This winter trip, I feel like there was so much that happened, and I feel like there’s so many different things I can share about. I was an intern over the summer in the Czech Republic for 10 weeks, so I got to go to the youth group of the church we partner with a few times: at the beginning of the summer, camp, and towards the end of the summer. And I got to build many close relationships with some of these students as I saw them so many times in a short amount of time. And then having been with them for two camps already, and this being another camp, I have seen these students a lot. Suffice to say, I’ve really gotten to know some of these guys. And seeing, the change and growth God had done in them from the summer to the winter, it was a big encouragement to see them this winter.
There’s one of the guys who wasn’t super talkative. He’s very outgoing, but he doesn’t always share. I didn’t get to talk to him much in the summer, but I came back in the winter, and I got to get a meal with him at lunch. He just shared amazing things God had done in his life since I last saw him, namely this Retreat they had with the youth group. That was just totally unexpected, and it was super cool to hear from him because I hadn’t gotten to hear where he was at in his journey of faith. Another interesting thing for me was seeing some of the older guys step up and help the younger boys, giving them advice and having serious conversations with them. And, at one point at camp in my discussion group something really cool happened! We were having a discussion, and they were going really deep in the discussion and eventually just turn to Czech and the whole next 30 minutes was fully in a language I didn’t understand! So, I sat there and listened and paid attention. I was kind of like, well, what do I do? And it wasn’t about what I could do or what I had done. It was God working in their hearts. They finished the discussion time talking amongst themselves and with the Czech leader I was partnered with and after that, they went and talked for another hour. Some of them even missed our game afterwards because they were talking and valued that discussion over having fun in a competition. To see that God could place me there just to spark these conversations, and deep questions of faith for these students was a really big blessing.
Another big encouragement to me had to do with this close friend I have there. And this friend, he keeps missing in Camp… 🙁 But that’s because he’s doing Mission work elsewhere 😀! So annoying, right? Ultimately though it is always an encouragement to talk to him. He’s often at the follow-up activities or I see him some other time after camp. So usually when I see him, I ask him: “What were you doing, I missed you at camp”, and he will say something like: “I was helping with the little kids camp, so I couldn’t make it to camp”. This time after camp I asked him: “What are you doing? What’s God doing in your life? And he said: “I’m going to go on a mission trip to Africa to serve little kids this summer”. Isn’t that so cool! And I asked him if anyone else he knew was going and he said no one else he knew was going, just him. He found an organization and decided he was going to go. To see him come from the person he was when I first met him 2 years ago to now was a huge encouragement and praise to God.
Overall, from the camp, there was a big theme of encouragement. I was encouraged by the believers there and by seeing God’s power at work. Coming back from this trip, something I want to change is looking for opportunities to encourage others. How can I bring that encouragement I experienced to the believers around me. So, beyond just having intentional conversations with people who are believers, how can I take the extra steps to say a word of encouragement?
Click here to watch our full team debrief.
Prayer Requests:
- God to continue to do work in the Czech Republic
- God’s provision for the work in the Czech Republic