The trip to Italy

It is still amazing to us that we can be to the mountains in Italy in less than the time it takes to get from Pennsylvania to Virginia.  

    
Here we are -stuck on the "fast" German Autobahn.  The kids were so excited to see snow just an hour outside of Prague.  Prague is always cloudy and cold, but we don't get much snow.

 

We always enjoy seeing the towers and castles built in the mountainside along the way.

Zachary, Larissa and Laini in Switzerland.  Switzerland was incredibly beautiful.

Carp for Christmas Eve!

A few days before Christmas, you can buy carp from one of these vendors all over Prague.

Then they live in your bathtub until it is time to cook Christmas Eve dinner (carp and potato salad).  This is William and Mary. 

Czech Christmas Traditions

This Christmas, we enjoyed some fun Czech traditions...

(1) We loved shopping at the Christmas markets on the squares!

(2) Mikulas comes on the evening of December 5 to bring gifts to good children.  Laini enjoyed singing to this Mikulas in exchange for a piece of candy.  Last year she sang an American song, but this year she sang in czech -Kocka Leze Diru.

(3) Families float candles (made in walnut shells) in water and determine their next year's luck by whether or not their candle floats or sinks.  We just thought they looked beautiful on our Christmas table.

(4) Cukrovi (Christmas cookies) are very important!!!

(5) And of course-you must have a live tree!!  It is funny to me to carry a tree through the streets of Prague and then up an elevator.

Christmas in Čechy

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Here's Our Christmas Message to You!!!!!!

Laini's First Czech Christmas Performance

Christmas play at the Baptist Church in Prague.

(Laini is the one in purple)

Vysoke Myto

Last week, Team Bohemia went to the Czech church in Vysoke Myto to serve them some authentic American food!!! - tacos

We are sure that the Czech people enjoyed the tacos, but we also were extremely blessed to worship with these wonderful people. (This is the church that runs the English camp we helped with this summer.)  They are wonderful people.

The Violinist!!!

Larissa's Christmas Violin Recital 2008

Fall Fest!!!!

In November the children at English Club enjoyed a great Fall Fest with lots of games, balloons, face painting. 

Zachary making balloon animals.

Lucy and Denisa.

Radek and Vilem eating the apple on a string. (It is more challenging than it looks!)

The Walls Around Us!!!

We are standing in front of the only section left of the Plzen wall. The rest of the wall was torn down to modernize the city a few hundred years ago. That modernization along with forced Catholization followed by communism and finally western materialism have left new walls. These walls are around the hearts of the people.

Please pray with us as we look towards the future in Plzen, and begin to seek ways to break through the walls.

Ask and you shall receive!

We had depleted our supply of books in English this summer...until... The awesome team from Montana came to help with English Camp. They asked if we needed anything, and since the kids (especially Larissa) had read everything in English we could find, we asked for some books. Wow! did we ever get books! Tricia Goyer (author and this MT mission team leader) asked if any of her author friends would like to donate some books. Thank you to everyone who sent books for us. What an incredible gift to us. We have been sharing the books with many other M's and enjoying them for ourselves.

Our First Year!!!

Our first, incredible year in the Czech Republic:

-We've learned another language (Well we are working on it!).

-We made some funny language mistakes and learned that Czech people are pretty gracious.

-We bought food that wasn't what we thought it was.

-We've spent way too much time together in this apartment and we learned what we like and don't like about each other!

-Zachary has been to Greece, Hungary and the USA by himself.

-We went skiing in Austria.
-Larry earned his hunting license and gun permit in Czech.

-We have met some awesome Czech Friends!!

-Melissa teaches English to 1st and 2nd grade Czech kids and loves them.

-We had a very Czech vacation to Croatia (tent in the hot sun included!)

-Laini got a wonderful rabbit named Yeti.

-Larissa and Larry hiked 23 km (14mi) in one day

-We have been able to share the love of God with people from another culture in another language

- We have learned how awesome God is!!!

Sunday in Vysoke Myto

The Sunday before English Camp, we were able to worship in Vysoke Myto at a small Czech church. This church organizes the English camp that we helped in. It was an incredible experience to get to know these precious people that week. They have incredible testimonies and have been faithful to God even in the midst of some tough situations.

Larry began preaching in Czech and Gabriela interpreted to English and then Larry switched to English and she switched to Czech!

(Larry preaching and Gabi interpreting)

Camping in Paradise!

In July, we were able to go camping with our team (Team Bohemia). We went to Cesky Raj ("Czech Paradise") in the northern part of the country...and it truly was amazingly beautiful. Everyone enjoyed it so much.

God has blessed us with a super team and we are so thankful for them. The Johnsons serve in Hradec Kralove (in eastern Bohemia) and the Youngs serve in Jihlava (in southern Bohemia) and we will soon be serving in western Bohemia.

Seed Spitting contest -won by Ginger! Wow, she can really spit!!!

A week in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea

We were invited by some Czech friends to spend the week on the Island Rab, off of the coast of Croatia. It is about a 12 hour drive from Prague. Without a doubt, Croatia is the most beautiful place we have been in the world so far.
We drove out of beautiful mountains and were at the crystal clear Adriatic Sea.

We had an incredible week. We spent our days on the beach or in the water- snorkling, and our evenings talking with our new friends. We stayed in a tent (but it had a small fridge and stovetop).

The Czech people were great. They were so encouraging of our language efforts. It was a super week for our learning. Because there is so much English spoken in Prague, sometimes it is difficult to finish a sentence in Czech...but in Croatia we were surrounded by hundreds of Czech speaking people. (Ironic)

We are so thankful for such an opportunity. We have come home with super memories and new friendships.

The Robber!

Larissa-the annoying reporter (she played the part well)
Zachary-detective David Green

This year, Zachary and Larissa have been involved in a drama club. The play and club was designed to teach Czech children English, but it was a great way for Zachary and Larissa to meet some Czech kids, hear some Czech ...and the teacher was glad to have native English speakers involved.

The play "The Robber" was set in New York City and was about a banker's wife who hired homeless people to rob her husband's bank, because she was trying to get his attention. It was a cute play and all of the kids did a super job. The Czech kids did a great job in a 2nd language.

When the play was over, I introduced my children to the lady beside us and she said, "wow, their English is super. Who taught them?" :-)