What's the Difference?

Let me share a few of the differences between the cultures of the Czech Republic and the United States.

Here, you pay for:

• shopping carts (refundable upon returning the cart to the corral)
• the use of public toilets (nonrefundable, though at McDonald's you get a coupon for that amount off your purchase...just make sure you go to the toilet first)
• water in restaurants (also ketchup, tartar sauce, etc. etc.)
• pizza boxes (which I've never yet seen anyone refuse when taking out pizza...)

Here, people routinely cram into trams and buses until the doors can barely close and you are nose to nose with complete strangers, but you can get yelled at for standing within the 2 meter "privacy zone" at the post office or bank window.

Here, you might not find eggs or milk some evening at the grocery store (Why bother to restock in the afternoon? You'll just have to do it again in the morning...) but you can find dusty bottles of year-old Dr. Pepper hidden on the bottom shelf of a little corner market.

Here, vegetables are either marinated in something or they are potatoes (or they are potatoes marinated in something). I have yet to find an explanation for this phenomenon among the highly health-conscious Czechs. Fortunately, the abundant fruit and veggie markets are full of very yummy fresh produce, so somebody besides Americans must be eating veggies. They are just keeping it a secret from the rest of us...

Here, people sometimes regard underwear as perfectly acceptable outerwear should the weather be warm enough. After all, pants are just too restrictive and hot when you're doing hard labor like roofing your house...

Here, it may cost us $8 for a gallon of gas, but it costs way less to make a movie here than in the U.S. Besides being home to it's own thriving movie industry, this country is home to--among other things--a part of Narnia. Who wants to come visit now?

Yet, in spite of having a bit of Narnia to it, it isn't quite another world. Kids still like to swing and splash and turn paper towel rolls and cardboard boxes into art. Teenagers still argue with their parents about piercings and dating and curfew. College students still fret about what to do when they enter "the real world." Grandmas brag about grandkids and make old family recipes. People go to movies, go to malls, go to McDonald's.

The difference is that, in a place full of the same daily grind and the same physical needs and the same spiritual malnutrition as you see everyday walking beside you on the sidewalks of Anyplace, USA--in a place where people really aren't so different from you--there is an average of 1 library for every 1300 people but 1 church for every 18,000. To put that in perspective for you: In Bartlesville, OK, where my parents live, there is 1 library for 34,000 people but 1 church for every 1000 (conservative estimate). If with that many churches the people of Bartlesville still have a deep need for God's people to be reaching out for the lost, how much more does the Czech Republic need workers taking part in sowing the seed here?

Patrin, April 2008

Many Romani songs and poems have at their heart the idea of "latcho drom"--the long road. I feel like I am on that road now, a pilgrim through and through. For me there is a lot of joy in being here in the Czech Republic--being right where God has asked me to be. But there are trials and inconveniences too, the reality of life "on the road". As you read on, you'll see a little of both the joy and the struggles. Please pray with me that ALL of it might be for God's glory. That is, after all, the whole reason for being here!

LANGUAGE I finished another intensive language course. This one was TOUGH. But now I'm seeing more of the little victories and milestones that remind me that there is progress. For example, just yesterday I sent a registered letter at the post office, got a new battery for my watch, carried on a conversation with my roommates, spoke with a new tutor to arrange upcoming lessons--basically conducted my whole day in Czech. And now I have started dreaming in Czech! (Those of you who have learned another language well know this is no small thing.) So language is progressing...Praise the Lord!

I have downshifted for a few weeks from intensive classes to private tutoring, meetings with conversation partners, and a lot of personal study. Please continue to pray for my mind to absorb this language.

VISA I finally got my short-term visa last month, and after 2 trips and more than 4 hours waiting at the Foreigner Police office (oh, what fun) I became a legal alien in the Czech Republic on March 26! My application for a long-term visa (meaning up to one year) is still pending. Please pray for that to come through without a problem.

"THE GREAT ESCAPE" Opportunity and need coincided a few weeks ago for me to return to the States for a little more than a week. There wasn't any new emergency in my family, as some of you have expressed concern about. There was just some personal and family business to take care of. The opportunity to see most of you was very limited, and I am so sorry to have missed so many.

Reflecting on this trip (even while in the midst of it) I know that it partly felt so pressing to return because things have felt very hard here in recent weeks. "Culture shock" is a real phenomenon, and I have struggled with it recently: inexplicable changes to train schedules, detours on my comfortable routes, price changes due to the falling dollar, mildewing windows, muddy roads, hard classes. While God did some important work in my life while I was in the States, and some very necessary things got taken care of, I know in my heart that I was also trying to escape some of the mounting cultural pressures here. This is probably the single most important thing you could pray about for me personally right now: That I would know in my heart that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"--even walking muddy roads and putting up with transportation hassles.

