Post-Mission Trip "Breakup"

Calling it a “breakup” might be a little dramatic, and honestly, I hope we get back together next year. I’m not talking about any kind of romance. I’m talking about how much I long to be back in Prague and how it feels like a breakup.

They gave everyone wristbands from a cheap Amazon pack, and I still look down at this yellow band (yellow = the American team) and hope to look up and see the faces of those I miss—joking around in the dining room or playing dominoes together.

My Instagram caption summed it up: 

“Prague Sports Camp 2025” is bad advertisement because it is so much more. I never thought I would say that I prefer the mountains over the city. The mountains won me over not because of the pretty view of God’s creation, but it is because I witnessed God’s power, providence, and love in the mountains. The mountains are where beautiful friendships were formed and where sweet memories were made. The mountains are where God allowed me to love, serve, and share the best news ever with my new European friends. Спасибо, Иисус!!” (Thank You, Jesus!!)

I’ll start calling it a “break” instead of a “breakup” because I’m saying yes to any opportunity to see my European friends again unless my good and gracious Lord calls me elsewhere. God definitely compelled me to go this first time, and it’s become one of my most remarkable spiritual experiences.

words of wisdom

A couple of years ago, someone inspired my (slightly overprotective) dad to tell me something that’s stuck with me: “The safest place is where God wants you to be, so that’s where I would want you to be.”  With that same logic, I can confidently say: the best place to be is where God wants you to be. Within His will is the best potential for blessings!

You probably have heard this in another way:

When God is showing you something or putting it on your heart to do, the best thing you can do is listen and act.

The first step of walking with God is to turn away from your old life and choose to trust Him with your whole heart.

After that, it’s a journey of growing closer to Him—learning to make choices that follow His ways, loving others, and trusting Him to lead you step by step.

One day, for those who walk with God, this journey ends in the best place: being with Him forever.

I can confidently say that this was true for me in Prague. God had told me to go, and He blessed me abundantly when I obeyed! I'm so thankful for God and how He cares for me!

not so wise decisions

Just like any break or breakup, recovery has been a process. God graciously kept me very busy when I got back, so I didn’t have much time to mope. But it also means I still haven’t had the time to journal every precious detail or give an update to all of you who made my Prague memories possible, which I’ve really wanted to do.

In fact, I stayed awake for 20 hours traveling home so I could sleep through the night and head straight into work Tuesday morning. It just happened to be Super Summer week, and my rec league softball season wasn’t over yet. At the same time, I was blessed with a rare opportunity to spend time with the two daughters of the Czech pastor before they left Mississippi. Long story short: I was too stubborn to slow down.

Jet lag hit hard Thursday. By Monday, I started to feel sick and had to call in on Tuesday. Honestly, my brief illness might have been a blessing in disguise because I needed the rest so badly. During the trip, I seemed to function pretty well after traveling (maybe truly a God thing), and I had not taken into consideration that I would be recovering from both a camp week and traveling.

Before, I had asked for prayer requests. Now, we can praise God for everything that has happened and continue to pray for seeds to take root and church connections to be established!

• Praise God for being who He is! Our Provider!

• Praise God for safe travels and health during the trip! For logistics working out (especially with flight changes and baggage lost)!

• Praise God for relationships being built across cultures and language barriers!

• Praise God that my health concerns were not concerns at all (Mainly, no bad health spells and altitude did not affect me like AZ)!

• Praise God that our team had the honor of sharing the Gospel and testimonies with the students!

• Praise God for the eternal impact of this camp (I believe a few students did choose to follow Jesus)!

• And the list of praises could go on and on…

Anyways, I’m slowly working on making more content to share with you all. When people ask about the trip, they probably don’t realize a coffee date would have to last hours for me to even scratch the surface of what God did.

In other words: 

I have plenty to share. 

Not enough time to share it. 

And I’m still figuring out a strategy to record and share as much as possible.

This might take at least a couple more blog posts. Stay tuned. ☻