A Gray Day

It is cold and rainy out, which seems to be the case every time Emily and I head off to the neighboring suburb of Poruba to lead English Club at one of the local high schools. We have some fun games planned for the afternoon, and we're determined not to let the weather get us down. It's funny- eight years out of high school, and sometime I'm still trying to be "cool" enough to impress a group of teenagers. Hopefully we'll all have a good laugh today.

And then tonight we have a visitor, Miss Kelly K, staying with us. Kelly is our Central Europe Field Director, and she'll be in town observing some of our classes and also checking in with the status of our team in general. I've promised my elementary kids that if they can behave themselves during her visit that I will let them watch a movie in the following lesson. Emily and I (lovingly) refer to them as our little 'hooligans,' so it will be quite the experiment to see if they can actually pull this off. I guess we'll find out tomorrow...

Photos

Weekend Retreat

We are off to Prague this weekend for a TeachOverseas retreat/mini-reunion!  It will be really nice to see all our fellow teachers again, and to compare stories from the first week in our new home cities.  I'm especially excited to spend some time in the city that captured my heart and drew me to the Czech Republic in the first place.  Not including our passage from the airport to the train station a week ago, it has been probably five or six years since I have been in Praha.

To lift up a prayer concern, we have been struggling with the electricity in our flat all week.  After two separate occasions of having our power fail to the point of clearing all our groceries out of the powerless fridge and hauling them across town to our fellow teachers' flat, we finally have our lights and outlets working again.  However, we still cannot plug in out computers without blowing a fuse, which also means we won't be setting up our wireless internet anytime soon.  Please keep us in your prayers as we struggle to find dependable ways to be able to communicate with everyone back home until our electrical issues are resolved.

Adventures in Ostrava

We've arrived!

5 exhausted and travel-worn ESI teachers + 1 helpful chaperone arrived in Ostrava Friday night, minus about 15 pieces of luggage. We were all taken to our respective flats, given a loaf of bread, some bottled water, and a roll of toilet paper to get us started. Saturday we were to have a free day to get us over our jet lag, but then on Friday night all the new teachers were invited for dinner at Stacy's flat. Stacy and here husband, Al, are Americans working for Young Life who have been living in Ostrava for the past 5 years.

Prior to dinner, Emily, Steph, and I spent the day cleaning out, reorganizing, and arranging furniture within our new home. In the afternoon, miracle of miracles, our luggage arrived, hand-delivered courtesy of British Airways. Taking into consideration our laborious trek from Prague Airport to the train station, via bus and metro, we later came to the consensus that our luggage delay was a blessing in disguise. It is highly unlikely we could have made the entire journey with 6 girls and about 20 bags in tow. This only further affirmed for us that God truly does have a greater plan for us than we have for ourselves.

On a more humorous note, when hauled all our bags up to our flat (which is on the sixth floor, with spectacular city views), we found that we could not for the life of us figure out how to unlock our front door. All of us took turns, but it was no use. So there we were, three silly American girls, locked out of our apartment, keyes in hand, surrounded by all our huge suitcases and duffel bags. Finally we knocked on the door of our next-door-neighbor, a little old Czech woman, and Emily recited the one Czech phrase she had memorized, "Excuse me, can you please help?". She was indeed able to help us, bless her heart, and we later took turns "practicing" locking and unlocking our door. We also managed to flood our bathroom that aftrenoon while doing our first load of wash, but that's a whole other story...

After unpacking our begs and settling our belongings in their new environment, our growling stomachs summoned us to the nearby shopping center, Futurum. Of all things, I leave my job in retail, move all the way to Central Europe only to wind up living right next to a shopping mall. Go figure. As the three of us ventured through the mall, window shopping the various clothing, shoe, plant, and tea shops, we tried to get a handle on the Czech prices and their equivalents. It took us a good ten minutes, hungry as we were, to summon up the courage to order some food at the food court, however, we were quite impressed with ourselves for not copping out and heading to the nearby McDonald's. That night we had an amazing dinner at Stacy's flat across town, and she graciously let us use her phone to call our parents' in the States, and let them know of our safe arrival abroad.

Team Ostrava

We spent some quality team bonding time getting mani-pedi's.

(L to R: Alyssa's foot, Steph's foot, Emily's hand)

Team Fishnet: Stephanie, Heidi, Emily, me, Leah

Spiritual Warfare

Today at training we spent some time discussing Spiritual Warfare, as well as how to equip ourselves via various means of Spiritual Vitality in order to combat any dark forces we may encounter.  "Spiritual Warfare" is not a term I am as familiar with, but is most likely something I will encounter more readily this next year.  As the Czech Republic is a primarily Atheist country, our teams may potentially find ourselves more susceptible to loneliness, spiritual darkness, and doubt.  As the winter months press on, we will also grapple with physical darkness and cold, and their impending manifestations upon our psyches.  Please pray for our teams, that we will find strength in our Saviour to boldly press on when the devil makes attempts to thwart our progress in ministry. 

