Czech Republic, March 2010 - czcehrepublicmarch2010

We've arrived in LA!  After a day and a night in Prague and just over 24 hours of travel, we are back in our home in Los Angeles.  The whole experience feels a little bit like a dream...it feels like we've been gone forever and also like we just left yesterday.  Our time in Prague was a lot of fun. We were able to meet with a friend of Anthony's for coffee and also to see some sights.  We figured out how to take the public transportation to the airport from Prague which turned out to be free since we'd purchased 24 hour tickets for sightseeing!  We were both happy to have made the discovery of free transportation rather than a shuttle. 

Now it's time to consider all we've seen and done, pray for the Lord's leading, talk with some folks her in the states, and eventually make a decision about what the Lord has for us in regards to future ministry.  The neat thing is that when we first came to Los Angeles for Anthony to attend seminary, I did a little study of scripture to find out how people in the Bible ended up with the ministries that they did.  What I found was that in Scripture, God is the one who gives people ministries (think of Moses, Paul, Peter, and more).  Usually, it's not the people going out and starting something that God never said to do....it's people following God and doing what He tells them to do.  So we can rest assured that the Lord will make clear what it is that He has for Anthony to do in the future, whatever that may be.  Our job is to be open-handed with everything and just go where he leads....we shall see where that will be.

Tomorrow we'll pick up the kids from their families and be re-united as a family!  We can't wait to see those little guys (and gals)....

Thanks for joining us on our trip to the Czech Republic!  It's been fun to share it with you - and thanks to everyone who left comments too!  It was very encouraging to get those comments while we were away.

I'll post some videos and photos from Anthony preaching and also from Prague....

It's Sunday morning, and Anthony is preaching downstairs.  I'm in our room upstairs taking care of baby Esther.  Not our baby Essie, but the Pastor's daughter who is only 2 months older than our little baby.  This is a good opportunity for Maruska (the pastor's wife) to go to church and hear the sermon....there is no childcare here, so she often doesn't have the opportunity to hear the message.  So I'm listening to a message by Pastor Pile at Grace Community and baby Esther has fallen asleep...thought I'd put up a few observations of Czech culture here......

1. The pace of life is much slower here. 

2. It takes a very long time to get in and out of people's homes in the winter....when you arrive, you have to shed your coat, hat, scarf and shoes -- putting on house slippers. When you leave you have to reverse the process by putting on all the layers of clothing.  I can only imagine with kids how this goes....you get one all dressed, then start with the other, then the other, etc...I bet by the time you're done with everyone that someone says they need to use the restroom - or have taken off their layers because they are too hot standing inside with all those layers on!

3. Ladies who are in their 50's or 60's have taken on a new fashion trend of dying their hair either pink or purple.  This is an interesting thing to see....We're talking dark and bright pink or purple hair, tight jeans, high-heeled tall boots, etc....I've wanted to take pictures but feel a little bit rude doing so....this is a common thing to see.   So those of you in my life who are in this age group, if you have a hankering to dye your hair pink or purple you should move to the Czech Republic because you'll fit in just fine!  :-) 

4. People in the Czech Republic don't tip. If you give them a tip they are surprised.

5. You have to pay for Ketchup here, all the time.

6. You have to pay with cash most of the time...and it should be crown's (Czech currency). Not a credit card, not dollars, not euro's but crowns. 

7.  Coffee is not brewed coffee but Nescafe (instant coffee). 

8. When you go to someone's house you should take a gift.  People here give a lot of gifts to guests and to people that they visit. 

9. When you go to someone's house, you should take off your shoes. It's impolite not to do so.

10. If you ask someone from the 'older' generation too many questions, they get uneasy.  I guess this is a residual response from their experiences with communism.  During that time, if someone asked a lot of questions they were probably a police officer.

11. When someone comes to your house you offer them tea and snacks.

12.  People here often keep houses in their families for many generations.  If a great-great grandparent bought a house, often all of the generations after them have grown up in that house and then inherited it when they've started their own family.  This means that there are often multiple generations living together.

13. If you buy a house and someone is living there, you have to either find them a place to live that is comparable or allow them to stay there until they pass away. For example, there is a house for sale here (which is quite rare since homes stay in families for generations).  The grandparents who are in their 80's or so still live there.  If someone buys the home, part of the deal is that the new owner must allow the couple to stay there until they pass away. 

