Auschwitz

I’ve very recently just got back from the Muchan conference held in Berlin, the first conference of its kind created to attract Young Adult Messianic Jews from around the world. All in all it was an incredible experience with far too many things to comment on here, so I’ll just focus on the trip we all made as part of the conference into Poland to go to Auschwitz.

There was a decent mix of people at Muchan; mostly Jews but there were quite a few Gentile believers too. The main countries represented were the USA, Australia, Israel, Russia, Germany and the UK (there were 7 of us which was great, for a while I was worried it was just going to me!) so a good selection from across the world, all travelling together to the infamous death camp. What was particularly encouraging was the presence of German Gentile Christians who wanted to support the Messianic movement and go through the experience with us – I know I speak for the rest of the Messianic Jews at Muchan when I say I’m very glad they were there.

We arrived at the town of Auschwitz after dark in the evening and the coaches drove us to our guesthouse where we would stay before going round the site in the morning. In the evening one of the speakers gave a lecture on the Holocaust, its historical context and how it happened, which was very informative if not disturbing. Obviously this was quite emotional for many of the participants there, Jew and Gentile alike, and thankfully we had a chance afterwards to pray together in small groups and share our anxieties with each other about going round the camp the next day. Despite all the sadness and apprehension however we proceeded to have a great time of singing praises to God. We sang songs which spoke of God’s holiness and also expressing the fact that we are to always give Him our thanks, extraordinary things to state at such a time. It was a massive encouragement to me personally how everyone saw fit to give God glory at that moment through song, reaffirming that the reality of the Holocaust under no circumstances diminishes His infinite glory, holiness or justice. I’m sure those moments will stay with me for a long time.

The next day we walked around the camp. It had been snowing heavily, and the bleak grey and white tones of the environment around us seemed fitting in an eery way. We all wrapped up warm with layers to protect us from the cold, knowing that our ancestors were forced to do manual labour in the same temperatures with nothing but a pair of pyjamas. Guides showed us round, pointing at this and that, giving explanations and information on the way. There were lots of exhibits containing huge amounts of one particular item that had been confiscated from the prisoners upon arrival; for example there was a huge collection of shoes, then pairs of glasses, then various kitchen implements, even locks of hair that had been shaven from Jewish women. The collection that stood out to me the most though was one of a vast number of suitcases, all of which had names on them. Most of them Jewish names, ones that wouldn’t be unfamiliar to hear today. This particular exhibit made the owners of the items that much more personal.

We walked round living quarters for prisoners, underground prisons, and even round a gas chamber where we knew thousands and thousands had perished. We stood outside in the yard where Jews were told to strip naked before walking to their deaths in the chambers, thinking they were getting showers. We held a one-minute silence by a wall where many had been lined up and shot by the SS, and also saw various points where prisoners would be hanged naked as a public example. It truly was a place of horror.

After going to Auschwitz 1 we went to Birkenau, another part of the larger Auschwitz complex. This was very different in feel to Auschwitz 1. It was a lot bigger for a start, nearly a mile long in length. It felt a lot less ‘commercial’ too, not lots of museum exhibits or signage, just the camp exactly as it was, a vast landscape of desolation and monotony. Hut after hut, fence after fence, guard tower after guard tower for hundreds of meters, all exactly the same. I thought about how the monotony of the surroundings must have added to the dehumanizing of those kept within, any hint of individualism crushed. Birkenau for me evoked a stronger mood than Auschwitz 1, despite me even walking through a gas chamber at the latter. Birkenau is probably the most barren place I’ve ever been. We ended the trip by saying the Jewish Mourner’s Prayer together in Hebrew and English, and then by blowing a shofar (ram’s horn) at Birkenau as a symbol of God’s sovereignty over the events of the Holocaust.

So how did I feel? Well, when on the previous night we’d met up to discuss our anxieties, mine was that I would feel nothing, and be almost unmoved by what I would see. Unlike many at the conference, I was unaware of any family members dying there; my Jewish ancestors moved to England from Poland long before the Holocaust. The prospect of being numb scared me, and I felt ashamed at the thought of it. Luckily for me I wasn’t the only one who felt like this (even though I thought I would be), and in God’s sovereignty I ended up praying with someone who had similar worries, and we were able to share our burdens with each other, and in the end walked round the camp together too which was a big encouragement.

