Czech Update - Weeks 3 & 4!

Ahoj (Hi)! I missed last week's update and I apologize for that! Things haven't stopped since my last update. We rolled right through last weekend and today is our first day off. Soooo, here is the condensed version of the latest happenings:

We spent last week in Havirov, Czech Republic. There are about 83,000 people in that city and the kids we met were AWESOME! An interesting point about Havirov is that the Communist party still exists and thrives there, being one of the largest represented in the city. An election actually took place during our week there, and the concert hall was where the ballot counting occurred - during our concert! I picture it just like a scene from a movie...A dark, smoky, room with ballots everywhere... Czech and Russian being spoken at the same time... The Communist plans to take over the world floating in the air... and the soundtrack of Dizmas shaking the ceiling! I'm sure that's exactly how it went :) The longer version has me and the rest of the guys dressed up as secret police and kicking down the door, etc., etc.
Anyways, the response in Havirov was really great. We hung out with so many kids almost all day long. We added a few new afternoon activities to the schedule in this city. One was called The Dizmas Factor (not named after our YouTube video series), and it was a chance for kids to come sing in a choir that would perform with us during the concert at the end of the week. We had two practices with about 30 kids. It was so interesting to see who showed up to sing! Occasionally there would be some guy heckling us a bit during the morning concerts at some of the high schools. We usually took the "heckling kid" on as a mission during the day. One of those guys was named, Martin. He slowly warmed up to us as we singled him out a bit and got to know him during our lectures and time in his school. We invited him to The Dizmas Factor, not expecting a "cool guy" like him to be interested in a choir. That night, though, Martin showed up and was the life of the party! For both songs he chose to sing the female Soprano part, which was just way too ridiculously high for him. We were DYING with laughter! It was amazing. He had even brought a friend, and the next night of practice - he brought 3! Martin and his friends became some of our best friends on this trip, particularly for Joey and Larry.
The concert on that Saturday was so awesome! Over 600 kids came out. The choir sang with us during our encore on the songs, Redemption, Passion, Glory, and What I've Done (Linkin Park). Redemption was especially emotional for all of us as we worshiped with a bunch of voices ringing behind us...They sang, "What love is this, that you would die for me?" over and over and it was a sweet, sweet sound. I just can't describe how amazing that was. I'm sure I will never forget that.
We ended the weekend with a musical workshop. I taught electric guitar, Clay taught drums, Nick taught bass, and Josh taught acoustic guitar.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, we started our morning and afternoon concerts and lectures in the schools of Ostrava, Czech's 3rd largest city. On Tuesday, we left in the evening for the city of Vsetin, which is about an hour and half away. We finished this week in Vsetin and will head back to Ostrava during the upcoming week. Vsetin was a blur! The schools asked us not to lecture, so we just played our sets, promoted Exit 316, and shared about the concert. The afternoons were great, though. Nick, Clay, and I taught musical workshops on Wednesday and Thursday. Kids packed into small, sweaty rooms to learn some riffs and jam with us. Not many people spoke or understood English, so we used translators. It's really cool to see something as big as a language barrier be swept away by music. There were definite moments when we all understood each other through just a few notes on a guitar. We played, we laughed, and we became friends.
One highlight of the week that I have to mention is...Mexican Food! We've all been craving it. Some missionaries from Josiah Venture had us over to their apartment and cooked us some legendary tacos. Soul food.
So, that brings me to the concert last night - another one of my favorites! There were about 500 or 600 kids there again and pure chaos. We were able to spend a long time with them after the show. We gave away a ton of Bibles, signing them with some verses to read, and asking the receiver to really read the book. Hopefully they will! It's something we can all be praying for...

Thank you for your continual prayer and support...We are all so thankful for it.

jon

The Day Fast food Came to My Rescue...

So we are coming up on our month anniversary of being in Europe! With this realization comes an excitement but also a homesickness. In my devotions every morning I was praying that God would take away these thoughts, allowing me to focus 100% on ministering where He has placed me. This relief came in a way i did not expect.

I have never been more excited to see a Mcdonalds in my life! In the states I dont even like the sight of those golden arches, but here it feels like home. I don't know what that says about America, but i know what it means for me here. So, though i never thought i would say this, it now seems appropriate.

Thank you Lord for Mcdonalds. :)

Josh

Update....

Hello. I have the great privilege of sending the latest on our tour in Czech Republic. Let me start off by saying thank you to all those who have been praying for us. We see your prayers being answered every day as God has been doing miraculous things in our lives and in the lives of many Eastern European teenagers. We couldn't do this without you.

