Traveling Again...

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Bulgaria.

Someone asked me what is in Bulgaria.

I said Bulgarians.

We're not sure what to expect on this trip.

This trip will be a different one as we are not working with students. It will also be different because we are attending a "vision trip. This means that the coordinators from the states will be touring around the country strategizing on that they need to do to help expand the ministry opportunities in Bulgaria. Also, another focus will be on how to reach the Bulgarian Muslims which is much different then anything else we have done this summer.

Keep us in your prayers as we travel to once again tackle the video/photo task. I am not sure of internet accessibility on this trip, so there may be little to no updating while we're gone, but we will update when we get back.

On another note, time has flown by and we will be leaving in three weeks to start our return to the states. Can you believe it? We're still having a great time and trying to focus on enjoying the remainder of time we have here while trying to get things prepped for our return home (jobs, apt, etc).

-Brittany

What We've Been Up To...

With so much going on, this post will be an attempt to touch of all of it without boring you to tears!

Olomouc went great. The students seemed to really enjoy themselves and their time in the Czech Republic. We really enjoyed our time with them as well. You don't realize how different it really is here sometimes until you are immersed in a group of people from home. It was a really nice break and a really amazing opportunity to be able to work with the IWC. The kids made films through the week, passed out, flyers, and did sports ministry. We mostly documented it and posted onto the website OlomoucLIVE and got the chance to get to know a lot of the kids. One aspect that was really inspiring was the mere fact that Czechs in general do not feel a need for God. This land of cathedrals is a land without a God and without a desire to know a God. Yet, the kids were persistent, encouraging, and strong in their faith.


Immediately after returning from our Olomouc trip we went back to Cesky Krumlov, this time to go camping. We had some rainy weather, actually a lot of rainy weather, but it wasn't too horrible. We spent Saturday raft/canoeing down the Vtala River. Mostly it was canoeing, or floating but at different places they have "rapids." The main purpose of the rapids is to control the flow and height of the river, however they're pretty fun to go down as well, not intense, but fun.


We've also done a little more touring of Prague itself which is always exciting. The more time we spend here, the less touristy we feel, which is always nice. That also means we have been tending to break out of just going to the main areas when we wander around town. We visited Vysehrad which had an amazing view of the city and in general was simply gorgeous. It was a nice way to relax on the weekend. Also, we've returned to the Charles Bridge and Lennon Wall, two of our favorite spots in Prague.



The last major thing we've done recently was visit Terezin. This is a concentration camp northwest of Prague. This particular camp was operated in WWII, but was not an execution camp (although many died there, and many passed through on their way to an extermination camp). It was a very surreal experience. We stood in many of the barracks and rooms where so many people lived- way too many for the size of the room. It was really humbling, and sad, but educational. It's always hard to realize some of the world's past- but lest we forget. On our way out we met Harold. We overheard him saying something along the lines of him being there in 1945. Once we realized he was not joking, we approached him and talked for awhile. Our first thought was that he was a Jewish prisoner at Terezin. However, we quickly learned he was a German who was thirteen in 1945 and was a part of Hilter's youth. He said that he was forced to be in it, and after the war taken prisoner by the Czechoslovakia government. It was really interesting to talk to him, and hear a different side of the WWII story.


So that's the details of what we've been doing the last little bit. Friday we are leaving for Bulgaria on another media trip. We'll be following around and documenting the work that is going on there, and the vast amount of need that exists in Bulgaria for more missionaries. It seems like it will be a good trip, but possibly a little stressful because a lot of details are still unknown.

Please keep us in your prayers as a lot is going on. We'll be arriving in the states in a few weeks and have started looking and applying for jobs, and also looking for an apartment. We're focused on the Nashville area right now for many reasons, but we do feel that is the right direction for us right now- so continued prayer for guidance would be greatly appreciatated!

Lastly, we will be producing a newsletter of sorts when we get back. We want to disperse it to whomever would like to receive it, but especially those who supported us in anyway. If you would like to receive one please let me know! I prefer to email copies rather then print and mail but am willing to do either. You can note in the comments here, or by emailing me at starlight724@gmail.com

Thank you so much for your continued dedication and supporting us while here. You have no idea how much it means to know we have so many people stateside excited for our opportunity here as well as anxious to have us return. We'll see you all soon!

Olomouc

photo: city center of Olomouc

This will be a quick one just to drop in and let everyone know we're in Olomouc, and things are going great. The students arrived safely on Saturday, and we've been here since Thursday focused on making videos, taking photos, and interacting with some American kids.

The basis of the week is interacting with the local people and the students are also making short films that we will be played for the masses on Thursday. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and go visit the site we're "working" on this week for more pictures/videos/stories since I won't have time to upload to my personal flickr until we get back! (and thanks for everyone who already has!!)

www.olomouclive.ceemedia.net

Hulk-Tacos

The art of cooking in another country is not one easily obtained. Tonight was a prime example. I've made tacos many times at home and here. This time we went shopping elsewhere then normal and therefore the taco seasoning was not the usual type. This was a burrito seasoning and a "dressing-sauce" to top the taco with they came together but in two seperate packets. Well, since I couldn't read which was which, I guessed... it didn't look quite right, so I added the other one... and they turned out a little.... green. So tonight was Hulk-Taco night!

For an update of our life here... we're halfway through our time here and it's feeling more and more natural to be here, however somethings from home are dearly missed. It's funny how when you go somewhere you expect to miss certain things... and then you end up missing completely different ones. For example, we ate Kraft mac-n-cheese and it was the closest thing to manna from heaven I've had.

And Dr. Pepper is not the same.

Friday we took a small tour of the castle area as well as Petrin Hill. This was indeed a lot of fun. We didn't get to see everything we wanted to because there's so much to do and we went on a Friday which means it was really busy. However the castle was fun seeing part of the Changing of the Guard, and then at Petrin Hill we climbed the observation tower which was a model of the Eiffel Tower, but smaller then Kings Island's. The view atop the 299 steps was amazing and we got a lot of amazing pictures of the whole city! We also got to ride a Funicular which was....fun (haha) which is a tram that is made to go up and down a large hill/mountain. There was also a really pretty rose garden, check out our flickr for more pictures of this.






On another note, Bryan and I saw another side of the city this past weekend as well. We tried to venture out and see the sites less common, my choice, and it was an adventure. We tried to go to a fountain that had a show that went with music, to a giant metronome, and a few other places. We had a hard time finding them, and if we did, it was a bust. The metronome we didn't find, the fountain looked a little nasty and was expensive, and we saw this "carnival" that was the most pitiful thing I've ever seen. We decided the weekend was a bust for site seeing and to stick with what we know, but we had fun at least.

Thursday we leave for over a week. First we'll be in Olomouc working with International World Changers and we'll be doing videos, photos, journals, etc and posting them on this site. So feel free to check it out. After that we'll be going camping for the weekend possibly back to Cesky Krumlov... not sure yet. Actually once we leave this week, I feel the time is going to start going a lot faster. We'll be in Bulgaria July 25-30 possibly going to Terezin July 19, and trying to visit anywhere else in the time before August 14. So we'll be busy the next little bit.

Please feel free to check out the Olomouc website http://olomouclive.ceemedia.net/ while we're there as that's a prime example of a lot of the work we've been doing while here.