Prague and the Czech Republic

So this blog entry will be an update on what happened in the Czech republic.

So we are on our way to Germany! I am on the bus and there are beautiful hills and cute villages behind me. It is so green! (Sorry now that I am posting it, I am in Germany, but when I wrote it that was happening.)
But anyway, we arrived in Prague on Thursday and met our tour guide to do a short 1 hour tour of the city. We walked through the city and saw a lot in a short amount of time. It was great! We saw old town, new town, many town squares, and a monastery. We also got to see the opera house where Mozart's Don Giovanni premiered and Mozart conducted it. There is so much history in this city!

After sightseeing, we rolled into the Dolce Villa, and had to get ready for the concert, eat and head to the concert.  Dinner was really good again. We keep having all sorts of incredible authentic food on this trip. And everyone wants to keep feeding us.

Our concert was downtown at a church that had extremely live acoustics. At the end of "Praise To the Lord" sound was still going for about 4-5 seconds afterward. So I guess it is tradition in Prague to sing on the steps, inviting people to the concert, since we had a small audience. So we sang our fast songs on the street. It was fun singing in the little square outside the church, and many people stopped to listen or take pictures. The concert was a bit hard because we had to adjust to the acoustics, but it was still great to have the opportunity to sing in Prague. There were not a lot of people there, but everyone there seemed to really enjoy it!

One lady came up to me after the concert, wiping her eyes, saying how wonderful it was, and how glad she was that we came.

After the concert we went back to the hotel and pretty much went to bed.

St. Vitus Cathedral (Behind) and one of the main old town squares

The next day, we got up a bit early to do a sightseeing tour before we sang at the International school of Prague. We went to the Prague castle as well as the Cathedral St. Vitus. It was so beautiful and built in the gothic style. May have been my favorite that we have seen so far. We also sang a few songs in that space, which was quite wonderful. (And we didn't get kicked out for doing so!) Another thing we saw was this really cute street that had some shops in it. I got this little book about kava houses or cafes in Prague.

Then it was time to head to thee school. We sang for the younger kids as well as middle-high school students. It was fun talking to some of the kids as they were from all over the world, and had also traveled all over the world. They all seemed to really enjoy it! One little girl and her two friends came up to me and asked me a bunch of questions - they were all so cute! This one girl was like "I am an actress. I was in a tv show, and my movie comes out in December!"

In the Prague Castle

In the second time we sang, I talked to a girl afterwards and Heidi asked her how long she had been in Prague and she told us two months. We asked if she was adjusting well, and she said yes. She said she really enjoyed the music because it was all so new to her (she was from India), and she enjoyed hearing all the different types of music.

After leaving the school, we went into the city again and did a short tour, walked across a bridge and saw many of the other historic bridges, and all sorts of neat stuff! There was also a spot where they had filmed Fast and Furious. We walked, where Leonardo Dicaprio  had walked! (Just a random fun fact.)

Finding fun things while we were shopping

Then we had free time, so me Heidi and Brianna did some shopping. Got some cool gifts and saw so many cute things. There were a lot of cool markets and shops with neat authentic Czech stuff. But it didn't take long until we were too tired to shop, so we walked around, took pictures, and saw some interesting things. One guy in one of the shops thought it would be cool to hit on us, which we got discounts on all of the stuff we bought, but at the same time he was creepy. He asked Heidi if we wanted to join him for coffee… Yeahhh we definitely said no.

There was also a lot of strange cultic things in the city. There was a guy who was doing strange and weird magic tricks in the square. There were a lot of strange shops too. It was rather unsettling.  I think we were just made aware of how dark of a city it is. All of its beauty cannot mask the darkness and sin that lies in its midst. We were told before that it was a very atheistic nation, and gave us more reason to be there and bring the light of Christ to it.

Eventually we met up with the group and went to an authentic Czech restaurant which was delicious! I had this potato thing that was two layers of potato with cheese in the middle, then the whole thing fried. So yummy! After dinner we went back to the hotel and it was sleepy time. 

Vienna, Music Capitol of the World!

When we arrived in Vienna, we did some sightseeing from the bus with our tour guide. I was a bit out of it so I don't remember much, but we had some time to walk around the city and mostly see a few things and drink coffee. We did a bit of tour walking as well and saw some important music houses. Our tour guy told us all about the city and the buildings. We saw many Mozart houses including where he died, and a Beethoven house. We also saw the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Shutz, and Brahms. In general there were so many music important buildings and sites, I cannot even list them all! It was just one thing after another.  Mozart performed here, this is the opera house, here is a museum, this is where Beethoven lived.  Another amazing thing we saw was the St. Stephen's cathedral which was breathtaking. Then we went back to the hotel, had dinner and relaxed a bit. It was a pretty chill day - like days off are supposed to be!

