English Club to McDonalds

This last month at English Club we taught the children how to order food in English. The last week of the series, we took them to McDonalds so they could practice ordering in English. The children loved it. (Fortunately we went to a McDonalds where someone actually understood English!!)

This month (March) we are teaching them about Easter! Most of these children have never heard about Jesus (except at English Club). There are about 30+ children and it is such a sweet group of children (ages 5 to 16).

Classes for the adults: While the children are downstairs, having lots of fun, learning lots of English, and hearing about God, many adults are upstairs in English classes. Many of the adults really appreciate this because knowing English is helpful in their jobs. The classes have grown so much this year that they have split into 3 different groups: beginner, intermediate and conversation. Larry has recently begun to help teach the intermediate adult class. He is enjoying this and it is a great way to learn some new Czech words at the same time.

Grandma in Prague!

We just had a wonderful week with Melissa's mom (from PA) and her great friend, Cheryl (from VA).

We walked miles everyday, but thoroughly enjoyed every minute. We, of course, took them to Prague Castle, Old Town and Charles Bridge. We walked up 299 steps of a tower to see an absolutely amazing view of this city. The beautiful and amazing architecture never seemed to end.

We (the girls) rode the train (along with some other Americans) to a small Czech town to a factory crystal shop. While we were there, I (Melissa) got brave enough to ask in Czech for a tour of the factory. The tour guide was so kind. She patiently waited while I tried to translate what she was saying.

On Sunday, my mom and Cheryl went with us to English Club. It was McDonald's night when we took all of the children to McDonalds and they had to order in English. Mom and Cheryl jumped right in to help out.

Myslivost? What's that?

Myslivost is the Czech word for game-keeping or game management. I have been taking the myslivost class to get my hunting license. For the most part I like the way they do things here. You have to take a serious course. It starts in October, takes a break for December and January and then starts up again in February. In March there is an oral test. Hunters are viewed not just as hunters but as game managers.

It has been interesting since everything is in Czech, but it is very good for my language. You can pray for me March 9th as I take my test. I'll have someone there to translate for me, but it could still get interesting.

Here is a picture of the new Czech record red deer. Thought some of you might enjoy it.

Skiing in the Alps!

The week before Christmas, we had to go out of the country for

Visa/Passport purposes. So we drove to Austria and had an amazing Skiing Weekend in the Alps.

The mountains were absolutely beautiful. Larissa kept saying (and we were all thinking) "Can you believe we are skiing in the Alps!!!"

We enjoyed a great sled-riding hill that was right outside of our apartment, and a ski trail that came right to our back door. It was such a blessing to us to be able to enjoy this beautiful part of our world.

The Nazi Concentration Camp at Dachau, Germany

On our way home from Austria, we drove through Germany. When we got off of the highway to look for a place to eat, we saw a sign for Dachau. Larry's grandfather came to Dachau with the U.S. Army in WWII and liberated the prisoners of the concentration camp.

We were only 10 miles from Dachau, so of course we had to see what was there! The entire concentration camp is still standing and is now a memorial site. It was pretty amazing to read about what happened and also pretty amazing to think that Papa rolled through that very country side in his tank.

More than anything, we enjoyed calling Papa to tell him where we had been and hearing his amazing stories about that historical event.

What an exciting History lesson!

Carp for Christmas!

The Czech tradition for Christmas---A few days before Christmas-all over Prague there are tanks of live carp. You buy your carp, take it home and put it in your bathtub!!! -No kidding!- Then Christmas eve dinner, everyone eats fried carp and potato salad.

We named our fish "Reba". "Ryba" (in Czech) means "fish".

Mikulas Day!

December 6th is Mikulas Day! The Czechs celebrate on "Mikulas Eve"- December 5th. All over Prague you can see Mikulas, the devil and an angel walking together and stopping to talk to children.

Mikulas (St. Nicholas), they say, comes to all of the children and brings them small gifts on December 5. Mikulas will come to your house (along with the devil and an angel) and if you have been bad, the devil will give you a hard potato and a piece of coal; but if you have been very bad, the devil will put you in his bag and take you to hell. (Needless to say, we witnessed some very scared children that night!!!) However, if you sing a little song to them, you will get a piece of candy.

We decided to go to Old Town to see the festivities. Laini had been hearing about Mikulas all week at school, and she was determined to get some candy from him. We found a set of "3" that was not swamped with children and she boldly went up to the angel and asked if she could sing her song in English. She then sang "Are you sleeping, brother John", and was very proud to receive her gift of candy!!!

Exploring Prague

We are having fun exploring Prague while we learn our way around the city. Here are some pictures from Old Town, Wenceslas Square, Charles Bridge and a view from Prague Castle.

English Club

Every Sunday night, Melissa and the kids have been going to "English Club." This has been a fun activity for us to be involved in. Zachary, Larissa and Laini have had fun hanging out with the Czech children and Melissa has been able to work with the older children. About 25-30 children attend each week and there are also adult classes at the same time.

This program has been a great way to share the gospel with those who attend. Each month there is a new theme. In October, the theme was cooking so the Czech children learned how to cook some American foods and they learned many English words and phrases that go with cooking. November was all about shopping. It was fun to hear the Czechs say "How much does it cost?" and "I would like to buy..." with their cute accents. In December we had a store for them to use their newly learned English words to purchase toys, etc. Each week the teachers do a fantastic job of being creative and also teaching from the Bible.

