Secondary Retreat 2012

It's hard to believe that this year's secondary retreat has come and gone- before we know it the first semester will be over!

All 7th- 12th graders had the opportunity to get away from the city together to grow in community and to hear messages about faith from their student leaders.  One student led a "workshop" in which she raised awareness about eating disorders and self-harm, encouraged her peers to seek help if they struggle with such things, and gave testimony to how God is giving her victory and hope in this aspect of her life. Hearing her testimony for her own lips represented a HUGE answer to the prayers that we and many others have been offering for her.

This year's student leadership team- Cail, Jessica, Sarah, and Eleanor- did a superb job of planning and leading the retreat, which lasted from Wednesday to Thursday, October 10-12. It was wonderful to see student leaders maturely build community using fun activities and also, during the sessions, share the lessons God has been teaching them.  Even I (Kate) was challenged by the truths they shared from scripture.  Jessica spoke on perseverance from Romans 5:3-5: "... we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."  She described the connection between perseverance and hope for her peers.  Often we choose to complain about our challenges (Jessica used the example of school-work and classes) instead of taking them as opportunities to grow in Christ-like character.  This leads to an attitude of self-defeat, inevitable failure or simple depression.  Yet, if we persevere, God fosters endurance and Christ-like character in us.  Jessica winsomely pleaded with her listeners "And isn't that the thing we want most, to become more like Christ?"  Ultimately His character points us back to the eternal hope we have through Jesus, God's love confirmed through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

This message was encouraging to me as I anticipate all the challenges of being a new mother, come December!

Below are some pictures from the retreat :)

Hurt and Grace (recently read books)

I (Matt) have been doing more reading lately.

First I read Hurt 2.0 by Chap Clark.  This book attempts to look inside the world of today's teenagers in America for the purpose of describing their world in a way that will help people know how to love and care for them.  His observations include that many teens feel systematically hurt and abandoned by adults.  This does not mean that adults are intentionally hurting youth, but are hurting them through their lack of intentionality and understanding, especially when pushing youth fit their personal agendas.

Next, I read the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  This entertaining novel which has gained quick popularity including a movie contract, to me felt like I was reading Hurt 2.0 again.  The story is told from the perspective of teens and they describe how they feel hurt and abandoned by the adults in their lives.  While there is some debate about whether these are actually good books, it is very clear to me now why they are popular.  The intended audience, teens, are able to identify with the characters; and even though the characters live in a futuristic world they deal with the same real life struggles that today's teens face.


I am currently reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  He writes in the first section of the book that we 'bear one another's burdens' when we forgive their sins.  In doing so we identify with the hurt and abandonment that Christ felt when he died for our sins on the cross.

I just finished re-reading Hebrews.  Hebrews 12:15 says, "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble."  When we refuse to forgive we develop a root of bitterness and keeps us from experiencing the grace of God.  To break free from hurt and abandonment is to seek Christ.  Christ is able to set you free from the bitterness that results from systematic hurt and abandonment that is a very real part of this world.

What God is doing in Prague Video

The last 5 months, I (Matt) have had the privilege to mentor a young man from the States who came here to Prague to seek spiritual renewal and to develop his video production skills.  During his time here he had the opportunity to be a part of several different ministries in Prague.  The following videos represent his experience and are his final video work.  I share these videos in part to recognize him and his work and partly because they also represent our work since we are a part of several of the ministries represented in the video including: ICP, CISP, Youth Praha, Prague Kids.

-Enjoy!

Short and more well-rounded version:

Longer and has more footage from ministries we are a part of:

Škola v Přírodě (School in Nature)

One of things Matt and I love about living here is the absolute commitment Czechs have to enjoying "the nature."  Without a doubt, on any day that is at least moderately nice, in any season,  Czechs of ALL ages will be out and about in Prague's many parks, or will take a bus to one of the hiking regions outside the city.  Plaid hiking pants and walking poles are very common, used by young and old alike.  Indeed, Czech deciduous and coniferous forests are gorgeous. (that rhymes!) The mysterious (to me) lack of underbrush creates a fairy-tale-like green and brown canvas on which shafts of sunlight brilliantly shine.

This is a photo from Česky Raj, a beautiful region of limestone pillars, old castles, and gorgeous forests.

Why do Czechs (and Europeans in general) fearlessly spend so much time in nature?  One important factor is that it is part of their educational system.  Quite common are "School in Nature" experiences, where kids spend a week of school in nature.  Here in CZ it's called Škola v Přírodě (Shkolah vuh Pgrri-row-dee-ay).  This spring, for the first time, our international school took the middle school on a ŠvP trip.  The kids were educated in a much different manner than usual--using maps to figure out a hiking route (little or no help from chaperones!), learning how to work with a team and value team members, experiencing nature (instead of just seeing it in pictures or from a distance), and learning how to endure and persevere through a 40 km bike ride.

For said 40 km bike ride, I wasn't well enough to make the journey, and one student didn't have the skills or confidence to ride up and down a hill, much less through woods and fields.  So, we stayed behind and worked on her basic bike skills and took a shorter ride through the woods once she gained confidence on pavement.  We were able to have good conversations about fear of injury and fear of doing things in front of people, and how to overcome those fears. To my satisfaction, it was a wonderfully successful experience for her, and by the time we were done she said couldn't wait to ride her bike at home again! (It had been 3 years since the last time.) She also said later that it was her favorite day that week.

The last morning of our trip, Matt led a devotional in which students took 20 minutes to silently reflect, pray, and meditate on Scripture while observing the sights, sounds, and smells of God's creation around them.  Students were prompted to think about what they had learned during the week.  In this, they were encouraged to practice one of the most important disciplines of Christian faith: being still with God.

The trip confirmed to me that experiential education is really a great thing: giving kids meaningful experiences in physical challenges, nature, and working with each other.  I hope US schools can realize the value of experiential education as much as Europeans do.  Kids can learn ABOUT the world and life sitting with a book or computer, but what if they KNEW these things personally because they have experienced them?

-Kate

New CISP Website

I have had the privilege of working as an extension of CISP's development team to implement a new website design that better represents our school.  If you have not yet seen it, check it out!

www.cisprague.org

CISP Chapel

Chapel at the Christian International School of Prague brings everyone together for community activities like worship, prayer, an encouraging talk or testimony, birthday celebrations, announcements and the like.

Student Worship Team

About a month ago, I (Matt) had the opportunity to speak at chapel for 2 consecutive weeks.  I used the time to share about the experiences that I had with God's grace.  I talked about how God's love for can be categorized as: Acceptance, Forgiveness, and Care.  God's grace works like a pipe taking water from one place to another; God shows us grace; we learn to show grace to ourselves; we show grace to other people.  I borrowed these ideas from an excellent book than had a huge impact on my spiritual growth, Embracing the Love of God by James Bryan Smith.  Buy it. Read it.

To help illustrate my points I used the example of my marriage and a couple clips from the movie, Les Misérables (1998).  If you have not seen that movie, you should.




I have been involved in public speaking a few times before.  But this time I learned a few lessons through the proces.

1) Public speaking is a challenge because you bear the burden of what you are saying to people.
2) I have a lot to learn about how to be a better communicator.
3) I really enjoyed it and want to get better!

-Matt