Slovakia Mission Trip Revisit

It was amazing seeing many of the people that I spent time with on the mission trip in Slovakia. After getting back, most mission trip groups get together at least once to say hi and catch up. Most groups share pictures as well, but we had already done that so we could spend all of our time finding out what each other was up to since returning. It was great! We picked right back up where we left off after the trip! I laughed so hard my stomach was starting to hurt... ahh, the memories!!

Here is a quick group picture... with all the people there the only camera we had was my camera phone so its a bit dark and grainy but its still good!!

We ate dinner at Stefan's Off the Square in Marietta, which is a Slovak restaurant. Since Slovak's are not known for their seafood, but for their meat, I wasn't able to have a traditional Slovak meal... but the restaurant still had an extensive seafood menu which satisfied me!

We started out the meal by all sharing appetizers... halusky, smelts, and spinach pirogue. Even though I shouldn't, I tried a teeny, tiny bit of halusky and it was amazing. But I also loved the smelts and the pirogue. My dad used to manage a restaurant in Michigan and they would have fried smelts from time to time so it reminded me of that which was pretty cool!

For the entree, both Kristen (sitting next to me in the picture) and I were going to get grouper so instead she got grouper and I got salmon and we split. And I am sad we did... we both should have gotten the grouper cause it was soooooo amazing and the salmon was slightly dry.

A lot of the guys (including Andrej who is Slovak) got the Chicken Patrik which looked absolutely amazing and the portion size was HUGE! It must have been pretty good too cause they each at all of their food.

And we finished off the night by splitting dessert... apple strudel. Not sure how Slovak that is (I would think of it being more Dutch/German, but who knows). We had the ice cream separate so those who can have lactose could have ice cream and I could have a bite of dessert without it. It was pretty good... but I would say not worth getting again.

I have spent a lot of time at many different restaurants this past week with my friend Angela and will have to give you my reviews on all of them... stay tuned (and you can thank my friend Kedrick for the idea of reviewing the restaurants)!

Day #10 - July 21, 2008 (Monday) - Trip Home

Sunday morning, Beckah, Andrej, and Garrett dropped the remaining 5 of us (Tim, Ashley, Sherry, Issac, and I) at the airport and we were heading home... 

The trip home was pretty uneventful... we each tried to sleep as much as possible (with different degrees of success).  The flight went from Vienna to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Atlanta.  The best part of the flight from Vienna was the food... they have amazing airline food.  It's crazy!

We only had about 1 and 1/2 hours scheduled at Amsterdam before our next flight took off and we were a little late getting in so we hurried while in the airport to get to the fight.  We made it in time... even in enough time to move our seats around so that most of us were sitting either by a window or an isle.  

I ended up sitting next to a man who was flying from England to the off-coast of New Orleans for his job.  He does something in off-shore and has been doing this for a while.  He works for 28 days on (12 hour days) and then has 28 days off.  He enjoys the 28 days off cause he can spend a lot of time with his wife and his 5 year old son.  

I tell you the above story to put the next part of this story in perspective.  The most eventful part of the trip from Amsterdam to Atlanta occurred about 3 hours before we landed.  I had just woken up from one of my many naps and was watching some movie.  The man sitting next to me was napping.  All of a sudden the airline pilot breaks in over intercom and commands the flight attendants to sit down.  This wakes up the man next to me.  This gets me thinking - I have never been in a flight with a short message directed only to flight attendants in the middle of a flight.  Hmm.

Then it happens.  The plane bounces and then goes into free-fall... my knees are up around my forehead and my feet are in the air.  It feels like we fall for 10 minutes (realistically it was a few seconds... maybe) but once the free fall ends we are bounced around for about another minute.  At one point I mention to the man next to me that I may be sick.  He quickly reaches using his right hand and one quick swoop and grabs the air-sickness bag and hands it to me.  I realize he has to do this because in the course of everything I managed to grab his left hand and squeeze.  At this point look at our hands and then up at him and get quite embarrassed.   I quickly apologized and he was very sweet.  But in retrospect (and since I really didn't get sick) it was a pretty funny event.  I felt much closer to my neighbor afterwards!

After about 9 hours in one plane we finally landed in Atlanta.  We are back in the States.  And we know we still have to go thru customs.  And that can be difficult (to put it mildly) in the US.  But, we make it thru without much trouble and get to the international baggage claim... and we wait, and wait, and wait.  Other people get their bags but my fellow mission tripper's bags are no where to be found.  I waited with them for about 45 minutes however my friend Marcus was waiting because he was there to pick me up and I had carried my bag on the plane so I had everything I needed.  Tim was kind enough to tell me to go home and they would wait for their baggage (they weren't to leave international baggage claim without their luggage however they had no way to track down the location of the bags).

I was lucky enough to go, however I found out my friends had to wait 4 hours before they were allowed to leave... bag-less.  Apparently, even though we made it on the plane at Amsterdam, the bags did not.  And had to arrive on a later flight.  Luckily a few days later the bags showed up at Ashley's apartment and at the church.  So, everyone was reunited with their things!!  

I have to say one more thing (no, I haven't said too much about the trip yet - wink, wink), this was the best trip I have ever been on.  People told me prior to the trip that this would be more life changing than I could ever imagine but I thought that they were exaggerating.  They were not.  If you are ever able to go on a mission trip it's worth whatever sacrifices you have to make to go.  I am praying already about next year's trip!!

Day #9 - July 20, 2008 (Sunday) - Vienna, Austria

I spent the night at the hotel in the same room as Sherry and Ashley.  I would love to say they are great roommates however we didn't spend enough time in the room to know!   LOL!!  Unfortunately 2 of our group, Kristen and Laura, had to go home a day early... so they stayed in one room and were taken to the airport by cab before the rest of us were awake.  Still, we woke up early and headed down to the free breakfast.  

I was expecting the normal continental breakfast that I am used to from the States however this was an amazing spread of so many different foods... breads, jams, olives, vegetables, sliced meats, an assortment of cereals with many toppings to go with it, coffee, and teas.  I loved it all... but one thing more than the rest... the COFFEE.  It was crazy, ridiculously, amazingly fabulous!!  To say  I loved it may be an understatement.  I crave it right now.  I would stay awake all night for that stuff.  I liked it so much that once I got home I emailed the hotel to find out what kind of coffee/coffee maker were used.  (For those who want to be in the know... the name of The coffee maker is S-Class Incanto de luxe from Saeco and we use Beans from Segafredo Zanetti, called Selezione Oro! It´s an Italian coffee.)  

