World Communion Sunday Reflection: Joy in Letohrad with our Church Partnership

By Russ Good

It was a joy to lead this trip with Lois Lander, who was our English Leader, Sam Lander, our Games Leader, Allison Hagee, our Crafts Leader and Clementine Macklemore, our Worship Leader. THANK YOU! Without this team none of this happens. A thank you to Andy Kort for making a guest appearance and leading Worship on Sunday following the camp. It was clear that everyone in Letohrad was very pleased with our team. I have to say a word of thanks to our hosts: Allesh and Veronica and their family, Bohamire and Yana, Katka and Petr and their family, Joseph and  Hana, Sharka and Vasek, Nadia, Renada, and Adela.

First I would like to thank the Czech Committee, Family Ministry and the Moran scholarship committee for their financial and emotional support with scholarships and prayer for our team. Thank you to the congregation for their continued support of this very special partnership. It continues to grow and thrive. We will continue to look for more opportunities to share our experiences with all ages of or combined members. We are already working on visitors for next summer. Stay tuned!

Now to my thoughts, this is a very special relationship for my family as we have all traveled for this camp and we have all made very deep friends with both members we traveled with and families in Letorad and the surrounding villages. Cameron and Griffin still stay touch with friends made on both sides of the ocean and it’s fun to hear “snap” and Instagram stories of these friends.  

For Melissa and I we have made very deep personal friends in the 15 years we’ve been involved. We consider many of them second mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and children. We have seen some births, graduations, weddings and births of children of some of the youth we taught. I encourage everyone to get involved in some way, and to experience and build relationships that Miss and I have grown to love and cherish. Good News!! We have been asked agreed to support the Camp next Summer!! We will be opening the application process very soon and there is a limited number of spots (6) between adults and three young adults ages 18-20 (HS Seniors, in-coming Freshmen and Sophomores in college).