forgot to post this…

My awesome English class : )

Kuba, Myself, Tara (American helper!), Alena, Verca, Zuzca, Lenka, Eva, and Ivo (my translator)

I love them and miss them!

“July, July, July…never seemed so strange”

As I write this I’m sitting at Malenovice drinking a Raspberry Fanta, looking at the mountains, and enjoying the sun. Thought you’d like to know that

Sorry for the scarce blog posts. I don’t have much internet or time these days. Thanks for hanging in there!

OUR FIRST CAMP IS ALREADY DONE?!?!?! I can’t believe it… The title of this blog is a song by a band called the Decemberists and I couldn’t agree more and it couldn’t fit any better with this month.

US team training #1 was really fun! We were back at Malenovice and it was just a nice time to relax before camp started. The US youth group that came to help us was from New Hope Church in New Hope, Minnesota. It was sooo fun having them there! Not only because they’re from Minnesota, but because the group that came were so AMAZING! They were helpful, hilarious, kind, caring, and just made the week 10x better. I’m so blessed to have met them and I can’t wait to see them when I get back to MN!

some intern ladies watching some soccer

Our first camp went really well. It was with the Sumperk youth group, called “Volant”. It was really fun because our team knew so many people since our homebase is in Sumperk and we’ve invested a lot of time with Volant. There were about 5o students in attendence at camp, around 84 people total! It started on the 4th of July. Since Czech, obviously, doesn’t celebrate the 4th, we missed out on it as well. It was weird not to celebrate it and sad as well because the 4th is one of my favorite holidays. It was a really bad “homesickness” day for me. I knew, however, that it was a small sacrifice knowing the work I was doing for His kingdom.

Babu and Hawaii sharing the Story of God

Doing come camp songs, before the night program.

Part way through the week, the whole camp went on a hike. An 8 mile hike. Wowzap! It was really fun. I however, Miss Graceful, pulled a muscle in my leg so it made the rest of the hike somewhat miserable. It was definately a test of faith, this hike. HA.. But here is a picture of our view, and you can see why it was SO worth it.

The Story of God stuff went OK. It was good in that the stories planted seeds and questions in the students heads and hearts. It  was also good because it opened for good discussion. Students were talking and answering questions about stories they just heard and they seemed to understand. It was frustrating, for me, because even though they heard the stories, about how God provides, and is faithful, and loving…they still thought it was just a story. Ugh..it just broke my heart. I felt really discouraged and almost hopeless about the whole situation. It’s really hard to minister here. Because of communism, people here are pessemistic and skeptical about new ideas/new things. Parents are closed minded and so are their children. One of the students mother’s even called them during the week and asked if the camp was “too religious”.

It’s really just sad to see people with absolutely no hope.

As someone trying to minister in Czech, I have to remember it’s not about the number of students who come to Christ. It’s not about how many people were affected by the talks. It’s just not about numbers. It’s about planting those seeds, loving the students, and showing them how much Jesus cares about them. It’s about making them feel like they matter, letting them know they have a purpose in life and that God has a plan, a AWESOME AND WONDERFUL plan for their lives.

Well now that I’m done crying…Ufda..

We’re at training #2 now. It has been really encouraging to hear stories from other interns and other camps about the success of their time and how they’ve seen God move.  I just have to remember that God is bigger than this program, than our strategies, than myself. God is still powerful even if we mess up. He will continue moving even if this program doesn’t work. God is faithful. We’ve already won! Now we’re just preparing for our next camp which is with Vikryovice. I’m still hopeful and excited to see the ways God will continue to move through the camps and through me. I’m very thankful God has allowed me to be here and that he chose me to come and minister in Czech this summer.

Prayer Requests:

Energy. As we’re heading into camp #2 sleep is getting scarce and energy levels are getting lower and lower.
The students from the Sumperk E-Camp. Pray for continued work in their hearts even after camp is over. Pray for the Czech team that they can continue to minister to the students after, us Americans leave.
The students who will attend the Vikryovice camp. Pray that God will prepare their hearts. That he would also prepare the hearts of The US team that will be working with us. The Czech team/youth group of Vikryvice. And my intern team.
For Babu. Babu has been sick for, seriously, about a year. She has some sort of virus (or bugs in her blood as she calls them) that makes her lungs hurt for the majority of the time and cause her to cough. Her immune system is weak and she gets ill a lot. Pray for strength for her and that her body can overcome this illness!

I also have a small, but semi-large request to ask of you.
Babu and Vasek still have a large amount of their support that needs to be raised. It’s a huge burden on their hearts right now. I just ask for prayer that they can get their support raised. I also ask that if God leads you, that you can help support Babu and Vasek. Anything will help.

Vasek’s account # is: 1017922 and Babu’s account # is: 1017923

Thank you guys for praying, for loving, for supporting. You guys are awesome and I’m so blessed!

with love love and more love,
Doraaaaa