has essentially become my family, they are my new comfort. it's crazy spending so much time with people and learning how to love each other even though we're so different and wouldn't necessarily be friends in different circumstances. but i love all of them and what they bring to the group, and i will definitely miss them all when we leave.

here are a few more team pictures that i forced them to take:

p.s.

mom, i won't do anything this drastic next time. but you still might not like what i'm gonna do ;-)
also, i'm not really satisfied with my last entry. i don't really feel like i said what i really wanted to say.
we leave for val mez camp tomorrow. ahh!

pardubice.

hmm. pardubice camp is done. i think it'll take a couple days for me to complete an entry, but here goes nothing.

pardubice was hard for me going into it because i have such a past there, and yet when my team visited, there was a big disconnect. but before camp, while at training, i talked to my friend David about it, and he in turn gave me no answer but to say that Pardubice has gone through big changes. he also talked to tomas about it, and there was a simple sort of answer: we were there during a big finals week, and a lot of people couldn't spend much time with us because they were studying. and it was encouraging to hear that david and tomas prayed about it.

so i went into the week without knowing many people on the pardubice side, but extremely excited regardless. we spent time getting to know each other, getting ready for camp, and then campers came. i did english testing, and when we were done, i just started feeling heavy and burdened. i realized that we were at english camp, and i felt unprepared in my english lessons, inadequate, and wondering what my purpose was in being there. i just started crying to myself, and kind of wondering what was going on with me. that night seems like a daze as i put students in classes which was so hard because they were all so advanced, and then had to lead the camp song in front of 50 people. i was exhausted, and then i had to lead a very awkward discussion group with new people who i didn't know, and i just began feeling extremely unsociable, yet annoyed at myself for not making an effort to make new relationships. but all i wanted to do was stay away from people, even the ones that i've known for 4 years.

bad start.

i can't even begin to explain my change. i shared my feelings with some of the american team, and a lot of us were feeling the same way. i don't know where my change of heart began, but i began praying a lot because of my feelings. the next day i had a really good English class - I was overprepared, the students had fun and were interested in the lesson. I was feeling more adequate. for some reason, the afternoon sports is where i feel like i really picked up in spirits. i was on a team with pretty much all czech guys and they loved my american enthusiasm and encouragement. maybe for the first time during camp i felt like i was capable of making and building relationships and that others really wanted to get to know me. i don't know what the change was, but it was exactly what i needed. the discussion group was also better as we were all more comfortable with each other, and i got to spend time talking to adam, a guy i've known for 2 years and who i really care about. he was in my class, and he's a philosophy major in college. we talked a lot about love and just life in general, and he asked me a couple questions about why i study the Bible when it's just a book. above is a picture of me with adam and his brother, dominik.

the next day we were supposed to go on a hike, but last minute it was cancelled because the youth hostel didn't pack us lunches. so i had no English class prepared, and no American helper. my mind completely went blank, and i actually left my students to go run around to other Americans and get ideas for English class. it was actually one of the best classes i taught - idioms and pronunciation. my feelings kept picking up, though they were off and on. afternoon games were also fun as i was able to hang out with some old friends. discussion groups were awesome again, and me, vitek, and vojta (guys from the youth group) each individually talked to small groups of students. i talked to adam again individually about love and why he can't believe in God, and i was able to share about how it's hard for me to love God when i'm loved so well by my family. i found myself really trusting in God a lot through these times. trusting God to give me words to say to encourage adam, and trust that vojta and vitek would be the same way in their discussions.

this is a picture of my class. from the left: Katka, Filip, Iva, Vojta, Anna, Vitek, me, Adam. in the background is the place where we stayed - we referred to it as the haunted mansion.

