Hradec Kralove!

Part of the Hradec

Its been awhile since the last post because I have been taking an fun and productive trip with the team to the Czech city of Hradec Kralove.  We are going to put on an English Camp with the youth group in Hradec in July!

Coming into the city around 9 pm we were met by a small group of young Hradec-ians who were part of the local youth group.  Josh and I had the pleasure of staying in the house of Philip and Tomasz's house where were fed some amazing Chicken!  Arising early in the morning the full team was assembled and we headed to schools to advertise our English Camp!  Our first class was in a beauticians schools and the others were in a grammar (high) school.  In the classes we introduced ourselves and the camp then played a couple games to get the students talking and thinking in English.  Afterward we had small group discussions where the students could ask our team whatever.  Almost every class asked me cowboy related questions after they learned I was from Texas.  If any Czech Students ask you I totally ride horse to class.

That night we had the priviledge of participating in the a "Greater Than" with the Hradec youth group!  Singing songs and talking with the group I could tell that they really have a heart from Christ.

I think it was encouraging to see the product of past English camps (and all other christian influences in the youth's life before that) before I start my first camp!  Josh gave a great message talking about truly following after christ, a personal relationship, which was translate by Philip so the Czech could understand!

Hradec youth Group

Later that night we watched the Czech vs. Russia Game of the Euro Cup in a tent with some fellow Czechs.  Unfortunately we lost but the Czech spirit lives on!

We awoke early the next morning to get onto a train to begin a hike in the mountains surrounding Hradec.    Hiking for about 5 hours we made it to the summit of a mountain and looked down below at some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen!  I didn't bring my camera because of rain, but you'll have to take my word for it.  We kept hiking through late morning and early afternoon going through Fanghorn Forest like Forests (Lord of the Rings!) and got to climb around on boulders and other adventurous things!  It poured the last half hour but we had plenty of time to dry off as we waited for our train home!

Sunday morning I got to experience my first Czech church service!  There was something cool hearing both worship and the message in the native tongue, and fortunately we had some translators there to tell us what was going on.  God is moving throughout the world and it's nice to see a lot of that.

After church we had team planning with the youth group, looking over the ideas and plans for the English camp.  It was awesome to everyone coming to make camp the best it can be!  After the plans we enjoyed card games and hanging out with each other!

Early the next morning we did 6 more school visits, with more Texas questions!  Then we headed back to Podebrady which will be our home base this summer!

Overall Hradec was a great place to see because it showed me how God is working in this part of the world and gets my excitement up even more about camps and pouring into kids!

Prayers for energy and focus would be much appreciated by not just me but by my team.  I love ya''ll