The Summer Begins

Pics are top to bottom: cathedral in Bratislava, our team (Sarah, Brad, Lucie, me, Chris) on top of a hill in Budapest, lion in Budapest, ferris wheel in amusement park in Vienna) and my friends in Ft. Wayne (top: Brian and Cari Foss, bottom Gabe Foss, me, Amy and Ani Foss)

A Reunion 

I spent a few days in Fort Wayne, Indiana before embarking on my summer in Czech. This trip was really fun. It was such a blessing to see my old teammates and I was so excited cuz I was able to be at church when Tony who had been on my team in 2003 got sent out from his church to go be a senior pastor at another church in Ft. Wayne. 

The Amazing Race

So a few weeks before we departed we all received an email from Sarah Bertrand the summer intern coordinator telling us we'd be participating in an amazing race so to "pack light". We all (everyone who is serving with Josiah Venture in all the different countries) landed in Vienna on May 27th. Then as soon as everyone arrived we set off. Our first clue was given to us in "Old German" and we had to find somebody to decode it for us. This sent us to a large garden and palace. From there we were sent to the main city square area and had to run all around getting different clues and taking pictures of different things to get the next clue. The final destination in Vienna was a giant amusement park. There we were handed two sheets of pictures taken from different rides in the park. We had to find the bits of picture and then write down the name of the ride. This took forever. After we finally finished at the amusement park our last clue of the night was to find a train to Bratislava, Slovakia. So we board the train and arrive back in 3rd/4th place (we got there the same time as another team). We sign in for the time we want to leave and sign in for the 3rd time slot (5:10am). The first clue we received for the morning sends us to Budapest. We again were given clue after clue to lead us to all different parts of Budapest. We hiked up some huge hills and climbed many stairs and saw a hand that had been persevered for hundreds of years. This second day ended as soon as we accomplished the task of balancing a baseball bat and passing it between members of our team. After many many attempts we complete this task and are free to either spend more time in Budapest or return to Bratislava where our hostel was. We decided to head back to Bratislava and met up with a team that will be serving in Slovakia while at the train station. So our two teams joined up and went to dinner at Slovak Pub in Bratislava. The third day sent us around Bratislava's town square and a cathedral there and then we were to board the train to Malenovice, Czech Republic for our week of training.

Intern Training

So now we are in the middle of training. We will be here til the weekend. I can't get this giant smile off my face. After five years God decided that this summer was the summer to lead me back here to Czech and I am so thankful and so blessed to be here. We are being taught by some amazing guys and learning so many things from God's word and about God's story. It has been so amazing to see my old friends, my Josiah Venture Family and to make so many new friends as well. This truly is a dream come true and I am so thankful I waiting on God's timing and His provision.

Joining The Adventure:

Praise God for leading me here in His time

Pray for our team to bond more and more, to love each other deeply with the love of Christ. 

Pray for the youth groups we will be working with this summer, specifically Prague, to be bold in inviting their friends to camp.