July 16, 2011

Hey, it's Ken again. Thanks Stacey for filling in on the blog! We are back in Vysoke Myto today and will be leaving in an hour for the home of one of the students from church. They will be hosting an after camp party where all the students from camp are invited to come. It gives the church another contact with students outside of camp.

I don't think Stacey mentioned this but there were two students who prayed to become Christians while at camp this year! One of them came to the church for the first time when we were here this past spring, so it is wonderful to see some fruit from our spring trip already! Thank you for praying for us so far this trip. Today and tomorrow are the last days we will have face to face contact with students from camp, so please continue to pray for them as we see them today and tomorrow.

Hi again everyone! This is Stacey taking over the blog again to give you a little update on our lives over here in the Czech Republic. FYI we have all decided that we will not be coming home next week but instead are moving here to live forever. Just kidding, but seriously that is how great this week as been for our entire team.

Back tracking a little bit to last night which was our most intense night of messages from Ken. In keeping with this week's HERO theme, we talked about Jesus, the best hero of them all. After the meeting students could divide into different groups and had the opportunity to pray with Czech or American Christians, ask questions or just think about all they had been hearing over the course of the week. It was a great opportunity of us to be able to see seeds being planted...you could practically see the wheels turning in some students heads when thinking about the Gospel. It was also a cool opportunity to see just how perfect God is in the way that our classrooms ended up being organized in a way that matched personalities and experiences that would come into play in our discussions times. All in all, I would say that we found it to be an awesome night in many ways.

Today was our last day of English Camp and we ended the week of lessons by studying holidays and cultures. The day consisted of a 4th of July parade, a celebration of annoying balloons, a Halloween parade, Valentine and paper snowflake making making, and much much more. It rained a little bit this morning but it definitely did not put a damper on everyone's last day of camp and for me personally it was probably one of the best days of camp in my 3 years.

This afternoon was filled with a little something that we here in the Czech Republic like to call Knight Games. Every year at English Camp the Czech team comes up with a competition of sorts for us all to compete in and this year it was a knight competition. The camp divided into teams and had to first create a suit of armor for their knight. Then the knights proceeded to compete in things like sword fighting, horse riding, archery and other events that maybe should have come with a "do not try this at home" disclaimer. Lets just say that is was an entertaining afternoon for both those competing and watching complete with a King and Queen, a court jester, and royal musicians.

For our last night at camp everyone is enjoying one last campfire and writing goodbye notes. Tomorrow will be filled with one last program, lunch and then everyone loading the bus to head back to the real world...sad! It has been a great week for us all here at English Camp and we can't wait to see you all and tell you about it in person!

Hi Friends, Family, and Followers,

As you may figure out in the next few sentences, this isn't Ken writing to you! This is Stacey...Ken wanted to eat breakfast and I wanted to blog so I think this new system is a win-win for everyone! Sorry that we might have left you hanging without a blog again last night, the internet was down again but we are up and running this morning.

For those of you that aren't familiar with the daily schedule of camp here is a little run-down for you. Every morning we wake up for devotionals at 7:15 (SO early for a college kid!). These are generally just our American team and the Czech Christian team but as the week goes on a few more our our students wake up with the sun to see what exactly we are doing. After devotionals we have breakfast (ranging from anything from toast with fish paste, that was today, to jelly filled donuts or hotdogs on toast). At 9 am we start English lessons that go on until 12:30 when we have lunch. After lunch is free time and then usually an afternoon game. Today is "American game day" so I think we will be introducing the Czechs to the great American pastime of Ultimate Frisbee. At 6 we have dinner then 7:30 is our evening meeting. This year we are studying Hero's and have been visited by Jan Hus, Mother Teresa, and Elizabeth Elliot. After our meeting we have discussions with our classrooms and then get to hang out before we all go to bed.

Now that you know our schedule here is a short versions of what has been happening over the past few days! (I won't give you all the awesome details because I could go on blogging forever and you probably want to hear them in person from your loved one when we get home in A WEEK!)

Sunday we played our annual afternoon game. Generally the Czech team makes this up and lets just say it is always an...interesting experience. This year we played Labyrinth of the Heart, Paradise of the Mind (or something to that regard) and everyone had a chance to pick their own life stories and then got to see how fate intervened. Just to give you a little taste Craig ended up as a widow (he was married to Anna, the picture perfect wife who sadly died at 45), alcoholic, diabetic, doctor and single father of a stolen baby. Tommy on the other hand was an international football star who dropped out of high school, became a gambling addict, then became a day laborer, married a non-English speaking girl who made him get his GED then day labored some more and at the end of their lives they debated going to university or gambling. The gambling won out and sadly on the casino boat, they died in a crash at the ripe age of 75. Good times for all.