St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria

The second day in Vienna, in the morning we had more tours - of the palace of the Hapsburg dynasty royalty. We saw Empress Elizabeth's palace which was enjoyable, except for the fact that she was obsessed with herself. Like no joke. We saw the royal treasury and I don't know if I have ever seen bigger crowns in my life. Or maybe even any crowns. We did other walking around the palace area since it was such a huge history place, then went into the city for lunch. We had some good food and then did some shopping. We went to H&M where we ran into a pickpocket, which made us all a little freaked. Thankfully I still have all of my belongings, but definitely was a little overcautious for the rest of the day. We shopped until we were too tired to keep walking, and then headed back to the bus. We went back to the hotel for dinner. After a short walk around Modling, we went to bed early.

Brahms and Shubert's Grave I think

The next morning, I had a cool moment with God before we left Modling/ on the bus leaving the city. I had a nice quiet morning to myself. After breakfast, I took my cup of coffee outside on the patio and read my bible in the fresh Austrian air. It was beautiful.
It was also beautiful because I read Psalm 82, which verse 10 says "Open your mount wide, and I will fill it." and in verse 16 it says "But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock would satisfy you." It was great because I realized how God is here to feed us and really provide everything we need, but we have to be open to receive it. This is the importance of entering every concert with prayer and opening ourselves to God. And the great thing is that God is not only providing our needs, but he has been satisfying and giving us things we enjoy. God has gone above and beyond in simply providing. He not only provided what he has called us to, but also has given us amazing experiences in these great cities and in wonderful host homes, and in times of rest. Even just the wonderful food has been a piece of God's overwhelming blessing and provision. Yes we are given food because we need to eat, but it has been in great abundance and great cultural different food.

Then I got on the bus that morning and right after journaling on Psalm 82, Dr. Walters shared that he found the Lord satisfying his hunger for things that were his 'favorite things.' The Lord was also feeding his soul, and satisfying him. It is cool how God unites his people by putting similar things on their hearts! God has been so good!

Bratislava, the Quiet and Lovely City

Bratislava, Slovakia

We boarded the bus after our final concert in Budapest in the afternoon to head to our next country, Slovakia. And then we began the 4 hour trip to Kosorsko Slovakia. It had beautiful landscape, and a lot of green fields and rolling hills in the distance. We got closer and closer and eventually entered the beautiful hilly landscape. It was absolutely beautiful! Lots of trees and green grass on the hilly green mountains. There were cows and sheep on the hills like something out of a movie.  Truly beautiful with fun mountain homes on the landscape.

The concert there was also wonderful. The Slovaks were more reserved, but we still saw how they appreciated the concert. The church was an old historic church, built in I believe 1879, and it was full! The mayor of the town was there, and both her and the pastor so greatly appreciated the concert. It was really neat because the mayor said when we came, it was like the sun shone and warmed the day, which we had been focusing on that word "shine" in Christ shining through us when we sing. The both of them, I could tell were just so touched by us being there.

They were so kind! One lady came up to us and said in broken English how she was touched in her soul. She was a such a blessing and I was glad she told us.  We left \the church and got on the warm bus (as it was very cold up in the mountains!), and then headed to Vrbovce to meet our host family church. I already blogged about my host family and the great blessing they were. So feel free to check that one out! (With Dakujme in the title)

Our second day, we woke up and had such a nice (HUGE) breakfast  with our Slovak family again. Martin was there to translate for us, which was so great. They asked us about Michigan and we showed them how you can show Michigan on your palms and showed them how to do it. They enjoyed that! We also told them about the beautiful Great Lakes we have in Michigan. We also told them we really liked Slovakia so it wasn't all about us.

We walked to the church and met up with the bus to head into the city in Bratislava and did some shopping and a sightseeing tour. We saw a lot of the city, and had fun in the markets in that city. It was fun as the town is so cute! We also ran into Mike's brother from Michigan state's choir. That was crazy!

But mostly I should talk about the concert downtown Bratislava that night. God was truly working there. It was amazing! It was probably the best one we have ever done. Beforehand, we were so tired and having a hard time focusing. In our prayer time, we prayed for strength in our weakness, and God sure came through! "Prayer" was probably our best song, and almost everyone shared afterward how God spoke to them during that song. We had so many wonderful comments from the concert. We had many smiles and thanks from people at the concert. One lady said she was so blessed to meet us and see us, and wanted to know more about us. I saw her meeting as many of the chorale members as possible.

So on our way back to Vrbovce, we did share time, and so many people had moments in that song. This share time was such a blessing, and joyful. There were many tears shed as we could praise God for him working in us. My moment was in "Prayer" with the words "help me spread your fragrance." I know that was exactly what we were doing, and we needed to ask God for strength to do it. This is what we were doing and we could not forget that it was by his strength that we could sing.  It was really a cool moment to feel God's presence and strength in us, especially as we sang that song. 