After breakfast we headed out to Vienna and we spent the day walking around seeing all the beautiful sites.  We had planned on doing some shopping but it was Sunday so everything besides a few really, really tourists stores and the restaurants were closed.  Either way we had a lot of fun dodging the rain, going to Starbucks, eating lunch and dinner and just spending time winding down together.  Of course, multiple pictures were taken.  And, I was able to have a spritz (for those of you who read my Italy blogs know I love these things)!!!  Around 10pm we arrived back at the hotel where Beckah and I had some cucumber soup.  

I was able to call my parents over Skype (finally!) and let them know that everything was so good!! It was a short conversation because by this time it was around 11pm and I still needed to pack so that we could be in the foyer of the hotel by 3:30am to leave for the airport!!  Of course we left some time for another cup of the coffee (amazing even at 3:30am for those who care)!!! 

Day #8 - July 19, 2008 (Saturday) - Day of Good Byes...

We were able to sleep in... ahhhhhhhh!!!  What bliss!!  We met up for the camp dance, final pre-breakfast camp dance [insert tear here] at 8:45am.  It was great to see everyone, even if we were ALL super sleepy!!  

After camp dance we ate breakfast of what they call 'Christmas Bread.'  I equated it to a rolled bread with some kinda seed rolled into it.  My explanation doesn't do it justice cause it was gooooood!  With my breakfast I had some instant coffee, we were out of the regular stuff.  It was Slovak instant coffee and it was wonderful!  I wouldn't have guessed it to be instant had I not made it myself.  Of course I added two marshmallows to the mix!

After breakfast we had to pack [insert tears here] and take all our luggage down to the main hall before saying our good byes.  We sat in a circle and said our thank you's to the everyone.  It was amazing to hear other people making the same comments that I had been thinking.  We all seemed to love our roommates, had a blast playing games, loved making the videos, and were going to miss everyone at camp because everyone now feels like family!  

Then... we had to pack up the camp.  For the next hour or so we cleaned, packed, and made sure we got everything.  Next came lunch... soup, veggies, and potatoes.   It was great getting to have a meal with everyone again.  And we laughed about how it was so different at this lunch than on the first one on Sunday!  Everyone was so talkative!!

After lunch we did the final, final, final camp dance before taking a ton of pictures with all the students.  Everyone was giving out email addresses and letting people know who was on Facebook and how we could stay in contact in between taking massive amounts of pictures.  There were some tears in here as we were having to say good-bye.  

Then the van pulled up.  And the students were all whisked away.  A little while later the van was brought back up and all the band equipment and other electronic equipment was packed up, along with a few guys, and taken into town to be put away.  The rest of us waited outside for them to return.  It was a long wait (more than an hour) however it was a beautiful, sunny day so we didn't mind waiting all so much.  

And then new families started showing up.  It looked like a family reunion was the next big event at the cabin.  It was fun and interesting to watch them arrive, hug, and chat in a language I couldn't understand.  This occasion, as well as many other times in the past week, I was thankful for a God so big that no language stops him from changing lives.

Eventually our van arrived back, we packed up our stuff and ourselves this time, and we headed into the town of Zelena.  Because of the large number of leaders we couldn't all fit in one van so Garrett, Ashley, Kristen and I rode in Jay's car.  We started our time in Zelena at Carrafoure, the local mall (for those of you keeping track its the same place we went to on Sunday).  We acted like 12 year olds... we used all our spending money on junk food and gelato and after about an hour we had to wait outside to be picked up!  Hehe!  But we had the greatest time hanging out!!! 

After the mall, we headed down to the city center to be tourists.  Jay thought it was hilarious that we were so excited to tour this small city.  I would equate it to someone being super excited to tour Bay City, Michigan... except it's way cooler (in my humble opinion).  There are two parts to the city center of Zelena... the upper and lower.  Of course we walked around and took tons of pictures (as I recall, were were called 'Japanese tourists' by our friend Jay).  In the center of the city there is a huge square.  If you stand in the middle of the square and clap it would echo.  We giggled and had a ton of fun there before making our way to our dinner.  

The American and Slovak leaders met at a wonderful Slovak pub and we ate authentic Slovak food... yummy!!  Ashley, Kristen and I each got a different dinner and we split it between each other.  Since I was off my vegan diet I decided to really have fun and made sure to order a dish with bacon in it!  Amazing!!  It was dumplings with cabbage and bacon.  It was mixed together in a spicy red sauce... no clue what it was but I really enjoyed it!!  While there the leaders then said their thank you's to each other and once again it was how much we loved each other.  

The thank you's were followed by good-byes.  Once again, they were not easy but had to be done.  The American's then went to Andrej & Beckah's apartment to get boxes from them to take back to the States.  While there Beckah showed us a huge box of clothes and books that she was trying to get rid of so I got a few new clothing items!!  And I love them!!  Once we were all packed up we headed out to Vienna and after a few stops at gas stations for more junk food we made it to our hotel at 1am and made it to bed around 2am.

Once again another long but super eventful day that I am so glad I was blessed to be a part of!!

Day #7 - July 18, 2008 (Friday) - Can I get some coffee please?!?!?

Back to waking up at 7:15am. This morning the great tragedy was the door to the main meeting room was locked. Which is where our coffee was. Ouch! With nothing else to do but wait Tim, Kristen, and I sat outside the door. One of the cabin owners came by and said something to us in Slovak, unfortunately no one really understood what she said. We speculated, however it was funnier than helpful! Finally we found out that the key was given to Zac. We hunted him down and he hunted it down... and coffee was had by all!! Once again I added marshmallows to my coffee and it was a nice treat!

Gotta love the camp dance. However now I am exhausted and very sore from all the sports activities so I am not as active as I was other mornings. Breakfast this morning was lunch meat, tomatoes, cucumber, butter and bread. I loved this!! I have vegan'ed this out by removing the lunch meat and butter and replacing that with vegan cream cheese or hummus or some other bean spread for protein and having it for breakfast on flat bread at home. It's wonderful!!

Today in English we did a talent show. Instead of having games for English group time we spent the individual time getting preparing and we had a blast.  None of the girls from our team wanted to go onstage by themselves so we decided to go up as a group.  We made up a group, chat/cheer/thing and performed it in front of the group!  Some of the other groups did skits, songs, dances, and 'EU.'  Don't ask me what EU is, I can't explain it, but its funny!  The last song that was done was Stayin' Alive.  Hilarious!!  The group dressed up and well, you just have to check out the pictures to see how it went!!!

Lunch today was lentil and potato soup... very tasty!!  I want to try this now that I am home... I love lentils.  I love soup.  What could be wrong with that then!!  After soup was ham, potato, and cabbage.  Once again, things I like.

Today, like every other day, I was exhausted!!  So, like every other day, I napped!!  From 12:30m to 3:00pm - did it feel good!!  After nap we had the outdoor games again and it was about this time that I really started to realize that to day is the last day.  Today is the last day that I am going to wake up with this group of people, do this same routine, eat together, dance and sing together, laugh together, play games together, and have huge conversations together.  Here is where I start getting sad...