To be honest I couldn’t really get my head around what had happened at those sites during the war. I couldn’t grasp the fact that I had been standing in the place where a million of my people had died, and so I wasn’t moved as much as I felt I should have been. I suspect at points I may have hidden behind my camera too much, detaching myself from the experience. But even so, I expected to arrive at the camps feeling some form of ‘oppressive mood in the air’ or something, but there wasn’t one there. It was just…barren and lifeless. Of course, I’m horrified at what happened in the Holocaust, but part of me wanted to cry or show some emotion, and it just didn’t happen.

That’s not to say I didn’t take anything away from the trip though; on the contrary I learned something very important. One quote by a historian on the Holocaust goes like this: ‘The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved by indifference’, referencing the indifferent nature of many nations during the war that could have done more to stop these terrible events. This stuck with me and challenged me as I look at the indifference in my own life – of which there is plenty. There have been far too many examples of my apathy preventing me from doing the right thing, whether that’s maintaining communion with God, helping out a friend in need or any other number of things. Indifference is a massive problem for me, and its frightening to think that indifference can let something as profoundly evil as the Holocaust happen. May we fight indifference with all our might.

Of course the one immense encouragement about the Muchan trip to Auschwitz was the fact that we exist! The Nazis planned to eradicate our people, but the fact that an international group of Jewish believers could stand together there, years after the Holocaust is a massive testimony to God’s grace and faithfulness. Praise God that not only do the Jewish people still live, but that there are many such as us at Muchan who put our trust in Jesus as our promised Messiah.

More Posters

Here are a couple more posters I’ve designed for groups in the Czech Republic.

Out of the two I prefer the first one, which was a response to a request for a poster that would stand out to students amidst the masses of other posters on notice boards. In Czech it says ‘This poster could change your life’.

That should do it.

Film Weekend

On Sunday I got back from a Film and English weekend that UKH had put on as an evangelistic event for students. It had been a while in planning, and Craig, Linda and I had been involved in putting it together. The idea was that students could come along to practise their English, and also to enjoy watching some films in English too. We prepared the lessons, and chose films we thought had themes with which we could present the Gospel through.

The films we chose were Match point, Pay it Forward and Seven Pounds; and between the three of us we each took a film and presented some thoughts on the themes within each film, and how they relate to the Gospel. For example, Matchpoint presents a very nihilistic worldview and leaves the viewer wanting justice by its end, so Craig was able to lead discussion on where our sense of justice comes from, and whether there can be any justice in a nihilistic world.

I got the honour of doing a talk based on 7 Pounds, which I have to say is an awesome movie and I highly recommend it to anyone. I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen it, but it contains themes of guilt and redemption, which I got the chance to talk about after the film. I talked about how Jesus deals properly with the issue of our guilt before God, and how he secures a much better and fuller solution of redemption than the one presented in the film.

On the whole the weekend went really well. The venue was a school out in a rural part of Czech Republic, half an hour drive from Prague. The school is run by Christians, and used to serve firstly as a monastery, and then a prison (!) before becoming a school. All together there was around 10-15 of us, a mix of Christians and non-Christians, and the dynamic was very laid back and fun. Unbelievers heard the Gospel, so that’s something to praise God for.

I really enjoyed being a part of this, I have to say I have a great love for film so to be able to incorporate that into my job and then talk about the Gospel through it is a dream. Its also really encouraging to see how the message of Jesus is so relevant to contemporary culture, whether that is film, music, literature etc. People often say that Christianity is irrelevant in this modern age, and that we don’t ‘need’ it or any other religion anymore, yet if you look at the cultural expressions of today I think we see that people haven’t changed that much over human history. We still cry out for the same things people did 2000 years ago; love, peace, meaning, justice, redemption, forgiveness. These themes come up again and again in music and film, it shows humanity isn’t quite satisfied despite its progression in thought and technology. That’s why I think its really important that Christians engage with the culture around them with a view to presenting the Gospel.

Hopefully there’ll be plenty more opportunities to do events like this while I’m here in the Czech Republic.

Hebrew Messiah

Prague’s famous Karlův Most (Charles Bridge) is known for being lined on each side with statues of various figures, including this one of Christ. Now, I’m not really one for getting over-excited at statues of Christ on the cross, but this one in particular caught my interest; mainly because of the fact it is decorated with Hebrew letters.

