We’re still having internet issues at the hotel, so I asked Peter if I could use one of the office computers at Holy Hill. They’re very accomodating here.
On Tuesday night, we met with the whole Teen Challenge staff, and learned a bit about what they do. This organization is incredibly broad, and I think we could learn a lot from how they operate. Their services cover everything from Prevetion classes in high schools, to street cleanup, to providing meals, to counseling, to medical testing, to detox, to rehabilitation, to job placement, to re-entry into society through a halfway house. All included in ONE umbrella organization with an annual budget of about $500,000 USD. I asked where they got the money to pay for all of these services and all of these staff people, and Rev. Gustav said “It’s MY business.” Apparently it’s his job to lobby the local government, American Churches, and rich benefactors to come up with the needed funds. And apparently he’s quite good at it. Sometimes, he’ll start a project without the money to do it, and just divert funds from other program areas until the money comes in . . . but it’s always worked out in the past. He’s a pursuasive man.
Wednesday was our day in Prague . . . we got up and drove to a mall just outside the city, parked and bought metro passes, then rode the train the rest of the way in to town. We came out of the train station onto a busy street, where we jumped on a trolly that took us to the Charles Castle, at the top of the hill overlooking the city. We got there just in time to see the changing of the guard at the back door. They’re serious about the ceremonies.
After the castle tour, we walked down through the town, across the Charles Bridge (see comments in my 2007 posts about Prague), into Old Town, where we did some shopping. On the way there, we stopped to grab some lunch, and I managed to find a Subway. And a Starbucks. After all of this Czech food, it was good to have a little taste of home.
Today, we got out to Holy Hill and split up into new work teams. The girls stayed inside to finish painting the hallway, and the guys headed out for a morning of manual labor. We finished filling a drainage ditch with stones, leveling off the stones, laying down a special “agro cloth” and filling in dirt and grass seed on top.
Then we had to go get some rocks.
We were marched off into the woods with a couple of wheelbarrows and the confidance that comes from knowing you’re not the only one that’s gonna have to do this.
About a 1/2 mile from the house, there is a hillside that is covered with shale boulders. Our job was to go halfway up the hill, and toss some rocks down to the bottom, so we could load them into the wheelbarrows and cart them back to the house. They’re going to become a retaining wall someday.
We need to learn the Czech translation for “look out below”.
I had visions of that scene in “The Patriot” where cannon balls were rolling through fields of Revolutionary War soldiers, knocking legs off at the knee caps. I know . . . a bit dramatic.
But you should have seen the rocks coming down the hill.
OK, I’ve monopolized the computer for long enough . . . I have to get back to work soon. Actually, every day we eat lunch in shifts, and the second shift is eating right now. When they’re done, we will have “sharing time,” where we sit in a circle, sing a song, and some of the guys talk about their lives, and share their testimony.
Then we’ll hopefully play some more leg ball. Some of us are getting good at it.
Later.
-MH
