Category: Czech Republic

Every post I wrote while we lived overseas.

Memory Monday

One of my teammates, Daniel, celebrated his birthday yesterday and a few of the missionaries here wanted to do something for him and celebrate. We decided that this morning would be a good time to take him out to breakfast and enjoy some fun together. After taking Titus to school, Bethany, Avery, and I drove out to a little cafe in Ostrava to join the fun. Breakfast places are actually kind of rare in Czech and this little cafe made some great food. I believe I had my first omelet in Czech and the only one I’ve eaten since leaving the States. I trust Daniel was blessed and I’m glad we were able to celebrate him while he’s so far from family and other friends. I hope it made a memory.

The snow was falling all morning and this made Bethany’s drive back home a little challenging. I had actually caught a ride with Daniel to go back to the Josiah Venture office which is a different direction then our home, so I wasn’t with her. She ended up being about 30 minutes late picking up Titus from school but they were very understanding. It has been snowing all day since this morning and we’ve got at least four inches on the ground, even though it might be even more now.

Bethany was nervous about putting the car in the garage because she thought she would have to come pick me up due to all the snow that was coming down. I ended up getting a ride home, but here’s a photo of our car in the driveway as it sat when I got home. It took Bethany and I a few minutes to wipe it all off and put it back in the garage, but we were laughing and having a good time. It made a memory.

Another really fun moment today was going to the post office. I can’t believe it, but I was able to send a letter to America and buy stamps all in the Czech language! Granted, I wrote everything down and had notes I was using, but it really doesn’t change the feeling of being able to actually do something in another language. As I walked out of the building I took the photo below of the outside just to remember the moment and I said out loud, “YES! I did it!” I have a renewed passion to do as much Czech speaking and learning as I can possibly do and today was a win in my book. It made a memory.

I also got a quick video of my excitement.

A video posted by Shay Thomason (@shaycam) on Feb 9, 2015 at 8:28am PST

Lastly, tonight we opened our February envelope! Each month we open an envelope from our small group back in the States. This was a really fun envelope from some great friends of ours. It’s bittersweet to see the notes and kind words from them and remember the sweet times we enjoyed with them. Thank you, friends, for caring for us and sending us these wonderful gifts. Here are a few pictures of the kids opening it up and some of what was inside.

A sampling of things inside were new toothbrushes for the kids, Burt’s Bess lip balm, new books (see below), coloring books, a puzzle, bead key chains (a craft for the kids), a drawing from our friend’s kids and a nice card for us.

It looks like someone was scanning our Amazon.com wish list. Thanks for these awesome books!

I tried to get them to smile for this last one, but it didn’t happen. Smile or not, they were happy to get these new fun things and so are we. Thank you!

Tags birthday, Czech, Daniel Reimer, envelope, language, snow, speaking

365 Czech Republic

A Better Sunday

With snow swirling all around me, I made it to church this morning by myself. Avery has had a cold for a week and now Bethany isn’t starting to feel that great. I didn’t want to try and battle the Sunday school thing with Titus today, so we opted to just have the family stay home and I would go to church alone. And even though church is often difficult, today was a much better Sunday for me than last week. I approached church this morning with a completely different focus, one that might seem even a little strange–to learn language.

One of the tools we learned at Missionary Training and one that my friend Landen reminded me of last night was approaching church with a focus on writing down words and engaging the language. Basically, with a notebook in hand, I wrote down every word I could understand and then would add a mark if I heard it again and so on (below is a photo of my notebook). Believe it or not, I heard and wrote down 101 words that I heard at least one time. The most repeated word I heard was “manželský” which I believe means “marital” or “marriage.” I heard at least a form of that word 28 times. Maybe the sermon was about marriage?

You might be wondering why this could be helpful. I think the main reason is that it makes me more engaged in trying to listen to Czech and distinguish sounds, words, and phrases. Do I know how to spell all the words? No. Do I even know if what I heard was correct? No. But the process of trying to listen and write them down is putting my mind in a language mode and not a “tune out because I don’t know how to speak Czech” mode which is often the case. Another reason it’s helpful is it gets new words into my vocabulary by forcing me to learn the meanings. If I hear a word and hear it correctly, then I go back and learn the meaning. It’s actually a pretty incredible experience for a language student and I’m truly thankful for it. As much as I would like to listen to the sermon, my time is actually better spent just trying to understand the actual words being spoken. Long term, this is an infinitely better use of my time for now.

