Greetings from the Czech Republic!
It’s hard to believe the week is already coming to a close but at the same time it feels like we’ve been here for weeks. We arrived safely in Prague Monday morning and – to our surprise – we had no dishpacks or my guitar! Regardless of the lost luggage, we headed to our hotel to rest up before heading to downtown Prague to see some of the sights and hang out. When we came back…the dishpacks were sitting in the lobby! Unfortunately, no guitar. L We and about 5 other teams from the US and Canada left Prague Tuesday morning on a 5 hour bus ride where we enjoyed more rest and getting to know a couple other people from different teams. There is a team here from Peoria AND St. Charles! This is the term of Illinois for sure. ;)
Training started Tuesday evening and even though the schedule hasn’t been totally full, we have felt weary at times. One HUGE praise is my guitar came in yesterday morning in great condition (though the case was a bit beat up). We’ve had many meetings on camp conduct and English teaching as well as prayer and worship times in the morning and evenings led by our team.
Today is our last day of training then all the other teams will leave Malenovice to their camps and we will stay here to prepare for ours. Which is awesome since we don’t have to travel anywhere we will have all of Friday to chill and prepare for the students which will be coming Saturday afternoon. Classes will start Sunday and go til Friday of next week.
PRAYER
+ This year has held the most responsibility for me in the leadership aspects with music and teaching so pray for endurance. I’m up right now with Laura Tabbut and Steve Rupsis going over our worship sets for tomorrow and writing up hand copies of our camp songs so Elle has something to read on the piano.
+ UNITY Not only for our team but also for our team alongside the Czech team here from Cseski Tesin we’ll be working with.
That’s all for now - I’ll post more this weekend with some pictures hopefully!
Its finally here...
Well, I'm sitting in LAX waiting for my flight to leave for Midway in about 50 minutes. A lot has happened since my last post and I don't think I can go into everything so I'll just go over some small things.
While I was in Cali I met a group of students (mostly students, anyway...) through Dan Powell who met every week to play ultimate. Not only was this a great way to keep me off my lazy bum but God used those times to encourage and prepare me for the project in Czech and the upcoming school year. So, for anyone who was part of that group and reads that -- thank you for your encouragement and time even though I was only here a short while!
This past Thursday Katie, David and I drove up to San Fransisco for a family reunion of sorts. My Grandma (dads mom) turned 80 this week! One of my uncles has a church up there and his oldest son is the worship pastor. Dad was able to sing for the services, and I was able to play drums w/ the worship team which was an awesome experience! And of course, fun. :) I rocked out...haha! Below are a few pics and maybe a video from the weekend.
Once I returned to LA I had a ton of packing to do and pushed my flight to Chicago back a day so I could spend it with my family before leaving because mom has spent a good amount of time in the hospital lately doing tests etc. I soon realized I didn't know where my passport was! This sucked - hands down - not cool. Long story short, I ran downtown to get a copy of my birth certificate so I could apply for a passport in person in Chicago later this week and then at about midnight last night dad told me about a box that never made it to my room when we moved and it was in there! Praise God...again!
So here I am...at LAX. I will be back in the burbs for just a few days. The czech team leaves Sunday afternoon and I'll be gone for almost 3 weeks then straight back to school! I'll update again before we go.
Blessings...
The countdown begins...!
Well July 1st is quickly coming to a close...
Its crunch time.
Before I explain the "crunch" in my time I will give a brief update on what I've been up to these last few weeks. A week and a half ago, after much job-searching and absolutely no avail - I heard about a temp. agency that matches up people with different jobs for short term work (usually a week) and the people just rotate different jobs. This idea was more than perfect for my situation so I checked it out, filled out some forms, and they said they would call by the end of the week. Two days later I had a full-time warehouse job that I could work until I left for Chicago. I even went in to work the same day they called me! Talk about a blessing! Only here for a month and a half and God provides a FULL-TIME job that pays quite reasonably. I think an amen sounds about right.
So, I've been busy working and doing not much of anything else basically.
Last weekend we had one of my moms college friends from Hawaii come visit which was quite nice. Dad and David were in San Fran (dad was covering) for about a week so it was nice to have some peace and quiet around the house.
Then this weekend we had our cousin and his wife along with their beautiful daughter, Aria stay the weekend with us (see pics below). That was great. We've only gotten to see them every other year or so and to be able to have the whole weekend was great. My cousin (Andrew), is a worship leader at my Uncle's church so we had some good talks about worship and theology so that was great. Before I head back to Chicago we will be staying with them (Katie and I, specifically) for a family reunion and I will get to play drums with Andrew in their service which I've gotten to do once before. I'm really looking forward to that weekend!
