Category: Czech Republic

Every post I wrote while we lived overseas.

Oops

Post author By Shay
Post date July 14, 2014
1 Comment on Oops

I began to write this blog and immediately the power went out in our apartment. We had been warned that often the power will do that if we are running too many electronics at once. We had the washer, dryer, and dishwasher going (which we’re used to running at night) so I think that’s what triggered it. After calling a friend, having our landlord talk to her on the phone, and flip a few breakers we got power again. Oops–we’ll try not to do that again

Actually, that wasn’t the first oops of the day. We got a call this morning around noon from another friend asking if we’d paid our rent. Oops. It’s supposed to be paid on the 10th, but we just got so busy with unpacking and things that I just forgot. Everything is still chaos in our house and it just slipped my mind. I felt like an idiot. I was able to get the cash together, go to the bank, figure out how to deposit money into some else’s account and then pay our rent. Again, oops. I’ll try not to do that again.

The weather was great today. A little hot, but not bad. In the afternoon we had a bit of a downpour, but it was mostly sunny until this evening when we had some thunderstorm type weather. Below is a photo of the sky around the church outside of our place. It was getting dark fast and we the thunder was roaring.

We mostly worked on the house again today. I installed more lights in the kids room and hallway and we tried to continue to clear boxes out and clean up. Bethany cooked a crockpot meal for dinner so we used our power transformer for the first time and it worked pretty well on our American CrockPot. Our language help, Jitka, brought over our new books so that’s exciting. We already have some homework that we need to get to work on. We’ve got a lot to do to get the house in order so we started a list of things we need from IKEA. One of the main things we need are those wardrobe closet things. There are basically no closets here so we have to create our own for our clothes. We’re hoping to go tomorrow, but we’ll see how it goes.

Every day we’re learning. Life here is similar, but very different all at the same time. Bethany commented tonight that our laundry doesn’t smell like us. It’s clothes. It’s just laundry. But you just get used to the way your detergent smells when you fold laundry at night after the kids go to bed? She joked about it, but I think in Bethany’s heart it was a weird realization that even the simplest things like that can be comforting among all the new. We’re learning to grow with it and adjust because honestly, what else can you do? I guess one way to respond is like Avery…just relax (photos below).

These trashcans are an example of something new. Questions we had: Which one is ours? And is that ALL the room I get for a whole week!? Wait, they pick it up once a week… right?

But even in all the new and oops we can still smile.

Tags new, oops, power

365 Czech Republic

Home Improvement

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday here in Czech. We had the privilege of attending church for the 3rd time since we’ve been here and we even and English translation through in-ear headsets. The pastor was preached through the last part of Ephesians 4 and the first paragraph of Ephesians 5. We were able to participate in communion for the first time and we accidentally drank wine instead of juice because we thought the little cups were juice. I’m still not sure what happened, but we were able to laugh it off.

After church and after lunch we began to work on getting our apartment a little more functional. One of the different things we learned when we arrived was that people take their light fixtures with them when they move. So we only have a few lights in the house, and even those are a bulb on a cord with no fixture (shown above). So we shopped for new light fixtures and our friend and fellow teammate Casey came by to help me install them and show us where we can buy them. And off to Poland we went!

It’s sometimes easy to forget we live in a border town and it’s just as easy, if not easier to drive in to Poland (which is just down the road) and shop there for things. Prices are good and Casey showed us the wonderful store “Castorama.” It’s a great home improvement store, much like Lowes or Home Depot in the States and they had everything we needed. We actually went there twice today because there’s always something else you need when you’re working on your house. Casey installed two of our new lights and showed me how to safely install the others. It’s a little scary working with this 220V power over here, but there’s always a safe way to make it happen!

The other big project was getting our washer and dryer all hooked up and working. Thankfully Casey was a huge help there too and it really wasn’t too hard. We stacked the machines to save space in our little hallway area and we went to Castorama a second time to get a hose clamp so the water wouldn’t leak coming from the wall to the washing machine. Bethany and I had to search the manual to figure out what each setting is because it’s all written in Czech, but with a little help from Google translate and an English section in the manual we were ready to roll. The best part is that as I write the machines are running, not leaking, and we’ve got clean clothes coming our way!