the day of the hike was also a good day as i was able to walk most of the way with Iva, a girl in my class, and it was fun just spending time outside of class hanging out and just talking. i was also able to spend time with helena, vera, and vitek, my long-time friends. i felt like i didn't have much time at camp for anything, so it was good to not be there. we actually were so close to poland that that's where we hiked. we went to the top of a mountain, and i think it may have been the easiest czech hike i've ever done. this is a picture of me and keith at the top, though you can't really see the background. i think i posted below a picture of me and olivier at the top of the mountain. olivier is an extremely cool french guy who went to camp last year with melissa and jerry and decided to come back. he loves meeting new people, and i really admire him...a french guy coming to czech to learn english. he was fluent in English and i was able to use my really broken French to embarrass myself nicely. i haven't taken french for four years, and i also found a way to mix it with what little czech i know.

following hike day, we got a new member added to our class. she was vojta's girlfriend's cousin, and she had spent a year studying as an exchange student in america. so anna, our new member, was an outgoing christian and an answer to prayer. she was so good for me especially during discussion groups because she let me know what was going on and was a really good leader. i know i already posted this picture, but anna is in the middle and her cousin zuzka is on the left. those girls are awesome. zuzka actually spent a year at donegal high school, but i never met her until last week.

the next couple days are kind of a blur. lots of ice cream, camp songs, and hanging out. i feel like i got to know a lot of people really well, but i also feel like the camp was mostly for me to grow, and that's what happened. i was so impressed with the pardubice youth group and how they all reached out and made efforts to get to know new people.

now we're at training and i'm feeling the same feelings of inadequacy. we're working with a team from san diego, and it's supposed to be our job to help build them up, but i feel like they're doing that for us instead. i'm feeling tired. but i am excited for this next camp, and i'm hoping that i'll rely on God more again.

here are things to pray for:

-me! i hate feeling like i'm not good enough to be here. this morning we sang the old human... "When Satan tempts me to despair And tells me of the guilt within, Upward I look and see Him there, Who made an end to all my sins. Because the sinless savior died, my sinful soul is counted free!" pray that i remember this, or i will suffer at camp

-pray that we can encourage the val mez youth group. this is the one that had no campers signed up, and now we have 14.

-pray for good connections with the san diego youth. they're a really cool group, but pray that we work as one team.

here are some last pictures:

this is me and bethany, who is also from lancaster, doing the camp theme song. i am sick of this song already. not a good sign since we still have 2 camps and 1 training to go!

this is helena (blonde) and vera and keith. keith and i stayed overnight at helena's house for our one day of follow up and had a blast hanging out with people outside of camp. we all had very little sleep, but lots of fun together!

Pictures!

ahh i hate having to do posts in little chunks, but i'm running out of time here. here are a couple pictures that i'll explain later.

Pardubice

well, camp is over. i can't write a real entry right now because i haven't thought through everything i want to say yet. so here are a couple thoughts right now...
-there was a lot of spiritual warfare throughout the week. especially at the beginning of the week, i started feeling extremely inadequate, and i was kind of wondering why i was there. there were a lot of attacks on our team as a whole, but i have never experienced such trust in God. more about this will come later, i'm sure!
-camp was amazing as a whole. i think that pardubice is where my heart belongs, and i'm kind of nervous about doing more camps and giving away my heart again.
-i got my nose pierced! if you know me, this is not something that i would generally do. but i'm feeling a need for change for every camp so that they're all different.
now we're having a day off ad tomorrow we meet our california team that we're working with. more updates to come, with pictures!

english camps!

we head off to camp tomorrow...dun dun dun. i'm really excited, but i can't believe that they're starting already. it's been nice and relaxing here at malenovice, but i admit i've started getting really worn out. not good for a long week of early mornings and late nights, so pray that i stay rested or i'll be really rude to everyone. haha.
well anyhoo, i won't have internet for about a week. parents, i'll try to give you a call at some point during the week when i get the chance, but if i don't have time i'll call next weekend. after camp, we're spending a couple days in Cesky Tesin staying at the homes of some missionaries here and then repeat the US team training.
this is our camp with pardubice, so pray for good connections and outreach.
thanks for all the comments!
:-)

pictures!

