Not the Same River

Last year, Joe and I helped develop an English camp at Prague’s English Speaking United Methodist Church (ESUMC). Along with our friend, Rev. Michelle McKinnon-Young and her husband Gary, we recruited a handful of students— a few business people and a number of mothers who brought their young children.  Some materials, we wrote; others we foraged from the Internet. We conducted classes in half-finished rooms. We were not always trusted, and sometimes our equipment was stolen. Since we were short of staff, I not only ran the English program—I served as camp cook. While exhilarating, the work sometimes made me exhausted and cranky.

In the past year, the program at ESUMC has expanded its outreach under Michelle and Gary’s leadership. The English camp has morphed into a year-round center. The primary clients are mothers and preschool children.  There is a growing library of English resources.

   

We return to Prague the week after next where again I will be coordinating the summer English program at ESUMC.  However I’m not the camp cook this summer— Michelle engaged a Texan ex-pat who is working in Prague. There will be a vacation Bible school which Joe will be coordinating.  A couple of mission “teams” will be coming from Tennessee to work with us. One of these is from Cherokee Church, Johnson City, where we attend. 

Obviously, this summer’s project will be much more complex and better developed than the program we worked on last year.  To paraphrase Heraclitus, no one steps into the same river twice; we keep changing, and the river keeps flowing.

Below: Bridge across the Vitava River, Prague