Czech Republic
9 March 2008
IBTS
Nad Habrovkou 3
Jeneralka, CZ – 16400 Prague 6

Dear family and friends,

It has been an amazing week! On Monday Christina took her second test and did very, very well – 94%, in fact. That is unheard of! I was very proud of her, and she was so satisfied with herself that she agreed to pray in church this morning – in English! She actually read a prayer she had written out. It was a prayer for the children before they left to go out to their Sunday activities. But she had practiced and read it very, very well in a very soft (with a microphone) tone almost without an accent! (Some people have told her she has a South Carolina accent ---good!) I was very proud of her and moved to tears at her forthright courage in going forward to read an English prayer. True to form, her 3-year-old, Julia, followed her to the podium and insisted on being held while her mother prayed. This morning at breakfast Julia was so sweet that I leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head. She said something in Russian which made both parents laugh and blush. I asked what she said, and they told me, “She said, ‘Mama and Papa also need a kiss.’” So I had to kiss each of them on the head as well!

The Papa, Sergei, is suffering from a problem with a broken tooth, but he hasn’t gotten paid for his campus work, so he can’t go to the dentist yet. Fortunately he is not in a lot of pain, but we are concerned with the possibility of infection. The campus work students should get some pay by Wednesday, the day Keith returns.

One of the CAT students, Tanya Alexeeva asked me to read an essay she wrote for the church history course. The students were supposed to choose a figure from the church history of their own countries and write biographical sketches complete with footnotes and bibliography. Tanya’s written English is weak, she but worked for a couple of weeks doing a labor of love to write about her own grandfather, Alexander Alexeev from Voronezh, Russia. Her research included historical and political information from the lifetime of her grandfather, but she also talked with her father, the pastor of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Voronezh, by e-mail and included the story he told. His was very personal information, so he was the primary source.

A portrait painter, an aerial gymnast in a circus, trained as a metal worker, Alexeev was drafted into the army. He achieved the rank of 1st Sergeant, and was invited to become a member of the communist party in 1936. But at his candidacy conference he made the “mistake” of sharing his family’s Christian story. When the committee members laughed him to scorn, he slapped his card on the table and stalked out of the room – an action that brought him banishment to Kazakhstan and imprisonment. In the prison he became a pastor to the other prisoners, and for ten years he consoled families of persecuted Christians telling them to be strong and courageous. One pastor of the church in Kazakhstan was killed; one Christian woman had her children taken away. All along he knew that his involvement in the secret church could lead him to further difficulties and even death. When he was finally released in 1947 he returned to Russia to discover that his wife had divorced him. He was an enemy of the people. But he remarried, this time to a Christian woman who, when he was banished again, went with him, living in an earth-floor home that was fit for animals. But Alexeev became pastor of another secret church. After their third child was born, in 1953, Stalin died, and all prisoners for their faith were released. But Alexeev’s persecution was not over. At home, as pastor of the church in Voronezh, he was once again accused of treason, treated to a show trial lasting five years and finally sent to Siberia. There, in a difficult situation, he simply preached the Good News, and wrote Christian poems in many letters, to encourage his family. When, in October 1964 Khrushchev was relieved of his post and replaced by Brezhnev, Alexeev was once again released. Back in Voronezh, he continued to serve his God. He was one of the first to begin mission work in hospitals and prisons. His poems about his own experiences were especially meaningful to the prisoners. Tanya writes, “Alexander Alexeev was sick one month and died in 1999 when he was 89 years old. He died in his bed among his children.”

I don’t know about you, but I was deeply touched by Tanya’s story and by the love of the family for this faithful patriarch. Her closing line sounds a bit Biblical, doesn’t it? It reminds me of the Old Testament line, “He was gathered to his fathers.” I feel sure Alexander Alexeev has gone to his reward.

There are a very few signs that spring is on its way to the Sharka Valley (the area of Prague where the seminary is located). Forsythia shrubs are about to burst out in blooms, little crocus blossoms have shown themselves, and some green spear-like leaves are pushing up through the dark earth. We’ve had a lot of rain, and it still seems pretty cold – in the 40s, but there are, as I said, some hopeful signs.

On Friday evening we went with Nancy and Bill Lively, Ian and Janice Randall, and one of the students to a cultural show sponsored by the Indian Embassy in Prague. The program celebrated 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and was a lovely presentation of classical Indian dance accompanied by percussion and sitar as well as the unique tones of vocalization. Roger and I have been to Indian dance performances before, but never have we been to one where there was a narrative explanation of the “story” of the dance, the movement of the hands and feet, and the so-called “language” of the body. That part was very helpful and made us realize once again the value of interpretation.

On Saturday we had thought of a walk through the valley by the stream, but decided instead to entrust ourselves to the warmth of a beautiful old Prague building, a building which houses the Prague city museum. We spent a couple of hours investigating the several rooms of displays from pre-history through the founding of the several cantons of the city and into medieval times. Impressed by the enormous number of churches as we moved on into the Renaissance rooms, we realized that the location and history of this city has, through the years, made it a crossroads of European religion and civilization. It’s a bit shocking to realize that now the nation is largely secular and reputed to be the least Christian nation in Europe. It’s not that there are other religions; the people are simply not interested in spiritual matters.

Our chapel emphasis last week was the Czech Baptist Union. There are only 38 Baptist churches in the Union with 2,351 members in all. Do pray for those small churches and for the President of the Union, Pastor Vladislav Donat and General Secretary, Jan Titera.

On the top floor of the museum there was a huge model of the city of Prague with thousands of to-scale houses and towers and the aforementioned hundreds of churches. The model was done by an artist in the 19th Century and is minutely accurate in detail although the little houses are only a few inches tall. One can walk around the display and press buttons to illuminate various parts of the city including the Old Town Square, the Castle, the New Town and Charles Bridge. It’s an interesting bird’s-eye view of the city, and the most interesting fact of the matter is that not much in the city has changed since the 19th Century. That explains its charm.

We are expecting guests in the next few weeks. It’s going to be fun showing them around.

Please be aware that we remember many of you regularly in prayer as we hope that you remember us.

With love,
Janice and Roger