Casey was such a huge help today and we’re thankful for his help! Casey and his family serve here in Czech on the “S-Team” and Casey is part of overseeing all English camp ministry in all 14 of the countries we serve in. I know he does even more than that, but you can read his family’s bio on the JV Web site. They live here in Český Těšín so tonight we all enjoyed a dinner together at a local restaurant that they love. Our kids really enjoyed the time with their two boys and it was a blessing to get to know them better. It’s such a blessing to have another family in the same stage of life as us that’s already walked the path we’re on right now. The Yorman’s were a gift from the Lord to us today and we look forward to more time with them in the coming days.

Tags house, lights

365 Czech Republic

Our First Night Sleeping At Home

Post author By Shay
Post date July 12, 2014
1 Comment on Our First Night Sleeping At Home

You would think after almost three weeks in Czech Republic that we would be sleeping in our own home already, but we’ve actually been jumping around a bit. Tonight is the first night we will actually sleep in our own place. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to do that. We’ve basically been nomads for the past few months, going from place to place and sleeping wherever we can find a bed. But as I type the kids are asleep in their new beds and Bethany is reading on ours. Oh, and if you’re wondering about that photo above…it’s the view from our kitchen.

Today was another unpacking day, but we also did a lot of cleaning up. As we unpack we create a lot of cardboard and plastic wrap piles so we’re trying to keep the piles to a minimum. I also worked on our garage a bit today as it was a little disheveled from container day, and now we can park the car in there and have plenty of room to get the kids in and out. We have a really good size garage and I’m super thankful for the space out there. Space is not something you get a lot of in Europe!

Something that has been a bit of a bummer has been the realization that we didn’t do enough homework regarding our electronics. We knew the power situation was different and I knew to check the appliances and electronics to see which ones would work over here and which ones don’t, but we’re find there are still many things that just won’t convert to the different power over here. We need to do more research regarding our transformers, but right now it’s not looking too good for things like our iron, fans, audio speakers, and even our electric hot water kettle. Such is life…you learn as you go.

This is a photo of Avery shoving grapes in her mouth. Don’t be confused by that beautiful living room and Titus in the background. This is our friend’s house, not our apartment. They were kind enough to let us stay there the past few days as we get unpacked and get settled.

This photo is from our new apartment. Bethany decided to make Jello today as we were unpacking some of our pantry items. I don’t know if the kids have ever seen Jello before, but they were excited about it. You may notice Titus’ right eye has a dark spot beneath it. He was jumping on his new bed yesterday and hit the side rail. He woke up with a little black eye today…poor guy. No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

I don’t know why I took this photo of the grass today, but right when I shot it I was reminded of some verses we had to memorize in high school:

The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
(Isaiah 40:7-8)

Tomorrow we will attend our church here in Czech for the third time since we arrived. My prayer is that God’s Word will be proclaimed! The grass will wither, but God’s Word will stand forever and that’s a wonderful promise.

Tags first, home, sleep

365 Czech Republic

Unpacking Our Lives

Today we unpacked. That’s it. End transmission. OK…there was a little more to it.

The day started off with some nice dolphin toast… wait, never mind that! Move along…

We unpacled a lot today. I can’t say I have photos of it all because we were moving along in a hurry, but I do have some. Today I built 2 desks, a bookshelf, and a small kitchen cart thing (all things we had from IKEA already). The kids loved getting their toys back. Above is a photo of Avery putting a bib on one of her “babies” all by herself. She said, “Daddy, baby’s hungry.”

