Christmas in Carolina

The calendar says it is December 18th, but I stepped outside today and could have sworn it was June! Went for a run in shorts and a t-shirt and met with a friend for coffee in capris! Pretty crazy as Christmas quickly approaches.

With that, most of our kids left town about a week ago. I miss them a lot. I am excited for where we finished up this semester though. I feel God has us in a good spot going into break to continue on in the spring semester. Our kids are growing like weeds, thirsty for fellowship and even more so for the Word of God. He is so faithful and good. Also a HUGE praise in that we **might** have a worship leader!!!!!! A guy saw one of our pastor's LTGs when they were meeting and asked if he could join them. Who does that, right?! :) He and his wife have come to church the past few weeks and he just happens to be a worship leader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They haven't commited to Crossway just yet, and might take a little longer to bring into a leadership position like that, but we serve a BIG God and He is moving in such absolutely ridiculous ways!!!! Praise Him for several families He has brought to Crossway over the past month!!!

Back to our students, they came back from Thanksgiving break, and it was pretty much a whirlwind of studying and cramming in a few Christmas activities before they are gone again. Me and my Bible study girls went ice skating during finals week... a much needed study break for them... haha! We have such a studious bunch that we have to tear them away from the books sometimes... kind of an interesting dilemma to deal with. A sweet time just reflecting on the semester and Christmas and having fun together...lots of laughs. Also, a crew of us went up to Raleigh for a Shane and Shane/Phil Wickham/Bethany Dillon Christmas Concert. Wow! It was, in a word, fantasmalistic! Just a sweet time to focus on this season, a season that gets so easily caught up in gifts and parties and doing this, that, and the other.

CHRISTmas. God's gift to all of mankind. A Savior for all people. I am reading through John and don't think it is any coincidence that as we approach Christmas, I have reached Holy Week in the gospel of John. "You can't understand the manger without understanding the cross." The theme of Matt's sermon this past Sunday. This year, this simple truth has hit me like never before. God's greatest gift, His greatest sacrifice, a lamb for us. This past weekend in children's I was talking to the kids about the star. I asked them why we celebrate Christmas, and many of them said Jesus. Prompting them for a little more about why a huge star might announce the birth of this baby 2000 years ago, one little boy looked up straight into my eyes and said, "He took our punishment." Such simplicity. Born to die. "I celebrate the day that You were born to die so that one day I could pray for You to save my life"

And then, another testimony shared at church. The God who made the stars and knows them all by name, who made me and you in all of our intricacies, who called up the mountains and set the seas in motion, THAT GOD, that God wants to have a relationship with me? "That's cool! I want that" in Serg's words. But yes, the God of every piece of the universe, who brought it forth from nothing with a word, humbled himself to a tiny babe born in a manger to a young girl betrothed to a lowly carpenter. She held Him, nursed Him, fed Him, cared for Him like any other child...when He was the all knowing, all powerful, sovereign God. God, who knew Mary and Joseph before the beginning of time, entered and humbled himself just in becoming one of us. Can you imagine? But even more so, my Jesus died on a cross after making claims of being God and backing them up with miracles the world had never seen. Three days later, He conquered death. The power to conquer death, the humility to offer that to all of humanity, the love to bring us into intimate relationship with our Creator, that is what is lying in the manger this Christmas season, the greatest gift to each and every one of us.

Happy Halloween and Beach2Battleship

A few pictures from a couple of fantastically random college weekends. The first included a game of sardines in the student center followed by a trip to Coldstone. The next night, one of our girls is an RA and was putting on an event called Haunted Hallways. A group of us decided to go out and support her in that, despite our fears :) We screamed our way through Wonderland... such a rush and we tended to make everything a lot more scary than it actually was. Haha! But Sam and Eddie made sure we

all made it out alive. Afterwards we headed for Krispy Kream to find the hot sign on. We got a dozen doughnuts and sat out on the curb laughing and eating the melt-in-your-mouth hot glazed along with some fun Halloween sprinkle covered ones. It's 11pm in a college town and we've just eaten a lot of sugar, so what now? Obviously we go to the beach. Picked up a few extras ("we've got trunk space!") and headed for the ocean. We literally parked, walked out and made sure the Atlantic Ocean was still there. We stopped, stood and just talked for an hour or so about life before all deciding it was cold, jumping back in the car and heading back to campus. Good times!

So, then there's Halloween. Caramel apples at our house. We had some absolutely adorable trick-or-treaters come by. Then, instead of pumpkin carving, we carved potatoes to look like someone else. We drew names, and then had to guess who each potato was supposed to be. You can only imagine the hilarity of the entire situation. Plus, we had all consumed a lot of sugar with candy and caramel apples, so things were much more funny than they normally would have been :) Then, of course, we played Dutch Blitz until super late. "I think you need to check your shoes, cuz I smell de-feat!" Good times just hanging out. I feel like we have gotten to the point as a core group at least that we are know eachother well enough, we're starting to run side by side, living life together, encouraging and challenging one another. How God brought us here is beyond me, but I know it's only by His grace and His power. I have been so stretched and challenged here just in building relationships and going out on limbs in contacting and pursuing girls and being all things to all people (none of these girls want to go hike a 14,000 foot mountain at 4am but sitting at the beach and watching a sunrise is a baby step :). In all of my weaknesses, He is so strong.