Today was the nicest day that we played outdoor games and during sports we even got some sun!!  It was amazing!!!  Outdoor games were competitive paper/rock/scissors, dragons, and American football.  For competitive paper/rock/scissors there were 2 teams and each team stood facing each other about 40 years apart, behind a line.  The 1 person from each team ran out and met each other in the middle and did paper rock scissors, whoever won kept running to the other teams line.  The object of the game was to cross the competitions line.  We didn't win (right on par) however it was so fun (right on par)!!

For dragons, all 4 teams played.  Each team had to line up in a row and then you had to hold onto the person in front of you.  The person in front was the head and the person in back was the tail.  They had a rope hanging out the back of their pants and the object of the game was to get the other teams tails, without your line breaking, and without them getting your tail.  And the LAMBS won the first game!!  Rock on!!  The second game got more competitive and the last game was fierce.  I was happy when we decided to change it up and play a new game...  American football!!

Tim, Ashley, and I tried to explain the concept of the game because most of the Slovaks had never played or watched and didn't know the rules!  We had a lot of fun teaching and I even scored a touchdown!! 

Dinner was yeast bread, meat (no clue what kind) and some kind of sauce.  Don't remember particularly liking this dish and I don't remember who I chatted with... sad!!

After dinner Mikja and I chatted in our room until she decided she needed a shower so I headed to Kristen's room where her roommates (Lanka and Lucy), her and I ate Bebe cookies (love them) with chips!!  Makja finished cleaning up and joined us for some snacks!!  

Once we were good and full, Makja and I headed back to the dining hall, where the crafts were still set up, and made bracelets for each other!!  Makja made me a very pretty blue and white bracelet and I made her a beaded white, pink, and purple bracelet (she told me her favorite color is purple).

Around 8:30pm we headed down to the main hall for the night program.  It started out with musical chairs then a remake of paper/rock/scissors called bear/hunter/fairy... you can only imagine!! It was so funny that I fell down laughing while we were playing!! 

After games prizes and VIP awards were handed out.  The VIP's for our team were Jana (the rock star guitar player from the music video) and Zuzka (for her mad sports skills)!! The message was 8 words describing the Bible... or thru the Bible in 8 words... whichever sounds cooler to you!  It was the perfect sermon to end the camp.  

Post-message the eNight team set up stations outside for us to go thru and for me it was life confirming/changing.  Every night I wrote out a thankful for/praying for/struggling with section in my journal.  Here is what I had to say to myself Friday after the stations:

The entire week I have been struggling with leadership.  I know God is working heavily in the area and in other areas of my life.  Today we did stations and eve though I am here to lead, God is working thru me and showing me that I am not in charge, even as a leader... He is.  During the message, I was heavily missing my family.  And I know that part of the reason is that my 'aquarium' took me a long way away from them.  On the first phase of the stations, we had to walk up a hill and think about our walk with God and our own struggles with our walk.  

As I was walking I was thinking about the past year and what I have been giving over to God.  That I have been a believer since I was 9 (that's when I was baptized) however I have been jumping in and out of my aquarium all along.  I thought about how I have messed up so much trying to do things on my own but how God has stayed with me and loved me thru it all.  And he used/is using my bad choices as learning experiences and have turned them into ways to glorify him.  However one of my struggles has been with the concept of being worthy.  I have asked for forgiveness for all the things I have done really wrong in my life however I have held onto what I have done and have worried a lot about it.  From the sermon on Sunday (about 'Truths vs Lies' and letting go of the past) until today I have had a lot of inner conflict with worry because I haven't let go so I haven't felt capable of leading.  Being that the hill we had to walk up was very steep, wet and muddy it was actually harder going down the hill than up.  What entered my mind as I was going down the hill was that it seems that going up the hill should be harder and I symbolized that walk with God (as we were supposed to).  You would think that walking in the direction of God would be harder but walking down the hill (that way I symbolized as walking away from God to the ways of the world) was much harder.  And that fit right in with the aquarium theme.  I felt the Spirit on that and thru the second station, an abandoned pool.  We had to write out our aquarium and what it entailed.  I wrote everything that I had been struggling with on it.  And I started crying.  It was so relieving to write all that out and get it out of me!!

The third station was a campfire where we could burn he sheets of paper, if we were ready.  I have to say it was the most relieving feeling to let all of that go!!  I said a prayer that I don't ever try to pick up that pain/guilt again.  Its in the past.  Its been forgiven and its done.  Its only a lie of Satan that I will believe it should be carried further.

Our last station was on the roof of the cabin.  We could look out over all the other stations as well as the mountains/hills and an huge, beautiful moon.  It was so amazing to see.  I sat there, trying to soak it all in (the view, my feelings, what I have learned).  I sat there until I was too cold and had to come down.  I just a small conversation with God thanking Him for the changes that have occurred in me in the past year and asked Him to keep me out of my aquariums.

While I was crying, I wanted so badly for someone to comfort me but there wasn't any one to.  And I know that was a God thing as well.  In love and comfort I need to turn to him.  Not try to use the guys or people around me for that comfort.  This is a lesson that I have had/am having a hard time learning.

Once stations were complete we had a ton of candy, chips and popcorn to eat, Coke and Kofala (Slovak Coke) to drink, and Stardust (a movie) to watch.  While the movie was going I had a need to be alone (my introverted side coming out) so I went back to the dining hall, sat by myself, and made another bracelet.  It was good to have a focus to think about but something that would allow my mind to stay open.  It was the perfect time alone.

After the bracelet was complete, I headed back to the movie room.  I realized once I got there, with the dark room and people laying out, that I was exhausted.  So I went back to my room and started packing for Saturday.  I knew that without my roommates I would have a hard time sleeping (can you say 'den mother'?!?!?) so I got everything ready to go and then rested until they came in.  Once they were there I went straight asleep... even before they were done getting ready for bed!

Day #6 - July 17, 2008 (Thursday) - what happened to the circuit?!?!?!

We got to sleep in again!!! This time I had to be up at 8:15am, oh the bliss of sleeping in. Except that we went to bed at like 3am or some crazy hour like that!! LOL. But I loved being up and chatting with my roommates so it didn't matter.

I walked downstairs all ready for my usual morning coffee and half banana and then tragedy struck... the circuit was out to the coffee maker. I thought this would be the end of my life. Luckily after a short wait (probably 10 minutes or so but it felt like an eternity) the circuit was restored and coffee was made. To show how grateful I was I drank two cups of coffee... hehe!! I also had a cup of hot tea. Ahhhhh.... caffeine!! Just enough energy for a camp dance!!

