Well the group is on the plane flying back to America. Uriah and I will soon be boarding a plane to join our friends Bryan and Nancy Heath in Tuscany for a few days and then on to Venice and Rome and finally to London. I will be keeping a blog on our trip to Italy complete with photos if you are interested. Of course the blog will include the usual food updates. There will unfortunately be no funny adventures of Hannah as she has gone home. Thanks for reading.
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Friday, July 13, 2007
Final Blog
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Monument to Those Who Suffered Under Communism
They told us at the communist museum that Marxist philosophy is responsible for over 100,000,000 deaths.
Priston
Today five of us spent the day with a remarkable young lady named Marketa. She was a foreign exchange student from Czech who lived in Granite Bay and went to Bayside. She took us all around Prague today and explained stuff we didn't know. She is still in high school and very smart. This tower is designed by the same man who designed the Eiffel Tower. We climbed over 280 stairs to the top and got an amazing view of the city. It sits on a hill and over looks the entire valley. You have to take an incline to reach it. It is also known as a very romantic place to take a date - so Marketa tells us.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Prague - Wednesday
We spent the day sightseeing today. It is such a cool city. We went to the Castle and the Communist museum. It was astounding to hear that communisim may be responsible for as many as 100 million deaths worldwide. It was good to see the story of how the communist regime fell from power in Czech. I will post some more pics later.
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Public Transportation
This is Stacy. She is from Bayside and is a missionary to Czech. She and her husband Al have been awesome hosts for us.
Camp 3
Mason, Uriah, and Ben modeling their jungle outfits after a ¨team challenge" during afternoon games.
Prague - Finally
Tonight we got settled in at out hostel. It is very clean and modern. We have two rooms each with four bunk beds. We went to dinner at a great Italian restaurant. We ordered a bunch of appetizers and I had a delicious salad and pasta with grilled eggplant and chicken. Most of the kids had pizza. We all ordered the best homemade desserts. It was a great experience and twelve of us ate for around $180. We then went and walked around the city for about five hours. It is a beautiful city. There are churches and magnificant old buildings and a castle. It reminded us of Disney World but it is real. We walked across the Charles Bridge. We will post photos tomorrow.
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Saturday - Prague Bound
Last night we ended camp with a disco (dance). Me and the other American guy leaders went to bed early contrary to any rumors of us getting wild on the dance floor. Any photos that may appear of us were clearly Photoshopped as we were sleeping. If any video should surface know that these were Czech actors hired to portray us and you will be able to tell this by their very poor dance moves. This morning we left the camp on buses with the campers and drove to Ostrova. Many of the campers were crying as we parted in the parking. I rode on the bus with a girl named Jana (Hannah). She was 13 and could talk very good English. We talked a lot about the Bible and she said she didn't believe it yet and had many questions. Her parents are shop owners in the city. We went to a small mall for lunch. Half of the group went to McDonalds and the other half went to KFC. It was a very good American meal. We are now on the train to Prague where we will spend the next few days sightseeing.
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Monday, July 9, 2007
Monday Dinner Update
Just a quick dinner update. We had a "sweet dinner". It was dumplings stuffed with strawberry preserves topped with granular chocolate and smothered with melted butter. It was very delicious. Rita ate about 50 of them taking them from anyone who couldn't finish them.
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Monday
Today we went to a ski resort that had an alpine ride setup. It was similar to a one car rollercoaster that two people could ride. There was a cable that dragged us up to the top of a hill and then released us down a big curvy hill the cars had breaks on them that you could use if you wanted. It was fun but a little scary (it didn't feel real solid). We had to take a train, walk a few miles and cross a busy freeway to get there. I don't think we would be able to do this at a summer camp in America. Pray for KJ as he speaks tonight on the final night of camp. Oh, by the way, it poured down rain on the couple mile walk back from the train :)
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Sunday, July 8, 2007
Sunday Night
Today we taught the kids dodge ball and how to make tie dye hankerchiefs. The dodgeball game began with me taking one in the face from one of the older Czech kids. They had a great time playing. This afternoon we played water games and had shaving cream fights. We gave all the kids frizbees and they had us sign them. Tonight we had a campfire and roasted sausages. Its been another good day. Tomorrow we have a surprise for the kids. I will let you know what tomorrow. For dinner we had potato dumplings wrapped around sausage over sauerkraut topped with grilled onions. It was the best meal yet.
