This is Marge tonight. Adam is tired, so I get to fill you in. We have had a very full day. I sat in on language learning again this morning. It is really good for me to see what it takes to learn a language. They have been here since September and are on Chapter 7 of the first book. It is a very challenging lesson and a challenging teacher. She is a Masters student at the university here. She does not help them and asks conversational questions, so it is not rote memory. I still see language acquisition as the biggest challenge for me, and am overwhelmed with what it takes. The Barnes already know Hungarian, and are working very hard to learn the Czech language.
However, though I feel overwhelmed here, I also feel a great sense of calm and am thankful for all your prayers. A principle from BSF keeps coming to mind. God's sovereignty is for my good and for His glory. It is not a threat to me because He loves me. So, wherever God leads us, it is for these reasons and I have nothing to fear.
I went daily shopping today. This morning, I went to the grocery store with Brenda. Items are familiar, yet not. I cannot read the labels, although I think I found soy yogurt and different flavors of soy milk, so there is hope for my family. Brenda is too concerned about feeding Adam. I keep telling her to relax, but I also know what it is like to be a hostess, so I just showed her some things that I would buy. I am getting used to using crowns, but my head hurts from trying to think through the prices in my head (20 crowns to a dollar). We also went shopping to a store like Wal-mart and a furniture store. We are pricing things to see what we would want to bring with or just buy here. Prices are similar to the states for us. We were looking at used cars before we got to the furniture store called Rollers. Ron was pointing out some cars and then we walked into this store, so I assumed he was taking us into a car dealer. I was thinking, I don't want to try to talk to a car dealer in Czech, when I realized it was a furniture store. That felt dumb until I realized Adam thought the same thing.
Then we went to see the church and hear more about church body life. Adam and I sat and talked to Ron for an hour or so at church about ministry, his mission and strategies and desires and where we might fit in. One of my questions was where do "green" missionaries fit into a very new work in a new country. He emphasized the variety of people needed on the field and the importance of lay ministry being developed in the church. It felt better to me as I am feeling quite new to all of this and am around seasoned church workers. I have so much respect for the Barnes family. They are very kind and loving, very honest, and very strategic about what they do here.
By the time we arrived home, I was exhausted. I had shopped for food, where we might live, what we would need in a new home, and what we would do in ministry. Too much. I will let it settle tonight and hope to have more time tomorrow to pray and think.
Two things have come to mind for us while we are here. God is the crown that we work towards that does not perish, like the crowns they use here for material goods. Also, I read in the Psalms this morning about Christ as our rock, our protector and our strength. All the buildings here are solid, 16th century or concrete buildings. They don't move. In the same way, our Father God is immutable. He is my rock. What a great illustration to the Czech people of who we can count on in our lives.
Love to all and thank you for your prayers,
Marge
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