i have no idea what order these pictures are in, but we can try to figure them out :-)
so i'll go according to what i see. at the top is melissa and amanda, my girl teammates. they're in our shower-sink room that we had when we were staying in Pardubice. not complaining - the place we stayed at in Val Mez had half a shower door.
the next one is keith, helena, amanda, and i at the castle in Pardubice. our team leaders had to go get visas, so we had the day off and my friend helena met us. it was a good day! the next picture is a group from Bohumin with melissa - they're awesome! martin, michal, and kamil. cool kids! the next two are from the hillsong concert...raised hands, and from running up to the front with the girls...even though we weren't supposed to take pictures!
next is a team picture even though we're all sweaty. in the back is keith, jerry and amanda, and then me and melissa. i love these guys which is good since we're together almost 24/7 - my new family!
the next is amanda, me and keith doing an emo pose outside the castle, even though keith looks more like a little boy sulking.
next is vlastik's wedding - that's them dancing with an apple between their foreheads. and then my boys and me posing like models (almost)...vojta, honza, pepa, and uhlik. love them.
and the last is my team with silva from pardubice and petra, a teacher at one of the schools we went into, and then another random teacher.












so thanks for all your prayers and comments. this last week in val mez was great, we actually got to go into 2 different schools on friday and there are 5 students signed up with 4 more that we know are interested! we're still praying for 25, but 9 in one week is pretty good.
we're in malenovice this week so i'll have internet the whole time. yay! american teams start arriving tomorrow, so we have a wonderful day off. i'm going to tesco to buy supplies :-)

the czech smile

it’s been an interesting week. i think i’ve learned a lot about myself. the title of this is the Czech smile because I think I finally understand the Czech smile…it’s a smile that doesn’t bare teeth and doesn’t look happy. I used to be so annoyed with the Czech smile – being in pictures with people who didn’t look happy. I used to think it was a symbol of their reserve and quietness. but I’ve realized that’s not it at all…
on friday we traveled to Bohumin – a small town with an apostolic church that we’re working with. i was slightly nervous at first for several reasons. first, we’re working with another intern team who i don’t know well but who the rest of my teammates do; secondly, i’ve never worked with another czech church that isn’t pardubice; third, i was going to have to meet new people again, and kind of have to go through the new English Camp experience again.
the weekend planned was to go to a cottage (what Czechs refer to as a big house in the countryside) and have an english camp weekend where we would basically have a typical day of english camp.
so we got to bohumin and hung out with the youth group where I had to introduce myself to a bunch of new people who barely spoke English.
pause…i’ve never felt such a language barrier before – i’ve never really had the opportunity to. but when i’m sitting on a train, I would love to talk to the person I’m sitting beside. at the bohumin youth group, I can’t genuinely get to know the girls because we can’t communicate well. it’s frustrating! I find myself actually becoming jealous of my team leader, Melissa, who can speak very broken Czech because at least she can communicate with people I can only smile at. I can’t ask for directions – I can’t even communicate in a grocery store to ask where the salt is. I have finally realized how awful the curse of babel is. it’s been a bigger setback for me than I expected.
so. we traveled to the cottage – keep in mind there are thirty people there and one bathroom. I have never felt so dirty in my life. I didn’t change my clothes or shower in three days, and my jeans have dead bugs on them where I slapped bugs, and my hoodie smells like campfire and sweat.
yet even through all of my grossness, smelliness, and frustration, I feel extremely refreshed. all my nerves at the beginning were just nerves, and God answered my prayer to really connect with some girls. God has shown me how he works through the language barrier.

