Almost time to "Czech" out of Pisek....
Reflecting on the past week, our time here has been so fulfilling; not only for the people of Pisek but also for our team. It has been so exciting watching our God at work in the lives of the team. We have seen our young team members behave so selflessly, while sharing the truth of who Christ is relationally. They have been doing this by spending their days instructing and enjoying the campers; then at night cultivating friendships with the Czech teen coaches. To see the scripture come alive "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." 1 Corinthians 3:6 was very encouraging. As Christ was reflected, more questions were asked which led to more opportunities to share the Gospel! As far as the more seasoned team members, God truly revealed himself in opportunities to pass along life experiences with the teens. I believe that the love of Christ was shown and felt during this trip. Friendships were made and grown that will be lasting and prayerfully fruitful. This Czech team here has been instrumental as well. Pastor Martin shared his personal testimony of him as a teenage Christian under oppressive Communist rule. It was very impactful! He opened himself up to the teens and made it clear that they could come to him whenever. Hopefully, this will help bridge the gap and build a lasting relationship after we leave. This is one of our big prayer requests.

Thank you for all of your prayers!

Emily and Kenneth

P.S. the children's English camp team arrived with a slight delay but all around safely!

Day Four

Our last day of camp was such a blast! So many relationships were built especially with the older campers. The gospel was shared in the message to the older and younger kids. I know in my discussion group I had two kids that seemed very excited about the message and interested in knowing more. The older kids had more in-depth conversations as well. The day went very well and the kids had so much fun.
After camp we had an awards ceremony with the campers and their families. So many of the families showed up and came to celebrate their children with us. This is a good thing for the families to think of the church positively. Also we shared special awards with some of the players. One of the older campers with a rough home life shared about this award with his mother. He was so proud! This caused a conversation between our missionary partners. This is such a blessing that we have been praying for!

So as far a prayer requested go:
-Safe Travel for us going home
-Safe travel for the next Cherry Hills team coming for the English camp
-For the relationships that have been made to have a lasting impact and have truly planted a seed
-For the missionary partners here and the church here to grow in their relationships with the community

Thank you for all of those who have supported us in donations and prayer!
Emily Temby

DAY THREE

Day Three went the smoothest of all day three's of camp, especially with the two oldest groups! The transitions between the drills in the morning went very well. It was crazy hair day! So many kids participated and we brought colored hair spray to help everyone out even more! Today was the second to last day. We give out camper awards every year at the end of camp so today we really assessed our campers' skills and attitudes for the awards.

Bingo Night was a success! We had many families attend. I discussed this with some of our American missionary partners that live here in Pisek and they said that they see these families here at practices and around, but it is so great to see them in Elim! They are hoping this will help build a relationship between the families and the church! The gym was full of the sounds of laughter, friendship and community. We got to share our American candy too, so overall the night was great!

DAY ONE & TWO

So far this year's camp as been amazing! Day one went by so quickly and with so much going on that we didn't even get to the blog!

DAY ONE

On our first day, we had 42 campers! We had so much fun going over our basketball rap from previous years (as seen in the picture). All of the campers got a camp t-shirt as well. We had a lot of fun going over basketball drills, learning new skills, and introducing the idea of the gospel through testimonies and small group discussions. At the end of the camp day our team discussed all of the positive interactions we had with campers; it was so encouraging! Thank you for all of your prayers.

Our lesson's focus was on being the best you can be and how this glorifies God. Our discussion applied it to the team setting, which is so great because of how this is reflected in the body of Christ. We all have different parts to play, which is something we are learning as our missions team as well.

DAY TWO

Day two was our superhero day! We had so many kids dress up; it was a blast! Our relationship with the kids are improving and we had shared many stories with our team about how we have seen God working! One example: there are two campers that we have been told by our church connections here that they would really benefit from being at our camp. And after our Czech team leader Martin talked to them, they came the second day! This is such a blessing to see!

