The End (aka my referral to my other blog)

Okay, my summer is officially over. My siblings are back in school, my last thank yous for support have been sent out (you'll most likely be getting yours soon), and I'm off to find a job. So, it's the end of this blog and time to start a new chapter in my life -the post-grad years : ) Thanks once again for joining me this summer through faithfully reading these blog posts and if you're saddened by the thought of not having any more posts from me don't be. You can find my actual blog here: www.downcobblestoneroads.blogspot.com. Feel free to join me as I continue my journey there. I'll see you around!

I'm Back!

Well, I'm home. Officially. After saying way too many goodbyes, getting up at 4 in the morning, and taking 3 different flights, I'm back. It's good to be here! And once I've processed through things a bit more (and get over jet lag) I'm excited to be able to share my closing thoughts on the summer with all of you. It's been a crazy two and a half months! Thanks for being a part of it : )

What I'll Miss the Most

Can't believe it, but I only have a few days left! I head home Friday and will soon be back in my own bed, hanging out with my family, eavesdropping on lots of good English conversations, and drinking Starbucks and Jamba Juice. Oh, yeah, and trying to find a job! It'll be great to be back, but I have a feeling Slovenia will soon just feel like some distant dream or other life and I'll be sad to see it go. As I have already said many goodbyes and will continue to in the next few days, here are the things I'll miss the most:

- Old buildings Confession time....I am in love with Europe mostly because of its' buildings. I love everything about walking down a cobblestone road among pastel colored walls, stained glass windows, and detailed archways. Kari makes fun for me daily for how many close-up pictures I take of buildings, but I'll definitely miss the feeling of inspiration and creativity I get every time I walk by the buildings here. For some reason they just feel like home.

- Teaching English In the past year my thoughts have turned to teaching as a possible career choice and I've felt like God is leading me to pursue it more in the future. So, it's been awesome to get some experience while being here and be given even more confirmation that my giftings and passions fit this area well. I would be lying to say that being in charge of my own classes didn't make me happy just thinking about that fact. And I absolutely loved the students I had the honor to teach!

- Funny interactions There are moments in life when you just have to laugh at how funny people are. And when in a foreign country, funny moments tend to take place even more than normal. I'll miss having daily, awkward interactions with strangers like the friendly train conductor who wanted to talk about his trip to Egypt even though he didn't know English, the teenage couple who told us that we were about to die when an alarm started going off in our compartment, or the fat guy who squished me up against the wall when trying to pass me in a hallway when I had no where to go. Oh, and I can't forget about this guy at the Velenje castle who found out I was from Chicago and kept repeating "Chicago is my town...Sinatra" : )
-Girls' nights Since camp, God has really blessed Kari and me with many opportunities to have great conversations and fun bonding time with the Slovene girls we've met here. Specifically the two girls' nights we've had recently were both awesome. We're all sad that Kari and I won't be able to host more.

- Foreign foods Kebab, Koper pizza, Magnums, and the occasional chocolate covered pineapple. What can I say? I kinda like shopping at Mercator (the common grocery store here)!
- And most of all, my lovely friends here When you travel you end up getting to know people well quickly. One day of the Amazing Race and I felt like I'd known my fellow interns for forever, one week of English camp and I cared a whole stinkin' lot for a bunch of crazy high schoolers, and one month in Celje and I was welcomed in as part of the church family. I will miss meeting with the interns at Hondo and Trish's house; talking about Acts, playing with the dude, and chilling as frends.

I will miss hanging out at the church with Americans and Slovenes who love God and worship together enjoying fellowship and challenging each other in faith. (I will especially miss my dear friend Polona who has consistantly and compassionately served alongside us all summer!)
And I will miss the precious students I've easily grown to love over these amazing two months.

You Know You're In Europe When... #7

#7 Taking a bus, a train, a taxi, or walking is much more of an everyday occurance than driving in a car.

Prayer Requests for Follow Up

Hey everyone!

Thanks for still tracking with me. Even though camps are over now, there's still a lot going on ministry-wise here! The plan for my last few weeks (I come home August 6th) is to hang out with students I've met as much as possible. Our goal is to keep the students from camp plugged into the local church, so we are doing things like having girls' night, playing games at the church, and traveling to the sea to visit people. Kari and I are staying with Brooke and Johnny so they are around to connect with students too, as well as Polona and Marko and others from the church. We hope that the students will be able to continue hanging out together and with Christian influences after we're gone, that they will continue thinking about what they learned at camp, and that God would do great things in their lives in the next year. That being said, we still need and appreciate your prayers! These are the main requests I have at the moment:

- Servant heart: That I will have a servant heart as I finish things up here; that God will give me lots of opportunities to bless the missionaries, church, and new Slovene friends I've made before I leave; that I'll have a giving attitude, creative ideas, and encouraging words these next few weeks.

