Category: Czech Republic

Every post I wrote while we lived overseas.

Prepping for a Party

Even though Avery’s birthday is a week away (Nov. 29), we’re having a birthday party for her tomorrow. Bethany has been hard at work today getting things ready or tomorrow’s special day. As I write Bethany is meticulously cutting colorful paper into pinwheels. You know…she’s making the party pretty. That’s why you see the flowery looking cupcakes above that the kids will decorate themselves. Inside they are zebra colored (white and chocolate layered cake), which was Avery’s choice. Below is a photo of the pink frosting. You definitely know it’s a party for a girl!

Since Avery’s birthday falls right around Thanksgiving, and because we’ve been pursuing coming to Czech most of her life, her birthday has always been hard to celebrate. Hard in the sense that we haven’t been able to invite a ton of people to celebrate which we enjoy doing. The past two years we have been traveling a lot, especially last year when we drove from Colorado to Kentucky to spend Thanksgiving with my family after our month long missions training. Of course, it’s great to be with family, but you just have this image in your mind of lots of little kids running around at a birthday party. I guess it’s just nice to be somewhat settled and have friends around to celebrate with us.

Above is a photo from a year ago today. We only had a few days left at MTI (Mission Training International) in Colorado and the snow came in strong. After classes we spent the afternoon playing in the snow with the kids. It’s been one incredible year since then. God is good.

Tags Avery, party planning

365 Czech Republic

Tired, Cold, and Wet

Sleep was limited last night. Not only did I have some kind of insomnia, but Avery coughed for at least an hour from around 2-3am. We were up early and out the door this morning so I think I only got around four hours of sleep. Needless to say I’m just plain old tired right now.

I’ve written for many days now that sickness has just absolutely plagued us. Every day seems like a battle for better health. Today Bethany gave the kids a mid-day bath (photo above) because they were just really congested and the warm water and steam helps give them some temporary relief. Their smiles are proof positive that, for at least a little bit today, they were feeling good.

It was cold and wet today. Gray skies have stuck around for a few days now and I’m left wondering if the bitter cold is approaching. Every day I’m a little surprised that we’re not quite below freezing here yet. We heard the news about Buffalo New York and the massive amount of snow that came in just a couple days, and in my mind I just kind of expect that to happen here. The funny thing is I really have no idea what the weather is like here so I think I’m just planning for the worst weather and anything else is a surprise.

Tags cold, tired, weather

365 Czech Republic

Through the Fog

Someone at the Josiah Venture office today asked me how language lessons were going. She is from Czech and I said to he, “Rozumím trochu česky” which translates to, “I understand a little Czech.” Unfortunately, that’s where the conversation ends, but that doesn’t mean I’m not learning. It was only a few months ago that I was forced to memorize, “I don’t speak Czech” in Czech, but now we’ve graduated to some level of understanding. Progress!

Today we had our second Czech lesson with Tamara today and we’re just reworking a lot of the basics. Obviously, since it’s a lot of review things are moving along relatively smoothly, but I assume we’re only a few weeks away from “the fog.” The fog is that time in language learning where things just get, well, foggy. You bein to learn more new things faster than your brain can comprehend it all. Apparently the fog is not uncommon when learning a new language but the further you push the better off you are. Eventually it will all come around and the fog will clear.

Speaking of fog, we woke up this morning and couldn’t see the large church next to our apartment because it was so thick. I should’ve taken a photo and I will probably regret that for a while. It was strange to see the faint outline of the building that’s barely seventy five feet from us. I like the fog. I like the change from the never ending California sun, but like the picture I missed this morning, I’ll probably regret saying that too some day.

Tags fog, language, weather

365 Czech Republic

Learn Me Something

Doing language learning is worse than going back to school for one reason: you can’t read the directions. Both of the books we have used have used to study Czech employ the theory that if they put the directions in Czech we will learn. In reality, all this does is frustrate me because it takes me an extra three minutes per question to type out the Czech in to Google Translate just to figure out what I’m supposed to do!

Tomorrow morning we have our second lessons with our new Czech teacher, Tamara, but it might be interesting because both the kids are sick and right now and will likely be coming with us to her house. Normally, Titus would be in preschool, but he’s coughing and sneezing and all of that so we decided we’re going to keep him away from the other kids for a day and see how it goes. Hopefully we will still be able to focus on lessons with the kids there.

This morning we had our weekly International Team meeting and we spent some time walking through Philippians 2:1-11. I’ve actually memorized a chunk of that passage and I think it may be one of the most amazing and difficult passages in the Bible. Amazing in it’s theology, reach, and Christ’s example, but difficult to apply, especially as we think about being a humble servant. We were challenged this morning to do just what the text says, “…put on the mind of Christ…” in our service and work here and humble ourselves the same way Christ did.

