Arrival in Vienna

After 11 hours on a plane, I arrived in Vienna, Austria this morning at 8:30. Dan, one of the pastors of the Lighthouse church, picked me up and we headed to Bratislava, Slovokia. Dan had a meeting with a friend for a couple of hours so I just hung out and started reading the book Redeeming Love. From Slovokia, we traveled by car to Vsetin where I will be staying the next 3 months.

Vsetin currently has about a foot of snow on the ground and the high temperatures have been around 30 degrees. This afternoon, I met Hanka whom I will be living with for the first month. She has a flat (apartment) here and lives within a 15 minute walk to the town and Majak Church. After unpacking, Hanka and I walked around town. This evening, Hanka and I played volleyball with a group of people, some who attend Majak Church. It was a blast playing with such good players. It is challenging to play with them because I have no idea what they are saying but I'm hoping I will catch on quick! Tomorrow, I will see a lot of the people I met this summer at camp. I cannot wait to see them all!

You can only imagine how tired I am after being in 5 different countries (US, Canada, Austria, Slovokia, & Czech) within the last 24 hours, walking 4 miles today, and playing volleyball.

Dobre noc (Good night)

Czech Trip 2010

American/Czech team at the train station

This summer I had the opportunity to spend 3 weeks in the Czech Republic with a team from my church. Just as a little background information, less than 0.5% of the Czech population claims Christianity and Czech is known as one of the most Atheistic countries in the world. I really didn't know what to expect since I had never been abroad. When we arrived in Prague we had a 6 hour bus ride to the hotel where we went through camp training with other church groups from the states. After two days of training, learning the camp song, and bonding as a team; we all headed off to the different camps we would be at for the next week.  I will never forget the day the kids arrived. Our team, Americans and Czechs, walked to the train station to wait. As the train neared the station, I got butterflies in my stomach and all I could do is smile. I was overwhelmed with excitement. After all the students checked-in and unpacked, we just hung out playing games and getting to know them. Every day we sang and danced to the camp song "Never Going Back to OK" and sang fun worship songs every evening.

 At our camp, we had Sports and English groups. The English group had about 30 kids and the Sports group had 12 kids. I was part of the Sports group. Each day we taught a different sport. Throughout the week, we played softball, American football, and soccer. During free time we played volleyball and went swimming. Every day was unique and filled with fun games and activities. One of my favorite days of the trip was Wednesday, July 21. This was the day we did the hike to the top of Lysa Hora. The hike stretched 10 miles and was not easy. Hiking in my Chacos left my feet blistered and sore but after 3 hours, we made it to the top. The day we chose to go was really foggy so we couldn't see the beauty of the country from the top but it was an amazing day. We got to know the kids more by asking questions, sharing our lives with them, and in some cases, sharing Jesus.

Sport Girls!

I don't want to bore you with every little detail of camp and it would take me hours to write it so this is just a small look at what we did. During the week, we taught line dancing, held our own Olympics, did the camp song in the pool, played games, learned some Czech words, and so much more. Towards the end of camp, we had a gospel night. A few people shared their testimony's and set up a labyrinth. The labyrinth was made to make the kids think about their beliefs and really challenge them. At the end of the labyrinth, there were small candles in the shape of a cross. If you had been touched by something during the week, wanted to learn more about God, or wanted to give your life to Christ, you were instructed to light a candle. Out of the 40 or so kids at camp, 36 of them lit a candle. Throughout the week, 4 kids said they wanted to learn more about Christianity and God and a lot of the kids said they wanted to attend youth group. God was with our camp the entire week and we could see him working in the kids'  hearts.

Airsoft Team

With camp coming to a close, the American team had to find a place to stay for follow-up. Anicka, a girl in my sports group whom I really connected with, wanted me to stay with her family in Vsetin. During follow-up, we played soccer and volleyball. We also went to a 300 year old cabin and played airsoft. That was fun! After airsoft, we all hung out around a fire and made s'mores. Some of us climbed 60 ft. up a tree and watched the sun set. This night, was also a night I won't forget. Once the sun went down and we headed back to town, some of us went to walk around Vsetin at night. We had drank Kofola (czech soda) and ate delicious late night treats from a bakery in downtown Vsetin. Our last night with our students, we played signs and made ice cream sundaes. It was an emotional time because we wouldn't see these kids again for a long time. The next morning we headed to the train station, jumped on a train, and headed to Prague...

With our time in Czech coming to a close, we said bye to our students, met up with the rest of our American team, and headed to Prague for the last two days. In Prague, we were strictly tourists. We ate Czech food, walked around all of Prague, and bought gifts for family and friends. The most amazing sight I have ever seen was from Charle's Bridge. This picture doesn't do it justice but it was breathtaking. Along the bridge, during the day, vendors fill the area with local paintings, jewelry, and souvenirs. At night, the bridge is packed with people and local musicians playing for entertainment. We took a boat trip and also visited the cathedral in this picture. The stained glass in the cathedral was so detailed and the statues were perfect. Attached to the cathedral was the South Tower which consisted of 287 spiral steps to the top where you could see all of Prague. Prague is such a beautiful city. Though we all could have stayed in Czech for a lot longer, it was time to go home. The next day we headed to the Prague airport, hopped on a plane, and flew back to the states.


This blog is a very short summary of my time in Czech this summer. If you want to know more about what God is doing there and what we did a as a team, just ask me.  I would love to share with you. Since I have been back, I have been praying about the opportunity to go back some day. Well, the time has come. I am going back to Vsetin in February. I am staying for 3 months this time. I am so excited to see what God is going to do while I am there. If you could be praying for me, that would be greatly appreciated. The intention of this blog is to keep you all updated and involve you on my new journey. While in Czech this spring, I will try to post new entries once or twice a week. Feel free to e-mail me any time vballvaskii05@yahoo.com or Facebook me.

New and Exciting Things

 

The tall building in the background is Majak (Lighthouse church). 

I am creating this blog for a few reasons. I have the opportunity to go back to the Czech Republic this Spring for three months. I am going to Vsetin, a small town four hours East of Prague. I will be involved with my church's 'sister' church there, Majak (Lighthouse), helping with the youth group as well as teaching English studio. I won't have a phone so I will be keeping you updated through Facebook and this new blog. Also, I want everyone to be able to see what is going on in my life and how God is working in me and through me.  I am still in the process of designing my page and figuring out how to add photos and things so just bare with me.