Exploring Prague...

Day four started out with our usual breakfast: granola, fruit, veggies, meat, and cheese. We did our journaling to start off the day, talking about our hopes and fears for meeting the new team tonight. We reflected on what went well and what we need to work on, sharing stories from previous nights, and then headed out to tour Jewish Prague. We had the opportunity to go through many different parts of the town, seeing buildings that were thousands of years old.

We entered many of the synagogues, including the Old-New synagogue and the Spanish synagogue. We learned many things about the old and present Jewish culture, and saw several artifacts. We also went through the Pinkus synagogue where we saw all the names of the known Jewish holocaust victims from the Czech Republic. It was very sobering to scan our eyes across the walls with so many names. There also was a children's art exhibition where there were paintings and drawings from children at a concentration camp in Czech. We then followed the name walls with a walk through a Jewish cemetery. We noticed on all the tomb stones that there were several names and this was because there were so many victims during this time that they ran out of room and began to bury them on top of one another.

After the cemetery, we stopped at a restaurant near Jewish Prague for lunch and then went to a dessert booth where had a sort of "hollow spun churro" called a Tredelnik. We made our way back to Aritma where Brooke led us in our devotional. We read through the scripture and spoke about the woman at the well. It was very impactful...as we read the prayer from the book, it talked about having a "zeal" for Christ like the woman did...a zeal to tell her friends, her acquaintances, and even strangers about Him. What a great thought as we prepared for our practice with the team from Kralupy.

As we headed to practice, we were hoping to connect with the girls as easy as we had with the first team. And sure enough we did! We had such a great time and enjoyed playing with them and learning a little bit about each one of them. We have the opportunity to play themtomorrow followed by a dinner.

When then arrived back at Aritma for dinner where we enjoyed chicken, potatoes, and green beans, probably the closest thing we have had to an average American meal. With tummies full and the need for rest, we will head to bed before an early morning and another busy daytomorrow! Please pray for lots of good sleep and a fun game against the U-15 team with a dinner togethertomorrow as well as prayers for our school visit and clinic in Sadska! Love and miss all of you!!!

-Czech team 2017