Praying Scripture

The last weekend I spoke at our EPC youth retreat on Ephesians 6:10-20; the passage in the Bible where we receive the armor of God image.  This morning during a time with God, I felt inspired to pray this scripture and I have attempted to write down that prayer.  I hope that you are encouraged and that God will likewise clothe you with Himself as you pray this prayer.
~

Lord God, I ask that you would fill me with your Spirit and uphold me with your power.

I live in a culture that says truth comes from within myself.  Lord, secure me with Your absolute and perfect truth, like a belt that surrounds me from without; continually upholding me and protecting me from falling apart to wavering philosophy that separates itself from You.

Cover me with Your righteousness that is credited to me through your Son Jesus, who was pierced so that I do not have to be.

Shod my feet, Lord, with shoes that will quickly bring peace to any conflict; that your grace will be ever-present in my life and in the lives of those around me.

Lord, make my shield of faith stronger so that my trust in you will be greater than any lie that comes my way, no matter how obvious or deceptive.  Thus, I will not give in to temptation, but will trust together with God’s people in Your promises.

Cover my head with your helmet of salvation, protecting my mind and identity with the assurance of your salvation; that I am adopted as your son/daughter (Eph 1).

Let me hold continually in my right hand the sword of your Spirit, your Word; the Bible.  Convict my heart Lord (Heb 4:12), keeping me ever humbled and drawn closer to You.  Fill my cup to overflowing so that when others see the Sword in my hand they will be set free from bondage to evil just as I have also been set free.

Keep me close to you in prayer that I will continually have your perspective and knowledge of how stand with You in the work that You are doing in the world.  Teach me how to pray, Lord, that every time spent with you will be fresh.  Let me hear your heartbeat as I sit in your presence and intercede for those whose burden is on my heart.

Empower me to live with unashamed boldness for You because I stand full of your presence and upheld by your Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Moving Past Transition

Since October, I have been serving as the Children and Youth Director at CUP Church.  It is exciting to be a part of what God is doing here in Western, PA.  God has been faithful to bring me and my family through transition into a place that is such an excellent fit for our family.

CISP Continues... (without us)

The school year started for CISP on September 5th with the following prayers answered!

-Set up in the new school building

-Recognized as an official school by the Czech government

-Accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International

-adequate enrollment of students

-adequate staff

-celebrating 10 years of successful education

We are praising God and ask you to continue praying for the future of the place where students from over 20 nationalities hear the Gospel!

Prayers Answered

Student Accepts Christ!
I (Matt) was sitting next to Jason (not real name) at Chapel this last week.  There was a pause during worship were another student sarcastically commented, "What are we doing?"  Jason boldly and seriously commented back, "We are worshipping Jesus!"  One of our fellow staff members had a deeper followup conversation with him where he confidently shared that he is a Christian, is going to church with a friend, is daily reading his Bible and praying, and shared his faith with a visiting Czech school group.  It is so exciting to see how God has drawn this young man to Himself.  One year ago in our homeroom he had never seen a Bible before.  Now he is professing Christ.  Praise God!

Recognition by the Czech Government!
After years of prayer, preparing documents, and being denied for no clear reasons CISP finally gained recognition by the Czech government.  God's timely provision enabled us to continue moving forward with our negotiations for a new school building.

New Building Contract Signed!
This week our director signed the contract for the new building.  This is also prefect timing for us to prepare to move this summer and to give a visiting accreditation team confidence about our school when the come in a couple weeks.  (Pray for the move.  Pray for the accreditation process.)

God answers prayers!  Praise God!

Liam!

We are proud to announce that our son, Liam, was born in December!  We are beginning to settle into our new life as parents and have enjoyed having family visiting for the holidays.  Maybe someday instead of taking a nap, we will write about the joys and challenges of parenting :).  Thank you for your prayers!

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

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:

Settling In

We have now been in Prague for 2 weeks!  Our time has been spent settling in and working to prepare the school for classes.  Here are some pictures of our work at the school and a Birthday Party for Kate which we hosted at our new place.

Painting: Kate is excited to have a blue geography classroom thanks to Matt and Garrett! ...we considered painting continents on the walls!  (Just kidding, though that would be cool)

Moving Books: ...lots of books...

Kate's B-Day: Mission Accomplished- buy a whole cake from the "cukrárna" (sugar shop) using broken Czech and hand signals.  Yeah!

Update: We successfully applied for Kate's visa renewal!

Prayer:
-that Kate's visa application would be received & processed favorably
-Our support raising.  We are only at 78% of our Budget for the next 2 years.  Please join our team if you are able!
-Other new and returning teacher's transportation, visas, & support

Leaving Early!

Prague, here we come!

We?

-Matt & Kate were finally married on July 16!

Early?

-The Lord has miraculously worked out the details for us to leave for Prague several weeks early!  We are now departing on Tuesday, August 2- tickets booked.  This was not our plan, but it is clear to us that it is God's plan.

Prayer?

-Please pray for us as we make this transition.

Support?

-We are still in need of financial support- especially monthly pledges.