Yellow Fields and a Bird

The other day I was praying with Nela, one of the youth in our youth group and we saw this bird fly out from the bushes and in front of us. I was intrigued by it and wanted to know what kind of bird it was, but couldn't find information about it. Our friend from Canada was here visiting and when we were in St. Barbara's Cathedral she pointed out to us this bird that is used as a symbol of Christ (she knew nothing about my seeing the bird before). It is used as a symbol of Christ because it gives up it's life for it's young. Since then I have seen the bird again twice and I feel as though it is very meaningful for the youth here. I believe that God is reaffirming His heart for the youth here. Telling us that He did give up His life for His young...and it is His desire to reach them all! Seeing this bird is a repeated reminder that He is here and He is at work!


And much less symbolic and spiritual...here are the beautiful yellow fields that dot the Czech countryside in spring. I just love them!

School and Spring

This week is my last week of teaching for the semester. Then next week is review and the students will take their "big" quiz covering the year's grammar. Then on the 19th we will have graduation. I am looking forward to having a break from lesson plans and being busy every Tuesday and Thursday evening, but I know that I will miss seeing my students in class. After school ends, throughout the rest of May and June we will be helping get the Conference Centre (Dlouhy) ready for the busy summer season. Hannah and Grace love the days that we are working out there. Here in town we have no place for them to play outside, but at Dlouhy they have tons of open space and lots of little friends to play with.

Our team recently had a couple from Minnesota come for two weeks. This couple has known Christer and Kicki for many years and has a heart to see the church mobilized around the world. So every year they come with a team and build into the youth, the missionary team and the church leaders. This year, just the two of them came, and it was a pleasure to meet them. It was a refreshing time for us where we learned many things and were greatly encouraged.

The weather here has been so nice that the other day I was telling my students about May 24 weekend in Canada and what everyone would be doing with their holiday weekend and I completely forgot that it was actually April, not May. We had never seen spring before in Czech, only winter and fall, so for us it has been fun to see the trees grow leaves, see green grass, hear birds chirping and pick some Czech Lilacs (they look and smell the same as NA ones). There are also beautiful yellow fields of Rapeseed, Canola oil, growing (I guess it makes sense that they would produce this when they will fry anything from cheese to cauliflower). Driving through the countryside it is likely the most beautiful sight I have ever seen! Bright yellow fields throughout lush green rolling hills with picturesque villages dotting the landscape. Just beautiful! I will have to take a photo and post it on here for you. Not so fun though for Jody's allergies...it seems this year it is really bad, probably because of the different things that are in the air here than in Canada.

This Saturday we will have a team "field trip" to a castle with all the missionaries and then after Jody and I will be doing "The Amazing Race" with the youth group, so it will be a busy week of planning! Here's praying that the weather will be nice for it!

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