Breakfast was a hard-boiled egg with some white pepper, tomato, liverwurst, and bread. I tried it all, liverwurst wasn't bad but I wouldn't chose it if I have a choice. This morning I wasn't all that talkative as I was sooooo sleepy.

Of course at English today we discussed what we were thankful for about camp (see previous blog post) and then the English competition was Pictionary and every team got all 10 pictures correct. It was a lot of fun drawing and getting to guess!

And then, once again, after English was lunch. Today's menu was meatballs (meat & rice), with potato and sauce. I was skeptical at first however it was Anicka's favorite camp meal so I figured it couldn't be that bad... and it wasn't! Once I tried it I did like it too!!

Remember how tired I said I was... well, after lunch I took a nap... from 12:45pm until 2:45pm... I slept thru the entire free time!! Oops!! But, luckily I woke up in time for the games. When I woke up it was partly sunny so I got dressed for sports, however by the time I got to the main meeting room it was down pouring!! So they cancelled the games due to rain and played ping pong competitions indoors instead. I took pictures and then went to the main meeting room where a few of us were looking for a sugar fix so we made left-over s'mores in the microwave. I had some additional tea and coffee. This time I added marshmallows to my coffee and it was really good! A great alternative to milk and sugar!!

I then took pictures of some of the students making crafts... which was painting... so some painted on the tie-dyed shirts they had made Tuesday, others painted pillowcases and picture frames. They did an amazing job... I know I have said this before but everyone was so creative!!

Then I sat down and did a quick Bible study and read thru the end of Daniel. I loved it!! I didn't record what we ate for dinner tonight so it must not have been that intriguing to me... hehe!!

While I was reading I was interrupted to be informed that we were now heading outside to play human fuse ball in an empty pool. I was scared... as well I should be! Quite a few people got a soccer ball to the face. Any time someone was kicking in my direction I was putting my arm in front of my face... the last thing I needed was to have my glasses broken!! I tried to take them off when we played pyramid a few days prior but after about 5 minutes I had such a headache I had to put them on and pray they wouldn't be broken. I said the same prayer today and thank God he listened!!

During the night worship I got to do production again... for 2 songs!! This time it was so Tim could play the guitar. It was so much fun!!! I loved it!! At worship, three Slovaks... Jay, Mirka, and Gaby... told their stories on their journey to God. It was amazing to hear how they were all so different yet so similar. And I loved how much they opened up and shared with everyone!

eNight was card games... many of us Americans (Garrett, Kristen, Ashley and I) popped in but didn't stay long. We ended up, as most nights, chatting in the bedroom hallway. It was a really good chat and we each got to know each other a lot better. It amazing how spending so much time together like this gets people to open up so much more. As we were chatting, Sherry joined in and then a few others followed.

We had another very exciting and fun day!!

Day #6 - July 17, 2008 (Thursday) - Thankful for...

On Thursday in our English group we discussed what we were thankful for about the camp. Here is what everyone had to say...

Beckah - the camp has been so organic, very low key, very relaxed. Not a lot of stress and not following a full program so everyone has been able to feel involved in the planning and executing process.

Makja - this is Milan's (her brother) second time to cam and she is very grateful that he feels comfortable and that he loves camp. She also loves that she gets to see him because they generally are going to two different schools in two different towns.

Mirka - she had an opportunity that night to share her testimony about God to the entire camp and she was very excited to do so.

Zuzka - she was thankful for eNights so she could speak English with friends. She loved making the music video, listening to the English spoken by everyone, games, sports, and making crafts.

Anicka - She loved the big red carpet in the main meeting room. It warmed the entire place up and knowing how much life change happened over that one piece of carpet was very exciting. She was also thankful for the bond that our Lambs had -- we were all very free, comfortable, and accepted. She had to leave one day to go to work and she was thankful for the feeling that she had coming back to camp and knowing this is where she wanted to be.

Me - I loved the almost immediate feeling of family -- how everyone feels so close. The entire camp (from the sights, sounds and smells) brought back so many family memories from growing up. I also loved sitting around the table during English and eNights and being able to chat with so many people.

Laura - She was grateful for the music -- especially the music by Draho on Sunday while singing at church and at camp because he sings with so much passion, and seeing the passion of people in the camp, movie day. She was also grateful for the beautiful attributes of her roommates -- Mirka for her tenderness and Miska for her innocents.

Jana - she was grateful for the camp song -- waking up and being able to move around. She was grateful for all the Americans who came to speak English with them, the evening speakers, the special people she got to know, and the activities during the night worships.

Day #5 - July 16, 2008 (Wednesday) - Sweet Home Alabama!!

Woke up again this morning in time for coffee at 7:30am!! I am so thankful for the coffee!! After coffee and my 1/2 banana I was able to do the production for the morning dance!! What what!!! I was so happy to do it too! Tim, our normal production guy instead was a 'translator.' I quote it because it was mostly a joke... he can speak about 10 words in Slovak so he just made up translations. It was funny!!

Breakfast was French toast... but not how we're used to having it... they do it salty, not sweet! So, with my French toast I had tomato and white pepper. I really liked it. During lunch Ashley and I had a wonderful conversation.

Then we found out that instead of the usual routine we were going to make a MOVIE!! Wooo Hooo!!! A music video to be exact. So, in the morning Tim taught us all how to use iMovie and how to use the video cameras and then we were sent off to make our movie.

Today was the first day of sunshine so us Lambs went outside to discuss how we were going to make the music video. After about 30 minutes of going thru songs we decided on Sweet Home Alabama and started putting a plan together.

All of this took so long that it was lunch time already!! Lunch was potato bread with cabbage and more mystery meat. I liked the bread and cabbage but not the meat so I ate around it. This time I didn't even have a guess as to what it was. During lunch Beckah scripted out the scenes for our video so after lunch all we had to do was go thru the song again, add the finishing touches, and then shoot the video. I became the camera woman, which rocked!! I would much prefer to be behind the camera!! It seemed that everyone had a blast for the shooting!!

Once we had all the shots we needed Beckah, who already knew how to use iMovie, edited the movie. Since I wasn't quite needed for this part I took a half hour nap and then brought my Bible out and read it while Beckah edited and the other girls also did Bible studies.

