July continues to be the busiest month since my arrival here in Slovakia. As a ministry team it is vital that we take time to get off on our own, tell a few stories, laugh and just enjoy each others presence. This is Tom, Debbie, Marta and myself taking a day in Vienna to relax and get to know each other better. The atmosphere in Vienna during the summer is great. This was like a "taste of Minnesota" type of celebration where awesome food from all around the world is served. I had a hamburger. Kidding. Then when it gets dark they show concerts of different types of music on this big screen. Tonight it was Jazz with the Marsalis brothers of New Orleans and Harry Connick jr. It was a great day in the park.

This past weekend I decided it would be a good idea to return to Bojnice for the purpose of reconnecting with the many young people who came to baseball camp 2 weeks ago. One of the most important aspects of doing summer camps is the follow up contact. The young people who came to our camp heard and witnessed many new things regarding the person of Jesus Christ. Typically this type of experience stirs people up and creates many questions. It is vital that someone be there to answer those questions. The other goal is to just continue building trust and intimacy with people so that they can get a better picture of Christ manifested in you. It never gets old looking at the Bojnice castle.

Initially only a few people knew that I was coming to town. But thanks to cell phones and the internet the word spread that I had come for a visit and I had the pleasure of seeing quite a few of our baseball campers of 2 weeks ago. A good time was had by all at the putt-putt golf park. This is Dada, who you have met previously on my blog, my good friend Peter, Peter's sister Kristina and my good friend Eric. Janka, who is taking the picture, will introduced later.

It is such a privilege to be accepted into the culture of these young people. More often than not teens would rather not have adults around when they are socializing and out to have a good time. I have been given favor with these young people, which is a great honor, and I have true friendships with each of them. Its a great opportunity for the invisible God to become more visible as I love and serve them any way I can.

This is Janka, who you just met recently in the previous photos, and her father Jirko. Not pictured is Lutka, the mama bear from this family. They graciously took me in while I was visiting Bojnice and showed me the most wonderful hospitlity. Here we are at a private tennis club which Jirko and his business associates and friends built on their own. It is spectacular and we had a blast here Saturday morning playing tennis. Jirko gave me a good lesson in our match and again a great time was had by all.

Part of the big picture strategy is to get some regular meetings happening in this community. There is a large enough base of young people that we have established relationships with through the baseball camp that we could easily begin having regular meetings in Bojnice. The Young Life formula known as "club" might be a real nice fit in this situation which consists of an intimate gathering where music, singing, games and a short gospel sharing are the main ingredients.

These are my friends Janka, Igor, Ivanka, Veronika and Dada. Each of them are regulars at the Bojnice Baseball camp so I met all of them last year. Here we have gathered for some billiards and bowling. Seeing each of them again this year, it was as if no time had passed since last years camp. There is relaxed, comfortability here as we enjoy one anothers presence. Thanks go out to Janka for serving as translator for me and the others. With out her translation I cannot communicate with some of these people. My efforts to learn the language are slowly inching forward. However I have decided its time for me to get a Slovak teacher and begin a weekly meeting with that person so I can accelerate my learning.

The courts are beautiful as you can see. I have only played on clay courts once before so it quite a treat for me. Even though it was hotter than blazes we had alot of laughs today. The best part is I've been given a standing invitation to come back for more. I think I can fit that into my schedule.

I happened to mention that I like to grill(ok I said I was a master griller) and before I knew it I was in the kitchen preparing for the night barbeque. I was glad to do it as I had been waited on by this family so graciously during my stay. A little bit of brown sugar, a little honey and alot of pork chops. Mmmm. The daisies on my apron go quite nicely with my eyes dont you think?

There are more photos filtering in from the anniversary celebration and the baseball camp and so I want to share them with you.

In the center of this photo is a friend named Laci. Laci has been an employee of Good Sports, Tom's organization, for many years now. He has been the guy keeping things going here in Slovakia before Tom's permanent arrival here. Laci has been taking the lead role in the baseball camp for several years and has done a great job. Here he poses with one of the many families who send their kids to the camp each year.

Here are a few more pictures from this year's camp. Its a beautiful place and to all involved in this special camp this location has become our home.

Our morning routine. Time for stretching and getting the body ready for baseball. I had a great group of guys this year and am working on keeping in touch with as many as I can. They are spread out all around Slovakia so it is challenging.

As I said before, I threw a few pitches in camp. A few thousand pitches. My arm is still recovering. It was great fun watching kids who had only just begun to learn the game start really hitting and catching the ball. It was extremely hot every day but its alot better than rain.

And that ladies and gentlemen is why we wear the equipment. We use baseballs that are suitable for beginners. They are slightly softer than the real thing which makes a situation like this possible. We all had a good laugh over this one.

