A few pictures:
This is our entire camp. In front of camp.
This is my (Danielle's) English Class.
Ryan and myself in Prague!
So, without further ado, our letter!! :)
Here we are over a month since we departed for the Czech Republic. Thinking through those initial feelings of fear, worry, and excitement. And now looking back, feelings of sadness and joy. Sad, because we are no longer with the amazing students we met. Joy, because we saw the Lord work. Powerfully.
Let me start from the beginning. When we left Portland, we met up with the rest of our team. A various assortment of people. Older, younger, and somewhere in between. We were the only couple on the trip. While our team seemed a bit...odd, it was no coincidence we were the team we were. And after two weeks traveling together, we were just that, a team. Forged by common experience, and ridiculous lay overs!
We spent the first day and a half traveling. Flying, driving and riding in trains. And sitting on airport floors for hours. We figured that we traveled around 60 hours the entire trip, including layovers, flights, walks, trains and driving. We finally arrived in Malenovice, where Josiah Venture owns a hotel that doubles as a training facility. We spent 3 days here getting prepared for English Camp. After training we boarded a train headed to Ostrava where the camp was. It was a wonderful feeling to finally be there.
We didn’t really know what to expect for camp. We knew that there would be around 13 Americans, and 13 Czechs. That is right about what there was too. The students arrived and we quickly engaged them in a frisbee-get-to-know-everyone’s-name game. It turned out to be very valuable. Danielle quickly connected with a girl named Iveta, who ended up being in Danielle’s class. And Ryan had already captured the hearts of the shy, quiet girls that were in his beginner level English class. Our roles at camp were to be a support. We knew going that our primary goal, was to support Daniel and Kim, our friends who are Missionaries in Orlova. We also found out we would be in support roles in the English classes. We were able to be flexible and help out where we were needed. This was perfect for both of us. We led games, ice breakers, and skits in our classes. Ryan was able to share his testimony one night as well. Mostly, we were the friends that Daniel and Kim needed.
While we were at camp we saw big things happen. We saw kids who have grown up in Atheistic homes, question who God is, and their own faith. We saw kids wrestle with their own beliefs. We saw relationships get built. We saw the Body of Christ at work. And we were changed.
One of the challenges we faced was our own comfort. We were faced with the reality of just how much we both love to be comfortable. And well, that is not always a good thing. We were challenged by the Lord in this area, and realized that we needed to change in this regard.
Our trip ended with promises to keep in touch from students (Danielle has been emailing almost daily with Iveta!) and full hearts. Our lives were impacted by these students. By their view of the world, Americans, and mostly about God. They were open to talking about God, and while there were no known decisions for Christ made at camp, God was at work in the hearts of these kids!
We are so thankful that we were able to go on this trip. We are thankful that we got to be a part of what the Lord is doing in the Czech Republic. And thank you to all of you for your support and your prayers! We would not have been able to go on this trip without you!
Love,
Ryan and Danielle
PS...to see some of our pictures (Danielle took nearly 500) please visit: http://ryananddanielleintheczech.shutterfly.com/ the password is: czech. Enjoy!
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