Our Bible study in California did something awesome and put together these monthly envelopes that we get to open. We were pumped to get the box we had of all the envelopes. In our haste to open them we accidentally opened the last one which was meant for June 2015. As soon as we started reading the card that went with the envelope we said, “Oh no, this is for a year from now!” Then it hit me that they had actually told us that when we got the envelopes but our brains are fried and we felt bad. However, it was actually a blessing in disguise because the June envelope had tons of kids stuff and they were great for our kids to have today while Bethany and I unpacked. So either way it’s a God thing and we’re thankful to our friends for putting the energy in to all the fun things we got to open today.

Here’s a few shots of stuff just waiting to be unpacked.

I am so amazed how well our stuff traveled. We unpacked a ton of fragile items (glasses, cups, vases, etc.) and not a single thing is broken or cracked. It’s a testament to our friend Cathy who helped us pack and of course it’s God’s amazing grace.

While I was writing this post tonight I got to talk with my dad for the first time since we’ve been here. It was hard trying to figure out how to call them without paying a ridiculous amount of money, but thankfully there’s apps out there on the iPhone that allow us to talk over the Internet for free. We talked for 45 minutes and it was just nice to get his take on some things like our washer and dryer not fitting and what to do about the power conversion stuff. It was good to hear his voice.

It’s time for bed. I’ve enjoyed writing daily and rethinking our days and just remembering how God has worked in all of this. God is so kind to allow us to be here and now to have time to unpack all of things He’s provided for us. It doesn’t get old saying this: it’s a joy to serve the King.

Tags boxes, stuff, unpacking

365 Christianity Czech Republic Videos

Special Delivery

It’s here! It didn’t fall into the Atlantic and amazingly everything was just the way we packed it when it left the United States. Our container arrived today!

As our friend Rachael said, “Getting your container is like Christmas, only better because you already know you like the stuff.” She’s right. It was like Christmas and it’s really fun to see all that stuff you painstakingly loaded into the container 48 days ago. What’s hard to believe is just how far our stuff had to travel from Long Beach down through the Panama Canal and up to the German port. Then it was trucked over to Czech where just this morning we signed the customs documents and they brought our container to our new apartment.

We were overwhelmed by the support of the local church here and our friends and teammates from Josiah Venture. I’m especially grateful to Mel Ellenwood who helped us translate for an hour and a half at the customs office and even Connie Patty who took the photos you will see below. So without further delay, here’s the story in photos (captions below each photo).

Connie actually caught this picture of the container about 20 minutes before it arrived. This is just down the road from our place. He couldn’t fit under the little train bridge so ended up having to drive the container around some tiny streets just to get it to our place.

Bethany was taking care of making sure we had food and refreshments so she was only actually there for the truck’s arrival and departure. There was a sale on boxed milk at the grocery store and the lines were crazy. Bethany said people had multiple carts full of this special milk and so she missed the unloading. Welcome to Czech, I guess!

Here’s what the container looked like right when it was opened. It’s almost identical to what it looked like almost 50 days and thousands of miles before so I was already amazed.

Our container had 3 sections which we separated by walls that our friend Justin built when we loaded it. The first section went pretty quick because it wasn’t packed as tightly. This photo is all of us unloading the first wall.

Titus’ tricycle was in the first section and he was so excited to ride it around our little driveway.

Here’s Rachael and Mel carrying boxes in.

This is Amy muscling a box to the apartment. Everything was color coordinated which hopefully made it easier for people to know where stuff went!

The whole unloading took about an hour, and I was on the truck the entire time. It was incredibly fast and we couldn’t have done it without all the help. This photo is of me helping unload the final box.

Here’s me signing over the final container paperwork.

Pizza for everyone! The local pizza shop couldn’t believe we were ordering 10 pizzas.

Also, if you’re wondering, George Clooney apparently makes all the pizzas here in Czech. When he’s not making movies, he’s making thin crust goodness!

Back in the apartment we had people building the kids new IKEA beds. Such a blessing.

And finally a little shot of all of us after we were done unloading.

What a great day! The only thing we don’t have photos of is inside our new place and that’s mainly because we didn’t really spend a ton of time unpacking today. The kids were tired and so were we so we made it a shorter day and we’ll head back tomorrow for some serious unpacking of boxes.

