Croatia

Almost as soon as my vacation with my parents ended we left for a week long team retreat in Croatia. We were in a town called Hrvatska in a quaint pension 5 minutes from the coast. I spent some lovely moments walking along the Adriatic sea and plunging into it's cool, clear-blue waters. The focus of the retreat was to recap what has gone on so far and prepare for an awesome second half. The director of our internship and his wife came to give us insight on relationships, conflict resolution, and encouragment to squeeze every bit of goodness we have left on this journey in Austria. We all had a lovely time relaxing, enjoying the outdoors, hiking, and playing loads of games. It was truly a retreat.

I had the pleasure of hosting my wonderful parents for a full 12 day long vacation! It was very nice having them around, especially after such an intense summer. I will admit it was challenging to be the constant translator and tour guide, but traveling around with my parents was a lovely time otherwise. We visited Prague for an overnight visit that included a tour of castle grounds, discovering the old city, amazing food, and medieval atmosphere. Then, after spending some days exploring my more familiar city of Vienna, we head out for a trip to Innsbruck and Salzburg in southwestern Austria. We got to experience amazing views of the Alps and a fun Sound of Music tour. We also took a detour at the end to find the town where supposedly our roots started. Here are some pics of my time.

On Friday we leave for Croatia for our intern retreat. When we return we are heading to Hungary for a weekend and then hopefully will be done with our traveling for a very long time. I'm excited for these next couple travels, but am a little nervous for our time of settling down. I'm not sure if I'm ready for this next season, but God knows and He'll prepare me for anything.

My summer in Hungary has come to an end. We finished up at a conference near Lake Balaton. Our job was to play with the kids who came to the conference and whoever else that stopped by on the beach. I must say that it's really nice to have your main priority be fun and games and silliness.

This summer was full, crazy, fast paced, exciting, and splendidly tiring all at once. Even though there were moments where I wanted to leave desperately, I know that God totally had us there for a reason. It was not an accident that we didn't get our visas. God showed and taught me new things about myself, the people around me, and Himself. He provided for me in my insecurities, fears, and doubts when I tried to depend on myself. It was an awesome time to learn, love, and live life fully. I'm thankful for the whole experience and am looking forward to this new season of life.

In 4 days my parents will be here in Vienna for almost 2 weeks! I'm so excited to hang out with them and show them what my life here in Europe looks like. After that we have a week of class and then on to our intern retreat in Croatia! Praise God for all of these opportunities ahead of me.

Kiskunmajsa

The town we were in this past week was called Kiskunmajsa (Keesh-koon-my-sha). This trip was very different from the others. It was shorter, we didn't teach English, and our days weren't packed full from morning to evening. We helped out with two small churches that wanted to put on a week long evangelistic outreach. We spent most of our time in the center of town where they had set up a tent, chairs, and the OM Bus 4 Life. This picture is of us doing some singing and dancing on stage with the painting that some of my teammates created in the background.

Some of the things that went on at the outreach were kids programs, speaking sessions, worship, book selling, and late night movie watching. We also helped out by doing some dramas, singing, and telling of testimonies. I had the privilege of testifying on the last night. It was an awesome experience.

We also helped advertise the event by getting our faces painted and walking around town inviting children. We've learned a lot this summer about not getting embarrassed very easily :)

Overall it was a good week and I'm so thankful we got to help. We also had the chance to visit a really interesting refugee/homeless ministry. The buildings are in former soviet barracks that have been fixed up. It was cool to see that something once used for so much evil can be used to bless and sustain life! This picture is of one of the buildings that are NOT being used yet. The rest of the pictures are of some adventures in Budapest and one of my favorite Hungarian friend. I met her in Liter and she's been a huge blessing to me since.

Next stop, Balaton. Then, it's on to Vienna. This has been an awesome/crazy/fast/challenging/fun/exciting/unusual/ summer. But oh what a blessing!

Cegléd

English camp number 4 complete. We've had 5 camps back to back and today is our very first day off. I'm exhausted.

Last week we were in a town called Cegléd. We were leading an English camp for around fifty 3-16 year old kids. It was extremely challenging at times due to the language barrier and lack of translation. It seemed like most times we were just fighting to keep the kids occupied and less and less focus was on teaching English at all. Luckily, many of our evenings were free and I spent a large portion of them resting. On our last day the church paid for us to go to a water park/thermal spa. This day couldn't have come at a better time! We all had a lot of fun as we kicked back, relaxed, and had a ton of fun.

Next we have a few days off and then we head to another city called Kiskunmajsa. Supposedly in this town we will be doing an outreach to gypsies using the "Bus for life." This bus is a mobile literature store that travels all over Europe doing outreaches. I'm not sure exactly what it will look like, but I know we're going to be on the bus. Here are some random pictures from our time here in Hungary.

A statue symbolizing Hungary breaking free from communism.

The view from on top of the church in the center of Cegléd.

The train that took us back from the water park and the sleepy ride home to Budapest.

Magyarország

Our summer has completely consisted of camps. We started out in Gutenstein, Austria helping out at a European youth camp by cooking and cleaning. We came home for less than 24 hours and set out for Hungary. At that point, half of us went to a tiny village in Hungary called Litér, and the other half stayed in the town of Erd where the OM base is. I was one of the four who went to Litér and it was an amazing week. We helped lead a kids English camp with a local church. We were on the move from 8 in the morning till about 8 or 9 at night every single day with temperatures peaking in the 100s! The long days were totally worth the amount of memories and fun we had in this ity bity village. The Hungarian people we came in contact with absolutely blew us away by their hospitality. They didn't allow us to spend a penny the entire time we were there and made us feel so cared for and right at home. We had the opportunity to do a lot of fun things like go sailing, horse back riding, city exploring, and we even attended a street performers music festival. The kids were also a major highlight. I felt so reminded of God's love for us when I watched this group of innocent, joyful, and completely unashamed kids. They were eager to learn English, play, and just be held. My week in Litér was probably my favorite week so far since being on internship. It was amazing.

Oh! And how could I forget! The whole reason we came to Hungary for the summer was to get a visa. AND WE DID! We are officially able to legally stay in the European Union! God is so faithful. We are all very aware that God's plan from the start was for us to not receive a visa in Austria. This summer God is using us to be a blessing to others, while also teaching and showing us tons of new things. It's great how He works.

We also just finished two weeks of another English camp in Erd. This camp however was not for children. I was placed as a teacher for beginners and it was so much fun. My students ranged from 10 to 68 years old, all of them not knowing a lick of English. We had classes in the morning and evening for two hours each with a time of planning in between. It was an exhausting week but so rewarding. We all had so much fun getting to know our students and teaching them as well. We even got to lead a few chapels where the gospel was shared through a few of my teammates giving their testimonies. At the end, many of the students lavished us with gifts, fruit, and tears of thankfulness. It was an awesome time.