Saturday, we as a church had an aid station for the Beach2Battleship Ironman Triathlon in Wilmington. Hardcore athletes (Tom is one of them)... 140.6 miles in one day! So awesome! Jilly, Sarah, and I went out and helped for a while. Sweet taking care of athletes again! Then, we headed downtown to catch a water taxi to the finish line at the battleship. We grabbed some food and sat down right next to the guy who won the race! Leave it to Josh Harcus to strike up a conversation with the winner :) We cheered Tom across the finish line after witnessing so many funny and inspiring finishes. We then headed back to the aid station to find a crew of people still there. We cheered on the last bunch in their final leg of the race. We had one guy who was starting to get hypothermic, but after some coffee and a jacket at our station, he felt like that would get him home. He was a little delusional, but made sure he figured out where we were from and got most of our names before he was back off on the course. They broke down our booth before the last person went through. The final athlete was a girl in a wheel chair determined to finish. We waited until she came through, made a tunnel and cheered her on with all the enthusiasm we had. Too excited to go home at this point, Sam, Jill, Sarah, and I headed back over to the finish line to see them finish. Just a sweet day to be out in the community loving and serving people. We played worship music, and several athletes commented that that was just the pick up they needed at that point in the day. God is good.

Amidst all of this silliness and laughter have been some amazing conversations about God and what He is doing in these girls' lives. They are really opening up and desiring to know God more and seeking Him through prayer and His Word. They are coming to us with tough questions, and they are also building a community amongst themselves on campus.

In the church body, we had a baptism on Sunday morning, and then Sunday night a woman confessed some things to the body and spoke about how God had been working on her and had opened her eyes to His true saving grace through Christ the end of last week!!!!!!!! Praise Jesus, He knows our wretched hearts, loves us and pursues us anyway. His salvation is a supernatural work that only He can accomplish within us.

So, prayer requests for the next few weeks.

RETREAT!! We are having a retreat to the Harcus' and Desmonds' homes on the 14th and 15th (like a mini summer project! :) and really ask for your prayers for that. Retreats are huge for just solidifying relationships and brining out gifts and leadership in students. I am so excited for it, although, I will not be there for it. just so happens, the date picked is one of two weekends I would not be in town this semester. Total bummer, but it works for most of our students, and God certainly has a purpose in giving me plans months ago for this weekend... He's big enough :)

AfterDark is coming to UNCW November 12th. Pray for people to see what a true relationship with Christ is... to have the message of the gospel penetrate them at the heart level, despite the fact that they may have heard it all many times before and call themselves Christians. Pray specifically for Rachel and Lauri, two of our girls that want to go. Pray for our girls to take advantage of this as an outreach opportunity. We have been so inward focused in building the ministry, it would be sweet to start to get them to be thinking more about the outreach aspects.

Worship leader... we still need one. Saul and Tom are filling in sort of temporarily, but this is adding to their already extremely full plates and is not something they can realistically keep up.

Sorry for the length of this one... kind of a beast to read! Wanted to share with you some more of the real life and practically how these relationships are building here. I have learned a lot about finding my joy only in Him as I have gone through spells of loneliness and depression. God is bigger than my circumstances and I can trust and be content in Him exactly where I am at.

Love you all!!

God has a funny way of ... BLESSING OUR SOCKS OFF! :-)

God gave me a job!!!!!! As of this morning, I am a new employee of Panera Bread. It opens just south of campus in November, and I am stoked! What a sweet place for college kids... hehehe! God is good!!!
Psalm 30:11-12: You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been reading Piper's Don't Waste Your Life, and it is amazing what God has been teaching me through that alongside of college ministry and church planting stuff, but more on that later, along with Crossway campus updates and pictures from a fantastically random college kid weekend :)
Love y'all and thanks so much for praying continually and expectantly! God is so good and so faithful.

God is good!

O Lord, I will praise You and exalt You; for in Your perfect faithfulness, You have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1

This is a picture of our church body today... wow! :) So sweet, and I am completely in awe at what God is doing in our midst, despite all of our inadequacies and weaknesses... He works them all for His good and perfect purposes.

Last week was a really hard time for me. Most of our students were gone because of fall break, and then most of my roommates and peers were gone for the weekend as well. So, it was just me left to my own devices. Under attack with no where to turn and a continuation of my string of unsuccessful job searching discouraging me further, I began to question being here and wondering if maybe I should consider moving back home. I feverishly saught the Lord... and He met me in a HUGE way this weekend! My joy is not in people, but rather throwing everything at the feet of Him who gave His life up for me and running hard after Him, the Lover of my soul.

The college kids came back. Bible study on Wednesday was just stellar. God is so good. I was able to talk one on one with one of our girls who is growing like a weed. I am envious of her new found passion for the living and active Word of God. It reminds me of where I was at 5 short years ago and inspires me to pursue reading my Bible with that sort of passion once again... the sort that always asks why and seeks the answer, not just to know, but to know more about my
Savior so that it may mold me from the inside out. The sort that is in awe and wonder at the character of God displayed in each and every verse.