It snowed on and off all day and the wind was up. At one point, there was snow falling and I could see the sun shining. I tried to get a photo of it, but it just didn’t turn out (show above). During the afternoon we basically tried to clean the house up and our friend Misa came over at about 3pm. She is leaving tomorrow to be in Prague for a bit and then off to the States in a few more weeks. We had a good time chatting with her and actually helping her understand English and American culture better. During that time I was working on sizing and cutting a print to fit a frame, both of which I brought from the States when we moved. I took a little time to get it all measured and cut it, but I’m happy with the final result. I plan on hanging it up in my office at Josiah Venture. Below is a picture of it and it’ll be a constant reminder to my soul of why we’re here–to see more come to know the Light of Life.

The last week has brought excitement, clarity, and focus for me. I’m excited about what God is doing to help realign my heart and invigorate me to learn a tough language and continue to strive to see more people come to Christ in this place. I’m thankful for how God is using our circumstances to make us more like His Son! It’s not always easy or fun, but I can rest in the fact that he is working in all of it for my good and His glory.

Tags church, excited, language, print, study, words

365 Czech Republic

Sledding in Czech, Church Youth Group, and Hope for Language Learning

Post author By Shay
Post date February 7, 2015
No Comments on Sledding in Czech, Church Youth Group, and Hope for Language Learning

Today was a beautiful, sunny day in Czech. I don’t remember seeing a single cloud, even though as I write this evening the clouds are rolling in for another round of snow. Our plan to go sledding today came to fruition and we had a blast! It’s hard to describe Titus’ excitement when we made it to sledding hill, but he was basically squealing and jumping up and down. The hardest part was keeping him from running to the hill himself while we got everyone in their snow gear before heading out to it. This specific hill (shown below) was one I saw while teaching last week at the Josiah Venture Leadership Academy. There were a lot of other families there today, and now I know why.

Not only was the hill easy to get to, it had great runs which today were really fast since it was around 26 degrees outside and the snow was packed down hard. I’m pretty convinced some of those Czech kids were moving around 20mph down the hill. Our kids weren’t so ready for those kinds of speeds so I would take them about half way up and send them down on their bellies at first (like Titus in the photo below). We got a couple of cheap plastic sleds this morning that worked really well.

Here’s a video of Avery heading down on her own. You’ll see just how far and fast she could go and we were only half way up the little hill!

Here’s a video of Titus using the red sled in a sitting position. He mostly liked the little blue slide that Avery was using, but I’m glad he was brave and tried the bigger one too. In this video he puts his arms behind his head like he’s relaxing and then crashes. But like any boy having tons of fun he gets up quick and smiles for the camera with mommy cheering him on.

Here’s a few more photos that Bethany got while we were playing and having fun.

If there is “Part 2” to this post, then this is it. Tonight I was able to attend our church’s youth meeting which happens most Saturday nights at 5pm. Bethany stayed home with the kids because they were basically exhausted from sledding. It was a sweet time with the young people, and I had the chance to talk with a young man named Simon. At 19, Simon already speaks five languages (Czech, Polish, English, German, and Slovak), not to mention a local dialect called “Poneshemu.” He’s a great guy and plans on going to university (college) next year to study engineering. We were paired up tonight to play a game where I tell him what I see on a piece of paper that was given to me and he draws it. The only catch is that we’re sitting back to back and of course he can’t see what I’m looking at. I thought it he did great and here’s a photo of us during that little game.

They also prayed for our friend Misa who is heading to America to study. I got a photo of the prayer time and I thought it was really neat to see them kind of send her off. They also sang a song in Czech to the tune of Happy Birthday, but I’m not exactly sure what they were singing.

After a testimony from a gentleman in the church, there was a shortened message from one of the gospels (I couldn’t quite figure out which book we were in!). Then we spent some time singing an English song that had a bunch of motions. After that we all played a little round table ping pong, but there weren’t enough paddles so I used a clipboard. I did not win. Here are a few more photos.

One fun thing about youth group was that this was the first time I got to see the new youth room that has been being built since before we arrived in Czech. They’ve only been meeting in it for a few weeks and it’s really, really nice. It has basically been a labor of love as many volunteers have helped build it from the church. In fact, in one of the walls there is a large stone sticking out (shown below) that confused me. I asked Simon what it meant and he told me that he didn’t know how to explain it English, but they have a word for it in Czech. Essentially, he said it’s like a piece to remember that the building was, in his words, “built by this generation” and they should remember that. It sounded like a neat thing to me and I took a photo of the stone, which sits near the entrance next to the light switches.

