Slovakia Update 5

Day 1 of camp finally has come! We began this morning worshiping together and spending time in devotions as we prepared our hearts for the teens to come. Kristina mentioned to me how she was blessed very much when we sang the worship song “Come Now Is The Time to Worship” in English and the Slovaks sang it in their language. Together making a beautiful melody for God!

We had some more training and exercises to prepare, but we were anxious for the students to finally come in the afternoon. If you have ever gone to a camp, or worked at a camp, you know how much preparation goes into it. It really gets overwhelming at times and we had a time to work through our anxieties and watch as God began to help us see everything falling into its place.

Three of our team members, Danny, Kayla, and Jeremy, went with Pastor Ben to pick up the students in Banska Bystrica and bring them to the Penzion. It was a joy for me to see how excited they were to go and get the students. They had the opportunity of meeting Ben’s wife and children, seeing the church in Banska and go to a Slovakian supermarket to pick up supplies. They also had an extra hour of time with the students and immediately began to build friendships with them.

Having the students here has really made the time fly already! We had dinner together, games and evening program. I was asked to be the MC for the evening program and go through all the rules and schedule with the camp, oh and I had to speak through an interpreter. If you have never spoken through an interpreter then you don’t know how difficult this is for me. I am used to speaking pretty fast and build as I go. But an interpreter requires you to pause frequently and allow them to catch up. This leads me to awkward moments when I lose my train of thought, but it is quiet humorous for those I am speaking too.

Last night the camp was introduced to Peter in the Bible and looked at Luke 5. We will be encountering his story and how meeting Jesus changed him. One point that Jany emphasized was that Peter was an average, normal fisherman when Jesus called him to do great things. Peter stepped out in faith, knowing he had to sacrifice all that he had to follow Jesus. This continually challenges me as I wonder what am I holding back from Jesus? Peter left his career, family and friends to follow Jesus.

Right now we are off to Sports in the village, a 30 minute walk from here. I will write more later about our first day of English classes!