All Souls' Day

November 2 is All Souls' Day in the Roman Catholic Church. Although most Czechs are atheists, they still keep November 2 as a day of remembrance for their departed relatives (something very much like Memorial Day in the U.S.). Traditionally, they visit the gravesites, cleaning them up, placing flowers, wreaths, and candles. They often travel quite a long distance to do this, returning to their native towns where parents, grandparents and other family members are buried. When November 2 falls during the week, most people do this either the weekend before or the weekend after the holiday. The burning candles (usually in red glass jars) make the cemetaries eerily beautiful at night. I thought I would take some photos this year of our local cemetary here in Horní Jelení, just before its gates were locked for the night.

Photos, Cemetary in Horní Jelení

New Report Available

A new report on the work here in the Czech Republic (September & October) can be downloaded from http://www.baxleys.info/, under the heading "Reports - pdf" (in pdf format) or under "Current Report" (for reading on-line).

Fall Colors

We went to visit Ivana's parents for Sunday lunch today. It was a beautiful fall day for a drive. We especially enjoyed the seemingly endless varieties of color that God's creation provides us this time of the year. After getting home, we found our furnace malfunctioning, so tomorrow will begin the race to find someone to come and fix it (technicians tend to be busy this time of the year). Thankfully the weather is not too cold ... yet!

First Snow

Last year, we hardly had any winter at all, it would seem this year that winter is going to come a bit early. We had a cold front come through, and we actually had some snow and sleet, not enough to accumulate, but enough to remind us what we can expect in a normal year here in Central Europe. The sky was beautiful around sunset, so I took some photos of the clouds. The camera (or maybe I should say the photographer) didn't do them justice!

English Bible Conversation in Holice

In September, we also started a Bible Conversation class in Holice, a small city with about 5,000 people located about 5 miles from our home in Horní Jelení. Unfortunately, only three people joined this course. Of those three, two dropped out after two sessions. After speaking with the third student, he and I both decided it would be better if he came to Horní Jelení to join the group here. So, starting next week, he'll be coming to the group which meets in our home. So, for this fall, instead of two groups meeting in two different cities, we'll have one group meeting in our home. I was surprised and disappointed that there wasn't more interest in this kind of a class in Holice, especially since Holice has about 3,000 more people than our home town.