- Protection: That God will protect me and the other interns as we travel around Slovenia quite a bit, that we'll stay healthy and safe as we have throughout the trip (thank God!). Also, that God would place a hand of protection on the precious teens we've come to know and love; that over the next year as they vacation with their families, hang out with friends, and go back to school in the fall God would be with them, guiding them to Him whether they know it or not.

- Wisdom: That God would give us wisdom to say and do the right things while we interact so much with students; that we would follow His leading on things and that in His timing we'll be able to have great conversations with students and just be good examples pouring Truth into their lives.

- Love: Most of all, pray that God would help us to be love to the people around us; that the students would see a love in us that's different than the world's love. Pray that through everything love would be what shines through.

Thanks for partnering with us. Your encouragement and prayers make a difference here : )

Celje/Maribor English Camp

Honestly, I don't even know where to start with this post. I want to tell you all about camp, but there is so much to tell and I have no idea where to begin! And I would love to talk with you in person about this instead of over a blog. But, since that's impossible at the moment, this will have to do.

Camp Basics: 37 Slovene high schoolers, 3 JV interns (me, Kari, and Nate), 14 Americans from a church in Tennessee (they were awesome!), and some missionary families (including Brooke and Johnny) went to a castle in Millstatt, Austria. For a week we swam at the lake, had English classes, played stupid games, got to know each other, and talked about God.

My English Class: I taught an intermediate level class of all girls: Sasa, Andreja, Lucija, Petra, and Maja (the last two were at camp last year and are both girls I hung out with at youth group in Celje before camp). Abby, a 15 year old, was my helper for the week -she was awesome! And we also had a translator named Andreja who is a 20 year old from the Celje area. We had tons of fun in our classroom in the tower of the castle. I absolutely loved teaching and these girls made it easy for me :)

Connections: Besides connecting with the girls in my class, other campers made their way into my heart as well. I especially got to know a 15 year old named Bella. She stayed in my room with me and we connected right away because she spoke English like a pro! We ended up hanging out a lot during free-time in the afternoons. She was super easy to talk with and she opened up about a lot of things in her life. She grew up going to a Catholic church, but said that this year she had begun thinking and learning a lot more about Jesus. It was fun to go through some of that process with her as she learned even more at camp and I'm really excited to continue our conversations over the internet in the future.

I also connected quickly with the American team that came. It was sweet to hear them say by the end of camp that out of the five years that their church had come, this year was the one where they felt most connected to the JV interns. They called us "honorary members." It was encouraging for me to see how well they worked together as a team and served the campers and each other throughout the week. Talking with different members of the team about what God was doing in and through them at camp was great. And saying goodbye to them on Monday night was harder than I expected it to be! So, now I have a bunch of friends in Nashville -all the more reason for me to go visit :) I already know that flights from Chicago are cheap!

How We Changed: The camp theme this year was "Redeem." The evening sessions where we talked about God were all about redemption in different stories in the Bible: Rehab, Judah (Joseph's brother), David and Bathsheba, and the Gospel. One of the missionaries would talk and then we'd have time in small groups with our English classes. It was cool to see the girls open up more throughout the week. A highlight was the night we talked about David and Abby pulled out a guitar to play a song she had written a few months ago about exactly what we were talking about. It was definitely a moment when I felt God speaking and moving! Then our last night together, we talked about if and how we thought camp had changed us. It was great to hear how the ones who had been to camp before changed throughout the year and then how they were able to share that with the others. One of the girls in my group who was new to camp said that she came in not believing that there was a God and now thinking that there is. She and others said they want to read the Bible more and stay connected with people from camp throughout the year. I was talking with Johnny yesterday and he was encouraged that more campers than he has ever seen were interested in spiritual matters this week. Our prayer is that they will stay connected during the year and that what they experienced this week will be something that continues outside of camp.

Lessons I Learned: This week I, personally, learned a lot as well. Here are just a few thoughts:

- Teaching English is something I want to continue to pursue in the future. I love it!

- I surprisingly don't mind crazy camp games as much as I used to.

- We all have different roles in the body of Christ. One isn't better than any other. (Ephesians 12)

- Forgiveness is a powerful thing.

- Asking God to break your heart for what breaks His is dangerous, but worth it. Even after a week you can fall in love with the people around you.

That's it for now. Prayer requests next time.

A Look at the Castle

Here's a quick look at the castle we were at for camp this past week. Sorry the video isn't better quality but this is the best I could do. The background noise is people playing a crazy game. Hopefully this gives you a little picture of where I was in Austria for English camp.