I only have 1 more day here, but I wanted to fill you all in on what's happened this month! Since my last post on the 24th of July, I've been extremely busy. During my last week here I've got a bit of down time, so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to update my blog. So here we go...
July 27th-August 3rd: Kairos Summer Academy: On July 27th I left for Turnhout, Belgium, where I spent one week at something called
Kairos Summer Academy (KSA). There were a bunch of other 17-25 year olds from all over Europe there as well, and it was a pretty intense week of training, as well as some good fun and fellowship. We stayed in a big school and we each had our own bedroom, which was pretty nice. There was a set of daily teachings about culture and how to build a good Christian culture, and then there were teachings on either leadership (for ages 18+), evangelism, or worship. Everyone was all together for the "culture track", and then we split up after that for either the leadership track, the evangelism track, or the worship track. I attended the leadership track and I really enjoyed it! Some of the things I learned were quite challenging to me, and I took a lot away from the talks. One thing that struck me during the culture track was that our culture, as "crooked and perverse" (Philippians 2:15) as it is, does not have control over us. We have a will to choose right over wrong, and we have Jesus who loves us and wants to help us stay on the path toward Him. In the leadership track, one thing that really stuck out to me was that women respond well to one another when they can see each other's weaknesses. The challenging part of this for me is letting people see my weaknesses. I don't like it when people see that I have failed or that I'm weak. I often don't even participate in things if I feel like I'm going to fail at them. What I learned though is that if I don't ever let anyone see me make mistakes or fail miserably at something, they may get a false image of me. People may (I'm not saying they do...) look at me and think that I'm perfect and that I "have it all together" and that I never make any mistakes...and therefore they can't relate to me. I don't want people to think that about me! I am anything but perfect! I'm striving for perfection in Christ...but that's all I am..."striving". Anyway, I was challenged during the leadership track to try and let go and let myself be okay with messing up every once in a while. It's not a bad thing to make a mistake...it just shows that I'm human! Aside from being challenged during KSA, I also really enjoyed myself. I led a women's small group the whole week and really loved the girls in my group. There were a couple really talkative ones in the group, so we never had any awkward silences and there was always a great discussion happening. Good stuff! :) Throughout the week we had free time in the afternoons, and I worked on the decorations for On Holiday (the second week I spent in Belgium...I'll explain in a minute). The theme for the decorations was Hawaiian/tropical/vacation, and I was responsible (along with another guy named Amin) for the decorations for the main room for On Holiday. During all of the afternoon breaks at KSA I was working hard making and painting paper mache fruits. We got the other KSA participants to join as well, so it was really fun to see people's crafty sides. :)
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Everyone from KSA at the beach!
I'm somewhere in the middle...can you see me? |
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| One of the lakes at Center Parcs |
August 3rd-10th: On Holiday: On August 3rd I hopped on a coach bus with just about everyone from KSA and headed from Turnhout to De Vossemeren (also in Belgium) for
On Holiday. One way to describe On Holiday is this: a big holiday (vacation) with a bunch of
Sword of the Spirit communities from all over Europe. Another way to describe On Holiday is this: not a holiday at all...more like absolute craziness for a week with a bunch of community people. I guess it was a good mix of the two. This year On Holiday was held in
De Vossemeren at a place called Center Parcs. It was a huge park with lots of cottages, lakes, an indoor pool/waterpark place, a hotel, a conference center, and a few shops. There was a bike rental place as well, so everyone got bikes and that's how we got around during the week. :) I led a
Kairos women's cottage during On Holiday, and I was also involved in helping with the youth programme, called Holympics (like "holy-olympics") which ran every day during On Holiday from 9am-11am. During my free time I enjoyed swimming in the big swimming pool/waterpark on site, kayaking on the lake, hanging out with the girls in my Kairos cottage, and...oh yes, attending Kairos Cottage leaders meetings. ;) One of the days during the week was a free day, so I headed off with a big group of people to explore the city of Brugge. We took a coach bus from De Vossemeren and the journey was 2.5 hours each way...but let me just say that I traveled with mostly Lebanese people...and if you know anything about Lebanese culture, you know that they're loud. You better believe that we had a guitar on board our bus and that we were singing almost the entire way there and the entire way back. Oh. Yes. :) Unfortunately I didn't do my research before going to Brugge, so I didn't have a good idea of what all the buildings and churches were. But I do know that it was a beautiful city...and I enjoyed some really good Flemish stew, some delicious Belgian chocolate, and a wonderful Belgian waffle. Oh AND I tried rabbit! That counts for something, doesn't it?
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| Some of the youth during their youth programme |
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| Kayaking with my friend Annalize |
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| Beautiful Brugge |
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| A bunch of us girls in Brugge |
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| I think this is what Belgium is all about... |
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| My delicious Flemish stew and fries. Yum! |
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| Mmmmm...Belgian waffle! |
Once I was back from Belgium, I spent the first couple of days catching up on sleep. Now I'm enjoying a week of "one last time"s in Dublin before I head back to Michigan! Since it's not over yet, I'll post about my last week sometime after I arrive at home. :) Please keep me in your prayers for the rest of this week as I prepare to leave this beautiful country and these beautiful people and head back home to my (also beautiful!) friends and family in Michigan. God bless you all!
July 27th-August 3rd: Kairos Summer Academy: On July 27th I left for Turnhout, Belgium, where I spent one week at something called Kairos Summer Academy (KSA). There were a bunch of other 17-25 year olds from all over Europe there as well, and it was a pretty intense week of training, as well as some good fun and fellowship. We stayed in a big school and we each had our own bedroom, which was pretty nice. There was a set of daily teachings about culture and how to build a good Christian culture, and then there were teachings on either leadership (for ages 18+), evangelism, or worship. Everyone was all together for the "culture track", and then we split up after that for either the leadership track, the evangelism track, or the worship track. I attended the leadership track and I really enjoyed it! Some of the things I learned were quite challenging to me, and I took a lot away from the talks. One thing that struck me during the culture track was that our culture, as "crooked and perverse" (Philippians 2:15) as it is, does not have control over us. We have a will to choose right over wrong, and we have Jesus who loves us and wants to help us stay on the path toward Him. In the leadership track, one thing that really stuck out to me was that women respond well to one another when they can see each other's weaknesses. The challenging part of this for me is letting people see my weaknesses. I don't like it when people see that I have failed or that I'm weak. I often don't even participate in things if I feel like I'm going to fail at them. What I learned though is that if I don't ever let anyone see me make mistakes or fail miserably at something, they may get a false image of me. People may (I'm not saying they do...) look at me and think that I'm perfect and that I "have it all together" and that I never make any mistakes...and therefore they can't relate to me. I don't want people to think that about me! I am anything but perfect! I'm striving for perfection in Christ...but that's all I am..."striving". Anyway, I was challenged during the leadership track to try and let go and let myself be okay with messing up every once in a while. It's not a bad thing to make a mistake...it just shows that I'm human! Aside from being challenged during KSA, I also really enjoyed myself. I led a women's small group the whole week and really loved the girls in my group. There were a couple really talkative ones in the group, so we never had any awkward silences and there was always a great discussion happening. Good stuff! :) Throughout the week we had free time in the afternoons, and I worked on the decorations for On Holiday (the second week I spent in Belgium...I'll explain in a minute). The theme for the decorations was Hawaiian/tropical/vacation, and I was responsible (along with another guy named Amin) for the decorations for the main room for On Holiday. During all of the afternoon breaks at KSA I was working hard making and painting paper mache fruits. We got the other KSA participants to join as well, so it was really fun to see people's crafty sides. :)
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