Our time living here in Strakonice has come to a close. This evening we will be leaving for the Ceske Budejovice camp and will meet up with the Grace Community Church team tonight at the campgrounds. While I might not have expressed how excited I am to be seeing them, I am thrilled to finally get the chance to talk with an old friend about issues that have come up since I left at the end of May. Oh I cannot wait to see them tonight!

For the past few days here we have been just as busy as usual. It seems that we've had at least one person, if not more, over for dinner these past few nights. This has been great as we've had so many opportunities to pour encouragement into the youth group here in Strakonice through the conversations we have had with students. Two nights ago we hosted a parents party so that the parents of students in the youth group could understand better what camp is all about and learn a little bit about the differences between Czech and American culture. That specifically was a lot of fun as we broke into small groups to act out different American cultural stereotypes. The day previous though, I got the chance to go biking with a Czech and so I took the offer. What an amazing time that was as I got to learn more about him and how he had come to be so involved in the local church. What an experience that was to be talking about our lives while riding through the Czech countryside.

As I said before, we will be leaving for camp tonight so be praying that this next week will be awesome. I believe that God will do amazing things this summer!

Most nights that I go out by my self, I am usually being driven by a need to either escape the presence of people or to contemplate different thoughts or both. As of lately it seems to be that I have been seeking to escape the presence of my teammates, whom I love and care for deeply. I cannot be around them at night for specific reasons, namely for the reason that I do not want to think negatively of them. So I leave, get some fresh air, then go to bed. However, last night was unusual. Instead of being mopey and depressed about feeling exclusion from my two teammates, I was filled with a strange sense of peace about everything that was going on and even with my own life. Standing on the bridge at 3am, overlooking the river that runs through Strakonice, gazing downriver in the full moon light, I realized that no matter what is thrown my way, God is ultimately in control. He is my comfort and my joy in both the easy going times and the hard times. Thinking through the events, situations, and issues of the past 2 weeks, I am still at a crossroads of how to handle certain things but in the process of thinking about it all, I was not holding onto bitterness. Moving on to other thoughts, namely past relationships and the affect they had on my life, I came to realize that they all played a key part in my learning something. This carried on to thinking about the future of my life. But as I got into it, again I realized that God is in control of it, always has been and always will be. And again, I could feel peace rising up in my soul and spirit, for a short while at least.

The days have been great here in Strakonice, CZ. We've been connecting with students from the youth group here through activities that we plan but also through different events the students themselves host (movie night). Yesterday afternoon we had an awesome time hanging out with students while playing different sports and games. We played some ultimate frisbee, basketball, and the game of signs. While it was fun to be with the students from the youth group, it was even more awesome to hang out with a guy that we met while playing the games. He saw us playing signs and asked if he could join in. Well, he wasn't too weirded out and accepted our invitation to come to dinner with us that night. Through conversing with him, we found out that he had been looking for people that he could talk to about different current events, issues, and even some philosophical and religious ideas. We are hoping that he continues to seek out a few of the local students to talk to about such things and hopefully through them, see the love of Christ. This is what I am here for. This is the purpose of it all. To seek out students, build up connections with them, and share with them the love that is found in Christ. Everyone is hurting in someway, yet the glory of it all is found in God's redemption through Christ's death and subsequent resurrection.

As of Monday this week, we arrived in Strakonice, our home for the next few weeks.  Ironically enough however, Josh and I left the next day to accompany Aubree on a trip to Ceske Tesin where she had to take care of some paperwork.  We spent the next 2 nights in Ceske Tesin (us guys at Nate's and Aubree at Lucka's).  At this point, I have traveled across this country 4 times now from one side to the other.  I am now very confident that I could travel to any place in the Czech Republic without too much hassle.  Major props to the czech transit system.

These last 2 days found us in Pisek, spending time at a town festival with youth from nearby cities and youth groups.  It was a great opportunity for us to meet people we will be working with in the coming month of July as well as continue to build friendships with some of the youth we met in Ceske Budejovice last weekend when we went down there to spend time with the youth group located there.  While in Ceske Budejovice, I was able to meet up with some of the people I met 2 years ago.  It was so awesome to be able to see some familiar faces again.  At the Pisek festival, the youth group was able to get some time on one of the stages that were setup so it was awesome to be there and support the group with their music performance.  The best part about it was that it was relaxing event to the end of a busy 2 weeks.  Also, I learned to not expect the sun to always come out like it does in Phoenix so needless to say, yesterday was a cold day.  So as of yesterday, we have 2 weeks until the start of the first camp, which is the Ceske Budejovice camp.  I'm looking forward to seeing the team coming my home church, Grace Community Church.  Until then though, there is lots to do here in Strakonice as well as in other parts of the country.