Finally, this evening we had the joy of having Zach and Kara Zegan over for dessert. They only live about 20 minutes away and we haven’t had time to really catch up with them yet. It was really fun have them and their little dog Hobbes over and just catch up and say hi. It’s really special to serve the Lord alongside your friends. They have been serving at camp all last week and will leave tomorrow for another 11 days of camp. This week is a special week for Josiah Venture as the 1000th camp begins on Saturday. You can see this short video below which gives a piece of the story. Even while we have big, life changing days in our lives with the arrival of our container, God is doing things in the lives of young people in this part of the world. What a joy to serve the King. To Him be the glory!

Our 1000th Camp from Josiah Venture on Vimeo.

Tags container, unloading

365 Czech Republic

Say It Right, Broken Flight, And A Little Too Tight

Post author By Shay
Post date July 9, 2014
1 Comment on Say It Right, Broken Flight, And A Little Too Tight

Today was a bit of a rest day. We had a full day yesterday traveling from Bratislava and we spent the evening cleaning and packing as we made a small move from the place we’ve been staying to another missionaries house just down the road. Our container is scheduled to arrive tomorrow! We believe we have at least a dozen people coming over to help us move our stuff in, so that’s a huge answer to prayer. I’m sure it will be like Christmas getting all of our stuff and moving things in.

We didn’t have a super full day (which was a nice break), but we did have our first Czech lesson in Czech! We’ve done lessons in the States, but today Jitka got us going on some vocabulary and common greetings. Above is a photo of some commons places we were learning. We were saying things like “I am at work” (far left) and “she is at home” (or “doma”). Czech is definitely not an easy language and some words are quite difficult for our English trained tongues, but I thought we both did pretty well today and we’re looking forward to continuing this language learning journey.

This little bird (above) flew right into a closed second-story window at the house we’re staying in. I heard the thump, saw feathers flying, but never saw a bird. Assuming it had just flown away I didn’t think much of it until about ten minutes later when I went outside and found him sitting on the ground like this. He sat there for a bit and let me get very close. Eventually he flew away, but I thought it was worth sharing.

The last thing on our agenda today was to receive the appliances we purchased the other day. They called and said they would be arriving between 5-7pm at our new apartment so I decided to go over alone because there’s just nothing in our new place for the kids. The delivery guys showed up just a little after 5 and even though I couldn’t speak much to them I tried out some new Czech I just learned. I said, “Tady” meaning “here” for the washer and dryer. To be honest I thought was saying “there” but it still worked! Well, sort of…the washer and dryer didn’t fit.

Apparently not all doors are made the same. The door for the wash room just wasn’t wide enough for our machines. There was probably about a half-inch of overhang and they just weren’t going to make it through the door. It’s actually going to work out just fine because the previous missionaries had the exact same problem and the hoses and hook ups have already been moved to other side of the wall. Now they will sit on the other side of the kitchen in a small hallway type area and it’ll be fine (shown below). We’re just thankful to have them! They also brought in our fridge which we didn’t have any issues fitting. It’s really fun to see our little home coming together.

Tags bird, dryer, language, lessons, washer

365 Czech Republic

Applying For Visas and Paying for a Ticket in the Middle of the Freeway

Post author By Shay
Post date July 8, 2014
2 Comments on Applying For Visas and Paying for a Ticket in the Middle of the Freeway

We actually had a great day. Some friends of ours offered to get us a hotel in Bratislava because we had a very early appointment at the Czech embassy and the embassy is about 4 hours from where we live in Czech. So we got great rest last night and the hotel provided breakfast so things were going good.

Bratislava is a beautiful city, especially in the downtown area. There are a few embassies right in the center of town (including the USA!) and we trekked our way by some incredible buildings. We got to the embassy on time and we had all of our paperwork in order so it went smoothly. Of course we had our good friend Jitka who could help us translate just in case. The lady at the embassy was actually very familiar with Josiah Venture missionaries, so it made the whole process roll along just fine. Start to finish it was about an hour of time and we were on way to make the 4 hour drive home. It’s a lot of work for such a short amount of actual work time, but visas are vital to our ability to work, live, and do ministry here so you really don’t think about the trouble to make it happen.

