He wraps the world in Light.

Tonight, as I was walking home after a long day of learning AND teaching, I had my headphones in and the song "How Great Is Our God" came on. I was very attuned to the lyrics and as I listened, I couldn't help but look around me and be reaffirmed of the truth behind the words. It has snowed pretty steadily here the past couple of days, and as a result, the streets and sidewalks have a good foot or so of crystal white snow layering them. In the darkness of the night, I was amazed at how vibrantly white the snow still was. And though snow and I are typically not good friends, I had to admit that it really is a beautiful, wonderful thing. There's not much else in life that, surrounded by nearly complete darkness, can continue to shine so bright. I started to think of the line that says "he wraps the world in light" and realized that it is so true. God is so evident here in Brno. I was trying to think of all the places I've seen God since I've been here, and I have yet to run out of places and things. He is here. He has wrapped Brno in light. There are still so many people focused on the darkness, but the city is wrapped in Light. And I have hope that the dawn is near. I know without a doubt that people are beginning to see the light, every day. Since I've been here, I have met so many solid Christians, from all over the world, worshiping God with the same passion and sincerity of heart that I have seen among Christians back home. God is not dead in Europe. He is alive and well. And he still works miracles.

Yesterday I was invited to observe a friend teaching her beginner English class. It was so much fun, and so refreshing. I didn't realize it until yesterday, but I have been desperately missing kid interaction - being around little kids. Her class wasn't big - three little seven year old boys. But they were so stinkin cute and I loved every second of being there. I plan to go back next week and hopefully (if my schedule permits it!) teach a class on Friday mornings to Czech kids. I am pretty excited.

Today I had my first teaching practice. Me and three of the other TESOL students played a BUNCH of ice breaker games with a group of 15 Czech students, ranging in age from 21 to 51. It was interesting, to say the least. They are upper intermediate students, meaning they know English quite well, but after talking with a bunch of them, realized most of their knowledge is of grammar and their weaknesses and insecurities are in conversation and listening. The students were all so gracious and very patient with us, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun teaching them and also learning from them. But it will definitely be a challenge. Being a native speaker, I feel sort of at a disadvantage because English comes so naturally for me. I've never had to think about what I say or why I say it, and for non-native speakers, this can be quite troublesome. I was told more than once that I was talking way too fast, and found myself staring into fifteen confused faces after saying something they didn't understand. Not only that, but most of them have learned English from British English speakers, which has several differences than American English. For example, today I was leading this "catch phrase" sort of game in which I would write a word on the board and the class had to prompt one of their team mates to guess it without actually telling them the word. I wrote the word "pants" on the board and listened as the students stumbled over words and eventually found out, none of them actually knew what "pants" were. They knew them as trousers. Oh, life. :) All that to say, this semester is going to challenge me and stretch me and grow me and hopefully improve my English speaking and teaching skills so that I can communicate with non-native speakers in a meaningful way. :) Magda told me today that I should get credit for being her roommate because I am constantly explaining things to her and correcting her English (only because she told me I was required to!) Today she started a journal of all the American English slang she's been learning. Some of the words include "juke box" (I told her she was like a juke box because she would sing 10 different songs in the matter of 2 minutes) "awesome" and "Bummer, dude" It's pretty fun to talk with her. She's been trying to teach me polish words and phrases too, though I'm not such a good learner, I'll admit.

Lately I've spent a lot of time with this one group of people - Stephanie from Virginia, Rachael from Nebraska, Brian and Ruthie from Wisconsin, and Jeongmin from S. Korea. We went out for Ruthie's birthday last night. I am really getting tired of going from pub to pub and drinking SO much tea (okay, i'm lying, i will never get tired of drinking tea!) but each night I sit and wonder how many more hours until I can be sleeping in my bed always ends with the moment that makes it all worth it - when everyone is just tired enough to let their defenses drop a bit and talk about real things. Every time I hang out with these people I am more surprised at how much they have experienced in life. It makes me love and understand them more and more and see more of their desperation for a FULL LIFe. Ruthie especially. That girl has seen more in her 20 years of living than anyone should ever see in a lifetime. Her stories are absolutely CRAZY. Sometimes I feel like she's just making them up based off of some horror movie she has just watched. She's a pretty regular pot smoker and gets drunk almost every night, but since she's been here, she has not smoked pot and she only goes out 2 or 3 times a week. Getting to know her has been so cool, and I know that God has brought her here for a huge purpose. I only pray I get the privilege of seeing what that is. Please be praying for Ruthie.





Brian, Ruthie, me and Jeongmin