Boneless Saddles Of Rabbit Please...

As many of you know, I'm a pretty picky eater. I can't help it so don't judge me! Haha! Trying new and weird foods has never really made me excited, but I'll try anything once. Well, last night I decided to put that theory to work. The place: Café Louvre (a popular tourist destination with patrons the likes of Franz Kafka, Karel Capek, and Albert Einstein). The food: Boneless Saddles of Rabbit in a sauce made of white wine, cream, French mustard, bacon, and thyme served with wild rice. Well, I usually like all types of meat so that was a plus, and there wasn't anything in the sauce that I didn't like, so I decided to go for it!

I'm not sure where the saddles are on a rabbit, but they are tasty! I don't think I've ever seen a rabbit with a saddle on it? Anyways, I took the first bite and it was different, but it was good! I really liked it! It was a little gamey tasting which I expected, but not enough to ruin the meal or overpower the senses. The wild rice was good and worked well with the sauce and the rabbit saddles. Overall, I was very pleased with my choice of meals! I rounded out the night with some tiramisu and a scoop of home-made chocolate ice cream. It was delicious! I hate to say it, but it was the best ice cream I have ever had. Sorry Mayfield! All in all it was a great evening with great friends and great time!

Soccer Success!!!

Over the past couple of weeks we have been going out to Řepy to prayerwalk and do some sports ministry. So we would prayerwalk until kid's got out of school and then we would get a basketball or a soccer ball and hit the courts that we had been mapping out while prayerwalking. The first couple of times we went out, nothing. Kids would walk by without paying any attention to us at all. Then, we found out from Will's daughter, Lauren, that even though most of the courts have basketball hoops, most of the kids don't really know how to play basketball. So, we decided that maybe we should just focus on something they are familiar with, soccer.

Up until yesterday, we had only had a small crowd to walk me and Daniel play soccer. The only ones who would play with us were Cail and Lauren, Will's kids. Then Yesterday, we headed back out to Řepy for some prayerwalking and soccer. We finished up the prayerwalking maps (an awesome feat!) and then headed to go play soccer presumably by ourselves. But as we rounded the corner to the field where we had seen the most kids, there was a boy of about 10 or 12 with a soccer ball. He was by himself so I asked him if he wanted to play. He didn't speak any English, but using body language he figured out that we wanted to play. To my surprise, he put the soccer ball down and kicked it towards us!!! HE DID IT!!!! We finally got a Czech kid to play soccer with us! It was great! He was pretty good for his age, better then me! We kicked the ball around for a while, and then he picked up the ball and said something in Czech, which we took as a good-bye, and he was off.

I think he knew something we didn't though, because not 3 minutes after he left, we got destroyed by a snow storm! The wind had been really strong all day and it blew the falling snow in a sideways direction. It all happened so fast! Within 5 minutes the ground was covered with snow and we were freezing and wet. The only problem was that we had no where to go. Will and Rachel had left to go somewhere and Cail and Lauren were still at school! So, we did the only thing we could, we just kept playing soccer. It didn't last long though because Daniel said that he couldn't feel his face, so we knew it was time to go. We walked back to Will's house and luckily we only had to wait about 10 minutes before Cail and Lauren showed up and let us in.

Welcome to a normal day in Prague, if there is such a thing....



Řepy

Beautiful Feet

Prayerwalking is an idea that was lost on me for many years. I never saw the reason why you had to actually be somewhere to pray for it. I mean, can't you pray for a specific place from anywhere in the World? Short answer: yes, you can pray for anything from anywhere, but how can someone 1000 miles away really pray for an area unless they have been there and seen what the people are going through and what they struggle with on a day to day basis. I had to learn this information the hard way, just like all good lessons in life.

Since we are making the video in Řepy, it is important to know the area where you are ministering. So, in order to do this it means that we take to walking. To help us do this, Will printed off some maps of Řepy I and Řepy II for us. He also gave us an assignment while we walked around. Pray. Pray for the area, the people we come into contact with, the different situations we face, everything. So, over the past few weeks we have been prayerwalking through Řepy. It has really changed my outlook on prayerwalking! Now, I can see how much more effective prayer can be when it's specific and direct instead of general and unconnected. And as an added bonus, we have all the playgrounds, basketball courts, soccer fields, and schools mapped out for Will to use in the future for different outreach events, and we have even found some cool places to shoot!

Being in Prague has vastly increased my knowledge in many areas from language to cultural differences, but one of the most valuable lessons that I've learned has been the lessons I've learned about myself.

