Grand Opening

My church in Písek just recently finished building our new church building/youth center. August 6th was the Grand Opening. It was so amazing! Normally, we have about 120 people at a regular service. At the opening, there were about 550!!! We brought in every chair we owned and still didn't have enough chairs to seat everyone. What an amazing opportunity this is. I'm really excited about what God is going to do through having this building.

Youth Camp 2-Písek & Christ Community Church

Youth Camp 2 was much different than I had expected. For starters, I was exhausted. I kept praying that God would give me strength, but the thing I looked forward to the most was taking a nap. I think my body was just telling me that it had had enough. Tuesday night rolled around, and I was flat-out angry with God. I was mad that I had been praying for strength and he didn't give it to me. I was mad that I was missing the wedding of someone who is very important to me. (Which made me realize that I was still mad that I had missed another good friend's wedding when I was in Haiti.) And I was just mad that I was there. This was the camp I was looking forward to the most, and I couldn't even enjoy it or be a part of things because I was so exhausted. So I sat in my room that night, praying and wrestling with God. I didn't want to be there anymore. I seriously considered figuring out how I could leave and get to my friend's wedding in time. As I was sitting there, my good friend, Jami walked in, and she was such an encouragement to me. I shared with her how mad I was and I saw that I had a few things I needed to give over to God. Jami encouraged me with the passages where Paul talks about his thorn in his side. Then Jesus says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I didn't know how God was going to use this, but I knew that He was going to. I finally said, "God, I have nothing left. Please work through my weakness."

That next day, I had planned on going home to get some rest instead of going on the ten-mile hike. But when I woke up, I knew God had other plans. I had more strength that day than I could have ever imagined. So I changed my plans and went on the hike, and the whole way there, I was able to talk with my friend Julie. Pause the story for a second, because I have to fill you in a little bit. (She's in the middle in the picture, and my friend Alča is on the right.) I met Julie last year at camp when she was in my English class. Throughout the year, God laid two people on my heart to be praying for, Julie and Jitka. Before camp, I had the opportunity to request who my roommates would be, and I requested Julie. (And because I was so exhausted and in my room all the time, Julie and I had many opportunities to talk.) Last year, Julie was in the same position that Hanka is in this year. She thought she wanted to accept Christ, but didn't want to make a decision like that at camp. So on the hike, Julie and I had a long time to be able to talk. Later that afternoon, I walked into our room and Julie was reading a Bible. So I asked her what she was reading. In that conversation, Julie told me that she wanted to give her life to God, and she and I were able to pray together. Praise God that He worked and I didn't! I was so weak, and I had nothing to give. But God was able to work though that, and through my exhaustion.

God is at work all around us. These are just a couple of the stories of how He worked at the camps, and there are many others. I can't help but praise Him for how He works through us...and through our weaknesses.

Family Camp-Písek & Christ Community Church

Family Camp was a completely different atmosphere. At first, I thought that having three hours with twenty kids between the ages of five and fifteen would be difficult. But by the end of the three hours, I felt like we didn't have enough time. It was fun working with the kids, and hearing their thoughts on different things.

Youth Camp 1-Blatna & Blanchard Road Alliance Church

Youth Camp 1 went really well. We were able to build relationships with people and share our faith with many. The night the gospel was presented, I was able to share my faith with a handful of people. Earlier that day, I had been very discouraged. I felt like I was having a hard time getting to know anyone. It seemed that a lot of people knew each other, and they stuck with their friends that they already knew. After the gospel presentation, we were given a Bible passage to read on our own. I walked out of my room after that, and after asking God to use me, and sitting outside of my door was a group of girls. Right away, they stopped me and started asking me questions. They said they had questions about the Bible, and when I sat down and asked them what kind of questions, it was like they couldn't wait to ask them. Their first question was about the trinity...and the questions just continued from there. I thank God that He was able to speak through me in that discussion. Later that night, God gave me another opportunity to share my faith with another girl who was hurting. I was truly amazed and overwhelmed with what God was doing in the hearts of so many.

A couple nights later, we had a bonfire where most people end up staying up all night. I walked out to the bonfire at around 11:00 and had planned to just talk for a few minutes and go to bed. I ended up getting into a conversation with a girl named Hanka (she's in the middle in the picture above), and she and I stayed up talking until 2:30 in the morning. Hanka ended up telling me that the only reason she didn't want to accept Christ was because she didn't want to make a decision at camp. She wanted to go home and get into the reality of life before she made a decision like that. So, she's going to go home and think about things, and she and I are going to meet in Prague and talk more about this. Please pray for Hanka, and for our meeting in Prague. I'm hoping we'll be able to meet in the next week or so to continue our conversation. Pray that whatever is holding her back will disappear and that she'll desire to become one of God's children.

Training at Malenovice

I wasn't sure what to think about going to camp training. To be honest with you, I didn't really want to go. I thought that since I had been to camp before, I couldn't imagine why I would need to go to training for it. But I went and I had fun (isn't that always the case?). To me, the best part about it was that the team was able to bond and really get to know each other before we even started the camp. Now, I'm glad I went.