Wisdom & Renewal: Update 36 from Prague
Dear friends and family;
Josh’s thesis advisee, a Slovak student, told Josh the other day that she met God. She unfolded a piece of paper from her purse and handed it to Josh. It was a printout of Proverbs 9, which begins “Wisdom has built her house…”. “I’ve never read the Bible,” she said, “I’m reading it all now. God told me to pursue wisdom. I think that is my calling.” Josh was, of course, blown away. The Lord is on the move here. Anna also has students in her Bible classes who have never cracked a Bible in their life. We pray for these fresh encounters with the Lord - that the Spirit would move in the lives of these young people.
This summer gave us the opportunity to renew our relationships with family and friends in the US. Time with cousins, family, Camp Cugini, Nags Head and catching some friends who were around was special. After a very active academic year, we were sensing a need for some intentional rest and it came in the form of some spiritual retreat and time with people who love us and have poured into our lives. When we returned to Prague, Caleb was asked to give a testimony about something special that he saw God do this summer, and he shared about a time with his brother, his dad and a dear friend, Jeramy, in a coffee shop in Nashville. Jeramy led a time of prayer, asking God to show us who He calls us to be, and after several minutes we all shared about Collier and then Caleb. Caleb spoke about how impactful this was for him. These affirmations from God to our boys were beautifully symbolic of the spiritual riches we bring into our relationships in Prague. Those seeds were grown at the Third Culture Kids camp that all our kids attended in August back in the Czech Republic. We are grateful to the leaders of that camp who pour love on our kids and help mature their faith in Christ.
Josh’s summer course on Czech dissidents enrolled students from the US, Japan, India, Belgium and Czech Republic, and had another special element: a local Prague pastor and friend sat in on Josh’s class and got to know some of the students. This course was very experiential and there were times out and about in Prague with students where Josh could hear theological discussions taking place between students and our pastor friend. That class also got a visit from students and staff from the North Carolina Christian Study Center, who joined the class one day. We found the parallel encouraging: Josh is a professor integrating his faith with teaching and they are students integrating their faith and learning. That day, the class discussed the nature of sacrifice in leadership and why Jan Palach is so important to the Czech people.
The new school year for Anna at the Christian International School of Prague is well underway. She is teaching two English, two Bible, and one Ballet class this year. That’s right, ballet is now a fine arts/PE credit at the school and Anna is really enjoying teaching the high school students enrolled. This is a great opportunity to incorporate a healthy embodied theology in the classroom, and allow students to participate in the beauty and creativity of the Creator. Pray for her students that have never opened the scriptures, that God’s living word might be revealed in their lives.
Josh is finding more opportunities than ever to be in the lives of students at AAU with full classes (one overfilled), an intern from Sweden, a new thesis seminar he is co-teaching, four student thesis advisees, and work with the Student Council. A student in one of his classes wrote him a 6 paragraph email after class last week where she said:
"I am so grateful to both you and your class for several reasons. Firstly, you seem to articulate and shed light on so many of the thoughts I’ve personally had, or been interested in...[I] am very happy that you are sharing with young people who will grow up to be the ones who make the world go round…Finally, thank you for giving so much attention to how you teach. It matters very much to have a professor care about how they present information and keep things dynamic.”
This same student visited Josh’s office hours where she told Josh that she’s really searching for purpose in her life right now. This is a class where Josh communicates the truth that humans are made in God’s image through the study of moral psychology. Students in the class challenge their own cynicism and open up more to each other and thus the personal nature of reality.
We also hit a new reality this summer: Collier did 5 college tours and has entered his junior year of high school. He also just attended a college fair in Prague. Caleb has been right there with him for all these. Caleb has taken a leadership role in Youth Praha, their youth discipleship group, and both boys play basketball for the school and are in the theatre program. Joseph is playing soccer, but is increasingly passionate (and talented) at the piano and his new love: juggling. Abigail is dancing her heart out and doing gymnastics.
Finally, you can pray for our financial situation as the unanticipated costs of everything have risen here. As our relationships deepen and reach expands, we depend on the generous support of donors who co-operate in God’s provision for our ministry here. The link to our Global Scholars page is here: https://global-scholars.org/donate/hayden-josh-and-anna/ One upcoming opportunity that Josh is initiating with a friend is a pilgrimage to Berlin to trace the life and theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Pray that the Lord draws the right people– we have several local pastors going. Please also pray for our colleagues and students in the university and school, that Christ would meet them in a powerful way this semester.
Yours in Christ,
The Haydens
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