14. If a woman has a baby here, she goes on 'mother's holiday'. This means that the government will pay her a portion of her salary until the child is 3 years old! If she has another child then she gets paid until that second child is 3 years old.....so a woman can continue having children for many years and continue for her entire life to collect money from the government for having children....the government also give the woman money in order to buy baby supplies! 

15. If someone gets hurt on the job they will continue making almost their entire salary for a very long time (I'm not sure how long) while they recover or find another career.

16. The schooling system is set up differently than ours.  Children go to school like ours until they reach about 9th grade.  Then their system is different from ours.  At 9th grade, everyone chooses a trade they want to learn.  There are different high schools that teach different trades (for example, Ladus chose nursing and Lojza chose building).  From 9th-12th grade the kids learn their trade, including doing supervised practicums on the field.  When they graduate around the age of 20, they are equipped to go into their field of study.  Often the work place will then pay for the student to continue their studies in that field.

17. Health insurance is free....it's a socialistic system here.

18. Much of the American music and styles from America that the people like are from our 80's and 90's era.  Maybe this is because they were cut off from the world for many years due to communism and so they are catching up....Stephan told us that there were two songs they were allowed to listen to on the radio during communism. One was from Abba and the other was the song called, 'Amadeus'.

19. People tend to drive old, beat up cars and to invest their money into fixing up their homes...maybe because they know that this home will stay in their family for a long, long time and the cars get hurt by the salt that goes on the roads during the winter.

20. The Czech Republic is the 7th most dangerous place to drive....I can see why!

22.  An interstate highway here has 2-lanes going each way....they have a hard time imagining what we drive on in LA where there are 5-6 lanes going one way and another group going the other way.  I wonder what Karolina will think!

23. People now do eat a lot of veggies, and they really love potatoes....most of the traditional dishes use lots of butter, lard, whipping cream, and flour....the life expectancy in the past was not very high and many people died because of heart problems.  Maybe they're moving to a more healthy cuisine. I've heard that the traditional dishes were meant to feed the farming communities who were working physically all day.  Now, with more people living in cities and working different jobs, the food needs are changing.

24.  Every village has a church building, built by the Catholic church.  When you drive past the village you can see the church building and the steeple from very far away.  It is the largest building in the village.  They are historical buildings....but few go to them anymore. I think it would be wonderful to see them turned into thriving Christ-exalting places of worship. 

Well, the baby is awake and it's time for me to go soon....thanks for reading.

Erica

Well, tomorrow (for us actually today since it's about midnight here), will be our last day in the little town of Kromeriz.  It's been a couple of busy days here with construction work, cooking lunch for the men, spending time with the leadership team of this church, visiting the neighboring towns where there are hopes of planting churches someday, teaching Bible studies, shopping in town and a little bit of sleeping. 

We've been so blessed during this trip to get to see pretty much every aspect of the ministry here, which was our hope.  We were able to take part in the very first parenting class, the ESL class, the youth group, a building remodeling project, cooking for the workers, street ministry (which was the only night in months that it was warm enough to go out.  Since people don't spend much time outside when it's freezing outside, this ministry has been on hold. Anthony was able to go out with Vasek on literally the only night possible!), the women's Bible study, the church's Bible hour, other personal evangelism, and then tomorrow - Anthony will preach, we will go to another church to hear a presentation, and then come back for the church's second ever elder's meeting that is open to the whole congregation.  So for a little group of 20 or so people, there is quite a lot of ministry going on! 

Both of the studies that Anthony and I taught were received well.  I'm encouraged because the people here are accustomed to teaching that is full of truth from the Word.  It's not odd for them to learn from Scripture for an hour or so and they seem to welcome hearing even the 'harder' truths from the Word.  We've been encouraged also to find out that the leadership from this congregation are in touch with others around the country as well as in Slovakia who are grounded in the Word and are also seeking to publish materials and spread the true Gospel.

Tomorrow is also Karolina's last day with us.  Throughout the week, she worked very hard on a letter to me. She wrote it in Czech then translated it into English using the computer.  It may be one of the most touching letters I've received in my life.  There are tears in my eyes as I think of it, and of her.  She is such a sweet girl despite all that she's gone through in her short life, we are looking forward to having her come in the summer.  Please pray for her as she comes to your mind.