Divoká Šárka (March 14, 2009)

We got to Will's house last Saturday and I opened my package from the states! And then Will said that plans had changed today because the sun was out and in Prague, you don't waste a sunny day! So, we packed up in the car and headed to a place that I have only heard of...

Divoká Šárka is a nature reserve on the outskirts of Prague. It is named Wild Šárka after a mythical female warrior and you can really find peace and quiet out there even among all the huge buildings of the city center. We parked at a McDonald's and walked into another world! It is completely different then what I expected! I was expecting a park feel with buildings surrounding it, but what I got was a huge expanse of woods and mountains that I never expected! It was great! We walked into the valley on a concrete pathway and followed it around. It didn't last long though because in no time, we were climbing up the side of the mountain heading for the top and a better view! It took a little while, but we made it! It was beautiful! We walked around on the top for a while before walking to another part of the ridge that was the real top! But when we made it there we realized that even though it was the top of this mountain, the one next to it was taller. So, There was only one thing to do.

We climbed down the side of the mountain we were on, making a trail as we went. We had seen a trail from the top of the other mountain that would take us to the top of the taller one. So, we started climbing of the trail and in on time we were exhausted (partly from trying to fun up the side) and found on outcropping in the rocks to sit on. We sat and caught our breath for a while then we were off again! We climbed all the way to the top and to our surprise, there was a guy with a bike up there! It turns out that there was a trail going the other way that was a lot easier. So, we took it down and found a small village in the process! So, after walking around the village we headed back down the mountain. But not before we decided to run, laughing down the side of the mountain with complete disregard to trails! This ended with us on the wrong side of the river and having to walk till we found a place to cross! So, after all this we were tired and decided to head home! What a day!

Divoká Šárka (Part 1)

Divoká Šárka (Part 2)

A Sweet Smellling Aroma... (March14, 2009)

Being in Prague is great, don't get me wrong! But there are certain things that are not in Prague. Some of these things being family, friends, and food! Even though it would be better to have the first two, they don't travel well through the mail. The last however, has no problem at all traveling through the mail! Let me tell you a story....

I woke up to the sun shining! For those of you who have been to Prague during the winter know that this is a great feeling because the sun likes to hide here for weeks at a time. So, that put my in a good mood to start out the day. I got up and showered and got ready to head to Řepy where we would be ministering with Will. We got on the bus to head to the metro stop. We took the green metro to the yellow metro, and then took the yellow metro 3 stops to Anděl. Then we got on a tram that would take us all the way to Řepy. (It takes about an hour to get out there!) The whole way we rode on the tram, I had a smile on my face. Maybe it was the sun shining or random little events that made laugh, but none the less a smile was on my face. I was just in a genuinely happy, good mood!

So, we got off the tram and walked to Will's house. We knocked on the door and Will answered with a smile on his face. We exchanged heys and then went inside. That's the news came...

"Hey, a package came for you!", Will said. That was all I needed! I knew immediately what the "package" was. It was a care package from my friends and family in America!!! I eagerly tore into the big brown box, while being careful not to mess anything up! In all my eagerness, I had forgot to document this wonderful event! So, I carefully put everything back in the box so I could take some quick pictures before opening it all again!


Grits for Will, DVD of Hellos from the Youth, Skittles, Reese Cups, Snickers, York patties, a Pecan Log, Cheetos, Flaming Hot Cheetos, Mountian Dew, Doritos (Cool Ranch & Nacho Cheese), Pocky Sticks, Cracker Jacks, Peanut Butter, Chef Boyardee, Kool-Aid Singles, Blow Pops, Chicklets, an Insurance Card, New Julian Drive CD, Tortured For Christ book. Ahh!

I want to thank everyone who had anything to do with this!!! This has made my day for several days in a row!!! I miss you all and love you! See you soon!

The Package

Let The Filming Commense!!!

I just wanted to update everyone on the status of the video. And for those of you who are completely lost, I'll do a quick recap...

The reason that I'm here in Prague, Czech Republic with the HandsOn program, through the International Mission Board, is to make a video showcasing the ministry of Will Robbins, a IMB missionary. We (Daniel Anderson and I) are making a video that shows all the ways that you can come and help his ministry out in Řepy and be ON MISSION for God.

