Friday, June 11, 2010

Czech it out.

Debroi Den! We’re in the Czech Republic. It’s pretty awesome.. It was also a former Soviet Republic just like Russia so there are some similarities. But the countryside gives Germany a run for their money. Germany was absolutely beautiful but on our drive across Czech, to our corporate visit with Black & Decker/DeWalt Power tools, I saw a few images of God’s creation that I thought only existed in paintings. My limited vocabulary and inadequate skill of photography cannot give you the image of it for yourselves. But that does give us an excuse to come back here together. Let’s start savin’! I know somebody has enough frequent flyer miles for the both of us.. (yeah, you have to take me of course, so I can show you where it is J).

Yesterday, after class we were able to take a walking tour of Prague, which is the capital of the Czech Republic. After the tour we all had a few hours to spend in the city, so about 8 of us split off from the group and went searching for food. We sat down, got replenished, and then came up with a great idea. We would make a scavenger hunt! We came up with 10 items that we had to find and take pictures of around the city, and then we had to meet back at the clock tower in the middle of town in exactly an hour. For every minute you were late it deducted one point off of your team’s total. We split up in two teams of four. The teams were Me, Ryan, Clark, and Jen and then Chris, Ryan (blonde one), Mark, and Kati. The 10 items we had to find and take pictures of were as follows:

- A mullet

- Street Musicians

- A guy with his shirt off

- Someone wearing yellow shoes

- A flag of another country that is actually hanging from a building

- Something made in China

- One of our group members standing on a boat

- A couple in the process of PDA

- A sign for McDonalds

- A person playing in a Fountain

Now being a college athlete I have a tad bit of competitive nature inside of me. Just a little bit. I made our team take off like a bat out of Hadies. Which in the end was a smart move because we made it back to the clock tower three minutes early and waited for another 13 minutes for the other group to get there! That’s right we won not only because our pictures were better than theirs, but because all of their pictures were cancelled out by the penalty for being 10 minutes late!

Here are a few pictures that captured us the victory:



































Just to make sure they knew what they were we put this at the end of our slideshow.

On another note the World Cup starts today! Holy BIG DEAL! It’s wild to see all of the places down town get ready to host this huge event. They have set up huge screens and stadium seating in the town square for thousands of people to watch the games! I’ve actually really enjoyed “football” being such a big deal here. It’s a really cool atmosphere.. still though no matter how many soccer jersey’s I wear or how much I try to fit in, no one mistakes me for anything but an American football player. Yeah, I kind of stick out like a sore thumb, but I’m trying.

I think we’re all heading down town tonight to eat and watch the games so it should be a pretty cool experience. I’m going to wear a white t-shirt so I can stay neutral and also so some inebriated fan doesn't mistake me for rooting for the team that just beat their team. I here that is serious business and I don’t feel like putting my life on the line for a soccer team. Well maybe tomorrow when the U.S. team plays I’ll wear something John Deere. Since it’s an American based company it's like inadvertently tying myself to a team. Who I am kidding though, I love America, I’ll probably paint my face red, white, and blue!

To finish the post off I wanted to inform you of something that’s been really heavy on my heart since I’ve been here. I’ve found out that Czech Republic has more citizens that claim Atheism than any other religious belief. I think it is about 40% who claim it as their belief system. That breaks my heart. A lot of the old architecture around the town has crosses along the top of their structures and there are many statues of various saints. We also visited one of the most beautiful cathedrals I’ve ever seen. But there’s one problem, no one uses any of these facilities anymore. They are all just tourist sites. Pray for the Czech Republic, and pray that the Christians here have the strength to passionately relate the gospel to their culture.

Also I wanted to leave you with a thought that has been with me all week. Every day I wake up and try to figure out how I am going to get the most satisfaction out of my day. What am I going to partake in that I will enjoy and that benefits me the most. That is not inherently bad in and of itself but something that I realized is I’m living every day for myself. I will only do things if I enjoy it or if it brings me peace. Why have I come to a state of forgetfulness that I’ve been given the gift of life. I have came to a place where I felt that I had the right to life. That I deserved it. In all reality, I have no such right. My right and my desire should be to serve my creator. He is the one that created me and he is the one that I should look to live for. I think he does want us to enjoy our lives but that’s not all we are suppose to think about. When we are one with him and think about where he is moving in our present situation and surrounding, that’s were the fun starts. He is ready to take us on a wild ride if we’ll drop our nets and follow him! Also I always look to when I’m going to serve somewhere off in the future. I make plans to always start my ministry later.. Why not start it now in my present situation? I should have plans for future ministries but not forget the chance of ministry in my present situation.

Much love. Namaste,

Trav


4 comments:

  1. Did you get all the pictures? The first guy didn't have a mullet did he? Great idea for a scavenger hunt. Your thoughts are great and I am glad you are contemplating such things, but you do have a ministry every day. I had one of your special friends sitting with me at church Sunday and was so thankful. I know your love for god touched his life through your friendship. But I know what you mean. His word says we will find him when we seek him with all of our heart. Skype us on Saturday. I miss you love mom

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  2. Yes we did :) and yes lets' skype today! Can it be in the morning for you all... the U.S. plays England tonight so I think we're going down town again to watch it on the big screen! Miss and love you

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  3. Ha ha, I see the mullet now. I was reading the post from my phone and some of the pics were hard to make out. What great pics! It was great talking to you yesterday!!! We'll log on again when we get home from church in case you are on. Love you, Mom

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  4. Hey Trav I just now had a chance to see the update. T he scavanger hunt looked fun. What's funny is the guy with the mullet looks like me when I had a mullet at the longest I had it, ha ha! It seems that you are with a great group of young men and women to to share your experiences together. Wow, you are right on about the world is greater than ourselves and to open our eyes daily to where the Lord is at work. I'm guilty about getting cought up in self also at times. Sorry I mised the Skype yesterday but Merrill and I got Brenda's car painted yesterday. Miss and love you alot! Pops

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