Budapest was amazing. Slovakia impressed upon my heart, and I was ready for Vienna!

The Church where our first concert in Slovakia was at! This is an old church, built in the later 1800s!

Hungary... but I really got a lot of food here...

Since I haven't done this story in order, I actually began my trip in Budapest, and then went to Slovakia.  So now I am finally getting to Budapest, and hopefully I will get to Vienna and maybe even Prague tonight. 

It was my first day in Europe - and it was a long day. Almost 9 hours- closer to 10 of flying and waiting around in airports. I slept a few hours on the plane, but kept going until late into the next day. I was definitely feeling the jet lag. 

But the fun stuff - we arrived in Budapest and met up with Olivia and our tour guide, and drove to Olivia's church, and had real Gulash. (Which is soup with meat, potatoes, and other wonderful goodness). It was sooooo good! Then we hung out and took pictures of the church as we waited for host families. Karen, Deb and I stayed with a family who lived across the street - the wife spoke some English, and the son was pretty fluent, so we were able to communicate pretty well. 

Soon after getting settle I got asked to go downtown with their neighbor, another host family, to go downtown. So I went with Alison, Jessica, and their hosts. It was so fun! They showed us a lot of cool things in the town, bought us Gelato (yummm), and we walked around a bit. There were so many restaurants with people eating outside - such a wonderful atmosphere.  It was cool because they they told us a lot of Hungarian culture/ language/ history and taught us some phrases. It was fun talking to them although we could not always understand each other. It took some patience. I learned that when "zo" is on the end of verbs, it means the place to do that thing.  Such as "Teazo."

After that I was about a zombie walking and went straight to bed.

The next day we had our first concert in Szekesfahervar, about an hour outside of Budapest. But first, we had breakfast with our host and some wonderful sightseeing. We went to the fort/ castle thing, and the Matthias church.  We continued walking through the streets, by the "castle" and palaces where we saw some wonderful views of the city from the Buda side.  Akos gave us a lot of history of Hungary, it was interesting to hear the background on these people. Then we went to Pest, I exchanged money to forints, and went to Starbucks!

Then we traveled to our concert. It was an amazing 1st concert. They way we connected with those people was truly an act of God. Although we didn't understand each other, we found common ground in Christ and in the music. It was beautiful. Everyone sang beautifully and was engaged. I was overwhelmed because I knew this is what God had called us to do - to declare the love and light of Jesus to people.

Olivia's family was there and it was great to see them and watch her mom so engaged with the music.

But I felt so blessed watching the Hungarian's faces as they were touched by the music. Especially on Esti dal, they knew the words, and I watched their faces light up. It brought tears to my eyes. Later that night, I was listening to All Sons and Daughters, and these words fit what my heart was feeling.

"All will sing out, Hallelujah, and we will cry out Hallelujah!"

This is so true.  The people were brought into God's presence tonight. Not by us, but by what God did. I am so thankful for the vision Dr. Walters had, and how this trip was made a reality.  I am so blessed!

Afterwards, we ate dinner which was wonderful. I think their potato salad beats the Schaefer family recipe. The people were so hospitable  We sang for them, and they for us. One guy came up to us, saying he had no words for how much he enjoyed the concert, but that it really touched him. 

They also gave us pins with Hungarian flag colors, like they wear in March for what I believe is their independence day.

Our third day in Hungary, we did some more sightseeing with Akos. He took us tours to the Hero Square, and the real fake castle... (not exactly sure...). We saw some great things including a hot spring! And of course I knew that they had the most of them in Iceland...
But anyway, afterwards, we went to the Holocaust memorial museum. It was definitely hard, and an emotional experience for many of us. It was hard to see because so much history had happened right there in Hungary. I think the site of the Museum itself was a containment for Jews in WWII. We had a very quiet bus ride following where we then prepared for the concert.We  had a pretty good concert, but a hard beginning as we were all tired from a long day. It was another great concert. It was amazing how many people we could connect with.
It was fun too because there were some probably high-schoolers who really wanted to talk to us, and we tried many languages, but none of us knew the same ones.
The next morning we sang in Olivia's church! It happened all so fast, but it was a third great, and final concert in Budapest. Then we were off to Slovakia! Which I already blogged about. 

And hopefully our Bratislava concerts coming. And as soon as I can, I will write about Vienna, and Czech. I have about a 7 hour bus ride tomorrow, so I will try to work on it then!

Picture time!

View of Budapest from the Citadel. 

Ďakujem.... Ďakujem.... Nie ďakujem.

So I know I haven't blogged yet on this trip, but that is because I have not had proper internet yet. So sorry. We are now in Austria, on hotel stays, have internet, and no concerts tonight!!
Absolutely loving Europe. Love the coffee! Way better than in America. Have to also get used to the wash closets (bathrooms) cause they are literally closets. Also getting used to the food. I am eating like 3 times the amount of bread and meat that I normally do. Like I eat both three meals a day here. Its crayyyy.

