Blogs from Prague, Czech Republic, Europe - page 203

One of the men on the work team from Wheaton, Illinois asked Nancy and me if the library has any materials on Baptist work in Denmark. One of his great uncles was part of the original group of people responsible for the founding of the Danish Baptist Association. His grandfather was a missionary/pastor to Danish immigrants to the midwestern part of the United States. He wanted to see if there is any information concerning the world of his great uncle. Both of us told him we didn’t know, but would find out for him. Nancy and I did check and found a few items. Nancy made a list of books and when we saw him at lunch I gave him the list of books. This afternoon he came to the library. Together we began checking. Some ... read more

We ate breakfast with the men who arrived Friday evening. There actually turn out to be 7 of them. Two must have slept later than we did yesterday. One is from California. Today they will start the project of raising the floor in the registration/security building eight inches. The primary reason for raising the floor is so the workers in registration will be able to see people approach the building. As it is now, when they are seated working on the computer they cannot see the area near the building. The road leading to the seminary drops away quickly from the registration building. This makes it lots of fun when it is icy and we have to walk to the bus stop. Today we worked in the library all day, processing books. We will do the ... read more

We have been here for a month. So, one month of the 5 and 3/4’s that we are staying has already passed. We have certainly experienced a lot. We have done a lot of work. We have made some good new friends and we hope to make a lot more. It has been fun. The day is dawning without any snow falling. Odd... The sun was shining into the cafeteria. We get to eat undisturbed very often in the morning. Not that others disturb us, we enjoy eating and talking, but there is NO one in the cafeteria when we get there most days. That is doubly true on Saturday and Sunday when the students are still fast asleep while we are eating. The cafeteria opens at 7:30 and we have been awake since 6:20 or ... read more

This evening there was a Valentine party for everyone here at the seminary. For the last weeks people have opened their door to find a small package lying on the floor, or a note, a postcard, or a short letter taped to their door ... or ... someone has knocked on the door and when it is opened have handed a present or card saying, “This is from your secret neighbor.” Everyone was given a secret neighbor to whom to give small presents and/or encouraging messages. It was lots of fun. At the Valentine party each person was introduced to their secret neighbor. Before the secret neighbor was revealed each person was asked, “Who do you think your secret neighbor is?” Surprisingly several people guessed correctly and several people knew. I found it interesting how many ... read more

We kept the library open again this Saturday. It was the last day of the Intensive schedule and many of the students who are part time students will return home with tons of homework and a lot of reading to do. They were busy today returning library materials, making copies of things they will need for home study and getting in the last few moments of precious library study time. We are very delighted with the caliber of student who is attracted to this seminary. They are certainly the ‘cream of the crop’ of students from Eastern Europe and a few other countries. Most of them are not merely bi-lingual but multi-lingual. It is hard for an American living in such a mono-lingual country to imagine folks who speak 3, 4, 5 different languages and speak ... read more