There's a sweet, sweet spirit....

John and his "friend"--he was supposed to greet kids as they came into the ministry event on Saturday, but was soon distracted by the other children. He mostly played with everyone he saw.

But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them. Psalm 103:17-18

The bells are ringing as I write this, which means it is 7 a.m., and I must get moving. I've been up since 4:30, but stayed in bed until 4:50 in an effort to sleep until the alarm went off at 6. And as is the usual story, the more time I have to do stuff, the further behind I get. Something weird about my personality, I guess. I should already be exercising in order to get my shower and have the kids up by 8:15, and clearly I'm not exercising while writing this. So I need to get a move on in order to stay on schedule on this, our first day of school.

Things here in Prague continue to go really well. We are in love with our new church, a small Russian-speaking church plant across town from us. It takes us about 45 minutes to get there--which is about half of what it took us to get to church in Moscow, so I'm not complaining. We had a great event on Saturday, with lots and lots of children from predominantly Russian-speaking homes showing up to play games and make crafts. What was really exciting for us was that the church members came and stayed--it wasn't a 'missionary-only' event. The church members seem excited about and really committed to their church, and it's fun and very rewarding to be involved in something like that.

Yesterday, Marc preached a sermon on church history and its impact on the 21st century church. It was really interesting, which surprised me. Not that Marc was interesting--that didn't surprise me at all, since I've found him interesting for about 20 years, now. But the topic seemed a little dull to us at first, and involved a good amount of research. It was honestly really interesting to listen to the connections between church history and the church today. It was a great day at church. I'd judge that I understood somewhere in the 50-60% range, which is great compared to what I sometimes can understand. (I read and write Russian pretty well, but my understanding and speaking have definitely lagged behind.) I was able to hold conversations with other people, and I even picked up most of the announcements (except I missed one critical word--baptism-- which made one announcement confusing). No person on any field anywhere struggled with language as much as I did, I promise. You try learning a new language while homeschooling three kids--it's almost impossible. And I can remember days when I would just cry at the thought that Irina was going to show up and make me talk my way through some scenario in which I had to use verbs of motion (don't ask, they're a nightmare). But I am so thankful that we were given language that has enabled us to follow God's call on our lives to minister to Russians. It's still a struggle every day, and I know that I'll NEVER feel like I'm fluent in Russian, and after three sermons and lots of music all in Russian we come home pretty exhausted...but I'm grateful that I can hold a conversation and understand a good amount of a sermon.

Something that really touched my heart as a Mom yesterday was the lady who sat behind John. It was SOOOOO hot in that room. Poor John (whose Mommy wasn't really thinking) had on long pants and a short-sleeved shirt, and he was sweating to death. (Russians are really superstitious about drafts, so there was no air flowing through that room, I promise.) Add to that three sermons, two sets of songs, and the Lord's Supper all, of course, in Russian...and my hyperactive little boy was really struggling through the 2.5 hour service. At one point I looked over at him, and he had laid his head against the back of the chair, and the sweet woman behind him was just stroking his hair to help him stay calm. She did that through the whole service. After the service was over, she hugged and kissed him and me before leaving. I thought she was just really precious. There is a sweetness to the fellowship between believers, regardless of differences in culture, age, and language. It is one of the best things about this life. No, my kids don't understand a lot of what goes on in church...but I think they know they are loved by the people there. So we love our church...but I'm definitely praying for cooler weather next Sunday!

Well, it's time to exercise, shower, make breakfast, and get the kids up for their first day of school. John was not very excited about starting this morning, but Hannah is ready to go, so hopefully, it will be a great first day. Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are thankful for the sweet fellowship of other believers, and that you found ready-made blinis in the refrigerated section of your grocery store, too. Blessings to you and yours!

His,
Kellye