Monday's highlight was the hike that we took. Would have been FANTASTIC if it hadn't been raining all day. It was actually a great time for most, minus the small group that got a bit lost on the path. Luckily Anna left a goldfish trail and they were able to find their way safely back home. This is not a joke, it really happened. Usually you can see Poland from the trail but because of the rain and fog we weren't able to. Oh well, there's always next year! The hike proved to be a great bonding opportunity for us and the Czechs and I think I can say for the group we are coming to love everyone that we are interacting with and will be sad in a couple days. We also had a campfire where we got to roast sausages and sung some awesome campfire songs with Becky on guitar with guest performances from Mike and Ken.

Yesterday was the infamous night game. This year it was kind of Amazing Race style with teams having to venture into the forest and do different tasks to get new clues. Anna and I wore glow in the dark gangster hats and it was a successful evening for all. Niko says that it was a good time except for his minor spill in a river in the dark. Czech games...always interesting to say the least. Yesterday was also filled with Just Dance 2 matches and games galore. Everyone had a great day.

I have to get to class now because my students are probably waiting for me! We will try to keep you updated on our lives for the next week. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts, they are always appreciated!

~Stacey

P.S. Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors, as my mother knows, neither are my strong suit and I didn't have time to proof read!

July 12, 2011

Sorry for the delay, the internet has been down here for the last day and a half. Camp has been going great! Our evening discussions have been exceptionally great. Most groups have already been able to talk about the gospel and have deep discussions about it. I'll post more later tonight, but just wanted to give a quick update.

July 9, 2011

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I came down with a fever and went straight to bed. My fever broke sometime this afternoon and I'm feeling much better now!

Yesterday we arrived at camp got our rooms and began assessing each student to place them in the proper class for their level of english. In the evening we did our first evening program where we taught the camp song and I introduced our topic for the week: Heros. Each evening we will be "visited" by a hero from history.

This morning we began our english classes and in the afternoon students could pick from volleyball, painting, or Wii.

Tonight Dietrich Bonhoeffer visited us! He told us about his life and his part in the plot to assassinate Hitler. Then in our discussion groups we discussed how we can know right and wrong.

Please be praying for the Czech students here that they would be open to the gospel message we will be sharing with them throughout the week. Also pray for our team that we stay healthy and energetic!

July 7, 2011

Today was a great day of bonding with our teams. We visited a castle originally built in the 15th century that has undergone major renovations until the beginning of the 20th century. Some of our team visited another much older castle with a few of the Czechs while the rest of us stayed behind to have coffee with the rest of the Czech team. It was a day filled with great conversations and excitement about camp. Tomorrow we begin our English camp! We will spend the next 7 days in the mountains near the Czech / Poland border with about 60 Czech students. This is the largest camp we have ever done with a total of almost 80 people (including our team and the Czech team)! Both Vlada and Zuzka have told me that there are about 20 new students coming for the first time to our camp. Some of them are coming because their friends have invited them. Others are coming because we met them this spring when a team of 8 of us came to Vyske Myto and spent a week in the schools here teaching english, building relationships and inviting them to camp. It is great to be able to see the fruit of the spring trip! Please be praying for our camp that we are able to bond with the Czech students and that they will be open to the gospel message.

July 6, 2011

We made it safe! Only 5 bags are held up and will be delivered Thursday morning. Thanks for praying for our travel to Vysoke Myto, Czech Republic! In a few moments we will gather together with the Czech team for dinner and to discuss our camp schedule. Tomorrow we will go sight seeing with the Czech team so we can bond with them before camp begins on Friday. Please be praying for our teams to gel together over the next two days.

Day 5

Tonight we are in Prague. This morning we visited Litomysl and this afternoon we were at youth group in Vysoke Myto. It was very exciting, there were close to 60 people there! This is the largest group they have ever had for anything other than English camp! More than half of the students who came to youth group this afternoon were students we met this week in the classes we visited. Vlada and the Czech team are so excited about what God has done this week through our presence here in the Czech. Please be praying for the students we interacted with this week, and pray specifically that they would continue to connect to the English club and to the youth group and especially for those who end up going on the retreat next weekend. Thank you so much for your partnership with us on this trip, we are extremely thankful for your prayers throughout the week. Tomorrow we will take the day to see Prague and then will leave early Sunday morning for Chicago.

