If you've followed along this far on our journey, thank you. We really appreciate your support and prayers. The team has officially completed follow-up and now we are in Prague in a time of debriefing all that we have experienced during our time in the Czech Republic.
We had an early start to the day getting to the train stations. It's the dreaded "goodbye" day, but also a stunning representation of the relationships made at camp. As the train speeds off filled with the American team, many students from camp and members of Kostel Jinak stand on the train platform waving tearful goodbyes. It is so meaningful to see how many people came out on an early Monday morning to wish us goodbye. I am very proud to report that we had a smooth and successful train ride into Prague complete with complimentary espresso drinks (which I was definitely in need of). Jen and Lucka (Lutska) were our helpful guides who we can thank for a seamless travel day. We arrived to the Hotel Krystal and immediately met with Josiah Venture staff to debrief what happened at camp. We told stories of how we saw God move and how we can tell that story well. We'll have stories picked out in varying lengths (based on what you have time for) to share when we get home! The entire afternoon was a much needed rest time for the team which mostly consisted of naps. Then, we ventured into the city for a meal and a beautiful walk to get gelato at "Crème de la Crème." It was basically a perfect day of sleeping, eating, and just hanging out as a team. To end the night, the entire team did face masks. There is photo proof of this. Please pray that our team has a meaningful time debriefing what God did at camp and how we can enter back into our normal lives well. We are so excited for a full day tomorrow being tourists in Prague! We would also love prayer for our travels back to MN! All our love, - Tina
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After English camp ended we had follow up. Follow up produced a wide range of emotions for everyone. We went to Kostel Jinak in the morning, and there were many students from English camp that came to Kostel too. Everyone was given a phone with headphones so that the message could be translated; however, the system crashed because of how many phones there were. So we ended up listening to the message in Czech, which was a good experience.
After church we went back to our host family’s house to eat lunch. In the afternoon we walked through Sumperk to a Kostel member’s house and stayed there for most of the day. We played sports and other games, talked, and grilled hamburgers. Before leaving we said goodbye to many of the Czech students and leaders. A few tears were shed that night and we all went back to our host family’s house again. At the train station the next morning many more tears were shed than the night before. It was the real last goodbye to the friends we had made and gotten to know so well. We are now traveling to Prague. Please pray for the team when we are there – pray that we would keep our team unity and that everyone will have strength to make it through the last few days. - Drew English camp is over, but the impact God is making isn't.
Friday started with Ally, Megan, and myself doing worship, along with Sydney leading us all in devotions. Everyone was exhausted from the long, intense, grueling camp, so it was especially quiet that morning. I think during praying with our English class’s we all asked for energy, and God surely provided it. DJ “Prince D”, JJ “Toby Bryant”, Caleb “Slim C”, and Calvin “Little Miss Skittle” led an 80’s workout workshop. They were all dressed in bright, baggy clothing, except for Calvin who managed to get all of the tightest and most revealing clothes we had. We projected YouTube videos of songs from the video game Just Dance, and very quickly everyone set aside all of their exhaustion and danced without a care in the world. It was incredible to see all of the Americans and Czechs bonding. If this workshop were to be at the beginning of the week, it would have been much more segregated. But throughout this week, God has given all of us Americans the strength to persevere and build relationships. This can be especially hard when the students’ English levels aren’t very high, or when we know we have a team of fluently speaking Americans who we’ve known for years and are already comfortable with. After dinner and evening program, we had a bonfire and time to write notes. In one of the rooms at the facility, there were individual sheets of paper for everyone at camp. These sheets of paper become filled with encouraging notes and reminders of memories. Before I left for Czech again this past year, I went through my box of keepsakes from last years English camp, and I stumbled across my previous paper. I was flooded with memories and felt that much more excited to come back. These notes are a reminder of God’s love to the Czechs when they are away from English camp, so writing encouraging and loving notes is the least we can do. Our English camp was full of surprises, twists, turns, and the unexpected. We had to rely on God because throughout our confusion He was our only constant. I’m so proud of our whole team, so thankful for our leaders, and so excited for follow-up. - Jacob I just want to start by saying that camp is an amazing experience and we all love being here and interacting with the students. Now, keeping that in mind, if I’m being completely honest today was one of the most challenging days of my life.
