December Update

Pohdu a pokoj o Vánocich, z Česká Republika!

Translation: Comfort and peace at Christmas, from the Czech Republic!

My Schools:
Things at both Gymnazium Milady Horakove and Gymnazium Radotin are still going well. On December 16 the students at Gymnazium Milady Horakove had their annual Christmas program. The program was very much like the type of program one would see at an American school….just all in Czech. The students were dressed in their best Christmas sweaters and sang many songs. Sitting in the pew watching them, I felt like a proud mother….or something like that. It’s only been four months, but I have to say, I absolutely love my students.

My Ministry:
The two English clubs (Café Coze and Kava/Kino) are going well. Each week we have about ten students from four different Gymnaziums. Still, two of my students have visited, but two students are better than no students, right? During one Kava/Kino (movie club) we watched the film “Little Miss Sunshine.” During the discussions the students have been becoming more and more comfortable with one another. Please pray that this comfort will lead to deeper conversations about faith.

Things with Youth Praha have also been going well. This past Friday a Czech student, we’ll call her E, from Radotin came to Youth Praha with the two Christian girls that go to that school. I am unsure if E is a Christian or not but she seemed to really enjoy the worship and Christmas testimony portion of the evening. We are praying that we will see E again.

I was also able to have a spiritual conversation with one of my colleagues at Radotin, we’ll call him RNB. One morning RNB asked me for help with his lesson. I just told him t0 pick something that will make the students think, mentioning my conversation about evolution with the two Christian girls from our school at the mall one day. His response: “Oh, those girls they’re those crazy Christian ones. They’re new at this religion thing, they’ll grow out of it. I was Christian but I grew out of it.” Before I could stop myself I said “I have to be honest with you. I’ve been a Christian since I was in 7th grade and I have yet to grow out of it and I have no intention of growing out of it.” For the next few fifteen minutes he asked me questions about God’s character. At the end of the conversation he said: “You know…I like your kind of Christian, you’re like the normal kind. You know? If I have more questions, I’ll ask you.” (YAY!!!)

My Support:
A BIG thank-you to everyone who have been praying for me, to those of you who have become monthly supporters or have given special one-time gifts. As of right now, God has raised $7770.50!!! However, I still need to raise $4229.50 in order to reach my full budget of $12,000 before the end of February.
I still need your help. To join my support team or add to my support please visit the TeachOverseas website: www.teachoverseas.org and click on the contribute link under the “about us” section. You can give using a credit card, paypal or sign up for monthly contributions. In the “contribute” section choose “teacher or staff member” and enter my name.

My Prayer Requests:
- Praise God that the students from different schools at English club are building relationships with one another
- Praise God that new students have come to Youth Praha
- Please pray that God will provide me with the support I need in both prayer and funding
- Please pray that I will receive guidance in serving my students well
- Please pray for more spiritual conversations with colleagues
- Please pray that I can continue to build relationships with my students both at school and English Club
- Please pray that I will continue to build deep relationships with the kids at Youth Praha
- Please pray that more Czech students will accept invitations to Youth Praha
- Please pray for the safety of my colleagues and I as I travel to spend Christmas with other ESI teachers in Budapest