uselessness.

i have found that uselessness can actually be a good thing. as i mentioned ealier in my prayer requests, the youth group in val mez did an amazing job at reaching out to students. during the night of the gospel presentation, we had a cajovna (tea house). i was able to talk to one of my roommates for a while before david butted into the conversation and took over in czech. so after that conversation was over, i realized that i had no one to talk to because all of the czech christians were talking to all the students! i had no idea what to do, and i felt so useless. but it was the best feeling i could have had at that point, because for the first time i realized my position as an american: to be american. the Val Mez youth group is solid, and it's a sweet feeling to know that the campers are still gonna be pursued and looked after by the youth group. and my job is to facebook the campers and still love them.

the group was so easy to fall in love with. the camp was younger than pardubice and had a lower level of English, but they were amazing kids who wanted to speak english and spend time with us. it's so fun to see the difference from the beginning of the week until the end, when students don't know each other and then when we're all so comfortable with each other. one girl kept to herself at first, but after days of everyone reaching out to her, she was laying on top of us and hugging us all.

we worked with a team from san diego and they were just what we needed - they were energetic and funny, and they loved the students. they were such an encouragement to us interns and really took care of us. they brought us american food and bought the girls some bath and body works shower gel so we could smell like girls again. i was so impressed with how everyone honestly connected as one group. i now have good friends in san diego who i can hang out with too :-)

here's a picture of the two american teams:

this is us being tough :-)

i did something different at this camp: i taught an almost beginner class. i've only ever taught higher level classes, but i really enjoyed teaching a lower level class. we really only covered three topics because there was so much repitition, but it was fun. it was more challenging for discussion groups for me - after having such great discussion groups in pardubice, i now had a younger group who hadn't thought through as many life issues (this year's topic is about being human - about experiencing different needs - love, success, failure, belonging, the difference between body and soul). it took awhile for them to really open up, but my co-teachers, amanda and john, really helped by being open with the students. kamila, my translator, and vaneta, the youth group leader also took awhile to fully begin leading discussion groups, so for awhile it was a little awkward having everything translated and having the americans try to explain everything. but by the end of the week, they had taken over discussion which was exactly what we had been praying for.

here are two pictures of my class.

this is our serious family picture. in the front are the teachers: me, john, and amanda. in the back from the left are klara, peter, kamila, radim, and vaneta. they were a really fun group, and they were active which was nice since we could do some awesome role plays!

we also had them each take turns translating everything that the americans said into czech. klara was probably at a higher level than the boys, and so i think translating made her feel a lot more confident in her ability. they were a very cool class - very different from what i'm used to, but it was what i needed.

amanda and i also got along really well and i'm excited to have a new american friend when i go home!

i wrote earlier about a girl who became a Christian, and that was klara who was in my class. she was cool, and definitely felt like she belonged at english camp and that that was where she was really accepted. she, kami, and vaneta really got to know each other well and i know that she will be well looked after and discipled. she's nervous to let her mom know of her decision. czech culture is so different - i know a lot of stories of kids becoming christians and their parents in turn kicking them out of the house. this happened to vaneta when she was 16 - her parents only gave her a backpack and then she was left by herself. but she knew that what she believed was true. pray for klara as she tells her parents about her decision and sticks to it! this kind of thing is so encouraging to me. here's a picture of klara with me and melissa. klara was really on my heart the whole week.

let me introduce two other girls who were as well: my roommates. eliska is blonde, and her sister is a part of the youth group. she brought along her friend, kacusa. they both have amazing english, and i really loved both of them. i enjoyed talking to them and joking with them and just taking naps in our room together. kacusa is such a thinker, and as i said earlier, i was able to talk with her during the cajovna. she studies history and religions by herself and is really interested in studying more religion, especially christian thelogy. i encouraged her to study the major world religions, and david gave her a mere christianity book by c.s. lewis. she was amazed that such famous philosophers and writers like c.s. lewis and tolkien were christians. i really loved these girls and found myself basically following them around all week. i hope that these are relationships i can keep.

i loved it.

i've been thinking a lot about my future, and i've always been going back and forth about whether or not czech is in my long-term future. i will always return to czech, but i really feel like this is where i belong in the long-term. i hate leaving english camp not knowing when or if i'll see some people again. the outreach here needs to be relational, and it's the hardest thing leaving people who i really began to love.

well, time will tell.