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.

Getting Oriented

This week, TeachBeyond orientation has been a blessing to us (Matt & Kate) as we prepare to teach at CISP:

-Amazing fellowship
-Testimonies of God's work
-Cross-cultural preparation
-Personal Growth
-Connecting with CISP teachers
-Understanding third culture kids
-Joining a team dedicated to changing the world
-Prayer

Here is a powerful testimony of Christian discipleship works that was shared by a fellow missionary:

A pastor, speaking at an event, gave 2 elderly gentlemen the challenge of physically touching as many people in the crowd of 2,500 as they could within 30 seconds.  Stopwatch starts.  Nobody has ever seen these men move so fast.  Time's up.  "Stand up if you were touched."  Impressive.  Many stand; mostly on the sides and isles, no one in the balcony.

A second time the 2 men were given the task.  This time they were instructed to only touch 4 people each within the 30sec time frame.  But, everyone they touch is allowed to touch 4 more people, who can each touch 4 more, and so on.  Off they go with some strategy; one makes a b-line for the balcony. Time's up.  "Stand if you were touched."  Everyone stands- every stadium seat in the entire place making the "tha-thump" sound.  Hearts are inspired as the realize the significance of the analogy.

This is how Christian discipleship works according to Matthew 28:18-20.  It is about investing in a few and giving them the same Biblical charge to disciple others.  This is one way we plan to make disciples in Prague; inside and outside the classroom.  This is how we can fulfill God's purposes wherever we are located, whatever we are doing.  Who are your 4 people?

Prague-ress

New letter update on my preparation for the mission field.

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