Finally, a few avid blog readers know that our friends Jenny and Landen moved to Czech a few months after us and we were all living in the same town in California before coming to Czech. Jenny is actually from Czech and Landen is an American, but they have been in the states for I believe 6 or 7 years. Their current ministry focus is with the youth group at our church and I saw them tonight and Landen invited me over to their place tonight to chat and catch up.

During our discussion, it became clear that we have the same passion to learn Czech and do greater ministry here. I loved Landen’s statement that he’s “learning Czech to love Czechs” (this may be a paraphrase, but the gist is there). His heart is to learn their language so he can have deeper relationships and more impact on them (e.g. love them), not to mention he would be able to preach and teach God’s Word. As we talked, they both shared their desire to help Bethany and I get more opportunity to learn language and so we’re basically going to work together in this process. With Jenny’s help as a native Czech speaker, we are going to use some of the tools we all learned at pre-field training in the States. This should give Landen, Bethany, and me more opportunity to study and engage the Czech language on a consistent basis. This is huge!

All of that is really exciting to me and it seems like a huge answer to prayer! As we talked tonight I could feel my heart stirring with greater passion and excitement in a way that I haven’t in quite some time. Jenny and Landen have such a great heart for Czech and we share their passion to see God work in mighty ways here, even through our efforts in language. Many people have been praying, as have we, and I feel like this simple discussion was such an answer to prayer and the work of the Spirit of God in all our hearts. I’m excited to see what the Lord does with this and how it will have a greater impact for the Kingdom of God!

Tags fun, growth, language, learning, sledding, snow

365 Czech Republic

Back in the Saddle…I Mean, Sedlo

Post author By Shay
Post date February 6, 2015
No Comments on Back in the Saddle…I Mean, Sedlo

We were back at it this morning, continuing our formal language learning with our our Czech teacher. It felt really good to be back in the saddle and just pushing forward. Speaking of forward, that’s pretty much what we we were learning, that is, directions. In the photo below, you can see Bethany working hard at reading a sentence with directions on a map and then trying to understand where exactly we are supposed to go. Left, right, down, up, turn, forward, straight, go. These are the kinds words we were focused on.

For me, today was one of my favorite lessons because I’ve begun to write down confusing sentences and words in my Field Notes notebook so I can ask Tamara (our teacher) about them and get some clarity. I like the idea of capturing words and then working on what I hear. If you look closely in the photo below, my notebook has sentences like “I am not stupid,” “I’m cold,” “Let’s go (forward)!” and “Nevermind.” Those might sound pretty scatter brained, but they are legitimate phrases I’m curious to know and now have in my book where I can review and see regularly. Our ears hear lots of things throughout the day, so being able to say, “What does that mean?” and write it down is just really helpful.

We also had a little review time, which you can see in the photo above. Tamara was holding up photos and asking us certain things about the case (masculine, feminine, neuter) to see how much we could remember. Bethany was much better at recalling that info that me, so I have some studying to do!

We’re planning a little fun for tomorrow with the kids. It’s actually supposed to be sunny, but cold and we’re hoping to do a little sledding near the mountains. Titus has been asking me when Saturday is because we told him about it earlier in the week and he’s been pretty excited. We have a wooden sled that we got a few months ago, but I’m hoping we can find a plastic one on our way out of town. We’ll see how it goes!

Tags Czech, language, learning

365 Czech Republic

Celery and an Early Valentine’s Day

Post author By Shay
Post date February 5, 2015
1 Comment on Celery and an Early Valentine’s Day

As happens often I have to go on a hunt for a single food item. Tonight that item was celery. Bethany was making potato soup and needed a few things from the store. I went straight to the store that I thought would surely have everything, but for some reason they either didn’t have celery or they were out.

My quest was actually complete at the second store I visited. But while in line someone dropped a large bottle of some kind of alcoholic beverage. It smelled weird and went everywhere. I’m not sure if it was the girl that was in front of me or the guy in front of her that was at fault, but not a single person did a thing about it. Everyone acted as if nothing had happened, including the check stand lady and security guard standing right there. It was all very confusing for me because we just all began stepping over and into the liquid, making a bigger mess. No one was coming to clean it up and I honestly would’ve done it but trying to explain that in Czech would have proved more confusing than the situation itself. Spill on aisle 4 anyone? How do you say that in Czech?