Real quick, I thought I would share a quick story with you. To preface my story, I must remind you that we are ministering in a predominantly atheistic country that has continually been betrayed by their closest allied countries and taken advantage of for centuries. Needless to say, because of their dark history, it takes time to build relationships with many Czech people. Many conversations seem to be one sided when I introduce myself to a Czech but often turn into deep, meaningful dialogues as my patience is stretched and I spend time with them. I have found the Czech people to be a very meek and humble people. With the understanding, that they are often skeptical and intorverted, you might imagine the joy I felt when a teacher blatantly asked that I talk about God and my religious beliefs in a class meeting the other day. With hesitation, from the shock I had just experienced, I began to share my testimony with 15 to 20 Czech students. I challenged them to look beyond the walls of their households and what they see on T.V. and open their hearts to a heavenly father that sent his own son to die in their place. I spoke of sin and how it separates us from God while explaining that Christ could end that separation if we just believed in Him. Before I knew it, I had shared the core of the gospel message and had kids jumping at the chance to hear more. I was blown away at what God had done in that moment and couldn't believe how open most of the kids were to something they hadn't, really, ever heard before. After class, the teacher thanked me for being so open with her students said she hoped that we might be able to come visit their school again and speak to more of the students about our lives. I new in that moment I realized I had experienced something extraordinary.

After leaving the students I had met with I bumped into Jon and Nick who were talking about how a very similar thing happened in their classes and then bumped into our friend Scott who said he had experienced the same thing. It was unbelievable! I was in awe of what God was doing through this small group of musicians from the U.S.

I must say, I couldn't imagine things going any better than they have been. Every single member of this group (dizmas) is doing an amazing job. I am extremely blessed to have such great friends and I am excited to see what else God will do in the weeks to come.

We miss you all!

zach

Making Friends and Winning....

One day in Cesky Tesin, probably my favorite day in Cesky Tesin, Clay, Nick, Zach, and myself got the chance to play in a futbol and basketball tournament. You have 6-7 players a team. Which if you do the math, like I did, we needed 2 or three more players. I managed to find and ask the only english speaking czech guy, Vetia, and his two friends to join the USA team, and form team USA-CZ.
There were 4 teams total in the tourny, including us. We played 3 games of futbol, and 3 games in basketball. Best record of wins vs. losses wins each tournament.
First our basketball games. We started off confidently in basketball with a 50-8 victory, and a 38-6 win. We felt like we had it wrapped up only to find that we played the best team last. We barely squeaked by with a 16-10 victory. It got heated at times, but ended with hugs, and a trophy to team USA-CZ! Yes they had an actual trophy for us! Which i had the honor of giving to the best player on the other team.
Then onto the tourny that we were worried about, futbol (aka soccer). We started with a very tough game, but managed to squeeze a 4-2 victory out thanks to our czech team mates. We then played the best team in the tournament, who just so happens to be 6 pieces to a real soccer team in a league in the Czech republic! :) Our czech team mates informed us that we would probably lose to them badly.
The whistle blew, and we were down 2-0. It was a long, hard fought battle that ended in a 3-2 victory for team USA-CZ!!! This game turned almost strangers into friends. When the final whistle blew we were hugging and jumping for joy with our czech team mates. It was a victory that will not be soon forgotten. The 3rd game was a forfeit, because the team we were supposed to play lost 8-0 to the team we just beat. They just told us congratulations, and took off for home. We received another trophy which we kept.
I am happy to announce that we represented America well, and couldn't have done it without our new found friends, and team mates Vetia, Zdenik, and Thomas. Most of the guys that played that day were at the concert, and heard the gospel preached. God works in mysterious ways. Keep us in your prayers.

Josh

Fall is here....

So these past two weeks have been crazy, but also incredibly rewarding. We are still maintaining the wed-fri 5 am to 11 pm schedule, which is nuts, but great at the same time. All of us are having to rely on God as we make our way through the days, as we are tired physically, but know that we can do all things through Him who gives us strength.

We have had some time to relax as well. Our location has allowed us the opportunity to see much of the Czech countryside. We are staying at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, and are surrounded by the forests that run along there faces. Fall is in full swing, as autumnal colors are everywhere, from vibrant reds and oranges, to the last touches of green, signaling the full change of the season. Recently we went on a hike along one of the nearby mountains. As we walked along the ridge we had the cloud covered hills of Slovakia to one side, and the green valleys of the Czech to the other. Its amazing to see God in these places, and know he is everywhere you go.

