I've been re-reading the Harry Potter books to get ready for the next and last one coming out July 20th - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and I'm officially ready! I read the 5th and 6th one, then started over and read the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and just this last week i finished the 4th! So I feel good! =) I probably read 3000 pages during the re-reading, it was lots of fun! Now onto the next one!

Anyway, last weekend was a pretty special one - Caleb got baptized! The Hashes came for it and then spent dinner with us, and it was great. Let's see if I can get a few words out of Caleb about it...:

Yup. It was great! I was a little nervous at first because I had to give my testimony in Czech, but I was all good man. Ha-ha, and the water was freezing!! Our pastor said it was warm so I expected it to be, and then when I got in I was like WHOA!! But I was really glad the Hash’s got to be there. That meant a lot. ‘Cause the Ellenwood’s and Becca couldn’t make it, so it was awesome that Jacob, Dan and Laura were there. It was great though. And it meant a lot to me that Tyler and my mom did that song. It was just all good. =)

The song he mentioned is something me and mom decided to do about 5 minutes before the service...and as Caleb said it meant a lot to him. We played "You Alone" which is a song by David Crowder.














Last Saturday we also had some fun... So here's the story: For about two months, our family was planning to have the Pitcher family over for dinner to talk and just hang out. BUT what the Pitcher family did not know is that it was a secret "congrats for your ordination, Ken" party! Ken was just ordinated at instated as the official pastor of "CB Frydlant" two weeks ago, which is awesome! So the Pitchers didn't know anything about it, and everyone from church hid and our family went to greet them etc...and then when Ken came in he saw all the people screaming "Surprise!" It was great! We had lots of food and it was a great time being together as an official church! And also - The next day, on Sunday when Caleb (and another girl, Svatia) were baptized, it was Ken's first baptism as a pastor! So that's pretty cool too!














On Friday we had a Youth Group Team meeting and we were talking about what's up for this next school year. It was great being together and thinking up ideas and encouraging each other to be trying and doing new things. One thing that's up for me in September is that I'm going to start helping out at Tensing - the youth choir here in Frydlant. I'm going to be the leader of the Tensing band, and it's going to be lots of fun, but also lots of work. It's a big commitment, but I believe this is where God's wanting me to be, and I'm going for it! Two guys who trusted Christ through Exit 316 this last year (Honza and Robert) are going to form the band along with me and Caleb. Honza has been playing guitar for a couple of months and he has great promise, i'm really looking forward to teaching him more and playing with him! Robert (who i've mentioned before on my blog) is going to start taking drumming lessons and the music school, which is really cool. And Caleb is already great, and i'm okay =) so it's looking good! Here's a picture of Honza and one of Robert (from our trip to Slovakia)!





























Another thing that our youth group is going to have to be dealing with is the departure of our dear friend Mark Krupa for 10 months to get his masters in the States. This is going to be a big change for us, but luckily he'll be coming back, so we just have to survive those 10 months and then we can welcome him back to continue doing what he loves - working with youth!

And now some things that are coming up... This next week is our last week of school (thank goodness!) and then on the 4th is English Camp! I may have already said this, i'm not sure, but I'm going to be the music leader for camp, and Caleb and a guy that's coming from the States are going to play with me. I'm really excited about it, this is exactly the kind of thing I love to do. But still - it's a little scary. So if you could remember me in your prayers I would be very grateful!














And here's a picture that we took of our family last week...enjoy!

i've been meaning to get back to my wonderful blog for some time now (i have lots of things to write about!) but you know how it is... School is slowly coming to a close and studying and tests are a big time-taker. So. Now i'm back! Rejoice ye faithful readers!















Exactly two weeks ago on May 31st we set off on a 7 hour trip to Slovakia with our school. There were 25 of us altogether and it was a great time! We went to a place about an hour and a half north of Poprad on the Polish border. The scenery was amazing, unlike anything i'm used to - it felt like something from the Lord of the Rings!
















It rained a lot, but that didn't matter much. We stayed at a campground with cabins and spent lots of time in the restaurant playing card and board games. BANG! was the game of the week!

One day we went on a hike up to a place called "Tri Korony" or Three Crowns in English. I was listening to the Fellowship of the Ring audiobook on my iPod on the way up so that added to the coolness of the surroundings! Only half of us actually got all the way up to the top, the rest went down early and missed out on all the cool trees and rocks and random stuff like that!





























On the very last full day (Monday) we got into four rubber rafts and rafted down the river for about 15 km! It was lots of fun, and because I have some experience with rafts, I was named captain of ours, so i got to boss everyone around. It was great! =) I sat in the back of our six-person raft and steered most of the way, occasionally helping with catching up to everyone else. We reached this one spot which totally reminded me of the Fellowship's journey down the river Anduin - cliffs on both sides...it was really cool.















And then this Friday and Saturday something significant happened! Me and Caleb (but mostly me, Caleb abandoned me eventually) had our first real live performance! You see, every year, our youth group does a Streetball (basketball) tournament in town. This year we thought it would be fun to get a tent and make it into a little coffee-house, or "cajovna" in Czech. And of course they needed live music...who to call, who to call... Ah! Me!














So i prepared about 30 songs and with breaks in between and doing songs over again, played for about two hours on Friday. Caleb played for a while, and then his bass started acting up, so he left me to fend for myself, which i was fine about. Here's a picture of both of us when he was still loyal to me!














There weren't a whole lot of people who were in the tent, but on Saturday a LOT of people showed up for the Streetball tournament. So that was cool. I played on Saturday from about 6 to 9, and it really wore me out, but it was lots and lots of fun, i really enjoyed it!



























And so, we start to come to a close. Our grades are wrapped up next Wednesday, so after that, hardly any more classes and more freedom! Our English Camp starts July 4th, my Birthday is July 20th (for those of you who didn't know...hint hint!), then in the middle of August we're headed to the island of Corsica with our family and the Ellenwood and Hash family. JV Kids' camp starts on August 20th and before you know it...I'll be back in school! Aaah! It'll go by fast...Oh well, i guess i'll just have to enjoy the summer as much as I can while it lasts! Till next time!