A few of the children from Zachary and Larissa's school also attend English Club. Each week they walk home with us and the kids play "Mashi" (tag) on the streets of Prague. Radek and Pepa have been so patient to help us with our Czech on the way home. I think we just need to hang out with children long enough in order to learn this language! They are much more patient.

God understands Czech when we do not!

Many of you have asked what we have been doing for church...

Most Sundays we attend the Czech Baptist Church in Prague. It is about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. At first this was a great adventure...listening to a sermon and singing all in Czech and trying to learn new words as we listened!

6 weeks later, it is not such an adventure :).

Sunday, the service was 2 1/2 hours long. It seemed like they were having a nice time. (Some day we will actually know what they are saying.) There is just enough room in the pews to squeeze in , so once you are in, you don't move.

***Actually we have been enjoying the singing. This Sunday, we were even able to know what song number we were on without peaking at our neighbor's hymnbook. And it is very nice to experience this...to hear people worshipping in another language and knowing God completely understands!!!

Some weeks, the children go to a children's class, and Larissa and Laini have attended. I'm sure that is as challenging for the Czech teacher as it is for them.

Playing on the Same String!

The blessing of a violin teacher -

Recently our Czech friend, Dominika, was trying to be helpful...She knew that Larissa played the violin, so she set up an appointment for us with the music school. Larissa is just a little stressed from the difficulty of communication and wasn't ready for such an undertaking yet... However, since the appointment was made, we showed up on Tuesday, with violin in hand...(thinking that Larissa was just to play a few songs so the teacher could know how far along she is). After some difficult communication, we entered a room. However, there was not just one teacher to listen; it was many. This was not what we thought it was! It was an audition to see if they would even accept her. Personally I was very nervous for her. I think at 11, I may have run out the door. But Larissa played very well and never batted an eye. (Thank you Marlyn!)

After the performance, they asked us to leave the room. We waited forever while they discussed their decision. (Well it may have only been 5 minutes, but it seemed like forever!)
Finally, the director came out, and in broken English said, "I call you to tell if it is possible."

What did that mean???? Just tell us Yes or No!! (Those may have been some of our nicer thoughts). So we left thinking that was the end of that school and we decided we would look for a teacher that could speak a little English.

Thursday the director called to set up an appoinment for Friday (to tell us if it is possible). The way he kept saying it made it sound like it was not possible. But we weren't sure why he couldn't just say no.

On Friday, he took down all of our information (I thought maybe he was appeasing us, because he still didn't tell us Yes or No). Then he led us to the room of a teacher we had not met. She spoke close to perfect English, and we liked her right away. Her name is Hana černa. After we discussed the violin, she asked us why we were in Prague. When we told her why, she said "I knew the moment you walked in that you must be a Christian. I am one also."

We discussed several other things, and then as we were leaving, she said, "It appears we are playing on the same string for many things."

For all of you who have been specifically praying for Larissa, we just want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. God was so obviously in this and Larissa, who has been anxious about many things here, was put at ease right away with this teacher.

Florbal?????

by Zachary





On Sunday night I found out that I could play in this floorball tournament for school. The teacher had tried to tell me about it, but I didn't really understand what she was saying. But, I saw a kid from my school on Sunday night and he told me about it (through an interpreter) and he asked me if I was going to play. He said I had to be at the school at 7:00 a.m. and I had to have white-soled tennis shoes. So, I went home and looked on the internet for floorball rules, and at 5 o'clock Monday morning, I got up and went with my Dad to get shoes at a 24-hour Tesco store, cause you need a certain type of shoes. Then we went to school at 7 o'clock. Then I walked to the bus stop with the other boys that were going; we got on a public bus and rode it a couple of stops to this place where there was a gym and we had a floorball tournament with other school teams. I think my team lost the whole thing. We only won one match and that was only by one point. But I had fun and didn't have to go to school.

Three ways To Know Your Not In The USA!!!

#1 Your the only ones trick-or treating and you never leave your house. (The kids found whatever they could to make costumes and we gave them candy at home. Zachary is a secret agent, Laini is a rabbit, and Larissa is a mouse.)



#2 You can ride a train anywhere you need to go. (This weekend we rode the train to Hradec Kralove with some friends. The trip down was great. The kids were in one compartment and the adults were in another. We saw a ton of deer and other stuff. On the way back there were people standing. Fortunatley we all had seats, but not together.)

#3 You buy something that has to be assembled and the directions are in 8 different languages and none of them is English.

Our Apartment

Some of you have been asking about our apartment, so here is a short tour. The video quality is not great. It is from our digital still camera, but hopefully it gives you and idea.

Our Trek to Prague!!!

Here is a picture of Laini on our mountain of luggage. All 18 pieces made to Prague undamaged and at the same time we did. Our trip went smoohtly and we arrived a little tired, but ready to go.

We stayed in a hotel for three days until we could get enough furniture to be able to stayn in our apartment. Our aprtment is pretty nice. We are on the fifth floor (there is an elevator), we have a balcony on one side and sky lights on the other side. Below are some picutres of the views we have. The TV Tower is a landmark that can be seen from all over Prague so we cna always find our way home.

Our first Saturday we spent all day in IKEA buying furniture. After standing in line for over an hour to pay we went to the transport desk to arrange delivery. To our surprise they asked if we wanted it delivered that night. They almost beat us home. It has taken us a week to get it all put together. Here's Zachary putting his bed together.

Over all we're doing well. We've had three days of language and we're realizing it is going to be a lot of work. Czech is a completely different language from english. Enjoy the pictures. We'll post some of the inside of our aprtment next time.