On a happier note, I got home from the store and the kids told me “Daddy, we have a surprise for you.” They both brought me big red cards that they made with stickers and drawings (shown above). Avery also brought me that cat frame which she painted and added jewels to. The cat actually came with the frame. Bethany told me that Avery said, “Daddy will like that.” She is right.

On the back of the cards were lots of fun phrases that I will share with you here:

From Titus:
Why do you love Daddy?

“Cause he “raskles” (read “wrestles”) us a long time.”
“He’s our friend”

From Avery:
Why do you love Daddy?

“Daddy likes to play Candyland”
“Daddy likes to “raskle” me”
“Because he has an ‘A’ in his name”
“Daddy likes to give me a kiss.”
“Because I love him.”

It’s never too early to get a Valentine’s Day card for your kids.

Tags culture, spill

365 Czech Republic

Encouraged

Overall it’s been a really encouraging week. Many people have sent us kind words via email and social media in regards to our baby gender announcement (if you missed that post be sure and go check it out). Bethany and I have been working harder on reviewing our Czech language cards and I’m just encouraged by our daily progress.

Normally we have language lessons on Wednesday mornings, but Avery woke up in the middle of the night and threw up in her bed (my apologies to any weak stomach readers). Our teacher has a young boy who has just gotten over some sickness so we didn’t want to take Avery to her house and now we’re scheduled to have lessons on Friday. Avery has been sick most of the day with a runny nose and cough, but it doesn’t look like any of us have it yet. I assume it’s just a little cold and that Titus won’t be far behind her, but you never really know with kids and sickness.

Speaking of Titus, I walked him to school this morning while it was snowing and it hit me just how different his childhood already is compared to mine. Not once in my life did I ever walk to school in the snow. In fact, I don’t believe I ever even walked to school! And the one time I remember it snowing while I was at school, my mom picked us up early and drove us home because she was worried about driving in it. Titus, however, is walking in the snow and we do our morning ritual of getting him dressed in all of his layers. In the photo above, he’s wearing a snow suit, sweatshirt, jacket, long johns, and that fancy hat with ear covers. It’s such a different life than mine was, but I’m glad he’s getting to experience something I never did. In my mind, it keeps it interesting.

Bethany made banana bread this week and it sounds like we’re going to try banana bread french toast tomorrow. It’s a first for us, but we heard about it the other day and thought it was a fun idea. With that to look forward to, I think I’ll hit the hay. Thank you for reading and being such an encouragement to me and my family. We are so blessed by many of you.

Tags Avery, encouraged, sick, Titus

365 Czech Republic

Our 2 Year Visas Are Approved

Post author By Shay
Post date February 3, 2015
No Comments on Our 2 Year Visas Are Approved

Today was kind of momentous for us even though it never feels that way when you’re in a government office in the Czech Republic. Our two year visas were approved! Our friend, Katka, got a call last week saying the paperwork went through and that we needed to go back and do photos and fingerprints. Today we went to the Foreign Police and signed a bunch of papers, took photos, and gave them our fingerprints. I didn’t feel as comfortable trying to capture everything on my iPhone today, so I only have the one photo you see above. All in all, the process was smoothe and the kids did good getting their photos taken. We’ll go back on the 19th to retrieve our new “Biometric” cards which serve as our permit for residence!

For doing a good job at the Foreign Police we told the kids they could get hot chocolate at a nearby cafe afterwards. Above is a photo of them waiting together at the cafe.

Around sunset we decided to go for a little mini hike up around the big Josiah Venture hotel/training. Since my class last week, I have wanted to take Bethan and the kids up there to show them the snow and see the view. The sun was shining a lot today which was awesome, so we tried to catch a little of the sunset tonight. There were a few clouds so we couldn’t see it perfectly, but we had a great time together as a family in the freezing cold.

The temps were in the 20s so things were icy, but the kids thought it was hilarious when their feet would give out while we were holding their hands and walking. We didn’t walk a super long time, but we laughed and enjoyed our time together. In fact, the more I think about it the more I feel like it was special. We were just walking up and down a little hill, but the kids were happy, Bethany was happy, and I was happy. We were having a fun time together and it was devoid of distraction or trying to rush to the next thing.

