kupalisko

Slovakia
Originally uploaded by davidcharding.

welcome to hell on earth. ok, maybe that was a bit strong. but this was one of my choices for free-time during the camp i was at last week. but you can bet i opted to sleep instead. sure, it would have been nice to get wet because it was quite hot, but if the price was two-fold: sardine-age and being seen in a swimming suit then no thanks, lady. i think i'll snooze. slovaks are really crazy about their kupaliskos:) the camp was, after all, very much like salt in the summer. there was a large tent with services in the mornings and evenings. great worship and funny videos. nine different people spoke about the touch of God. the eternal touch. and it was amazing. it was so neat to hear about this topic from so many different perspectives. my favorite speaker was an american missionary named danny jones. slovaks absolutely loooove this man. he's lived here for maybe ten years and his slovak is really good, but occasionally he'll make a mistake and they are just sooooo endeared. he talked about how none of us was a mistake. that Jesus was there when every single baby was conceived. whether they were wanted or not by their parents, whether they were expected or a surprise, God made them. it was God's touch. he said it so much more beautifully than that. but one part i liked so much. he talked about when bad things happen to us, like sexual abuse etc. and when people ask "where was God when this happened to me?" he said that that's why Jesus came to earth. because of these things. that He cries when these things happen to us. i don't know it was so heart-felt and sincere and beautiful.
i got to spend the week with my friend katka and it was so great. i like her so much. and then people from banovce came every night for the services too. the last night my gypsy lady came with pastor rast'o and others and it was amazing because they had us go forward and pray for our leaders and i got to go with the banovce church and pray for rast'o and i just felt so much a part of them. our church tends towards quietness and shyness (rast'o is quiet and full of humility) and while other churches were sort of roaring in prayer (which is also beautiful) ours was quietly praying. just such a blessing for me. God did a lot in me at the camp, too. one night we were praying for the touch of God and i saw a vision of Jesus walking toward me. well, actually i saw his feet walking toward me and i was overcome with the realization that this same Jesus is the one that was in the Garden of Gethsemane. then my roommate prophesied over me (she knew nothing of me or my story) and it went right to the heart. for the third time God said to me, "you are doing so much more than you realize here." and i just cried. and on the last night during worship people went forward for prayer and this gypsy man we call "little jaro" from our church went forward and my friend asked me if i wanted to pray for him. i was shy to just because of the language barrier, and it takes courage to do so. but then God spoke to me the same things He's been telling me for a year or so. something along the lines of "live without regrets." i wanted so badly to pray for him but was frozen. then i just felt this rush and thought about how i would feel if i didn't. so i went forward and did it. and then later, too, for an angel of a girl named idka who is a nanny in england. i was so glad i did. prayer unites us. not just people but unites us with God and it's so precious. i'm starting to see that the things in life that are precious have to be fought for.