My Refuge & Strength

Day 14 (Sunday)

The first time I went to the Litvinov church that we’d been partnering with for a while now, I was pretty nauseous. We were on our way to the camp and had to pick up a few things. And I needed to get out of the car, so I followed everyone else. At the time, a worship session was going on and I sat in the back and watched (like the creeper I am). The room wasn’t particularly big, the chairs were plastic, and there were no glamorous images of the crucifixion, but that didn’t seem to be an issue for these people. They seemed just as close to God here as they would be in some place as extravagant and the Vatican. Perhaps even more so.

So now, I was standing in front of all these people, who appeared to be perfectly happy with exactly how their church looked, and free from all the politics. And they listened to my jabbering (translated through Karla, of course) with wide smiles and open ears. 

The service began with about six or seven songs (two of which I could recognize and sing in English), then announcements, which we prayed for in small groups shortly afterwards. Then for the remainder of the service, the pastor recapped what our week was like and asked our team of five to come and share. 

I’ve experienced worshiping with believers who speak different languages before whenever I went to Mexico, but this was different. Then, we were putting on the show. Mostly everything was translated for English to Spanish instead of the other way around and we only played the Spanish songs we knew. Here, we were along for the ride, truly going with the flow. I hardly understood a word, and I don’t think I really needed to. That’s the beautiful thing about a universal God, we all believe in Him and praise Him with the same heart, and He can understand each word.

Afterwards, we walked over to Kuba’s house and had lunch, where we showed them the magic of peanut butter and apples and hid some applesauce from poor Jenik. I could’ve gone for a nap right about then, but instead we all piled into their tiny cars and went to play ultimate [Frisbee] & football/soccer. & because they’re Czech, I’m pretty certain that they have this GPS in their brains that allows them to find berry bushes anywhere. We harvested quite a lot of blackberries.

In the evening, we sat around a campfire & taught them how to make smores (how is smores not a word, spell check?). Kuba had his guitar with him, & because I was feeling pretty jam-deprived, I asked to borrow it. Eli & I passed it back and forth between songs, & suddenly, everyone starting singing worship songs with us. I’m not sure if it was that or something else entirely, but the love I felt from that group was unconditional, incredible, real; something that gives me pure joy just writing about it. These people say their lives have been changed by this week, that we’ve been a part of that change, but I hope they know that my life has been changed too, and I love all of these wonderful people more than I could have ever imagined would be possible.