this is Misa. she’s a girl in the youth group (mladez), 13 years old, and we connected through simple, slow English sentences, hugs, playing frisbee when everyone else is playing football, and picking flowers for each other. the bohumin mladez was wonderful, and I felt welcomed and loved.
I also got to talk to my parents on father’s day :-)
pause…I have also never felt such a huge cultural barrier. we’ve been warned again and again to be quiet in public. I never felt like this was an issue for us since all we would be doing is talking with each other…no harm there, right? but in pardubice, a city of 100,000 people, we were walking along and traffic stopped, and it was silent. literally silent. the people were not talking, except for the five americans. hmm. I also have felt like we’ve been judged a lot in our traveling through public transportation. since we all have a big hiking backpack and a smaller backpack, we move pretty awkwardly and annoyingly, and I always feel like the Czech people on trains hate us for it. this isn’t always the case, but I’ve felt a lot of cold, annoyed stares.
so. following the weekend with the bohumin mladez, we traveled to the hillsong/matt redman concert. THIS was refreshing, and here I felt like I broke through part of the cultural barrier. I saw old Czech ladies dancing, and I saw a quiet, reserved nation jumping up and down and screaming. there were 4000 people there, about half of the Czech Christian population (and yet still half the size of my church). there’s so much to be said about this night and I don’t know where to start. most of the audience were youth, which was extremely exciting to see, knowing that the youth are the next generation. on the train on the way there I also met a guy who was definitely not a Christian but really likes hillsong – what a great opportunity!

two bohumin girls were there (ana and dana), and they pulled me to the front where we were jumping, invading people’s personal spaces, and raising our hands in praise to God as a united body. how beautiful.
pause…at one point, matt redman began singing “how great is our God” in Czech, and then stopped singing, and I was able to hear 4000 Czech voices singing praise to God. wouldn’t it be beautiful to one day see a Czech worship team on the stage leading the Czech people in worship in a language they can understand?
refreshing. my team is now in Val Mezirici and I’m realizing how much opposition there is to the gospel here. no one has signed up for English camp yet, and no schools would allow us to go in. but of the very few people I’ve met here, I’m already in love with them. yesterday we hung around outside schools and handed out fliers for English camp. today we’re heading out as the students leave school to hand them out again. pray for this opposition, and for the people. honestly, i hate handing out these fliers - it's hard to be straight up rejected, and then laughed at as you walk away! but let me tell you about the lady we’ve met here who’s in charge of the place we’re staying. she’s been able to communicate with Melissa a little bit, and yesterday when the washing machine downstairs didn’t work, she did all of our laundry for us. I think it’s so amazing to see love from people, and yet so hard knowing that they don’t know Jesus.
so this is the Czech smile. look at these pictures I’ve put on here, and look at their smiles…I now see beauty in it. my friend Kamil explained to me as we were imitating the Czech smile that Americans don’t do it right…we frown when we imitate the smile, but it’s not a frown, it’s an actual smile. I used to believe there was something wrong with the smile because it didn’t seem happy, but I realize now in spending more time with Czechs that it is not that at all: it is content, it is eagerness, it is screaming at a concert, and it is Czech. and it’s different, but it’s a smile.

let me end with a couple prayer requests and something I just read in the Bible.
-pray for sign ups for camps in Val Mez
-pray for me to be better able to submit to my team leaders – I love being active in decision making, but it’s not my place right now.
-our first camp starts in just over a week! pray that we’re prepared and everything goes smoothly.

this passage is from the story of Jesus healing the lame man. there were waters being stirred by angels that allowed people to be healed, and this man who was lame for 38 years was trying to be healed in the water – John 5:7 “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” I saw my selfish personality in this verse, and I began to wonder how many times I’ve stepped ahead of that man. I’m praying that I would be less concerned with myself and be concerned about healing that man.

internet cafe.

