Highlights...

Here's a couple glimpses of my life here over the past few weeks.  Enjoy!

My lovely students (and Herbert, the snake)

Doing what they do best :)

We had the best P.E. class this past week! Kristin's cousin is a gymnast, and she graciously offered to demonstrate various skills in gymnastics for our students.

They had a blast traveling to each station and learning to use the equipment!

TeachBeyond dinner at Ben's house. Great time of fellowship and good food!

Night tour of the castle and monastery by my Czech friend Tomas, who happens to be a tour guide!

My roommate Kristin joined a Czech lacrosse team, so we went to support her at a Saturday game.

I had never seen a lacrosse game before, much less one in another country and culture! 

Me, Andrea, and Becca at the game. (with Kim in the background)

Becca snapping photos with her fancy camera.

Beautiful picture of Prague from the Prague Castle grounds.
 I took this picture after attending morning mass at the cathedral there.
It was quite interesting since the whole service was in Czech.
 I took my cues from those standing around me about when to stand, sit, or sing. 

My student Seung Hyun is quite good at the piano.  I gave him a couple chord sheets
to practice at home so he could play for our morning worship time together.
Such a joy to hear him play it for us, especially when I heard his mom say that
she really enjoys hearing him practice this song!

Our chaplain was gone one week, so I helped lead music for chapel.  My 5th graders and I taught the elementary students "I'm in the Lord's Army" with some fun versions and motions 

Leading "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High" with sign language

Testing citrus fruits and juices for Vitamin-C

Thanks to my roommate's family who came to visit, my mom was able
to send me a suitcase filled with winter clothes and other goodies!

Christmas in October!!! So thankful for all these fun gifts! :)

A few Dutch students who are studying to become teachers
came to our school to observe.  They sang us some songs before they left,
including "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in Dutch!

They finished with a song about the Lord.
It is crazy to think I was in their position just a short time ago!

There are many more events and experiences that I could share, but for now I will close by saying that I am enjoying my time here in Prague so much.  I am humbled by the opportunity and responsibility to teach these children, and I am continually asking the Lord for more wisdom and strength to do my job with excellence.  You may pray that I will daily be reminded my main purpose for being here- not getting the curriculum done, planning the perfect lesson, or all my students earning A's.  I am here to preach Christ, with my words and my actions, something I am completely inadequate for, but God is able to accomplish!

Two Schools, One Vision

Today we took our 33 elementary students to visit Elijas Krestankska Zakladni Skola, a Christian Czech school in Prague.  Although our schools speak different languages and represent different cultures, our vision is the same- to share Christ with our students.  The Lord truly blessed our day together.  It was so awesome to see the students interact with one another, and I look forward to many more meetings like these in the future!  Here are some snapshots of the day...

First we took the metro...

Leaving the metro for our bus stop

Next we all crammed into this bus

Fortunately it was just one stop.
We were a little loud for the other passengers, I must confess

Fellow teachers and roommates :)

Elijas Krestankska Zakladni Skola

We all gathered in the gym to start the day.
CISP on one side...

Elijas Krestankska on the other side

They planned a little competition between teams.
Each team had a captain from Elijas Krestankska.
We traveled from station to station, completing tasks to earn points.
I traveled with this group: Team Samuel and our captain, Adam (the boy in the green shirt in the front) 

Their first task was to match European countries with their flags
and to find them on a map of Europe

Each task was difficult because not everyone could communicate with each other.
(including myself and the teachers!) 

Here they had to sort and match Czech words and English words from the Bible.

Next they went through an obstacle course in the gym

Fortunately for this part, they paired up English-speakers and Czech-speakers.
They were supposed to get to the end blindfolded without touching
any of the equipment while their partners told them which direction to go

They finished with shooting some hoops

This station was one of my favorites.
This teacher taught them how to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It"
in Czech and English.  I loved watching the Czech students own the verses in Czech
and then our students belt out the English verses.  I enjoyed singing with them, even though
I stumbled through the Czech verses. (I still have no idea what exactly the words were!)

At this station, the students drew a pair of animals that could be found on Noah's ark.

                                       

The finished results of all the students' drawings!

The final station involved ordering a story and reading it.
Each sentence alternated between English and Czech.

My student, Seung Hyun, is reading his statement in Czech.

We finished our day at Elijas Krestankska at the playground 

We have limited playground equipment at our school,
so our students really enjoyed this part of the day

I am so thankful for a wonderful day at Elijas Krestankska!  Thank you to those who prayed for this day.  The results were new friendships between students, strengthened relationships between teachers, and a renewed desire in my heart to learn to speak Czech!  Please begin praying for next month when the Czech students come visit our school, that we may be a blessing to them as they were to us today!