So our first camp is finished. Yes!
This blog will probably contain several random thoughts and tidbits of information. So I hope you’ll be able to follow. Also I apologize for the lengthy Budapest story. But all of it was indeed factual and actually happened.
So here are the basic facts of the Roznava KECY English Camp:
- After we finished promoting in their schools, a rumor started that their church was a cult, because they called themselves Christians. Roznava is a small town, and most of them only recognize Catholics and Atheist and then other random “christian” religions that are actually cults. So they only had 13 students sign up for camp. And then 3 of those 13 wanted to drop out. The camp director wouldn’t allow them, and said that the deadline had passed.
- The American Team from Arkansas was the biggest American team to come over to Slovakia all summer with 17 team members. Their team leader was a visionary for Slovakia’s ministry, so their team was fully capable and amazing. Their teenagers were really encouraging, it was great.. If you add the last 2 post together, the amount of students vs. the amount of Americans (not including my intern team) meant for a lot of one on one time.
- The facility was about a mile from another camp with our fellow interns, so one of our afternoons was devoted to competitive sports against their camp. We won the Futbol and the Volley-ball tournaments. I will gladly inform you that I was not a part of either team. I have 2 more camps to go, and I would prefer to go through them without injury.
- One day of Kecy Camps are always devoted to a hike. Our camp was located near one of the prettiest hikes in all of Slovakia. It’s called Slovak Paradise. It’s a hike alongside a waterfall, fully equipped with metal ladders and wooden bridges. After the minor panic attack in the middle of a ladder, I realized the beauty and I made it to the top. It really was gorgeous, just not really what I would consider safe… haha!
- One of our games was endearingly named the Trabant Pull. A Trabant is a car. A tiny red car. Our camp leader has one, and one of his ideas for an activity at the end of the week was to have the teams push the car up the mountain beside our camp.. I say mountain, but it wasn’t that steep, mostly rocky, but still tough. So all of the teams did it, and then they made the interns do it last. We pushed that little red car up to “American Woman” by Lenny Kravitz. We didn’t win with the farthest push, we were actually last by several feet. But I would definitely say that we had the best form.
- At the beginning of camp, several of the students didn’t want to be there, and they definitely didn’t want to be initiated into our “cult.” But the best part about Kecy is the evangelism. We don’t throw the gospel at them until the middle of the week. We just get to smell like Christ. It was awesome and by the 3rd day you could see a definite transition in the students. My roommate, one of the girls who wanted to drop, by the end of the week was looking up words in her dictionary to communicate with me, and all I did was smile at her most of the time and eat with her sometimes. The interns got to see the questionnaires that the students filled out at the end of camp and one of the girls, who also didn’t want to be there and didn’t participate in any games, filled out the entire back of the questionnaire with an essay of how upset she was because she had to leave once she began to feel like she belonged somewhere. Its amazing to be able to help Jesus rock their faces off with new information on being loved and belonging and sin… so incredible.
- I completely fell in love with the camp director, Rudo, and his wife, Lenka, and their daughter, Ema. I definitely cried when they dropped us off at the train station. They were really incredible and they’re who you should pray for in Roznava (besides the students). They are in charge of the Roznava youth group we worked with and they are the ones who were attacked when all of the cult rumors began to circulate. They are amazing and stood firm… and I miss them already!!!
I think that’s all i have to say right now about KECY Roznava. There is so much more, but it is late. And if I told you everything in my blog, my arrival back home would be so much less exciting! Before I leave on the 13th I will give you so more information… so keep a look out in the next few days for more of this goodness. Later friends!