We planned a bonfire for Friday. Just going to the store and buying stuff for s'more making and hot cocoa and hot apple cider put a twinkle in my eye as I remembered spring break, summer, Czech and youth group camping adventures of the past 4 years. I jumped in my Jeep with 4 girls rarin' to go out to Carolina Beach to build a fire of epic proportions and play on the beach under a Carolina moon. The short ride down reminded me of going to youth retreat last spring. Tinged with a bit of sadness at this realization, my excitement grew as I connected with these girls. I discovered that carefree childlike part of myself that has been missing over these last few months... funny how the world can wear on you, but I am still determined to be Peter Pan :) We reached the parking lot only to find it in a soggy and dreary state of affairs. Remembering a certain gigantic bonfire in the middle of the rainy, sopping wet Redwood Forest ("MORE WOOD!" "Is all of the wood under the table on fire?" "and part b. put the flaming logs back on the fire"), I crossed my fingers each of us would discover a bit of Colorado deep inside of us and go for it. Sadly, one car held us back, but my girls were all for it. Something deep inside of me warmed with a glimmer of hope of connecting even more with girls here. One of my struggles has been connecting with people that I cannot do anything with other than hang out... I feel like I connect better with people that I can do something with... play a sport, hike, camp, play a game, serve... and that share my enthusiasm in that. Jamming to some good ole Backstreet Boys, we headed to the Harcus' for an indoor bonfire.

We get to the Harcus' and play some hide and go seek before getting inventive and roasting some marshmallows over the stove top... haha, yea, it worked :) What happened next is hard to describe. Lucas sat down with his guitar and a kid named Kevin sat down next to him with his jembe. Just jamming turned into worship as everyone gathered around and sang praises to our King. I don't know where some of these kids are at, but everyone quieted at this point and pondered around the room. Lucas then shared his testimony. A life changed by God's sovereign power and grace, the greatest miracle. Tom spoke of trusting in God versus simply knowing about Him, and then we transitioned back into worship. At this point, some people were in the kitchen chatting, Dawn was behind me sharing an Ultimate Questions pamphlet with a student, some had pensive expressions as they listened to the praise being lifted up in the room. I sat cozy on the couch and felt more at home than I have since I arrived here 2 months ago. It was the same as those nights in the Townhouse or the dorms or the guys' house... the same God listening over His children as we offered everything we had to Him. I glanced around at brothers and sisters, and received a peace and a joy that surpasses all comprehension. Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand anywhere in this world. This night was a glimpse of that here in Wilmington and step in the right direction, that of obedience to focus more of our fellowship time on Christ. We are here for a purpose and if we aren't offering the truth to these students, then we are no different from any other campus organization. We have the words of eternal life; that's what we are about, so let's live it!

I can't lose sight of that. In the midst of this transition from school to work (hopefully soon :), from something in between to adulthood, it is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of it all... the tyranny of the urgent and lose sight of my True Love, my Husband, my Savior. I am here to share Him boldly, and I pray I would live it out loud as salt and light in my Jerusalem. I feel at some point I have lost track of who I was in Czech and who I was in Colorado. It's definitely been a learning process and neat as God peels off layers and throws me into the refining fire so that the ropes may burn off, and I will be left to dance amongst the flames for my Jesus. Please, don't let me lose sight of that amidst organizing and serving.

Then this morning. I am at the end of myself in all sorts of ways, and God in His strength meets me right where I am at. The sanctuary was so full this morning... so, so, so, so, so encouraging! A sweet message in Acts on fellowship and the Biblical design of it. I understood the design of the local church in a new way. Something about it was new this morning. Maybe just how my perspective has changed, I see the dedication to the Word and fellowship in a new way being part of this church plant... I don't know, but it refreshed me thinking of God's people here on earth, the body, how simple it is, and yet imcomprehensible.

After church, for Post Game as we call it, we had a spaghetti dinner speed dating style. No, we have not gone off a deep end out here on the East Coast... just had questions and scrambled every 10 minutes. We had a ton of students there. Most people stuck around for the free food and fellowship, so we got to talk with several students on a more personal level than the "Hi, how are ya's" of Sunday morning. Also a neat co-ed time, as most of our deeper time has been in our girls' and guys' separated Bible studies. Yea, neat talking with a few of the guys that I had seen but did not know at all.

It's gelling together now. God brought us students. They are plugging in to the local church and growing. They see Christ in us and yearn to know more. Lord, guide us and help us guide them. Help them plug into the church and have our young couples and families pour into them in ways that we cannot. Help us to be faithful; give us endurance and strength as we enter that proverbial 3rd quarter. Help us run the race hard and endeavor to finish strong. Remind us of the hope we have in Christ and that the very fact that we are still here means that you still have purposes for each of us to fulfill here. Help us to seek after You, to know You, to obey Your commands, to love You and love others, Lord, all for Your glory.

1 Peter 1:3-9
Zephaniah 3:17

Fall Break

This was most of our crew last Sunday afternoon. Wanted you guys to catch a glimpse of what you have been praying for and what God has been doing. We had subs and played games in the park all afternoon. A great afternoon reminiscent of long summer days in Colorado. Justin even brought his slack line and introduced the flat landers to that balancing act. I think they enjoyed it.

Amidst it all, I found such joy in connecting with these students by doing things with them. Pure and simple playing on a playground helped me connect better than any length of conversation could have taken me. Not that conversations are bad, but now I feel like I have an open door for deeper more meaningful conversations with these girls.

That is our biggest prayer at this point. We have developed relationships, and now, we need to take them deeper. We need more purposeful time where we can open up to one another and really start running beside one another. It is happening slowly through hanging out and even more so in Bible studies, but we are kind of at a transition where I feel like it's now or never. Also, just coming from a group that was so close to one another, I am really eager and longing for those types of relationships to build ever so quickly here.

