Sunday Update

Sunday was a great day with the students. It was the first full day of camp, so everyone was able to get a taste of what the rest of the week will be like.

Before the students wake in the morning each day, the American teams, the interns, and all of the Czech leaders have a time for worship and devotions. Even though it is early, it is a good time to be able to talk and prepare for the day ahead. It is led by Marek and Tereza Goitkovi, and they do an amazing job (Marek also leads the evening camp band.) Side note - on our mission trip to Czech in 2011, I stayed with Marek and Tereza for 2 days after camp, in my first wonderful experience with "home stays".

We ate breakfast with the students, and then we had the morning program. Each morning, we have three worship songs led by an amazingly talented band comprised of Czech leaders. Then we have the morning talk, which usually includes a personally-relatable story from one of the Czech or American leaders. The speaker on Sunday was Carissa, an American intern who has been in the Czech all summer. Her talk especially touched one of my English Conversation students, which helped us to have a great discussion in the afternoon.

Then we had camp-wide choir rehearsal. All of the songs are learned by hearing and repeating with no sheet music, and even after four years of seeing it, I am still amazed how quickly the students are able to learn songs, even with multiple vocal parts.

We then had our morning workshops, and they seemed to go quite well. It takes a few days before some of the students begin talking and interacting in the workshops, but it started quite well.

We then had lunch, followed by a little bit of free time. In the afternoon, we played group games on the soccer field, and then came back to the hotel for afternoon workshops.

I lead an English Conversation workshop in the afternoon time slot. Sunday's workshop started quite slowly, with only one of the students talking very much. Then we split up to talk with students one-on-one, as we have 4 students and 4 American leaders. This was much more successful. Even though we were only going to talk with each student for 15 minutes before rotating, we all stayed with the first student we each talked to for over an hour! :)

We then ate dinner together and had the evening program, similar to Saturday night, but with different songs and a different talk. On Sunday evening, Leah Ross, my team co-leader spoke. he talked about happiness and the different sources of it. She had some great examples, and did a great job! I think the talk really resonated with some of the students.

For "alternative" program, some students watched the World Cup game, and some students met to have tea and eat amazing cakes and pies made in the baking and cooking workshop. I have a few photos that I will try to post later.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Please also include additional prayers for three of the American interns who will be leaving to go to the Ukraine on Tuesday. They will be covering for American teams who were scheduled to come help at a new Fusion camp, but cancelled due to the current tensions, despite being located in a different part of the country. After talking with one of the interns about it, it was very encouraging to hear that she has no fear about going there because she knows that they will accompanied by the most capable bodyguard ever in existence. :)

A busy day and a late night meant that a few of us were quite tired on Monday morning, but there is no time for rest, because Monday is Survival day. I'll post tomorrow (as I am optimistic that we will survive). :)