I did my first camp this week and it was a roller coaster, it was full of ups and downs, and I felt weak; but God did some great things. This camp was with the same church I did a camp with last year and there was a mission team coming from my home church. It was very good to see some of my friends again and talk to them. It also softened the blow of the crazy camp week and meeting many new people at camp.
This is me with a good friend from the Czech Republic. I got to do a home stay with him this year!
Me and my best friend from home who came with my church's mission team. We did a fun skit together for a talent show.
I was part of the sports team so each morning I helped lead sports for about three hours. In the afternoon we had what we called workshops. Essentially different camp leaders would put on different activities and students could choose which they wanted to go to. Some of the most popular were country dancing and drone flying. After dinner, we had evening program that contained some form of a gospel presentation followed by discussion groups. After discussion groups, there was a late-night activity such as a game show, talent show, and disco night.
I helped serve at the camp by helping lead dances for camp songs.
At the camp ministry is done through building relationships with students doing English, sport and other daily activities, but the most intentional time is through the discussion groups. Of all three camps I have led discussion groups for in the Czech Republic, the one I had this camp seemed the most difficult. And over the course of the camp, it seemed to me that the students care and didn’t want to participate; however, God was still working. One night before labyrinth (a night activity where students go by themselves along this route with station where they are asked to personally reflect about different parts of the gospel and themes talked about that week), I was talking to one of the girls in my discussion group and was asking her what she thought of everything she was hearing. From my point of view no one was participating in the group, so I didn’t expect much of an answer, but we then had a long conversation about how interesting everything she heard was and my testimony. Then when we went through the labyrinth, she went far slower than everyone else and then had a very long conversation with one of the local Czech leaders. To see someone truly considering the gospel when I thought my discussion group was fruitless was so encouraging. I’m praying this student will accept Jesus as her savior soon.
A girl in my group really loved peanut butter so when I got some for lunch because I was still hungry, she was so excited and asked to take a picture with me.
As I am an introvert the camp scene overall is very exhausting, and I can easily become discouraged when I don’t see any fruit in the moment. But this is often how God works through me. On the last night of camp we lay out papers for everyone at the camp with their name and picture and you can leave people notes. Last year I got a few notes at this camp and wasn’t expecting much from this year either. However, my paper this year was packed front and back with notes and there was even a second page added with over a full page of more notes. This in itself was encouraging but even more so was what each note said. Pretty much everything I felt I had been doing so poorly at camp was everything people said they were impacted by. People wrote that they never even talked to me the whole week but were impacted by my energy, encouragement, and love for everyone there. These attributes are far from who I am naturally and were not at all what I expected to read. I am truly humbled that God could use me in these ways. I am so incapable on my own without Him. I was weak but His power was perfected.
These upcoming two weeks have another camp session which includes mission team training and another week of camp. This upcoming camp is a day longer than the previous one, is very different from previous ones I’ve done, and I won’t know any one there, so I am hesitant and not very much looking forward to it. I’m happy to serve God and I know He will continue to do great things but it is going to be very difficult for me.
You can see videos from each day of camp on this youtube channel: Adam Novák
You can see more about camp on my Instagram: @ajmickey4 and the camp Instragram: @english_camp_ceskytesin.
Photohraphy credit: @annesphotoshoots
All the guys from the camp during the talent show went up and sang Let it Go from Frozen. It was hilarious!
Every night there was a skit to go along with the evening talk to present the concepts in a humorous way. One night I was a rancher who herded cats.
I got to walk with these girls and our church team member on our hike day. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun.
Let's just say water day was a blast!
Prayer Requests:
- Mission teams would arrive safely with all their stuff and then get to their camps on time and well prepared.
- For me to have the energy and love for students and faith in God to get through this next camp which will be very difficult for me.
- Students from this previous camp would get connected to the local church and many would be saved.
- Students at these upcoming camps would have soft hearts ready to hear and respond to the gospel and that many would be saved and experience Jesus’ perfect love.