so this post won't be nearly as long as i want it to be because i'm in an internet cafe at the train station in pardubice. so i spent the weekend at lukas hambalek's house with his family. we spent a lot of time with the youth group...but things are so different. the dynamic with the czech team is a lot harder i think this year as it's almost a completely different group going, and they have made it really hard to connect with them. it's a shame because i love this group of people, but it seems like they aren't excited for us to be there - they're not really making an effort to get to know us, but would rather just be with each other. i know the intern teams have been having a hard time with it. this weekend was our only time with the youth group and we feel like we didn't connect (even i felt like that and i've basically known the whole team for four years), so it's been especially frustrating for me.
friday night we went to folklore night in pardubice...it was so crowded, and there were stands everywhere. but very fun. i got to see my good friend Petr Kotas :-) Saturday we had a meeting all day, Sunday was church and then hang out time.
BUT this weekend i got to go to my friend Vlastik's wedding. well, his wife is 5 months pregnant, but it's good to see that he's settling down. he looked very handsome :-) and it was also good to see lots of other friends too...the hrabal brothers, uhlik, helena and vera, and vitek. it was almost unreal being there. sunday i got to see my friend pavel who has pretty bad cancer. that was pretty hard for me. tessa, he's gonna be glad to see you! it was just hard knowing that he was so weak and couldn't really talk to me. and dynamics were different because the other intern leader was with me and i felt like he didn't understand how deep my relationships are with my pardubice friends. rough time...i came out crying.
i've also kind of been struggling about why i'm really here - what my purpose is. especially since we didn't do much the first week but training and meeting new people. especially when it actually hit me that basically the whole summer is english camps. yesterday was really refreshing. it felt good to kind of be in "my own" place again (we're staying in dorms at the university) - it's good to have freedoms and be with the whole team. but anyway, yesterday we went into a local school, and agnes's old roommate is a teacher there. we went into a bunch of classrooms and just briefly advertised english camps. then we were in three of her english classes and her french class (nothing weirder than listening to a foreign language get taught in another foreign language) and played some games and then just had discussion time with small groups of students. in the afternoon we had a free period where the students could just come in and talk to us. how encouraging! they were so excited to have the opportunity to talk with us. i'm hoping that some will come to a pre-english camp party tomorrow night and then to english camp!
so here are some things you can be praying for:
-connecting with pardubice youth group!
-thursday we're going into another school in pardubice
-this weekend we're going to a "cottage" with the Bohumin youth group to have a pre-English camp. pray everything goes well!
-sunday is the hillsong/matt redman concert! this will be our only time to be with all the czech interns worshiping in a way we understand. i can't wait.
-next week we're in Val Mez, going into schools and hooking up with the youth group.

thank you all for commenting! i wish i was able to have more time to connect with everyone.

Hebrews

Hebrews 4:14-16
14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
16Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Before I came to Czech, I took a class where we learned about the book of Hebrews. I've been reading over the book and looking at my notes that I took in class, and today this little passage stuck out to me. Can you imagine still living under the levitical priesthood where we had to constantly make sacrifice for our sins? Where a priest was a man who would eventually pass away? Hebrews 9 talks about the necessity of bloodshed for sacrifice, and in the levitical priesthood, that blood was the blood of animals. But when Christ was sacrificed, his blood was slain, and this is the best sacrifice. We've been singing the hymn "In Christ Alone" several times through the past week, and one line has stuck out to me:
"Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid
—Here in the death of Christ I live."

It humbles me to think of how Christ humbled himself - He is God, and yet became man. He did this so that He would be able to sympathize with human temptation and sin, and because of this He sacrificed Himself for us. What a beautiful sacrifice - what love. To take all of our sins on His shoulders so we're worthy of God.

Anyway, I just wanted to share what I've been learning in my devotions. The last couple days have been fun.
We finished up training on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, all the other countries' interns left. There are interns in Croatia, Serbia, Latvia, Slovakia, Poland, and Ukraine. Yesterday was the first day it rained, and a friend and I went for a hike to a waterfall. We decided to climb up the waterfall, and the water was FREEZING! It was so much fun though...and on our way back, we decided to take a "shortcut" and scampered up what was basically a wall of mud. Needless to say, I was caked in mud and looked gorgeous I'm sure. Last night we all went out to eat and I got yummy pizza. This evening we're heading to a national missionary's home - her parents own a turkey farm, so we get to hang out there which is pretty cool! And tomorrow we head to Pardubice for a week. We'll be hanging with the youth group all weekend, and then we'll be teaching English in their schools and start preparing for camps.
Exciting news: we're going to be volunteering at a Matt Redman/Hillsong concert! It's the first Christian concert in Czech, and I'm pretty certain that just about every Czech Christian will be there, which will be such an amazing experience.
Keep me and my team in your prayers this week!

cafe.