While we were sitting there we found out that someone came thru and robbed Kristen's roommate!! This caused a ton of drama, as you would expect!! Apparently a family came in to 'check out the cabin' and the owners allowed them to walk around the building unsupervised. They walked into Kristen's room and saw her roommates purse sitting on her bed and they took it! We all had to check our rooms but luckily that was the only room they got to! I started thinking about the timing and realized this occured while I was taking my nap. And, at one point I heard the door open, someone walked in and then walked back out. I had assumed it was one of my roommates that however it may have been them!! I did ask my roommates and they didn't come in the room while I was napping... scary!! Luckily for us Americans none of our passports were stolen. Also, it appears that the family had been monitoring us because they came in during the time we all should have been outside during sports time. Could you imagine what all they would have been able to steal had we not been using all the filming equipment and laptops!! Later that evening we found out that a few of the guys went looking for the hooligans and they did find them!! They chased them thru the woods and although they never caught the guys they did get their backpack. So, they took the backpack with Kristen's roommate to the police station and they reported the crime. I don't know what happened after that but it caused for a lot of commotion for the entire afternoon. Needless to say everyone started locking the room doors after that!!

So, after all the craziness, we ate dinner, which was more like breakfast. It was rolls, stuffed with strawberry jelly and topped with powered sugar. Kinda like a donut. Kinda. I had 2 and then Beckah was sweet enough to give me one of her apples... which was awesome!!

As we were waiting for the videos to be ready a group of us went outside to play volleyball. Well, the group played volleyball, I took pictures. For some reason it takes only about 3 bumps of the volleyball before my forearms hurt so much I want to cry so I didn't play very long.

Around 8pm we had songs and worship and then we watched the videos!!! Every group did an amazing job and we had so much fun watching each video, cheering for the people in the video, and congratulating each team!!

You want to see how we did?!?!? Check it out...


Crazy Jamming Lambs - my team!!





Golden Zippers - Milan is the main character and he rocked it!!





The Squirrels





Spit Drinking Puppy Kickers - Veronika is my roommate, which is why they picked this song!!




Amazing, right?!?!?

So after videos we marched outside for s'mores around a camp fire. The camp fire was huge and, as always, s'mores were amazing. Issac brought out his guitar and we sang camp songs, laughed and basically had fun making fools of ourselves!! It was so fun.

Then it was decided that we needed to play an outdoor game at night. The game that was chosen was flashlight. Basically the leaders put a flashlight up a hill and a guard got a flashlight which there were some rules about how the guards flashlight worked (generally it had to be turned off). Everyone else had to go up the hill in the dark and try to get to the flashlight up the hill without the guard seeing them. If they were caught they had to go back down the mountain, in the dark, go back to 'safe,' and start over. It seemed a little dangerous to me so I stayed safely in 'safe' until I felt like going back to the fire. A few of us wimps decided to sit around the fire and chat for a while, which once again was fabulous conversation!! After we got tired of sitting outside we went back to our normal post in the bedroom hallway and Kristen, Ashley, Tim, Issac, Jay, Gaby and I all had a wonderful conversation. By this time we are all jacked up on sugar and fun times so we are all very giggly!!

More pictures added!!!

I have added the pictures from my camera from the afternoon we spent in Zelena, Slovakia and Vienna, Austria. Check them out!!!

Day #3 - July 14, 2008 (Monday) - First full day of camp!!!

The day started way too early... 6:30am!! But, I wanted some coffee to start the day and that's what time I was told we had to meet to get it so I was there!! Since I found out I am lactose intolerant I have been using water to thin out my coffee and I think it works pretty well. So I had 2 cups of coffee!!! As we were drinking coffee, all the leaders were meeting to find out what the week had in store. Each group (ie. English, eNight, sports, etc) told everyone else what their plans were and we made sure we were all on the same page.

At 7:45am the students met us in the main meeting room where we did our camp dance again before eating breakfast... bread and strawberry jam!! Yumm-o!! I felt bad for Kristen because she is allergic to strawberries but I ate up my jam quickly!!

After breakfast was English time. We learned who was in each team... my team was an all girl team consisting of:

1) Me
2) Laura (another American)
3) Beckah (the American living in Slovakia -- about to return to America)
4) Anicka (Slovak leader)
5) Mirka (Slovak leader)
6) Jana (student -- I think)
7) Makja (student - my roommate)
8) Zuzka (student - very good sports player)

At first, I was afraid that being an all girl group would not be good because we may have a hard time earning points and we wouldn't be competitive in the sports games however once we started chatting I was soooooo happy that it was an all girl group! Each girl opened up so quickly -- even Zuzka who didn't speak much English -- and we all became so close so quickly, and I don't think that could have happened as easily in a mixed group. Zuzka, with how much she grew in her English and with how good she was at sports was one of our MVPs!!! It was amazing how close we were... it was like a family!!! But then, I thought the entire camp seemed like a family!

Being that one of the camp leaders, Beckah, was in my group I felt a lot better about having to be a leader! Since I hadn't led like this before I was very nervous about how well I would do. I really wanted us girls to have a lot of fun and chat a lot. I was afraid I wouldn't ask enough questions or the right questions to get everyone to open up. Luckily that wasn't an issue... everyone was very open and I got into it and wasn't so afraid. Also, Beckah always seemed to know what to say and how to ask questions so I learned a ton from her!! She was amazing!!!

In this first English class we each had to come up with a team name. After a few minutes of thinking we decided to come up with a name that incorporated all the names in the group... and it ended up spelling out:

Crazy Jammin' Lambz

What a fun name!! The other groups were:

Golden Zippers
Spit Drinking Puppy Kickers
(and something about killer) Squirrel -- I can't believe I already forgot a name of a team!!

It was great and it was fun to hear how creative the names of each team was!!

After English time was lunch. We had meat (most of the week was mystery meat... generally good but still, didn't know what it was), potatoes and slaw of some kind. All in all, not bad! After lunch we got free time so I took a nap... this became routine and I felt blessed to have it!! I am not sure what I would have done without it!!

Next came sports. And for those who know me, know I like to be warm and dry. It was not warm there (at least for my standards) and it rained most of the weekend. So, I have to be honest that I didn't have the best attitude about outside games. But if you look at the pictures you will see how fun it really was!! I wore the same outfit every day for outdoor games so it really didn't matter how dirty or wet I got and the added mud made for a lot of fun! So, even though it may not have been something I would have chose I still had a blast!!!!

So, for Monday's games we played capture the flag and ultimate Frisbee. Each one was really fun however my team had a hard time understanding the point system for capture the flag but we still had fun trying to get the flag back to our side! And, we were getting a system worked out for ultimate Frisbee by the end. Even though we lost I had a great time!!!

Of course, given the rain/mud mentioned above I took a quick shower right after games and then headed down to dinner. Dinner equaled spaghetti noodles with catsup. Hmmm, that was interesting. It was one of the few meals that I chose not to eat what was given. Kristen, Ashley and I ate Kashi bars that I had brought back from the states with peanut butter that Kristen had brought... it was wonderful!! Hehe!