On a more positive note, our school will hold weekly prayer meetings on Friday mornings, and my teammates and I are already brainstorming plans for commencing some type of Bible-study once we are settled.  We are determined to hold each other accountable, to lift each other up, and to keep each other strong.  I could not ask for better or lovelier teammates!   

Photo Diary from Training: A Few Highlights

Part of the Central Europe team @ Heidi's church

All the Practicum teachers at our closing reception

Presenting certificates of accomplishment to our lovely Level 1 students

Emily with two of our students, Maria & Olivia

one day at a time

So, ( I start lots of sentences with "so," if you haven't already noticed).  So...I think the unspoken pressure of daily developing some deeply profound and meaningful/inspiring blog post has finally surfaced.  Forgive me dear friends, if I neglect to amuse and entertain you on a daily basis.  While I cannot promise that my posts will fail to be dull, I will make a more concerted effort to update my blog more frequently.  That being said, I'll try to keep posts succinct & manageable for those that will be keeping up with my adventures.

I'll be attempting to fill in back-posts as I go as well, so stay tuned!

Training...

TeachOverseas Training- I'm here, I'm here!  It's been a crazy week so far, with absolutely NO sign of slowing down.  I arrived in Pasadena, CA a week-and-a-half ago Sunday, and it has been non-stop from the moment my plane touched down in the Burbank Airport.  

I was waiting for my luggage to make its pass on the conveyer belt and was almost immediately approached by Stephanie, one of my two new fabulous teammates.  It turns out we were on the same flight from Dallas, and she had recognized me from my facebook photos.  We also found Luke, a TeachOverseas teacher headed off to Russia, so we all shared a shuttle out to training and the adventure began...

more emery

i can't help it-- it's good stuff...

i definitely struggle with materialism, and this song is a good reminder.  while it doesn't always have to be all or nothing, it is a slippery slope in between.  i'm certainly looking forward to the next year as a great experiment to see how i handle life without all those little creature comforts i swear i can't live without.  i'm embracing the challenge, and i'll be doing my best to keep my shopaholic urges under control.  because it's true: in the end, you can't take it with you.

Take a look around  
Where is your hope found?
Is it the ones you love 
Or just your bank account? 
We all want to be 
The people we should never be 
We're trying things we just don't need  

It's a perfect day 
For us to make a change 
Forget about the watered down 
Mistakes that we have made 
And there's a way 
To clear our tainted names 
Just look ahead and don't be scared 
We've got so many choices to make  

Paint the things we don't need 
To impress those we don't know 
Indebted to our own accessories 
We hide behind our own lies 
But the fake dreams, it just can't be 
The only thing we have worth living for

Live Vicariously

For anyone wishing to lend support over the upcoming year, I THANK YOU in advance.  Prayer support is always, always, always appreciated. For those that have expressed interest in contributing financially as well, here is the info:

Contributions may be given as a one time donation, or a recurring monthly pledge.  Funds are collected through my program, TeachOverseas.org, making them tax deductible for you!  My personal account number is 209101.

To make a donation online or set up a monthly deduction visit:

http://www.teachoverseas.org/contribute.php

To make a contribution via check:

Please make checks payable to "TeachOverseas" and enclose a note with my name and account number, 209101.  Checks should be mailed to:

TeachOverseas.org 
444 East Huntington Drive 
Suite 200 
Arcadia, CA 91006

*A special ShoutOut to the Mission Ministries of Kingwood UMC and the Austin Stone, both of which have generously contributed to my mission.  I am SO appreciative to have their support!*

Cinema Wisdom

For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be.  There's no time limit, stop whenever you want.  You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing.  We can make the best or the worst of it.  I hope you make the best of it.  And I hope you see things that startle you.  I hope you feel things you never felt before.  I hope you meet people with a different point of view.  I hope you live a life you're proud of.  If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

A Song to Fit My Mood

"Inside Our Skin" by Emery

This is what comes of the best intentions we have
They get lost with the rest and soon forgotten
And the money we spend is to make amends
For the time that we’ve never given

We all feel real inside our skin
With selfish hearts that hide our sin
But everyone that runs a race can’t win
We all feel real inside your skin

If God is good, then what are we?
There is no plant without a seed
When morning comes, will we believe
All that was lost can be retrieved