Tonight, we had dinner with the leadership team (Lance and Sandy, Vasek and Ratka, Lojza and Maruska), this was a real blessing and we were able to fellowship together.  I am praising God because all of the women speak enough English for me to communicate with on a personal level!  They are the only women that speak English (at all) in the church, and they are all wives of the men who are the leaders of the church....God is so gracious!  Anthony is able to communicate well with everyone and today he even kept speaking Czech to me.....I had to remind him to speak English :-) 

On the remodeling side of things, Lojza will have his office up and running next week and he is very happy to have his own place to study and prepare his sermons.  The others will also have offices.  It's been so wonderful to have been a little part of delivering this gift from the American believers to this congregation in Eastern Europe.  And so neat to see how even if the language, the culture and the faces change, the Spirit of God living inside His people is the same no matter where you are and who you're with.  If we are with believers, we are with 'family'.  We've been a part of a couple of remodeling ventures with churches and it's a little bit funny to me to watch how this process is also very similar no matter where you are in the world or the language that you speak....people serve, cook, paint, discuss, search for deals, change minds, fellowship, work hard, sacrifice and get stretched as a result of these ventures.  I've enjoyed seeing the sacrificial work on the part of a few people here to get this work done. 

So here's a little bit of rambling for tonight. I sure hope this makes sense!  It's a little bit late and it's been a full couple of days.  There is much to ponder and process.  I just wanted to write something down (so I don't forget and so that you could have an idea of what's been going on around here).

On Monday Anthony and I catch a 5:21 am train to Prague where we'll spend the day and night. Then on Tuesday we will fly back to the states, with this leg of our adventure behind us.... as you can imagine, my heart is longing for our kids.... after my husband, those three little people are the ones most important for me to minister to and it feels very strange not to be caring for them, teaching them, training them, and all the other things that go along with being a mom.... but my mind is set on being here, soaking it all up, asking questions as they come to mind, encouraging when possible and serving in any way we can (though there is always more we could do!).....

Yours in Christ,

Erica (designated representative of our two person team)

From the title of this post, you can see that there's been a lot going on over the last two days.  Anthony has been working with the men of the church to continue working on the remodeling job that is underway here.  The project will result in three new offices and a new kitchen.  Until now, the space has been difficult to use and there have not really been offices for the church to use.  Pastor Lojza is very excited to have a space to work in where he can store his books etc. 

Yesterday Karolina and I went with Lance, Sandy and the kids to another town called Zleen.  The Roberts needed to apply for the family to get permanent residence here, which will help them a lot in many ways.  Karolina and I watched the kiddos in the car while they went to file the papers.  Then we went to purchase the carpet for Lojza's office.  It was neat to go to the stores and see what is available here and for what cost.  I think we get more for our money in the states :-)

Last night, Anthony taught the youth group and Karolina went with him to that.  He taught on 'A Believer's Response to Sin' (From Mark 9:42-48).  He said it was received well.

I went to the very first Parenting class!  The Parenting materials from Grace Community have been translated into Czech by Didasko Publishing Co. (the company that Lance and Lojza have started in order to create more materials in Czech).  It was recently published and last night was the first class.  There were three families there, the Roberts, Lojza and Maruska and another family from the church.  They are the only families with small children.  Between them they have 7 kids from 1-11 years old....since I don't speak Czech, I was able to babysit the kids while the parents met (so it felt a little bit like home for a bit, while I cared for the kids).

The husband of the other family who was there, has a powerful testimony.  He was an alcoholic until two years ago. His family has some involvement in the Occult.  Their marriage was on the verge of divorce.  Then they saw one of the adds in Kromeriz for the ESL camp that the church offers.  They attended it, the Lord saved him and now their family is one that glorifies God!  He says that in some ways his life is harder now, because of the persecution that he faces from friends and family.  But of course, he also has more joy and peace knowing that he is right with God and has the hope of Eternity with his Lord to look forward to.  