No matter how many times I hear that or read it in my Bible, it’s hard. It’s hard to apply that when I walk in the door to my family. It’s hard to apply it on my ministry team. It’s hard to apply that in line at the grocery store. It’s hard to apply that in the local church. It’s just hard. Serving with humility is hard, mostly because our sinful flesh fights it. At least I know mine does. But no matter the difficultly or the fight, I do hope and pray that I would seek to have the mind of Christ and serve here humbly. Not only does that show the Gospel in my actions, but it gives God the glory and that’s most important.

Tags humility, Jesus, language, meeting

365 Czech Republic

Why History Matters and Working on Our Home

Post author By Shay
Post date November 17, 2014
1 Comment on Why History Matters and Working on Our Home

Today is a holiday in the Czech Republic. Schools and businesses were closed and people were celebrating what is known as the Velvet Revolution. Twenty five years ago, in 1989, students were holding a demonstration in the capitol city of Prague. As BBC News put it, the students were holding a “peaceful demonstration to commemorate International Students’ Day. Little did they know that their seemingly innocuous protest would trigger the momentous events which would in effect end the rule of communism in the country a mere 10 days later.” It truly was a historic day and one that has today led to more missionaries working here and giving us the opportunity to openly share the Gospel with many who have never heard it.

I have always enjoyed history. It’s a subject I did well in and I owe a lot of that to amazing teachers who taught me to enjoy and learn from the past. I’ve even reminded of that famous quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Obviously, not all of the past bad, but I think we get the point. That’s why I was struck by something I read today in regards to the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Czech. In the same article I quote above, BBC News later writes, “But as both countries [Czech and Slovakia] prepare to mark a quarter of a century of freedom, a survey conducted recently by the Public Opinion Research Centre suggests a full sixth of Czechs still long for a return to communism” (my emphasis). Wow. Really? That’s just hard to believe, and honestly as a foreigner it’s definitely difficult to understand. The article continued by adding, “…84% of Czechs are aware that 17 November is celebrated as a national holiday to remember the Velvet Revolution, only 30% of people below the age of 30 are aware of this.” Yikes.

History matters. I don’t know what they’re talking about in Czech schools, but to ignore one of the most significant moments in their history is just sad and dare I say wrong. What’s scary about those statistics is it’s mainly about the young generation here. If the young people don’t know their history they are very likely to miss things in their future and even revert back to the past. My hope and prayer is that God would continue to work among that young generation. I hope they do learn from their past, but more importantly, that they would hear about the most important Person in history, Jesus Christ.

Now for a change of subject.

Bethany has been saying for months “if we had two full days, we could finish unpacking and get the house in order.” Well, today was definitely one of those days. With today’s holiday and a birthday party for Avery coming this Saturday, we worked hard getting some final boxes unpacked and getting the house organized. It has been an uphill struggle, but I think we might have made it to the top today. Above is a photo of the hutch in our dining room area which we decorated a little bit today. Those Los Angeles and Seattle prints are not final, but we had them so we’re using em’ for now. Beyond the dining room, I spent a lot of time in our storage closet. We really only have one, maybe two spaces for storage (besides our garage) and we have maximized our capacity. Below is a photo of the little storage closet we have that I finally completed organizing today. It’s floor to ceiling full, but it fits and we can find things!

With all the transition here, our house has just taken a back seat and I was really thankful to get some time today to just focus and help get our place feeling more and more like home. There’s still some work to do, but this was a huge step forward today.

Now to get some much needed sleep!

Tags anniversary, Czech Republic, home, The Velvet Revolution, unpacking

365 Czech Republic

Making Progress on Sundays

We’ve been sharing how hard Sundays have been for us the past few weeks. I’m happy to write tonight that today seemed like we made some progress, especially as it relates to Titus. It was just he and I at church this morning because Avery has had a horrible cough causing her to throw up in the middle of the night. Bethany stayed home with her today in hopes of not getting any other kids sick. I ended up staying again with Titus in his class, only this time I just tried to be more of a fly on the wall and observe him than be actively involved in the class. We are really trying to see how he does on his own, with just the teachers and kids talking to him in Czech.

By God’s grace, I really feel like Titus did a lot better at obeying and listening today. I know this is really hard for him, as it is for us parents in all of life here, but I’m excited to see him progressing and adjusting. I’m not sure if it helped, but all of his classmates today were girls and at one point they were dancing and playing with streamers. Honestly, I have no idea what was going on but I got the video below.

Sickness continues to plague us. Both Avery and I have had bad coughs for weeks now and I probably should’ve seen a doctor a while ago. This is definitely not something I want to last much longer. Tonight was the first night that Avery hasn’t had a bad coughing fit while trying to fall asleep, so we’re thankful for that. Unfortunately, Titus has been sneezing and coughing today which is a sure sign that he may be coming down with something. This has been a challenge for our family. Please pray with us for our health and for the proper care in the days ahead.

