...and now home again.

We just returned from 5 weeks in Europe (3-1/2 weeks in Czech) and bring home with us the good report that the Dennys have settled into their temporary lodging at Villa Sitna Penzion and Marcus is in week #3 of intensive Czech language classes. Their big transition to missionary life is underway!

The wait for their Czech visas seemed to take forever, but they received word on Easter Sunday that they had arrived at our house! The Dennys were celebrating Easter with Marcus' family in Vancouver and our pastor's family was picking our our mail and watching for the visas. But the visas must have come by other means than USPS -- following the busy Easter Sunday service, they drove by our house to check and leaning against our front door was a packet containing the 5 passports (with Czech visa stamps) and more than $500 cash to refund overpayment for the visa applications!

Thankfully we were able to extend our stay in Czech a few days so that we could be there when the family wheeled past customs into the airport waiting area. The little girls were soooo excited to finally arrive on Czech soil! A grandma can only wonder how their little imaginations had conjured up what it would be like in the Czech Republic. Several months ago Lydia had asked her mother if she might be a queen in the Czech Republic (and seemed slightly disappointed when told she would still be Lydia).

The family has dived into the busy ministry routine established by missionaries Peter and Sonya Smith seem to be very much enjoying the fellowship of Czech believers in Kladno. A couple days after they arrived, we were making a stop at a Kladno shopping center and were delighted to see a good friend from the past in the parking lot. Renata Vodhanilov was with her husband Ondra and their little boy Simon. Renata was beaming to see Marcus and Amie and to meet their little girls--in 2000 she spent 4-5 months here in Spokane and she assisted with a series of the summer outreach camps in CZ.

When we ran into Vodhanlovs we were enroute to Globus and Ikea, two large stores just outside of Prague. Amazingly, at Ikea Marcus ran into the sister of another good Czech friend who did not know the Dennys were moving to CZ. It seems as if Czech contacts from the past are lying in wait for them.

Marcus commented that it seems much more common, now, for Czechs to speak some English, which will make their acquisition of Czech language more difficult. In 2000-2001 when Marcus lived in CZ for 9 months, for survival he had to learn to use Czech language. Today you can navigate fairly well in English, but you cannot effectively pastor a church without fluency in the native language of the people.

So please pray for the Dennys as they seek to immerse themselves in Czech language study. Amie is not, as yet, taking any language lessons, so please pray that Marcus is able to help her learn and that God provides many Czech friends who are willing to coach her. They are considering enrolling Lydia in Skolka (Czech preschool) in the fall, which will provide a playgroup for the girls and should help them learn to speak Czech.

Thanks so much for standing with us in our mission trips to the Czech Republic and especially for standing with the Dennys in their transition to the mission field.