For the past two weeks, every time I think about writing this blogpost, I hear that annoying little rabbit from Alice in Wonderland singing... "you're late, you're late..." So, finally I have a chance to sit down and write. I've been back in Minnesota for just over a week and am soaking up the time with my family and a few friends. My Minnesotan friends and family have stated that I radiate energy and joy as I begin talking about all God is doing through ELIM in Czech. There is always so much to praise God for - especially when I see His love touching the lives of these students!
Here are a few "flashback" stories from last month in Czech.
With the skatepark in our club backyard, the kids have taken advantage of the ramps as the fresh snow provides slick ramps for sliding. We had many wet "snowmen" show up in the the clubhouse once the sun set and the tracks were no longer visible outside. Often, this time of year, the snow comes and melts by the morning sun, so the kids are quick to experience the most of the new snow when they can.
One of the ways we, as the ELIM team, bring up new leaders is through a program we call "half-leaders." Students can be half-leaders when they turn 14 if they show interest in helping to lead activities at club, assisting younger club kids, and being a part of our clean-up team during and after club. Many of our current half-leaders are getting older and are becoming busier with other activities, limiting their time to help at club, so we reached out to the next group of 14 year olds. We found that this group has more students than we have ever commissioned in as half-leaders before! So, we asked them to do something we had never done before - write a short paragraph describing why they want to be a half-leader. The response back was amazing as many of these young teenagers described how they want to be a leader for others and how ELIM has been an influential part of their life. Helping these students discover and build upon their leadership skills is one of the things I look forward to most, and with this large group, we will have a lot of fun watching all the strengths develop!
We had a combined Youth Group/Boskovice Club sleepover the weekend before I flew back to Minnesota. Since many of these kids are older, I had mistakenly thought they would all be worn out from the week at school and would simply watch the movies and dose off to sleep. Some of them did - mainly our older half-leaders, but nearly all the students stayed awake all night! However, they were excellent listeners and mainly just wanted to spend the night whispering with friends. Only a couple times I had to remind them to be quiet and said, "the half-leaders are sleeping... they are not going to be happy if you wake them up!" Agreeing to stay quiet to keep the half-leaders asleep was our united front. No one wanted to upset the sleeping, tired teenagers!
These students in my Kid's English Class is maybe the brightest group of students that I have had in class before, but they are also the most easily distracted! I love challenging these students and encouraging them to build upon their English knowledge, and it is a challenge for me as I consider new ways to change the lessons and draw in their attention more. Often, the students want to try translating for themselves and some enjoy being leaders for the class. My translators have started saying, "you don't need me for this class... they translate themselves!" However, their attendance in the class is vital as I regularly rely on the translators not only for translating, but also for helping students more individually who may get "lost" or distracted in the lesson. I am excited for how much MORE will learn in this second half of the school year.
The Littles did a lesson about the Christmas Tree. On the first weekend in December, the city decorates and lights a large Christmas Tree in the center of the city square. It is an exciting event for the toddlers to see the large forest tree become decorated with lights and ornaments. During our class time, we sang a song about all the different colored lights on the tree and painted our own Christmas Trees to hang up at home. Some of the Littles had painted and decorated their paper tree so much that there was hardly any green left showing underneath!
After a full week of jumping between classes and club, I love ending the week with youth group - playing team building activities, worshiping together, and participating in the program time. I am excited for all God is doing through these youth students and all they are learning about His love.
One of my favorite new traditions since moving to Czech is celebrating Thanksgiving with a group of my friends! The part of this tradition that I really love is that even though it is an American holiday, my friends have adopted this tradition as their own and look forward to it as much as I do.
A couple weeks before I left for Minnesota, I was talking with one little 10-year-old friend, and we were talking about how one day we would like to start a Bible Study with the girls. My little friend was really excited about the idea and asked if we could start the Bible Study the following Friday! Thankfully, one of my good friends volunteered to help with the Bible Study and translate when needed. On the first day, we were both surprised that seven little girls showed up at my house to start Bible Study together! By the second time we met, a couple girls had invited a couple friends, and our little group is growing. We have been studying how God has created us individually and wants us to love Him.
Watch this short video about Clubs in Boskovice and Letovice and clips from my Littles and Kid's English Classes.