In many ways it is very odd that a statue of Jesus would be decorated in this way; it certainly doesn’t seem typical to me when I think of other such statues depicting the Messiah. What’s even more interesting is the translation of the letters, ‘Holy holy holy, the Lord of Hosts’, a phrase from Isaiah which Jews even today recite in their prayers. When I was researching the origin of this strange sight, I found out according to another blogger, “these golden Hebrew letters were part of a humiliating punishment assigned to a Jew at the end of the 17th century who’d been accused of blasphemy. He was forced to pay for them, and it made it seem that when the Jews said this prayer, they were referring to Jesus.”

Perhaps, given the treatment of Jews in Prague (and everywhere else for that matter) in the past, I shouldn’t be surprised that the presence of these Hebrew letters was originally due to anti-Semitism and an attempt to humiliate and degrade the Jewish people. It has to be said that this statue is still controversial today amongst the Jewish community in the city.

However, despite realising the negative origins of this peculiar statue, it still symbolises for me as a Messianic Jew a much greater and ironic truth, which is proclaimed far louder than the original statement of humiliation it was meant to. For although in some ways the statue is odd, in a far more profound way (in my opinion) it is very fitting: for Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. He was (and arguably, still is) the archetypal Jew, promised through Hebrew Scriptures to be the Saviour of the Jewish people, and of course the Gentiles as well. It is only right that Jewish people should refer to Him as Lord, as it is only right that we should remember his Jewish identity.

When I think about this statue it brings to mind the Jewish community as a whole on this earth. The vast majority of them do not believe that Jesus is their Messiah, and so are still under God’s wrath for rejecting Him, like every other unbeliever, and are destined for eternal judgement. The Apostle Paul displayed genuine anguish at this fact (Romans 9:1-3, 10:1).

However, whilst not wanting to turn this post into a theological debate on eschatology or the relationship between Israel and the Church (on which I respect there are many diverse views), I do believe that there is hope for the Jewish people yet, but that can only be through Jesus. May God bless abundantly the work of Jewish evangelism. I pray that many Jews would have their eyes opened to the Gospel by the Holy Spirit, repent of their sins, and that they would genuinely declare Jesus as their Holy, Holy Holy Lord.

 

Philosophical Faculty Mission

The UKH group based at the Philosophical faculty in Prague are putting on a two day mission next week on Tuesday and Wednesday, which has been in the works for a while and is hopefully going to be awesome. The speaker will be Charlie Hadjiev, a member of the IFES Europe committee, who will be staying at our flat for a couple of nights. The topics for his two talks are ‘Full diary, Empty Life?’ and ‘Everything under control?’ so hopefully students at the faculty will be attracted by these issues and will come along to hear about the Gospel. I’ll be at the Suchdol group on the Tuesday so will miss the first talk, but I’ll be going along on the Wednesday to support the group and hopefully have some good conversations with any interested students that might be there.

Please pray that there would be a good turn out to both evenings, and that good conversations and follow-up would happen. It will be an enormous encouragement to the small group of Christian students meeting together if these evenings go well, and hopefully God will be glorified through students engaging with the message of Jesus.

Of course, I was more than happy to help out when they asked me to design the poster for the event.

Updates to come…

Chocolate Music: The Aftermath

Chocolate Music went really well last Tuesday and was a really relaxed and chilled-out evening. It attracted both Christian and non-Christian contacts and both Czechs and International students, which was really encouraging as the group at Suchdol was pretty much starting from scratch this year. The previous week I and the rest of the team had done some publicity on campus involving flyers and questionnaires, so it was great to see some of the students we met then turning up to the event.

As promised, there was both chocolate and music at the event, the latter of which was provided mainly by Craig and myself. We’ve uploaded a video and a few mp3 tracks from our 7-song set for your enjoyment, 2 of which are covers and 2 of which are our own tunes, so check ‘em out…

Ain’t No Sunshine

Down the River

I Just Called To Say I Love You

Other highlights from the evening included live latin jazz musical chairs, and a sensational performance by one girl singing classical music.

On the whole it was a great evening and as a result, from this Tuesday there is going to be a weekly Bible study at Suchdol. They’re going through the Christianity Explored course (I believe in both Czech and English) so it will be suitable for all, Christians and non-Christians. Hopefully there will be many more great stories to come out of Suchdol this year, I’ll keep you all posted

Chocolate Music

This is the poster I’ve designed for our upcoming Chocolate Music night at Suchdol university in Prague. There will be copious amounts of both chocolate and (hopefully) music, as well as a short evangelistic talk by UKH General secretary and all-round legend Tom Uher. The last two evenings we’ve been going round Suchdol doing questionnaires and publicity for the event, meeting both Christians and non-Christians, and we hope that both groups of people will be present next Tuesday. This way a) the Gospel can be proclaimed to non-Christians, and b) we can gain awareness of UKH to Christians and get a solid group up and running.

