So what is the English Camp, you may ask?
Lighthouse Bible Church sent a team of 16 people from our church body to Ostrava, Czech Republic to work with a local church there:
http://ksop.cz (if i try to type the full name, i'll be here ALL night!) The church there spends a lot of time putting together and organizing the camp and us lucky americans get to do most of the teaching.
We formed 5 different classes: the Greek Lambs, Brazil Jaguars, South African Meerkats, Australian Kangeroos and Chinese Pandas. For a whole week, we drive off somewhere and teach English conversation, vocabulary, play games and practice talking with each other during the day. In the afternoon we play games and in the evening, we have a separate program. The evening portion of camp was a time for the team and for KSOP to perform skits, share testimonies about how some of us became Christians and our pastor, John Kim, preaches about what it means to know the one true God, WHY we need to know him, and what it means to be a Christian.
I LOVED my class - the Brazil Jaguars. My students were talkative, eager to learn, fun, adventurous and quite loveable. Just thinking about them makes me smile as I remember the funny things they would say in class and especially thinking about how God made them all unique. You've gone through quite a few posts on our class so far, so its about time you meet them!
Talkative
Elen. {She looks serious here but don't let that fool you - she always had something to say and it was always something that would make me laugh. My favorite memories of her are from our times of talking together and when we would create skits in class. }
Dancing
Katka {This girl showed me a thing or two about busting a move when she showed me up during the Cafe Night with her own dance workshop...just before our team put on our own performance of Czech's Best Dance crew! She became a Christian just months before coming to camp and I was so encouraged by how she would encourage other believers.}
Funny
Adam had the class laughing in unexpected ways. He was more reluctant to practice his English but I never missed his mutterings as he tried to figure out our reading compression questions. He was incredible good natured - especially when we wrapped him up in duct tape during a game.
Talented Evca (prounouced "Ev-cha" blew me away one afternoon - she is an insane classical guitarist, which i discoved. She can play pieces by memory - God gave her the amazing talent of music and I can see her thinking away in her mind, as she replays the music, as well as her other thoughts.}
Sensitive
Helen left an impression on me right away - she actually reminded me of my college roommate in her teenage years. She always only had nice things to say and a smile on her face.
Active
Vojta would constantly be making jokes during class...but he was also always the first one to answer any kind of question we asked them to discuss. He is a guy with many talents - sports for one, but he shared an interest in photography with me.
Gentle
Misa. {She was a puzzle to me at first because I never could tell what she was thinking and if she hated our class or the evening program - but it turned out that she also was incredible good natured and it didn't take much to please her. }
Majda...oh what word is there to describe Majda. She was our little ball of energy, from the first moment I met her at the church. She would jump right in with every game whether it was a screaming game, volleyball or anything. She also would make me laught during our skits and dialogue times when she would come up with the most interesting replies to questions like "So what is your career?" Interesting fact: She can play the theme from Pirates of the Carribean on the piano...from memory!!!
Athletic/Competitive
Robert - my favorite memory of Robert, who is a member of the church in Ostrava is when he shared with the team that he is living his dream of living at church. He and his wife Sarka, and their three kids are very dear friends to Lighthouse. I so very much appreciated that Robert gave as much effort in
Creative Chris, my teaching partner. I really appreciated his flexibility and understanding. I KNOW i'm a handful. :)
Now that i've written about my students, and thought about how they are each unique, I miss them more than ever!
I am almost done with those photos so look forward to seeing more soon!