It’s late and we have language lessons in the morning which I’m really excited about. It’s been a few weeks since we have had any formal instruction. Bethany and I have been working harder this week to review our vocabulary and do whatever kind of studying that we can on our own. I even started a new little “Field Notes” notebook of Czech words that I want to know or understand better. It was a tool they taught us to use at language school in the States and I’m excited to engage it more. Some how, some way, I am going to learn Czech! Pray for us.

Tags hike, visas, walk

365 Czech Republic

Boy or Girl?

Instead of our normal written blog post, we thought we would have a little fun with video today. As you should know by now, Bethany is pregnant with baby Thomason #3. The big question on everyone’s mind: boy or girl? I guess you’ll have to watch this video to find out.

Tags boy, gender, girl, video

365 Czech Republic

I Miss Sundays and Church

Post author By Shay
Post date February 1, 2015
No Comments on I Miss Sundays and Church

We went to church in Czech for the first time in a while. After being sick for weeks on end in November and December, we took our trip to the States and missed a few weeks there. Upon returning we were severely jet lagged and then last week there really wasn’t church, so today we finally made it back.

Like most Sundays here, it was hard (at least for me). Mostly I hate feeling like I’m just going through the motions of “doing church” and not being able to offer much as a member of the body of Christ. The language barrier is no doubt the biggest obstacle and has far reaching effects. We can’t understand the sermon, we can’t talk to most of teachers, and we can’t really offer much in the way of encouragement to other believers (or them to us). Today, the kids didn’t want to stay in their classes alone and we can’t leave them. Bethany ended up staying with Avery in her class and I took Titus with me to the main service. Avery painted the mitten and hat you see the above photo.

Many Sundays someone in our church will provide translation via headsets, but I didn’t see anyone doing that today. Basically I just let Titus play on my iPhone while I read my Bible. From what I saw on the screen at church, I think the pastor was preaching out of 1 John, but I’m not sure. In a sense, it felt like our first Sunday there minus the excitement of the newness. It was just hard and I didn’t respond well to it. It frustrated me and even though I enjoyed my time in God’s Word, I let my heart get angry at our situation.

I love the local church. Outside of the family, I believe it is the most important institution God created for Christians. Many days when I was serving at our church in the States I would literally be giddy on my way to church. Oh, no doubt we had hard days but then there would be someone at church that would say or encourage me, or even just the sermon itself would pierce my soul as the Word of God does. I guess that’s what made it so difficult for me today. I’m having a hard time seeing light at the end of the tunnel of being able to experience that kind of community and grace again.

Pray for me as I lead our family in the days, weeks, and months ahead. I’m sure many missionaries have come to a similar place when they remember what they left behind and long deeply for it. I want to lead my family with wisdom and grace, especially as it relates to learning the language and culture. I want the opportunity to encourage another saint in their native tongue, not to mention share the gospel with someone in Czech in the Czech language! I want to disciple a few young men who can then go and disciple someone else. I want to sing worship and know what I’m saying. I guess I just want it to feel normal again. Maybe we’re years away, but at least that feels like it exists somewhere in the future.

Tags church, difficult, Sunday

365 Czech Republic

Last Day of Teaching and Living in a Winter Wonderland

Post author By Shay
Post date January 31, 2015
No Comments on Last Day of Teaching and Living in a Winter Wonderland

I had a great time the past three days teaching a design class at the Josiah Venture Leadership Academy. Today we finished up our little workshop and I realized how much I enjoy teaching and helping others learn and grow, even when it’s a technical skill. What I enjoyed most is that ten people in our class are all serving the Lord in some capacity in their respective countries and will taking the things they learned this week to do their ministry better. Above is a photo of a few of our students from Slovakia who were working on a design for their upcoming English camps. Thousands of young people will come to Christian camps this summer and hear the gospel for the very first time. Maybe, just maybe, the poster these leaders create is what will invite those young people in Slovakia?

Above is a photo of a group from Estonia. Kuldar (far left) is a leader up there and doing great things through sports ministries, specifically soccer. I actually met with him a few weeks ago and just got to hear about his passion for discipleship in a country where dads are distant and young men need mentors. I love his heart for young people. I just happened to walk outside today while he was trying to get a photo with this group and got to take this photo for them.

It was a surreal world outside today at the training center. The snow covered everything and I believe we got another 4-5 inches last night of fresh powder. After our class, Daniel and I were walking back down the hill from the the main center with our cameras in hand and were just overwhelmed with God’s amazing creation. Here’s some photos of beautiful wintery Czech Republic that I got.

I can only assume that a snowman died here (below). May he rest in peace.