vysoke myto english camp

saturday morning we're off to our first english camp!

pray pray pray pray pray. thanks!!

GYMPL

 

This is a new czech film that I watched last night. It's kind of a commentary on Czech youth and the family culture here. The main plot surrounds these two boys and their friends that are really into the art of graffiti. Even though there aren't subtitles on this clip, I would recommend watching the whole thing. Unlike american films where they paint a shiny picture of high school life, czech films and humor are much more dark and raw. Anyway, maybe you'll get a taste of the need here among teenagers : )

we all love billy crystal...

but only in czech can you find...

bily krystal 

translation: white sugar : )

youth groups!!

the past two weekends our team has been visiting the czech youth groups we will be partnering with for english camps this summer. these weekends have been both really fun when it comes to building relationships, and encouraging when it comes to spreading vision for what God will do at camp this year in the lives of czech teenagers that don't yet know Him...

  Katka and Zuzka from Vysoke Myto youth group. they're really fun as you can see : ) 

a few of my favorite things during our weekend with the Sumperk youth group:

-simplicity. the first hour we were together the 13 of us just stood around throwing frisbees around the circle. i LOVED this... not because the activity was thrilling or anything, but because i just love the group of people i was with!  

-hearing Babu pray in english. Babu is an 18 year old girl in the youth group that became a christian at camp last summer. she's wonderful, and wonderful at english. even if a czech person is good at english, it's rare that they would pray in english. maybe it's too hard not to focus on if you're using the right words or not? i don't really know, but at one point this weekend, we were praying in smaller groups for english camp and Babu said "okay, i'll pray in english..." i said she didn't have to, but she still did. boy was i glad she did. i can't even say how beautiful is was to hear/UNDERSTAND her genuine prayers to God, while only a year ago she wasn't following Him. 

when obtaining a visa gets a little more complicated than planned and when a nocturnal animal lives in my bedroom walls, i sometimes feel like this...

aubrey and i were talking today while we made lunch about how sometimes among christians, being a missionary can be be idealized. especially when you're a missionary in europe. i mean, goodness...do i really get to call hanging out with teenagers in a gorgeous european city my job? but the thing is, glamour rarely has anything to do with it.  you can spend all day speaking in baby-english (or czech) in order to communicate with a student that can easily learn some silly game in english class, but maybe has no interest in knowing God. you can think "if i was in the states i could be connecting on a way deeper level with someone"...or even "if i went to africa, i could be feeding starving people." but the thing is, if this is where God wants you, in this beautifully melancholy country, all your efforts add up to be way more than if you were elsewhere. in the words of aubrey "i want what is honest. not idealized."

our summer intern team (josh, paul, me, aubrey, chris)!!

here we are, stranded at a bus station in Melnik. our solution...take artsy pictures!! i love these guys!

you can be praying for us as we leave tomorrow (saturday) to go visit one of the youth groups we will be doing english camp with. pray for us as we build relationships with these kids and the youth leader, and that we would be able to encourage them as they go into leading english camp where their friends will hear about God! our goal is to empower them as they invite their friends to camp that don't know Christ. 

i'm here i'm here i'm here, promise i didn't fall off the face of the earth!

time for my first real update! how is it JUNE? i'm currently at our week long intern training in the beautiful eastern mountains, but SO much has happened in the past two weeks...

i promise that every time i return to czech, it's sweeter and sweeter. prior to the rest of our team for the summer arriving last week, i had been staying with three of my czech friends (lucka, jitka, and daniela)in their apartment. it was SUCH a joy to spend time with these three girls that i get to serve with in czech and just grow in our friendships. i really feel excited about my friendships within Josiah Venture people in general. God has really used all of my days so far to grow my relationships with people who are either already long term missionaries here, or are hoping to be in the near future. it's so fun to have a family in czech!

another sweet thing about being here for the third time is just that it continues to feel more and more like a place i really belong. last weekend, my co-leader josh and i went to Sumperk to visit our friends/the youth group there. we left on a train saturday morning with no real schedule at all. we ended up spending every meal in someone's home and all our time with people that i really love! it was hard to leave there after just one day, even though i knew i would return in a few weeks!

a group of us visited a few high schools on monday to promote summer english camps, and though i'm not normally a huge fan of going into such an intimidating situation...i was just reminded through talking one on one with different students of how much i LOVE LOVE LOVE czech kids! 

a few things you could be praying for:

-our intern team as we continue to get to know each other (josh, chris, aubrey, paul, and me)

- pray for me as i continue to try to figure out my role as a leader and what that looks like...this will be a HUGE learning situation for me this summer

THANKS everyone! love you guys!!