well today is just about the lazyest (spelling?) day i will probably have all summer. i played dutch blitz this morning and learned how to play settlers this afternoon (and didn't do so hot). we've been sitting in our hotel malenovice which is the coolest place, and it feels like a cafe...with a gorgeous view. i'm searching for stuff to do though...everyone needs to do laundry, and i'm about ready to take a bus into a nearby town and just get lost.
well there's lots i could be working on, but i'm a slacker. it's a shame i can't load pictures on here, but with time i will!
hmm...time to eat lunch (but i just ate two doughnuts - woops!)

so here's the great update. it's generally detailed, though i know i forgot a lot already! i'm eating a lot, my stomach is expanding. i've probably gained about a pound already (how pathetic).
i also decided last minute not to bring my laptop, so i don't have much opportunity to use the internet. i'm borrowing melissa's laptop right now but i've been on here for a long time. hmm.
well, i'm sorry if i'm really bad at keeping in touch, but that doesn't mean i'm not thinking of you or missing you! keep me updated!
ps - i had my first fanta today.

update letter.

Hello friends and family!
I have now been in Czech for about 5 days, and they have been crazy.
Last Tuesday evening, Dad dropped me off in Philadelphia, and from there I proceeded on a 7 hour flight to Frankfurt in Germany. Thankfully I was smart enough to take a sleeping pill, and I was given the blessing of having NO ONE sit next to me, so I was able to "spread out" and sleep. I did wake up every time the cart rolled by, and finally at about 7am Germany time (1am PA time) I decided I should wake up and eat breakfast on the plane, because I knew that once I landed in Germany I would have no money to buy food, and my layover was around 4 hours. So we got into Germany, and for about 8 hours I hadn't said more than "Sprite, please" to anyone and was feeling slightly lonely. I wandered around looking for my gate, but they didn't post the gate until about an hour before the flight took off, so I wandered around the overcrowded airport half asleep, until eventually an American girl who had been on my flight to Frankfurt started talking to me, and we realized that we were both interning in Czech! So I finally was able to talk to someone, and on the flight to Czech I met another intern.
We landed in Prague and I was met by my team leaders, Jerry and Melissa, and a bunch of other Eastern European missionaries and interns. I also met Keith and Amanda who are also on my team. We sat around waiting for other flights to come in, and once all 65 interns had arrived, we began the Amazing Race. We were given a choice of 4 places to go, a map of Czech, and 6000 crowns (about 15 crowns to a dollar). Our leaders weren't allowed to help us, so we had to find our way to the bust which took us to a tram which took us to a train station. Once we were at the train station, I purchased tickets, and lo and behold as we sprinted up to the platform, the train began rolling away. We were all kind of frustrated, but decided to sit outside on the grass and eat "lunch" (at about 4pm Czech time). We hopped on the next train where there were four other groups and made our way to a small town that I completely forget the name of. There was a Skoda museum (Skodas are a kind of car, but the ironic thing is that the term "skoda" in Czech means "what a pity"), so our team took a picture in front of it and texted it to a Czech missionary, who then gave us a choice of four more places to go. However, there were no more buses going to the train station for an hour, so we decided to try to find our own way back to the station. It wasn't working too well, but suddenly an American man pulled up in a Ford SUV and asked if he could help! He told us that he had heard us speaking English and knew he had to help. He had a GPS and so we squeezed in the back and he drove us back. We found out the he married a Czech woman, and they owned a ranch where they raised horses. They had also started an organization to teach sign language to babies, so of course I thought about Julia and Grace! (my sister and niece) It was so cool to see God constantly blessing us with people to help, even people who couldn't speak English. So we got back to the train station and found that the next train to the city of choice didn't leave for about 3 hours. So we decided to head back to Prague where accommodations had been made for us (at the Hotel Krystal, which is a hotel I've been to many times!). But we were hungry by the time we got there since we hadn't eaten for about 6 hours, and so we ran to a KFC and ate some Czechified American fast food.
