Intern Training

Intern training is always one of my favorite times during the year. It's so fun to be around all of my friends from the other JV countries, along with all of these college students from the States who are eager to serve in Eastern Europe. This year was great as always, and especially intense for me. The Lord really spoke to me through friends and spiritual teaching, and it was clear that He was pursuing me to really face head on some issues in my own life.

One other amazing thing from intern training was a new game that Sarah and I made up. Well, I don't know if you can really call it a game, but you can call it fun! (insert cheesy laughter) All you have to do is try to do your best cheerleading jump. Awesome! And this fab game did not just stay between Sarah and myself, oh no, it spread amongst the whole training...

Sarah showing us how it's done:



Brittney shocking us with her skills:



Chris casually dominated all of us:



Jay continued to prove to me that I had no ups at all:



Us getting one last jump in before parting ways for the summer:



And we couldn't resist a pyramid:

Amazing Race

So as you know I was a little anxious about the race this year, but it ended up being a bunch of fun. My interns were just as chill as I was about it, so we ended up taking it easy... and by taking it easy, I mean that we even took 4 hours to just sightsee in Prague. Yeah... we were that group. Later on in the race we met up with another Slovakia team and a Czech team, and with our powers combined we became TEAM CZECHOSLOVAKIA!!!! Here are some pics from the race:

Here are me and my interns, Leila and Sarah, enjoying Prague:



Here Team Czechoslovakia is trekking through some random Czech city to yet another train... I'm hiding behind the guy in obscenely short shorts.



The race this year centered around taking millions of trains to random destinations. Well, clearly not million... but a lot. On this train there were no open seats, so we had to sit in the aisle. Literally.

A busy June....

Ok, so a lot has happened over the past month, so I'm going to try to fill you in as quickly as possible with (hopefully) a visual feast for the eyes! Here we go... (And this pic is just a taste of what's to come... get excited!)

It's that time again...

So, this coming Wednesday our summer interns arrive. Very exciting! But this also means that in just a few days we start the JV Intern Race. For those of you who don't know, it's basically our own version of that show, the Amazing Race, where we have each JV intern team travel across Czech doing different challenges and what not until they reach the final destination, Malenovice, where intern training is. That was probably a run on sentence.

Anyhow, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Intern Race. You see, 2 years ago, when I was an intern, I had to go through this, and lets just say I was the only one of all 50 or so people that cried during the race. Yep, I was that girl. The tears culminated after one unreadable astronomical clock, a twisted foot, us getting extremely lost, more walking than should be humane (on my twisted foot), a meal of grotesque cheese and onions, and me slipping down a muddy bank. Falling down in the mud is what pushed me over the edge... I was just done after that. And what is amazing is that I have my little breakdown caught in photos, thanks to the paparazzi, also known as Gavin Desnoyers.

Pre-Fall: Laughing it up with Amy


The Fall: Just before I had literally said, "I'm probably going to fall down this, and when that happens, I'm probably going to cry..."


Post-Fall: We had to raft down this river. If you look, you can totally see that I'm crying. Classic.



Earlier I wrote that I had a love/hate relationship because although I desperately hated being lost, and my feet felt like they should be amputated, I arguably laughed more during these 3 days than any other time in my life. So, I'm really hoping that this year I have all the laughs, minus the throbbing pain in my feet and the lame tears.

Oh, and just so you know, 2 years ago my team came in dead last by hours. Impressed? You should be.

Timing...

As I continue to live over here in SK, I'm becoming more and more aware of the fact that God really does have perfect timing.

Many of you know that these past 15 months have fallen very far from what my expectations of this life would be. For example, the day I moved to SK my closest friend here, Amy, told me that she would be moving back to the States in just 6 weeks. Shocker to say the least. And since then the hits have just kept coming. The most recent being the departure of Paige. Paige was not only a dear friend for me, but she was my support system, my family here in Slovakia.

Anyhow, I'm not trying to get into a sob story here. I actually want to communicate how amazing God has been throughout it all. I have been broken over here, broken and left to get completely real with God. And it has been phenomenal. I wouldn't change any of it. I've learned that no matter what happens, God will always fill what my true needs are, and that is something I pray that I never forget.

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A couple weeks ago we had the Josiah Venture Spring Conference. It was a week after Paige had left, and it proved to be exactly what I needed. At the conference I was able to connect with the other single females serving throughout Eastern Europe, which was such a great reminder that I am in no way alone on this journey. I have an amazing community that God has given me, and even if it isn't in my city or country, it is there. And it is very good.

My JV Family


Some of my girls: (L to R)
Leah (Czech), Brittney (Ukraine), Jaycee (Latvia), Katka (Czech), Me, DU (Romania)

It's a must...

Well, it's safe to say that somebody - me - has been a little slack on their blog. Actually, I'll be surprised to know if anyone is still reading this thing. BUT, for those of you who are, you'll be glad to know that I am determined to revive this thing! I must bring new life to LT in SK!!! So, here we go...

A little late, I realize...

So, I went to Paris for Christmas with, of course, my dear friend Katka, and life got too crazy for me to ever post anything about it. So in a few bullets I'll sum up our trip:

- It was great fun, but we both agreed going to Paris in warm weather would have been better. There are so many things to enjoy outside, and when you are freezing your butt off you don't get to enjoy them as much.

- The area of Montmartre was by far our favorite.

- The subway system there is amazing and makes getting around Paris extremely easy.

- Lemon tarts (or torts, whatever) are super tasty.

- Paris is freaking expensive.

- Beware of sketchy Frenchmen... they want kisses. Seriously. We got accosted twice. Gross.

Alright, now I'll leave you with a few pics from our time there. Actually, I'm just leaving you with a little montage we made when we were at the Louvre with the Mona Lisa. We took too many pics for me to weed through them all, so I figured I'd just leave you with ones that make me laugh. Because, as a guy I went to high school with said, "Laughter is the best medicine. Unless you are a diabetic, then it's insulin."

The lovely Katka:


I'm pretty sure if Davinci was living today that I'd be his muse...


What? This smile isn't mysterious enough? Fine.