Prague Trip with 20somethings

Randy’s May 2009 Update

Prague, The Czech Republic

 

The Prague mission trip went well.  It’s probably best to tell through pictures.

 

Prague is beautiful.

And…the Czech Republic has one of the least religious populations in all of Europe.

During the 40 years of Communist rule, religion was virtually outlawed, and churchgoing was strongly discouraged.  Today, the majority of Czechs classify themselves as either atheist or agnostic.

 

Heroes of Faith:

On our trip, we partnered with three Christian Czechs/Heroes who are trying to make a difference in their homeland.

Vitech                                  Anna                         and                     Stepanka

They work through an organization called “Teen Challenge” and are trying to reach out to the Romani/gypsy children in the city.

I came to admire these three Czech nationals.  They are working hard, with very little support or encouragement, to make a difference in these children’s lives.  It appears to be a very slow process, with unknown long-term results, due to this countries spiritual climate.

 

How We Served:

Our team of fifteen (mostly 20somethings) assisted and encouraged these three by serving with them as they ran their after-school programs for the children.

 

 

We also prepared an outreach event for children in a city park…

 

… and we worked on a construction project called the “House of Hope” – a building that will serve as a foster home for gypsy children when their parents are unable to take care of them (due to jail time, drugs, abuse, etc.).

The House of Hope will also serve as a place to hold the Teen Challenge after-school programs, where these young people can learn about God and hear about Jesus’ love for them.

 

 

Vitech has been working on this house all alone for about four years.

 

 

 

Promotional Video:

While we were there, one of the team members was working on a video to help bring more awareness about what these folks are doing in Prague.

To artistically capture the environment these children are growing up in, the videographer wanted an opening scene showing Vitech walking in front of a wall covered with graffiti (which was plentiful).  Vitech would then start spray painting graffiti on a wall.  The camera would pan back to see that the graffiti said “House of Hope“.  A further pan back would show the graffiti on the actual House of Hope.

Trouble was, they weren’t sure how they were going to spray paint the graffiti on the house.  Who could they find who could spray paint graffiti on a wall?

 

Randy Goes Ghetto:

I got to do my first graffiti job –  all for the glory of God!

Now I wanna do more!

If you’re interested, check out a video of the graffiti/construction in process:

 

Prague // Day 4 Update from Axis on Vimeo.

 

 

Randy tries to enter the culture and learn the most important words of the language:

In attempting to maintain a learner’s heart and a beginner’s mind, I wanted to learn the most important words in the Czech language…and culture.  After some in depth investigation, here’s what I learned:

The most important word I learned was “pivo”, which means “beer”!

The second most important word I learned was “na zdravy” (nah z-drah-vee), which means “to your health” when drinking beer!

When you say “na zdravy”, you are to touch glasses with each of your companions while looking them in the eye.  If you don’t make eye contact it is a sign of severe disrespect.  You must do this with everyone at the table.

From what I read afterwards, as everyone at the table reaches to clink their glasses with each other, if any two people’s outstretched arms intersect in any way, the two will suffer seven years of bad luck in the bedroom.  Dang!  Why didn’t someone tell me this before the trip?  How many more years of bad luck in the bedroom can one  single guy stand?

Lastly, you touch your glass to the table before lifting it to your mouth.  Apparently, if you don’t do this, it will go even worse for you than the seven years of bad luck in the bedroom. I don’t even want to imagine the horrors that could befall those people.

 

In Closing:

 

The trip was beautiful…

 

 

…and hard.

 

I felt a lot of uncomfortable internal stuff on this trip – as my heart grew for these people and as I faced deeper layers within myself that are still in need of loving transformation, as God continues his re-construction work on my inner chambers.

I truly believe everyone should go on a mission trip at least once in their lifetime – preferable periodically.

Each trip I’ve been on has been impacting in some way, especially those that have allowed me to be with the poor in transformational ways.

I’m so pleased these 20somethings are taking trips like this.  I trust that God will use trips like this to shape and form himself in them in ways that will impact their love relationship with him and the trajectories of their lives.

I believe it will impact the way they view the world, how they engage and interact with the poor and disenfranchised and others who are different from themselves, how they partner with God in dealing with the difficult problems that face our broken world, and how they choose to interact with people in loving ways that hopefully facilitate intimate union with God.

I applaud these young people for taking the risk of stepping outside their comfort zones and paying the cost to go on a trip like this.

Thank You’s:

Special thanks to my Dad, who provided funding for travel.

Thank you all for your prayers, encouraging words, and support.

I feel very blessed to have you on my team, especially after seeing the people serving in Prague with so little encouragement and community.

In His Love,

Randy