Visa Update

Sometimes, things just work out. 

To get our visa, we had to visit a Czech Embassy in another country. We had been working with this company that arranges these things and they sent us to Vienna. Believe it or not, this was less complicated than going to D.C. to get it done. 

We submitted the papers and everything went smoothly! We will be receiving the visa in the standard wait time. What a wonderful blessing that was today! We'll take that win. Thanks very much to everyone that prayed for us. 

Below is a picture of the Czech Embassy in Vienna.

Now the ride home, on the other hand, was a bit of a mess...

More on that next week in a blog entitled, "No one knows how to stand in line here."

Love and Basketball

You guys ever see that movie called Sophie's Choice? Well it's about a woman who has to make an impossible choice between two things she loves dearly. That's where we were at the end of January. (Apologies to Omar Epps, for stealing the title to his year 2000 classic of the same name.)

The last basketball season we had was nothing short of a dream season. We very nearly were conference champions and even won a playoff game in the state playoffs. There was certainly more to it than that, but I've delved into that in other formats. 

So we were faced with this decision: how do you know when to leave something you love to go do something you love? 

It sounds like a win-win doesn't it? Stay and do what you love or leave and do what you love. It's not as simple as that though. Since we began living this way, it seems like there is always someone or something that we are leaving behind. We're always stepping in and out of people's stories. I feel like I should get a tattoo of a square peg trying to fit into a round hole and write the phrase "my life" under it. (Probably on my lower back, you know, some place special and classy.)

So how did we make this choice? Well, as you can see from the last post, once we began to look into it, the choice got made pretty quickly. Basically, we decided to put our "yes" on the table. This is a term our pastor uses often, meaning that we would be open to staying or going. We talked, we prayed, we sought the council of friends and family, and this is where we ended up. 

It was the right choice, for sure. But I will always miss basketball and the sense of family it provided for us. I am glad that it will be in good hands this season. Makes the choice a little less Sophie's, and a little more bearable. 

Next time: The first weeks in Prague!

Reboot, Part Two

With our sites firmly set on London, we began contacting GCI members there to see what our next steps would be. As we made our connections, Prague came up several times in various conversations. What's that old saying? Twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern? We began to see a pattern forming. It may be best to number the events. All of following events happened within about two weeks of each other. 

1. Our contact to find out about getting visas for London was currently living in Prague. 
2. He had a lead on an anti-trafficking effort out of a church in Prague.
3. The church mentioned above was the same one we attended while were living in the city. 
4. The same week, I was contacted by Arabska, the school I worked at in Prague. 
5. She mentioned that there was a job available there for an English teacher. I was intrigued.
6. Tonya was contacted by a student that she had done one on one English lessons with while we were there. This student had not contacted her for months.
7. We reached out to our former regional director about jobs there. She again mentioned the Arabska job and also directed us to the same anti-trafficking that GCI had recommended. 

At this point, we were just kind of stunned. I never thought we'd live in Prague again.  But as we began to pray for guidance, it became clear that Prague was where we were going. 

Now the only thing left for us to do was begin to end again. Ending another tour at Grace meant ending our basketball career again. That was going to hurt. 

Next time: Love and Basketball

Reboot, Part One

It was the fourth or fifth of February in 2014. That was the day when we knew our first mission in Prague was over. Our organization sent out an email that confirmed a suspicion we had had for a few months: it was closing. We had been praying for guidance as we orchestrated a trip to the U.S. with the Czech students. We were hoping for some type of clarity that would reveal what we would be doing next. It was not necessarily the answer we were looking for, but it was certainly a clear answer.

By the fall of 2014 we had returned to the friendly confines of our old school and even settled into doing basketball again like before. Tonya worked on getting a master's degree and I worked on paying for it. We knew that we were going to be looking into going overseas again, so we began attending conferences and meetings for those who were internationally minded.

Early in September of 2016, Tonya and I made the decision to officially look into going overseas again. Our church introduced a program entitled the Global Cities Initiative. Through this program we decided to look closely at London, since it was closer to Central Europe than any of the other cities listed. We felt like we could be the most effective in this environment.

So with "London Calling" in the background, we began to slowly proceed. We had no idea what was coming next.

Lessons from Overseas

Here is a list of some of the things we've learned throughout our time here. 

*School sports don't exist in some parts of the world. 

*Cooking takes twice the time when you have to translate and convert everything. Not to mention cooking from scratch.

*You don't have to have a closet full of clothes to have decent outfits to wear. Scarves work really well to change things up and it's actually quite freeing to not have to sift through so many choices.

*Sometimes you have the most in common with the least likely person in a room (like the time a Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian felt the same amount of out of place). 

*Grass is still grass no matter what side of the fence (or ocean in this case) you are on. You can choose to be content or to stay dissatisfied regardless of where you live. Life is hard no matter where you are. 