MONEY MATTERS You've probably heard by now: The dollar ain't doing well. When I arrived in Czech at the beginning of the year, a dollar was worth about 18 Czech crowns; today, it is worth 15.5. Small sample of the effect: My rent has gone up $10 per month since my arrival. The falling dollar has created a serious situation for many missionaries in Europe! Attached is a letter from Rick Burke, ReachGlobal's international director for Europe. Please take a minute to read his thoughts and to pray for the situation here.

UPCOMING EVENTS
English Weekend, April 18-20--with young people from the English Club run by the church I attend
EFCA Europe Area Women's Conference, May 5-9


PRAISE GOD FOR...

• language progress
• the issuance of the visa
• safe travels recently

CONTINUE PRAYING FOR...

• language progress and cultural transitions
• gospel-centered relationships with my roommates, tutors and conversation partners, and others I encounter here
• a long-term visa
• the health and wellbeing of my family
• financial stability in light of the falling dollar values
• wisdom about phasing in my involvement in Romani ministry in Vlašim and elsewhere

STAY IN TOUCH!
I love to hear from you!

E-mail:
jrmclean123@yahoo.com
renee.mclean@efca.org

Mailing Address:
Renee McLean
Srnčí 2176/5
251 01 Ríčany
Czech Republic

Skype: jrmclean1234
Skype phone (a US call!): 918-919-4575
Cell phone (an international call): 420 608 184 728

Blog (yes, I intend to begin updating again):
www.fortheromani.blogspot.com

Seeking the Kingdom,
Renee

MEMORY VERSE:
"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:31-32

"Je-li Bůh s námi, kdo proti nám? On neušetřil svého vlastního Syna, ale za nás za všecky jej vydal; jak by nám spolu s ním nedaroval všecko?"

FUN WITH CZECH
In describing dal, a wonderful Indian dish made with spicy lentils, I explained that it was made with kočky (pronounced "koch-key") instead of čočky ("choch-key"). What a difference a letter makes: "kočky" is Czech for cats! I'm not sure my classmates will be eating at my house anytime soon...

I'm back, and this time I've brought friends...

After three months silence, I'm sure some of you thought the blog was dead. Well, it is being resurrected, not because I am proving especially adept at this form of communication, but because I know there are a few of you faithful souls who will see this as often as I post...and you will PRAY. That is a big deal, and well worth my fumbling through yet another username and password to log on and JUST DO IT. So here I am.

In the last newsletter (which I will post up here tomorrow, in case anyone missed it when I sent it out...and if I did miss sending it to you, please drop me a line. I am trying to get my e-mail and snail mail addresses up-to-date.) I asked people to pray that I would develop gospel-centered relationships among my roommates, in my language studies, and at large. Well, during this week, I have begun (or have scheduled to begin) four relationships that you can be praying about.

• Iveta is a teenage girl at English Club. She is enthusiastic and friendly and curious. She is also planning to be sprinkled in a Catholic church in June. Pray that I would find the balance in encouraging her excitement over her newly formed faith and discipling her to understand the real truth of the Gospel: that Jesus is the only way, and that salvation is found in Him alone.
  
• Eva is a worldly mother of two with an interest in learning English. She has agreed to a "language swap" in which we speak together in Czech for half the time and English for half the time. She is my biggest "stretch." Pray that I would get to know her better and that a real friendship would form that would make way for more meaningful conversation than "This is a book. This is a chair."
• Petra is another local mom and a good friend of my teammate Susan. She is casually a Buddhist, and Susan recently shared with her a book by evangelist and apollogist Ravi Zacarias that is written as a conversation between Christ and Buddha. RZ's materials that I have read and heard are right on--and right up the alley of many of Czech's academically minded people. Petra and I will try meeting for a while as language practice partners. Again, please pray for a depth in the relationship that will give me insight into Petra and opportunities to share Gospel truth with her.
• Milan is my tutor. When we practice conversation, he mostly lets me set the topic and the tone. Pray that I would use this learning time efficiently for Kingdom purposes: both in progressing in this language and in engaging him with meaningful, Gospel-centered conversation.

These people are in my oikos, or household, now. (You old-time EBFers will know what I'm talking about.) PLEASE PRAY for these individuals and for continued opportunities. And pray for my boldness, that I will always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is in me and to not squander the time I have with each of these souls who are precious in the sight of God.