Please continue to pray for us, and If you would like to further support us you can through the Josiah Venture website.

I hope this finds you all well,

clay

Help Support Dizmas

If you would like to help support us on our trip to the Czech, please visit HERE


Thank you to each and every one of you for your prayers and support for the trip.
It really means so much to us.

-Dizmas

Week 2 Update...

Hello everyone!
We had another great week in the Czech Republic. This time, we were stationed in the city of Český Těšín, which is right on the eastern edge of the Czech and borders Poland. The language spoken was sometimes Czech, sometimes Polish, and sometimes a mixture of both. But, that's ok because we can't really understand any of it! :) We are trying to learn, though Here are some facts from Wikipedia about Cesky (always right, always accurate):

In 1938 there was a sizeable Jewish minority in the town, about 1,500 in Cieszyn and 1,300 in Český Těšín.[9] Nearly all of them were killed by Nazi Germany in concentration camps.[10] Most of the synagogues were destroyed. Today the only synagogue still stands in the town, used as a Polish cultural centre. The Jewish cemetery in Český Těšín is abandoned. The sizeable German community fled or were expelled to Germany after the war. There are no Jewish, nor German communities in the town today.

The diversity of the town is not only ethnic, but also religious. Many Christian denominations are present in the town. In the past a large Jewish community lived there. According to the 2001 census there are 14,860 believers in the town (56.2% of the population), out of whom 8,916 (60%) are Roman Catholics, 737 (5%) Czech Brethren, 356 (2.4%) Jehova's Witnesses and 1,709 (11.5%) others, mainly Lutherans.[11]

There is also a great gallery of the city on the Wikipedia page, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Český_Těšín

Český Těšín is known as the most "Christian" place in the Czech Republic. We spent a good bit of time with believers (That's what born-again Christians are referred to as here). The main focus during this city was the evening activities for the students away from school. We played at 3 different high schools, which went really well. Unfortunately, we were only able to lecture in one of them so our time with the students during the day was brief. Each evening 2 or 3 of the local churches would convert a small room in their church to a "tea room" - A middle-eastern influenced type coffee-shop at which light music is played, shoes are not allowed, and everyone sits on the floor to chat and/or play games. The eight of us divided up each evening and spent about 4 hours talking and building relationships with the kids. It was great! The team refers to us as "magnets," because we attract teenagers who are interested in American culture or just meeting a band. We weren't sure if our relationships made in Cesky Tesin would be as deep as those made in Hratec Kralove, but they certainly were. By the end of the week we had begun hundreds of friendships!

On Saturday night, about 400 of our "friends" packed into a little theatre in town for a really energetic concert. When Zach spoke about God, the whole crowd cheered and the believers in the town were very moved by that response. We hung out with most of those kids for quite some time after the show. I conducted an impromptu "guitar seminar" for a handful of guitarists who wanted to know about all of my gear and pose for pictures with my guitar. It's the moments like those that really make me happy...We run the risk of just being "rock stars" to these kids unless we make ourselves accessible. The next morning, we played a couple acoustic songs at a local church service. When it was time for communion, a couple of the guys were really freaked out to see a single cup of wine being passed around! Josh, AJ, and I, had to sit in the back of the room because of space issues and we were DEAD LAST to receive the cup. I'm pretty sure I saw some floaters in there, but it was still great to take communion with those people! :)
We were challenged last night at dinner by Dave Patty, the JV man-in-charge to share the gospel more boldly and more often. He reminded us that it's easy to talk about God and religion, but if we don't tell people about the sacrifice of Christ and the redemption we have through that, then the true gospel has not been told. Please pray for boldness and that God will use our words to open the eyes of those He chooses as we head into this next week.

Also, AJ is a little sick with some sinus stuff and Josh is starting to feel it a little bit too.

Again, thank you for all of your support and prayer...Also, thank you for the responses to last weeks email. I have read them all and will attempt to respond, but internet is somewhat scarce here as well as time. Feel free to keep responding because it is very encouraging!

jon

VIDEO

Here's our first video blog of the trip....more to come soon!