Craig and I are playing quite a bit of music (with the interesting combo of guitar and saxophone) so prayer would be appreciated. Also, we really hope that students will be up for playing as well so its not just us (since that kind of defeats the object of an open mic).

If I can I’ll get some video/audio to put on here after the event so you can see us playing our own stuff or murdering a classic tune or two.

Church

For the past few Sundays Craig and I have been visiting Czech churches (purposefully not international ones as we want to integrate into Czech culture as much as possible), in the hope of finding one where we feel comfortable to join and get involved with in some way. Bizarrely enough when we moved we realised that there was a CB (Czech Brethren church – like a conservative evangelical denomination) church literally across the road from our apartment, so we visited a couple of weeks ago. Obviously we understood very little of the service, but we did enjoy it. There were around 30 people there,  and the demographic was mostly elderly people with the odd younger person floating around. We sang from a hymn book, and a lady in the row in front would keep showing us her hymn book every time we sang so we knew the right number hymn. This represented what most stood out for us about the church, its hospitality. We were made to feel very welcome, despite the language barrier. People came to say hello, shake our hands etc. and the guy leading the service stood at the door at the end to say bye to everyone personally. He spoke a little English, enough to say a warm ‘God Bless’ to us which I found very touching.

Another elderly man spoke to us, and told us that particular Sunday was very un-typical of meetings, as most of the congregation were away at a Church plant that week. This included the Pastor, who we then realised wasn’t the man who had lead the meeting and given the sermon. We knew then that we would definitely have to come back another week to get a more accurate feel for what the church was like. We noted that we would like to be in a church with people our own age so we could make friends with people outside of work.

Two weeks later (last Sunday), after visiting a Baptist church in between, we went back to the CB church. And my, was it different! This time there were around 100 people, the church was nearly full. It was much more diverse too, people of all ages were present, including quite a large youth group (‘youth’ in this culture is very broad, it extends to ‘young adults’ like myself). The service itself was similar to last time, although there were a few additions (namely a short talk for the children, and an excellent choir performance). Craig and I correctly worked out the sermon was from 1 Corinthians 1, and it was great to see that they were preaching from the Bible in what appeared to be an expository talk.

Although things looked very different compared to last time, something that encouragingly hadn’t changed was the hospitality. Once again, people came up to us to say hello, and introduced us to people in the congregation who spoke decent English. The pastor himself came up to us and introduced himself, and we were invited to tea and coffee downstairs, which we wouldn’t have known about had we not been invited. One man apologized profusely that he had not given us an interpreter for the service. It was just really refreshing; it would have been easy for us to have been overlooked, especially as this time there were a lot more people – but we were very warmly welcomed. Many churches in England could learn from this example.

The icing on the cake was when a student called Jonathan came to us and introduced himself. He was part of the youth group and spoke excellent English as he had spent long periods of time in the States (he is Czech though). We got talking, and he told us about the youth group; when it meets, what they do etc. He also mentioned that they were playing football that afternoon, and when I said I loved football he invited Craig and I along! So, that afternoon, we went and played football with some of the youth from the church (and its sister church) and had a lot of fun (despite me getting some rather nasty insect bites on my legs).

I’m pretty confident that we have found the church God wants us to be a part of in Prague. I see it as a definite act of his sovereignty that we would live so close to what appears to be such a great church; I don’t think we would have known about it and therefore visited it otherwise. The added bonus is that because we live so close, we may have the opportunity to invite people back for lunch after the service once we’ve established some relationships with the people there.

Prague

Well, this is it. I am now in what is going to be called home for at least a year, quite probably two. First impressions and feelings have been quite mixed, but at this moment I’m really enjoying the city and am looking forward to starting my work here good and proper.

I’ve only been here a couple of days, but already it seems like I’ve been here for ages, and I’ve managed to do lots of stuff since I arrived. Saturday was a crazy day jammed full of stuff. I flew into Prague airport in the morning and got a lift from my team leader Gareth to the apartment where Craig (fellow team member) and I now live. This was a feat in itself; Craig, Linda and I all had 2 massive suitcases each plus hand luggage and yet all of us and our luggage was able to be squeezed into Gareth’s Hyundai. It was a miracle, that car is like a Mary Poppins bag on wheels.

