Photo Friday - 24th July

A very kind friend sent these over from the UK - I found the packaging hilarious and the chocolate yummy!

The light at sunset is so beautiful!

Old buildings in town.

I cleaned out my purse and found a Chicago transport ticket and a dollar bill! I'm fairly sure both of these are four years old.

What packing for a trip looks like for me..

Late evening runs - because the only time it is cool enough to run!

The start of my crazy travel days to Albania - I left my house at 9am on Thursday and arrived at 7pm on Friday.

And this is where I arrived! Pogradec sits on the biggest lake in the Balkans, and is surrounded by beautiful mountains. 

Changed lives changing lives

Photo courtesy of Kristine Cramer

This week I'm heading to Albania to be with our team there, see their world, and serve alongside them at a camp! I'm really excited, especially after reading this blog post by Kristine. Please go check out that post and read about how God is changing lives through changed lives in Albania. 

Jesus is my King

Jesus Is My King. Josiah Venture. from Daniel Reimer on Vimeo.

I love this short, one-minute video as this young guy shares how God has changed him. This testimony was recorded by our team last summer.

We're praying for many more stories like this! 

Photo Friday - 17th July

It's been really fun to see all the creative ways people are using the camp theme/design/graphics this year - including as nail art!

A dear friend from my organisation visited on Sunday night and stayed so there was plenty of late night talking and catching up with her. 

The weather has been so hot here this week! So there have been lots of walks and runs.

My routine is to run down to and over the "pink bridge" and then over into Poland, spend some time on the swings and then run home. 

And I'm still exploring new trails near where I live. I love that I live in the centre of town but close to places like this.

Another sunny day meant drying clothes on my friends' line!

The town hall on another evening walk. 

Photo Friday - 10th July

Another Saturday morning at the farmers' market in Poland.

Hanging out by a pool with friends on a very hot Sunday afternoon.

Loved getting to catch up with Petra and Erin on Monday! It was a fun way to spend the national holiday.

My shelf in the office.

I found a spider late late one night so this is what happened to it.

And I wasn't able to sleep with just a jar on it so there was a bucket too. Don't worry, I released it the next day. 

Friday nights spent around a fire, roasting sausages and catching up with friends, as the Hughes (a missionary family who lived here for years) were back visiting.

Wednesdays at 9.30

For months now this has been an event in my phone's calendar every Wednesday at 9.30pm. And my youth group has had a prayer meeting every Wednesday night for months, and we were all encouraged to put this reminder in our phones so even if we're not at the prayer meeting we can remember to pray for camp.

And so each Wednesday my phone chimes and I remember to pray. To pray for the leaders of these camps, the local churches as they prepare, the short term teams coming over, the missionaries and interns involved. And, most of all, to pray for the students who will hear about Christ at these camps, many for the first time hearing that there is a relational God who loves them and who died so they can know Him.

Would you join us in praying for camps? This year we have around 113 camps happening across twelve countries where thousands of young people will be challenged to respond to the Gospel. We're praying that many come to know Christ as their Saviour and that as they are discipled they become disciples who make disciples.

Hungary!

Each summer I travel a lot to visit various camps and this summer's first big trip was to Hungary last week! I travelled down on Wednesday and back again on Friday so it was a short trip but it was a joy to be able to go there, see our team rock during their first week-long camp in Hungary, and see students hearing about God!

One of the things I most enjoyed seeing at this camp was that every morning students spent fifteen minutes reading the Bible passage that would be spoken on that night. They then spent fifteen minutes talking with a partner about one thing they thought was interesting and one question they had. Then in the evening programme students again had their Bibles open and were being shown how to look for answers and how to read it.

There was just something so beautiful about watching non-believing young people really engaging with the Word of God. And we know the Word of God is powerful and does not return void, so please be praying for the church who were involved in this camp, that they would follow up well with students who were there! 

Some photos of my time in Hungary:

Liz teaching about who Christ is, and how everything is loss compared with knowing Him.

One tall game of Jenga!

The Hungarian language, ladies and gentlemen, and your guess is as good as mine!

Camp was at the Calvary Chapel college in Hungary, which includes this beautiful building.

Preparing for a game that night.

Rob and Liz (the two sitting down) are the country leaders for Hungary and here Rob and their son Caleb are describing what is in the box to Liz and Liz has to decide if they're telling the truth or not. With some crazy things in the boxes it was hard to know if it was true or not!

Rob teaching on the second night I was there.

The building from the front.

Yellow watermelon! It tastes the exact same as regular watermelon but is yellow.

Hungarian roads = overtaking horse and carts! Between a lot of road works and crazy traffic on little roads and problems getting the stickers necessary to drive on Slovak and Hungarian roads it was a long, seven hour, drive down (I was expecting something more like five!).

Thankfully my drive back was shorter! These were my travel companions, as well as Narnia on audiobook! Driving home always seems less stressful because the roads are becoming more familiar, and I didn't have to make stops to buy the car stickers.