Youth Revolution End of School Year Celebration

A Sleepover

In order to celebrate the end of the school year and the first year of Youth Revolution we had the Youth Revolution End of School Year Celebration.  The evening was packed with activities in the church, outside of the church and in the community.  The group wasn't a large one because many people were already away for summer vacation trips but many of our core teens were there as well as a few people that we haven't seen much of.  We had a photo scavenger hunt that had two teams of teens running all over Ostrava - Poruba to get the pictures that they needed.  I was proud of the two groups because they were able to get some of the more embarrassing pictures because if you know me, you know how weird I am and therefore how weird some of the items for the scavenger hunt were.  After the scavenger hunt in hot temperatures we played with some water balloons to continue the fun and cool down.  We played some more games and took pictures in the photo booth that we made a couple of days before.  We also enjoyed pizza and snacks and finished the evening by watching "Despicable Me 2."  Almost everyone spent the evening at the church and there were very few that got a good night's rest but that is to be expected.  The next morning the group worked together and quickly cleaned things up.  They also presented me with a gift of thanks for my first year here leading the group.  It was great.  Pray that the group would continue to seek one another out to do things over the summer.  Pray that we would also continue to see growth next year.  Many of the teens will also be attending the English Camp this summer, pray that for those who don't know the Lord they would be drawn to Him by a different voice than mine and for those who are believers pray that they would be encouraged in their faith by the members of the team.

 

Team #1

Team #2

Some scavenger hunt photos from the two teams.

Two of the more embarrassing requirements of the scavenger hunt, standing in a pond and hugging a complete stranger.  If you think that's weird in the states its really weird here.

One of the groups managed to find someone that I know, my neighbor, in the bottom center of the picture.

A game called "Tripod"

Táňa and Matouš

The water balloon toss game

I even let them all attack Matouš with water balloons and I took a balloon to the head as well.

Who would ever consider breaking a water balloon over the stately head of this gentleman?

Klára and I

Matouš auditioning for a Coke modeling job

Patrik and Táňa

Táňa, Anička and Verča (Táňa's friend)

Matouš and Klára

Anička, Matouš, Klára and Zuzka

Eliška, who made all of the props.

Zuzka with an appropriate response

A Short Trip to Kroměříž

As soon as things were cleaned at the church on Saturday morning, I headed for the train station with Anička to travel with her to spend some time with her family.  During Christmas, I spent about a week with their family but had not been to see them since then so it was wonderful to see their family.  I also got to see their cousin Jírka or George as he is better well known.  The younger kids showed me the awards that they had received from preschool and dance classes and we spent a lot of time at the pool.  The last couple of days have been extremely hot here with temperatures reaching the mid to upper 90's with air conditioning nowhere to be found.  Please pray for that family as the father, Marek is a pastor of a very very small church of which their family makes up almost half of the congregation on a regular Sunday morning.  Pray that people in that town would be drawn to Jesus by the love of this family and the people of the church there.

Preparing to Preach

This coming Sunday morning I will once again have the chance to preach at the church here in Ostrava.  Pray that the Lord would give me wisdom and mercy as I prepare.  The summer format can be very different from the regular year so I have many options about how to present the message.  As always pray that I would be walking closely with the Lord, being quick to repent.