This is another picture of my whole Survivor group. This was one of the best opportunities I had to talk to students and love them well.
It’s the end of the internship and I’m exhausted, but this past week of camp has been so good and such a blessing. This camp was the largest by far. We around 110 people at the camp, students and leaders combined! This was a bit overwhelming for me, but it was also really fun. I obviously didn’t get to meet and talk to everyone but the people I did get to talk with, I was able to build great relationships with and have amazing conversations. Although I was only able to connect with a few students what was great about this camp is that almost 40% of the camp were leaders so nearly every student was able to build a good relationship with at least one leader at the camp. This was really great for showing the love of Christ well to every student and making sure they felt connected.
This week, I was able to help with the morning camp band playing bass which was so much fun and the kids loved it! I helped lead the camp dance every evening and morning which was really fun for the students and actually helped build relationships, getting students out of their comfort zone. Every morning, I was part of the Fusion group which is a music outreach that is part of Josiah Venture. At this camp, we had a whole bunch of different Fusion and Edge and Quest groups come together to make this camp happen. These each are outreach ministries that are connected to the local church to reach students in their community. So, every morning we split into these different groups for about 3 hours to focus on music, sports, or live action role-playing. English class was also an option available to students, but this group was very small because it wasn’t a group from any specific church.
This is a mission team leader from Chicago, we had many great conversations and he was such an encouragement to me.
Being part of the Fusion group, I was part of the pop-rock choir and got to practice singing with a group of guys. It was really awesome talking to them throughout the week and seeing them go from being timid to really getting into the songs and having a good time. This was a fun way to build relationships and was able to lead to some deeper conversations.
Something that really touched me at this camp though was the leaders. There were so many, and they were all from different churches and had different testimonies. Getting to talk to each of them was such a blessing. God really is at work in the Czech Republic through these people from all over the country and I was blown away by the passion they all had for Jesus. Seeing the heart of these people has inspired me to love others better and give myself fully to the work of God as these people had. They are an amazing group of talented, fun, loving individuals that I wish I could spend more time with.
This camp was also exhausting in many ways because it’s the end of the internship, I miss home, and I just wanted time alone. But God met me where I was at and gave the strength and love to be there day by day and hour by hour. He did not fail me and even though I was at the end of myself, He worked though me and sustained me. I have really learned to rely on Him more and turn to Him in prayer more consistently and with more faith this past week. He is always there for me, and He loves me.
This is the last blog about the work God has been doing while I am here. I hope to send out another one soon about how I have processed all that has happened to close out this summer. Thank you for reading!
This is one of the stations from labrynth which is an interactive gospel presentation the students get to go through at their own pace.
Prayer Requests:
- To get home safely and on time with all our stuff
- To transition well to living at home again
- That I would carry on what I’ve leanred this summer and the ways I’ve changed and grown