After dinner we had a bit of time before the message/music started so Kriten, Tim, Beckah, and I had a wonderful conversation. I loved all the times I got to have great conversation with people! It was so fun and amazing to get to know everyone. Like I said before and will say many more times, it felt so much like a family being there!!

For the music portion of the evening, we had the camp dance followed by Issac leading worship. He did a great job!! He has way more confidence than I do... I would have been so nervous up there but he seemed so calm and collected. Not to mention that he sings much better than I do! LOL!!! After music Samo spoke and talked about how your first judgement may not be accurate. To elaborate on that point, he handed each group a picture that we had to talk about, make a judgement on the person in the picture about things like their age, their profession, their family, etc. In each instance, every group was wrong on what they assumed the person would be like. I guess my 6th grade teacher was right about what it means to assume!! Heheh!!

eNight followed and was once again amazing!! The leaders set up the room like a Chinese Tea Room and it was beautiful. I loved the tea that the Slovak's have!! I even brought some back to the states!! I sat with Kristen, Ashley, and Jay. We chatted about what our aquariums are... or what is boxing us in life and keeping us away from God. We had a great conversation and it was amazing how we all opened up!! After chatting about aquariums, us American girls taught Jay a few different English slang phrases (like 'I'm on you like a spider monkey, man') and he taught us a few Slovak words. We had a good laugh trying to speak Slovak properly!!! For some reason my French teacher, my Italian friends, and now Jay all have laughed at me trying to speak their languages... do you see the pattern that I am seeing!!

After eNight the 4 of us moved to the bedroom hallway and the 4 turned into many more. The conversation went on for quite a while and once again it was amazing. We had so many great conversations that were so funny that my stomach hurt most of the weekend. I absolutely loved it!!

Finally, around 1am it was time for me to go to bed.

Slovakia Pictures Added!!

So, instead of me taking all the pictures, captioning them, and adding them to my blog I have found sites from fellow Slovakia Student Campers and have added them to the side. The link with the most pictures is #1... that came from Tim, the leader of the Americans. He was also the production guru and at the end of each night all us Americans and Slovaks would give him our cameras and he would add the pictures to his computer and would show them on a big screen.

I do have some pictures of my own that (hopefully) today I will to my Picassa account and link here. I will update again when that has happened!

Enjoy!!!

Day #2 – July 13, 2008 (Sunday) – Day of the Students

We were able to sleep in a bit, well I slept until 7:30am so I guess it was sleeping in… but either way it was great!! Especially after waking up at 4:30am because the sun was shining into my room!! No joke!! Apparently the sun rises in Slovakia at 4:30am. Good to know right?! Thank God I packed an eye mask… it has cone in quite handy!!!

We met in the dining hall and ate breakfast as a group. Since I called off the vegan diet for the trip I ate bread with lunch meat and white peppers. I had never seen white peppers before but they tasted great… just like a pepper. And we had the most amazing tea (in Slovak tea is spelled caj – pronounced chi) ever!! I loved it!!

And, I found another vegetarian!!!! I was so excited. And they were able to translate to the cooks that I am lactose intolerant. After a little debate, I told them that I could eat meat (figured the easier I could be this week the better), however no dairy. And the cooks have been fabulous!!! Any time there has been dairy served they have offered me a substitute! I love it!!

After breakfast we all boarded up in the vehicle and when to the mall, which also contained a supermarket, and got our groceries for the week. We didn’t get much besides cookies, flavored water, and bananas because our meals are being provided for us for the week.

Then we walked our groceries from the mall to church. It was a fabulously small church and we had an amazing service about ‘Truth verses Lies.’ I think we each walked away thinking the message was directed towards us!! I did take some pictures of the church and they will be posted as well!

When church was finished we boarded back up into vehicles and when back to camp where we had a great meal… everyone else had chicken and rice but I had vegetables and rice!! It was amazing!! I loved it!!!

Our next plan of action was to decide how the week was going to play out. Us Americans thought that everything was already planned and we would just be plugged into service once we got here however that wasn’t the case. And I was assigned to the English team. The English team consisted of American leaders and Beckah (who is also American but is currently living in Slovakia with her husband. She is pregnant and they will be moving back to the States soon... and she will probably be working at North Point so I am excited that we will still be able to meet up). We decided that we would make four English groups that would essentially be teams. Each team would work together to improve their English and then they would compete against each other in different English events, sporting events, and anything else the leaders could come up with. In the competitions each team could earn points and the team with the most points at the end would win. And, since there were only 14 students all the leaders were able to participate in all events!!

Over the next few hour we came up with a plan of action for Monday as to what we would do in the English groups to break the ice and to get the Slovak students talking. It was a lot of fun sharing ideas and 3 of the people on the English team were either teachers (Sherry and Beckah) or were former teacher (Kristen). Garrett, the only male in the English group, has done a ton of different missions previously thru Josiah Venture and was able to provide many good ideas. I was the only one on the team that had no previous experience! LOL!! Luckily we had a lot of materials to look thru so I was able to provide some input!

Then the students arrived!! It was so fun and so intimidating! I knew that we would get to know each one of these students thru the week but I was nervous that I wouldn't be good enough, that I wouldn't be able to relate, or that no one would like me. It turned out that my fears were all quite silly and I got along with the students and leaders really well (and if I didn't they didn't tell me... hehe!).

My roommates for the week became Veronika and Mikja (pronounced Mikah or we also called her Maya). Both are extremely beautiful inside and out as well as amazing English speakers!!! We had a ton of fun as roommates and I miss them every day!! It became funny because I would generally go to bed at night before they would (still it would be around 1am or 2am) however I wouldn't be able to go to sleep until they were in the room. I felt like the room mom... hehe!!

Once the students arrived we showed them to their rooms and then we all met up for dinner. For everyone but me it was macaroni and cheese however they made macaroni with corn, tomato, and white peper... amazing!! I really liked it and it was so easy to make that I will be doing it for myself now too!! After dinner we headed down to the main meeting room for a lot of fabulous ice breakers where we lined up based on height, first letter of the first name, first letter of the last name, age, eye color, etc. And we had to do it quickly!! It was fun and a good way to get us all moving after dinner. This was followed by some really amazing fun music and we learned the camp dance. I don't think we have any video of the camp dance but if I find one I will add it here!! Hehe!! It was fun!

After music and a message (the theme of the camp was Aquaworld and the first message was pretty light and went back to how we remembered our childhood -- it was an excellent message for night #1) we had our first eNight. eNight was designed as a way for everyone to wind down together and for the leaders to ask questions to the students based on the messages that we heard. This first night we met over candlelight and American chocolate. It was surprisingly creative yet so simple. It was beautiful and so amazing.

