Photo Friday

Saturday - the Yormans also made breakfast!  French toast is an amazing first breakfast.  

Sunday - I thought it was wonderful that all the books I brought over fitted on my bookcase...  and then I found more books in my last box!  

Assembling these chest of drawers was quite a humbling experience - I made a few errors in the construction process.  This photo shows the funniest - I thought I had put the tracks for the drawers in wrong as the top drawer in no way closed.  It turns out I'd just slotted the drawer in wrong.  

I've slowly been unpacking as time allows.  As I packed in NI I threw the bunting pictured in a box - I'd made it two years ago for my friend's wedding.  I had no idea why I was packing it.  But it turns out that that was a very good decision!  I have been reminded that the winters here are long and so colour is recommended!  I also love how this room has come together when I only bought one piece of furniture for it (it's a side table that you can't even see in the above photo).  It's been so good to be making a home here.

Wednesday - looking after the Yormans boys and this was storytime before bed. 

Another picture of my feet after a long day in which I successfully got my visa!  Hooray for successful paperwork!  

Friday - Katka came to visit my place and took these photos.  It's been so great to spend time with Czech friends!  

10 Who Changed the World

I have loved missionary biographies for years because they bring to life Bible passages as people live lives that proclaim God’s faithfulness and power.  Having a Kindle means that I can pick up books very cheaply when there is a sale on them and when Ten Who Changed the World was on sale I picked it up. 

The book profiles ten missionaries or missionary couples, from throughout the centuries, who served God all over the world.  You may have heard of some of the names or read about them before. 

The book does give brief biographies of the different people and details how they embodied different Bible passages in their lives.  So not only was it good to be reminded of Biblical truths, it was also great to see how they were lived out. 

Some of the stories were incredible – how people faithfully served and laboured in the country they were called to for years before seeing any results, people who served despite severe persecution or spiritual adversity, people who again and again saw God’s faithfulness and provision.

This book serves as a great introduction to amazing testimonies of God’s grace and how He works through ordinary, sinful people.  

Photo Friday

Sewing on a Saturday afternoon!

The results of my sewing!

Monday - I got my keys!  

Tuesday - painting and cleaning.  

 I found out I needed proof that I did not have a criminal record for some paperwork here so that meant a last minute trip to Prague, starting with a train at 4am, to go to the British embassy.  Thankfully the trip was successful and spending eight hours on trains meant I got a lot of reading done.

The British embassy in Prague is hard to find and involves a lot of twisty streets!  

Friday - moving day!  The Yormans stayed with me on Friday night to help fix some things and assemble furniture.  I am so grateful for them and their help!

Believing God

Believing God was given to me by a very dear friend years ago.  I picked it up many times but never really seemed to get far, although I’ve no idea why!

In the book Beth Moore looks at how we are not to simply believe in God but we also should believe Him.  We can believe that God exists but have completely wrong ideas about who He is or who He says we are.

The book looks at five statements that, if we were to really and truly hold on to, would change our lives and faith.  The five statements are:

1. God is who He says He is,

2. God can do what He says He can do,

3. I am who God says I am,

4. I can do all things through Christ, and

5. God's Word is alive and active in me.

The book spends different chapters exploring these five statements – what belief in them includes and how that would transform us.

I’m so glad I finally got through the book!  It was so good to be reminded of the truths of who God is and who He says I am.   

Keys!

Today I got the keys for my flat! This means that today starts all the paperwork required for me to live here. So far the electricity and gas has been sorted. There is still a lot to go. 

Please pray for wisdom, people with the right answers, speedy appointments and a lot of grace!

It takes a lot of people to send a missionary and on the field it takes a lot of people helping and translating! I am so thankful for everyone involved in this process.

I hope to be able to show you pictures of my new home soon! Wednesday looks to be my move in day.

"And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them." (Isaiah 42:16 ESV)

Photo Friday

I'm currently staying with the Yormans.  This is my fourth time staying with them in the past year and it has been so great!  Casey and Kristin have been so great at helping me settle in and figure out stuff.  Casey is the leader of S-Team, the team I'm on out here.  They have two young boys who are so much fun and I am definitely trying to indoctrinate them on the joys of rugby!

Because it's so hot here (thankfully this week cooled down a little but this week saw 39 degrees!) the leaves are already turning brown!  So pretty.  

While I still don't have keys for my flat we decided to do the IKEA trip this week - three hours later I had bought everything I needed from IKEA.  It amazes me that there are two double beds in that photo (one actual bed and one sofa bed).  

I was so blessed by the fact I just happen to be moving at the same time another missionary family, the Ellenwoods (I posted a video of them a couple of weeks ago), were moving.  The people who used to live in their new house left a lot of stuff and the Ellenwoods were getting rid of stuff too so I was able to get a lot of what I need from them.  An incredible blessing.

Working on a little project.

This one was a bigger project - I got two IKEA chairs with these cushions through the Ellenwoods' move but there were stains on the covers that would just not come out.  So I embarked on a sewing project...

Friday was such a successful day - using different forms of transport, and I love trains anyway, asking where the bus stop I was looking for was and the train station lady walking me all the way to it, successfully buying velcro in Poland using mime, successfully buying fabric in Czech and being complimented on my Czech...  And I love train stations.

Forgive Me Natasha

Forgive Me Natasha is a book that I read years ago and picked it up again because I wanted to re-read it.  It is the story of a guy who grows up in communist Russia.  Communism really becomes his religion and he is set to go far within the communist party.

One of the roles he has is to head up a team of men who are an unofficial police force – they are sanctioned by the police to do tasks the police were not necessarily able to do.  They break up bar fights etc until their tasks become a lot more focused on breaking up Christian gatherings. 

This story is like a modern day Saul-to-Paul story, and it’s written by Sergei himself.  It’s a great story of how God can save anyone, and the many ways God can use to call people to Himself. 

It is an older book – I don’t think it’s been in print in the last three decades, but I’d definitely recommend it.  It’s a good way to learn about persecution which is far from something confined to the history books, even now in the 21^st century.

But God!

Today in the midst of work and receiving calls about my flat (I still haven't signed the contract - hopefully this week, we're waiting on the owners to sign their part of the contract) I spent some time looking up all the times the Bible writes BUT GOD.  

It's so incredible to think of how God stepped in, and continues to step in, to rescue us, to redeem situations, to do "impossible" things.  

If you click on the picture you might be able to see it bigger but the photo was just a quick snap on my phone and my handwriting is as bad as ever.  

Photo Friday

Saturday - a trip to IKEA that ended with me buying candles.  When I get my keys for my flat there will be another trip that will end up with more than candles being bought!  

Sunday - a trip to the river in the evening.  

Monday - the town square where I live.

Tuesday - commuting to the office and back again.  It takes 30 minutes by car but over an hour by train and on Tuesday it actually took two and a half hours to get home in the evening, in 30 degree heat.  On Thursday it reached a beautiful 39 degrees - trying not to melt or complain because soon it will be 40-50 degrees cooler!  

Polish pottery is beautiful - I love the blue/white/yellow designs.  This is the mug cupboard in the office.  

Czech country side and the sun is shining, I love it.  

On Monday my boxes with all my belongings left my parents' house in Saintfield and on Thursday they safely arrived in the Czech Republic!  I'm excited to soon be unpacking them!