Camp Update and the Fall Season

I know, it's not fall yet. Don't worry, I haven't broken out my cozy scarves and started looking for everything Pumpkin Spice yet. But the fall season of ministry has already begun and there are lots of things happening! But first - camp stats.


Every week was full, or with very few places empty. It was a crazy three weeks of wonderful ministry! We had people from four different continents, multiple different language groups, coming together for one purpose - to share the love of God with Czech kids!!!

Week 1 and Week 3 we had two cooks who didn't speak English. Because of the staffing ratios, the majority of my kitchen crew didn't speak Czech. You can be sure I learned a lot of Czech those weeks!! Week 2 & 3 we had a group from Quebec, and while most of them spoke English, they would chat with each other in French. Needless to say, I didn't understand a single word! God used this to remind me of last year during camp season. I had been here for three short months, and only had ten hours of language under my belt. I felt so lost and "out of the loop" because the conversations happening around me where in a foreign language. I was discouraged and frustrated, at more than one point convinced I would never be able to "fit in" here. Oh, silly, naive, inexperienced 2018 me! This year I held full conversations in Czech. Grant it, just about kitchen stuff like when to turn the rice on and how to season the chicken, but still, full conversations! And I even talked about my family, the number of siblings I have, their ages, and how we are all home schooled and raised on a farm - in Czech!!!! Even now writing this, tears come to my eyes. I so often overlook and forget the small ways God works in my life. Never in a million years would I have ever thought I would be learning one of the most difficult languages in the world. Last year I was convinced it wouldn't happen! And yet, God has continually shown Himself faithful in this. He has called me to this country, and He will not drop me here and leave me to figure things out on my own. He has helped me remember things, He has placed people around me with (tons) of patience and the willingness to repeat and talk slow and help me out with the grammar and vocabulary and conjugations and everything. He has put me in situations where I am forced to use the Czech I do know and learn more, stretching me and growing me.

One more AWESOME story from camp. Martin, one of the kids from AXIS, came week 1 of camp. (he is second from the left in this photo) He has been to camp before, and as I have shared before, he has heard the gospel many times in AXIS. We have been praying for him, as well as the other kids, that they would come to know the Lord as their Savior. On Tuesday night, when the invitation was given, I was praying and watching him. I don't know why, but I just had this feeling that this was going to be a special week for him. He didn't go forward that night, but sometimes kids don't go up on stage even if they made a decision. In conversations I had with him on Wednesday, I knew he hadn't made a decision. But the week wasn't over yet!! We have a campfire every Thursday night, and the message that night is centered around dedicating your life to Christ. The kids are invited to come down to the campfire if they want to publicly decide to dedicate their lives to Christ. After the speaker prays for those who came down, the service is over, and everyone is invited to gather around the campfire. It gets dark and so you can't always see really well by only the campfire light, and that night, as I came down to the campfire, I almost walked right past Martin. He stopped me, and as I stood there in shock, he told me that he had accepted Jesus!!!! What a huge answer to prayer!!! We are all super excited to see him grow in his relationship with God and can't wait to see what He has in store with this young life!

Before I end, I wanted to share just a few of the things happening in the next month or so.
- Leadership camp in Portugal!! We are taking four Czech young people with us and I am so excited!! Pray for them to be open and teachable, and pray for the whole week that we would all come away with new ideas and a renewed energy for reach our countries with the Gospel!!
- Deaf camp!! In just two weeks, about 30 members of the Deaf community are going to be here to hold a Deaf camp. While this is not a Word of Life event, I am involved! In fact, I am cooking for the weekend! Pray that the Word would be preached boldly and that hearts would be touched and lives changed.
- Over the next several months, I will be doing a lot of preparation as part of the approval process to go full time with Word of Life. Pray for strength and peace. There are lots of details to attend to, paperwork to be filled out, and interviews to have as I get ready for November's MIT and then support raising!!
- We will also be starting up our Bible clubs within the next month or so. Pray for the kids that made decisions (like Martin!!) to be bold in sharing and that these ministries would be effective.

Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement!! I truly appreciate every one of you. I pray that you are all thriving in your relationship with our Lord, resting in His promises and trusting in His goodness. As always, don't hesitate to contact me!!

Love,
Adele

find more photos from camp here: https://www.facebook.com/wordoflife.cz/