The next morning we were up by 7, and left for a castle in a small touristy town called Karlstejn (Karl-shtein). Of course, as everything in Czech is, we had to hike up to the top and were extremely sweaty and smelly with our heavy backpacks. BUT the castle was beautiful, and we wandered around for awhile, eating snacks and just taking our time - we had decided the night before that we didn't really feel like competing, so we were just gonna take our time. We then had to head back to Prague for the next place, and so got lost walking around, and I asked several more people for help. It's nice that generally the younger people understand Czech. There was actually another American man who helped us find our way. So we got to the top (it was too steep to walk up even for Czechs, so we took a tram) and the guys paid to go into a mirror labyrinth and take a picture. At that point in time we realized that Jerry's phone had a really bad battery and was just about dead. So we headed back to the train station and headed to Cesky Krumlove to see another castle. We got there at around 8:30, took a picture, and hung out at the bus stop until I talked to enough Czech people who didn't speak English but helped enough for us to realize that there were no more buses leaving that night. Jerry's phone was still dead, and we hadn't had anything to eat for about 9 hours, so we headed into the touristy town to find a hostel. The first hostel was FILLED, and an Australian resident tried to help us look up bus schedules. We realized that there was a bus heading for a bigger town, so we decided to get on the bus! So we headed back to the bus stop, and then had second thoughts and decided to try to find a place to stay that night. So we walked back into the town and no penzions (bed and breakfasts) were open. We found another hostel, but there wasn't enough room (there were two big American groups there, not related to our team - I had talked to some other Americans on an earlier train, and they had helped us find our way!). So we decided to try out a hotel, but it was half of our budget for two people to stay there. Hmm. That was a no. We were getting kind of frustrated, and were walking around until we found another penzion, and they had room for five! It was obvious that the two men who were renting out the roomwere discussing how much to boot up the price for us Americans, but we got it for 2100 crowns which wasn't too bad. And finally Jerry was able to plug in his phone. And the room was cute with a beautiful view over the river flowing past the castle! We decided to run out and grab some food while Jerry took a shower, and the place that was open nearby only had potatoes and chicken nuggets, so we sat there and wolfed down the potatoes and chicken nuggets, discussing how awful it would have been to sleep on the cobblestone and how nice it was to have soap again finally. We headed back to the penzion where Jerry had locked himself out of the bedrooms, so after laughing at him, we decided that since we had already lost the race, we would not take the 6am bus to the next city, but would just sleep in and take our time getting to our final destination: Malenovice.
So the next morning we took our time getting up, and we were ready at around 10. The girls ran out to a bakery and grabbed breakfast, and when we got back to the cute penzion, Jerry was on the phone with our leader (Nate), and he told us that we had to go! I really don't know what we were thinking - the deadline to Malenovice was 6pm, and it would take AT LEAST 8 hours to get there. So there was a bus leaving for Prague in 20 minutes, so we ran to the bus stop...but the train was full for Prague, so we could only get one to a nearby town. So we got there, and grabbed continuing trains until we got here. Praise the Lord we caught every train, but we cut it close. Everyone on my team but Melissa has allergies, and it was almost amusing to see our puffy eyes and hear all of us sneezing...we were miserable. At one point we had talked about different personalities, and as soon as we were done, our whole team fell asleep within 2 minutes. 9 hours after we started, we arrived (and hadn't eaten for 11 hours). We listened to the seminar after lots of applause for being the last team and 3 hours late, and then we gulped down lots of food.
So we've been here since Friday night, I'm still slightly jet-lagged, so pray that I can sleep well. We've been having training - teaching English, apologetics, team conflict, etc.
On Friday we're heading to Pardubice where we'll stay for a week visiting with the youth group and going into local schools to teach and promote English Camps. The next weekend we're heading to Bohumin for time with the youth group, and the to another place (I forget the name) to meet the youth group and go into the schools.
I am excited, but I'm taking in my relaxing time right now. It's gonna be a busy two months.
Pray for the youth groups that we're working with - not only are we here for the English camps, but we're here to build up the Czech believers.
I hope that all of you are doing well! I'm thinking of everyone a lot, especially my family as Dave Patty (the president of this organization) was talking about his children this morning :-)
Hopefully I'll be able to keep well in touch!
Love, Andrea