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Mason - Finally
Hello! All I have to say is I miss you all. Thank you for all the support and prays. I've been having a dandy time here with all the Czech kids and leaders. I hope you all don't miss me to much :). Love bunches, Mason
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Hannah 2
Hey...this message is for my family, grandma rose, grandpa ray and miss allison. Man I miss you guys so much, I wish you all could be here expiriencing this incredible time with me. God is doing so much in my life and I am having a great time with all the little czech kids... :) I can't wait to have real food!! Grandma rose...your cooking? Well my time is up. This is probably the last time you'll here from me directly but anyway, I love you all! Enjoy the house while its quiet family!! Love and hugs...
Honker ;)
Ps to grandma rose:
I've memorized lots of scripture and can't wait to tell you when I get back...
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Cassidy 2
Writing you all from a beautiful day at camp! Finally some sunshine!!! Today we taught some "american slang" in our english classes. We had the students act out what they learned, and they all did a great job. I continue to hit walls sometime in the afternoon where I get really tired. Luckily coffee is an international thing!
Our whole team has really been connecting with the Czech leaders, and we've gotten pretty close with some of them. Its fun to see that every leadership team has their own odd people, serious people, crazy people, and so on... (Yes, I do count myself as an odd one).
During our free time, it has been so fun to see our kids spending time with the Czech kids. Its obvious that there have been some friendships made and the kids are relating quite well.
Although camp is winding down, and we sometimes find ourselves ready for the end... We all know that more importantly we will soon be missing this place, these people, and this amazing opportunity we have been so blessed with.
May God continue to give us health, energy, joy, and His words and actions. . . may His will be done!
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Sunday Morning
We awoke today to the most beautiful day so far. It is sunny with blue skies. We started the day with the church service. Thanks for your prayers. Caleb led us in some American worship songs followed by some worship songs in Czech and then I delivered the message. It was fun to have to have the message translated. Kate did a great job translating with passion and emotion. Uriah ran my videos and PowerPoint and did an awesome job. It was a very simple message on the Three Most Important Decisions you can make. 1. Let God Love You. 2. Let God Change You. 3. Let God Use You. It was really cool that three of my six students from my English class came to the service. Today we are watching Bruce Almighty in my English class and will discuss their views of God.
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Saturday, July 7, 2007
Saturday Night
Another great day here in Czech. We had great weather today. Many of us washed our cloths by hand today and hung them out to dry. What a great experience (to try at least once in a lifetime). We had roast beef and dumplings for lunch and baked chicken and rice for dinner. Tomorrow I get to preach in the morning service. The kids are not required to attend but some choose too. What a privelege for me to preach in the land of my grandfather and former communist country where it was illegal to preach just a few years ago. Pray for me that God will give me the words to say. Thanks for your prayers.
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Saturday
We hear that you are breaking heat records back in American, here it has been unseasonably cold. The head of the camp told us today that this is the best English camp ever. The kids here are saying that they are having more fun and learning more than they ever have. It is quite a compliment and we thank God for helping us to find fun and creative ways to communicate to the students. We taught the kids kickball today and it went very well until Uriah hit Eva in the face with the ball. She was actually very good about it. The girls in Czech are tough. We leaned a lot about Czech traditions and holidays today. They have carp and potato salad for Christmas and open their presents on Christmas Eve after a mini Jesus brings presents and rings a bell when they are under the tree. On the Monday after Easter the boys hit the girls with tree branches until they surrender chocolate candy. We may bring this tradition back with us :).
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Friday, July 6, 2007
Friday Night
Everyone is getting tired but everyone is still doing a great job with a great attitude. We have already been invited back for next year. The camp directors have said that these Czech kids have opened up more than any other camp before. The food has been good although we are keeping the snack shack busy buying ice cream, Snickers and Cokes. My group had a new student join us today. She was on vacation in Egypt with her family. A lot of families go there to go to the beach. It is like Florida to them. Tomorrow we will teach the kids American slang in our English class and I will try and add more photos. Catch ya later dog fer shizzle!
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Friday
It has been a very cold day here with some rain. We are getting a little tired but things are going well. We played our second American football game today and my team went down in defeat 23 to 14. We gave up a safety early in the game and were plagued with interceptions. Its really fun to see the Czech open up with us and begin to joke around. We are told that as a society they are pretty closed and don't trust people because of communism. When we are walking on the streets and we pass someone and smile they never smile back. It is very interesting. I met one of the kids parents today and they talked to me about what it was like under communism. They said it was like being in prison and there was fear everywhere. They were so happy to live a free country now. I will write more later. Its nap time now.