You say you’re good, then let me see
A faith is dead without the deed

How can we fail if we believe
Let’s be who we were meant to be

We all feel real inside our skin
With selfish hearts that hide our sin
But no one really knows our deepest secrets

We will separate ourselves from everyone that we know
We can’t allow a single doubt or weakness to show
And just one more day without the shame
And I can move on
I’ll be happier, I'll be happier 

We say, we’re so misunderstood,
But I know we don’t do the things we should
So long to what I thought I was

We will separate ourselves from everyone that we know
We can’t allow a single doubt or weakness to show
And just one more day without the shame
And I can move on

I’ll be happier, I'll be happier when I’ve given up

Wisdom light my way into the dark
Your words, the melody that carries me
We can’t make a change ‘til we know who we are
What burns? The fire refining me
Wisdom light my way into the dark
The melody that carries me
We can’t make a change, know who we are
The fire refining me
Refining me

My Mission

So...quite some time has passed since my last posting, not for lack of things to write about, but simply because I have been overwhelmingly busy putting our (mine & God's) plan into action.  What is the plan exactly?  Oh, I cannot wait to share!

Who: Me!  :) 

What: I am moving overseas to work as a teacher and live as a missionary, sharing the gospel.

When: August '09 - July '10

Where: Ostrava, Czech Republic (near the Polish border, ~4 hours east of Prague)

Why: Because I think my Savior is Awe*some, and about a million other reasons (more on these to come).

The Charles Bridge, Prague - 2005

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:1

As mentioned previously, abandoning life and traveling halfway around the world is not necessarily the calling of every person.  Like Dorothy, we none of us need stray farther than our our backyard to fulfill our heart's desire.  I, however, have felt moved, called, guided, and pushed to move slightly further; to wipe the slate clean and begin again.  I moved out of my lovely house, quit my job (a scary thought in today's economy), sold and donated as many of my things as I could possibly part with, and put the rest of my belongings in storage.  

For those out there that have ever pondered doing the same, let me just confirm, it feels every bit as liberating as you would imagine.  The farther I am able to move away from what is familiar, secure, and drift into the abyss, the unknown, I am strangely comforted.  Paradoxically, my confidence in my future grows, as I know God is there to meet me, to share all His plans for me.

I'm the absolute first to admit, I honestly don't know the first thing about how to live life as a part-time, let alone a full-time missionary.  But this is precisely why I am so intent on pursuing this lifestyle for a year.  By pushing myself so far out of my comfort zone, I will have no choice but to put all my trust in Him.

I hope that you will pray for me, and for the unknown journey ahead.

I now walk into the wild.

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.
-Chris McCandless, April 1992

This week I read Into the Wild. To put this into perspective- for me to sit down and read a book cover to cover in under a year is something I probably haven't done since picking up the final installment of Harry Potter. I'm not joking.

Though bittersweet and ultimately tragic, something in my spirit connected with the tale of this idealistic young wanderer. While I couldn't necessarily advocate the means of his adventure, the poetic motives behind it I could certainly appreciate. Why are we so reluctant to construct a life of happiness for ourselves?

The first step on this path, I believe, is to identify what makes us happy, content, euphoric even.  It sounds easy enough at first, but again, why has more of the population not yet caught on to this train of thought?  We are all so busy running around, existing, we seldom take in the pleasure of mere living.  Of living with purpose.

What is my purpose?  

I have absolutely no idea.  But I am interested enough to invest the time to try and figure it out.  And so, like Chris McCandless over a decade ago, I too walk "into the wild."

Living On Mission

So we've been spending a lot of time at church lately focusing on the concept of living "on mission." Essentially what this means is that all Believers have an obligation to share their faith and spread Christ's love. Not all of us, however, all called to quit our jobs, give up our worldly possessions, abandon our friends and family, and move to a remote region of Africa to live out the remainder of life as a missionary among the tribes. There is a much wider spectrum on which we can fulfill Christ's Great Commission.

Living on mission can be simply hosting a backyard bbq for the neighbors on your block, taking a work colleague out for a drink after a long day at the office, or striking up a friendly conversation with a complete stranger at a coffee shop. Meet others on their home turf, and take some time to discover who they are as a person. By making these simple gestures a part of your lifestyle, you are opening the door to endless opportunities to witness to your neighbors through your words, faith, and actions.

As for myself, however, I recognize that despite my best intentions, living as a daily disciple often takes a backseat to all of life's little mini-dramas. I can always find an excuse to put off the ultimate task- i'm too tired, too busy, too stressed. So what would happen if I were to push all these distractions to the wayside and make living the life of a missionary my primary purpose?...That's what I'm about to find out.