We lingered around the town square for a little while after the embassy because there was a small playground for kids and even a McDonald’s where were grabbed something to drink. It was fun to people watch because there were a number of tour groups for all parts of the world making their way through the square. I even caught a picture of a man laying down and praying just outside of McDonald’s (photo below).

Shortly after Bethany took the photo below of the beautiful sunflower fields, we got pulled to the side of the road by the Slovakian police. Everyone was actually getting stopped. It was kind of like a police check point that they built on the highway today to make sure everyone had the right licenses, permits, and things like that. I had no idea we would actually be stopped and then pulled to the side of the road. I thought we would be waved through just like most of the other cars, but then the police man said something to men in Slovak which I just stared at him blankly and that’s when Jitka started talking to him from the back seat (Slovak and Czech are very similar languages, so they can speak to each other pretty well).

Basically what happened was we didn’t have a Slovak driving sticker for our car and we were driving in Slovakia. We really had no clue that we needed that thing and were really nervous. Jitka talk to the guy for a while and finally we had to drive to the next town, get Euros out of the ATM, then drive back to the freeway check point and literally (and I’m serious here) walk onto the freeway and pay the police in the middle of the highway. If you can imagine walking on the 5 freeway and paying for a ticket–that’s what it was like. He lowered the ticket price for us, which was a blessing, but we definitely learned a lesson: get the right permits when you drive to another country. Lesson learned.

Our little law breaking moment made us hungry so we opted for a little taste of America: KFC. By God’s grace the rest of our trip was pretty uneventful and for that we’re thankful. Our new car did great, the kids did well, and now we’ll just wait to hear back about our visas. Tomorrow our appliances we will be delivered, and if all goes well our shipping container should be here Thursday. Lots going on this week, but God gives us enough grace for every day…even when we break the law by accident.

Tags police, Slovakia, ticket, visas

365 Czech Republic

Our New Van!

Post author By Shay
Post date July 7, 2014
No Comments on Our New Van!

Today’s blog update is going to be a bit short because I’m sitting in a hotel lobby in Bratislava, Slovakia and it’s 10pm. We have made the almost 4-hour drive down here because tomorrow we will be going to the embassy for our 9am appointment to apply for our Czech visas. Those documents will allow us to work and live in Czech for at least 2 years so we’re hopeful all will go well.

The Lord has incredible timing because we JUST got our van today! It’s a 2009 Ford Galaxy and we are super excited about it. The whole process has been a breeze because one of the Czech Christians here named Tadek owns a car dealership and was able to find the car, setup all the insurance and licensing and even import the car from Germany. He brought the car to us today and showed us how everything works and we’re so thankful for this wonderful tool. We took it for a “test drive” to Slovakia today and it runs great and is just a nice car for us to have our whole family in.

We had dinner at a traditional Slovakian restaurant tonight so that was fun. Here’s a few photos from the restaurant and then a shot of our hotel. I’m tired… goodnight!

Tags Slovakia, van

365 Czech Republic Quotes

Jan Hus Day (July 6)

Today is Jan Hus (John Huss) day in Czech Republic. On July 6, 1415, Jan Hus was martyred for his faith in Christ in the city of Prague. He was a man who believed what God’s Word says and was willing to put his own life down for the cause of Christ. Considered a pre-Reformer-Reformer, he influenced Martin Luther who eventually started and led the Reformation 100 years later.

It is men like Jan Hus who inspire Christians and missionaries, especially me. It could be said that he did more in his death than in his life, though his life was full of courage, conviction, and care for the cause of Christ. I feel honored and proud to stand on the shoulders of Jan Hus and carry on the work that he paid the ultimate price for. What an example of Christ-likeness we see in Jan Hus who was willing to lay down his own life, just like the Savior he loved.