Day 4

Today was our last day in the schools. It was another great day of meeting new students and inviting them to our English camp in the summer. Four of us traveled to Holice (pronounced: hole-its-eh) to a school of one student from our previous summer camps. The teachers were very hospitable and were so thankful we were there. The other group of four returned toa school they had visited yesterday and were greeted by the teachers with snacks and were invited to a music class by the music teacher. The class of 1st-3rd graders serenaded them with American songs.

This afternoon we hung out with students we met in classes this week in

the town square for ice cream and coffee. We have been so excited to see how God has given us the ability to connect so quickly with these students.

This evening we traveled to Hradec Kralove (I really can't pronounce this one so I won't try to type it either). This city is about 30 minutes away from Vysoke Myto and they are trying to plant a new church there. They are beginning this new church by reaching students first and planting a youth ministry. So we went to be with the new youth group there. It was exciting because there were about 10 or 12 students there for the first time, and many of them said they would like to come back next week! Several of them also said they would like to go to English camp this summer.

Alyssa was able to share the gospel with a student tonight who had never heard about Jesus before and the student said that he would come back to youth group to learn more. Tomorrow afternoon is when the youth group in Vysoke Myto meets, so please pray that the new students we met this week would come and would feel loved and return in the future.

Day 3

Today we were in schools again for the morning and afternoon. Some of us traveled outside of Vysoke Myto because students we know from our summer English camps invited us to their schools in other cities. In the morning a few of us went to a city called Litomysl (pronounced leet-o-mich-ul). We had 5 students from our summer camp in our class there. Later in the morning some other students traveled to another school where there were several students from summer camp. We are seeing God even begin to build a bridge with a parent of a Czech student. Rhonda has been able to have a special ministry with many of the teachers of the classes we are visiting, today was especially great because one of the teachers is the mother of a student who has been to our summer English camp for 3 years.

The best part of the day was this evening. We hosted and played a game with students from the youth group and students we invited from the schools. About 40 students came and half of them were students who came because they met us in their english classes over the last three days! The Czech team is very excited because several of these students are planing to sign up for the youth group retreat next weekend and they only came to the church yesterday for the first time. God is definitely working through our ministry here and is using our team to build bridges to the church here in Vysoke Myto. Please continue to pray for our time in schools and for students to feel welcomed and loved by us and especially the team from the Czech church. Tomorrow (Thursday) is our last day in schools so please pray for good conversations.

Day 2

So, today Alyssa pointed out the name of this shop. Notice the top line of the sign says "Barak Obalmat". In Czech, it literally means "The house of the wrapping materials." So, for all of you who think President Obama was born in Kenya, maybe it was the Czech! (That was for you Dave Villwock.)

On to more important things...Today was similar to yesterday, we spent the morning and afternoon in schools speaking in English with students and inviting them to join us in the afternoons this week and at English Camp this summer. Tonight we helped out at the English Club the church hosts every week. It was great because there were 10 students who came for the first time because they met us in classes yesterday and today! Several of them said that they would be coming back to English Club every week now. This is what we were hoping for, we are here to serve as a bridge for students to connect with people from the church here in Vysoke Myto. So please continue to pray for us for the rest of the week as we meet new students and invite them to events at church in the afternoons and evenings.

Day 1

Yesterday (monday) was our first day on the ground and we hit the ground running. We started out in classes at 8 a.m. To be honest, I wasn't totally sure how this would go, but it went great! We split up into groups in each class and led discussions in English about life, culture, history, and of course Czech food. Some of the Czech students were shy about their English at first, but once we got discussions going they were very excited to be able to practice their English with native speakers. We ended each class by inviting students to come to some events we are holding at the church this week and by inviting them to come to English Camp this summer.

In the evening, the Czech team held a birthday party to celebrate our 5 years of working together. They invited students who had been to our camps over the last four years and we had a great reunion with all who came! It was great to see students we know and to connect with some who have accepted Christ over the last few years.

We made it!

After a 10 minute dash in the Geneva, Switzerland airport to catch our connecting flight to Prague, we arrived safely. The only downside is that our bags didn't quite make the 10 minute connection. They will be delivered later this evening. It really ended up being a blessing in disguise because we were able to walk around in Prague for a bit and grab some lunch without having to lug our big bags around. It also made the 3 hour train ride much easier without our bags. We've been joking that maybe for this summer's trip we should lose our bags too so we can just have them delivered!

We'll be waking up early tomorrow morning to head to our first schools to begin teaching English. Please be praying for us as we overcome our jet lag and for the students we will be interacting with. Tomorrow evening we will have a reunion party with students who have been to our summer camps over the past four years. Please pray that GOD would use that time for us to be an encouragement to the students who have prayed to receive Christ over the past four years and for us to continue to take our relationships further with those who have shown interest in the gospel in the past.

Ken