Home Stays

After a long overnight on Friday, the team had a few options to choose from on Saturday. Some of us did home stays with a native Czech family and some went to Vienna to tour the city. The group that went to Vienna took off at 4am and arrived safely back in the dorm around 10pm. It sounds like they were able to see a lot of old and beautiful buildings and breath taking scenery, and that it was worth the 10 hours of travel.

As for the home stays, we were split into groups of 2 or 3 and spent the afternoon and night with a few families from the area. Megan, Dustin, and I spent the night at a home in Horni Krupa. We had met the families a few times through church and church related activities. We went to their house for dinner around 9pm after a 2 hour question and answer session at the church in Horni Krupa about America (specifically our school system). Dinner was phenomenal, as always, but the conversation is what made the night a blast. We showed the family where we lived on a globe and talked about our homes and home churches. Our conversation also included a confusing explanation of their names/nicknames, a man who walked from the Czech to Alaska, and what a marriage proposal entails here.

This morning we walked 5 minutes to church with them this morning. Pastor Roman had prefaced today by saying that every 3rd Sunday of the month, is a day when they specifically want their congregation to invite guests and the service will include topics about daily life and only lightly touch on how faith plays into it. They do this so that the guests will not feel overwhelmed with the gospel. For example, this morning was about health and taking care of your body. The speaker was a doctor that related health to where it says in the Bible that our body is a temple and all of the times that someone was healed by God.

This afternoon and this evening are fairly low key. It is a great time to catch up on our journaling and relax from the long week. We are also preparing our hearts and minds as we will be leaving for Poland to visit Auschwitz at 1am this morning. We will be taking a tour of the camp in the morning, potentially touring another city in Poland, and then returning home around midnight Monday night/Tuesday morning.

There have been a few stomach bugs and head colds going around our team, so please be praying for our physical strength. The tour of Auschwitz is something that we are looking forward to, but will be a challenge emotionally and mentally so we also ask for prayer for that. Lastly, we pray for safety as we travel on snow covered roads.

We live through Him and for Him,
~Keri Harbold