August through to September

RECAP
I have realized that from the time I left Canada to now I have left some gaps in my blogging so I am going to do a quick recap of some of my summer events up until now.

    

July 13 - Sold my car. Goodbye Molly II

July 28 - Visit Dallas Barnhartvale Baptist Church and shared about my ministry with TeachBeyond and CISP and what the Renfrews would be doing when they came.



July 29 - Given the OK by my member care team that I could depart to the field - I was at 68% of my monthly support but including one time gifts I was good for the year so I prepared to leave, having faith that God would provide for my years to come.

August 6 - 7  Depart Canada and arrive in Prague - smooth flights and everything arrived

August 8 - 22 - Prep classroom - mop, clean, dust, gather furniture, sort boxes

 

  

 




August 9 - Got word that I gained a few new donors and was up to 83% PRAISE THE LORD
August  23 - Took a day off and had a final holiday before school (see previous post about holidaying)

August 26 - 30 - Staff training week - R&R arrived bringing with them 4 suitcases loaded down with needed supplies and helped to get my classroom into shape. Thank you to all who helped donate funds, supplies and prayed for this team; they were a HUGE blessing to me and our staff.

 

 

  

August 31- September 1   - Play tourist with R&R - Went to the zoo, explored and enjoyed Prague life
September 2 - School open house - Show off the school to the families

 

September 3 - Last minute prep
September 4 - First day of school!



Our first week and a half of school has been very busy, as we settle into new routines, adjust to a new building and a new group of students. I hope to post pictures of my kids very soon.

Praise God!

~ For my continued monthly support, currently at 83% 

~ My appointment at the Visa office went smoothly and I now have my VISA good until May 2015!

~ For safe arrival with all my luggage and the arrival of one of my flatmates

~ For a great class of students 4/5 are learning English

Please Pray!!

~ For our new flatmate as she strives to raise her needed support. She is currently now at 80% of her needed support and needs to raise at least another 10% before she can come to Prague. Please Pray for the Lord’s provision for Kate and that she will have all that she needs soon.

A little R&R

I was blessed immensely by the help, support and hard work of this small team. I am so thankful for parents who give of their time and resources and set aside their fears to come serve the Lord and help their daughter. They did everything from stamp, organize and label books to hanging poster board strips and building a sandbox. They really did get a little taste of what it is like to live and work in Prague. Whether it was trying to find washers that would fit the pins on a door or buy a monthly transit pass, they had their adventures learning how the Prague life works for a foreigner. They got pretty good at finding their way around and I was able to leave them to their own devices their second week here when they got to explore the country on their own.

 

Exploring Prague Castle

Exploring Český Krumlov and Karlštejn

Brunch at Radost

 
We got to meet up with our dear friend Aneta who worked at Davison's one summer
(affectionately known to some as Czech 1)



Back to School

This year brings me back to my first year teaching CISP. Once again I have a small class with only 5 students. However, these 5 all come from different countries and each speaks a different native language! They are from Brasil, South Korea, Holland, Italy and the USA. In January we are expecting a new family from Russia who will have a student in grade two bringing my numbers and nationalities to 6 :)

Although it is a challenge to teach such a diverse group of learners it is exciting to see them grow and develop their new language skills. People ask how do I do it? I have learned to be creative and sometimes that means having a class consisting of dramatic charades and pictionary!

It is the little things that bring you joy and some things extend beyond common words: hugs, smiles, and above all laughter. I think my moment of the week was when my little Italian, who has a very small vocabulary and is afraid to say anything, pulled out all my connect links during playtime and made a chain that stretched from one side of the classroom to the other. When she completed her little task she surveyed her handiwork and announced with great gusto TA-DAH! For one who barely spoke a word above a whisper all week this was a mighty accomplishment and made me laugh. Some sentiments extend through many language barriers.

Please continue to pray for this small group as they overcome fears of being in a new language and culture. Pray that the gospel will become planted in their hearts and that I will be able to teach with wisdom and understanding and meet the needs of these little ones.

Taking Vacation

On Holiday

When people asked how my vacation was the implication was that my holiday time is over now that I am back at school. I returned to Prague early in August so to have time to prepare my classroom for the upcoming school year and to fit in a little relax time before the year really begins. So as far as how my vacation was ... I believe it still is happening. Though I am at school almost everyday it still is a time to visit with friends and have a working vacation.
  Since my summer vacation time really isn't over yet my adventure buddy and I decided to take a day to go on another adventure. Destination this time was a small village near Prague that has one of the true fairytale like castles. So we ventured out to Karlštjn and enjoyed a lovely day of exploring a castle. No photos are allowed to be taken in the interior of the castle so enjoy the exterior shots.


When I picture a castle this is what I imagine: Round towers, tall buildings and huge walls. Karlštjn did not disappoint!

The road to the castle is lined with many small shops. Bohemian Crystal is one thing Czech Republic is known for and it was fun to window shop as we wandered up the street.

