We are all back at home now. Its been a long day! 7:30am Czech Time to 9pm DC Time.
Praises:
- We got to the airport (in Prague) early and realized that we forgot 2 bags at the hostel. We had enough time to get them *whew*
- We flew through security at London-Heathrow and made our 1 hour connection. And we had time to buy chocolate! (Gill was very happy about that)
- Despite some turbulence, the flight was smooth
God's been with us from beginning to end. :)
- Luice
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Friends don't say goodbye
Its our last night in Prague. Our flight is tomorrow afternoon. We spent the day sightseeing, shopping and hanging out with Jackie and some of the Czech students/leaders from the camp. Many of them live in Prague and wanted to hang out with us and show us the city. That was very sweet of them and made our trip all the more special.
I (Luice) am so surprised at how attached I became to these students. 11 days and I'm going to miss them dearly.
The trip couldn't have gone so great without your prayers. Ruth and I will be updating the blog once we return to the US to include more pictures and stories.
Please pray that we have a smooth flight and that we are able to transition and adjust back to our 'normal' lives but not forget or dismiss the wonderful and amazing things that God allowed to happen during this trip.
- Luice
I (Luice) am so surprised at how attached I became to these students. 11 days and I'm going to miss them dearly.
The trip couldn't have gone so great without your prayers. Ruth and I will be updating the blog once we return to the US to include more pictures and stories.
Please pray that we have a smooth flight and that we are able to transition and adjust back to our 'normal' lives but not forget or dismiss the wonderful and amazing things that God allowed to happen during this trip.
- Luice
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Picture Update
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| Ruth and I got separated from the hikers and we didn't know which way they went. |
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| Some of the praise band: Beny, Kuba, and Ety |
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| One of the activities was splash painting. Pollock style! |
Gospel Message - Thursday
Thursday was the day of sports (ultimate frisbee, petang, volleyball), Ruth and Luice singing 'By Your Side' with the praise band, and a long leaders meaning about Don's message to come. We prayed for specific students and the day in general.
Don gave the gospel message during the evening program. Before he went, Aya (one of the main Czech leaders) gave her testimony. It was heartbreaking what she went through but showed God's love and redemption.
On all the other days, during the evening program, the praise band would play mostly secular songs. But Thursday they really pulled out the praise/worship songs and really helped set the mood. And for me (Luice) really was refreshing.
Don and Jimi (the translator) worked great together. The message flowed and the translation was smooth. Afterwards we played some soft music in the background and invited them to stay and talk to the leaders or they were free to go and do what they wanted. This was the time for the Czech leaders to shine. Some of the American leaders approached students to pray for them and talk to them while the others silently prayed for God to be working.
There were great conversations going on, some more deep than others. And you could just feel and see God moving. And you could tell which students had the 'war' in them. Between themselves and God. We prayed fervently that God would win.
It was so cool to see the events of the past week just come together on this day. And the fact that the gospel message got moved to Thursday (rather than Wednesday as planned) was perfect too. The thunderstorms came just before we met and kept the students focused on the program.
Thank you so much for your prayers. That day was just so special and wouldn't have been possible without us being in the Spirit.
Don gave the gospel message during the evening program. Before he went, Aya (one of the main Czech leaders) gave her testimony. It was heartbreaking what she went through but showed God's love and redemption.
On all the other days, during the evening program, the praise band would play mostly secular songs. But Thursday they really pulled out the praise/worship songs and really helped set the mood. And for me (Luice) really was refreshing.
Don and Jimi (the translator) worked great together. The message flowed and the translation was smooth. Afterwards we played some soft music in the background and invited them to stay and talk to the leaders or they were free to go and do what they wanted. This was the time for the Czech leaders to shine. Some of the American leaders approached students to pray for them and talk to them while the others silently prayed for God to be working.
There were great conversations going on, some more deep than others. And you could just feel and see God moving. And you could tell which students had the 'war' in them. Between themselves and God. We prayed fervently that God would win.
It was so cool to see the events of the past week just come together on this day. And the fact that the gospel message got moved to Thursday (rather than Wednesday as planned) was perfect too. The thunderstorms came just before we met and kept the students focused on the program.
Thank you so much for your prayers. That day was just so special and wouldn't have been possible without us being in the Spirit.
Post from Wednesday
Wednesday’s topic was on relationships. We’ve been reading through a book called ‘The Little Prince’. The main character is looking for something because he is lonely and we really used that to form the evening program and discussion.