We then managed to unpack some of our things before heading to the local shops. Firstly we bought ourselves new mobile phones to use over here, which involved us waiting a long time to be served in the Vodafone shop and looking rather socially awkward, but luckily we did eventually get our phones, and the shop employee spoke enough english to help us. Its quite funny: Linda, Craig and I now all have the exact same phone on the exact same tariff with Vodafone – we’re not sure if this makes us cool or incredibly sad, but hey I guess there’s no cost to team bonding.

We went to get our first food shop which was quite productive; funnily enough Tesco is the main supermarket near our house and it stocks literally everything so we got all that we needed. Food here is cheaper than the UK, particularly fruit and veg which is dirt cheap (we managed to get a bag of about 15 apples for the equivalent of £1!), so its great that we don’t have to worry too much about our weekly shop being too expensive. After the food shop Craig and I then set about perhaps our biggest challenge yet – buying a bed to sleep in, since our apartment didn’t have any. This required a trip to the Ikea in Prague, where thank God we were able to get a cheap bed each for £30! Yet again, a much-needed bargain!

In the evening we went for a meal and then for a walk to a place called Vyšehrad. Here there is a grand church and nearby is a high view over the whole of Prague. It was at this point that I started to realise how beautiful Prague is, I found the views of all the lights across the city plus their reflections on the Vltava river breathtaking. Its already become a favourite spot I think, theres a nice park and coffee shop there – itll be a good place to go to escape from it all as there arent many tourists there, just Czechs walking their dogs! I’m looking forward to exploring this city more, I’d love to find more tourist-free areas that are chilled out and quiet yet have beautiful surroundings.

So that was my first day, but what are my first impressions and feelings now? Well, Prague is certainly a lovely city, one I’m growing to like more and more. My team is great too, and my apartment is starting to look more and more homely. The language barrier overshadows any honeymoon experiences of the culture I have though. Its very unnerving and frustrating not being able to express myself to others, and I feel ignorant and stupid not being able to understand what a lady at a checkout says to me, or when I try to speak Czech to a waiter and he just replies ‘Are you German or English?’ I feel like an obvious outsider, and this hit me hard as soon as I walked into my local shopping centre. The notion that everyone in Prague speaks English is just wrong, and even if they did it wouldn’t make much difference; if you don’t speak Czech youre an outsider, just another ignorant tourist. I don’t want to be like that, I want to engage with the culture I’m living in – but it takes time; and its humbling to think that its gonna be a while before I get even close to that stage (if I do). Still, this makes me see where my identity is (ie. in Jesus) and helps me to rely on Him more so that’s a good thing. After all, Romans 8:28 is true whether I’m in the UK or in Prague.

Its not all bad though by any means, I’ve been here a few nights and its really cool. I’m already starting to settle, just soaking up the surroundings and hanging out with my team has been great. I’m looking forward to starting work soon, and on Wednesday I go away for a few days with the team for a short conference, introducing us to the work here in the Czech Republic. It’s a real privilege for me to be here, supporting this movement – a lot of students in CUs in Britain have no idea how well resourced they are compared to countries like Czech, and that’s why I feel honoured to help out here. I hope God blesses the work immensely.

More updates to come.

Formación

I always find it interesting how some of the coolest times or experiences in life often come unexpectedly. From seemingly out of nowhere you can find yourself in a position that you never anticipated, and be pleasantly surprised by how much you’re enjoying something. I’ve often found myself in this position, sometimes because of spontaneous or random decisions to do something or go somewhere, or sometimes because I knew an event was going to happen but was unaware of its potential significance.

The latter is how it was with Formación. I knew it was approaching a long time before I got there, but the conference itself was at the back of my mind for a long time. My immediate attention had been fixed mainly on my impending move to the Czech Republic; just a week or so before I left for Formación I was booking my flight to Prague and sorting out other bits and bobs. Formación itself seemed like not much more than a fleeting pre-cursor to the long-term move to Prague and therefore didn’t take up too much of my thoughts. When it did, I was mainly just worrying about the finances (see previous posts) rather than considering the conference itself. My expectations of Formación were that it would be like all the other Christian conferences I’ve been to recently (of which there have been many): great, but just another conference. Therefore, nothing to get too excited about.

