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April-May 2014 Czech-Up 3.4 Many of you have been inquiring about our mailing address here in Prague, so here it is: Soukenická 15 110 00 Praha 1 Česká republika Please contact us before sending anything, as there may be some limitations or special instructions needed! “There are ... so many kinds of languages in the world ... if I do not know the meaning of the lan- guage, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. [from Ist Corinthians xiv:10-11] It has been a challenging couple of months, but our first semester of Czech language study is complete! We spent the semester studying with a diverse group of students (with representatives from China, Iraq, Vietnam, Ukraine, Mongolia, Russia, and Korea), and taking courses in reading, conversation, oral & written expression, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, listening, and pronunciation. Whew! But with God’s help, we were both able to do well in the course, and are amazed at how much more we can already understand and communicate! God also brought us into several solid relationships, both with other students, and with our teachers. Of course, there were times when we got frustrated or worn out, but God has given us faith that He had a purpose even for those times of weakness and frailty. Our studies finished on May 15th, and we had the next week or so off before our next Intensive Course (this one just a week long) May 26th-30th; we’ll be together with some more advanced students for reading, writing, listening, and conversation, and then just the two of us will have pri- vate time with a teacher to work on grammar! We’re excit- ed to have one last intensive before the summer begins! FIRST SEMESTER ENDS CELEBRATING PROGRESS Scott & Caitlin Andrews, missionaries called by God to engage and administer Grace to the people of the Czech Republic who have dismissed Jesus Christ as irrelevant to 21st-century life. Thank you for all the prayer regarding the spiritual and psychological struggles we’ve been having; praise the Lord, we have been greatly encouraged and refreshed! Please pray for us as we take another week-long language intensive May 26th-30th; pray that we can push as far ahead as possible so our summer can be filled with productive practice! Join us in praising God for the progress being made on our Visas! It sounds like everything is in order, and we will soon be issued our 2-year visas — a great relief to know God has made straight paths for us in this regard. Pray for us that we will prayerfully steward the relation- ships God is bringing to us; we are being given increasing opportunities to speak into people’s lives, and need prayer to speak God’s word and not our own! PRAISES & REQUESTS For more information about this ministry, click on the Czech Republic link under the Ministries tab at www.oakbend.org Below left: Meet our Czech class, and our primary teacher, Ana! Below right: Grades! (these are Scott’s, but we both got the same)
