Dobrey Den!
It is now
eeeearly, Tuesday morning. My roommate's alarm clock went off at 6am, versus my own,which goes off at 7) and of course, I can't sleep, so I thought I'd update you and let you know what's going on here.
We arrived on Saturday, after an overnight flight. Sleeping on the plane was such a pain, and I didn't do very well at all. However, the meal was pretty good, as were the movie/tv choices, so I made it work. We had a SHORT layover in London...enough for the airport staff to pick us up at the gate, put us on a bus to our next terminal, then run to the next gate. We made our connecting flight, and I proceeded to fall right asleep.
Once off of the plane,we went through customs (got that passport stamp!), went to the ATM and money exchange and waited for our bags. Besides everyone's carry on, we all checked one bag, and checked a Rubbermaid tub full of items we were bringing over for the Mudrik family. Praise God for friends in high places: a man that I went to church with at the DC Regional Christian Church just happened to be on duty as a TSA agent at the departure airport, and he made sure that all of our baggage and bins got through security checkpoints together. With all of the tools we were bringing, we thought they'd end up searching every bin, but they only had to search one. That could have been so much worse! But hey, if it keeps the country safe, I say CHECK THEM ALL!!
Anyway, after collecting all of the bins, we discovered that 2 bags had not been placed on the belt, so those team members went to make a claim for them. The rest of us took pictures and video, and exchanged money (if they already hadn't). Once we finished, we walked to the public side of the airport, outside of security, and found Marek Mudrik, who greeted us warmly, then got us in a taxi for transit to our hostel.
We made it to the hostel by 4pm, and needed to stay active so none of us would fall asleep. Here, we are 6 hours ahead of our home time, but everyone was very tired from such a long trip over. So Marek took us to the Rivenhill Farm, where we would be working while here. Such an amazing place, but in need of a TON of work. (A photo blog is in the works!).
After the tour, we came back to the hostel for dinner, then finally retired for bed. We were beat, and had a long day planned for Sunday.
On Sunday, we had breakfast, then met the Mudrik's (including 2 of the children!),and walked to work, about a mile. We sat in church and Marek and Elaine translated for us, since it was fully in Czech. Strange,I couldn't understand what was being said, but I still felt the presence of God in that room. A children's choir sang, and one of the songs the worship leaders sang was not only in English, but also one of my VERY favorite songs....and I got extremely emotional as she sang it. We fellowshipped a bit after church, then went to lunch with the Mudrik family. Then,we decided we wanted to go into the city and tour around for a bit. We took the Metro (train)into the city center, and saw amazing sites...and then walked back to the cars from there, uphill. My legs are still sore from the walk, all 9miles of it (though, at this time, the distance is still being disputed). We returned to the hostel, had dinner,and went to bed.
I know this is a very brief description of the trip so far, and I apologize. I have very limited internet time, and want to tell everything, but can't. I will post a picture blog soon, and hopefully, you'll be happy to see some of the sights I was in awe of.
Next time: out first day of work, and pictures!
Also, check
THIS LINK to read what the other MO5 teams are doing on their mission trips!
