Wow! Can you believe it’s already March? The last time we wrote you a letter it was December and we were still traveling around in the States, but we’re excited to be back here in Czech Republic! We don’t want to bore you with the details of our travels (however creative our re-routing because of snow storms in the U.S. might have been). What we really want to tell you about is our ski camp that we just had!
Okay, okay – so what was so special about this ski camp? First, it was our best camp yet with high school kids since we’ve been in Czech Republic. Second, we’re so proud of our leaders who worked all the details and got kids signed up while we were in the States. Finally, there was a miraculous snow fall the weekend camp started that enabled us to actually SKI at our ski camp… (We’ve had almost no snow in Europe this year. We were really getting nervous about camp…We were even planning hikes for certain days just in case!). Aside from all those things and so many more answers to prayer, what we really want to tell you about is one of our leaders, Lucie.
Lucie is 25 years old, Czech, and works as an office manager and English teacher ¾ of her time at Fishnet, the language school we work with to do camps, and ¼ of her time helping us with camps and our student exchange program. Lucie was key in getting the idea of ski camp into a reality a year ago and did another outstanding job helping us get everything planned this year. Lucie has had a lot of camp experience, but none of her experiences have been in relational camp settings like Young Life. When we were discussing leaders staying in cabins with kids during ski camp this year, she wasn’t convinced it would work with Czech kids. At camps (i.e., school or church camps) in Czech Republic adults stay in different cabins than kids, and there isn’t the emphasis on building relationships with kids. The adult leader usually just runs the programs. In Young Life ministry we want to show Christ by being an adult friend to youth. Czech youth want this desperately from our experience; but it is hard for many of our volunteers to understand that in order for the kids to really hear about Christ, we need to be their adult friends.
One of our biggest prayers throughout camp was that Lucie would really bond with the girls in her cabin and that she would really catch the vision of building relationships with kids through the week. Wednesday night Lucie and all her girls showed up to dinner with toilet paper ties around their necks. They made a snow duck outside their cabin and each day the duck was “dressed” in a different outfit. All week anytime there was a meeting or something the leaders needed to do, Lucie was frustrated because she couldn’t just be in her cabin hanging out with “her girls.” It was incredible to see the transformation in Lucie, and it didn’t just stop when camp ended! We had a follow-up activity two weeks after camp and we went bowling with the kids. When we got ready to start bowling, Al and I just looked at each other and laughed at how Lucie had showed us up – all of us leaders. She had created bowling “numbers” for each of her girls in her cabin with different pictures of ducks on each one – since they were the little ducklings all week with the duck outside their cabin! It was great! And from really wanting us to stay in a hotel for the ski trip this year, Lucie is now very convinced that we need to stay in cabins again next year for ski camp.
We couldn’t be more excited about seeing how much this camp touched the lives of kids, and transformed ideas and visions for some leaders on how we can do camp. Lucie is just one of the leaders who really caught the vision of relational ministry in a new way, but each of our leaders really walked away with new excitement and vision for camp. Another great thing that happened this year at camp was that Martin Hasik, our Young Life colleague from Prague, came to camp and was our speaker. This was the first time our leaders had also seen one person give a progression of talks to take kids from introduction conversations about God to giving them a chance to follow Christ. Martin did an incredible job. The kids really connected well with him on the slopes and in club and it was a lot of fun for us to see. This was one more thing our leaders got really excited about – and at our evaluation meeting they were saying that having one speaker give a progression of talks was a more fun and effective way to share Christ at camp. Yay! After seeing Martin model speaking each night, and keeping that relational connection with the kids during his talks, one of our other leaders, Premek, is going to speak this summer each night for us at junior camp. So thank you for all your prayers for us before and during camp. We really feel like camp has catapulted us forward in our trainings with some of these leaders because they’ve had the opportunity to SEE and DO something that before was just an idea.
Thank you for the support of our ministry to youth here in Ostrava through prayers and finances. Thank you for being a part of what God is doing in kids’ hearts and lives here in Ostrava.
Blessings,
Al & Stacy
Praises and Prayer Requests
Prayer Items:
After camp there are some kids who have more questions about what it means to follow God, so we’ve started meeting weekly and talking about some of their questions. It meets on Tuesday nights and we’re hopeful this can help kids move closer to Christ.
