God is Good - All the Time

This has been an incredible weekend! Saturday We went to Podebrady on a bus (about a 55 min bus ride) which is a smaller city east of Prague. Several things made the day memorable. First the weather was absolutely gorgeous - the best day weatherwise we have had in some time. Also, we saw the most beautiful grass - which is something Prague does not have. See the picture below to verify the beauty of the grass in the park we walked along. We spent just three hours there but enjoyed the time greatly. Podebrady is know for two things - crystal and a mineral springs. Liz found some great bargains on crystal and we tried out the mineral water which tastes something like sprite. The park that bordered one of the shopping streets was lovely to behold. It certainly reflects man's desire to maintain the beauty of God's creation and it was very soothing to our souls.

We like to shop in the smaller towns as the prices may be only one third of those in Prague, so the cost of travel is negated by the savings on items purchased.

Sam, our new friend from K-State and Topeka area went with us. We are getting much better at traveling around the Czech Republic and were able to make connections from and to Podebrady without too much trauma. There is always some trauma from the fog affect (which means we can't read, talk, understand the signs, are not familar with the geography, etc.) which keeps us always guessing what we are about.

Sam and Liz did the shopping, John took the pictures while they shopped and browse the crystal stores. In a small town, all the shops close by noon - some earlier. We left home about 8:00 AM to get to the bus station for the 8:45 bus - where we were to meet Sam at 8:25. We figured out which bus to board after about ten minutes of guess work and "reading" various signs. The bus was quite nice and gave a comfortable ride except for one stretch of road when we could imagine we were on a very bad stretch of I70 in Missouri!

We of course took our dog JJ with us on this journey. All Czechs seem to have dogs. Nearly all the dogs here are purebreds who are lavishly cared for. They all seem to be immaculately groomed and the behaviour of the dogs in Prague is amazinig. As numerous people walk their dogs along the street, the seldom bark at each other. If the owner goes into a shop, the dog may be tied outside the shop - or the dog may just be taken off the lease and he/she will just lie down and wait for the owner to reappear. Dogs ride on the metro, the trams, the buses, and are everywhere.

Our dog JJ is quite well behaved, but not at the top of the class when compared to other dogs here. JJ always wants to eat and always wants to play with other dogs he sees on the street. You can see JJ finishing up his cake and note the empty cup of hot chocolate beside him. He has very discriminating tastes in food and drink and can be seen at the finest restaurants in Prague and other towns. Also JJ always stops to greet other dogs and to inquire of their interests and well being. JJ is quite a social animal!

The park contained several statues, benches, covered areas for gathering. The trees are turning brilliant colors and falling rapidly. It is common to see people raking leaves along the streets and in the parks at this time of year. Lots of the streets in Prague are lined with trees - but there is very little grass.

We found many interesting people on our Podebrady outing. The gnome below was very helpful in giving us directions concerning travel and JJ and he became good friends.

You can see from the pictures that it was a lovely warm day - I hope we have several more just like Saturday - but tody, Sunday, it is quite grey and cooler. Not a good omen of the week to come perhaps, although the forecast is to have temperatures in the 50s this week. The key will be how much the sun shines.

Sunday came early for Liz. She got up just before 5:00 AM and started working on school stuff. Somehow I managed to sleep until about 6:30 before the smell of coffee woke me up. We were off to church about 10:30 and again we amazed at the wonderful and inspiring service at the International Baptist Church of Prague which we have been attending. The English language servied is held in a quite small sanctuary that has wonderful acoustics. The singing during worhsip is truly amazing. Voices of many tribes, tongues, and ethnic groups blend into a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Our choir is dominated by Africans. We are so grateful for the early American and European missionaries who sacrificed to live on the African continent when life was difficult and amenities were few. The fruit of their labors is assuredly evident in Prague today. Many of the Africans from different countries are leaders in the church.

We spoke with Alice from Tanzania this morning and hope to get together with her to mutually (Liz and Alice) cook some Tanzanian food - I am looking forward to this! Pastor Gareth is from Wales and always gives a hard hitting and elegant teaching. His delivery is always upbeat and he emphasizes the scriptures and God's expectations for His people. We have one of the best bongo players in the entire nation I am sure. Lauren is a sophomore at our school and her playing puts true life into our worship. She has spent most of her life in the Czech Republic. Our pianist is a concert pianist from Japan. He daughter and the son of a Baptist missionary play guitars. Worhip is led alternately by an American and an African (I don't remember her country of origin).

I have been having trouble with one of our computers - it would not connect to our network at home. So this afternoon I took it to a nearby restaurant with wi-fi. This was the last place I was able to connect to the internet, so I thought it might work there and I could download drivers fort the network connection. However I was unsuccessful in making any progress on the internet connetion at Wings - the restaurant.

Fortunately I heard English being spoken at a table adjacent to me and decided to boldly ask for help -something we are getting better at here because of the fog. Two young men, Dennis and Peter, were very helpful and after about 30 or 40 minutes of trying various solutions I was able to connect to the internet. God is good.

I talked to Dennis and Peter a little to find out why they were in Prague as I sensed they were not Czechs. How small this planet is. Dennis is from Overland Park, KS! Peter is from Stockholm, but he spoke with no accent and sounded halfway between an American and an Englishman. Dennis graduated from the same high school as our children, Gretchen and Trevor. One of his uncles worked at the OP Police Department where I used to work.

Peter's ancestors were from the Czech Republic and his grandmother lived on the same street that we live on. Dennis's ancestor's came from Turkey and emmingrated to Germany. His mother married an American serviceman and then emmigrated to the US with her husband. She now lives in OP. Dennis is going to school in Berlin as he can matriculate for virtually no cost there whereas in the US it would cost tens of thousands for his schooling. Peter is just traveling around the world for a year - though he is still working remotely at his job. He is in Prague for three months to learn or brush up on the Czech language.

Friday afternoon a technician from our internet service provider came and installed a new broadband modem and now our internet connection seems solid and infinitely faster than it had been for the previous month. Since I had left school early already, I decided to go to the English meat market that I had heard about.

Liz and Rebekah are going to cook a Thanksgiving meal for us, but my job is to procure the turkey. I inquired about reserving a turkey for us, but was advised by the Enlishman behind the counter that he could not guarantee me a small enough turkey to fit into our tiny overn. So I decided just to order a two kilo turkey breast. But in ordr to test the quality of their turkey and to ensure great meals for us this weekend, I bought a one kilo turkey breast.

We ahd invited a couple with a young son over and an American from Olomouc who is also with IICS. The couples son became ill and they could not come, but we had a great turkey meal with Donny on Saturday night. Donny is from Georgia so we optimistically watched the Geogia v, Florida football game on NASN (our version of ESPN). It was rather a let down for Donny as Florida ran all over Georgia.

We had plenty of turkey left over, so Sam and Rachel ate with us and we almost finished the turkey. I just had a turkey sandwich for dinner and only one small slice remains. All-in-all it has been a very good weekend where God continually showed up to meet our needs - physical, emotional and spiritual. We could not ask for more.