Bible studies have been SWEET! Just getting to dive into the Word has been so refreshing for me. Challenging planning and leading them as well! I have gotten a little frustrated. Studying God's Word is what really lights me on fire... I just love studying it and learning more about the character of God as it molds and transforms and humbles me. So, I go in ready to dive deep and get these girls set on fire, and it just doesn't take sometimes. Like, who cares about the stupid science test, this is God! Christ Jesus who died in your place and He did this thousands of years ago and had you in mind. He's planned everything and has you securely in the palm of His hand...Don't worry! It doesn't add a second to your life. God is sovereign, just, merciful, and loving all at the same time as He thinks of us, mere man. So, I guess just not having that attitude reciprocated is a bit frustrating, but I am trusting that God is using it. I can't change their hearts... only God can do that, so just loving Jesus and loving others and the rest is up to Him. I was also right in their shoes and know it takes time and the working of the Spirit.

Once again just asking for guy leaders in our ministry as well. Lucas is leaving in two weeks and I'm a little concerned as far as leadership goes. With girls, I feel like we'll be okay, but as far as the whole ministry, it'll be a lot harder to put the rubber to the pavement and go with some of this stuff.

Pray for Rolie and Rachel, two non-believers who have really plugged into our group. We have shared the gospel with them and both are not sure where they stand at this point. Pray for wisdom as we love on them and encourage them.

Love you guys and miss you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo incredibly much. But God is good and meets us each exactly where we are at.

Cam

1 Peter 1:3-9

1 Month

Tomorrow, I will have been here 1 month. In some ways the longest month of my life, and in many others, the shortest. God has been so good the last two weeks. Not going to lie, the year started out really slow and I was pretty discouraged that first week. We were barred from some activities we had planned on, but just trusted God to work. The involvement fair was rained out and postponed the day before we started Bible studies on campus.

But, then the last two Sundays we have had many students come interested in the church. In fact, the church has been so full, we will most likely be going to two services soon!!!!! We have quite a few core kids that we can expect at pretty much anything... they are just eager to hang out with us and come to church and study God's Word!!!! So encouraging!!!

The Involvement Fair was a huge success once it finally happened. We had 40 new contacts who checked interest in something, 20 girls and 20 guys!!! :) So, this last week and a half has been following up with them, which has been exciting and busy. A lot of people really liked meeting us and were excited about visiting the church. The last two weekends have been full, but a lot of people have been gone from campus and the church body because of Labor Day and then the hurricane, so this weekend could be interesting as it will be a more normal weekend with our core people and most of the body there in addition to all the college kids! Yea, I know...AWESOME!!!!

We deal with a lot of cultural Christianity here I feel like. Also people who know a lot... they grew up in the church and can give you all the right answers and talk the talk, and go to church, but it just hasn't filtered down to their heart and come out in their life just yet. They don't realize it's a lifestyle, not just a label. So, when you ask people about church they are happy to talk about it... we haven't received much opposition there, but it will be fun to run alongside them and challenge them in the months ahead.

We also have a girl who has been coming to our Bible study and to church and some activities who is not a believer and will tell us she is just checking it out, but her prayer request is that she would keep an open mind because she is just not sure what she thinks!!! Be praying for her. She's learning a lot and soaking it all in. She has to miss Bible study occasionally because of her job, and she has asked if it would be possible to meet with us at a different time to catch up!!!!!! WHAT??!! Yea!!!!!!

The guys Bible study just started this week with 5 guys coming with a majority being non-believers. Just crazy to me! God has also brought at least one pretty strong guy leader who may also be stepping in for worship once Lucas leaves. Yes, Lucas is leaving to go back to Colorado at the end of October, and we will miss him greatly, but trust that God will use him mightily wherever he finds himself. So just trusting and still praying for some strong guys to step in and be able to help out with college ministry especially.

We are starting a second girls' Bible study that I will be leading... whoa! Excited, but kind of nervous as well... still getting used to these college girls after spending so much time with my youth group... but just trusting God with it and we'll see what happens!!

I have been in a bit of a strange place. Most of you know that I despise change in so many ways and yet, I seem to thrive in changing times when it comes to depending on and growing in God. This has certainly been a tough transition from Colorado to here and from being a student to somewhere in between being a student again and looking for a job. I came out here after an entire semester of desiring to GO for God, to experience the adventure He has in store for each of us, to seize each moment as God's will for my life. I wanted that purpose 24/7 as I knew the thrill and the joy of that. I wanted to be sprinting towards the throne of God as I threw everything else aside. I guess the biggest thing I have learned being out here is that this race is not a sprint after all... it's a marathon of marathons. There isn't a "mountain top" experience that fires you on through the valleys... it's a constant battle and you just trust in the Lord as He provides a peace, joy, and hope beyond understanding and beyond circumstances. He endured the cross, what is my hardship here? That alone gives you strength to continue... not any experience I have here. Don't get me wrong, God has used a few people and events to encourage me on, but it's God and not those people and events in and of themselves. It is not that energetic hyper kind of joy that I have been accustomed to... it's more a steady, calm trusting kind of joy. I truly miss the deep relationships I had in Colorado. Nothing can replace those, but it is difficult to start again with a whole new set of people. Luckily, we have Christ that bonds us all together, so in some ways it is instant family, but at the same time... yea... I miss y'all a lot!!

Please continue to pray for the ministry on campus here. For non-believers and believers we encounter. For the leadership of the church. For provision of a guy leader in college ministry and a worship leader. For our Bible studies. For continued strength and endurance. For the retreat we are planning. For our weekly campus activies. For wisdom in job seeking. Above all, for God's light to shine in this place and penetrate the darkness in people's hearts. For God to be glorified and use us as humble servants, willing and faithful.

Love y'all!!!!
Bůh ti žehnej, God bless you!

