End of Summer

So, the summer is over and I am starting my last year at Crossroads College. It will be very busy and I would rather be back in the Czech Republic, but school is important. I will update about the last camp and recap on the summer as soon as i get my pictures. I lost my camera in Prague, but the day i lost them i did back up all my pictures on the computer of one of my fellow interns. She sent them in the mail so i should them by next week sometime.

We just finished our second camp a few days ago. At this camp we worked with a Chruch from Peoria Illionis. They were really great. I hope that i could visit them sometime when i come back to the United States. You really couldn't ask for a better camp team. They are very good at building realtionships and staying connected with the Czechs that we meet at canp. It was a really great camp. There weren't even any trips to the hospital, although many people got some sickness that seemed to make it's rounds among the people at camp. I got pretty sick and missed one of the evening programs. I really had to rely on God for strength. I had three of the boys i had in my class last year, so it was really great to hit the ground running as far as buliding relationships go. After camp I stayed with Mike, one of the guys from my english class. After camp, everyone played paintball in an old castle. We also had an awesome barbeque. I excited for our last camp. I think some of the kids from camp have come along way in their search for the truth. I really think we will see some kids accept Christ at our last camp.

Right now we are at Hotel Malenovice for team traing before the last camp. Please pray for the kids at the camp and for strength and the guidance of the Holy Spirit for those who are involved in the leadership of this camp.

First Camp

Our first camp went really well. I really felt that God was working. Even though i don't think any kids trusted Christ, many people who have probably never heard of Christ got the chance to hear, and that fills my heart with Joy. During our classes' discussion time we had a lot of really deep discussions. I could tell that the Czechs were very interested in talking about God. One of the nights we even went an hour over the scheduled discussion time. We had a Church in Bend Oregon help us with camp. At camp I taught the advanced class. I met a lot of cool people at this camp. Camp went pretty well except for a couple of injuries. One of the girls in my class hurt her knee in a game that we were playing. She went to the hospital and they gave her a knee brace and told her to ice her knee. The other injury happened to guy from the Oregon youth group. He slipped and hit his head kind of hard. He had a mild case of whiplash and had a minor concussion, nothing serious. At camp we also had a dumpling eating contest at lunch. I won with 23 dumplings. We also played some scottish games. I won the overall champion. I felt i kind of had to prove myself since i now have a sister in-law who has Scottish blood.

After camp one of the guys from the Oregon youth group and I stayed at the house of two Czechs that were on the camp team, Evos and Tom. It was great. Czechs are so hospitable. I gained almost five pounds from the meal Tom and Evos' mother cooked for us when we got back from camp. When i was in the village where Evos and Tom lived we visited a tree that was 600-700 years old. It wasn't extremely tall, but it sure was round. This tree is famous because a man translated the Bible from Latin into Czech in a time when the was illegal. Most of the common people could not speak, write, or even understand Latin.

In their village we also got to see some be house. Tom and Evos' dad has bees. They even gave me some of the honey that their bees made. I only got stung once.

Amazing Race

We finished the amazing race yesterday. We started out in Prague and went all over the Czech looking for specific locations such as castles, statues etc.... The first night we got stranded about an hour north of Prague because we missed the lasts buses out of the town. So, we decided to sleep in a grassy area by the bus station till we could catch a 4 AM train back Prague. We slept four about an hour and a half before most of our team got cold, so we decided to head to the train station. we found an abandoned train and slept there till we could catch our train. We finished the race in 7th place out of 13 teams. We had a lot of fun with two teams from Slovakia. We pretty much hung out after the first day of the race till we finished the race on day three.

So now we are at intern training. Aside from the regular topics covered in the intern training, we are going through the upper room discourse in John and it's great! I really like the intern team that i am on.



i will put some pictures from the amazing race on when i have some more free time

Summer Schedule

One of my intern team members created a schedule for the summer. Here it is.