Today I was the exact halfway point of our trip and we are all feeling tired, and missing home and our families. Multiple people fell asleep in hammocks and I have heard people saying how they are missing time alone. The thing I have been missing most though has been time to just talk with other Christians who know me. The moment I realized this, I fell apart, and this was just about the worst possible day to fall about because I was going to share my testimony during the evening talk. Kendall cried with me for a while and then I had to go back out and try again to figure out how to balance the new friendships I was making, the behind the scenes planning I need to get done, and time with God and other Christians that I needed in order to fill myself while also pouring into others. As I went about the rest of my day, I was amazed by the support and love I got from the rest of the team. So many people pulled me aside to encourage me or pray for me, and by the time I got to my testimony, I was still nervous, it I knew they were all praying for me and supporting me. Now onto the lighter topics. We attempted hike day, but as soon as we got past the hardest part, it started raining and we had to turn around. There were mixed emotions about this. They told us we would try the hike again on Thursday, but the rain caused our night game to be permanently cancelled. Instead, we played games and had a dance party in the main room together! If you think of it, please pray for strength and endurance during the second half of camp, as well as for physical, spiritual and emotion health. - Ally Our second full day of English camp started bright and early with worship and devotions in the morning. Breakfast followed that and then we had our second English class. It seems as though each class gets better and better each day and the students get more involved the longer they spend time with us. Every member of our team reported that their class was very attentive and had lots of fun.
Following English class, we had lunch: tomato soup, mashed potatoes and what seemed like tilapia. For those who love fish (like me) it was a very good meal. After lunch, some of us were excited to go outside for the ultimate frisbee workshop, but then, for the third day in a row, it rained. So we had to settle for the inside activities and workshops until the rain died down. People opted to play board games, card games, talk, jam to music, make shadow puppets, decorate bags or just relax. Once the rain went away, some of the guys went outside to play sports. We played volleyball, basketball and ninja until it was time for dinner. Dinner consisted of lunch leftovers and a stew called guláš. It tased so good that JJ even had seconds. During the evening program, Ben told the story of the prodigal son, and gave another story about losing things ... which this time was himself. He paid special attention to the younger son in the story of the prodigal son and gave a very disgusting example of what it was like to work with the pigs by talking about cleaning dirty cloth diapers. After the session, we played a night game led by the Kostel team. There were 6 different stations in which each team had to complete a task. 2 stations were individual and 4 stations were team vs team. The stations consisted of relay tic-tac-toe, a noodle-knight balance game, a tail grab game, team volleyball with blankets, a bubble blowing game and spaghetti tower building. All the teams reached every station and we played until we had to go to bed. As a whole American team, our moods and feeling range. Some of us are super tired and ready to crash at all times, while other of us have energy and are ready to do anything. However, we are all enjoying ourselves and have build some good relationships in the last few days. Please pray for energy for the team as well as patience and wisdom. Pray that we will all stay healthy and that we won't get injured. And lastly, pray that God will work in the hearts of the Czech students and allow them to open up to us about what they believe and what they think about the evening talks we have. Thank you for all the prayers and support! - DJ First full day of English Camp is complete! We can already tell this week is going to fly by! The day started with devotions and worship led by the Kostel Jinak team, and praying together for our students with our English teaching partners. After breakfast, we had our first English Class! The camp is split into 8 English groups, with two Americans in every group. Every class has translators from Kostel and 4-6 students. Even though a lot of our team members were teaching English for the first time, everyone did a great job!
