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.