The First Week

The view from Malenovice

So, I've been in Czech a week now!  It's been a really great week.  On Friday and Saturday the co-leaders and the Hughes and Chestnuts headed up to the Malenovice cabins where we had a bit of a retreat.  It was great to worship together, pray for one another and run through some leadership stuff together.

On Sunday we were at the local church in Cesky Tesin.  The service was in three languages (Czech, Polish and a local dialect that's a mixture of the two) and it was all translated into English for us!  During the service the English camp team was invited up and interviewed.  They then asked the co-leaders to come to the front and they prayed for us.  It was beautiful to be prayed for and supported by this church.  The sermon was on going with God and trusting in Him rather than on what we can see, which was an amazing message.

After an amazing lunch on Sunday I think everyone had a nap time. In the evening we went to the house of a missionary family to eat and spend some time with them.

On Monday we were back at Malenovice for the KAM "Big Meeting".  Again, it was wonderfully translated by someone for us.  We were each given a notebook to record the miracles of God, because we should "expect nothing less than miracles this summer".  During the day, and eating with staff, it was great to see KAM's care and support for their missionaries and us.

Monday night was a very early night and getting ten hour's sleep was pretty wonderful.  Today has been pretty lazy - a leisurely breakfast, hanging out at a coffee shop all afternoon, going into Poland to get dinner (and the largest pizzas I've ever seen) and praying for one another.

Tomorrow will be an early start as we'll get up at 6am to head into Poland, back to Krakow to meet our interns.  And we'll start the Amazing Race!  It ends on Friday and is filled with crazy challenges through who-knows-how-many countries and hopefully by the end of it team HawaIreland (my team's name - a combination of Josh's Hawaii and my Ireland) will be a team and we'll see how each other copes with challenges, knowledge that will come in useful as the summer continues!

This week has been really great.  It's been good to get to know the other co-leaders.  And it's been really refreshing to have this time to rest and read.  It is also pretty much the last alone time before the summer ends so I've been trying to enjoy it.  And I feel really refreshed.  I also feel so cared for and supported by the other co-leaders, JV and KAM and all you guys back home/around the world.

I'm excited to jump into this summer.  I'm excited about what miracles God has in store.  He is a good God, with good plans and they are more than we could ask or imagine.

Hello from Czech!

So I safely arrived in Czech yesterday, via Krakow airport.  The travel all went smoothly and it's been great to start getting to know the other leaders.  This morning we did some work on our plans and budget for the summer and tomorrow and Saturday we'll be doing a leaders' retreat at the Malenovice cabins.

Even though I'm sitting writing this in the Rob and Audrey's apartment I still can't quite believe I'm here..  but I'm sure it'll all sink in very soon!

The gang outside Krakow airport!  Some intern leaders and JV/KAM staff.

Dinner at the Chestnuts.  

A current picture of me: Brooklyn (Rob & Audrey's dog) is pretty much the cutest dog (in Czech, in case my dog is reading!).

T minus six hours

I am sitting here the night before I leave Northern Ireland for the summer.  Or, rather, six hours before I leave Northern Ireland for the summer!  In the morning my parents and I will be heading down to Dublin and from there I'll fly to Krakow, Poland.

I'll be spending the next three months mostly in the Czech Republic.  I'll be co-leading an intern team with one of Josiah Venture's full time missionaries, Josh.  In a week's time we'll be joined by our team, two Americans, Nolan and Bethany, and Jitka, who is Czech.  When they get here there will be a few days of crazy team building adventures (otherwise known as the Amazing Race) and then training for the summer in which we'll be visiting churches and schools and leading three English Camps!

There are so many details I could write about, so many things I'm excited for this summer.  But one of the last things I will be doing tonight is finishing writing my thank you letters.  When I applied and was accepted to do this internship I was fully expecting to at least pay for some of it myself.  But as I sit here I am fully funded, even a little more than fully funded!

Had I paid for some of it myself I feel like I'd be sitting here thinking that this summer is something I could do in my own strength.  Instead, I am so in awe of how God has provided so abundantly for me, more than I need.  It is my hope and prayer that as I head into the next three months I would be so aware of His provision in all things and that I would rely on Him in all things, instead of trying to do things in my own strength.

And in recognising how abundantly God has provided for me I know I need to say a massive thank you to the amazing community of people who are sending me to the Czech Republic this summer.  To those who donated money, bought puddings, wrote notes of encouragement or have committed to pray for me.. I cannot say a big enough thank you.  I could not go this summer if you did not send.  Thank you for holding the ropes.

I am so excited about what God is going to do this summer, and I look forward to sharing some of those stories with you here.

Hello!

Thank you so much for coming to check out my little corner of the internet.  In not very long at all I'll be leaving Northern Ireland to go to the Czech Republic for three months where I'll be serving with Josiah Venture.  I am so excited about what God is going to do and I hope to share some of those stories here.