I continue to enjoy every moment I have with these young warriors.  They are so excited about Christ and growing in Him.  I am also beginning to see how much they are growing to care for one another also. This weekend, Oliver had a track competition in Bratislava.  The guys decided that it would be good for us to travel to Bratislava, to support our brother in his competition.  It was a great trip.  We saw him compete and even come in third in the long jump with his personal best, he jumped just shy of 17 feet! We went to Mexican food, studied God’s Word, and prayed along the Danube river as the sun was setting.  Truly a great time!

I have a couple highlights of this time.  The first was Oliver’s goal for the competition, and our groups prayer for him.  His desire was to honor God in the way he competed.  Before he competed our group prayed for him by the track in front of his coach, team mates, and fellow competitors.  Two of the guys prayed that Oli would be an example of Christ to all around him in the way he competed. I am almost coming to tears thinking about how much these boys care for one another and desire to spur each other on toward Christ. A second highlight for me, was the trip there and back.  In the car we sat 2 by 2 in each of the rows.  Each pair talked the whole time to each other.  We were all mixed naturally with a guy we probably least communicate with in the group. The conversations were good and I would say deep.  We listened to music the last 3o minutes of the 2 hour trip and sang at the top or our lungs to the songs. The thing that amazed me the most, was that the whole time in the car, when I looked back in the mirror I saw guys talking, not on their phones!  I don’t know how much time you spend around teenagers these days, but it is nearly unheard of to see a teenager, for two hours, not just staring at their phone. God is doing great things among these young men!

Lunch

Cheering on Oli