Amazing Race (May 27^th-May 29^th)

All of the summer interns from the other Czech teams and some from other countries around Eastern Europe arrive in Prague on May 27^th and for the first two or three days together we do something called the “Amazing Race”. If you’ve ever seen the show on TV, it’s kinda like that! It’s intense and crazy, but lots of fun.

Intern Training (May 30^th-June 4^th)

At the end of the “Amazing Race” we’ll end up at Josiah Venture’s amazing hotel Malenovice where we’ll have our week long intern training together with the other teams. This is usually a pretty awesome week where we’ll get to know each other better, get informed about ministry in Czech, and hear JV’s president Dave Patty speak every night

Living

Usually the first few weeks of the summer are more for preparation and relationship building for the rest of the summer. During this time we’ll be visiting different Czech churches/youth groups in order to establish relationships with them before camp, pray for the camp together, and get focused on the needs/goals of the camp.

The city we’ll be living in this summer is called Sumperk. I think it’s around 30,000 people, and it’s in the northeast part of Czech, about a 3 hour train ride from Prague. We’ll be working a lot with JV missionaries Trevor and Cassie Long who have been living in Sumperk for 4 years. Part of our intern team will be living in their upstairs apartment, and the others will be staying a few blocks away in a nice hostel for the times we are in Sumperk.

Camps

We will be doing three English camps during the summer. At each camp we will be working with both a youth group from a Czech church and an American youth group that will be coming just for a few weeks to help with one camp. Before each camp we will most likely also be going to the trainings for the American youth groups at Hotel Malenovice for a few days. Camps each last for one week, and then the couple days after camp include follow up activites (such as bbq’s, swimming, parties, games, etc.) back in the main city we’ll be working with.

At camp, each of you will teach an English class which also doubles as a discussion group at night.

Czech Youth Groups

The first Czech youth group we’ll be working with is from a church called Vysoke Myto Baptist that is maybe an hour (that’s just a guess) away from Sumperk. I think this might be their first camp.

The second Czech youth group we’ll be working with is from the village of Vikyrovice which is just next door to Sumperk. We did a camp with them last summer, and they’re a really fun group! Tomas is their youth leader and they have around 10 or 15 people in their youth group.

The third and last youth group we’ll be working with is from the Baptist church in Sumperk. This youth group is great as well! They’ve been doing English camps for a while and their group has a lot of new believers. We’ll be spending a few days with them on a retreat at the beginning of the summer at a little cottage close to Sumperk.

Most of the people from the youth groups we’ll be working with are high school aged, but there are some college aged students as well.

US teams

The first U.S. team we’ll be doing a camp with is from Eastmont Church in Bend, OR. I don’t really know anything about them at this point…

The US youth group for our second camp is from Grace Pres. Church in Peoria, IL. They’re actually a college group and did this week of camp with us last year.

Our last US youth group is from New Hope Church in Minnesota. They’re a group of high school students, and maybe a few new college students coming back again this year.

Debrief

The summer ends in Prague with the other Czech teams for debriefing. We’ll process our summer together, and also just hang out and enjoy Prague.

Camp Pictures

Here is my intern team from last year with our team leaders, missonaries Trevor and Cassie Long.

This is everyone who was at the first camp. The New Hope Church's youth group from the twin cities area helped us with this camp.

Here, my class and I were participating in a pirate teasure hunt. It was awesome.
In this pictures, the guys and me pose for a picture. The guy in the blue shirt, Lucas, didn't accept Christ that week, but he did show great interest in learning more. He also has been attending some of the youth group sponsered events. Lucas and I have been keeping in touch, and even played some games on the internet together along with another memeber from my class, Stepan (the one to the far right). I think important seeds were planted that week, and I can't wait to see what will happen this up coming summer.
My class poses for a silly picture at one of the follow events after camp was over.

In this picture, a bunch of Czech and American friends were waiting for the train after a hike that we took on one of the days of camp. We decided it would be excellent to take a picture where we were jumping.

This is everyone who came to our second Camp. A youth group from a church in Peoria Illnois helped us with this camp. They were awesome.