Monday 25 January 2016

Home again after home assignment!



Well, two full months after my last blog post I am back in Czech again - and I have been for four weeks tomorrow! My time in Northern Ireland (and Wales and England) was incredible. It was so good to spend unrushed time with friends and family, to share what God is doing in churches, and to thank people who have been key partners in this ministry.

And it was so good to leave home in Northern Ireland and come home to Czech. That sentence sounds a little weird but it is true. 

It was good to come home to my little flat, get the gas working again and get it heated up again. 

It was good to come home to my church and youth group and the five languages that are there. 

It was good to come home to my friends and family in this place. 

It was good to jump back into my role fully, without the good busyness of home assignment. 

And, yes, home is a little chaotic. I'm back into learning and using another language (or two). The internet in my flat didn't work for my first week here but it's all functioning again. 

And after confidently telling people who kindly asked that my car is ok that ceased to be true less than a week after coming home. An "engine malfunction" warning came on, and the acceleration was a little funky, and then the engine light came on. So I arranged to take it in to my mechanic on Monday.

On Monday morning I got into the car to start it and drive to my mechanic and Elizabeth the car wouldn't even start! Thankfully my mechanic is one of the kindest I know - he goes to my church and I definitely think I get some extra points/help because of my single female missionary status. 

I called him to let him know why I wasn't there yet, he asked where my car was and I said it was parked in the centre of town. He said if I could drop the key round to him he'd go get the car! So I dropped the key off and explained the problems I'd been having with the car. When I came home from work the car wasn't there any more so either the mechanic had it or a very clever thief.

It took them a while to figure out the problem - on Friday they still hadn't been able to get the car to start! But on the following Thursday it was all finished - the car had had a problem with one of the filters (again - the same as what had happened in Latvia and Estonia in 2014) and the battery had also died (it has been oh so cold here - with temperatures of -14C during the day!).

I am really grateful that Elizabeth the car is back on the road and seems to be doing well! And, more than that, I'm glad that all the crazy is now navigable. I can turn on the gas in my flat, and talk to my mechanic, and lots of all those other little daily tasks. All those little things that I do not take for granted. 

It is so good to be home in Czech again!