This morning, Anthony worked on the building while Karolina, Maruska and I spent time together talking and cooking lunch for the men.  We made them chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli (and I found out that the Czech people are not huge fans of broccoli and they LOVE mashed potatoes!) -- note to self on that one.  Then Karolina, Sandy and I went around the town of Kromeriz to look at shops.  This is a really cute town with many little shops.  In order to buy all you need here in town, you don't go to one store to get everything. You have to go to the sock store for socks, the bakery for bread, the drug store for toiletries, the pharmacy for medicine and baby supplies, etc...There is one shop where Sandy has befriended the owner and has extended invitations for her to come to ESL camps.  We met her son today and found out that his mom, the owner, has had cancer.  I think Anthony and I may go back to the store to see if we can reach out the them a little bit before we leave. 

Karolina is really enjoying her time here.  She now has her own room at Lojza and Maruska's house. This is a new experience for her.  They are hoping that she may be able to visit here more often, even while we are away.  She's really looking forward to her trip to come see us in the summer, which seems like something that will be happening!  She wants to come for her entire 2 month break.  We are happy to have her.

So there's a lot of details for you. I hope it's not too much.  This is a good journal for me to write because we can look back on it later to remember all that is happening. 

Tonight, Anthony is teaching the church Bible study.  His text is 1Thess 4:3a, "God's will for your life: Your sanctification".  

More to come! 

Thank you for praying, the Lord is answering your prayers favorably.  The kids are doing well. Hannah has a little cough. Please continue praying for them and for the strength and wisdom of those who care for them.  12 days is a long time to have extra little people in the home.  We are very appreciative of the wonderful care they are receiving! 

Yours in Christ,
Erica

Well, on Sunday night I tried to give and update after a full day of church, fellowship, looking at shopping and the English Bible study.  When we got back to our room, for some reasons the heaters weren't working.  It was quite cold and was going to get very cold during the night.  Thankfully, I packed my electric blanket! :-)  So we set up the electricity converter, the adapter, and then plugged everything into the wall.....creating a minor explosion of the electric blanket control piece (the part that turns it on and controls the temperature)...not good.  Then I tried to add a journal entry, wrote it and tried to send it...no internet.  That's when we discovered that not only had we blown up my electric blanket, but we'd also shorted out every outlet in our room.  We thought it was possible that we'd somehow caused some sort of major damage to the electric in the whole church.  However in the morning, we found that it was only our apartment and that it was an easy fix.  The heaters were fixed that night, so we didn't freeze. Plus, thanks to my mom, we have a huge packet of 'hand-warmers', that I put in my socks to sleep that night....the cold and I don't get along all that well :-)

The next morning (Monday) we left for Karvina.  Today, (tuesday), we are back in Kromeriz. 

Here's what's been going on and how the Lord has displayed his care for individuals over the passed couple of days.  On Sunday morning, we were able to spend a lot of time fellowshipping with the congregation here at Kromeriz.  Sandy and I were able to encourage Maruska regarding some parenting things that moms go through.  I was able to talk for a while with Ratka, who is the new wife of Vasek, who overseas the youth here at the church.  She speaks English quite well.  We spent the rest of the day with the Roberts family going to the mall to she the shops and the prices of things, looking for some items for the remodel that is going on in the church, and also participating in the English Bible study here.  This is a small group of American families who are ministering here in the Czech Republic.  I think they are mostly from different denomenations but they have Christ and a love for this country in common.  It was a blessing to attend.

Monday, we left for Karvina to visit relatives on Anthony's side.  On the train there we sat in a car with a nun and an atheist.  Anthony was able to speak for a long time with the nun as she was going to Karvina as well.  Somewhere in their conversation, he was able to talk with the other young guy who was sitting in our car.  He was an atheist, who had never heard the gospel or any piece of it.  Anthony was able to share this with him, and though the man looked at Anthony as though he was from Mars, we have confidence that the Lord will do whatever work in that man's life that He has planned.  He was from Kromeriz, so I pray that we will run into him here, again, or that he will somehow end up with a connection to this little church. 

By the end of Anthony's conversation with the nun, Sister Dominica, she was asking him quite a few questions about what the Bible says about heaven and hell, salvation, etc.  She's been in the convent for 10 years and has never read the Bible!  We exchanged contact information with her, so we hope to keep in touch and to continue to share God's word with her.