So, now that everyone is caught up, lets continue! Up until yesterday, most of the video work we were doing was on paper. We were making out the storyboard, which means that we talked through the entire video and had to write everything out on paper and go over and over and over it until we were all happy with the results. We were doing some filming however. But before we could do any filming, we had to find out what equipment we would be using and how it worked. We are using a Panasonic HD video camera that is pretty sweet! We are also using wireless mics which make our jobs a lot easier! So, once we learned how to use everything we went out to Řepy to do some test filming just to see if we would need to incorporate any lighting into the mix. At this point in production, I don't think it will be necessary.

So, yesterday we finally started to film something that will be in the video! We met up with Will and went over everything one more time and then headed to Charles Bridge to film the first part of the history segment. It was cold, but things went relatively well. We had some trouble with hecklers, but nothing major. It took a little longer then I thought it would to shoot the segment, but all in all it went well! So then after that, we went down in the yellow part of the Můstek metro line to film the introduction. That went a lot smoother and we got more then enough good footage! Since the first filming session took longer then we expected and the days are still pretty short, that's all we were able to do. But we are off to a great start I think! We have to go through all the video to see if it's what we want or if we will have to film it again. Well, there is the update on the video! Hope you enjoyed it!

Kutná Hora

This is my trip to Kutná Hora!!! It was awesome!



I recently had a great opportunity to get out Prague for a day. I'm not getting sick of Prague, rather that I'm curious to see what else is out there in this big, wide world. Natalie informed Daniel and I that she was going with Lindsey and Natalie's dad to Kutná Hora, a village city outside of Prague. I was in! Kutná Hora is a popular tourist destination 2 hours by train from Prague. We met at the train station early Saturday morning and purchased our tickets. The ride out there was pretty uneventful, but it was cool to see the Czech countryside.

Train Ride to Kutná Hora



We finally arrived in Kutná Hora and set out towards our first stop. First up on our journey was Kostnice Ossuary Beinhaus (translated as the Chapel of All Saints) or as it is more commonly referred to "The Bone Church"! It is quite an strange place, but beautiful in an odd sort of way. To find out more about the history of The Bone Church CLICK HERE!!! It was an interesting place... I'll leave it at that and you choose for yourself....

The Bone Church 1

The Bone Church 2

After that we were getting pretty hungry so we decided to go get some food. We had planned on going to a Medieval themed restaurant, but apparently someone had reserved the entire restaurant! So, we decided to go a place called Restaurace V Rutharoce ( V Rutharoce Restaurant). It was absolutely amazing! I have had some pretty delicious meals since I've been here and that was definitely one of them!!! I actually got 2 entrees, one was a pork chop with Tarragon butter and the other one was breaded broccoli and fried potatoes! It was amazing! For dessert (yes, I did get dessert) I had Honey Cake, which is a traditional Czech dessert and is absolutely amazing! If you are ever in the Czech Republic I suggest that you make the trip out to Kutná Hora and eat at V Rutharoce!

V Rutharoce


After we ate we decided to go to St. Barbara's Cathedral! It is one of the largest Cathedrals in the Czech Republic! It was actually being worked on when we were there. They were repairing some of the top on the front, left side. For more info on St. Barbara's Cathedral CLICK HERE!!!

St. Barbara's Cathedral

After the Cathedral, it was getting late so we decided to head back to the train stop cause it would be there soon. We did however make a few more detours before we headed back to the train station and made our way home...

Kutná Hora

Ice Skating!!!

Ice skating! Just the words conjure up fond memories of long ago.... or if you're me then it's a exciting new adventure! I have only been ice skating twice in my lifetime because I'm from the South and ice skating just doesn't usually happen there! So naturally when the opportunity presented itself I was definitely on board! There was a place that Lindsey knew of to go. She is a Journeymen working as a school teacher. So off we went!

We all met up at Staromestka metro stop and headed into Old Town. After a little walking we found the rink located behind a wall in the Jewish Quarter of Old Town. It was 100Kc to skate with a 500Kc deposit. So, we got our skates and went to pay the guy, but he didn't have any change and all I had was a 1000Kc bill. So, with Karen Pearce translating, we just told him to keep it as a deposit and then give it back when we finished. (It was an ordeal, but I got it all back)

So, we all strapped on our skates (which were unusually uncomfortable) and hit the ice (some of us literally!). Well, it turns out that I'm actually pretty good at ice skating for a beginner! I really only fell once and that was because I tried to go in between Lindsey and Stephanie. It was a lot of fun! We played tag and raced and laughed! We had quite a group to go with us! In all there were 13 of us: Stephanie, Daniel, Karen, David, Whitney, Lindsey, Lauren, Jessica, Josh, Andrew, and Me with Natalie and her Dad showing up a little later! We had a blast! I would love to do it again, so I think I will....