I really, truly cannot believe I’m writing this update from Malenovice. This place is where we had intern training. Last time I was here, I barely knew my teammates. I barely knew anyone. I had no idea what to expect aside from my knowledge of what English camp is like, and here we are, about to start camp #3. Where has the summer gone?! How is it already camp #3? I’ve had some time to think about the summer thus far but I’d rather not do that yet. The summer is not over and there is still so much to learn. 

Our second camp, which we returned from on Saturday, was with a church in Prague called KS. While KS has done English camp for a long time, their new American team from Dallas, Pennsylvania (nope, not Texas!) had never done camp before, and that’s where we came in. It was a complete 180 from our last camp in which neither teams had put on a camp, and it was nice to see God working in different camps, different ways. We had the joy to serve them and guide the American team through their first camp, as well as be a bridge between the Czech and American churches. Really, being an intern rocks. I can’t believe I get to do this. 

Sometimes, however, you get sick. Your team gets sick, your campers get sick, and then everyone gets sick. You get tired, you get stressed, and that’s when you learn to turn to Jesus even when the problems aren’t directly spiritual. I’m learning that yes, Jesus still wants to take over when our problems aren’t just spiritual but physical, mental, relational, and all around seemingly small. I’ve learned that Jesus sees no shame in us asking for his help with our physical weaknesses, and somehow along the way of life I had this mentality that you don’t pray for tiredness because it’s my fault for not getting enough sleep or something. But really, the Lord will provide when you’re tired, when you’re cranky, hungry, and irritable. Those parts of us come out at camp and we have the power to pray and ask God to help us carry them. And that’s such a sweet thing. 

Speaking of the sweetness of Jesus, I had the absolute joy of helping the pastor of the American church teach intermediate English with just the sweetest students. There were so many fits of laughter, successful English games, great discussion groups, and good times had by all. One of my personal favorites was our prank skit during the camp talent show in which we scared campers/interns (sorry Basia!!) with a hidden head. Camp was full of life and laughter this term, not to mention full of students. In fact, camp was so full that some of the interns couldn’t fit and had to sleep elsewhere! Which totally wasn’t a problem; I’m fine with walking a few meters in the morning if it means more students learning about Jesus. 

Our second camp was successful in fun and in sharing the love of Jesus, even if at times we get tired, sick, and discouraged. We know where our help comes from and we look towards God for it. I’m so excited for our third camp with the church in Opava, which will be a camp lead by all interns seeing as how we don’t have an American team. I’m so excited to combine Team Scoot with Team Butterfinger (we make Team Butterscoot) and go out with a bang in this summer of serving. 

Please pray over the next few days for our team to get plenty of rest. After two camps, it’s easy for us to all be tired and sick. But we are not yet done with what God brought us here to do. Pray for healing of any sicknesses, great team bonding, and once again, plenty of rest. I definitely encourage you to pray for unity among our two teams and peacefulness in cooperation so that the students see us and want to be part of the loving community that we are part of. Pray for new relationships with students to form, and the students’ hearts to be receptive and open as we go in and show them what the love of Jesus looks like. 

Thank you for your prayers!! I can’t wait for camp round 3!!

In Christ,

Kelley

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated, and a lot has happened since then. Since my last update, we’ve done our first short term team training, traveled to our first English camp with a Czech church from Trutnov and an American team from Arizona, and had a blast of a first camp. It was the first camp not only for our intern team, but for the churches as well. And it really was a great camp. 

I’m writing this update from our second short term team training, and it’s kind of hard to wrap up all that’s happened in this post because a lot has happened. First off, our camp was up in the mountains and it was about 50° on average every day. It’s about double that in Arkansas right now, so I’m praising Jesus for the weather! I had the absolute joy and challenge of teaching the beginner English class at camp, and while that can be hard considering I have little to no knowledge of Czech and had never taught beginner before, I was lucky enough to have two amazing translators and a helper from Arizona that made the class fun, engaging, and most importantly, educational. 

I also had the task of preparing Labyrinth, or gospel night, and it proved to be a bit of a challenge that required God to strengthen me in patience and grace, as well as organization. I’m not a very organized person, so with the help of my team, labyrinth was very successful and we saw students make the decision to follow Jesus, which throws all the stress and challenges out the window in my book. Nothing is ever not worth bringing people closer to Jesus. It was wonderful really, and the enthusiastic Czech and American teams made camp such a success overall. I cannot emphasize how amazing they were, especially at a first camp. 

We had a team member go to the hospital, so please pray for Nick as he recovers from a heart issue that I am unsure of the name. He’s back with us after a night in the hospital during camp, and he’s doing okay, but he still has pain from time to time. We went from #TeamNoHospital to just #TeamNoCrutches, and considering the amount of interns on crutches this summer, that’s truly a streak to be proud of. Myself and my team leader Nelson had food poisoning this week, but it’s not the hospital so we still consider our team to be #TeamHealthy. My nurse mom should be proud!

All in all, I am so honored and joyful to have been part of the Trutnov English camp. Their youth group has so much heart for this ministry and I encourage you to continue to pray for them throughout the year as they continue to grow their youth group and grow in faith in a country where that’s a very hard thing to do. 

This week we’ll head out to our second camp with a team from Pennsylvania to work with a church in Prague. It’ll definitely be a change of pace, as our Trutnov camp had 21 students and this camp will have 50, so please pray for energy, good health among our team, and for the Holy Spirit to be present and moving in the lives of these students we’ll be meeting. Pray for no injuries among camp, because as mild as English Camp sounds, it can get really rough really quickly. Pray for the youth group in Prague as they prepare for this camp and the students as they prepare to come. Thank you for your prayers, and I can’t wait to see how God will work in Prague over the next week and a half. 

In Christ,

Kelley