Camp picture in front at the fire pit
Saying goodbye is never easy after a week like this. Today
we began our goodbyes, I say began because we get to see the students one more
time tomorrow in their own city. We left the Penzion at 12:30pm and took a
train to Banska Bystrica 2 hours away. At the train station the students were
picked up by their parents and we said a quick goodbye. I tried to make contact
with each of the students, either a quick handshake or hug, and encourage them
back tomorrow. “Erik your coming tomorrow right?” I asked. “I might be,” he
said. “Might?” “No, no, I’m definitely coming!” I am confident he will be there
too!
Saying goodbye to Erika, photo bombed by Alicia :)
The students went to their homes and we headed to the
Baptist church where Ben is the pastor. It was a 20 minute walk, something we
are very used to by now (20 minutes is a short walk here). The walk led us
through the main square of Banska Bystrica. The square is a beautiful, old
European courtyard, very picturesque. Walking right down the center and turning
off into an alleyway on the right, I was surprised how close the church was.
About one block away from the square was the church. It has a store front type
entrance, but as you walk in you see it is a beautiful church.
Team walking down the square
We had our debrief time in the sanctuary as we began
reflecting on the week and how we can encourage improvement for future teams.
It was special time, just our team and the American interns, Chelsea and
Harris. Any time you begin to attempt constructive criticism there is a real
temptation for critical complaining to take place. After a long week, little
sleep, many travels and food that we weren’t used to, I’d say our group did a
fantastic job! Sure, I saw a few attitudes struggling, but all said and done
nobody wanted to take away from what God did on this trip by complaining.
Ben's church sign
Chelsea and Harris affirmed our team over and over. They
told us that they were impressed at how prepared we were and how flexible we
were. Before we came there was some question on how the new group would be, but
now they said they know we could have handled the camp with 50 students and
done an amazing job. However, Harris wisely concluded with “maybe your
preparedness was exactly what God knew you would need to handle the smallest
camp.” We are very thankful for our interns!
After debrief, we had pizza! Now that doesn’t seem like such
a big deal back home, but our eating schedule and menu here has been very
different then we are used to. I realize I haven’t spent much time writing
about the food so I will try to briefly explain. If you took our lunch foods
and move it to breakfast, supper is moved to lunch and breakfast is moved to
supper. Now that is just a start. They eat a lot of pasta, potato and breads
here. Meat is typically only one meal each day, and vegetables were at a
minimum. I know only some of our meals were traditional Slovak food and it was
camp food, so it is not a good indicator of a Slovakian diet. All that needs to
be said is that the menu left something to be desired in us all. Who would have
thought that it was pizza? Haha
Everyone in good spirits after some tasty ice cream!
Jeremy bought me an espresso, so I was doing great!
We later walked into the square and got some ice cream,
coffee and enjoyed the view before we headed to our host home. We split our
team into four houses for the night. Michael Csepe, Danny Zarkovaki and Sergej
and I went home with Ben. It was a true joy to meet Ben’s wife and children
tonight. We had a lot of fun reminiscing about the week at their kitchen table.
Banska Bystrica Square
Tonight will be the longest night of sleep we will get since
we left the States. We typically got up around 6am everyday and kept going to
midnight. I think I was in bed by 1am each night. I look forward to being in
bed by midnight tonight and Ben and I will be going for a run at 8am, Lord
willing.
You can be praying for me tomorrow as I will be sharing in
the morning with the American and Slovak team before we meet with the students.
I am praying God will allow me to encourage and challenge the team to take what
they have learned and live it out everyday as they pursue Christ. We will worship
together and then meet the students in the square at 1pm. They will show us
around town a little while before we have a closing program at 3pm. This will
be our official goodbye party. Then we begin our travels home at 8pm.
Camp Picture withe mountains in the background
They saying goes, “All good things have to come to an end.”
I suppose there is some truth to that, but I am excited for what is about to
begin. We have built great relationships with our new Slovak friends, our
brothers and sisters in Christ. They have taught us and encouraged us so much! We
have planted seeds of the Gospel in the students hearts. I know our team has
been forever impacted by our time here. So I will disagree, this good thing is
not ending, it is just beginning…
i hope it was just the beginning...
ReplyDelete