Host City Visits...

Over the past 3 weeks my team and I have traveled to 3 different cities in Slovakia to help their teams prepare for camp and to promote camps in the high schools. I have completely loved this time, because ultimately building relationships is what I am passionate about. So, it has been a joy to get to know these different youth groups and to encourage them during this process of getting ready for Kecy Camps.

The first city we went to was Roznava, which is a city closer to the eastern side of Slovakia. The team here was so amazing, and I have truly never felt more welcome, both in Slovakia or in the States. During our time there, the camp leader and his family took us to see a palace that had the most beautiful grounds I've ever seen. Here is a pic of Robby (my co-leader) with Rudo (the camp leader) and his 2 year old, Ema:



Next we were in Bratislava, my home city. It was so great to be home after being gone for close to 3 weeks, and I was excited for the interns to get to know the people in my life here. We didn't do as many high school visits as we did in Roznava, so most of our time was spent just hanging out with the team and other youth that went to camp last summer.

Leila, Sarah, and I with Barca and Marica:



Our final visit was in Levice, and we had such a great time with this team. But dang, they worked us to the core! We taught a total of about 15 to 20 full English classes in the high schools (which is how we promote camp), went on an 8 hour hike Saturday, and then on Sunday we attended the church's family day which was filled with sports. We were exhausted by the end of this visit! But we also left with a huge love for this team, and a ton of excitement to do camp with them.

These are some girls we met in the high schools who came to hang out with us one afternoon:



The peak of our hike:



A 13th century chapel we stopped at along our hike:



One funny thing about our intern team is that all three of these cities are in very different parts of Slovakia. So, we've spent A LOT of time on trains, so we've actually already looped the country twice... and we haven't even started camps yet! SO, tomorrow we actually leave to start our first term of camp with Roznava, and therefore begin our next loop. Woot woot! Thank goodness Slovakia is so beautiful!