On a whim tonight we made an IKEA run. We were still in need of some storage items and so we took an evening drive and headed out there. For our kids, IKEA is not their favorite place because we spend a lot of time walking through it so I brought the iPad along to give them something to play with and I got the photo above of them holding hands and laughing at a little game that they thought was absolutely hilarious. It’s always a joy to see the kids loving each other and having fun.

Lastly, we had heard that IKEA sells Christmas trees a while ago. This is something I have been thinking about since we landed (not kidding). I’ve been curious as to how we would be buying a Christmas tree and if we could even get a real Christmas tree. As we were leaving IKEA tonight there was a sign right as you exited (photo above) advertising Christmas trees. Apparently they will be selling trees on December 3! For those of you who have followed our family over the years, you know we have a little tradition of shooting a Christmas tree video of us getting our tree (click here to see the last five years). We’re just getting excited about Christmas and it’s nice to have a little tradition that we can continue here in Czech!

Tags Christmas tree, church, IKEA, Sunday, Titus

365 Czech Republic

Bethany’s Retreat and Our First Myci Linka

Post author By Shay
Post date November 15, 2014
1 Comment on Bethany’s Retreat and Our First Myci Linka

Bethany was gone on a youth ministry women’s retreat from about 4pm yesterday until the same time today when she got home. Above is a photo of what she woke up to this morning. Not only is that an incredible view, but the weather again was gorgeous today. I originally thought she was headed in to Poland for the retreat, but found out late last night that they had actually stayed at our sister church’s facility here in Czech, about thirty minutes away. Bethany said the entire event was really well done and she was glad for some time to get to know the girls better. She also said that it gave her a great opportunity to just practice listening to the Czech language because all except for one session was in Czech. Below is a photo of “the fabulous food that we were blessed by,” as Bethany put it.

Back at the home front, the kids and I enjoyed a fun Saturday together. This morning as I was making breakfast for all of us, Avery was playing with the clementines on the kitchen table. First she told me, “Daddy, I made a ‘W'” (top left in the photo below). Of course I snapped a photo because I thought she was clever. To my surprise she quickly took one of the oranges away and said, “Now it’s a square” (top right). Sure, it’s a crooked square, but I’ll take a photo of it too. No sooner had I gone back to making scrambled eggs and Avery said, “Daddy! I made a butterfly!” (bottom left). Nice one. Then she told me, “I can make Mickey mouse, too” and rearranged them in to those classic three circle shape we all know and love (bottom right). She concluded with, “Yeah, I can make shapes and letters and stuff.” Yes, you can, Avery.

Besides making orange shapes, Avery also helped destroy some orange circles and mixed up the scrambled eggs in the bowl. When mommy’s not home I’ll take all the help I can get!

We have been talking for a while about getting the car washed and since I can’t really do it in our driveway (I still need to buy a hose and some buckets), I decided to take the kids through the drive thru wash at a nearby Shell gas station. Another missionary put the thought in my head and I have been wanting to try it out. The kids and I cleaned out the car and went over there as I pulled up I saw this sign.

Uh oh. I was pretty sure that “Myci Linka” means car wash, but other than that I don’t know what any of that says; I better call in reinforcements (I realize we have these in the States, but I haven’t really used many of them so I just wanted to make sure I was doing it right). Our friend Mel helped me navigate the fact that I needed to get out of line, go inside, pick a car wash, pay, get a code, and come back in line with my car and type it in. Through my broken Czech I was able to understand that I was getting the first car wash option and it would be an 8 minute cycle. Whew, OK, here goes nothing.

I was able to watch the guy in front of me with this car and Mel’s directions were great and it all worked out in the end. Above is a photo of the car in front of us finishing up before we headed in. Sadly, I didn’t get a photo of the end result, but the car looks great and now I know how to do that if I ever need to in the future. Our first car wash in Czech…I’m so proud.

Tags car wash, first things first, retreat

365 Czech Republic

Foggy Day and Bethany Gone at a Retreat

Post author By Shay
Post date November 14, 2014
1 Comment on Foggy Day and Bethany Gone at a Retreat

“I can’t go to school; it’s so foggy.” These were the first words I heard this morning as Titus woke Bethany and I up. I looked out the window and he was half right, it was really foggy, but that wasn’t going to keep him from going to school.

