Speaking in Tongues

We have found a place to fellowship and worship with believers here in Ostrava. It is part of the Fishnet network. Several teachers from Fishnet attend this church so they have English translation. YAY! We get the privilege of sitting in the front two pews with headphones over our ears. 

Now these headphones are not the most inconspicuous headphones in the world. They are rather large and grey colored. So people know exactly who the English speakers are in the congregation. 

On our first Sunday we walked in apprehensively and sat in the first two rows. A woman, named Neome (Naomi) promptly came up and introduced herself in English. 'Hello, you must be the new Fishnet teachers.' After the service we got to sit and talk with her and another man named Tomaš (Thomas) for about an hour. It was nice to feel so welcomed into a fellowship of believers.

It was also nice to have a translation of what was going on during the service. We still sang all the songs in Czech and the prayers of the people were not translated, but everything that was said in the microphone was roughly translated to where we could understand the message. 

This past Sunday we were not sure if we would have someone to translate for us or not. The usual translators were expected to be out of town. I informed my mom of this and she said 'Well pray that the Lord reveals to you like on the day of Pentecost. He can do that, you know.' So we entered the church on Sunday unsure of how we were going to participate. 

It turned out that there was a translator, but my headphones would not turn up loud enough for me to hear her over the person speaking into the microphone. So about half way through the sermon, that I wasn't hearing anyway, I took the headphones off and prayed that the Lord would speak to me through the scripture. 

I started journaling thoughts on the two passages of scripture that were presented at the beginning of the sermon. Matthew 5:14-16 and John 8:12 (look them up!) I had no clue what the pastor was saying or what his points were. God just told me to keep writing. So I did. After a while I stopped and just sat and listened to the Czech trying to pick out what FEW words I know. 

After the service I mentioned not being able to hear the message to my teammates, who could hear the message being translated. I mentioned just journaling about the verses. I told them the basic gist of what I had gotten out of the scripture, and guess what! It was EXACTLY what the message was about! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! So cool! LOVE IT! 

It was exactly like the day of Pentecost. God used HIS words to speak directly to me and inadvertently it was exactly what was being preached. INCREDIBLE!