The Vision

I have decided to switch this blog over for now to what God is doing in Wilmington and how y'all can be praying and interceding for us here. This will be a place for sharing in the joy of all the amazing work that is going on here!! God is awesome and good!!
I am reading a book called Red Moon Rising about how God orchestrated the 24-7 prayer movement around the world. This poem written on one of the prayer room walls by the guy who started it really struck me:

The vision?
The vision is JESUS - obsessively, dangerously, undeniable Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army.
And they are FREE from materialism.
The laugh at 9-5 little prisons.
The could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn't even notice.
The know the meaning of teh Matrix, the way the West was won.
They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and diry and dying.

What is the vision?

...

This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers
choose to lose
that they might one day win
the great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters.

And it goes on. But I just love that last bit... and the penciling in of addresses and wondering.
U C BONES. I C AN ARMY. Ezekiel 37

God is so good. As far as campus ministry goes, we have been barred from a lot of things we had hoped to be at because we still only have provisional status as a club. God has brought several students to Crossway and to our college stuff only through us being on campus meeting people and the fliers that went out in the mail. Praise God for bringing people, being strong when we are weak. Lord willing, we will be at a huge involvement fair this Wednesday, so pray that God would bring students our way. Pray that we would as a staff be encouraging one another, and being mindful and servant hearted towards the students.
Pray that God would bring us some guys, some guys on fire for God, awesome leaders, ready to jump in and serve. Pray for our staff team and that God would provide peace as Lucas considers leaving. Pray God would provide a worship leader and college ministry leader, whether it is Lucas staying or people we do not know yet. Pray we would trust God in that whole situation.
I love you all so much!! We serve a GIGANTIC AMAZING God and I am so excited to share with you guys all that God is doing here. Please be praying!

1 week later

Been back in Fort Collins for a week now, and it has definitely been one of the longest weeks of my life. Still reeling from my time in Czech, saying goodbye there and adjusting back to here, processing all that God did there and transitioning for the move to North Carolina for ministry in Wilmington. I have instant messaged with a few of the girls from camp. God gave me the opportunity to encourage one of the new believers who was stressed out about which type of high school she should pick...wow.

A little bit in limbo right now. People kept wishing us a safe trip "home." On the plane, I thought about home. Fort Collins is home because of my church family here, but SC has always been home-home. And yet, Czech felt like coming home. I also realized that I had in fact spent more time in Czech during the last year than I have at home in SC... craziness, fakt yo.

Last night was my last youth group, and it was a lot harder than I ever expected. We did play bucket ball and two other games from Czech, which was loads of fun. Bucket ball was Czech-style... meaning it was in the mud and rain :)

Up until last night it had not sunk in at all that I was leaving. Church last weekend was completely surreal. We talked about Czech and there was so much joy in that and being with my team again. Then concert of prayer as they prayed for me, still nothing. Then my youth, my girls... they were the struggle with leaving to start with and now that I am doing it... I know I am supposed to go, but it pains me to leave them. The leaders, the ones I have served alongside for a year. They have blessed me so much this year, and their send off was no exception...I still have not been able to cry, but there is an ever present ache in my heart. Goodbyes are never easy, but this has been 2 straight weeks of it, and I don't know how much more I can handle... where we are weak, He is strong.

This song has been on my heart since March and is what I would like to leave with:

"Dedication" by the O.C. Supertones

Side by side
Driving the same highway
Leaving behind everything
And everyone you love
The cost to pay
To tell the world of Jesus
Hoping that these bridges burned
Will not be just in vain
It helps to think that somewhere
You're feeling just the same

And don't take even
A moment for granted
Don't lose heart
When the world crashes down

How many miles ahead?
I can't count the ones behind
To all the friends that we've collected
All the people we respect
For the hope and joy
We made this up and wrote it down
And dedicate this song to you

No turning back
And can't say that I regret it
When every day
God's promises testify themselves
Sometimes it's hard
And the road keeps stretching longer
Tonight my wife's a longing voice
On a holiday inn phone

How many miles ahead?
I can't count the ones behind
I wish you God's speed, friend
You're always on my mind
Will you remember me, say
Seven years from now?
And where will we be then?
Well, I'm here for you now


And finally a flashback to when I left Gilbert 4 years ago:

Packing my bags this morning Was the hardest thing to do But packing my bags was so easy Compared to standing outside your door right now to say goodbye to you

Think of me I know you've never seen me cry Think of me But it's so hard to say goodbye Think of me What can I say to show you I'll never give up on you I will be waiting for you
I will be there when you call I will see you through it all And even in your darkest hour I pray that the Lord we found Will set you on solid ground
I know that is feels like leaving Is a part of letting go But I'm praying with hope and believing That I'll see you once again down this road I hope that it won't be long
Think of me I know God brought you as a friend Think of me I know He'll bring you back again Think of me What can I say to show you I'll never give up on you I will be waiting for you


I love all of you!!!!!!!!! I will miss you tons and tons, but trusting that I will see you again "one day soon"
Or, in the words of Charlton, "I'll see you when I see you, if I don't see you, know what I mean... :)"

Fotky

I am going to try to add some photos to my previous posts, but...
I have also uploaded a bunch of photos here for you to see:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Shvestitchky/Czech2008

Cau!!
Cam

How can I stand here with you, and not be moved by you?