One of the best parts of camp for me is having the opportunity to share part of my life story with the rest of the campers and leaders. Unfortunately Adam, my translator, was cut off a bit in this shot. This year I shared the story of the bus crash that happened to our Young Life group in 2001. It is a compelling story for many reasons but mostly because of the way God showed up in the midst of our tragedy and not only comforted and healed us but increased our faith.

For the past 10 years my ministry partner, Tom Johnson, has been coming to Slovakia in the summer months to do the Bojnice baseball camp. The Slovakian people have grown extremely fond of Tom and his wife Debbie. The camp has become a highlight of the year for many Slovaks. It has touched the lives of 100's of kids and adults over the years. So, it was decided that there needed to be a party to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this great summer event. It was alot of work but it was worth it. We were given the use of this building, the cultural center in the quaint little mountain community of Bojnice. We spent the better part of 2 days decorating. Have a look.

There were over 200 people invited to the anniversary party. Most of those invited couldn't wait to come to reconnect with old friends, reminisce about great camp moments and just celebrate what God has done over the years in Bojnice.

Its interesting to see how each of the groups, the Americans and the Slovaks, percieve and value this camp. The Slovaks see it as a celebration of life in the relationships with family and friends. It is a celebration of community. The Americans share this wonderful perspective of the baseball camp. In addition to that the Americans seek to celebrate the author of life and the giver of loving relationships in the person of Jesus Christ. This is a great picture of that perspective.

There was a great assortment of flags, trophies, jerseys and pictures. It was a sentimental stroll back into the history of this event. There were many tears, much laughter and plenty of funny stories.

There was an entertaining program for the attendees which included an emotional slideshow, music, special guests, recognition of key people in the ministry and more great stories from the past. This anniversary celebration gave all of us such an incredible picture of the amazing ways God has revealed Himself over the years in this special camp experience. It is a great reminder that God is faithful to just show up and do amazing things in peoples lives when we ask and allow Him to come.

The video presentation was a compilation of personal video shot over the years by many different people from both countries. This project was several months in the making as the producers tracked down video from past participant of baseball camp. There were also several Slovakian celebrities in the video who were simply asked to go on camera and say "Happy Anniversary Good Sports Baseball Camp."

After a traditional Slovak dinner consisting of Goulash (a meat and potato stew) and fresh bread there was plenty of baseball cake to go around.

This is Tom Johnson with one of our baseball campers, Patricia. Tom picked up the peices of this ministry 10 years ago when the founder, a Canadian, had some personal problems and was unable to continue what He had started 5 years earlier. Some of you know Tom pitched for the Twins for 5 years in the late 70's. He was an outstanding reliever and hails from the neighborhood ball fields of St.Paul.

A great time was had by all. It felt like a big family reunion at this celebration as many of the same kids and families come back to this camp each year. The camp has become a huge tradition with so many people and has a great reputation all around Slovakia.

After an exhausting day of decorating and celebrating we still had hours of clean up to do. Then we had this meeting to begin getting ready for 100 kids arriving on our door step at 9am the next morning for the start of Bojnice baseball camp 2006. Whew!

We had a few precious moments to have the leaders of this years camp meet, connect, pray and strategize. It consisted of 8 or 10 Americans and about 30 Slovaks. Without our translators we are in big trouble. This is a great place to have a meeting. The Bojnice castle is one of the most famous in Central Europe. Bojnice is a quaint little community which thrives on tourism, mostly for this castle. Its origins go back nearly 1000 years. People come from near and far to be where we are in this photo.

Its important to have a little fun together as a leadership team before camp starts. The demands of camp require the team to work together, cooperate with each other and communicate well if camp is to be successful. We did a few different exercises together, such as the hula hoop pass, to build unity and comraderie. C'mon people, faster, move that hoop.

Each of the American leaders heads up 1 of the 5 main age groups. I had the oldest teen age boys group(15 and 16 yr olds). This is my team of coaches for that group. To my left is Adam my translator, the best in camp in my opinion. He is a 19 or 20 yr old Slovak with excellent english. To his left is Vlado. A 18 year old guy from Bojnice who has been coming to this camp for years and has become a pretty good ball player. Really nice guy. Continuing around the circle is Vlado's mom, Zdanka. She is a true baseball enthusiast. She coaches the Previedza Gladiators baseball team which is the next town over from Bojnice. This team was essentially created from players who were trained up in this baseball camp. After Zdanka is Dada. She is a 20 yr old young lady from a town called Zilina. She is a fantastic athlete and knows baseball real well. I had her on my coaching team last year and we became great friends. Next is Brian who is a 17 yr old young man from Texas. He is here on short term mission with a group from Hungary who have come to Bojnice to participate in our camp.

Here are 3 of the 4 Americans who came to Slovakia for 10 days to serve at the camp. Brett, Patrice and Lee. Patrice and Lee are veterans of this camp so they were able to come in and hit the ground running. They are all Minnesotans and we were blessed to have their expertise, wisdom and big hearts.