In Karvina I met many of Anthony's relatives, including seeing Stefan - who was visiting Anthony is San Diego around the time that Anthony and I started dating, 6 or more years ago!  Ladus, one of Anthony's 2nd cousins who is 20 years old, speaks English quite well and was thankful to have someone to speak with.  She and I spent most of our time together while she explained much about her town and life in the Czech Republic with me. 

We visited the Catholic Church where we discovered that Ladus goes at times.  Then we happened upon a Christian book store!  There are not many of these in the Czech Republic, but there is on in the coal mining town of Karvina! What are the odds?  They even had two copies of the newer translated Czech Bible.  We are finding that people cannot read the bibles that they have because they are King James Versions translated into Czech.  There is a newer translation that is easier for people to understand.  We bought the two that they had as they are hard to come across, as well as a toddler Bible for another 2nd cousin's baby.  She was very grateful and actually everyone in the house was looking at the toddler Bible with great curiosity....they just haven't seen such things.

I was able to share a little bit with Ladus about God and what he is like.  This morning, we gave her one of the Bible's and will keep in touch with her.  She was very grateful for the gift. 

Another way that the Lord worked through our trip to Karvina, was to give Karolina an escort back to Kromeriz!  As it turns out, her spring break began yesterday and she was hoping to be able to come with us for the week.  We didn't know when her break was as the different districts have breaks at different times.  It 'just so happens' (though we know that it's through God's providence) that our trip to Karvina perfectly aligned with her break.  So she is with us now and will be with us until Sunday. 

The family in Karvina said that they'd come to pick her up, so we've invited them to come to the church next Sunday morning, to hear Anthony preach, then to fellowship, then to take Karolina back with them. 

Karolina is very excited to see the folks from this church as she spent time with them over the summer at the ESL camp and then a few days afterwards, here in Kromeriz.  We pray that the Lord will use this time to bring her to Himself. 

Lets see, on the train ride home, Anthony started up a conversation with a young man from here who attends the university.  Anthony was able to discuss with him about truth vs. relativism, the validity of the Bible, some of the Gospel, etc....all with a little bit of translation help from Karolina. 

Now Anthony and Karolina are with Vasek doing street ministry.  She wanted to go with him because I think some of what they are doing is playing basket ball with some kids. This is why I have so much time to write here. 

I will post some pictures when the camera returns to me! 

Thank you for praying, the Lord is answering favorably.  I'm trying to report on the ministry type things that are going on, as that is why we are here....there is so much more to write about in regards to the culture, the food, the people, the hospitality, the language, etc...

Yours in Christ,
Erica

We've just arrived in Kromeriz and have unpacked....The ladies here have made our accommodations very cozy and warm.  The flight went really well, we were able to share the Gospel with one couple from England, a girl from Holland who is moving to San Diego so we will stay in touch - and she's very interested in getting a Bible in Dutch as well as attending our home church (Pacific Hope), and a Czech woman who lives not too far from Kromeriz and who expressed interest in coming to church next Sunday with her family to hear Anthony preach. 

So praise God for His faithfulness. We missed our connecting flight in London, and spent a couple of extra hours (and the vouchers they gave us for the 'inconvenience' :-) in Heathrow airport, which turned out to be a blessing and ended up in the conversation with the lady from here who wants to come to church....so you just never know what the Lord is doing, and why different things happen....(seems to be a theme). 

I'll try to put some pictures up tomorrow after we've seen some things in the daylight.  It's 10:30 pm. here Saturday night, meaning it's Saturday at 1:30 pm in California, we've been traveling since 1:00 or so, Friday.  Tomorrow morning is Church, Lance is preaching, then to see some places for shopping, then to go visit a group of missionaries here who meet together for church in the evening. This will be in English. 

Thank you for praying!

In Christ,
Erica

Well, we're all packed up and ready to begin our journey tomorrow.  We wanted to put this letter up here.  It has already been sent out to some, but we thought we'd share it here as well. 

The ways God provides are often surprising.  This doesn't have to do exactly with the trip, but with us personally, but I thought I'd put it here because it just was another reminder of how God is always working. 