That is the question this trip has left me with. Now what? For two straight weeks, I woke up every morning with the sole purpose of sharing Christ with the young people of the Czech Republic and encouraging the believers there. 24/7 we were focused on Christ alone. Now what? Back to "real life" where I am distracted by a million other purposes each day: what does that person think of me? trying to get a piece of the American dream, wasting away hours each day in front of a television or computer screen, or just trying to get through the day without messing anything else up. I want that purpose here, taking advantage of every opportunity. We only had a week with those kids...here, I can put things off and procrastinate. To count everything as loss for the sake of the gospel.
How can I stand here with the God of the universe at my side, in my heart, and not be moved? not be living that purposeful life?
I found myself encouraging the Czech believers more than I had anticipated during these two weeks... both with words and with prayer. In my discussion group, we had 3 out of 4 kids who were believers. Each night as we walked through the gospel, we focused on Tomas' (the non-believer) questions, but every time I would as the believers, their reponse was "oh, we already know and have this problem solved." True, and excited that they were confident of that, but at the same time... this is the gospel, the good news...what does it incite within your heart? How does knowing this simple truth change you each time you try to comprehend it? By the last night, I decided it was time to push them even more. I encouraged them with running the race, sprinting hard towards the throne of God and asked them what now? What happens after English camp? They responded and just talked about how refreshing this was. One girl in my group had shared her testimony after one of the evening talks. She talked about how encouraged she was by all of the people who had come up afterwards and thanked her and told her what it meant to them! She was encouraged to share more. Another girl was one who talked about how refreshing it was and refocusing to hear this again. And then in return, I was being encouraged and challenged by them and just watching God work through me once again. One in particular had been on my mind all week long. We sang in the worship band together, and at the end of the week I wrote a verse on her paper that we all signed for everyone. She came up to me the following day and gave me a huge hug saying that God had really spoken to her through those passages. I really have no idea what was going on, but just how the Spirit moved through that was sweet to see. Another girl was in my English class last year and I knew she was a believer. On the hike we walked together and just caught up. She goes to a Catholic church and youth group, but is so solid. She is excited about her new high school because there are many Christians. She was part of a Bible study/support group at her school and also was attending a Christian leadership camp towards the end of the summer. It just baffled me to see how hard she was running after her Jesus despite everything her culture tells her... it isn't cool, not what all of her friends are doing, all the stigmas against Catholicism... no, she is running hard! Her and a handful of other students were on mission at this camp with us. A few girls started up conversations at meals about what their peers thought of the spiritual talks, and others had brought pamphlets to pass around to people who were curious. It was great to see our brothers and sisters there blossoming.
This leads me to something else I learned. We were much more bold this year than last year for sure. Culture was not an excuse for not sharing truth. Culture here is not an excuse. Cyrus kept referring to Acts 13-20 on Paul's missionary journeys. He doesn't hold back in sharing truth because they may be quiet, more closed people. God is bigger than those closed hearts. We could tell the Czechs were nervous through some of the messages and discussions and admitted afterwards that this was challenging and stretching for them. Ha, us too! The night before gospel night, we talked about being broken, and I was more bold with speaking truth than I have ever been in my entire life. We were going through some passages in Romans and just about Paul and who he was, and I honestly could not believe some of the things I was saying! Awesome! But how many times here do I hesitate to share about God with people because I judge them: oh, they are too hard and closed off, I can't just out and out share that. They've already made their mind up about Christianity; what good is my testimony going to be? I have been shocked over the past few months by the number of people that have never heard the true gospel before. They hear all that the world throws at them about Christians and about Jesus, but never the rock solid, saving truth of the good news of Christ and what He has done for everyone. God is bigger than all of the stereotypes in American culture, bigger than people's pride, and it is not up to me to convince people into heaven... it's bigger than me as well. Something I've always known, but one of those lies that has stayed in the back of my mind and held me back.
So, the best part of the trip for me, aside from seeing 4 people step from darkness into newness of life, was at our talent show. The final act came up. We were all exhausted, ready for bed, when the last group goes up front. They set up on stage and a familiar tune started playing. I thought out loud, "No, couldn't be" It was Lifehouse "Everything" and as I glanced around at the kids and their costumes, I knew it was the very same skit:
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee73e63418003b47d7d5
This was shown at our college group retreat last fall, and it is so incredibly moving. I looked again at the kids performing... all of them believers, including Klara, only a day old in the Lord. Jakub, Petr, Marketa, Ali. I was completely overwhelmed. I figured one of the Americans had put this together, but it was Marketa (the girl in my English class from last year that I spoke with on the hike). She had planned and organized the entire thing and made sure it was the last act of the night. What a note to end on!
So praises:
Praises for growing and stretching all of as believers to better equip us for ministry, whether it is with the kids from camp, in Colorado, or in North Carolina, for working through me to be bold and learn humility as well.
Praises for softening 4 hearts that we can now call family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still am just in awe and wonder of that... and just to see the joy they all possessed immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Halleluia!!!

Also, another favorite moment... the last night, we added in some worship songs. We had played the fun songs all week long, and we had just asked if we could play some simple worship songs.
We practiced Lord I lift Your Name on High, Open the Eyes of my Heart, and God of Wonders. How sweet it was to just worship with the Czechs!!!!!! When we actually sang them with the group, some people sat down, but a large group stood in the middle and took on hearts of worship and sang with us. I closed my eyes and imagined the heaven we had talked about all week long.
In closing, I have such a genuine desire to continue praying for all of the campers and our Czech brothers and sisters. I invite you to do the same. This song was on my heart and mind the entire trip... it is my prayer for Vsetin:

''You’re the God of this city
You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation
You’re the light in this darkness
You’re the hope to the hopeless
You’re the peace to the restless

For there is no-one like our God; There is no-one like our God

Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done in this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things have still to be done here

You're the Lord of creation
The creator of all things
You're the King above all kings
You're the strength in the weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness

Greater things have yet to come
Greater things have still to be done In this city

Where glory shines from hearts alive
With praise for You and
Love for you in this city''

And we're back...

