Day 2 of Camp

Our 2nd day has gone great as well! Everyone is healthy, feeling great (maybe a little tired) and excited about the time we still have to spend with the people we have met. We continue to have fun with the students, building friendships with them and the Slovak helpers. The students have been very open and we are loving getting to know their individual personalities. It is wonderful to be able to build such strong relationships even though there is a great language barrier!The Yellow Class...

The Green Class...

The Red Class...

This afternoon, there was a demonstration of how Christ bridges the gap in our lives. The students all had to stand on one table (that represented a cliff). Petra taught how we are stuck on this one cliff without Jesus because we are sinners separated from God.

We can try anything we want by ourselves but there is no possible way to get to the other cliff (table) without help. The kids tried to jump to the other side but all of them came up short. In life we try to do good deeds, follow the law, etc. but nothing is ever good enough to bridge the gap between God and sinners.

She put the cross in between the two tables to show that Christ is the only way to get to God. He died on the cross to take away the sins of the world so that we can be reconciled to God. Only through Jesus are we able to get to God.

Each kid had to answer a question before they could walk across to the side that symbolized God. The question was "How can we have a relationship with God?" The answer the kids gave was "through Christ who forgives our sins".

This illustration helped the students to understand the Gospel in a visual way. What an awesome demonstration of how Christ has saved us!

Flexibility is the Key Word!

Our camp started today and it was a huge success! For this being the first camp here in Banska Bystrica, it went really great. The camp is at the YMCA, where we are staying. We just walk downstairs and are ready to go- how convenient! The camp ran from about 8:00-4:00. Needless to say we will be pretty worn out tonight! Some of the students are a lot younger than we were expecting and the knowledge of English is not great; so we adapted lessons, created new games and activities to do and rolled with the flow! This is during the intro time in the morning...

This is the Green Class (Mitch, Jordan, Rae, Brad)- they are at the beginner level and the average age is 4 years old...

This is the Red Class (Charity, Lindsay, Marc)- Intermediate Level playing Red Rover...

This is the Yellow Class (Christy, Chad, Dane, Scott)- Upper Beginner doing the Hokey Pokey...

We played several games outside before the rain came, and then finished the day inside playing a few indoor games.

Of course there are a few things to work out and talk through tonight, but we are very thankful for the students that came. They have great attitudes and were really fun to work with. Our prayer is that these students see Jesus in us and that God is glorified in everything this week. Thanks for supporting us, praying for us and following along with our week! Hope you had a great Monday!

Sunday

Last night we had our devotion time in the middle of the town square. Each member of our team has the opportunity to lead devotions at least one day. It was neat to sit in the middle of the square, fellowship together in the word and pray for the city. We also really enjoyed the church service we attended at the Baptist church this morning. It was a Baptism and Lord's Supper Sunday. The people were very friendly and we had a lunch with the congregation after church.

After lunch, we went exploring a little with some of the YMCA staff and helpers. They showed us around the city. We got to climb up to one of the clock towers- it was a great view of the square!

Then we went on a little hike that also overlooks the city.

View of the city from the trail we were on.
It was a great day! We are excited to start the English camps tomorrow. There are about 21 students signed up right now. This is the "pilot" week of the English camps in Banska Bystrica with the YMCA, hopefully it will be the first of many to come!

We Are Here!

We are in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia! We arrived about an hour later than expected due to a weather delay in Washington DC. Other than that, all of the travelling went great. Smooth flight and all of our luggage! We hopped in the van with Barney (our driver) when we got to Vienna and drove about 4 hours to the town of Banska Bystrica in Slovakia. We are checked into the YMCA hostel, we went and ate a really late lunch and we are meeting in one hour for a little debriefing time and then dinner at 8:00. After that we will get to go to bed... we are pretty tired! The 4 hour ride on the van went pretty fast because most of us were fast asleep. Right now we have about an hour to get settled in, shower and hang out. Below is a team picture before our flight from RDU to Washington DC. The 5 girls on the trip (Charity, Lindsay, Rae, Christy, Jordan), standing right in front of the hostel. Behind us you can see what the road looks like that the hostel is on. Some of the boys at the entrance to the hostel.
We will head out in the morning for church and then do some exploring around the town and preparing for the week. Thanks for praying for us and the time we have here!

Slovakia 2009... June 26 - July 9

We head out for Slovakia in about 2 weeks. Instead of Bratislava, we will be heading to the town of Banska Bystrica to stay and work (teach English classes and other classes) at the YMCA. You can click here to see the website for the YMCA, there are pictures of the rooms and info about the hostel. We stopped in this town to eat lunch last year on our way back from the Tatra Mountains and we are really excited about spending a week in this town.

This is the main town square in Banska Bystrica. The hostel we are staying at is very close (walking distance) to this town square. Below is a picture of the outside of the YMCA hostel that will be our home while we are in Slovakia.

We know that we have been called to go to this city and hopefully meet lots of people to share Jesus Christ with. This country has such a need for Jesus... please be a part of this trip, along with us, by praying for the Slovakia team (health and energy), the city, the peoples receptiveness and open hearts and minds, and the advancement of the church for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ .

The 2009 Slovakia Team
1. Brad Batten
2. Chad Ferrell
3. Christy Ferrell
4. Marc Francis
5. Rae Francis
6. Dane Haithcock
7. Charity Palmer
8. Jason Palmer
9. Scott Popham
10. Lindsay Williams
11. Mitch Williams
12. Jordan Wilson