so what are we doing this summer?

for those of you found yourself asking this question, well, it is a good question. during my time with Josiah Venture, i served as a summer intern, so i have a pretty good grasp of what is expected of us this summer. although there are some differences. because we will be serving as intern team leaders our responsibilities will be different. i am going to attempt to give you all a good idea of what we will be doing this summer, but i know i will leave things out. so we would really appreciate it, if you have any further questions, to get a hold of us so we can answer any questions you may have!



arminda and i will be intern team leaders. our general responsibilities will include:

• growing our team in Christ individually and as a team
• planning, executing, and leading English camps
• preaching during night sessions and leading small groups
• planning and teaching English lessons during camp

2 weeks - training

• our first two weeks will be spent getting to know our team of 4-6 interns.
• this is a bonding, preparation, and training time for intern teams.

5 weeks - preparation

• the next 5 weeks will be spent visiting the 3 towns that we will have English camps in later in the summer.
  
• during these visits we will be meeting with the Czech youth group that is assisting with the English camp in their town during the summer
• we will also be visiting public schools teaching English, basically recruiting students to our English camp for the summer
• this is also a time of preparation of our English lessons 

5 weeks - English camps

• the next 5 weeks will be spent at English camps
• camps are 1 week long with 2-3 days of follow-up
• camp schedule looks like this: breakfast, English lessons, lunch, sports, free time, dinner, night session, small group time, free time, sleep, repeat
• 2-3 days of follow up consist of hanging out with students in their hometown connecting them with the local churches youth group
• repeat

1 week

• debrief time with team personally
• debrief time with all intern teams together in Prague

our approximate cost of the summer is anywhere from $8200 to $8500. this will all depend on the currency exchange rate and the price of airfare. the money for the summer will cover:

• plane ticket
• all food
• all lodging

this covers pretty much everything in a very general way, but we hope that this will give you a good idea of what our summer will entail. an important thing to remember is that while teaching English is the main priority at camps, students know they are coming to a Christian camp and reaching students with the love of Christ is just as high a priority for Josiah Venture.

our summer plans!

family and friends,

we have spent the last six months praying that God will reveal what will be next in our endeavour to serve Him. as most of you know our current job with Camfel Productions ends in may which will leave us jobless, homeless, car-less, and free to move on to God's next ministry. we have not, very surprisingly, been stressed or bothered by this fact. this is definitely uncharacteristic for minda and myself. i am someone who needs to have a plan, know my goals, and execute those plans to the best of my abilities. well, the past 6 months have had some parts of that equation, but have definitely been lacking in the forethought part. we usually don't know where we will be 3 weeks ahead of time, what people we will be working with, the type of facilities we will have at our disposal, heck even the weather has been crazy over here on the east coast! i am not saying this to complain at all! this job has been an amazing time of growth between arminda and myself! we are so blessed by our family, new and old friends, co-workers and our team manager, this has been such a perfect way to learn how to trust in God to provide for us spiritually, mentally, and physically. i have had to trust the Lord, to take care of us, instead of relying on ourselves for provision and strength.

all this to say that the Lord has truly answered our prayers He has literally dropped the answer to our prayers in our lap. over the past few months, Nate Hughes, an awesome missionary who works in the Czech Republic for Josiah Venture, he is in charge of getting summer interns over to the Czech to help run english camps for the summer, among many other things. he has been very adamant in encouraging us to pray for guidance from the Lord to determine if we could possibly come to the Czech this summer to be a part of teaching english and spreading the love of God to the students of eastern europe this summer. i have been to the Czech with Josiah Venture on 2 different occasions; once with moody bible institute for a short term trip and second for a 3 months as a summer intern. honestly, the students have captured my heart, and returning to the Czech has been on my heart since 2009.

i brought this up as a possibility to minda last august, but it didn't seem a likely possibility. we have been praying ever since and we truly believe that returning this summer 2011 is what the Lord is desiring of us in this time of our lives. Nate would like to bring us on as Summer Intern Leaders. it would be a whole lot more trusting Him to provide for us; when i went it was easier, cause i was a "semi-solo" adventurer there, now that we are married there is so much more responsibility and stress; that being said the thought of working with students this summer side-by-side with minda is an idea that literally makes me giddy. wow, that sounds lame, well, it's true!


we are submitting our paperwork this week and will begin raising support soon after. this is definitely the most stressful part of preparation this summer. raising support for one person is tough, but for two, we are entering into this summer with faith that if this is truly the Lord's will he will provide. provide in ways that i am currently uneasy about. because of our tight budget and very limited personal time we are going to try to raise as much support as possible through word of mouth. we ask that after reading this, you would tell your friends and family about us. anyone who reads this blog definitely knows us, thank you for your continued support despite the lack of my diligence in updating.

according to our information we approximately have to raise $8400 for the summer. over a fourth of that is used to pay for our plane tickets to the Czech and back. the rest of that number will be used for travel, lodging, and food costs. we want everyone to know that this is strictly a missionary endeavour; we will NOT be receiving any of that money as payment. we appreciate your potential gifts beyond your comprehension, but even more so we would like to ask for your support through prayer first! we need strong prayer warriors praying for:

• the Lord to prepare our hearts
• the Lord to prepare the hearts of students
• for funds to be provided supernaturally
• for our trust and faith to be in the Lord

we currently unable to begin raising official support through Josiah Venture until we have our account setup, but as you might of noticed there is a "donate" button at the top right of this screen. If you feel you would like to give directly to us through paypal, feel free. 100% of your donation will go towards our trip this summer. although, once we get our JV account setup you can send your gifts to them and you will be able to get a tax rebate. once again please pray for us, we NEED your prayers!

we will be updating soon letting you know what we will be doing this summer, but for now here is a short video of a guy i worked with in summer of 2009 and he came back summer of 2010!


Summer Camp Internship from Josiah Venture on Vimeo.

on the road again.....

three months have gone by and i am ashamed that we stopped posting like we did. how are others supposed to support us in prayer if they have no means of contact with us? well hopefully with your prayers and encouragement we can keep this blog updated as much as possible to keep all of you informed and connected to our lives!

Christmas break was amazing! it was a blast spending time with family and honestly it was the best to spend our first year of marriage together with both of our families. we are so blessed by them, we definitely would not of made it through the Christmas season without them!

our schedule has been pretty relaxed over the past three weeks, giving us time to get reacquainted with our equipment and transition back into the working mindset. that being said we do have a rough few weeks ahead of us so we would appreciate your prayers if we come to your mind!

additionally we have had a significant amount of technical issues with our equipment. we need some serious prayer for our equipment! we believe that the cold is making our dvd players freeze at various times during the show, so please pray that the Lord would miraculously work with our equipment each day to provide the best show possible for our students without any distractions!

we have spent the last three weeks between New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Seriously this job has been an amazing experience for Arminda and I. has it been challenging? yes, but it has been such a unique opportunity for us to grow as individuals and as one as well. our team manager, Andrew, has been a huge encouragement and a stud to work for! he has given us advice and criticism when we needed it and encouragement and grace when we don't.

minda and i have been working on our future summer plans! and we really want to divulge them to you all, so be looking out for our next post that will be coming out really soon! (hopefully!)