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Thursday, July 5, 2007
Thursday Night
It was another great day here. It was cooler today (lower 60's) and we had more rain showers and the coolest rainbow. We also got to watch some Czech TV. They have over 100 channels on satelite. MTV, VH1, CNN and a number of English channels. For dinner we had the traditional meal of Czech - pork and sauerkraut with dumplings. It is the same meal my grandma use to make every Christmas Eve but it wasn't as good as hers. Goodnight.
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Hannah
At last you will hear from the legend. The one and only...Hannah
Wow I am having an amazing time! I feel as though I only laugh...ahhh the good times!! well I think ill tell what's on my heart...the other team members can tell you about the stupid stuff I do. Haha! :). Here goes... I can't even believe the fellowship us americans and the czech team members are having. It makes me smile when we all have a meeting as a big group and we are all so respectful of each other. I feel even us americans are gettibg so close...closer then when I thought some of us couldn't get any closer. Its very comforting because I'm kinda home sick so it helps having a "family" over here. Please remember to keep us in your prayers and brooke stephens if your readong this... I love you and can't wait to see you when we get back! Family, don't listen to what this blog says...they're all liars!:)
Xoxo
Hannah honker marie hanka masterson
Tee hee
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Thursday
It has been a while since I've updated because it has been so busy. Did I mention that preparing for three hours of English class is very hard. I had Rita and Uriah teach my afternoon class today and it was one of the best so far. We had them sample American candy like Hot Tamales, Sour Patch Kids, Warheads, Reeses and Pop Rocks. It was fun watching the kids expressions as they ate the sour candies and then hear them describe them. We taught the kids American football today. They picked it up pretty quick. It is amazing how complicated it is especially when you are playing flag without first down markers. I hate to brag but I will. My team pulled out my first victory as a football captain on European soil. It all came about on a late game interception and a HB sweep stong side. Tomorrow we will put our undefeated streak on the line in a rematch against Ryan's team. We had our best dinner and lunch so far. Dinner last night was mashed potatoes with sausage and gravy and today we had spaghetti with chicken. We are hoping for prime rib tonight with shrimp coctail but will probably end up with more sausage. I can't tell you how proud I am of our kids. They are really getting to know the Czech kids and instead of bunching together they go out of their way to make new friendships. It is a good reflection of KJ and his leadership. He has done a good job grooming these kids to minister to others. We haven't had a warm shower for a few days and its starting to show. What is real amazing to me is how respectful and polite the Czech kids are. You never have to tell them twice about anything. Even the coolest kids who you would think would be the troublemakers are very obedient. I guess being raised by a generation of parents who lived under communism has some value. One final thing. I was walking back to my cabin and I saw a group of Czech kids trying to get into their cabin which was locked. I overheard one of the kids say in perfect English, where is KJ? He can get in, he's a little chicken!
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Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Wednesday Afternoon
Today we had an interesting lunch. It all started with alphabet soup followed by chunks of sweet bread covered in a runny vanilla pudding. It was tasty but more of a breakfast feel. Our staff and kids make quite a few trips to the hotel store to buy Snickers, ice cream and sodas. Our typical schedule is prayer time at 8 and breakfast at 8:30. English classes go from 9 to 10:30 followed by workshops. Lunch is 12 followed by English classes at 1:45. Afternoon games begin at 3:30 and we have some free time before dinner at 6. The evening service starts at 7 to around 8:30. Kids head to their cabins and lights out happens at 10pm. That's our day. The camp runs until next Tuesday morning when we will head to Prague for a few days of sight seeing.
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Uriah
Hi - I would just like to say what a wonderful expirience it is being in the Czech Republic. The kids here are great and there are many differances between our cultures. Oh this crazy thing happened! I was talking to one of the Czech leaders about food differances and I found out that unlike america, they use fresh, real meat! I know, crazy huh? Well once again I love you all and I'll see you in about a month.
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Rita
Ahoj! Czech is absolutely amazing. Our campsite is surrounded by beautiful rolling hills on which greenary thrives. The weather here is quite unpredictable. One moment you will be outdside laughing in the sunshine and the next you find yourself sprinting to your cabin to avoid the abrupt rain. However the weather, we are all excited that all of the kids have finally arrived. We have met many people and made a few great relationships already. Overall things are going very smoothly and I am very excited to see what God will do through us all in the future. May the Lord bless all you great people at home and please keep us in your prayers. And to my family and friends: I continually think about you all and cannot wait to see everyones smiling faces.