The fog had lifted a little by the time we walked to his school (photo above), but for the most part the day stayed foggy. I try to check the forecast on a regular basis to see what’s upcoming but I never saw fog in the forecast. Honestly though, we can’t complain. Lately we’ve been hearing from family in the States that it’s warmer here than most of the U.S. Last night I saw a map of America that showed the majority of it in blue (e.g. cold), with a lot of states showing highs in the 20s and 30s. This is like 15 degrees cooler than us so we’re very surprised. We’ve been hunkering down and expecting severe weather, but so far it’s mid November and I don’t even think it’s been below freezing the entire month.

No matter what the weather, Avery’s looking fashionable.

This evening Bethany left with our friend Rachael and headed in to Poland for a youth women’s retreat with the girls from our church. She was originally asked to speak, but with all of us being sick (yes, Avery and me are still hacking) she opted out this time around. Even though she’s not sharing, she was excited to be a part of it and hopefully grow some relationships with the young women in the youth ministry. I sincerely hope it goes well and that God uses that time to grow relationships and build a strong community among the young women.

With Bethany out this does present me with twenty four hours of Titus, Avery, and Daddy time. Tonight that meant taking the kids to McDonald’s for dinner. Is McDonald’s twenty minutes away by car? Yes. Would it have been possible for me to make dinner for them at home? Maybe. Did I want to kill time and make it easy on myself? Absolutely. But hey, you have to at least give me a little credit. We did bath time when we got home, jammies were put on, and Bible reading time went off without a hitch. Not a bad night! Now my only concern is if McDonald’s here is open for breakfast?

Tags fog, retreat, youth ministry

365 Christianity Czech Republic Videos

A Love Story

One of the great joys of working with Josiah Venture is being part of seeing lives changed, especially among the youth of Central and Eastern Europe. The above video was created for our annual conference back in September and it’s one that has always stuck out to me from the first time I saw it. This girl is from Slovenia, a spiritually dark country, and her short testimony is one that’s full of life and joy. I find myself often quoting this video because there’s a line where she says, “I love love stories” that has always stuck out to me. More than anything it’s the heart of a teenage girl putting the pieces together in her mind of God’s love for her. She sees it as a love story and that’s exactly what it is.

I just reading about love last night in John 17. At the end of Jesus’ high priestly prayer he talks about it. Here’s that last part of the chapter and Jesus’ prayer,

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

I’ve bolded the word “love” for emphasis. Verse 23 is so clear: God the Father loves Christians the way He loves Christ. I say Christians because it’s clear from verse 20 that this is about “those who will believe in me…” That’s the context and those are the people of whom Jesus is praying. One of the most famous passages in the Bible says the same thing. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” There’s no doubt about it–it’s a love story.

Mostly tonight I’m just thankful to be part of that love story. Not only did God show His love toward me by saving me, but He continues to pour out his love of many all over the world. Like the young girl from Slovenia, Christ continues to transform lives and change hearts in a way only He can do. It’s that great love that compels me forward daily and gives hope for the future.

Tags fear, God, love, testimony, video

365 Czech Republic

Restarting Formal Language Lessons

Post author By Shay
Post date November 12, 2014
2 Comments on Restarting Formal Language Lessons

We’ve been trying for quite some time now to secure a new language teacher that could help give us formal Czech training. This has been a little bit of a challenge because it seems like there just aren’t that many Czech instructors near us. You can find a lot of people who teach English, but not that many for Czech. Today, however, we were back in the saddle and reengaging in formal instruction with our new teacher Tamara. She teaches Titus’ Sunday school class at church and teaches Czech to at least two other missionaries. It was a great time today and our two hours together was a blessing for sure. We worked a little bit on some of the basics, some Czech rules, and really focused a lot on our pronunciation. Even though we’re doing more listening than speaking, it’s good to know how something is supposed to be pronounced. Bethany and I are trying to avoid building bad habits in order to make our Czech sound better. Hopefully it will all pay off in the end! Above is a photo of Bethany (left) and Tamara (right) working through one of the lessons and below are just some cards for distinguishing between certain letters and sounds.

We took Avery with us today to lessons since Titus was in school. Here’s a photo (below) of her playing a little table at Tamara’s house. Tamara is also a music teacher so you’ll notice the instruments along the back wall, including the piano clock/bookshelf that she and her husband made! Pretty cool.

We found a box of mini spring rolls at the store today so we went for a pretty Asian dinner tonight. Bethany made rice with chicken and terryaki sauce and we added in the little spring rolls to complete the meal. More and more we’re excited about being able to make things from scratch and just see how it turns out. That being said, I still had to manually type all of the directions for baking the spring rolls in to Google translate to see how long and hot how we were supposed to cook them. How did missionaries survive before Google!?

After dinner Avery rode Titus around the living room like a horse. I got a photo because we were all laughing.

Finally, right before bed the kids decided to do a little coloring. Our refrigerator is packed with these drawings, but hey…they’re only this young for so long.

Tags dinner, kids, language lessons