OLOMOUC, North Moravia

Unlike most American expatriates, Corey Keen, his wife, Sarah, and their five friends — all in their mid- to late 20s — know precisely how long they'll stay in the Czech Republic: 10 years.

They've already started learning Czech and promptly answer the phone with a confident "Dobrý den." They say they love traditional Czech food — "It's so satisfying," one says — and the couples in the group would like to have children here.

But these are not your typical expats. They're missionaries from Arkansas, and they're here because they're concerned about the souls of the Czech people.

They plan to establish three churches in this city, where they arrived late last month, and increase the ranks of the Churches of Christ, a loose network of autonomous Christian congregations that dates to the American Restoration Movement and preaches the original teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

"We're aware it might be a slow process," Keen, 27, says of the mission. "And it will all depend on who God leads us to."

Keen is right to expect their work to be slow. The Czech Republic, after all, is known as the country with the highest percentage of atheists in Europe — 58 percent, according to the last census.

"We've been told that Czechs are quite skeptical," says Joshua Beall, 27, who has a degree in broadcast journalism, and who, like Keen, came to Olomouc with his wife. "But we have to follow the one example we know best. Jesus also faced a lot of opposition."

Rational and pragmatic Czechs

Missionaries from the Churches of Christ have been operating in the Czech Republic since the early 1990s. Their work has been slow. So far, they've set up just one church in Prague, called Kristova obec.

Initially composed of more than 50 members, the church now has a regular congregation of 20.

Converting Czechs is no easy task, says Scott Karnes, a campus minister at the University of Arkansas and one of the first missionaries to arrive in this country following the 1989 revolution.

"Czechs are very rational and pragmatic," he says. "They tend to take a great deal of pride in their intellect. It almost seems like they take it for granted: 'I'm a Czech, so of course I'm an atheist.' "

Karnes is optimistic, however, that the group in Olomouc might find more fertile ground than he and his fellow missionaries did in the early '90s.

"The younger generation of people who don't recall growing up under the communist regime tend to be more open," he says.

According to Karnes, it's the older Czechs who seem to be the staunchest atheists. "Many people simply lost faith while living under the old regime," he says. "I remember one woman who told me she stopped believing in God the third time she was imprisoned by the regime."

Phil Jackson, a coordinator at the Dallas-based Mission Resource Network who helped prepare the Olomouc group for their stay, says he doesn't expect immediate results from the missionaries.

"A lot of Czechs probably see all the flaws in religion," he says. "But let's stop talking about religion for a moment and just focus on Jesus. If Jesus is who he says he is, it is a conversation we need to have."

But mission work can be discouraging if you don't see results, Jackson says.

"It doesn't really matter how many people we convert," says Mitch Anderson, a 26-year-old graphic designer. "What matters is that we establish communities that will continue to exist even after we leave. We're hoping that these communities will be mostly Czech."

In for the long haul

Because various Churches of Christ around the United States are funding the Olomouc mission, the group is not rushing out to find jobs just yet (though most plan to eventually teach English).

For now, the missionaries are busy dealing with prosaic, earthly matters: namely, apartment hunting, preparing for intensive Czech lessons and getting used to the cold weather.

Sarah Keen, a 26-year-old with a degree in speech pathology, mournfully points to the fluffy jacket that she bought right before leaving Arkansas. The wet snow that is pelting them on this recent Saturday afternoon as they wander the Olomouc streets is beginning to soak right through, and she feels chilled.

This doesn't prevent the group from launching an impromptu snowball fight when they come to the front of the magnificent St. Wenceslas Cathedral. The missionaries scoop up bits of snow and bombard one another, fast and hard. Only upon entering the cathedral do they grow quiet and serious again.

They look in awe at the vaulted ceilings and try to decipher some of the signs in Czech. For now, the language barrier is still nearly impossible to penetrate.