The last two weeks have flown by, and I can hardly believe I am sitting in my room back in Colorado once again. Lots of processing to do in the next few days. Prague was amazing, and we have officially used just about every possible mode of transportation in the last few weeks, save a bike...we have been on a plane, subway, train, bus, tram, car, on foot (a lot), boat, even a horse and carriage (fakt yo!). I miss all of the Czechs so much, and no one could say "no-oo" or "okie dokie" on the way back without a sigh of sadness, mixed with a few giggles as we recall all of the amazing memories.

We didn't have any trouble with the flights back... except for Cyroos getting "randomly" selected to be extra security checked four out of five times... one of those being in customs in Chicago, where a dog sniffed out some stow away fruit in our team bag that Cyrus got busted for. No worries... it was fine, but definitely good for a laugh!
So after 26 hours, it is still Wednesday and time for some much needed sleep.

Buh ti zehny

Cam

The Long Goodbye

Well... tomorrow morning we leave for Prague, or Praha as they call it.
Today we went to church, had lunch with the campers and then a final program with songs, fotky and sports...Then there was dinner with the Majak (Lighthouse) church before hanging out at Danecek's (bachelor pads are the same all over the world :) and saying goodbye to dear dear friends.
It was all amazing. I love these people, this town, the church here. But saying goodbye once again, I feel like a piece of me is being ripped out. I am excited to spend some time just debriefing and relaxing as a team in Prague, trying to comprehend all that God did here. Pray for our hearts as we leave, pray for the Czech team carrying on the work here. My heart is overflowing with joy, but aching as well - that seems to have happened a lot this summer.

Buh ti zehny
(God bless you)

Cam (C-ah-m as the Czechs and Cyrus would say :)

Back in Vsetin

We just arrived back in Vsetin.  I am exhausted and at any given moment I could be laughing hysterically or crying or both.  I have not been able to put into words the impact this camp has had on me.  Thursday night we had gospel night, and had two more students make decisions for Christ.  One, Adella, from the smaller kids camp last year!!!!!  We sing a song at camp called "One Day Soon"  These are the lyrics:

One day soon I'll be with you

One day soon when life is through

I'll go home to be forever with You.

I looked around this morning and we had 4 more brothers and sisters that we can honestly say that about.  Then saying goodbyes this morning... once more, so many kids who I did not know I had that much of an influence on came up in tears...  I gave Klara a huge hug and told her how excited I was and that I would be praying for her.  She thanked me, then her face lit up with the realization as she said "I'll pray for you too!"  

Last night, during our evening program we sang a few worship songs:  Lord I lift Your Name on High and Open the Eyes of my Heart Lord and God of Wonders.  Singing God of Wonders was so awesome!!!!!!!  So excited just to worship with these people.... something about worshiping... every tongue, every tribe, and every nation!!!!!  AAAHHH!!

Wow... more on my experience later as I process all that God did this week.  

Last night, we pulled an all nighter, so needless to say, I'm pretty tired and not thinking too straight right now.

We get to go to church in Vsetin tomorrow morning at CB (where the youth group is), then have lunch with the campers.  Pray for that time as many of the kids who are still searching said they wanted to come to church.  Pray for the Czech team as they take over getting these kids plugged in to the youth group and other activities.  Pray for the new believers as they go back to their regular routines and families.  Then tomorrow evening we are having a bar-b-que (we'll see what that means in Czech :) with the Lighthouse Church (the church plant that Daniel pastors).  We leave for Prague Monday morning...

Pray for our energy and strength and just these last few days here as we have to say goodbye to some dear brothers, sisters, and friends (for me a second time).

Love y'all!

Cam

O LORD I will praise You and exalt You for in Your perfect faithfulness You have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.  Isaiah 25:1

GOD OF WONDERS, HE IS GOOD!!!!

Last night, Klara, one of our campers, one that some of you know from one year ago, accepted Christ!!!!!!  She is our sister!!!!!!  WEEE!!!  I have been so encouraged seeing the team's work a year ago... and the fruit this year!  Be encouraged.  We also had one other boy, Dan, give his life to Christ... and it's not even gospel night!  Tonight is our big discussion and decision time.  We have a lot of kids that are very interested and quite a few that are against anything Christian.  Pray for these kids, pray for Cyrus as he speaks tonight.

Pray for protection.  Pray for Helena, a girl who got really dizzy last night and is in the hospital doing tests and things.

I do not have much time, but wanted to post this as I was so excited!  And just to ask for you to especially pray for tonight and also for tomorrow night as we share Christ boldly.

Love,

Cam

Camp starts today!!!

Ahoj!

Today we are off to camp!  WAHOO!!!  Yesterday we met with the Czech team all afternoon.  I am with the same teaching partner as last year, so that will be really neat since we already are familiar with one another's teaching and translating styles.  

We learned all the songs and the motions to them and the camp song.  This year's camp song is "Friend like that" by Hawk Nelson, so that one is a lot of fun!  Then we all had dinner together, conversed about the fact that animals make different sounds in Czech than they do in America, which is completely different than the sounds they make in Russia, which we deduced was from the radio-active grass.  As you can tell, the evening was full of laughs.  We played some games together.  It was good to be able to just have fun together, both with the Americans and the Czechs.  