 

     

Left: entrance into the castle                                          Right: Bridge between the castle wings 

                   

             

 

        

 

We saw two bridal parties at the castle for a photo session. What a place to have your pictures taken (if you can get over having the tourists in the background of all your shots or taking your picture and posting it on their blog ;)

I will be getting a little R&R this next week as I will have the Robinsons and the Renfrews come to help get my classroom in order. My parents and two friends will be spending two weeks in Prague helping us with all the last minute preparations to get the building ready for the first day of school on September 4th.  When I was teaching in B.C. Mom always helped me with class set up and I have missed her helping hands. Excited to have them come and help. 

I will post pictures of the progression of my classroom soon; I am waiting until it is all finished to show you the whole process.

Call to Pray

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..."

Our God is abundantly faithful. Funny how this sort of thing surprises me. Why should I be surprised that God would provide for me and allow me to continue his work in furthering the kingdom? How much I doubt and strive not to worry and through it all I say I trust ... but in the back of my mind there is this part of me that worries and doubts. Yet through it all God continues to teach me how amazing He is! I still have about $450 left to raise but know that the provision is there.

Now my next trust challenge is that God will provide for our 3rd flatmate. She is currently at 40% of her pledged support and our prayer is that she will have it all by next week! Yet another seemingly impossible task; knowing we serve a God of the impossible, we pray for the Lord's provision for Kate. She will be teaching our students PE and more than just a new flatmate we also NEED our PE teacher! Please pray for our new staff that are coming. We would love to have everyone here before school starts September 4th.

Preparing for my new class it is very similar to my first year demographics. 4 students 4 nationalities 4 languages all learning English. So our desperate prayer is for a full-time English Language Teacher! We have a part-time teacher but she will only be able to cover our upper-level students. Please pray that God will lead the right person to fulfil the position soon!

We also praise God for the addition of 8 new students this month bringing our numbers up to 73 students. Our prayer is for 20 more!

Please join us as we pray for all these things and see God's mighty hand at work!

Stepping Out in Faith

A little about my ministry in the Czech Republic.

*Note I have already returned to the Czech Republic but I still need to raise another $500 a month.
Please pray for the Lord's provision. 

Canadian Summer

Glimpse of the Prague Life

One of the great parts about being back in Canada for the summer is the opportunity to connect with supporters and share my passion and heart for what I have been doing with those I meet. Although fundraising is a dreaded chore I am learning to delight in the process. The chance to meet with the many people who have been praying for me and CISP and share how the Lord has faithfully answered their prayers.

Since my time back is so short I decided to have a fundraising and sharing night to give people a Glimpse of the Prague Life; turning our church gym into an intimate cafe, complete with Czech treats, cellists, street lamps and even a beggar. 

     

 

It was a fun evening complete with interactive centres where people could try their hand at Czech, try to convert Czech krounas to Canadian dollars and help fill out a KWL chart for what they know, wonder about and learned about my ministry. 

There were some great questions asked but due to time many of the wonder questions did not get answered.

Over the next little while I hope to answer some of these questions in my up coming news letters.

Many thanks to those who helped with this event especially with set up and clean up. It was such a blessing to have all of your help.

The evening helped to raise another 3% of my support and slowly but surly we are making it closer to my pledge goal of $2 575 per month. Please continue to pray for God's provision and that I will have the needed support before I am set to leave on August 6th!

Boat Day

Every summer our church College and Career group get together and have a boat day where we take over a beach, have a BBQ and enjoy all that Kal Lake has to offer. Many of us look forward to this day and it was a welcome day off.

   

 

I have come to realise that I don't have many pictures of myself enjoying these activities because I am the one always holding the camera. But indeed I was there just behind the lens :)

Climbing the mountain

Starting Over

Hard to believe it has been over two years since I began my water walking adventure. I started out with such fear and wonder of how all that needed to be done would be accomplished. The paper work to be filed, the life to pack up and the money to be raised. All the time the words of Jesus in the back of my mind: "Ye of little faith, why did you doubt?" Oh I doubt because my faith is so small, and yet with my mustard seed of faith (and will have to admit sometimes it was even much smaller than that) I witnessed God answer my prayers in a way I never thought possible. God answered so many prayers: from provision for needed support, to paying off student loans, to receiving my Czech VISA for the next two years! God is Faithful and this I should not so easily forget, as I often do!

So here I am again... seemingly back at the beginning with what seems like a mountain to climb and no peak in sight. Fundraising is the part of this journey that I am learning to appreciate and admire. I admire the generous hearts I encounter and the love and care that each supporter gives. Remembering that for many I am their ambassador; I am able to go share with the nations when they are not. Who am I to question how God will use his people to further his kingdom? Whether it is through their faithful prayers or their generous pockets.

To give a picture to supporters at where I am at with raising my monthly support I created a bookshelf (teachers and their books :). I am about halfway to my goal

Sometimes I look at the budget line and I tremble. Where will it come from? How will I get from here to there? Then I am reminded; I serve a God who makes the impossible, possible.

I had a student ask this year "How much money does God have?" One child was quick to answer "He doesn't need money! He's God!" Indeed HE is GOD! The creator of it all! This is the God that I serve. The Great Provider and it is in Him I will trust.

If you are interested in learning more about becoming a partner in my ministry Click Here!