This is Matt Crandall, the 4th American team member. Matt was a great addition to our team this year and has also been here before. Matt has a heart for prayer which is essential to any endeavor like our baseball summer camp. Thanks Matt for all your help this year. Hope to see you next year as well (or sooner).

The kids are on their way and we are making last minute preparations for their arrival. This is the front of the "Hlboke" which is an old communist built summer resort. This has been the home for the baseball camp for 7 or 8 years. We rent out the whole place so we can have it to ourselves. The sign you see there is a Slovak design referring to "the evolution of baseball." In just a short time there will be music blaring, lots of hugs and high fives and big smiles here as we roll out the red carpet for the kids.

And then it happened. The kids streamed into camp with excitement, anticipation and lots of energy. Here are my teenage boys. There are 21 boys, only 4 of which were in camp last year. In 2005 very few spoke English. This year there were only a few that didn't speak any English at all. What a huge difference that makes for me. To have the ability to just strike up a conversation with one of these guys is invaluable. My goal is to get to know each guy personally. I want to give each of them a chance to tell me their story. We start by getting to know each other. In this photo, the guys have to alphabetize themselves from A to Z (using first names) from one side of the fire pit benches to the other without touching the ground. Hope you used deodorant today.

This is looking out the window of my room at the camp. As you can see this is a beautiful place. The building is situated in a great area of the foothills. Slovakia has a fantastic mountain range known as the Carpathian mountains. They are broken up into 3 different parts: the Matras, Fatras and most notably the Tatras. Its always nice to have a room with a view.

Meet Barbara (left) and Dada. Barbara is one of our translators and she does an excellent job. There is no peace in camp for translators. Someone is constantly tugging at their elbow saying "tell him that I said ... whatever." Its not uncommon for our translators to leave camp without their voices. They literally "leave it all on the field." These people are the bridge that connects us leaders to the kids and vice versa.
Dada I introduced you to earlier. She is my assistant coach for the boys group. She has a great rapport with kids of all ages. There is no concern about boys looking down at a female coach. Dada can out hit, catch and throw just about anyone in camp. And she's alot of fun. Her other great love is ice hockey where she is a fine goal keeper. These are the Slovaks of the week for my blog.

We are always in camp over the 4th of July and the Slovaks graciously join in with us and celebrate this great American holiday. Its great to see our Slovak friends come out in the morning wearing some type of American garb. And what would the 4th be without the rockets red glare. The kids of course loved it as they dont see fireworks very often here. We also had some relay races today involving food and getting very messy. I have not yet aquired those photos. It was a great time for everyone.

There is not quite enough field space at the camp site for us to do baseball for 100 kids. So, everyday 2 different groups board a bus and make the 15 minute journey down into town and set up at this soccer field. It was very hot each day and as the week went on we all started feeling like a french fry. Every year there are campers who are experienced baseball players and kids who have never touched a bat or ball. The challenge then is to set up your daily training time so that everyone feels challenged yet not overwhelmed. The best part for kids of course is to just play a real game. As the coach, I have to be all time pitcher to control the pace and level of the games. If I had a dime for every pitch I threw last week...

People like Debbie Johnson are an essential part of our team because some of these kids are quite young and have not had the experience of being away from their parents for such a long period of time. Debbie is a great mother figure in camp and all the kids really enjoy her. It doesnt hurt to have a cute little fur ball in your arms either. That is Nicska, the Johnsons little roomate. She also is a comforting presence to the kids.

It has been a busy and exciting June and July here in Slovakia. I have had the privilege of enjoying the company of the high and lofty as well as the meek and the lowly. This is Larry Silverman. He is the second in command at the American Embassy here in Slovakia. We have gotten well acqainted with Larry because he has a 10 year old boy who loves baseball. The only place to play youth baseball around here is with our team out in Devinska. So Larry and his son David join us each week for good times on the baseball field. They are from Boston and are Yankee haters so they are welcome in our camp. Larry graciously invited all the Devinska coaches over for a fantastic dinner at his home which beautifully over looks the Danube river here in town. Larry has also helped us on many levels to get established as a ministry here in Slovakia.

These young guys are the Slovak coaches for our kids out in Devinska. Each of them grew up in Devinska and were the first kids to be apart of this amazing movement over 10 years ago. When they were 9 or 10 years old some crazy Americans began showing up in their neighborhood teaching them a strange new game. Now they love baseball and they love Tom, my partner, for all he has done here over the years. They have the mentality that somebody took the time to serve them and now it is their turn to serve. I have grown fond of each of them but am frustrated that I have not been able to get to know them better due to the language barrier. Each of them are still searching with regard to their faith so we just continue to stand beside them and affirm them as they serve the new generation of kids in Devinska.

These are the coaches posing with Larry. They are: Stano, Fero, Jano(yano), Roman, Larry, Laci and Mischo. What a beautiful home this is. It was a real treat for these small town, blue collar guys and for all of us. I would imagine the meal was courtesy of the American tax payers so... thanks.