I will be teaching the lowest level English speakers, so could definitely use prayer for that!  Just a little nervous about it.  I am really excited about getting to know the kids and singing in the band while we are here.  Please be praying for strength and energy for our team as we are all still a little jet lagged.  Pray for unity between the teams and then two people that are coming today to help with the camp.  

Alright, I better go pack up my bag.  Have a great week.  Thank you for your prayers and looking forward to what God is going to do this week through us!!

Love,

Cam

AHOJ!!!!!!

Hi all!!!!

We made it to Vsetin after about 25 hours of travel... whew!  Made it with no problems, although time was a little tight in London.  We also lost one bag, but luckily not one with clothes in it, and it should be here tomorrow.

We were greeted at the airport in Prague by Pedjut... good to see a friendly face.  Made our way by bus and by subway to the train.  I love the trains in Europe, so it was awesome seeing the country side as we made our way southeast to the small town of Vsetin.

In Vsetin, we are staying with the same family we stayed with last year (the Skalkas).  They are an awesome family and have been fun to visit with.  It is a beautiful foggy, rainy evening, and the air is just a tad chilly, and everything is so green (especially compared to Colorado)!!  Tonight we get to just relax and sleep in tomorrow before meeting with the Czech team tomorrow to make plans for camp!

Brings back a lot of awesome memories from last year, but also making a lot of good new memories.  

Thank you for all of your prayers!

Love,

Cam

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

6 hours to go until we head for Denver International Airport!
Hard to believe it's finally here and we are leaving today...but here we go!
Thank you all for your support and prayers!! I am excited to see what God does through them.
Have an amazing few weeks!

Hebrews 12:1-3

Prayer Requests

The following is my support letter with prayer requests...


Dear Friends,

I hope this letter finds you doing well once again. I am officially a college graduate and alumni of Colorado State University! I graduated with a degree in equine science and am taking some time off before applying to physical therapy school. I do not know exactly what is in store for this year and right now am taking some time to enjoy the Rockies and learn more about my Savior without the hindrance of school.
I am still very involved with Mountain View Community Church as a member of the college group, and I have also had the opportunity to help with the youth group as a result of God’s working through my time last year in the Czech Republic. Many of you know I went to the Czech Republic last summer with Mountain View to teach English and share the gospel with middle and high school students. I will be returning to the Czech Republic this summer from July 13th through 30th.

I am really excited to have the opportunity to be apart of the English Camps once again this year. I have included a flier explaining English Camps. Mountain View has partnered with Lighthouse Church in Vsetin, Czech Republic. Two of the ways they reach out into their community is through sports camps and through teaching English. Every summer, they host week long English camps for middle and high schoolers and bring native speakers to help teach. Each night, we do a spiritual program that builds throughout the week and culminates in a gospel presentation on the last night.

This year we will only be there for two weeks and helping with one camp. However, it will be the high school camp again; I felt like the most meaningful relationships were developed at this camp and have already spoken with several campers who are returning and very excited to see us again. I will once again be in charge of an English class. This small group of people I will spend three hours per day in English class with, in addition to about two hours of discussion on the spiritual lessons of the day. I ask for you to be in prayer for these kids and the relationships we will build. I ask for them to see the love of Christ shining forth through me as well as the four other members of our team. I pray that God would be softening their hearts and allow them to open up in discussion and be honest with themselves as they grapple with the truth. Please pray specifically for Lucy, a girl in my English class last year who is not a believer. She showed a lot of interest as the week progressed, but was not ready to make a decision for Christ as of last summer. Pray that she would not hesitate this summer and would embrace Christ as her Savior.

I ask for prayer for my heart this year. Last year, God moved abundantly through me because I had no idea what to expect and could only trust in Him. I pray that this year I would not be tempted to take the reins and would allow the Spirit to move through me. Pray for strength and endurance and an urgency for sharing Christ to the people of the most atheistic country in Europe. Please pray for spiritual growth and that God would use this time to prepare me for what He has in store for this fall.

I also ask for prayer for the logistics of the trip: for safe travel and good health, for the details of camp to fall into place, for our Czech teammates working so hard to organize the camp and get the kids there, for servant hearts for our American team, and finally for finances. I saw God supernaturally provide support last year, and I pray that we would trust He will do the same this year as we seek Him.

My hope in sending out these letters is to raise up an army of people praying for us this summer as we prepare and go over seas.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions at L.Cameron.Taylor@gmail.com or 803-760-8950. Thank you in advance for your prayer support in reaching central Europe. I am so excited and honored to have this opportunity once again and would love for you to be apart of our mission in the Czech Republic.

In Him,

Cameron Taylor

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
Acts 20:24

Less than one week!

Less than one week until I return to central Europe with a group from Mountain View Community Church in Fort Collins, CO. I am so excited to go back and see familiar faces and meet many new friends.
Right now, we have a little less than 50 kids, with about half of them that have never been to camp before! So that is a chance to share Christ with 50 kids, 20-30 of which could be hearing the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time!!!
Also, praise God! As of right now, we have nearly met our financial needs for the entire team!!!!! God is truly amazing and sovereign and will provide if we just step out in trust. I can hardly believe it myself!
Later on this week, I will be posting specific prayer requests, and then will update as I can while I am in Czech and then recap once I get back, so book mark the site and check it every so often to hear what God is doing in central Europe through His children.