Pee Wee Camp

Prague Eagles peewee team

Sorry for the late update, but it has been quite crazy here in the Czech. Just about every night, we do not get to bed until midnight or so even if camp ends around 9pm. Regardless, here is a recap of the first camp.

The first camp was a peewee camp so peewees and junior teams attended, which meant we got to work with lots of adorable little children! At FCC, we have something called FBI's, which stands for "Faithful Buddy Instructor" and we are paired with a "faithful buddy" team for the week. My partner instructor was Jana, one of the Czech staffers. Our FB's for the week were the Prague Eagle peewees and Pilsen juniors. Not only did we have several girls, but it also meant we had a lot of names to learn! The language barrier was a bit more difficult for the little ones to understand, but my staff instructor partner for the week was a great help in translating during FBI time. The kids were so adorable, and they enjoyed teaching us their language and culture throughout camp.

Eagles quacking as little "duckies" to represent my school Oregon :)

Another thing we do at FCC camps is "Primetime", which is typically like a short chapel in the U.S., but since this is a secular camp, it is slightly different. Addi, one of our U.S. staffers, spoke on being selfless. She touched on putting others ahead of themselves and doing something nice for others. On night two, Erica spoke on how everyone is created uniquely. She used the example from the Bible about the body and how each body part plays an important role. The young children enjoyed the analogy and lessons of that night. On night three, FCC was blessed to have one of the coaches from TKR Tabor, Zuska (Susan in English) gave her testimony during primetime. It truly was a gift to have a Czech coach give that message because it made it that more personal for the campers. I was also lucky enough to speak that night as well. I used the story of David and Goliath from the Bible to talk about strength, and I used my own relationship with God as an example of how He has given me strength to get through some difficult times in the last few weeks. We had FBI time right after primetime, and it was interesting to see how the campers responded to the testimonies and the message as well as to just the mere concept of God. Although most of my faithful buddies were very young, they were very loving towards me and wanted to comfort me after I shared some of my own difficult times that God has helped me through. Even though there is a language barrier, the language of love is universal, and when you are genuine people can truly tell. I could only hope they were able to see my genuine love for this country, their people, and these campers.

With coaches Nikki and Christina

The last day was quite hard emotionally. As usual, we had our camp championships just like in the U.S. Then we had our final goodbyes with our faithful buddies, which was hard. It's hard to grasp that I might never see some of these campers again, and I can only hope that I was able to make some sort of difference in their life whether is was through cheerleading, sharing the gospel, and simply loving on them. The little peewees were all so adorable I just wanted to take them home with me. Goodbyes at the FCC camps in Czech are more formal and emotional compared to the ones in the U.S. because as staffers you truly become attached to the campers. There is a special bond you form that is indescribable and incomparable than the kind at the camps in the U.S., which only staffers who have come on the trip can relate to.

With little Theresa from Prague Eagles

Czech staff painted their faces as FCC tigers on fun day

Overall, it was a successful first camp, and I am grateful to have loved on and gotten to know so many precious children of God. Hopefully I will be able to come back again in the future and see them again :)

Eagles gave Jana and I a little gift!