1.13.09 (Lisa)

Ahoj Stateside!
We just finished an eventful Tuesday in Chotebor. Our team was split up for most of the day. Three of our team members were a little sick. Three traveled to Dolni Krupa again to work with some youngsters in a school there. Then they got to go sledding with students in their classes. Two had an amazing opportunity to tutor some gypsy kids. They said that it was a noisy but, an eventful experience, one they will not forget. The rest of the group taught 5 classes of English to students ranging from 5th-9th grade. I was a part of this group. After today I have great respect for teachers. I praise God that he gave us the energy and patience to make it through the day. He had also blessed Joanie with these opportunities to have English speaker come into these schools. God has blessed Caleb's Heart and her in so many ways. She is one of the reasons we are able to minister to these students. The second to last class that my group of six went to was a last minute decision and at another school. This has become a typical phenomenon with this trip. Our schedule changes by the hours, which has been keeping us on our toes and ensuring that we are flexible. That class was one of my favorite parts of the day. This class had 8th grade students who were experienced speakers, so we were able to have conversations without much help from Joanie (our translator). We also played games and joked around with them. Being able to go to that class was another praise for today.
Then later tonight most of the team gathered at a local youth center in town to join Joanie at a weekly youth group called, Klub Exit. For about an hour we got to play games and cards with the couple of girls that joined us. We taught them some favorite card games, like spoons and Dutch blitz. Then we watched a video (in Czech) about Heartbreak. This video talked about the bad ways people, especially girls' deal with heartbreak. Then it addressed the positive ways to cope. It was neat how they compared it to King David and how he dealt with all the heartbreaks from his relationships. After the video we broke up into small groups and each of us shared stories of heartbreak. The whole time I was blown away by the openness of the young girls in the group. They shared their own heartbreaks and how they tried to cope with them. It was also sad that these girls who are 13 and 14 have already gotten their heart broken. Then the 2 other girls from the team and I got to share our stories and advice for them. It was such an awesome experience.
This day has been a blessing and it has only been one because God was a part of it. Without God, our days are less, because He is everything.
We do have some prayer requests for today. Please continue to pray for the health of all the members of the team. Also that we will continue to depend on God as our source of strength.

We miss you all, Thank you for your support!
Chow! Lisa Dvoratchek