And I have to say, a few days into my stay in Poland I certainly wasn’t that excited. It was fine at first,  I’d flown into Warsaw a day early with some other Brits going to Formación, and had spent the day wandering round the city which was really fun. The next day I got on the coach with the other CGLs (Community group leaders) to arrive at the conference centre a few days early for orientation and training. The training was good and it was great to meet the other CGLs, including Zaiga from Latvia, who would be leading with me in my group. The thing was though I didn’t feel that comfortable there; I was anxious about 150 students descending on the site, I didn’t know what my group were going to be like, I was also a little nervous about leading them. Above all I felt a little lost amongst all these other CGLs from lots of different countries. If it was bad now, how would I feel when all the students arrived?!

Well, the students did arrive, and the conference got under way good and proper. The schedule at Formación was quite full; in the mornings we had expositions from Mark’s Gospel by Andrew Page, a fantastic speaker. We would then discuss the talks in our discussion groups. In the afternoons we would have activities/free time and the evenings would be taken up with seminars, and various other things such as Culture Night, film night etc. After hours people could hang out at a late night café to sit and chat. On the first night I was introduced to my group (pictured above, who came to be known as ‘Team Air Guitar’ as Formación went on) and they seemed like a good bunch of people. There were 10 of us in our group representing countries as diverse as Egypt, Holland, Bosnia and Greece, and by the end of the conference I felt we’d become quite a close-knit gang. Im really grateful for all of them and feel lucky to have been able to build good relationships with them over the 10 days.

Activities are a big part of Formación; they are used to teach students about team work and identity. After each activity we would discuss it as a group, see what we learnt and then try to apply those lessons to our personal circumstances as student leaders in our different countries. I think in many ways it was the team activities that really brought our group closer together; we had a lot of fun playing basketball, volleyball and kayaking. Once we were more comfortable with each other everyone starting being more open and forthcoming in group discussions throughout the conference, which was great.

As I got into the swing of the conference I really started to enjoy it. Leading the community group was great fun and I got on really well with all of them; on most nights I would chat with one or more of them at the café after-hours. I also got to know lots of other students and CGLs better and I felt much more in my element. I gained loads spiritually from the expositions in the morning, and got a lot out of the personal reflection times that were set in the schedule (one extended period of reflection lasted 3 hours, giving us plenty of time to reflect and pray on what we had been learning).

There were some great stand-alone things going on throughout the camp too. On one day the whole camp took part in a dramatization of all of Mark’s Gospel, and I got the role of Jesus for a section! It was a really cool experience actually, the drama was well acted by all despite us being amateur. We had a bonfire night, a culture night (where some good old fashioned British stereotypes went down well) and also a chance to serve the community by doing some painting, decorating etc. in the local town. All in all, an intensive but awesome experience.

I think one of the things I enjoyed most from Formación was the chance to get to know so many new people from so many varied backgrounds. I had such interesting conversations with people from countries I know literally nothing about; and it was a pleasure to see such diversity united together in the name of Jesus. It was like a foretaste of the new creation! There were Arabs and Israelis hanging out together just fine, as well as Bosnians, Croats and Serbs enjoying each others’ company – just a great testament to the reconciling power of the Gospel. To be able to mix with people so different than me and yet have so much in common with them was amazing. To see how God has worked in people’s lives from all over the world was so humbling and yet encouraging at the same time, Jesus really is King over the whole world, not just England! I really saw the attitudes of students really change over the 10 days too, which was great – I feel privileged to have been able to serve as a CGL. God was truly glorified throughout the whole event.

Formacion truly was incredible, and made such a bigger impact than I ever expected it to. I learnt lots, had some great fun and was able to spend time with some incredible people, some of whom I hope to see again. It really was one of the best conferences I’ve ever been to; there was such a great sense of community among everyone and there were some emotional goodbyes at the end! Its been really helpful for me though in preparation for Prague, I feel a lot more prepared than I did to work cross-culturally so that’s a great blessing from God. What a conference!

In closing, I’m going to list some of my less-spiritual and more random memories of Formación:

- People clapping at literally anything in a meeting.

- The music team starting the song ‘Celebrate, Jesus Celebrate’ with the synth intro from Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ (a truly epic moment)

- Samurai. One of the best group games ever.

- The Papaya dancing.

- Literally hordes of Europeans thinking my name was ‘Jazz’ and not ‘Jez’.

- My community group’s air guitar presentation.

- The staple diet of bread, cheese and ham presented at just about every meal.

- Me drinking tea. A real rarity.

- Europeans speaking English with American accents (hilarious!)