We’re going to be having monthly activities with the kids from the ski camp (senior high age) and also are still having activities monthly for the kids from our junior camp last summer. We’re really praying these activities can build momentum and relationships for the summer camps and that during those camps kids and leaders can go a lot deeper and kids will make decisions for Christ. Our next activity for the Young Life age kids is on March 17, we’re going to an aqua park, and on April 14 we’ve got our next WildLife activity.
If you would like to make a donation to this ministry, you can place it in an offering envelope marked for Al Anderson or mail it to: Pearce Memorial Church, 4322 Buffalo Road, North Chili, NY 14514. Thanks!
Okay, okay – so what was so special about this ski camp? First, it was our best camp yet with high school kids since we’ve been in Czech Republic. Second, we’re so proud of our leaders who worked all the details and got kids signed up while we were in the States. Finally, there was a miraculous snow fall the weekend camp started that enabled us to actually SKI at our ski camp… (We’ve had almost no snow in Europe this year. We were really getting nervous about camp…We were even planning hikes for certain days just in case!). Aside from all those things and so many more answers to prayer, what we really want to tell you about is one of our leaders, Lucie. 
and English teacher ¾ of her time at Fishnet, the language school we work with to do camps, and ¼ of her time helping us with camps and our student exchange program. Lucie was key in getting the idea of ski camp into a reality a year ago and did another outstanding job helping us get everything planned this year. Lucie has had a lot of camp experience, but none of her experiences have been in relational camp settings like Young Life. When we were discussing leaders staying in cabins with kids during ski camp this year, she wasn’t convinced it would work with Czech kids. At camps (i.e., school or church camps) in Czech Republic adults stay in different cabins than kids, and there isn’t the emphasis on building relationships with kids. The adult leader usually just runs the programs. In Young Life ministry we want to show Christ by being an adult friend to youth. Czech youth want this desperately from our experience; but it is hard for many of our volunteers to understand that in order for the kids to really hear about Christ, we need to be their adult friends. 
One of our biggest prayers throughout camp was that Lucie would really bond with the girls in her cabin and that she would really catch the vision of building relationships with kids through the week. Wednesday night Lucie and all her girls showed up to dinner with toilet paper ties around their necks. They made a snow duck outside their cabin and each day the duck was “dressed” in a different outfit. All week anytime there was a meeting or something the leaders needed to do, Lucie was frustrated because she couldn’t just be in her cabin hanging out with “her girls.” It was incredible to see the transformation in Lucie, and it didn’t just stop when camp ended! We had a follow-up activity two weeks after camp and we went bowling with the kids. When we got ready to start bowling, Al and I just looked at each other and laughed at how Lucie had showed us up – all of us leaders. She had created bowling “numbers” for each of her girls in her cabin with different pictures of ducks on each one – since they were the little ducklings all week with the duck outside their cabin! It was great! And from really wanting us to stay in a hotel for the ski trip this year, Lucie is now very convinced that we need to stay in cabins again next year for ski camp.
We couldn’t be more excited about seeing how much this camp touched the lives of kids, and transformed ideas and visions for some leaders on how we can do camp. Lucie is just one of the leaders who really caught the vision of relational ministry in a new way, but each of our leaders really walked away with new excitement and vision for camp. Another great thing that happened this year at camp was that Martin Hasik, our Young Life colleague from Prague, came to camp and was our speaker. This was the first time our leaders had also seen one person give a progression of talks to take kids from introduction conversations about God to giving them a chance to follow Christ. Martin did an incredible job. The kids really connected well with him on the slopes and in club and it was a lot of fun for us to see. This was one more thing our leaders got really excited about – and at our evaluation meeting they were saying that having one speaker give a progression of talks was a more fun and effective way to share Christ at camp. Yay! After seeing Martin model speaking each night, and keeping that relational connection with the kids during his talks, one of our other leaders, Premek, is going to speak this summer each night for us at junior camp. So thank you for all your prayers for us before and during camp. We really feel like camp has catapulted us forward in our trainings with some of these leaders because they’ve had the opportunity to SEE and DO something that before was just an idea. 
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