We left Slovakia this morning, and for me with some tears and sadness. After the wonderful time and great connection we had in Budapest, we were a bit unsure about Slovakia. We had concerts in Kosariska, and Bratislava. We stayed in Vrboche which is an absolute adorable little mountain town. The people there were so hospitable and it was so joyous to stay there! Most of the host families spoke no English, including Karen and I's. I'll share a little bit about our stay there as it was probably my favorite part of the trip so far.

So we get paired up with our hosts, and of course the lady who we go with, speaks no English. "Oh well", I thought, "I am down for charades." So we leave the church with our luggage and she grabs her bike, "oh, we're walking...." Its dark, we're in a foreign country, with a lady we don't know who we cannot speak to. So we follow her down the streets until she finally enters a gate of a cute green house. We go in the door, and are greeted by a precious old man who has a great warm smile. We also see a younger boy - close to our age and gave a sigh of relief when he spoke English. "Grandson," he said. "I am here to translate for you."

I was so thankful. They bring our bags upstairs, and tell us to come down for dinner. It is probably 9:00pm or later, but Dorina (host mom), made us a ton of food anyway. We were able to talk to them, learn some Slovak, and they asked questions about us. It was so great to be able to really talk to them, and get to know their culture. They welcomed us in their home and we shared in some traditional Slovak traditions and food. It was seriously such a fun and crazy night. The family was really funny, and we definitely laughed a lot. Karen and I went to bed going, um... what just happened? We LOVE Slovakia! Dorina kept telling us "eat everything", "eat more" and to be kind, I kept shoving in more food. It was seriously God's grace in letting all that food fit in my belly. Not sure how it happened.
It was fun to see some of the English phrases that Martin (grandson) knew. "Bon apetite" which is not English, and "bottoms up." It was also great because he said his grandpa was a boss, and he knew what a bro fist was.
Martin also helped us learn some Slovak, such as ďakujem - which is thank-you, and dobrú noc (goodnight), and dobrý (good). He also taught us ano (yes) and nie (no) which he later said after we refused more by using nie, "I should not have learned you 'nie'." It was so funny! It was great watching Paul (host dad) and Dorina's face light up when we used the Slovak phrases. Except Dorina also made fun of us because we said dakujem a lot because we didn't know much else... :)

We wake up the next morning to another huge meal - bread, cheese, meat, kava (coffee), cukar (sugar), chai (tea), more bread, and tons of sweets. I seriously am going to gain so much weight here I feel like. I do not go hungry.
But anyway it was so great visiting with them and getting to know them more. Paul had the greatest smile, especially when he was laughing at us. Saying goodbye this morning was very hard. We took pictures together, and gave hugs and kisses (like the classy cheek kind (: ), and Dorina kept holding my hand or would link arms with us, and kept touching my hair and cheek. It was so motherly and kind. Martin said she was so glad to have met us. We gave her the typical host gifts including a card, and she put the card on her shelf with the family heirlooms and whatnot, saying we were a part of the family, and up with the family forever. She also gave us these corn-husk dolls that she makes, which are a Slovakian tradition. (Saw lots of them at the markets.) I was so blessed that God could show himself through these people. I truly felt a part of  their family, they were so kind, but I could not even communicate without Martin. We did not even sing a concert in their church, but it was so great to feel like I belong even though I am very far away from home. I will remember them forever in my hearts, as Dorina asked us.

So I will hopefully tomorrow write about the time in Hungry, as well as the concert in Bratislava. It was so amazing it deserves its own post. God has been so good and faithful on this trip, and this is just a very small piece of what he has done!

We are a part of their family

My Slovak family!

Here I go....

Hey everyone! My trip is finally here!
I am literally sitting in the airport, I can see my plane that will take me to Germany. I am so excited for all we will experience. I can't even imagine the ways God could use us on this trip!

Hopefully I can keep you all updated on how things are going. You can check here or on my Tumblr, I'll probably update both (we'll see how great the wi-fi is), but primarily here!

So for those of you prayer warriors, here are some things to pray for!

1. Pray for safety in travel
2. Pray for spiritual warfare that we may encounter. Lots of European countries practice cult worship etc.
3. A few students are a bit sick, pray for their health and the good health of other students!
4. For God to move in people's lives
5. For opportunity to share our faith, unhindered, and without fear.
6. I have to learn the programs for my summer job... Just that I have time and ability to learn it well.  Also just for the transition from Europe to my summer job, I start the day after I get back, and have to have the program learned by then!
Thank-you everyone for your support and your love. Soon I will be across the world!

To the glory and praise of God!

Prague, Czech Republic - one of our stops on the Tour