Spring Arrives

Our beautiful springtime weather continues. The flowers have really started to come out. Now, I'll have to admit my ignorance of what flowers are called, but I sure thought that these looked really nice, even if I'm not sure of what we call them in English. The beauty of God's creation never ceases to amaze me.

Sightseeing in Kočí and Dvakačovice

We went out this afternoon for a little sightseeing in our area. We first stopped in the village of Kočí to see the Gothic church building dating from 1397. It has a wooden covered bridge leading up to the main entrance. The cemetary area (now unused) is surrounded by the wooden fence/wall. Here's a second photo from the rear of the church:

From Kočí, we went up the road a couple of miles to the village of Dvakačovice. The church we saw there isn't Roman Catholic like in Kočí, but Evangelical (basically Lutheran). It was in pretty bad shape, at least on the outside. Here is the inscription over the rear entrance to the building:

That's a reference from Isaiah 56:7: "my house shall be called a house of prayer." (ESV)

Both of these villages are about 15 miles southwest of Horní Jelení.

Polička Lecture

Tonight we had the second of our spring series of lectures. We used a rented room in the Hotel Opus, located very close to the center of town. As in our previous lecture in Litomyšl, the topic was "Why Look For a Purpose in Life?" and used Ecclesiastes 12:13 as a starting point for discussion of evidences for God's existence and seeking Him. Marek and Jarda from the church came to the lecture, as well as 3 people from the community. The lecture seemed to be well-received, and there was discussion for about 45 minutes after the lecture itself finished. All of the visitors have attended previous lectures in Polička. Unfortunately, as in the past, no private studies were arranged with any of them.

On a side note, most of the Czech Republic had snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. All of the snow in Horní Jelení (only about ½ inch) melted during the day on Wednesday. Polička is located in the Czech-Moravian Highlands, and as I went up the road from Litomyšl to Polička, I passed from spring back into winter, with about 8 inches of snow on the ground (in our area, which is lower in elevation, the apple trees and cherry trees are already starting to bloom).

Castle in the Backyard

Our family visited with Marek and Pavla Lustyk and their children this evening. We had a really nice visit, with their children and our children getting to spend time playing together. On the way to their house, I stopped and snapped a couple of photos of Košumberk Castle in the town of Luže. I have passed this castle many times, but am not sure if I've ever taken any pictures of it from a distance. According to the website for the castle, it dates from the late 1200's. For the people living below it, it must be really interesting looking out their windows every day and seeing these impressive ruins. Although only in Czech, the website has a lot more photographs: www.hrady.dejiny.cz/kosumberk/

February 2007 Report Available

Our latest report of the work in the Czech Republic can now be downloaded. It can be found at www.baxleys.info, and then by navigating to "reports."

First Bible Study in English

Our first Bible study in English took place in our home in Horní Jelení yesterday evening. We had 6 women in the first group at 8 p.m., and then 2 women and 1 man in the second group at 9 p.m. There is a possibility of a couple of other people joining in the 9 o'clock group, including the husband of one of the women from the 8 o'clock group. Of the 9 people currently coming, we know that 7 are Roman Catholic (Horní Jelení is a small town, we know most of the people who are coming). Although not everyone understands English at the same level, it seemed that everyone was able to understand most of what I was saying. Yesterday, I introduced our plans for the 12 weeks, and then gave a basic overview of the New Testament. For more details, please see the blog entry for February 22. Please keep this effort in your prayers.