Charles and the Russians

As we enter into our second full week of cultural adaptation we are once again looking back at our lack of travel experience...and surprise success. It is amazing the ways God provides for us and the people He brings into our lives and how the best laid birthday plans sometimes fail...only to exceed expectations in the end. We, once again, started the weekend off with an excursion into the city. This weekend our destination was Charles Bridge and a bite to eat. After crossing the historic bridge and satisfying our cravings for carbs in the form of bagels and drip coffee, we admired the architectural beauty of Prague's cultural history. Arriving home after a busy day, we decided to plan out fun events for Regina's birthday on Sunday. Our plans, however, were altered quite a bit after calling Paster Gennadiy, the contact we are working with. Consequently, we found out church does not start till 3 pm and would go to at least 7 pm. Promptly changing our plans to fit the new schedule, we decided to celebrate Regina's birthday in the form of a brunch at the expat bookstore and cafe, The Globe. After a delicious meal of blueberry pancakes, eggs, bacon and, of course, coffee we prepared to meet the congregation we would be interacting with. The church is Czech Brethren composed primarily of Russian and former Soviet bloc immigrants. The services are conducted in Russian with an adult service and a youth service. We met some very nice young adults that spoke English and translated for us. It was exciting to meet more people and continue building relationships. I (Regina) am continually amazed at the universality of the Lord's Supper. It was a blessing to share the Bread and Cup with our Russian brothers and sisters.

After the service ended the church held their annual meeting. Two hours later, we found ourselves sitting in a McDonald's eating chicken nuggets and learning all about Russia from two young adults. It was a great evening spent learning about each other's cultures and digging play dough out of a Scooby-Doo mummy. Needless to say, there was a lot of laughter shared all around. It was a wonderful, if unexpected, birthday celebration.

Finally, one of the activities Lena will be leading during her time here is language study with the youth three times a week. She will be brushing off some of her English conversation techniques from Korea for these classes. Regina is knee deep in her intensives and is enjoying studying Anabaptism and reading Stuart Murray's "Post-Christendom" for her final thesis. As always, prayers are appreciated and felt. Thanks for your support.