CZECH
Little Linguists
For the final two weeks Little Linguists met in December, we embraced themes surrounding animals with Sea Creatures and Zoo Animals. The toddlers loved all the decorations that enhanced the theme and made it feel like we were really exploring on a safari or in the ocean.
Decorating Treasure Chests and Popping Bubbles
When a birthday celebration left their balloons, I repurposed them to bring dimension in our dramatic play area! The kids loved making the balloons move like waves and looking at all the sea creatures on the backdrop. We also worked on catching some fish!
I always try to find some books to include as I am setting up the space for the toddlers that can relate to the theme. Finding those ways to bring these themes into their world is so important - and teaching them at a young age that books can offer more information, stories, and experiences is so great for growth!
In our final theme about Zoo Animals, we had a lot of fun acting out various animals and lots of animal sounds. In this theme, there is always a lot of matching - finding animals that are the same in toys, books, interactive play cards, and pictures. For this age, I also like to introduce matching animal patterns and seeing how the child may sort some animals that don't completely align with the animal pattern presented. It causes them to think outside of the box and create their own "rules" for the game. I found that even though the lion didn't have the tiger stripes, the toddler sorted the lions on the tiger pattern to keep them with the "big cats", whereas, the spots on the turtle's shell offered a "cheetah print" style and grouped the turtles with the cheetahs. I love watching children this age make deductions and seeing how they will fit the pieces into their game - some toddlers leave the animals that don't match in the box and others find a way for them to be included in the game - adjusting the "rules" accordingly.
Interacting with stacking animals! I loved watching the toddlers clap for themselves after successfully balancing a new animal on the stack!
Matching patterns and exploring animals in books with our craft for the day - binoculars!
Toddler hugs are one of the purest things in the world (because as any teacher or parent can explain, a toddler hug is genuine and is rarely given without full willingness). I loved all the "tackle hugs" this toddler gave on our final day!
Kid's Club - Letovice
To kick off December, our club day included a full Christmas Decoration of the club space! We set up the Christmas tree (and added a "this tree has survived 0 days of toddler destruction" sign after fixing a toppled tree multiple days in a row!), we decked out the room with lights and garland, we framed Christmas pictures the kids drew and added snowflakes to the chalkboard above the snack bar. To finish out the final touches of the decorating, we pulled out the Window Markers and created winter and Christmas scenes that were the cherry on the cake of the decorating day!
Since the start of the school year and our kick-off event to the year, we have noticed a group of 6th graders who come consistently to club on weekdays! They show up in a group and stick around with each other until the bus leaves for the village to where a couple live. It has been really fun to get to know this group of friends and see how they engage with one another and quickly jump into games, art projects, and competitions. Czech surveys say the average age for children in Czech to start smoking is about age 11/12. With the advancements of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products, that starting age is lowering. This is the crucial age for the students to come to our club centers so we can pull them into other activities. I had a deep talk with some of the girls about thinking for themselves and not following the crowd or doing things just because their friends say it is cool. I was happy to be able to chat with the girls about that and share this bit of encouragement with them as they are at such a vulnerable age and wanting to fit in with their peers. Thankfully, they have found a community at clubs with us and are enjoying their time there! (Also, Czech government is trying to pass a law limiting the purchases of energy drinks to 15+ after finding out many younger children are buying these drinks and consuming multiple a day. I am grateful the government is looking into this and concerned for the health of their future generation.)
Art activities that are fun for everyone!
BINGO never fails
Kid's Club - Boskovice
Though our crowd of students in Boskovice are older than those in Letovice, they are kids are heart! It has been really fun to see these students jump into games like BINGO or create their own competitions (my new favorite is getting the Spikeball to bounce off the net and land in a bowl for a candy!). As the evenings get dark quite quickly and all activities were kept indoors instead of using the outdoor space, we are happy the indoor space is large for more movement activities in this season. While talking with some of the students, a couple brought up they felt they have already made too many mistakes to turn their lives around. My heart broke for these kids - one who I have known for many years - to see them without that hope. I shared what hope looks like in my life and how faith has given me that freedom from mistakes. While neither of the students said it was what they want for their lives in that moment, both looked relieved to know that there is an option for that freedom in Christ. They asked questions, were skeptical, but ultimately found encouragement in the conversation, and I was grateful for their openness to share those deeper feelings (and then passed this bit of information to a leader who would be regularly in contact with them in my absence).
I taught youth group the first Friday of December with a theme about the arrival of shepherds at the manger. I shared how the shepherds left immediately to find baby Jesus and appeared before Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus without anything to offer them. That's how we still come to the feet of Jesus - without anything to offer but ourselves. To remember this, we decorated mirrors that I encouraged the students to place under their Christmas Trees to "give themselves back to Jesus" in this holiday season. The younger youth students had to leave for busses at the end of the mirror decorating, but the older youth students and I had lots of fun sharing candy, chocolate, popcorn, fries, and ice cream throughout the evening as we played games and talked! (Yes, it was not the most nutritious "snack" but we worked with what we had for the evening.)
Goodbyes
This season was like one I had never experienced. There were many joyous moments of reflection on the past eight and a half years and while looking to the future of how this ministry will continue to grow, while also many difficult goodbyes (or "see you laters" as one friend accurately insisted).
As I move into an itinerant missionary position that will include ministry in both the USA and Czech, I am excited for all the ways God has already shown the connection between these two places. I am still figuring out how everything will look, but the current plan is to return to Letovice 2-3 times a year to encourage their team while also maintaining the relationships with students I have mentored to be a support for them from afar (I truly believe this is what my youth need during this next season to give them the support and still the space so they can succeed). Furthermore, I will be continuing in ministry in the USA to jump into more discipleship opportunities with my team for Student Link (a disciple-making outreach through my organization, Global Link Partners) as well as helping team trainings for our regular teams going to Letovice as they need my assistance. I will also be volunteering in other areas of ministry and looking into ways I can further connect Czech and USA ministries. In today's society with connections being at the tips of our fingers, there are so many ways I can continue to encourage and mentor those I have been in contact with over these years, and I am grateful to God for this continuation in mission.
My volleyball group that I joined regularly
Our Christmas event with our team and youth - and they honored the work I had done so memorably. Throughout the final weeks of my time in Czech, I continued through all my normal activities and tried keeping things as normal as I could. There are so many gifts God gave me in this ministry, and it was the regular, normal activities that I continually found joy in. Watching many of these kids grow through those years of the regular activities is one of the greatest blessings.
Due to international travel laws, there were too many risks and restrictions to bring my dear bunny companion with me to the USA. We've done seven years of life together (a stunning age already for this rescued "farm rabbit"), and I never expected how attached I'd grow to him. He's with a wonderful family now, and they take such good care of him! Here are some pictures of our last day together.
A friend recently told me something along the lines of, "If all of this was only so you could grow closer to God, then it was already worth it. And the fact that you have seen such fruit from your answer to God's calling is evidence of the overflow that you focused first on God in you." Praise Jesus.
USA - Some highlights of time with family and friends
As I was traveling back to the states, I had two sets of aunts and uncles (and two cousins) also arriving back on the same date from their mission fields! One aunt and uncle were even on my last flight! We all came back to the cold north and enjoyed the holidays together. I have loved meeting up with friends as I have been back and feeling encouraged in this time of transition and have been easing myself back into American lifestyle.
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