*People are all looking for the same things in life: love, acceptance, hope, peace, etc. regardless of status, money, or race.

*The church truly is global (it's not simply a building, but a group of people joined together for one purpose). I love attending a church with people from Africa, Asia, Australia, and all parts of Europe. 

*It's nice living in a small, one bedroom apartment. You don't actually need extra bedrooms "just in case" for the once a year or more visitor, or to fill with items you don't really want, use, or need. Besides, it's way easier to clean!

*Taxes-It's so nice to shop and know exactly how much everything costs (because the tax is already included) without having to guesstimate. Get with it America!

*Everyday tasks can take twice as long and be super frustrating when you don't know the language. Ever tried using a computer program in a different language? All of a sudden Microsoft is something you've never used before. Twice I somehow minimized the internet screen to about an inch and had no idea how I did it or how to fix it. I constantly get the z and y keys mixed up because they are switched in Czech. 

*Sometimes a doctor visit involving ENT doesn't include your temperature being taken or your ears being checked. Doctor visits were one of the worst experiences of living overseas. I am positive that that's not always the case but it certainly was for us. 

*You never know what is REALLY going on in someone's life, unless you take the time to show them that you really care and want to help.

*Family is not necessarily flesh and blood. We have met some people here who have become some of  the most important people in the world to us.

*Living in a constant state of things being out of your immediate control causes you to either become a crazy person or seriously flexible. At times we were a little bit of both. We had to be flexible with our teaching schedules all the time. Classes would get canceled, added, or moved weekly and sometimes every day. Using public transportation causes you to be flexible with travel plans and meeting times.

*One of my favorite "small" things about living overseas has been getting paid in cash. At first it was super weird. We kind of felt like we were part of the mob or something. We don't have a bank account here and we don't use debit cards at all. This has been a major blessing in disguise. We have been able to save so much more simply because we saw the money that was leaving our hands.

*This isn't a big shocker to anyone I'm sure, but one of the things we realized in a more real way I guess, was portion sizes. We noticed it the most after living here a year and then visiting the U.S. again last summer. It is crazy how much gets served for one meal in America.

*Something that we have grown to hate about Europe is paying for bathrooms. It can be very difficult to find a free bathroom when you're out and about. Needless to say we quickly memorized those that were available and planned our trips accordingly. Who wants to pay upwards of 50 cents every time they have to use the bathroom? By the way, water is rarely free at restaurants.

*The Czech Republic has some of the most well behaved dogs we've ever seen. Dogs will often stop at a red light without a leash and wait for their owner to give the go ahead to cross the street.

*Our map skills have grown immeasurably. When google maps isn't available,  you don't speak the language, and you have no hope of help, you quickly figure out how to navigate using an old fashioned paper map and memorizing your route becomes a cinch.

*Air conditioning: I have to say that I both appreciate and at the same time can't stand air conditioning more than ever before.  We don't have an air conditioner and for the most part we haven't needed one. With the exception of about a month or two we wouldn't have wanted an air conditioner. Having said that, we have literally had times where we went to the movies just to beat the heat (a lot of buildings and public transport don't have AC). The reason I say that I can't stand air conditioning is because it is overused in all of North America. Even when AC is used here, it is just enough to take off the edge, it is not an Arctic temperature drop. I shouldn't have to have a winter jacket on the ready in the middle of the summer just to enter a building.

These are just a few of the things we have learned about life overseas. I will say, it has been an unforgettable, life-altering experience. 

Universal

A couple of weeks ago, we were able to be a part of a get together that featured a very interesting mix of people. There were four Americans, two Nigerians, a Russian, a Brit, a Malaysian couple, and one Czech. The best part about the gathering for me was the topic: peace. Our Czech leader was discussing some Bible verses about how to have peace during troubled times. The group was comprised of mostly university students who were right in the middle of exam week, so finding peace was a spot on subject.

The mix of nationalities was so wonderful to see because it showed me again just how universal the gospel really is. No one is excluded. All are welcome. 

It was very encouraging to see this young Czech woman speaking so passionately about her relationship with Christ. So many of the Czechs I have spoken with view Christianity as only an American belief. It is nice to see first hand that it is not. Christianity is for anyone who will believe. 

Z for Zombie!

Prague can be a very fun city to visit and live in. Take last weekend for example. There was a citywide zombiewalk being held in the center of downtown. If you know me at all, you know I love me some zombies. The opportunity to dress up and frighten tourists is too fun to be missed. I have done it two years in a row now, and this year was definitely more fun due to the weather and the media coverage. 

We were able to have a good time with some good friends and blow off some steam. Even though Prague is very enjoyable to live in at times, it can also be a real challenge. Doing something outside of the box occasionally helps make the rough days a little less rough. Plus, zombies are cool. 

This is an ad for the event.