I just received this very long message from Vern. He has had an amazing time there. Please remember when reading this the “Eli” is our Eliska and that “Eli” is pronounced “Ellie” – I thought that might be confusing otherwise!
Whew! Finally, I get to come up for air. Eli has kept me very, very busy! Good and worthwhile times, but busy. My plane to Uganda doesn’t leave until just after 4 PM today, and I can spend most of that time until about 1 PM ‘catching up’.
After I arrived in Prague on Monday evening, Eli and her friend Martina took me by public transit to the home of Billy & Adrianne. He, an AIA missionary, is from the Atlanta, GA area, and she is from Tulsa, OK. They have three kids: an 8 year old girl, a 6 year old boy, and a 3 year old boy. They have been very gracious hosts, especially since Eli has had me very busy – hardly home until this morning. At first Billy could joke with the kids that I was a mystery man, since the kids didn’t get to actually see me until the last 24 hours. Both Billy & Adrianne seem pretty consistent about spending time in the word of God. Billy says that Czech is an Atheist Belt, like the US has a Bible Belt. He says that many in Czech view belief in God as similar to UFO abduction fanaticism – fringe freakiness.
I was very glad that you passed along how to get the Blackberry to work in Czech. I assume that I will need to do something similar in Uganda. I’ve been using the laptop (Toshiba) and the Blackberry quite a bit on this trip. (Nancy’s note: at first his phone didn’t work -he just needed to tell is where he was!)
On Tuesday I went to class with Eli, answering questions mostly about Uganda, and what I have done / will do there. These were English classes, in which the conversations were to be in English (which is good for me, since I did not speak Czech). Eli’s co-teacher in these classes is a Christian. Though it is a public school, I was allowed freedom to speak about the Lord, and the Bible in some degree. For lunch, Eli and two of her fellow Christian teachers took me to lunch, in which we had quite a deep conversation. One of them is a single lady (Icha – sp?) who expressed repeated interest in studying with us at Holly Hills, though it would have to be mostly from a distance, since free time and funds would limit her ability to travel back and forth to the US a great deal. The other, David, is suffering greatly from a marriage that has fallen apart, with two boys who stay with their highly educated but spiritually disinterested mother, so I counseled with him, mostly using two single ladies (Eli & Icha) as interpreters. His heart is aching, and the pain is compounded by the concurrent marriage breakup of his own (Vineyard) pastor and his wife. He is realizing that the Vineyard background is not helpful. We talked substantially about biblical counseling and what the Bible says about marriage, and about grace. To the extent that time and translation allowed, we talked about David’s marriage problems and what the Bible said about them. I’ll have to write later about what I have seen of Czech pastors (oh, my!).
Tuesday evening I spoke at a newly formed Christian group called ‘Connections’, consisting of high school to young adult ages. Several of those attending were Eli’s Christian friends from her school and even their students. Topic: Evolution & the Bible. I used some Powerpoint slides gleaned from earlier HHBC presentations on that topic. Very good response from the group (about 15-20), and some from that night made sure that that they came the next night. About a half dozen of them stuck around for quite some time to ask questions. Eli translated for the presentation, since the understanding of English in the group varies – especially my English 
. This meeting was held fairly close to Billy & Adrianna’s home.
Wednesday AM I got up about 3:30 AM to get the Uganda schedule reinstated and to communicate with the Ugandans about it. FYI: There have been no new reports of riots, etc. in Uganda since last week, and there have been other Christian workers coming into Uganda in the last week.
Wednesday was more intense than Tuesday in Eli’s classes, as Eli and I spent the whole day teaching together on Church History and Bible Interpretation in her literature classes. We used the slide set from the Holly Hills Church History elective. Both of us were tired from the day – pretty intense. I skipped lunch – too busy with classes, students, questions, etc. Some of the students were those I had seen the day before, and at the Tuesday evening gathering – and I would see them Wednesday evening as well. In the middle of the afternoon I called Hassan quickly to make sure that arrangments for my arrival were on course. When there was a time to ask questions of me in one of Eli’s classes, most of the questions were about atheism (Here’s one: how many atheists were there in the early American colonies?) and my own belief in God, since I am a pastor.
Wednesday evening we gathered at Eli’s home, where she lives with two other roommates. At first Eli had me meet with a young man, age 21, Martin (accent on the ‘i’), who is a first year theological student at the state school, the Charles University, and a bit later his friend and fellow first year student, Victor, joined us. As I talked to them both, it became apparent that neither one of them had any idea how off the track their theological program at the secular Charles University was. It also became apparent that neither one of them had room in their schedules to accommodate any involvement with Holly Hills. As they talked about their degree programs, readings, ongoing and anticipated ministry involvement and future hopes after theological school, I struggled to suppress my deep disappointment. Shortly others began to arrive, and by 7 PM we began, though others continued to arrive as well. Eli says that the meeting typically has 0-2 ladies present aside from her, and but this time there were about 20 present, including 5-6 guys (usually there are no guys present). Using a Powerpoint slide set I had assembled from prior studies in Isaiah and Revelation, I talked about God and time, covering God’s living in the eternal present (…before Abraham was born, I AM; …from everlasting to everlasting…), using that to explain God’s knoweldge of the future, God’s ability to apply spiritual transactions from other times to the time of Chrst’s death, and back. From there we talked about the basic identification truths, and moved forward in time to the Rapture, Tribulation, Millennial Kingdom, and the New Heavens and Earth. After that we broke out into a Q&A session, which continued past 9 PM, then the group broke up, with several more continuing to ask questions until almost 11 PM, again meeting with David, whom I had talked with the day before. I copied many HHBC files onto Eli’s roommate’s flash drives – whole folders full of files, especially since we were running out of time for their many questions on what the Bible says about marriage and a Christian’s sexuality (including gift of singleness and gift of marriage), loss of salvation, what about those who haven’t heard, what is grace, what do the identification truths mean, etc.?). Several said that the pastors in Czech are too few and poorly equipped to minister – they are given a deeply secularized heavily theological and theoretical training. Several asked if I would please come back – there is nobody in Czech who can minister biblically.
Eli and I traveled by the public transit system, getting back to Billy and Adrianne’s at nearly midnight. We talked about the meetings with the individuals and the groups. I told Eli that her two roommates were ‘gems’. One is getting married in August, and the other is hoping to be engaged before long, both to Christian guys. I told her that the two theological school students were in a program that was worse than a waste of time – very bad. When she asked me if I told the theological students that, I told her,”No, since I have found that telling theological students such things is usually met with great disbelief, refusal and resistance”. I have since wondered and prayed about whether I should try to talk to them about it. At this point I’m still praying about what the next step might / ought to be in ministry in the Czech Republic. Though the needs are huge, at this point I don’t see an equivalent to a Hassan, someone that we could bring to Holly Hills for a time to train productively with us. At least that is the situation right now.
So this morning I am considering the time I’ve had in Czech, and preparing for the time in Uganda. Planned for Uganda:
As much time with Hassan as his schedule and mine will allow. He is realizing that neither his church nor his culture have prepared him adequately for the marriage he is about to enter – and the Ugandan culture makes it even more complicated.
Teaching at two church services (still working on the topics / passages), and teaching the identificaiton truths on Mon-Fri mornings at the seminary (CBIT).
Final counseling with Hassan & Juliet, rehersal on Friday evening, then the wedding on Saturday the 14th.
Passing along items to various people in Uganda, including Hassan, Jared, and Logose.
In the past four days I’ve gotten about as much sleep, and about as much coffee (none yesterday), as I usually get in three or four days.