A Day in the Life

Dear Friends and Family,

It's currently 11am here in the Czech Republic (5am in Pennsylvania) on Sunday morning and it's a much-needed day of rest! Our trip started last Thursday as we drove to the LAX airport from the Dizmas hometown of Lancaster, CA. We flew from LA to Frankfurt, Germany and from there to Prague, CZ. In Prague we took a bus to the subway and the subway to a train with a destination of Frydlant, a suburb of Ostrava, CZ. We arrived here safe and sound with a heavy dosage of jet-lag and spent the next few days preparing for the coming week of work. After countless meetings, meet and greets, and briefings, we were all ready to get into the schools where the kids were at.

The basic objective of each week is to go into high-schools and build relationships with the kids - also, inviting them to the end of the week concert and daily evening activities. The Josiah Venture has been allowed into high-schools to speak on things like, drugs, aids, sex, and American culture. Basically, the assemblies we do fulfill a requirement each school has to meet regarding a forum about morals and culture. So, the administration is happy they don't have to do it and we are using the opportunity to invite kids to events where the Gospel will be shared.

There is just so much to describe, I've decided to give you a basic schedule of our days this week so that you can get a better picture of what it is we are doing:

5:20am - Wake up, quiet time
5:40 - Nick and I walk to the vans (we are the default drivers because no one else can drive a manual transmission) parked somewhere in the city and drive them back to where we are staying.
6:00 - Everyone is at the van loading up the gear (there is a BUNCH of it...A full PA, lights, projecting equipment all in big road cases) - Due to a problem with theft in the Czech we have to unload the van every time we're not going to be in it, which usually means unloading and loading about 3 times a day. We're sore.
6:15 - Leave for the school.
6:30 - Arrive at the school and load everything into the gym. Set-up the PA and all of the amps, drums, instruments. Sound check. The assemblies start at 8, so we have a lot to do in a short amount of time!
8:00 - The assembly begins and we play 4 songs in between talking points and video clips. The concert at the end of the week is promoted. Kids can decide on a lecture to attend for the afternoon, one of which is a discussion of American style and culture with Dizmas.
9:00 - Assembly ends.
9:15 - The five Dizmas guys head to a classroom for about 3 hours worth of lectures with a translator and a slide show of pictures from home. The rest of the guys pack up unless we have an additional afternoon session, in which case they come with us to the classroom. The lectures were very intimidating at first...We had nothing to lecture on! Now, we have a formula that seems to be working. We start out with an ice-breaking game, which allows everyone to learn each other's names. This is great, because we're almost always able to remember the kids that we meet, call them by name when we see them, and even pray for them later on. From there, we break into smaller groups and talk about each other's cultures.
12:30pm - Possible 2nd session in the gym with some more music.
1:30 - Pack up and load out. (LOTS of stairs...Why are all of the gyms on the top floor??!)
2:00 - Arrive back at the headquarters and unload the van.
2:30 - Lunch and then maybe nap time. If it's the weekend, we head to the venue where to big concert is going to be and set-up up everything again for that.
4:00 - Head to evening activity. These vary and are lead by local small groups (youth groups). Usually they involve some type of game, like airsoft (basically shooting each other with BB guns), ping-pong, and fooseball, and an awkward "talk show" with the band :)
7:30 - 8:00 - Head back to the base.
9:30 - Prayer meeting and debriefing.
10:00 - Free time...Bed time.

The first week went great, I think. The concert on Friday was amazing! About 300 people showed up, which is really good for the town of Hradec Kralove. I've never seen kids have so much fun at a show. Everyone on the team did a great job and we all made some great relationships with kids. Last night we had one final event. Many of the kids from the concert came out and connected with the local church! In a country with only 2,000 Christians, that is so cool. Praise God!

One week down, 6 more to go (and 6 more cities). Please continue to pray over this!

Jon

who doesn't love snow white???

So Dizmas is in the Czech Republic if you haven't caught onto that. :) And we have a new nickname, I guess?
It all starts with Daniela. Daniela is a girl that has been assigned to help us and assist us with most of our questions while we are here. She goes almost everywhere with us. Well today we found out a secret nickname that the rest of the team was calling us, and our new friend Daniela. They called us "Snow white, and the 8 dwarves." To which we informed them that in the States dwarf is kind of an offensive term. They asked what they should call us instead? To which we said the term "little people" is less offensive. The name soon became "Snow white and the 8 little people."
It gets worse! Then a Czech man, Milan, messed up and said Snow wife, which then led to our new dizmas Nick name!!! Snow wife and the 8 little husbands.
I have been apart of many nicknames in Dizmas, but i think this one takes the cake! Absolutely Brilliant!

- Josh