Return to Czech
After 9 months, I returned to my other home.
I have two earthly places I call "home" for the time being, and while I often wish it was easier to travel between the two, there is something about the distance that sweetens knowing someday we will all be in home together in one place in eternity.
I was incredibly grateful to be able to travel back to Czech for one week before my team arrived for our ministry Rekindle week to help ELIM Letovice kick-off the start of their school year. During the week, I intentionally met with 14 different families and reconnected with those friends. I was able to play volleyball with my old team, join in with Bible Dancing, walk some of my favorite trails, bike over 60 miles, and get in LOTS of bunny snuggles with my rabbit who lives with my host family. Even with the full schedule reconnecting, I had time to drop in for most of club time twice in Letovice and also to youth group. Being back felt really natural, and others said that too. It was a joyous time getting to do all the things and see so many of the people who had been such a huge part of my like for over eight years. It was a great reunion.
Rekindle Mission Trip
Our Rekindle Mission Trip is a small group of young adults who take a week to serve in Letovice and Boskovice to help ELIM kick-off the start of the school year. We hit the ground running for the week of ministry as we go into the local schools, help lead after-school clubs, and ending the week with a big party! The goal is to "rekindle" the spark in the kids to come to events at ELIM and also to encourage the leaders as they gear up to serve the community in the school year.
We were in a total of four schools, and regularly taught the whole day! Teachers wanted all their students to have an opportunity to learn from native English speakers. I was so proud of this team and the lessons they created, the flexibility they had as the class sizes and ages jumped all over the board during the week, and the way they shared God's love with their presence in these schools. Many children were invited to after-school clubs and the big Birthday Party at the end of the week, and we are so grateful for each of the kids we were able to encourage and connect with ELIM ministries this week.
After-school clubs only grew during the week as we met more and more students in the schools. Our team brought some familiar and new games to play with these students. At about the half-way point during clubs, we would pause the activities to share with the kids a testimony from one of the American team members followed by a short and focused lesson from one of the leaders. The lesson encouraged the students to ask questions, seek answers, and to not just dismiss the idea that they will just follow the crowd when it comes to belief in Jesus. In a primarily atheistic country, this lesson certainly hit home with some youth, and we already started seeing the conversations rooting from these short lessons.
We finished off the week with a huge party to celebrate everyone's birthday! Birthday Party is a long tradition at ELIM, and after COVID, we had wanted to bring in back, and the team last year was able to resurrect this event. The kids were already looking forward to it again this year as they remembered the fun events from the year before. We had many traditional birthday activities like pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, birthday hat decorating, face painting, gifts & prizes, and a clown act! Additionally, one member from our team shared a testimony and another gave a message about the most important gift that any person can receive - the gift of Jesus's sacrifice for our mistakes. It was a full event - we believe about 200 students and 100 adults made an appearance during the night of Birthday Party! I have a huge love for this community, and I am so grateful the ways this team was able to help connect so many people with ELIM!
Youth Group
While talking with many of the junior & senior girls I am close with in Czech, I mentioned this group of 6th graders I get to pour into in America now. I told them, "They remind me of when we used to meet for Connect Club!" As I related these 6th graders to the Bible Study group we had created when they were that age in Czech, these upperclassmen talked about all the experiences they had in Connect Club and how they are some of their favorite memories. I know God had me in their lives in that time for that reason, and now, He has me with these girls back stateside for that reason too. As the two weeks in Czech were coming to a close, I was reflecting on how grateful I was to be back for a visit and reconnecting with all the kids and youth. I also happily greeted a readiness to return to the place God has me now in this season and looking forward to all the ways I get to share His love with this growing group of young ladies!
Toddler Tuesdays
The question of the day is, "why?" These kids are curious learners! One of the the preschoolers in particular is always asking "why", and I love the conversations. In typical toddler and preschooler fashion, the conversation always ends with "no." The two favorite words of little thinkers - why and no.
"Why is that there?"
"It's a basket. It holds things."
"Why?"
"In case there are items the teacher needs for the lesson. Do you want to put something in the basket?"
"No."
"Why is that there?"
"It's a CD player. It's for listening to music."
"Why?"
"To enjoy songs. Do you want to listen to something?"
"No."
"Why is that there?"
"It's a game! It's a mystery box."
"Why?"
"It's for fun. We can play! Do you want to put something in there for me to guess?"
"No."
My favorite conversation with this curious child was during our lesson time as we created owls for a lesson about "whooo loves you? Jesus!" I started the lesson asking the kids to think of lots of different birds God made and the sounds they make. While they had fun coming up with different kinds of birds and the sounds they make, I watched as this inquisitive preschooler formed his question, "But, how did God make the birds?" Instead of just giving an answer, I sat on the floor with him, grabbed a Children's Bible from the shelf behind me saying, "That's a great question! When we have questions like that, we can look for the answers in the Bible. God gave us the Bible for these kinds of questions." Starting at the beginning (knowing the creation story would be the first story in any Children's Bible), I said to the small group, "Look at the pictures and tell me when you see the birds!" I paged through a couple pages and heard them all call "STOP!" I read, "And God spoke and created the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea." I summarized, "So, God spoke, that's how the birds were created." The preschooler then asked, "But why did God make them?"
"The birds have purpose - like to eat insects and things - but I also think God just liked the birds and wanted to make them."
"Why did God like them?"
"God likes all that He creates. He says it's good. Do you like the birds He created?"
"... no."
These little theologians in the making, after creating a fun owl project, went off to play with the couple activities I had pulled out for them. As I was cleaning up the feathers, I heard, "Look! I made a bridge. It's a cross, like the one Jesus died on." I didn't want to miss the opportunity this preschooler had created and said, "You've made the bridge just like Jesus did for us! He reconnected people with God. We can imagine the people on one side of the train tracks and God on the other. And it is through Jesus that people can be with God again." The other toddlers and preschoolers decided we needed God and people for the story, so they lined one side of the tracks with Little People toys. Then, I asked them, "What will we use for God?" Curious myself to see how these kids would picture God, I was beyond impressed when one preschooler grabbed a Sensory Bottle and shook it so the glitter swirled all around. It looked like a galaxy contained in the little bottle. The other kids gave little "oohs and awes" as he placed the bottle on the other side of the tracks saying, "Maybe we can use this for God."
Student Link
We are starting off the new school year also in Student Link and will soon be adding in morning prayer and breakfast times for students before school. Soon, we will start Student Link disciple-making programs for high school students before youth group also. With a couple of the team members from last year now at college, we have new interest and are forming a new team of leaders to work with the kids in this year. I am looking forward to this year and seeing all God will do through this program in the hearts of His children.