Nate Hampton In Ostrava: An Up And Down July

The Loss of a Friend

On a Sunday, in the waning days of June, my long time friend and former college roommate, Andrew Vaché lost his life in a kayaking accident on Lake Michigan. I woke the following morning to Facebook messages from his older brother, Stephen and older sister Elizabeth. I spent the morning in a state of shock as I tried to do my regular morning work in my Ostrava apartment. Being so far away from home and with these who knew him and loved him so far away and probably still sleeping, I turned to the Only One who can bring true comfort, Jesus Christ. I sat there considering what I should do. I was scheduled to return home in about four weeks with the rest of the American team after the English Camp but I now needed to consider if I should drop what I was doing and return home for the funeral. I got a Skype call from my good friend Jon, who wanted to make sure that I had heard the news and wanted to make sure that I was ok. Jon had found himself in a similar position more than ten years ago when our friend, Zack Saint lost his battle with cancer while Jon was serving as a missionary in Mexico. We talked through the possibility of me returning home for the funeral as he had done for Zack's and encouraged me to do the same, if I felt led to do so. I had been thinking about it so it was a wonderful confirmation from the Lord about what I should do. Over the next few days, I got things in order and took a flight home for a week to attend the memorial service and support other friends and of course his family. I was so happy that I was able to come home and be there and hear stories of the ways in which Andrew had loved his family and friends so well and see wonderful evidence of the Holy Spirit working through him and pouring out grace and mercy into the lives of those around him. Several days later, I was back in Ostrava to finish preparation for the English Camp.

For two weeks, I was busy working with Petr to finalize activities at the camp and working via Skype with the rest of the CEFC team to prepare for the camp.

English Camp

I came into the camp both physically and emotionally exhausted not only from the previous few weeks but from the previous few months and all of the different struggles of different families from both the CEFC and Ostrava-Poruba church bodies. When the American team arrived in Prague, my energy and spirits were lifted, despite my mom not being able to attend for the first time in four years as she needed to remain in the States to be with my grandmother, who has been very sick for the last several months fighting cancer. We spent a couple of days in the town of Jičín on the western side of the Czech Republic, as the team recovered from the flight. The team was made up of some returning English Camp veterans as well as some first time attenders. This was really interesting because it was the first year that there some people on the team that I really didn't know very well as three of the team members had gotten involved with the high school youth group after I had left for the Czech Republic.

Abby Hegarty celebrated her 16th birthday in an international way. You can see how happy the team is after most of them had been awake for more than 24 hours and had traveled thousands of miles.

Two Saturdays ago, the team arrived at the English Camp to greet the largest number of English Camp attenders in the history of the Fajny English Camp. After spending the afternoon helping people with their bags, playing with children and testing many many people, we opened the camp with some icebreaker activities and the American team introductions. Sunday morning the team was up bright and early to do devotions together and then begin with the regular English Camp classes and activities. If I was to attempt to recount all of the wonderful things of the English Camp, I would be writing for days and you would probably just quit reading after the first ten minutes, so instead, I'll just mention a few highlights from the week and include a few pictures. If you would like to hear more you can visit CEFC for the Sunday night prayer meeting on August 21st to hear from myself and the rest of the team.

First, as I said earlier, this camp had the highest number of attenders in the history of the Fajny English Camp with about 80 campers ranging from about a year and a half old to a few people in their 60's. Secondly, we had many first time attenders. It was great to see people that I have gotten to know over the last two years come and join in on the activities and love of the camp. Thirdly, there were a lot of great relationships that were renewed and created during the week of the camp. Michael and Naomi Vesey were able to be a part of the team despite having moved to Texas in the last year. They are two of the most loved people over the history of the camp but they were busy getting married last year and the year before Michael was busy saving up to propose to Naomi. Other people like Abby, Mariah, Ella, Annie, Bill and Bridget were attending for the first time and made some wonderful friendships. And lastly, lives were changed during the camp. Many believers in the Czech Republic are constantly surrounded by non-believers at work, school and even in their own homes. During the course of the year they often feel beaten down by the constant barrage of negative comments and sinful actions of those around them. They are challenged in their faith on a daily basis and often just feel worn out coming into the English Camp. These believers were encouraged greatly to hold on tightly to their faith or recommitted themselves to following Jesus as they heard stories of how God has been working in the lives of others and sharing their struggles and burdens with fellow believers at the camp. Non-believers who attend the camp were brought into conversations about the Bible and had the opportunity to consider the life, work and person of Jesus Christ. I'm not certain if anyone came to faith in Jesus this year but I am certain that many people took steps toward Him during the camp. Pray that people would continue to move closer to Jesus and that the Holy Spirit would break down any barriers that are keeping people from having a fulfilling life in Christ.