Julia's Post

I am in the middle of a loud dark disco party, so I will try to write well. Please forgive me if not all of it makes sense. :)

Today was the last full day of camp. In the main meeting, we talked about Jesus talking Nicodemus and Jesus with the woman at the well. Afterwards we had a really good discussion in our small group about what we believe about God and Jesus.

Our English environment for the day was Facebook. We made profiles for people we made up and we played charades with things you would do on Facebook.

During free time, Bekah and I took naps. That worked out well for us because it's 12:55 AM. We get to stay up extra late since it's the last day.

In the evening meeting, we did an outside personal thing where we went to different stations and had to do things like write a letter to ourselves, write down the names of the people we needed to forgive on a pebble and throw into the woods, etc. There was a lot of crying, but of the good kind.

Now I'm gonna go join the dance party, so we will post more later.

-Julia

Camp day #3

Hey everybody!

We just finished another wonderful day of camp. Today I told the stories of Ruth and David & Bathsheba. This is the first English Camp where I haven't been part of a small discussion group, so I'm trying to get used to not being really close to the campers. It's fun getting to wander from table to table at meals though.

During English environments, I'm in charge of the Hollywood environment. The campers first have to design a new look for "Estonia's Next Top Model" using a few items such as toilet paper and tin foil. Then they have to make a video. It can be either a music video, commercial advertisement, or a movie trailer.

At free time in the afternoon we played Amazing Race. The teams had to race to different stations and complete certain tasks at each. My two stations were Cake Fishing and Gummybears Mix. In Cake Fishing the team had to have one person be a fish and another be a fisherman. The blindfolded fisherman uses a pole with a chocolate bar attached and must feed the fish who is lying on the ground. Only the other teammates can give the fisherman directions. Gummybears Mix was the final challenge and the most exciting. Each team has a giant bowl of gummybears and must transport them across the grass into different bowls by color. One person at a time. No hands. They can only carry them in their mouths.

Tonight after the final story, we had open mic night. Daniel, Helari, and I performed an interpretive dance born out of great love and admiration for the campers. I "sang," Daniel "danced", and Helari played drums. Julia did a short ballet solo and made our dance look amateur to say the least! Some sang or mimed songs. One girl read a poem she wrote today. It was her first poem in English and was very moving. It was about friendship and she dedicated it to all of us.

And now it's time for sleep again. Tomorrow is a big day for us. In the morning I will be telling a few stories about Jesus and how He has redeemed us. All the stories so far have been leading to tomorrow, and in the evening, everyone will be going through a labyrinth and stopping at various stations which represent the redeeming work of Christ. Please be praying for us, as this can be a very emotional opportunity for many of the campers.

First Day of English Camp

The day began....waking up at 4AM. I couldn't go back to sleep. Suddenly I heard a knock on the door. "We are leaving in 5 minutes." Julia and I looked at the clock. 8:55AM. We'd slept clear through our alarm.

The theme of camp this week is Redeem. God gave us a great example of that today by redeeming our day and turning our weakness into His strength. At 9AM we left Tallinn for Juuru. (Julia thinks Juuru is a fun word) Camp is being held in a school building and all morning and early afternoon was spent setting up the rooms, making signs, finding showers, etc.

We heard the bad news at 3PM. Half of the campers would not be coming. We now have 10 leaders and 7 campers. But we firmly believe that God has hand-picked each person here and are looking forward to what happens next.

We had our first main meeting this evening and I introduced out theme to the group. This is the most talkative English Camp I've witnessed yet, which is very encouraging.

I have 5 minutes to get ready for bed and I'm being distracted by the camper playing guitar and singing about Digimon, so that's all for now. Good night!

-Bekah

Day #2

A day full of training. Today we met with all three English Camp teams that are running this week learned more about how the camps will be run, prayed together, and did some practice small group questions. The jet lag isn't too bad today. We've all eaten way too much.

Tomorrow morning is when the drama begins. We could use the prayer because it's the first day of camp tomorrow and this is the first English camp for most of the people there.

That's it for now. I'm watching the USA/Ghana World Cup game and bonding! :)

R r r r rebtrott!

That's my new hit rap "song" by Daniel, one of our team members. Say hi, Daniel.

H-H-H-H-HHHHHH-HHHHH-HHIIIIIIIIIIIIII. (check it) <-- He's British. Don't worry about it.

Julia and I just arrived last night/yesterday afternoon and we're quite happily jet-lagged. We've met the other EC groups and will be having training in an hour. YAY Now for something creative and new from Julia. Say hi, Julia.

G'day mate. I am now Australian

And I...am obviously Bekah. Hi.

That's all for now. Stay tuned when we start making more sense.

*singujvshj gcuxm gujk <-- more from Daniel

*sings* "We are the wooooorrrrrld..."

Prayer request time!

Well plans for the trip are slowly progressing. We have our Multi-media sale fund raiser coming up this Saturday. I am praying that goes well and lots of people will come out to support the trip.

I do have a big prayer request. Airline tickets are around double the cost they were last year, which is the price we were using to estimate total cost. So now, instead of $1000 a piece, it looks like they will be anywhere from $1500 to $2000, and instead of a 14 hour journey one way, it may end up being a full 24 hours.

I'm not exactly sure how to pray here. I'd love to see costs go down of course, and I'd love to see someone (or many someones) step up and cover the extra airfare for the three of us. We need to purchase tickets within the week. A miracle would be lovely.

SPRING MULTIMEDIA SALE!!!!

Come support the 2010 Estonia Mission Trip
WHAT: CDs, DVDs, Books, Video Games and more for sale!
WHEN: Saturday, May 22nd 10AM - 2PM
WHERE: Solid Rock Christian Church in Coralville

Invite all your friends and family to the sale
Donate your gently used, family-friendly items to be sold before May 18th
Let me know if you have any questions!