Flash back to reality... due to dental issues and the immediate need of a crown on the tooth I have come to realize is a direct result of the fall - I will not be going back to Chicago until July 17th. In the meantime I have a bunch of ESL lessons and worship sets to prepare for czech! I'll be back in chicago for 5 days before we take off for Czech on the 22nd. You'll hear more about the trip as time draws near and as I'm away. I'll be getting back August 9th and heading straight to school seeing as classes will have started on the 6th and I'll miss the first week.
PRAYER!
Today Rick Holland spoke in college group on prayer from Colossians 1:9-12. I was challenged to re-examine my own prayer life and avoid vain repetition so that I am talking to God instead of merely repeating lines I have trained myself to say. I've begun to do that more so w/ friends from back home and now I ask you would do the same for me! Some specific things would be...
+ Time management in getting cz lessons and worship sets prepared adequately w/ a full-time job and many, many side projects.
+ That I would make the most of these last few weeks with my family as I will probably not see them again until Christmas.
+ God would humble my heart and focus it even now on what He is doing in the Czech Republic as I ready myself to be a tool for His glory
+ Rest! This Fall I will be taking 16 credits w/ Greek!!! AHHH! Pray for that one especially... haha
+ And finally, for my time back in Chicago. That I would not waste it. That I would use it wisely to prepare even more for the trip and take advantage of the relationships I am able to continue and encourage people through.
Sorry that one was so long. I'll try to post again sooner w/ a shorter tidbit.
Webb
Its crunch time.
Before I explain the "crunch" in my time I will give a brief update on what I've been up to these last few weeks. A week and a half ago, after much job-searching and absolutely no avail - I heard about a temp. agency that matches up people with different jobs for short term work (usually a week) and the people just rotate different jobs. This idea was more than perfect for my situation so I checked it out, filled out some forms, and they said they would call by the end of the week. Two days later I had a full-time warehouse job that I could work until I left for Chicago. I even went in to work the same day they called me! Talk about a blessing! Only here for a month and a half and God provides a FULL-TIME job that pays quite reasonably. I think an amen sounds about right.
So, I've been busy working and doing not much of anything else basically.
Last weekend we had one of my moms college friends from Hawaii come visit which was quite nice. Dad and David were in San Fran (dad was covering) for about a week so it was nice to have some peace and quiet around the house.
Then this weekend we had our cousin and his wife along with their beautiful daughter, Aria stay the weekend with us (see pics below). That was great. We've only gotten to see them every other year or so and to be able to have the whole weekend was great. My cousin (Andrew), is a worship leader at my Uncle's church so we had some good talks about worship and theology so that was great. Before I head back to Chicago we will be staying with them (Katie and I, specifically) for a family reunion and I will get to play drums with Andrew in their service which I've gotten to do once before. I'm really looking forward to that weekend!
Flash back to reality... due to dental issues and the immediate need of a crown on the tooth I have come to realize is a direct result of the fall - I will not be going back to Chicago until July 17th. In the meantime I have a bunch of ESL lessons and worship sets to prepare for czech! I'll be back in chicago for 5 days before we take off for Czech on the 22nd. You'll hear more about the trip as time draws near and as I'm away. I'll be getting back August 9th and heading straight to school seeing as classes will have started on the 6th and I'll miss the first week.
PRAYER!
Today Rick Holland spoke in college group on prayer from Colossians 1:9-12. I was challenged to re-examine my own prayer life and avoid vain repetition so that I am talking to God instead of merely repeating lines I have trained myself to say. I've begun to do that more so w/ friends from back home and now I ask you would do the same for me! Some specific things would be...
+ Time management in getting cz lessons and worship sets prepared adequately w/ a full-time job and many, many side projects.
+ That I would make the most of these last few weeks with my family as I will probably not see them again until Christmas.
+ God would humble my heart and focus it even now on what He is doing in the Czech Republic as I ready myself to be a tool for His glory
+ Rest! This Fall I will be taking 16 credits w/ Greek!!! AHHH! Pray for that one especially... haha
+ And finally, for my time back in Chicago. That I would not waste it. That I would use it wisely to prepare even more for the trip and take advantage of the relationships I am able to continue and encourage people through.
Sorry that one was so long. I'll try to post again sooner w/ a shorter tidbit.
Webb
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