Love always,
Rita
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Fourth of July
Happy Fouth of July from Czech. We started off our day with hot dogs for breakfast in honor of the holiday (actually they don't know anything about our holiday they just like eating hot dogs for breakfast). We had thundershowers in the middle of the night. It is overcast and colder today. Relationship development continues to go very well. I have a guy in my group named Jerka (George). He is 14 and very good with English. I have spent a lot of time getting to know him. His dad works in a factory and they live in an apartment. He likes to play online video games. I asked what he wants to be when he gets older and he says that he is lazy and would rather not work (you have to appreciate his honesty). He is a natural leader and helps to translate for the other kids. We have been teaching the kids softball and he was a natural. He had some really good hits. Pray for him that I will be able to talk with him further about a relationship with God. I will have more updates from the kids later and hopefully pictures.
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Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Tuesday Night
We have been posting the other team members blogs today and will continue until everyone has posted. I was able to slip into Obry today to get internet access to upload some pictures. It was a small town that had a little store that was like a Radio Shack. They had several computer stations you could rent. I used one for about a half an hour. It costs me about 80 cents to use. More to come tomorrow - goodnight.
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Cassidy
Hey y'all!!! The Czech Republic is wonderful! We are all having a great time learning a new culture, picking up some language, and sharing our lives with the people of Czech. God is so good and has been providing all our needs in refilling us with energy, replenishing our joy, and blessing our days. Our team continues to bond as we encounter new and exciting obstacles. I have learned to be careful what I say in Czech, as I found myself saying ''I am very sweaty and smelly'' the other day when a friend was teaching me Czech. I am not sure if you have heard of the pet (but also wild) boar that the camp ground has... As we were having dinner tonight Hannah was convinced we were eating our stinky wild boar friend, but she still had no problem eating it! Good ole Hannah! Love to everyone back at home!
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Ben
Hello everyone!! It has been a great trip so far. I want to thank you all for supporting me on this trip and say hello to everybody back home. We are all very tired but are having a great time working for the Lord. When the Czech kids arrived, we were very excited. We are all very excited and ready for the days ahead. Please pray for us as we continue to build relationships and become friends with all the Czech students and leaders. Love you all, Ben
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Monica
Dobry den z Ceska! I am so glad that Nik and I studied a little Czech before coming on this mission. It has helped us immensely in our efforts to connect with the Czech kids. Nik and I are co-teaching English to a group of 10 intermediate level kids. After only two lessons we have not only seen an improvement in their English but, more importantly, we are feeling a strong bond growing between all of us. The Czech kids really like having the American kids around. I have been so impressed with our kids' energy and willingness to serve. The Czech leaders are all amazing people. This beautiful country is so blessed to have Stacy, Al and their team.
I love you David, Chris and Katrina and I thank you all for allowing Nik and I this opportunity to share the love of Jesus with those who have not yet heard about Him. Thanks also to Jose, Cindy, the Murphreys and the Reeves. We love you all.
Monica and Nik.
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Stephanie
Hey everyone! These last few days have been so wonderful, but so long. I can't believe how much we pack into our days, but I wouldn't trade anything. The kids finally arrived, so now we all have the fun of bonding and socializing with all of them. Except for the language barrier, it's almost like I'm back home; not too much is different, except maybe the weather. That's one thing I'm really not missing rite now; last night we had an amazingly strong but refreshing thunderstorm, and I couldn't imagine having that much rain during a California summer. But other than that, I am honestly starting to get a little homesick, especially for my parents and (surprisingly) my brothers. It's true that you learn to appreciate what you have more when you have to go without it. To my family and friends back home: I miss you and I love you so much! Please keep praying for me and I'm looking forward to seeing you all in another week or so.
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Campers
Here is a group of campers along with Ryan and Nick. Notice how small Ryan is now that he is in Czech.
Game Time
Our students leading a recreation time with the Czech students in the rec area. the brown building in the back right is one of our cabins.
Club Time
Here are the campers and our group singing together in the lodge. This is the main room where we meet and eat our meals. Notice the friendly worship atmosphere created by the wild boar mounted on the wall.
Our Camp
Here is a picture of our camp with the cabins that the students stay in. Our Cabins are only single story and a little smaller and not as new. This is a view looking down from the main meeting place out to the giant field where we play games.
First Day
This is from our first day at camp. We roasted sausages on the open fire followed by making smores. They were delicious.
