Real Presence: Update 9 from Prague

Dear family and friends,

The pace of activity for our family in Prague has delayed us sitting down and writing an update for a while. For one, the AAU campus is a bustling place of connection and a refuge of good and unmediated conversation. This is true for faculty as much as students. We now have a prayer gathering of 5 Christian faculty members on Thursdays in the café on campus, and are able to host students in our apartment for dinners.

Though back to in person learning, our kids have found it hard to shake some of the habits formed by lockdown and online learning. We have middle-schooler now (!) and we are struggling with the amount of screens that teachers still use in Collier’s middle school. Anna is back at 80% of a ballet class and rehabbing between shuttling kids all over the city. Her healing after her broken ankle has gone slower than expected and not without cultural frustrations in the health care system here. Joseph is enjoying piano, Abigail gets to perform in her first Nutcracker in December, and Caleb was recently invested as a Scout. We are grateful for a return to most activities available pre pandemic.

The summer brought the rare opportunity to again host some friends from the US here in CZ. It was striking to us to compare the place we love now (combined with the people) and to how little we knew when we last hosted. It showed us how much we have enjoyed the Czech countryside and the simple things that make this place special. We were grateful to be able to spend a short time in the U.S. visiting our families and friends. The atmosphere of anxiety we felt in our first visit back seems to have thawed, and more (needed) relaxation accompanied this visit.

A new semester has begun: smiling faces on campus, the café filled with students and faculty, and students marveling (no exaggeration!) at seeing other students and their professors in person for the first time. For Josh, several students he had only seen on screen were taller than he had envisioned, bringing confused pauses followed by recognition. Students are inhabiting campus spaces a lot more now and Josh is enjoying all the impromptu conversations that he missed for a year and a half. Regular meetings with colleagues have become a normal fixture. One Irish faculty member who Josh regularly meets with has brought up themes about faith, raising kids, and his own atheist humanism several times. As mentioned above, Josh prays with other Christian faculty members in a corner in the café every Thursday. It’s not meant for show, but perhaps the known presence of faculty of faith will be an encouragement to others on the campus.

Rare shot of a reciprocity activity in Josh's class

Josh is teaching his Decision Making course this semester and we are having the students in his classes over for dinner in four separate groups on October 17 and November 7th. You can pray for those times of hospitality involving our whole family. In the coming weeks, a Czech friend, Martin, and follower of Jesus is coming to speak in Josh’s class about long-term thinking and responding to his leukemia diagnosis. This will be a wonderful opportunity for Martin to share about his own journey and how he has involved his family and made some tough decisions along the way. Martin, by the way, was on YoungLife staff here in Prague. Josh also recently had a conversation with a student after class who shared her depression and pressure from parents to make big decisions about her career after college. It was one of those “sacred moments” and a chance to direct her to help and be a presence without judgement.

Lastly, Josh had a presentation at the International Leadership Association conference on October 21 in Geneva, Switzerland. The topic was spiritual leadership in social movements. He got great feedback and made some amazing connections with people teaching leadership all over the world. One highlight was an impromptu prayer with some other Christian scholars that Josh met there. After a year and a half of pandemic lockdown, sharing the same space with people in person is a special thing.

Prayer requests:

1. Our parenting of a middle-schooler, Collier. If you have read earlier updates you know that he has had the hardest time here, and middle school has been a big shock in expectations compared to elementary school. We look for God’s grace every day as we love and guide him.

2. Josh collaborated with a Czech friend here to create a tour around Prague focused on the leadership of Václav Havel. They just ran a very successful pilot and are launching it as a way to teach in the community, so pray that those opportunities come.

3. Discernment for our future: what is the next step for the Hayden family?

4. Continued financial provision. We nearly met our yearly goal through August 2022 and have a few thousand dollars left to get there. We are confident in God’s provision, so if you want to give go to: https://stbs.breezechms.com/give/online (Prague Mission The Haydens)

5. Anna’s rehabilitation and dancing. While she looks for opportunities to teach, Anna wants to continue dancing, which depends heavily on the quality of physical therapy and medical attention she is getting.

Dear friends and family, we miss you and hope to see you soon. Plan a trip to Prague next year and visit us!

Peace and love,

Anna, Josh, Collier, Caleb, Joseph and Abigail