The night program was set up like an interview with Oprah. Jackie was Oprah and Bob was her special guest. In an interview style Jackie asked Bob about his testimony and how God repaired his relationship with his wife. Jackie also talked about a man and woman’s role in relationships (men = lead/pursue, women = follow), and she talked about the three-letter word (sex, which is the same in Czech surprisingly). Jackie closed with a story from her past that the students really appreciated and went well with the topic.
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| Jackie's Oprah Interview |
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| Man and Woman both trying to 'lead' the relationship = chaos |
To demonstrate the effect of relationships on us, she put 3 pieces of tape on a victim/student’s arm = scotch tape, electric tape, and duct tape.
- - Scotch tape = Surface level friendship/school friend
- - Electric tape = Deep friendship/close friend/best friend
- - Duct Tape = Romantic relationship with sexual intimacy
When each of those relationships break, its like the tape ripping off, it hurts. The scotch tape hurts a little, the electric tape a little more, and the duct tape a lot. And after she ripped off the duct tape she put it back on, ripped it off, put it back on. Eventually, it wasn’t sticky anymore. Showing that the power of sex to make 2 people all the more intimate stops working, so by the time someone gets married, it doesn’t fulfill its purpose of bringing 2 people together.
All 3 parts of the program worked really well together. And Jimi (the translator) was awesome. He was very enthusiastic and told the story with his actions as well as his words.
Afterwards we split into our groups (the same ones for English class) and asked questions like ‘What do you think about the roles of men and women in relationships.’ ‘What do you think about the Christian attitude towards sex’.
We gave them the option of splitting up into a large guy’s group and a large girl’s but for the most part they wanted to stay in the small groups. The discussions went really well.
For my group (Luice), it was the longest discussion we’ve ever had. We are allotted 30 minutes but are able to go to over, my group talked for 1.5 hours.
.... And thats it. Sorry for the awkward ending.
P.S. Nazdar Ameriko tady jsem. (Hello America here I come!) ß Written by Filip, one of the Czechs in Ruth’s group.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Snapshot of the Day
Here's a snapshot of our day:
- 7:30am - Leaders meeting where we pray and discuss the agenda for the day
- 8:30am - Breakfast
- 9:30am - 12:30pm - English class (Bob and Gill are leaders in one group, Don and Jackie are in another, Rachel is with Brian (The Scripture Union guy), and Ruth and I lead our own groups)
- 1:30pm - English Leaders Meeting - Where we debrief on how we are doing, pray for each other, etc
- 2:30 - 6:30pm - A large group activity (ie: hiking, sports, Scrabble in the Forest)
- 6:30pm - Dinner
- 7pm - 8:30pm - Rest
- 8:30-9:30 - Night time program (ie: Ruth and Luice' skit, Jackie and Bob's testimony, Don's gospel message - TODAY)
- 9:30 - whenever - Group discussions, chill and sleep
Please pray for Don, he gives the gospel message in 3 hours!
Pray for the students, that they have receptive hearts and have the faith to commit their lives to Christ.
Thank you!
P.S. I am writing this from a window sill at the camp. We found out that we don't need to go to the nearby penzion (hostel) anymore! yahh
- Luice
- 7:30am - Leaders meeting where we pray and discuss the agenda for the day
- 8:30am - Breakfast
- 9:30am - 12:30pm - English class (Bob and Gill are leaders in one group, Don and Jackie are in another, Rachel is with Brian (The Scripture Union guy), and Ruth and I lead our own groups)
- 1:30pm - English Leaders Meeting - Where we debrief on how we are doing, pray for each other, etc
- 2:30 - 6:30pm - A large group activity (ie: hiking, sports, Scrabble in the Forest)
- 6:30pm - Dinner
- 7pm - 8:30pm - Rest
- 8:30-9:30 - Night time program (ie: Ruth and Luice' skit, Jackie and Bob's testimony, Don's gospel message - TODAY)
- 9:30 - whenever - Group discussions, chill and sleep
Please pray for Don, he gives the gospel message in 3 hours!
Pray for the students, that they have receptive hearts and have the faith to commit their lives to Christ.
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| Leader's Meeting |
Thank you!
P.S. I am writing this from a window sill at the camp. We found out that we don't need to go to the nearby penzion (hostel) anymore! yahh
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| Luice on the internet via the window sill |
- Luice
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