If your Presence does not go with us

As Moses was preparing to lead God's people through the wilderness, God promised that His Presence would go with them. In Exodus 33:15, Moses told God, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here". When the option arose for traveling to the Czech Republic to study teaching English to foreign language speakers, as excited as I was for the opportunity to do this course that I had wanted to pursue for the past two years, my prayer was the same as Moses'. I had no desire to go where God's Presence would not be with me. But after getting confirmation from God that this was where He was leading for this season of my life, I booked my ticket and was on my way.

Pleasantly surprised to bounce up my CARIFES

friend Tomy in the plane on his way to World Assembly

We definitely felt God's presence every step of the way. When we landed in the airport in Czech, we had a smooth transition through immigration,collected our bags and walked straight through Customs. As soon as we got outside, we saw the guy holding a sign from the school. He took us straight to the apartment where were we staying, pointing out in his limited English the nearby shopping center, and also where the school was. We didn't realise what a blessing this was until we got to the school on Monday and found out that the driver had forgotten to pick up one of our colleagues who had flown in on Sunday. He had no idea where he was staying, so he ended up taking a taxi to the school and just waiting there until someone rescued him! We, on the other hand, were able to get some basic groceries for the first few days, unpack, shower, and settle in for a good night's rest after our 17 hours of flying. The Presence of the Lord!

Beyond grateful to have this green space right outside

our apartment window :D

Since we were warned about how intense the course would, we decided to so some sightseeing before it started. Our apartment is conveniently located 3 minutes away from a shopping center that contains a full fledged mall with a huge food court, a metro station, 2 supermarkets, a bank, pharmacy, stationery store, and many, many eating places. We had received some guidelines from the course co-ordinator about how to access public transportation from where we were staying, but when we went looking for the metro station we found that it was closed for the week. We asked someone in a store for advice and she told us to get a bus and pointed us in the direction. When we got to the bus stop however, we had no idea which bus to take. While we were looking at the schedule and trying to figure it out, a lady offered to help us. When we told her where we wanted to go, she said she was going to a station that was only one stop away so she offered to go with us! 

Martina was an angel in disguise

Martina helped us to navigate from the bus to the nearest functioning metro station. She changed our notes into the coins we needed to buy tickets, and advised us about the best ticket to buy based on where we were going. She also showed us how to validate the tickets, and how to know which train to take to get us to our destination. While we were waiting, she warned us about the crowds and being wary of pickpocketers when we got into Old Town, and suggested buying food further away from the Town Square because the closer you get, the more touristy the prices get. She even told us about a nearby castle that we could visit that would not be as packed with tourists because they don't know about it. Czechs by nature are not very friendly to foreigners, so we realized that she was really a God-send. The Presence of the Lord!

We touch down in Old Town Square!

It was really spectacular walking through Old Town. The architecture all around us was breathtaking. We behaved like true tourists, stopping every couple meters to take pictures LOL. Thankfully it was not that crowded but we were still vigilant. Thanks to google maps we were able to navigate our way around and visit Wenceslas Square, Old Town Square, the oldest functioning Astronomical Clock in the world, the Jewish Quarter and the beautiful world-famous Charles Bridge. We were intrigued by the number of museums we passed - Museum of Sex Machines, Lego Museum, Museum of Puppet Art, and Museum of Medieval Torture.

View of Tyn Church from the top of the

Astronomical Clock tower

After a few hours of walking around the heat was starting to affect us so we headed home. We found out afterwards that we had been experiencing a heat wave that was affected parts of Europe, and the temperature had gotten up to 37 degrees celcius that day! When we got home, we just wanted to get a shower and relax in preparation for the next day but we could not get into our apartment. Although the key was turning and we heard the lock moving, we could not figure out how to get the door open. We tried again and again but it wasn't budging. After about 5 minutes of trying, I prayed that God would send someone to help us. Not too long after an elderly gentleman came out of an adjacent apartment. He didn't speak a word of English, but we were able to use gestures to tell him about our predicament and he  came to our rescue. The Presence of the Lord! Unfortunately we were not able to ask him what he did to get it opened but at least we were finally inside and able to relax.

View from my bedroom window at 9pm

The first day of class was pace - session after session with information being thrown at us from 9am to 6pm. Thankfully our classmates are a cool bunch so we were able to have fun getting to know them during the breaks. We have people from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Serbia, Iran, England and USA. In talking to two of them, we realized how blessed we were with the apartment we were assigned - they had a gas stove but no way to light it for 3 days, and on the third day, a water pipe was burst when the maintenance guy was repairing a light issue. Thankfully we have a fully functioning electric stove so we are able to prepare hot meals whenever we want to. Our biggest issue (apart from not knowing how to open our front door) was a blown light bulb in the toilet. Our apartment is only a 3 minute walk away from the school, so we don't have to spend time or money commuting every day. The Presence of the Lord!

Taking in some fresh air during one of the breaks 

By the end of the first day, we were mentally exhausted but we couldn't rest because we had to prepare to teach a lesson the next day. When we tried to open the door, we found ourselves in the same situation as the previous day. We were hungry and tired and just wanted to get inside so once again I prayed for God to send someone to help us. We knocked on the door where the old man lived but no one responded. There was one other door on our floor so we knocked on the door and a young man came out. Thankfully he spoke English so he was able to explain to us what we needed to do to get the door open. The presence of the Lord!

The cafeteria food is surprisingly tasty and very affordable:

my first meal - camembert in corn bread crumbs with 

potatoes and cranberry mayonnaise

I had dinner, took a shower and had a short nap. I got up at 9pm ready to work on my Teaching Practice Preparation. I figured I could work until midnight and still get a decent rest before the next day of class; I was even prepared to push until 1 or 2am if I had to. The picture below reflects the state of my brain when I started my preparation. It was just swirling with the amount of information we had received that day, and I had no idea how to start sifting through it to apply it to our assignment. Even though I had years of teaching experience with ALTA, this was the first time I had to come up with a lesson plan so it took me a few hours to figure out what I had to do. My friend kept checking on my progress and could not understand why it was taking me so long to finish.

My table on the first night of Teaching Practice Preparation

I really had to call on God to help me marshall my thoughts and start writing something that made sense. I downloaded the lesson plan template that the school provided and started using it as a guide. At one point, I was thinking I should not have to work so hard, I don't really need this certification I just need the training so if I didn't pass the assignment that was no big deal but the Holy Spirit reminded me of a memory verse I had taught the children from Bible Club: Colossians 3:23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. So I continued working until I was finally able to head into my bed at 4am.

Ready for my first day of teaching English

to Czech students

When I got to the school I went to the library to print my lesson plan. One of the tutors was there to help us in case we had problems using the printer. She noticed my lesson plan on the computer and then proceeded to inform me that I had used the wrong template. Instead of just writing up the procedure for my lesson which should have taken 2 pages, I had done a full 7-page lesson plan - something that we had not been taught to do, and would not be required until week 2 of class! That explains why I was taking so much longer than my friend did to do her plan... I was not amused that I had lost all that sleep unnecessarily, but my tutor assured me that the time was not wasted as I would be better prepared for when we had to do the full plan the following week. When I reflected on it, doing the full lesson plan helped to give me the focus I needed to come up with the procedure (which was what was required) so it really was not wasted. The presence of the Lord!

Tutor comments on my first lesson

At every stage of this trip so far, the Presence of the Lord has been so evident that I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I am where He wants me to be, doing what He wants me to do. There is no greater assurance than in knowing that you are in the center of the Lord's will for your life. I look forward to the journey that lies ahead.

Exodus 33:14 - And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."