 

We are so grateful for how God has been working and we are excited for it to continue throughout the week! 

PRAYER REQUESTS:

-That God gives us the strength and discernment to share the gospel with our campers and coaches

-Tomorrow night we will be hosting a Bingo night with the campers and their families. This is an amazing opportunity to interact with the families and for the families to potentially get together with the church family here in Pisek. So prayers for that evening as a whole.

-As always prayers for everyone's health and safety to end this camp well

Thank you!

God Bless!

-Emily Temby

Today was such a unique experience in that we, the McAlisters, went to our first Czech church service.  We had no translator, but the worship was so special!  The music is the same, so we recognized the songs.  It was great to see our kids enjoy the praise music even though it was in a different language. The people at Elim church are so kind and gentle, so we really enjoyed the morning.

After church, we went to our first Czech restaurant and enjoyed authentic Czech food outdoors right by the river.  The high temperatures are in the 70's, so it was so pleasant.  My favorite food today was Krokety, which are little fried mashed potato balls.  Yum!

Next, we walked around Pisek.  Since it's Sunday, not many stores were open, but we enjoyed the architecture of the buildings along the narrow cobblestone streets. We also visited a couple of Catholic churches and it was so beautiful inside!

The rest of our team arrived today! Yay! Tonight we enjoyed the combination Czech and American teams meeting and planning the details of the week. We have 44 kids enrolled in the basketball camp, so we are excited about the turnout.

Please pray for tomorrow. Some of our team didn't receive their luggage, and some of our camp supplies are in that suitcase. Also, Sarah will share a magic trick as she explains good character development.  The magic trick is a little complicated, so she would appreciate your prayers.  And definitely, please pray for the campers, that they will sense they are loved by us and God!  :)

Greetings from the Czech Republic,

After a very long day of traveling, 8 of our 15 team members made it safely to Pisek today, the town where we host our camps. Unfortunately, the rest our our team had their departure from Denver delayed by one day. They were supposed to start their trip by flying from Denver to NYC,  but had their flight cancelled because of weather problems in New York. They will be leaving Denver on Saturday afternoon and will arrive here late in the afternoon on Sunday.

Prayer Requests:
That the team traveling today make all of their connections
For an awesome first day of camp on Monday

For the Holy Spirit give us meaningful connections with the Czech team we will be working alongside and the campers we will be serving

Blessings

Basketball Camp 2016

It is that time of year again: schools is out, summer activities are in full swing and for us, that means we are deep in the planning stages of this summer's basketball camp in Pisek, Czech Republic.The camp for boys 8-14 will be July 1st through July 11th. The Cherry Hills team is returning to Elim church (pictured below). During the camp we partner with Czech teens to be our translators and co-coaches. It is a great way to get Czech families into the church and build relationships with these Czech boys and teens.

We are blessed this year to have 3 families on the team—the Michael's, McAlister's and Temby's.
The Michael family (pictured below: Karsten, Kenneth, Kye, and Shirley) are joining the team for their 4th year and they are very excited to continue to strengthen those relationships they have built, not to mention the boys are phenomenal players!

The McAlister family (pictured below, even though it is a few years old, I'll get an updated one soon) are new to the team this year, and we are so excited to see how God uses them.

The Temby family is returning to camp this year as well. Jim and Candy are leading the trip bringing along their two sons, plus their daughter-in-law (me)!

From now until we depart July 1, we have some prayer requests we would love for you to consider:

• Protection and provision in our last month leading up to our departure
• Safe travel
• Team unity through the preparation process
• For God to prepare the way by opening the hearts, minds and spirits of the players attending the camp and the non-believing Czech team members
• For God to open our hearts to the Czech people and His leading
• An eagerness to serve and work hard preparing the last few weeks leading up to camp

Thank you for to all who are partnering alongside us! God bless!

-Emily, on behalf of the Czech basketball team at Cherry Hills