Home at Last

Remarkable though it sounds, I began life this side of the ocean with little of either jetlag or culture shock (so far). In fact, I think the transition from Chicago to small-town Oklahoma was actually harder! (Except, of course, for the fact that Oklahomans do speak English.) After years of planning to be here, it just seems so right to finally be "at home". Praise God!
After five days at a conference with colleagues from all over Europe, I arrived in Prague last Tuesday. With help from a teammate, I have gotten my bus/tram/train passes, begun visa paperwork, registered for my first Czech class, and purchased a bed at IKEA (that's "ee-kay-uh", for those of you familiar with the store on the American side of the ocean). I attended church at a small church plant in Prague, visited a mall (apart from the language and the parking lot full of Skodas, you would never know you were shopping in a former communist country!), shopped for groceries, and found my way--with some trial and error--from my home in the "suburbs" to my class in Prague ALL BY MYSELF!
I am living with three Czech women in a town southeast of Prague. I walk about 20 minutes to the train station, then ride the train for half an hour, then switch to the Metro (subway) for about 15 minutes, then walk another five minutes to get to class. In a few weeks, I will (probably) switch to the university for more intensive lessons in Czech. In the meantime, I'm working on establishing a rhythm. That's my life in a nutshell.

Praises:
Getting here! (and getting a running start)
Wonderful teaching and fellowship at the conference last week
SKYPE (if you don't know what this is, ask)
Finding a good language course starting at just the right time
Having Czech roommates to help me learn the language

Prayer Requests:
For healing from a cough that has redeveloped over the last few days (I finished a course of antibiotics just before arriving in Prague.)
For the ability to absorb a lot during my language courses
For visa paperwork to be finished with a minimum of hassles
For me to be a blessing to my roommates and teammates
For wisdom figuring out some easy and inexpensive solutions to getting some paperwork, books, and other things that got left behind in the trans-Atlantic move

All Systems Go (Almost)

I'm going! By the time offices reopen after the turn of the new year, I will be in another country! Praise the Lord.

There is much to be done between now and then. Packing, gathering visa documents, saying goodbye (again)... Please be in prayer about this whirlwind of details!

There is still a financial need of about $300 per month. Though the shortfall is being managed right now, ultimately it affects the longevity of my ministry and so is not a workable option for more than a couple of years. As you are figuring out your budget for the new year, if you feel that you could help meet this need and would like to contribute to this work, please let me know or visit the EFCA Giving page at www.efca.org/giving.

An update on my sister: Kelley is headed to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Dec. 10 to consult with specialists there and begin aggressive preventive treatment. The rationale is that the type of cancer my sister had removed tends to lurk in the body and reappear. The treatment is intended to kill any cancer cells that may be hibernating. Please pray for her continued recovery from the two surgeries and her strength through the coming treatments. (She and Mom should be home from Houston in time for Christmas.)

A Quick Note of Thanks

I don't have much to report just yet, but I wanted to say thank you to all of you who have sent encouraging notes my direction and additional prayer heavenward in recent days. I hope to have news to share in a few days. Please continue praying as I prepare to leave. Your prayers and partnership are precious to me and a delight to our Father, too.

And one quick update: All the tests on my sister have come back clear of cancer. She will meet with an oncologist to talk about what the future may hold, but we are rejoicing over what appears to be the very best outcome. Thank you for your prayers on my sister's behalf!

Stay tuned for more news soon!

Navigating the Lumps

Life is messy. As a person who is entering full-time ministry, I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to put the right spiritual "spin" on life. No one wants to be a bummer, right? But the fact remains that difficult things happen. Loving what I am called to doesn't mean that every step along the way is rosy. I mentioned in the last post that this season of life has felt like swimming through gravy. Let me refine that image for you: This is cold and lumpy gravy!

The biggest lump has come since that last post. My younger sister, who had a melanoma removed from her arm last week, has received the news that the cancer is more widespread. A lymphectomy and chemotherapy are on the near horizon. The other lumps are fairly insignificant by comparison, and yet ever-present and irritating. So please pray. The God of the whole universe is also the God of my small world. I believe He can and will work all things to good in the lives of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

During a mini-retreat this weekend, I got to read through the book of Genesis. I didn't have a plan when I picked it...It just happens to come first! But as I read about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the children of Israel, I was reminded about what the New Testament writers had to say about them. They recieved the promises by faith, even though they never possessed the Promise Land and barely had a glimpse of the kingdoms (and Kingdom) to come. That reception by faith was credited to them as righteousness. So while I feel a bit like I'm stuck in a wilderness, I am encouraged by the reality of God's promises. They're big and beautiful--and perfectly believable, thanks the faithfulness of the God who made them. Praise the Lord!