English Camp!!

Dear friends,
For the past two weeks I had the opportunity to teach at two different English camps in the spa town of Janske Lasne in the mountians outside of Prague. I was really blessed to get to be part of the team to lead the camps. English camp is one of the biggest outreach opportunities that the church has during the year. It is a great time to get to meet a lot of people, form friendships, develop trust and share the gospel!

At each camp there were around 100 campers who ranged in age from babies to grandparents. Some people had been attending English camp for the past 10 years and some were new campers this year. Each week there was a different team of volunteer missionaries who came from Canada and America to help teach and lead the camps. They were joined by missionaries serving in Prague and Czech believers.

The camp schedule was quite detailed. Each morning the leadership team met for prayer before breakfast. We shared about how our discussions were going with our students, had a brief devotional time and prayed for our students and for the day.

After prayers it was time for breakfast. Each student and staff member selects thier seat in the dining room on the first day of camp and then stays at that table spot for the duration of the week to assist the wait staff in preparation of the food. I learned that typical Czech breakfasts usually include rolls (rohliky) and some sort of spread (butter, jam, laughing cow cheese, liver paste) or ham. I did try this option some days, but I was glad to see that they also offered cereal. :)

After breakfast we had English classes! During the first week I was working with a group of "lower Intermediate" adults. Their English was really quite good and we had interesting lesson topics including: smiles, the Olympics, shopping, emails, and other things. The students were quite good at grammar and writing but needed practice listening to a "native speaker" so we spent time having good conversations about the different topics and other things that were of interest to the students. I learned quickly that if a person is interested in the subject, they are much more willing to talk about it!

During the second week of camp I was originally supposed to work with children ages 6-9 but then I was assigned to work with teenagers! My students were delightful and we had some interesting conversations-especailly about Japan! One of the girls takes karate, studies Japanese and was very interested to learn that I had lived in Japan...we even plan to have a sushi party together sometime this fall, hopefully :)

Halfway through the lessons each morning the students had a coffee break. This was much appreciated by both students and teachers because dealing with second languages can be quite taxing to one's mental capacities.

On certain special days at coffee break time the owner of the hotel shared a special creation with us-it was "houby"/mushroom stew (Served on brown rye bread)! "Houby" hunting is the Czech national pasttime-Czech people enjoy going out into thier lovely forests to search for mushrooms. I hear that they have over thirty varieties...some are poisonous, so there is a saying: "you can eat any mushroom, but some you can only eat once." Haha. :) The hotel owner was an expert hunter-on two separate occasions she came into the dining room with huge collections of mushrooms of all shapes, sizes and colors-some were even green! Hehe. She told us that she usually dries them and then the cooks include them in the soups that we got to enjoy for lunch.

The second morning class period usually continued with the same theme as the first part of the session. It was interesting to learn about the students because often their interests connected with the topics of the lesson. For example, one of the students works as a police officer in Prague and is interested in studying law and potentially wants to become a teacher of the law...how convenient that one out lesson topics was "rules"! What a great connection.

Throughout the week we worked through the student packets which had been prepared by one of the teachers. I was able to help with the preparations before the first camp started-what a lot of effort! Each of the five or more English learning levels had to have six separate themed lessons (a different lesson for each day of camp). So each of the students received thier own student packet with activities, exercises, readings and grammar exercises about the six themes at their level. Wow. But, all of the preparation paid off because it seemed like the students really learned a lot and found the themes interesting! Yay!

After morning classes it was lunch time. Lunch always began with a variety of soup served in a large pot with a ladle. It was delicious. I think that mushroom soup was my favorite because it was so tasty and creamy. Each evening the cooks put out the menu for lunch and dinner for the following day. There were three choices for lunch and three choices for dinner. All were written in Czech, so I was very glad that my friends at my table were willing to translate for me. :) I got to try many Czech specailties. I learned that most Czechs eat thier main, hot meal at lunch time and then have a smaller, usually cold meal for dinner (unlike most people from the US)...

Czech food is tasty. It seems that the meals usually include a starch like dumplings, rice or noodles and then have some kind of meat (pork is most preferred it seems) in some type of sauce. Lentils were another option. I liked the goulash quite a bit (although none of the food was as spicy as I was used to, so I found myself adding a lot of salt and pepper and even asking for ketchup on certian occasions). I also really enjoyed the blueberry dumplings, mmm!

In the afternoons there were many options for campers! Children could participate in group games and crafts. We made a lovely picture frame one day out of plastic canvas that was quite colorful and turned out well.

It was blueberry season in Janske Lasne! "Beruvkovy kolac" was the local specialty-blueberry cake, yum! So, many afternoons included a taste-test search for the best Beruvkovy kolac in town.

Janske Lasne is a spa town that is home to a large rehab facility for people with leg and joint difficulties so throughout the week we saw many people moving about town with their crutches, which was admirable because the village is on the side of a mountian! There were also tourists who came to enjoy the healing waters.