Lunch followed English, and we had the entire camp sing a big American happy birthday to Megan Nyquist on our team, who turned 17 today! The team made sure to make her birthday special even though she was away from home and family. We brought plenty of cards, balloons, and presents to make sure she was celebrated well. Our afternoons are spent doing all sorts of activities with students. We have several optional workshops per day that students can sign up for. Today we offered origami, running, photography, brush lettering, and another one or two that I don’t remember, but I assure you our workshops are well-attended and loved. Some students opt for playing sports outside, or grabbing a guitar and jamming out (or taking a much-needed power nap). This is a time for us Americans to bond with students over shared interests and to make more connections between students and Kostel members. Following our rainy afternoon activities, we had dinner, and something happened that I’ve never experienced before at camp: the power in our building went out. This meant that for our evening meeting, we didn’t have access to a sound system, lights, or the projector. However, Jacob, Chris and I still brought the energy with camp songs, Drew shared his awesome testimony, and Ben gave a great talk which included sheep, toilets, passports, glasses, and water bombs (all pointing to the Gospel, we promise.) The night was wrapped up with discussion groups, a celebration when the power came back on, an intense series of Minute-To-Win-It challenges involving cups (Ally and Caleb’s English class won the championship), and a spontaneous & extremely sweaty hour-long dance session to all your favorite classic wedding reception songs (Soulja Boy, Uptown Funk, Cupid Shuffle, etc etc). The Americans are doing great. Everyone is healthy and building up those connections with students that will allow us to share Jesus with them. Please pray for energy, continued health, strengthened relationships with students, opportunities to share the Gospel, and for the power to stay on! Sending all our love! - Sydney Today we went on buses and got dropped off at the edge of camp, then we walked a half mile to the main place we were staying. While walking we saw sheep and I quickly started making sheep noises. We then met the Czechs from Kostel Jinak and got ready for the students to come. When the students came, we introduced ourselves and had dinner together. After dinner we had our first session – about 70 of us in one room! We learned the camp dance, then did camp songs and Ben shared a message about the lost sheep. Next we got into our discussion groups (which are the same groups as our English classes) and discussed the story. Right after that we had ice cream with the students, played spike ball, talked about ourselves and grew deeper connections with one another.
Prayer requests: ask for God to give us the right mindset and ability to speak, and for the students to have open hearts and that the gospel would be evidently seen in us, and through us. - JJ Grosser Imagine going tubing on one of our great Minnesotan lakes. You're gliding along and laughing – having a great time – until you hit a wave and lose your grip. Flying through the air, you hit the water with a painful smack. You're stuck, bobbing helplessly in the waves until the boat returns to pull you out of the water and back onto the wild ride.
If you're looking for a metaphor that I would use to describe the trip so far, you've just read it. Even though it feels like we're constantly being jerked off our tubes, we're also somehow always back on them again, riding the wild waves of public transportation, team unity, and for me, constantly losing things within my huge backpack. God's got our backs and it's so incredible to see how he is working in and through us, even before camp begins. - Kennedy Today was the second full day at camp. The meals here are amazing and the so are the views of the mountains. The biggest part of our day was probably hiking to a waterfall that looked like it was straight out of a movie. We took a lot of photos and jumped in the freezing cold water. The other parts of our days were filled with drinking a lot of Kofola, and listening to the speakers to learn about camp. We also play spike ball almost every free time – even in the pitch black were we had to use our phones for light!
Check back later to see some photos of the team and what we're up to! - Caleb Today was the first day we didn’t have to travel on a bus, train, plane, car, or wait during a layover. Yay! We are here in utterly breathtaking Malenovice for training. One of the goals of training is to provide time for us to recover from jet-lag. The team is doing pretty well, but we have had some naps today. Another goal of training is, well, training! We have been learning more about Czech history, Czech culture, how to share the gospel with students, and how to teach English. Much of what we are hearing we went over in our meetings before our departure, so it is great to hear it all again before we head off to camp. The main goal of training is to unify our team. We have been taking hikes, playing games, drinking Kofola (a Czech pop that tastes like black licorice), enjoying delicious meals, and breaking a sweat practicing the camp dance. Pray for us that we would adjust to the time zone, prepare well, continue to rely on God’s strength, and continue to unify as a team.
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