Tuesday Morning
Thanks for posting your comments. Its nice to hear from home. I will make sure they all get passed on to the kids. Last night was great. We had thunderstorms roll through the area with heavy rain. It was very pretty and cooled things off. We had a dinner of butter boiled potatoes covered with a stew of cabbage, sauerkraut and sausage. For snack we had jelly rolls and Czech bread with cream cheese and onion. We had an hour and a half service last night that they call Club. It involves music, games, skits and a message. Most of the music is secular and the message is very generic. They start off real slow in introducing the message of the Christianity. I found it interesting that all six of my students have been to church. I didn't think that many would with this being mostly an atheistic country. I showed them a history video of Bayside and they were very impressed with it. They have never seen anything like it. I learned my first Czech word today "studney" which means cold when refering to the shower I took this morning. Caleb and Ryan washed some our clothing today - the old fashioned way - in a wash tub and then hung it to dry. They did a good job for a couple of single guys. We are going to post more photos tomorrow and the kids will begin posting today after lunch.
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Monday, July 2, 2007
First English Class
We just finished our first English classes. It went ok. An hour and a half is a long time to teach and hold the students attention. The kids are very friendly but quiet. We will have to work hard to keep it creative and interesting. I will be posting comments and observations from the other team members starting later today.
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Monday
Just a quick update. The 50 Czech students have arrived and we are getting to know them. Everything is going very well. In just a few minutes we will begin the English classes. We are teaching the advanced kids so they all can speak English very well. We will play word games with them and share with them about the American way of life. Most of what they know about America is from American TV shows like Desparate Houswives. So you can see we have our work cut out for us. We had salami and provolone cheese for breakfast along with rolls, strawberry jam and honey. For lunch today we had beef noodle soup and then chicken and rice which was very good. There is a store here we keep pretty busy buying Snickers, ice cream and Cokes. I saw Aubry after lunch and she was working on her second Strawberry Ice treat. Caleb still hasn't received his suitcase yet because of the problems in London. He is making the best of things with his one set of clothing. My son Uriah and Rita are my teacher assistants. I will list the other assistants and their assignments later today.
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Sunday, July 1, 2007
Sunday Evening
We had a busy day getting ready for camp to start tomorrow. Today we prepared our lesson plans, got our classrooms ready and continued to get to know the Czech leaders we are working with. It was interesting to hear some of the older ones talk about the communist era. They told us how Christians were persecuted and about all the difficulties that the Czech people faced. And yet in spite of throwing religion out of the country, many people continued to come to faith. Peter, one of the Czech leaders talked with about how he came to faith. He said he went to church some with his father during the communist era but they had to sneak in and out. What really made a difference in his life was watching one of his fellow students in his high school live out her faith. What he saw in her life made him begin to ask questions about the Christian faith and eventually led him to become a Believer. His story reminded how important it is the we live the message that we preach. What a great privilege it is to be able to share our faith in this country that only 13 years ago was completly closed to the gospel. Tomorrow the students arrive at around 10am. Will update more tomorrow.
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Day Three - Morning
It is a beautiful day here in Czech. The morning showers we took were warm. We learned that the water is solar heated and lasts for about half of those staying here. The early bird gets the warm shower. It also means that if there is no sun out then the water doesn't get warmed up and we have cold showers. Our day started with an interesting breakfast. We arrived to the dining hall to find a plate with two sliced cucumbers, two sliced tomatoes, two pads of butter and six slices of thin ham (chipped ham) neatly folded. There was a basket of the thick Czech wheat bread on the table as well. We all thought that this was an appetizer but soon discovered it was breakfast. We had a great chapel service where Caleb did a great job leading worship and we looked at Luke 15 and talked about the Parable of the Prodigal Son. We learned about our assignments for the week. Four of us will be teaching English classes for three hours everyday. I am one of the teachers along with Cassie, Monica and Tabitha. I got "C's" in English so I hope I can keep up with these kids. Kids that go to summer camp in Czech really want to learn. Each teacher will be assigned a student helper. In addition to teaching English, we will be teaching workshops including, hip hop, frisbee golf, football, baseball and others. One of our adventures today happened when one of the guests at the hotel grabbed KJ and dragged him over to introduce him to his daughter. A translater came along and told him that his daughter really liked KJ. KJ quickly got explained that he was married and got out of the situation. For lunch we had a cauliflower soup which was quite tasty and fried cheese, french fries and tomato salad. Lunch is the main meal of the day for the Czech and each lunch begins with soup. Many of you are wanting a Hannah update. She broke a white plastic chair today and ended up on the ground during a game. Will keep you posted on any new developments.
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