On certian afternoons we were able to hike! Yay! The mountain that we were closest to was called "Cerna Hora" or Black Mountain. There were many ways to go up and down. In the wintertime the village is a ski resort, but in the summer the cable car is still in use. A person can ride up the cable car and ride down on a two wheel scooter!

Some members of our camp preferred to walk up the mountain, however. I chose this option and tried both the "extreme" route which followed one of the chairlifts and the other route, which was longer but less extreme. :)

At the top there were views of the tallest mountain in Czech-Snezka (Snow Mountain) and the Polish boarder! During the second week I was able to join two Czech guides for a trip to the mountain...we arrived earlier than planned so Pastor John and I were able to climb the mountain, hooray! I was very excited to reach the summit because that meant that we could step across the road to enter Poland, wow. I'd never been there before and I got to walk into the country, teehee!

On the way down we were able to stop for a tour of the mine that is inside of the mountain. It was quite cold in there and I was glad that they provided us with a poncho and a hard hat. The tour guide gave the tour in Czech, but fortunately pastor John and I were able to read the English translation on a card. :) Everyone from our group even had a chance to try mining with the old-school pick-axes. Wow. What a tough job. I got a tiny piece, but it was soo much effort...that would certainly not be my job of choice!

In the evenings there was worship team practice before dinner. I was priveleged to be able to join the worship team as a singer for the second week of camp! Wow. How cool. We opened the evening programs with some oldies that many people enjoyed and also included some childrens songs. "Baby shark" was a favorite. The worship was wonderful too. I was glad to see some campers singing along-we hope that each of the people who participated was able to take one step closer to the Lord during the week of camp.

After dinner and singing, the visiting team members were able to share a testimony each evening. Each story was personal and amazing, but one of particular interest was one team member named Andy from America. He had a large tumor in place of one of his lungs when he was a baby. Andy's parents went around to over 10 differnt doctors to decide what could be done for him. Most of the doctors said that there was very little hope for him and that his condition only occurred in 1/one million births. One doctor even advised his parents that they should abort him. But, one doctor had a different option-he told Andy's parents that there was a procedure that would give Andy a slim chance of surviving. So, his parents went with that doctor. Andy was born and even though he wasn't expected to live through the surgery, he survived! The doctors said that there was a very slim chance that he would live to be five years old, but....he did! Now, Andy is healthy and is going into his final year of high school. He said that he sees his scar every day and that it brings him hope because it shows that God is still at work in the world-God spared his life, which was predicted to be one in a million chance of survival! After teaching at English camp, Andy decided that he hopes that he can come back to serve as a missionary for one year sometime in the future! Wow. God is still at work in his heart! :)

Both camps had a theme for the evening sharing time. The theme for the first week's messages was "More" and the theme song was by Matthew West http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8G3MsdQxuU The visiting Pastor preached one sermon each evening relating to this theme and how we can be more like Jesus. One higlight was his sermon on the prodigal son on Thursday night which seemed to touch many of the campers.

The second week's theme was "Home" which was very interesting for me because it really made me consider what makes up a home. The sermons were given by various speakers and all were thought-provoking. One theme was "rebuilding your home" which focused on the changes that a person needs to make in their lives and in their hearts to be in right relationship to God the Father.

After each sermon, sets of questions relating to the theme were posted and all of the students joined their respective teachers for discussion time. These times were very fruitful and interesting! Because of the language barrier, interpreters often helped us communicate between Czech and English in our small groups, but it seemed like some heart issues were certainly addressed. Difficult issues such as tensions between Christianity and Communism, the Catholic Church and Creationism were addressed. Some students had very strong, long-held points of view, but our team was glad that people were willing to stay for the messages after the singing and that everyone was willing to discuss together. I was glad to be able to share about the gospel message of the love of Jesus Christ and how he forgives our sins and gives us the gift of eternal life! :)

After the discussion times (for those who had extra energy) there were table games available on certain evenings and special movies were shown on other occasions. Catch Phrase was a very popular mixer game for the group during the first week and The Settlers of Catan was the preferred option for the second week's campers.

What full days we had! Sometimes I was just ready for a nap in the afternoon, even though the activities were wonderful options too. I pray that the Lord will use the seeds of truth from His Word that were planted during the week to lead many of the campers into a personal and saving relationship with Him! I also pray that many of the campers will remember the good times that they had and the friendships that they made at camp and feel led to join us at for worship, English classes and other activities at our ministry centers in Prague in the fall!

...and tomorrow week three of camp begins, woohoo! It will be interesting to see how the third week of camp will be similar and different to the first two. The team that I'll be working with this time is more international-there are English speaking believers from Canada, America and Britain! Wow! Please join me in praying for another blessed and heart-changing time in Janske Lasne. Thank you!