It was an exciting, non-stop week of Life & Adventure! So here is the whole week in one mega blog post!

The old saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” We’re relying on that adage to help tell the story of all the ways God’s Holy Spirit moved in, around, and through the entire retreat. The Devil was also doing his best to try and distract via a nasty little, 24-hour stomach bug that worked through almost the entire International team and several students. Thanks be to God, we put our team training into practice by being flexible, pivoted as necessary, and persevered so the participants were none the wiser.

The blessings were many as participants from Slovakia, Latvia, Ukraine, Albania, and the U.S. gathered at Hotel Autis, situated right at the base of the magnificent High Tatras mountains, for the week contemplating the great Exchange we have in Christ Jesus.

After moving from the Ichthys Center (location for the previous retreat) to our new digs, at Hotel Autis, the international team gathered to plan and share ideas for leading the retreat in the week ahead. It also happened to be Pastor Joel’s birthday, which meant we all got cake! On Sunday morning, the U.S. team was able to experience worship in Slovak, as we gathered at the Lutheran Church in Batizovce. Our host for the week, Pastor Miro Mato, led the liturgy and Pastor David preached from John 20:19-31, asking the question, “What do we believe?”

Following lunch, it was time to welcome the retreat students, have dinner, play ice-breaker games, and open the retreat by introducing the theme for the week: Exchange. – Death for Life, Comfort for Purpose, Self for Christ, and Loneliness for Friendship and singing memorable praise songs with our worship leader, Brian. Then, Pastor David spoke into the week’s theme by sharing his testimony and emphasizing how relationship is at the core of all things in Christ and those who would follow Him.

Move In and Opening Evening

Day One – Building Relationships and Introducing the Gospel

Brian led music and worship for the entire week!

Day Two – Finding our Purpose in Christ

Day Three – Rain Day, Live Game of Clue!, and International Dance Party!

It was a rainy day, so after the opening session and small groups, we played a live game of Clue! Later, a memorable evening of music shared by our international partners was enjoyed by all, including the opportunity to learn some traditional dances!

Day Four – Hike Day and The Passion of the Christ

Thursday is hike day and movie night. It was also the opportunity for Pastor Wendy to connect many of the dots for all the ideas we have been exploring and set up a good place for us to receive the incredibly powerful messages from the movie, The Passion of the Christ.

After retuning from the hike and having dinner, we broke into heart-language groups in order to read through John 16:33-19:42 and prepare our hearts and minds for watching the movie.

The movie was so incredibly powerful that it left the entire camp in silent contemplation for 45 minutes after the credits rolled. We departed in peace.

Day Five – Wrap Up and Saying Goodbyes

Watching such a powerful movie required a careful and full debrief to help unpack what everyone experienced and learned in watching Christ’s passion. Brian and Rachel did a great job of walking us through important questions and encouraging thoughtful answers for us all to consider. Of course, it was also our last time to gather for worship and praise – while wearing our really nifty camp t-shirts!

Rachel also shared her testimony and we gathered for many photos and tear-filled goodbyes before participants departed for home.

Team Debrief and Decompression in Vienna

One of the most important things for every mission team to do is debrief! So many new experiences and opportunities for God to teach us more about ourselves and how we can better serve Him require intentional time to unpack it all. We spent over two hours, on Friday night, reading Scripture and working through thought-provoking questions that helped us begin to identify how to merge back home, while incorporating our experiences into the context of everyday life and serving. We also learned how we can begin to tell the stories to those who are interested to hear and share how God worked in, around, and through us in Slovakia!

Spending a day and a half in Vienna, Austria also helped us to begin moving out of the “team living” experience and reclaim some autonomy, as we had opportunities to go find adventure and visit spectacular sites from history in this beautiful city, before making the long journey back to our homes.

Everyone made it home safe and without incident! Thank you for your prayers and support!

Here’s how you can stay involved and what you can do!

Pray Continuously: Set aside time each day to pray for the mission trip. Pray for the people we served, all of our international ministry partners who participated, and for the work God did in, around, and through us in Slovakia. Pray especially for the teens and their families, who joined us. We hope many were positively impacted by the retreat. Pray for people to grow in curiosity toward Jesus and His Good News.

Get Involved: to learn more about the Spiritual Orphans Network, navigate to: https://sonetwork.org/learn/connect/ and fill out the form to request more information.

Pray about serving on a SON Team in 2025! The summer 2025 schedule and new applications will available by October 1st, 2024.