Side note: Its funny that I as an American don't think of things this easy... its like we believe it must be complicated to be good. However this was better than anything I could have come up with. So, one of the concepts that I have taken away is that creativity beats complexity or money any day. It didn't take much money to create an amazing environment. I am trying to remember this when I have friends over... light a few candles and have a simple set up. It can be life changing.

Back to Slovakia: During eNight I was able to meet with Jay. One of the amazing students and he told me about his family's house. I was quite jealous of him... I miss my family a ton and he is able to live with his and they have a garden with tons of different fruit trees and plants as well as a ton of vegetables. If I ever move out of the city and live with any amount of land I want to have a garden, even if it just includes fruit trees. I think that would be amazing. And, if I ever get the opportunity to live in a European countryside I think that would be almost like heaven. Any European countryside that I have witnessed is gorgeous!!

Philippians 2:2-4

I have been going thru all my friend's blogs trying to catch up on my friend's lives when I came across a post from my friend Rachael. Her Bible verse for the month is:

"Make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should not only look to your own interests but to the interests of others." Philippians 2:2-4

I absolutely love it. Being completely unselfish has been something that I have been praying about and it has been heightened by being around my Slovak friends the past week. The giving spirit of everyone that I met last week was amazing and I want to emulate that in my every day life. This passage really embodies that and I now want to make it my Bible verse for the month. To recite it, to pray over it, to memorize it.

Absolutely Beautiful...

Slovakia Mission Trip - Day #1 – July 12, 2008 – The Day the Vegan Diet Died

After 24 hours of driving, flying, layover, flying, and driving again we are finally at the summer camp!! We all slept when we could but none of us got any real sleep on the way so at 10:00pm Slovak time (4:06pm EST) I am sitting in bed, putting my first blog together and I will be going to sleep!

However, I am so excited to be here!! We got in a little late but dinner was ready (thank you God cause everyone was hungry)! We did a little group meet and I met my Slovakian roommate Veronika and we will have a student share our room starting tomorrow. There are less students then was originally anticipated so we will have two leaders (one Slovak and one US) for each student. They thought there would be about 40-50 students, however there are currently 14 signed up. I am excited because we will each get to know each other better this way!!

And one change had to be made… over here meat in chopped up in everything. For the first 24 hours I had a hard time finding food. Finally as I was famished (ok, not really – I have weight to lose and a starvation diet may have worked but I was hungry for more than a few nuts… I wanted real food) I gave in!! I will keep the dairy out, since my body actually fully rejects that, but meat will be allowed this week. I have to say it felt really weird eating chicken tonight and my stomach did hurt a little bit afterward. My rule of thumb will be to not eat meat if possible.

Can I Post From Slovakia?!?!

That is the question on deck... unfortunately I will not know until we are there!!  If not, I will be updating every night to a document and then mass posting when I get home.  If so, I will be adding pictures and commentary nightly.

Pray that I am able to post!!!!  I know I am.

Well, I am sitting at the apartment for the last few minutes.  I need to get up soon and get moving.  I want to stop by the bookstore and pick up 'Organic God.'  7|22 will be having the author to interview at the next gathering and it will be the Tuesday after I get back.  I want to go and listen, but I prefer to have read the book first.  I had ordered it online but it was shipped to the wrong address so they will be crediting me the money back and I will get it from a local book store.

After that I will be picking up Marcus from work and he will be taking me to the airport.  He will keep my car while I am gone so he can replace the brakes, tires, and rims!!  I love that he can help me out with my car as much as he does!!  And, he does a fabulous job!!

And then onto the airport to meet up with the team.   I got up at 6am today and went for a long run so hopefully I will be tired early and will sleep on the plane.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Alright, time to make the final rounds around the apartment...

About Packed!!

I am almost packed up for Slovakia!!!  And I have to be honest... I am crazy excited!!  The countdown to take off begins... and the debate for me...

sleeping pills for the plane or no sleeping pills???

I bought some from Target today so we'll see!

Slovakia here I come!!

I got the flight info for the mission trip... I am so excited and can't wait. Tonight I pack.   For those who want to be in the know:

Departing To SLOVAKIA:

Friday July 11, 2008

Air Vendor:   KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLI

Flight Number: 622

From:  ATLANTA GA (HARTSFIELD JAC)

Departs:  04:40 PM

To:  AMSTERDAM (SCHIPHOL)

Arrives:  07:25 AM on July 12, 2008

Saturday July 12, 2008

Air Vendor:  KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLI

Flight Number:  1845

From:  AMSTERDAM (SCHIPHOL)

Departs:  12:30 PM

To:  VIENNA (VIENNA INTL)

Arrives: 02:20 PM

Arriving In ATLANTA:

Monday July 21, 2008

Air Vendor:  KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLI

Flight Number:  1838

From:  VIENNA (VIENNA INTL)

Departs:  06:45 AM

To:  AMSTERDAM (SCHIPHOL)

Arrives:  08:55 AM

Monday July 21, 2008

Air Vendor:  KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLI

Flight Number:  621

From:  AMSTERDAM (SCHIPHOL)

Departs:  10:20 AM

To:  ATLANTA GA (HARTSFIELD JAC)

Arrives:  01:40 PM

Retreat Photos!!

We have photos!! Check them out here!!

Mission Trip Retreat - Camp Highland

Oh what a fun, exhausting, exhilarating weekend we just had!!  The Slovakia mission trip team just went on a team building retreat to Camp Highland in Ellijay, Georgia.  We left from Buckhead Church at 6:00pm, stopping to have dinner across the street at On The Boarder.  After dinner we headed up to Camp Highland and arrived around 9pm.  I rode with Laura and we had a great time getting to know each other a little bit better.  

Camp Highland is a summer camp and everything is all outdoors... I wanted to preface the rest with this just so you understand the following:  there was no air-conditioning, we were outside almost the entire time, and we are in Georgia (aka humid as all can be and even at night it didn't get below 85 degrees --  during the day on Saturday it was mid-90's).  This is an added element to everything that we did!  But with everyone sweaty and gross we used the opportunity to let our guards down even further.  It was amazing!!

I figured that since we arrived so late we would just put our bags away and maybe have an 'around-the-campfire' type of event.  I was so wrong.

They gathered us all up, threw us in the back of a military type truck, and we went to the first team build event.... a huge swing 30 feet in the air.  One person would get harnessed up to a rope, the rest of the team would pull the rope so that the harnessed person would go to the top of a 30 foot pole, then the harnessed person would have to let go of their rope and they would swing out over a huge cliff.  Granted it was pretty dark but it was still a little scary.   All that you could see was what was available via flashlight.  Of course I went 2nd to last, was so nervous from watching everyone else go that when it was my turn I let out a blood-curdling scream as I let go!  It was soooooo much fun!  And it was great for us to start working together as a group.

After the swing we stopped by the main cabin for dessert before heading to bed around 1am.