I do not know how many Czechs will stop and consider today the great sacrifice this man made, but I can only pray that God would spark another spiritual fire in this country with men and women like Hus. May the gospel of Christ be carried to each and every soul in this country and would that many would turn to Christ and be willing to sacrifice everything for Him. And maybe one day, if it be the will of Christ that we too should suffer, that we too will pray “Lord Jesus Christ, I will bear patiently and humbly this horrible and shameful and cruel death for the sake of Thy Gospel and the preaching of Thy word.” – Jan Hus, July 6 1415, shortly before being burned at the stake for his faith.

Tags history, Jan Hus, John Huss, martyr

365 Czech Republic

Getting Our New Home Ready (Pt. 1)

Post author By Shay
Post date July 5, 2014
1 Comment on Getting Our New Home Ready (Pt. 1)

For the first time since we arrived I’m actually tired, and it’s not because of jet lag. It’s been a very full day as we did a good amount of shopping in order to get our new home ready. We got word this week that our container is scheduled to arrive on Thursday (July 10)–praise the Lord! But with our container en route we knew we had to hussle to get everything ready for us to move in.

One of the things included in our “startup costs” (costs for relocating to Czech) was to buy appliances for our apartment. In our situation, we needed a washer, dryer and a refrigerator. We made a decision back in the States to not bring those appliances over simply because the American appliances are just too big to fit in European apartments. So today, with the help of our good man Mel Ellenwood, we hit the stores to see what we could find. I believe the Lord was very gracious to us today and we got some good deals and Mel really helped us get what would work best for us long-term.

The above photo is simply for scale. Avery is 2 years old and she was a head taller than the smallest washing machine available. To be honest, it looked like a toy. That wasn’t our final purchase, but in general everything is much smaller when it comes to appliances over. Oh, and don’t be fooled by the price listed on top. That’s 7599.00Kc (roughly $380 US). Not bad!

Believe it or not this (above) is the first refrigerator Bethany and I have ever purchased as a married couple. Our previous fridge (we’ve only owned one) was given to us by another couple when we moved into our first apartment. Today we actually purchased the floor model which gave us a HUGE discount and even Mel was super excited because it is a side-by-side which are kind of hard to come by at such a good price. We’re definitely excited about it, but I realized it’s impossible to buy a fridge without thinking about Brian Regan.

Another thing on our agenda was to look into maybe (let me stress…maybe) doing a little painting of our new place. We were just curious to know what it would take and much to our surprise Czech has it’s own version of Home Depot called Hornbach. It’s actually a German store, but it’s virtually identical to Home Depot. Everything from the orange coloring to the hand written, black marker signage. It’s Home Depot in Czech! We genuinely had no idea this kind of place existed over her. I was just laughing as we walked around…it’s identical! We really didn’t buy anything at Home Depot, I mean Hornbach, but it was fun to look around and see what they had.

Our last stop took us to IKEA which was just down the street from Hornbach. There really isn’t much difference between the IKEA in Burbank that we usually go to and this one. We’re looking for a new kitchen table and a few wardrobes. Most Czech houses don’t have closets (including ours) so we’re trying to get creative with what to do with our clothes. Bethany snapped some photos and we bought some small things. Mainly it was an exploratory trip to see what our options our. We should be back in a few weeks once we get officially moved and settled into our new place.

I wasn’t the only that was tired though. As soon as we got back from shopping Titus ran and laid in the window of our room (photo above). It’s still weird to me how much light you can see outside. I took this photo of Titus around 9pm and you’d think it was still early evening by how much light there is. I didn’t let the little dude sleep there, but I thought it was hilarious to find him squished in there.

We know that things like appliances are luxuries in many ways. For us, these are tools to serve the Lord and take care of our family. God is good to provide all that we need and then some. Praise the Lord for His abundant kindness and grace. We are so thankful!

Tags appliances, home, shopping, stores