Our trip is happening over the change of the month, so the 1st of the month will come and go while we are away.  This is significant because we pay bills (like rent) on the 1st.  We also receive checks that are supposed to go into the bank on the 1st.  Since we aren't going to be here to put the checks in the bank, that part of the financial equation was missing....the money was going out but not coming in....not good. 

I do the majority of my banking online and we always pay our credit cards off in full (we only use them to get the miles).  Well, yesterday I received a statement from a credit card that showed that we only paid the minimum balance!  Yikes! (Yes, I need to be more diligent to monitor the payments, but things have been a little busy around here and it slipped this time)....I called the bank to talk to them about it. 

Sure enough, for some reason - unknown to me, the online banking had changed my usual full-balance payment to a minimum balance payment!  That's strange.  I was concerned that now I was racking up interest on the card....I loathe interest! 

Well, the customer service representative kindly told me that Congress had just passed some sort of bill that says that if you have been paying your full balance for a while and then suddenly make a minimum payment, they have to give you a full month to begin paying your balance again, before they are allowed to charge you any interest!

This means that we can keep that money in the bank for as long as we are gone, then when we get back, deposit our checks and pay off the credit card!  Isn't that amazing!

I did NOTHING but read a bill and make a phone call to find out what the Lord had done to help us have the money in the bank to pay the bills that would need to be paid while we were gone.  Somehow, the computer 'glitched' and only paid the minimum balance, and Congress 'recently' passed this bill that makes the bank not charge us interest! 

Anyway, I get so excited when I see the Lord's gracious and caring handiwork in our lives and in the lives of others.  I just thought I'd pass along this little story.  We just never know what the Lord is doing behind the scenes or in the lives of those we talk with.  I'd love to tell you all the stories, just even recent ones, where the Lord has put little things on my heart to say to people - only for them to burst into tears and say that this has been something so heavy on their hearts, or that they've been thinking the same thing or whatever.... we don't see the full picture, but He does!  We can rest assured that He is in control, no matter the circumstances! 

Wow! Long post. Thanks for hanging in there until the end.  We're off to the Czech Republic in just two more days...tomorrow is 'packing and cleaning day' and Friday is 'drop off the kids with their temporary families, crying in the car as we drive away and then flying off to minister with my husband day'.  More to come!

When we sent out letters to raise support for this trip we weren't sure what would happen, especially since we sent letters right after the holidays.  It's been a blessing to watch the Lord's faithfulness in this.  One part of the letter stated that we would be doing construction work on the church building in Kromeriz should funds allow it.  Well, it appears that the Lord wanted to make sure that the little church would be doing some construction!  They are going to be able to begin and complete a project while we are there and we are able to deliver the funds for the project.  Lance is very excited to have the church witness God's provision for them.  We are blessed to see how the Lord's people have provided so generously in order for this little group of saints to witness the Lord's caring hand at work. 

Ultimately, the goal is that the building be built on so that it can become a Bible College for local pastors.  This little project will just make the building more user friendly for the congregation there.  We'll document the progress via photos once we're there. 

After much prayer and some discussion, we made the final decision that Essie will remain in the states during our trip.  The Lord has provided a wonderful couple to care for her while we are away and we are confident in the Lord that He will care for her as well as for Malachi and Hannah in our absence.  This is a very good reminder to me (Erica) especially that these are not 'my' children, they are God's children and He has entrusted them to me so that I can love them and teach them about the Lord.  He loves them more than I ever could and is more capable of caring for them that I could ever dream of being.  This is a great opportunity for us to trust God with some of the most cherished people in our lives.  I praise God for His faithfulness in keeping His promises to us at all times....

Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

At first, this was something I was forcing myself to do.  I was making myself present my requests to God with thanksgiving, choosing deliberately to trust Him and not to fear for the kids, it wasn't coming naturally. But now, I can honestly say that His peace, which transcends all understanding, is guarding my heart and my mind.  So praise God for His faithfulness! 

It's about 2 weeks before the trip.  The Lord has provided us with two great families to care for Malachi and Hannah while we are gone.  We are waiting on Him for either provision for Essie and I to go together or for direction about whether we should leave her with another family who has expressed a desire to care for her while we are away.  We have confidence that all of our children will be in very good hands in the event that all three stay in the states while we travel abroad.  Thank you for your prayers in this matter.