Today marks the end of summer intern training week at Malenovice in eastern Czech Republic. So all of the intern teams working in the Czech Republic this summer have been using the day to see the other teams off, relax, and continue to build friendships between each other before heading out on Friday morning. But these last few days have been pretty great. The only thing that has overshadowed this week is the passing of Dan, an old mentor/volunteer of the high school group. While this is a sorroful event, it is at the same time filled with joy for he knew Christ as his Savior. Dan knew where he was coming from and where he was going, to spend eternity with God and His glory.

This last monday night however, our team finally became complete with the arrival of our teammate Aubree. This did not come without stress though. She was supposed to get in at the Frydland train station at 11:45pm but that time came and passed. We ended up driving to the next three stations down the line looking for her but did not find her. After that, we get on the road to the town of Ostrava to see if she missed the train but en route we received a phone call telling us she that she had just reached the Frydland on the last train of the night at 1:45 am. We quickly made a U-turn and picked her up at the station...running over a hedgehog in the process. Finally, our team became complete. Well, its almost dinner time over here (9 hours ahead of Arizona time) so I'll throw up another update sometime next week.

To all who know me back home, I arrived safely in the Czech Republic this past Wednesday (5/28) around 12 noon. The flights went well amid running across London's Heathrow airport to catch the plane to Prague. I then spent the next few days with my teammate Josh and our team leader Leah traveling across the Czech Republic in a race against the other intern teams to reach the final destination of Malenovice, which is on the eastern edge of the country. Sadly we did not win the race. The race was awesome in that it put our team in situations that tested how well we interacted with one another and showed some areas where we are weak. Also, the race allowed us to get to know each other really well and I am excited to be on a team with them. Tomorrow, the last member of our team will arrive and then our team for this summer will be complete.

So as of now, I have been at Malenovice since Friday night and am currently in the middle of intern training for this summer. It has been a great few days getting to know the other interns and where they will be going to serve this summer. There are some awesome people that God brought to eastern europe this summer. In a couple days, my team and I will be traveling to Strakonice, which is in the southern portion of the country. In Strakonice, we will be going around to schools and promoting the english camps. Then in the end of June, I will get to see the 2-week team from Grace in Ceske Budejovice, of which I am excited for.

I am down to having 90 hours (3.5 days) left before I depart for the Czech Republic. I am excited to be leaving but I think my teammate said it best when she said "it is almost surreal." There are so many things I have yet to finish (packing and such) before I leave with not quite enough time, but on the other hand, Tuesday morning seems to be taking its time getting here.

When I reach Prague on Wednesday, I will be thrown into a race, similar to tv show The Amazing Race, with the other summer interns to reach Malenovice, which is conveniently located on the opposite side of the country.

To give you an update on new information, I will be helping to run 3 different camps this summer. Two of them will be in the Czech Republic at Ceske Budejovice and Strakonice. The third and last camp will be in Slovakia. This is going to be a busy, yet amazing, summer!

Update: I am now fully funded for this summer. Thank you to all who helped make this possible. However, if you are interested in any of the photographs, just let me know and we'll work something out.

As many of you may know, I will be going to the Czech Republic this summer to be an intern with Josiah Venture for roughly the whole summer. I will be working with local students in a summer camp setting, helping them with their english and playing sports with them. Currently I am trying to raise money so that I can go. Right now I am sitting at $1310 of a roughly $4000 needed.

So in order to raise more money for this trip, I have decided to open up my photographs for sale. Any profit that comes from selling my photographs will go towards this trip. To view my photographs, go to my flickr page. Now I do not have the best of technology so if you want to help me out and buy a photograph, please contact me by phone or email.

Prices:

• $60 for any 8x10 print


• $120 for any framed 8x10 print


• Custom Orders Possible

However, since I am not making money off of this, please don't feel as though you are boxed in by my prices. I will take any amount as long as the minimum is met.

The following is the words of Jonathan Edwards, early American theologian.

God is glorified within Himself these two ways: 1. By appearing… to Himself in His own perfect idea [of Himself], or in His Son, who is the brightness of His glory. 2. By enjoying and delighting in Himself, by flowing forth in infinite . . . delight towards Himself, or in his Holy Spirit…So God glorifies Himself toward the creatures also in two ways: 1. By appearing to… their understanding. 2. In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, the manifestations which He makes of Himself…God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might [be] received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.

- Jonathan Edwards