International Church of Prague

Series part 3: (see part 1 & part 2) The International Church of Prague (ICP) is the church we attend regularly.  We have made the decision to become members and plan to consummate that process in January!

This church made up of english speaking people from many nationalities.  It is also an interdenominational church that is loosely connected to the czech brethren church.  We have found this to be a place where we are fed spiritually.  As missionaries we feel that it is important for us to have one venue where we are being fed rather than doing the feeding.  It is however, a place where we are also able to serve using some of our gifts.  For example: we join the worship team every few weeks.  Additionally, the church supports many other missions efforts in Prague.  It is a blessing to be connected to with what God is doing throughout the city.

For more info about ICP feel free to check out the church webpage- www.icprague.cz

Secondary Retreat

This blog is long overdue because this event happened over a month ago.  However, I thought that I would share about it anyway.

Our school's anual fall secondary retreat is a chance for staff and students to go away for a weekend for a time of fellowship, bonding, crazy games, extra chapels, etc.  Several students grew spiritually through our efforts.  One even accepted Christ!

While there, I had the opportunity to facilitate several hours of teambuilding activities.  Or rather, I facilitated 5 other staff who facilitated the activities.  It was a joy to me to create an atmosphere where both staff and students were able to get to know each other better, be put out of their comfort zones, and to learn about themselves.

Here are a couple pictures from the team building time:

Here is a poster that one of my Digital Graphics Class students made after the retreat:

-Matt

The Embassy of the Kingdom of Heaven

A neat video about an elderly Czech woman being an ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven in Prague.

CISP

Series Part 2: CISP (Christian International School of Prague) is our primary ministry in Prague, Czech Republic. As missionaries, Matt teaches IT (information technology) and Kate teaches History & Geography. This summer, the board and administration were able to rework the school's vision statements to add clarity and focus. We are honored to be a part of this ministry opportunity. Here is what CISP stands for:

Vision – a noun
Students who are followers of Jesus among the nations expressing their faith by thinking biblically, and loving and serving their communities for Him.

Mission – a verb of HOW we will achieve the vision
CISP provides, from a biblical perspective, an academically excellent and practically oriented education within a loving community.

Core Values – Beliefs that are shared among the stakeholders of an organization and drive the culture of the school
  -Faith in Christ
  -Walking in Truth
  -Grace in community
  -Biblical in worldview
  -Learning for a lifetime 

__________
CISP has a holistic approach to education. That means that we uphold the typical education subjects like Math & History; AND we also value things like Community, Faith, Service, & Character. In addition to teachers emphasizing these things in the classroom, on Wednesdays we have an alternate schedule that facilitates time for chapel and for students to do service projects in the community. We believe that this is an essential part of education.

On our first wednesday of the school year, we had an assembly. Here are a couple of pictures:

-Matt

Homeroom Adventures

Mr. and Mrs. Ulrich have 6 kids!

No, we are not expecting sextuplets. Sorry to disappoint you.

You may have seen a (more normal-looking) picture similar to this one before, in one of my previous newsletters. This picture from last school year is of this year's eighth grade class. As you can see, they are quite the bunch! Because of some scheduling issues, Matt and I are co-homeroom teachers of these students. I cover homeroom Monday/Thursday, Matt Tuesday/Friday, and both of us on Wednesday.

These kids love:

-drama (they are always begging for drama/skit type projects)

-food (they also have enjoyed culture presentations involving food)

-friends

-music

-history

-purple hair

-their different national backgrounds (New Zealand, Czech, American, Scottish. Oh yeah- and Texan. Oh, those Texans.)

-and more....

In homeroom devotions this year, Matt and I are looking forward to sharing God's greatness with them. Each week, we will focus on one attribute/name of God. We are excited to do this using scripture and music, because things learned through studying God and meditating on his character will never cease to have value, no matter what stage of life these young people are in.

This week's focus:

God as Creator. We meditated on Psalm 104 this morning. Read it for yourself!

Čau!

-Kate

A Verbal Snapshot

"Good morning class..."

Scattered voices: "Good morning Miss Suffern..."

-Teacher raises her eyebrow-

"oh! oh! ......Good morning Mrs. Ulrich..."

-That's more like it-

We are enjoying spending time with our students, inside the classroom and outside of it. Please pray for them with us!

-Kate

Youth Praha

Our ministry begins!  This post is the first of a 3 part series on the kickoff of the CISP (Christian International School of Prague) where we teach, our involvement with ICP (the Christian International Church of Prague), and a youth ministry called Youth Praha, the leadership of which we are joining.  The posts will go in the order that we gain pictures, so today we start with Youth Praha (Praha means Prague in Czech).

Youth Praha is one of the outreach ministries of ICP.  The ministry demographics are youth from a variety of churches, schools, and cultural backgrounds, including Czech, grades 6-12 and leaders from a variety of churches and cultural backgrounds.  We both feel that being involved in this ministry will greatly enhance our ministry at the school since at least half of our school students come out on Friday nights to Youth Praha.  We are excited to be able to connect with our students outside the classroom!  This Friday night, Matt enjoyed supporting the ministry by leading the game time.

Crazy Game:

Please pray that our involvement will enhance our ministry at the school and vice-versa.  Also, pray for the youth and the leadership as we mourn the loss of a very influential youth leader who returned to the States.

Hearing the Word of God: