the one where i finally catch you up :)

hopefully i'll be posting more blog entries soon...bare with me as i just attempt to let you know what we've been up to. this post is sure to be less heartfelt than i'd like it to be, purely because i just want to post something to keep everyone updated! we've been without internet for about a week which has made everything that much harder.

here's what's been going on! (since my last blog)

we got to hang out with a good friend - helena, in pardubice. it was great to see her again!

with helena

we made a second trip to Frydlant which was nice. the weather was cold and wet, but i was able to see a lot of old friends and meet some new ones. my friend Jeremy (from Lancaster) spent a couple months living in frydlant, and while we were there they threw a goodbye party for him. the frydlant youth group is such a blast.

svatia & barca - 2 dear friends!

from there we traveled on to prague where we stayed with a fun couple, Tomas and Jitka. we were only there one night, but i got to hang out with a couple friends. jerry had been my team leader during my internship in czech 4 years ago, and he was back this summer with his wife. i spent the afternoon wandering around prague with them, and got to see some fun JV friends too. the next morning i got to hang out with some friends from the school where i student-taught 3 years ago! lots of good catching up.

j, m & i exploring new places

we live on the top left side

then we went on to pardubice and signed for an apartment! PLEASE TAKE NOTE! our address has changed! we decided to move into a different flat, so our new address is:
Ve Lhotkach 1345
530 03 Pardubice
Czech Republic

on tuesday we signed for it and spent the evening cleaning. on wednesday we moved in and cleaned some more.

on thursday we traveled to a small village called sobotin (outside of sumperk) where we spent some time hanging out with the pardubice youth group (mladez) at their week-long camp that they call relax. i really enjoyed my time with them, and i'm thankful that we were able to go so that we could get to know the students and leaders better. the youth group here is flourishing and i'm excited to be part of what's going on here.

on the way

petra & terka

sobotin

matous, radek, & tessa

we came back, really tired, on saturday afternoon, and then got to spend some time resting and hanging out with dana and petr. 




on sunday we came to the church here for the first time (Archa church). Dana made svickova for lunch (i won't detail you with what i eat every day, but it must be known that i ate svickova because it's my favorite - see it here!), and we spent the afternoon relaxing and hanging out at their cottage, which is named Hlina.

bailey at Hlina

monday was spent running around doing errands. a couple guys from the youth group moved some beds into our place, and the afternoon was spent at a water park with some friends from the youth group.

prayer:
-the transition here has been a lot easier than i thought it would be. this is partly because the kotasovi (and their extended family) has been so giving to us. thank God for our Czech family! without them we'd be living under a bridge right now
-because the transition has been easy, there hasn't been much "need" for God. pray that i still want him.
-God's provided pretty much all we've asked for. for sure one of the hardest things right now in making relationships is the language barrier. pray that we'd find someone who can tutor us so that we can grow deeper relationships here