The fall Begins

To begin the fall I am going to the after parties in the towns where we did camp. The after party is a party that KECY has that is an end of the summer party and also introduces the students to the clubs or youth groups that will be going on during to school year. The hope is that students will want to come and be connected during the year and have more oppertunities to hear the gospel or grow if they are already a believer. The first party I went to was in the town where I did my second camp, Levice. The party was really neat, we had a good turn out and a lot of kids that are interested in continuing to come during the year. I had some good converstions with a couple students about God and what they were thinking. I believe there are a couple of students who are coming close to understanding of God. The second after party that I went to was the one for my last camp, Roznava. As you have probably read this camp was full of students who did not believe in God and had really not been exposed to any real Christianity before. This party also went really well. The biggest thing I was encouraged with was how close I was seeing the group grow. It seems now after camp the students are really wanting to be a part of the community and to come to the youth group. There are also a few who are making some very serious steps toward Christ! Please pray for the students here that God will continue to soften their hearts through their connection with the Youth Group and also pray for the leaders, Rudo and Lenka, that they will have the wisdom in leading and the energy to keep up with everyone. Also one of the girls from this town got into a car accident with her father and her father is not doing very well from what I hear. As I move into the fall please pray that I will have God's wisdom in my ministry, that I will know where to connect and where to spend my energy!

Holiday

Well I spent some time off and went on a little trip to France. I was able to stop some other places along the way there. It was quite fun and it took no longer to get there than driving to Florida from Fort Wayne. It was quite an exciting trip. We got pulled over twice and our vehicle searched for drugs. Apparently we looked like drug smugglers :) I am back in Slovakia now and excited to be here. I am looking forward to starting ministry again! Next week all of the camps from the summer are having their end of the summer parties. I am excited to go see the teams and all the students again! After this I will move into my Apartment for the fall and begin life in Slovakia with out camps. Please pray for me as I make the adjustment to living by myself as an American in Eastern Slovakia and continue to learn the language and work with the youth!

A Blessing

Well I just finished my last camp and boy was it an interesting camp. It was a lot different than any one I have ever experienced. This area of the country is very hard to work in. It is very closed to God. But the camp was still amazing. Last year there was twelve students signed up for camp and 6 of them dropped out because of a rumor of the church being a cult because it is a small denomination. This was a real discouragement for the team last year. This year we had 36 students!! It was such a huge difference. The students were fun but they were also pretty hard to connect with. This part of the country was especially influenced by Communism back in the day. Today it is a very atheistic part of Slovakia. We found as we went through the week that the students did not only think there is not a God, but they didn't really even care to talk about it. Most atheists will want to argue about why there is not a God. These students would just say to us, “Well that was a interesting story but God does not exist, lets talk about something else.” We soon realized that we would not connect with them through telling about God but would only connect by our love for each other and for them. During the week the students made comments about how they could see we were different and they wondered why we were. By the end of the week there were a number of students at least interest in considering that there might be a God. There were some that decided they would like to spend more time with the Youth Group. Ten students decided that they are going to a Christian Music festival this weekend called campfest, which is put on by Youth For Christ here in Slovakia. Both of these things were very encouraging despite the fact that none of them accept Jesus into their life. As for me this camp was an interesting experience. I spent a lot of the camp doing a lot more program things, allowing the Slovaks to spend more time with the students. I also spent time working with the leader Rudo, encouraging him and showing him how to lead better. He is someone I will be working with in the fall, I am very excited about this. Despite the fact that I was doing all this program stuff I still seemed to be having an impact on students. One of the coolest things for me was something one girl said to me at the end of the camp. She said, “You are the best American I know, No one has ever carried my bag for me and that was the first thing you did when I got to camp, I will always remember that.” This was so interesting to me. When the students arrived I carried as many bags in as I could, because it was what I should do. I never thought that it would have such an impact on someone. I was also able to connect with one boy named Erik. he was an interesting kid. He is a Christian, but does not really seem to know how to really show it to his friends, to be an example. I talked with him about how his friends were atheists and how allowing Christ’s love to flow through him to others could be such a good example for his friends. I really enjoyed this camp! I appreciate all of your prayers for me and my team. I also ask that you pray for the other interns as they prepare to go back to America, that they will adjust well and find a place to connect again. Also I ask that you pray for me as I prepare for the fall and all that it brings, that I will continue to trust in God through it all. Thanks!