“On to our programs in the Czech Republic..  The program was actually quite fun to do for many reasons.  The first is that we decided to introduce ourselves in the Czech language.  Now, that may seem fine, unless you're learning how to speak Czech right before you have to do it! For those of you who do not know what Czech sounds like, it is a Slavic language so it sounds a lot like Russian. So we all introduced ourselves the best we could. It was hilarious when our interpreter Ingrid translated Steve's Czech into Czech. Yup, that's how bad it was…or good it was? Did you know Alaska in Czech is Alyeshka? Well, now you know.
 
I am very privileged to be here sharing the love of Jesus Christ with the people right now in the Czech Republic.  They have been under such oppression from the Communist party for such a long time (I got to hear an account first hand of what it was like, but that's another story), that to be sharing the Gospel in a country that is approximately 70% atheist is quite an opportunity.  The Christians that I have met here are very passionate about their faith, maybe because they have had to fight for it so hard to keep their faith alive in the face of extreme opposition.  I guess when you have to fight for something, it means so much more.  It is an inspiration and blessing to me to be sharing stories with the people of this nation and to be learning a great deal of what real perseverance looks like.  Well, until next time, keep living, loving, learning, and always living passion.”
 
Dave Houglum          
 
“Ahoj to everyone from the Czech Republic!  Today has been a great day!  We began the day by going to school classrooms and doing small programs in Trinec and Oldrichovice.   I think this has been my favorite part of team so far.   In spite of the language barrier, I loved interacting with the kids.   At one of the schools, the pastor in the community told us that he really liked what we were doing.   He said that the kids usually see Christianity in a more traditional sense, and it was good for them to see Christians more free and fun.  That was just so awesome to hear!
 
This evening we went to Frydek-Mistek for a teenage youth group meeting, and it was really neat singing worship songs with them.  We were singing in English and they were singing in Czech, it sounded cool! We have found that "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" and "Give Thanks" are great songs that we all know. After that, many of the youth there joined us as we walked across town--a huge thanks to Sune and Pat who carried our heavy amp on the long, cold, snowy walk. We went to an orphanage where we had a short program and then the kids sang some songs for us!  It was great!!!   I am really looking forward to going to more schools next week!”
 
Kat Goglin
 
“Today our day began with a visit to the Gymnasium in Pausa, Germany. It is fairly common in Germany for the team to be split into two groups so as to visit more classrooms, so we went to four classes in two hours (periods). After the classes we went into kind of a more open area in the hallway with tables and a vending machine that is used during the break. We were in this break area during the large break to play music and promote our concert. As packed as it was by curious students (many whom we had not visited in their classrooms) it felt like the entire student body was in this little area. After school we had a little time off which I used to explore the town a little – Pausa calls itself "the middle-point of the world" and to emphasize that fact the Rathaus (town hall) is topped with a slowly rotating globe with that slogan on it.
 
Eventually the time came to set up for the concert I had been looking forward to and dreading since arriving in Germany. Our Pausa concert is not in a church or a Gemeinschaft but in the Jugendclub (youth club), which we immediately knew was not our typical setting when we walked in and saw the large Jaegermeister banner on the wall. The smell of stale smoke was everywhere, but it was quickly replaced by a much greater quantity of fresh smoke (not to mention a fair bit of Jaegermeister and other kinds of alcohol) when we came back for the concert and people started arriving. There were students from the schools we visited, students from the streets--there were some from the youth group, but many of the people at tonight's concert would never set foot in a church and that alone made the evening worth it. It was a hard concert to play, but despite enduring a few hours of smoke you could see in the air the entire time, despite the buzz of conversation that didn't stop for our skit or sharing, despite any of that, Christ was preached in a place where it doesn't usually happen to people who don't usually hear it, and that is enough.”
 
Steve Ellwein
 
Click here for more information on Watermark and our four other International Teams. And keep an eye out for full newsletters with stories from EACH MEMBER of Watermark, coming SOON to the Youth Encounter website!