The next morning we awoke to breakfast served around 8am and then headed back out for more team building.  The first event was a rope course.  The rope was a tangled mess around knee height and we had to get the entire group from one end of the rope course to the other, we had to step thru the course without hitting a rope, and if you hit the rope you were frozen where you hit it making someone have to come thru the course to rescue you.  To begin, we decided to each go thru individually, two people made it safely thru before I attempted the course.  And on the first step I hit the rope!  After that it was down-hill from there and we managed to get everyone caught in the course.  We were allowed a reset, came up with a new plan (that the 'weakest link,' aka me, would go thru first and then if I got stuck someone would come behind and rescue me).  I got about half way before hitting a rope.  The team lead, Tim, came thru and rescued me.  We found during the rescue that the course was soooo much easier when done in pairs.  We could support each other, balance each other, and hold each other up.  Once we realized that, everyone went thru in pairs with the rest of the teammates coaching from the sideline.  This time we made it all on the first try!!

After a discussion on what we learned and how we can apply what we learned to the group, to the mission trip and to Christianity we went onto the second team building event of the day... the 12 foot wall.

We had to climb a 12 foot wall using only each other.  This time we worked much better as a team. We put a plan of action together and got one of the ladies (Ashley) up the wall.  We found that our original plan needed adjusting and we adjusted after each person was on the wall.  We worked very well as a team and on the first attempt we were able to get everyone over the wall!  It was a lot of work and by the end we were all tired!!

After a discussion on what we learned and how we can apply what we learned to the group, to the mission trip and to Christianity we went onto the third team building event of the day...    lower ropes course.

We had a tight rope about knee height from the ground going between about 7 different trees.  We had to work together as a team to get everyone across the rope and to touch the last tree.  As a team we decided to try to snake everyone across the rope together by linking up as a long group.  We used each other as well as the trees to balance and we made it all the way to the last length before one person fell.  Once someone falls we have to start over.  By this time we are exhausted and hungry!  We have been working hard to balance, we have been chatting the entire time about what is not working and what is working, we have been pulling and pushing and gripping on each other to stay on the tight-rope and now we have to start over!!  After a regroup we tried again.  We made it to the exact same spot before someone fell again.  However this time we are too tired.  Its 2:30pm and we haven't ate since breakfast!  We decide as a group that if we really wanted to keep going it would take another 1/2 hour to an hour to figure out a solution that would work but we were fine with not passing this course.  We just wanted lunch!!

After lunch we went to the last course of the day... high ropes.  And they aren't kidding with the high ropes.  You do some of the craziest things imaginable about 30 feet in the air!  First we got all harnessed up and walked up to the first tree.  There were about 7 elements that you had to go thru and they each got more difficult as you went along.  On this one I knew that if I didn't go first I would get too nervous so I volunteered quickly to go first.

Element #1:  tight rope with 2 ropes on the side for your hands.  Since this is the first element the hardest part is knowing that this is the first element.  I was just beginning and when I looked down I could see how high up I really was.

Element #2:  wooden bridge.   I had to walk across a wooden bridge that is held up by 2 tight ropes and wooden planks that are set different lengths from each other.  There was no where for my hands to go and the bridge can be quite wobbly.  I am not too afraid of heights however the hardest part is actually picking up your feet.  It takes a lot of lower body strength to keep the bridge stable and every time you pick your feet up the bridge would move.  Scary!  I got to the point where I was saying 'I trust Jesus' on every step.  That I would be ok even though I was scared to pick up my feet.

Element #3:  tight-rope with 2 ropes attached in almost a x form.  I had to grab the first rope, go half-way down the tight-rope and pick up the 2nd rope.  Scary to reach out and grab at something when you are so unstable. 

Element #4:  A tight rope with another rope for your hands that is very droopy.  What I had to do was get the droopy rope as tight as possible before crossing.  I was so nervous and scared on this one that I had one of the camp counselors help hold the rope tight as I crossed.  I was not afraid to say that I needed help.

Element #5:  3 hanging logs.  There were 3 logs that had foot grips on them.  I had to grab the first log, pull it close to me, wrap my left leg around it, and then hold on for dear life while I let go of the platform and put my right foot on the second foot grip.  Then, once the log stopped swinging, I had to let go of the first log with my left hand, grab the 2nd log, wrap my foot around the second log, and go thru the process again on log 2.  Then again on log 3.  Knowing that I was just dangling from a log brought out a ton of fear!!

Element #6:  3 hanging ropes.  The next element had a tight rope with 3 hanging ropes across them.  You had to walk on the tight rope, grip the 1st rope, keep it tight as you walked to the 2nd rope, then let go of the first rope, tightened the 2nd rope, walk to the 3rd, and do the same process all over again.  This was the scariest one for me.  I had the hardest time mentally with this element and I had to really focus on getting across and on nothing else!  Luckily I was able to also hold my safety harness and use that to balance as well.

Element #7:  wooden planks.  There were 4 wooden planks hanging from 2 tight ropes.  The planks were about the size of a balance beam (from gymnastics) and they were very swingy.  I had to use the tight rope that was able to hold myself up with my arms while scooting my feet along the wooden planks.  Once I got to the end of one I had to stable myself, grip the 2nd tight rope, move my feet from wooden plank 1 to wooden plank 2, and then do the same thing 3 more times.  The hardest part about this was that I was already physically and mentally exhausted.  I was drained, I was sweating profusely, I knew it was the last one, and I just didn't want to do it!!  Hehe!  But I made it across and I felt so accomplished!!

The final part was a zip line.  They got me all harnessed in and this was the easiest of them all.  The only hard part was leaving the platform, knowing that you are safe when you jump however still having all the built up fear from the rest of the course.  It took a minute for me to jump but once I did it was a fun ride!!

By the end we were all exhausted but had gotten soooooo much closer.  We stopped by the shower and then headed back home.  We mixed up the car rides a little bit and we were able to chat some more to get to know more about each other.  We stopped at Zaxby's for a quick meal.  

Sherry took a few pictures of all the events so if I am able to get those from here I will add them all here.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera!!  I will have to remember it for Slovakia!!

Sleeeeeeeepy

So, jet lag is finally hitting me and I am sleepy!! Not good when you have to be at work! But, I have to say, being in Italy was more than worth it!!

Today I will work all day but I have to step out for a lunch meeting for a few minutes because of my next big adventure!! What is it? Slovakia Summer Camp!! I have been selected to go on a mission trip to Slovakia!! I am very excited and I am sure there will be a lot of these meetings between now and when I go.

Otherwise, I need to stop off at Publix and get some groceries and my friend Lynn will be coming by my place so we can catch up!

Even being tired I still somehow stay too busy! Wish me luck!