The Czech Repulic

February/26/09 18:20 Filed in: Europe

So this week we are speaking at a student retreat in the Czech Republic. To arrive at the retreat we traveled on 5 different forms of transportation for 9 hours over two days ending with a 2 kilometers (1 ½ mile) hike from the last train station to the hotel.

While slogging through the snow with our luggage I began wondering why I had packed 5 pair of pants for an 11-day trip and would have gladly settled for a fresh change of underwear each day. Especially once I realized that our cabin was another 500 meters further on – uphill - in the snow.

When we arrived on Saturday there was about a meter (3 ft.) of snow and Monday it snowed all night and day leaving another 30 cm or so. Our cabin is next to a tennis court and the snow is so deep it has covered the net. The snow is beautiful but if you step into a drift it can take some time to extricate yourself.

Each night we join with a group of Czech students to play games, worship and talk about God, the Bible and truth. These young people are the first generation of their country to grow up free of communist rule. As we get to know each other and laugh together at our attempts learn even a few words of the Czech language we have discovered that they have the same hopes, fears and challenges as students in every country. They even play some of the same games that we play at our retreats in Belgium.

This Saturday we will reverse our travel steps to make our way back to Brussels, but we pray that we can leave these students with a concrete and tangible guide for their lives. That would make it more than worth the trip!