Thursday, July 10, 2008

Frydlant


Hey friends, just want to let you all know that my e-mail will be SUPER limited until the beginning of August. I really appreciate your updates and emails, and I would love to write back but my time to write will be scarce. I will constantly be with students and then finally on our time off, I won't have internet access. I am semi-thankful for this because us as a team need a lot of rest after camps! Especially entering into the third one....

Lots of Love from this girl!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Hodim Savli

Two weeks ago, my team and I got to rest and relax with one another in a city called Cesky Krumlov before our first English Camp.

The 1st day we got all of our last minute stuff done that needed to be done before camp. English Lessons, itinerary details etc.

The 2nd day was a day to be just with our team and to pray for the Hradec Kralove camp. We also decided to bond by renting a canoe and a raft that holds 7. We also bought 2 small rafts to "solo float" (good one J) down the river. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! I think it would have been the perfect day if it didn't entail Erin and J crashing on one of the canoe chutes. It ended up being funny, but we were scared for a minute because Erin tends to get hurt a lot in Czech (the past proves....).

Finally, the 3rd day was our free day! YAY! Not so much for Emily..... have any of you noticed my lack of e-mail reply? This was partially due to one full day in bed with the exception of time next to the toilet. Or in front of the toilet. I got super sick for about 24 hours with food poisoning.

MY TEAM TOOK SUCH GOOD CARE OF ME!!!!! I would almost (emphasis: almost) do it all over just to experience their care for me. Ryan, on crutches, hopped over to the nearest restaurant just to get me ginger ale. J walked 30 minutes just to bring me Immodium (sorry, that's a lot of information...). Erin gave me head scratchies and Lucie gave me foot rubbies. It was so sweet. It was so cool to be able to be real with them and not be afraid to tell them what my "symptoms" were (ew). Thanks team, you really do love me.... A LOT.

The 4th day was travel day. We had to leave our Penzion at 6 am and seeing as though I was puking at 1am, we weren't sure that I would make it out of bed. My team prayed for me, Erin prayed over me and by morning, I was weak for sure, but God kept me stable enough to travel 6 hours across Czech. My team, amazing once again, carried all of my bags the whole time. God totally healed me in time to make camp awesome. He gave me energy, like I have asked you to pray for, and enough strength to engage students. Thanks God, so so much!

Hradec Kralove Camp starts.........




1 Thess 2:8

Camp is hilarious and SO MUCH FUN! Somewhere between bonding, big hair, random karaoke, getting thrown in the pool, blindfolded food samples and pee in your pants funny skits.... God grows seeds that are planted by ones who love Him.

God keeps providing us with unbelievable experiences. Sometimes I don't realize how great something is until I leave it.

Every time I go to camp, I forget how much I will really miss it when I leave.

We just left Hradec Kralove. For the past week and a half, we have been with students! Camp was first and then we got to join them in their city, stay with them in their homes and visit with them in their world.

I wish I could tell you every story of every heart at camp, but it is impossible. Hear me when I say that it was awesome. It's awesome that God asks us to share our lives and love with them.









It's not our responsibility to make them Christians. It is our responsibility however, with joy, to love them. I am really trying to make an attempt at understanding the gift of loving people with joy. God has authority and power to make us do anything He wants. Instead of making us, He gives us joy to love people. It's something we like!

One girl at camp told me that she had never really thought about being a Christian. but that she was starting to think about it because of

.......the way Christians treat each other.

We had to say good-bye this morning to students that we have built relationships with. It sucked. But... it's great when you don't want to leave. Seeing 20 students run along side of the train you are leaving on is an emotion on it's own that I can't really describe. I'm feeling all of the things I didn't really have time to feel at camp and during follow-up. It's a rest I don't experience much.

As we all group-hugged each other at the train station, Ryan read 1 Thess 2:8

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well because you had become so dear to us.

We will spend this next week in Frydlant resting, doing laundry and being with one another to pray for our next camp. Please pray for rest and built up energy for the Prague English Camp next week. Also, please pray for ordained conversation and intentional relationships built for the sole reason and purpose we are here..... to share what we already have

with them.

Hair Cuts in the Park

It's true. My team and I got to spend two days with Teen Challenge in Prague. We participated in their outreach events such as sweet tatoos...

Middle of the park haircuts...

Sanding...

and Painting.


It was GREAT fun! It was especially cool to reach out to the kids of the city. We passed out fliers and told them that we would meet them in the park to hang out! Ryan did Beat-boxing, J and Deni did tattoos, Erin was my personal assistant (seriously...), and some of the girls from the Prague youth group did some dances for us. It was pretty sweet to see how each one of the people from the youth group, as well as from our intern team, served in separate and very different ways.

Yet, all effective for the same God.