"Dobre Rano" (Hello) from Kar-lai...in Slovakia! :)

En route to Europe!

Zemplinska Sirava ("Slovak Sea")

Our American team successfully traveled from Washington, D.C. together into Budapest, Hungary back on June 29 & 30. I traveled with the smaller team straight to Michalovce, Slovakia for the SpeakOut training with Slovak staff. Everyone was excited to be trained and equipped for reaching native teens with the Gospel message through this unique, evangelistic English Camp.  

Slovak staff during
united training time with Americans

As of this message to you, 1 full week of staff training has just completed here in Slovakia...and the CAMPERS ARRIVE TONIGHT!! Please pray for their hearts to be ready for the gospel message, for the staff & volunteers to be led by the Spirit, and for God to be glorified! Pray that language will not be a barrier to the gospel, and that the work we Americans do here will bless and lead into the work the Slovak staff will continue after we leave.

CHECK OUT the photos I've taken thus far via Flickr (links also below) and get to know the American and Slovak staff on these 2012 Speak Out projects! Feel free to check and pass this link along to others - I'll be updating it every so often...especially as I am staying in Slovakia only until July 13 and then travel back to Budapest, Hungary to stay through August 1 to see the SpeakOut camps and debrief there.

Note: Praise God for providing 70% of the finances needed for these summer projects in Slovakia & Hungary! Please pray God provides the remaining $1,490 to cover these missions. (Donations can continue to be given all the way through my time here on project - but I'd love to see the rest come in by August 7, so please pray for that! If you wish to give, write out to Campus Crusade for Christ and send to 3326 Bo Jeremy Drive, Orlando, FL 32822.)

THANK YOU!
For His glory - - Kar-Lai :)

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2012 SPEAKOUTS: SLOVAKIA & HUNGARY   *selected highlights below
(Note: I'll be in Slovakia = July 1 - July 13; Hungary = July 13 - Aug 1...so keep checking this link: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAtb8tS for updated photos!)

Sunflower fields are everywhere!
(see more at  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAtb8tS)

Prayer Walk night
(see more at  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAtb8tS)

Pali, Slovak staff -
evangelism training time
(see more at  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAtb8tS)

Prayer Walk Night - overcoming barriers
(see more at  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAtb8tS)

Prayer walk night
(see more at  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAtb8tS)

Americans warmly welcomed by the Slovak team!
(see more at  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAtb8tS)

Doug; American-Slovak staff,
Slovakia Speakout Director
(see more at  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAtb8tS)

Viktor, Miska; Slovak staff, during training time
(see more at  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAtb8tS)

"Lemme call you back…God’s calling on the other line!”

(An update on my life so we can keep in touch…)My dear friends,

First, I apologize for not keeping in touch so well with you! I hope this message finds you in good health and doing well. You may or may not have known that I have been earnestly praying and seeking God for career direction for the past 2-3 years; I’ve felt ready for something different for quite some time now. I knew I was learning a lot at my current job, but there was always something missing that kept me from feeling that “click” in my Spirit that said this is what I would give my life to do all the time! Last year, I’d actually interviewed for several other jobs on the college campus that were related to recruiting for a specific program. While I was always one of the top 2 candidates, the other person always got the job…and I never really felt myself getting fired up about those jobs. In the meantime, I was getting more and more active in ministry related activities in and outside of the workplace, and I was learning to have a greater love for God so that Christ was taking over more facets of my life and being. Realizing that I have become a great recruiter for my employer, I found myself also realizing that I can and should be an even more effective recruiter for Christ.

Back in June, I’d visited my sister in Korea (she’s teaching English out there) and was able to meet up with my friend Amber, who’s now pastoring a church plant out there in Seoul. I did some music ministry with her and got to meet and hang out with the young adults she ministers to. That really got me interested in missions work as I seriously considered joining her in her ministry there in Korea. So, upon returning to Syracuse, I looked again at a web site my friend Liz had mentioned back in October of 2008 – www.rightnow.org. It’s a site that is like the Craig’s list of missions opportunities. I browsed through their postings (part time, full time, short/long term missions opportunities), bookmarked a bunch, and finally filled out a profile for myself and submitted it to the RightNow people so they could connect me with a missions coach. My coach, Heather T., was able to talk with me and recommend 4 organizations that would be a good match for my interests and giftings. She reached out to those organizations and told them of my interest in their ministry work, and within 1 week, 3 of the 4 organizations contacted me back. The last one was the one I was most interested in, so it worked out well that I was both busy that month and not as interested in the other 3 because the last one, Student Venture, finally got back to me after a month – which is when I finally had a break in my workload to focus on this stuff again! I ended up speaking with Warren B., the National Director of Recruitment for Student Venture (www.studentventure.com), which is the jr/sr high branch of Campus Crusade for Christ, Inc. (www.campuscrusadeforchrist.com). The position is a full-time staff position with the national headquarters as…guess what…a Recruitment Specialist!! Which is exactly what I’m doing now, but it would merge my passion and love for God with my professional life as I seek to recruit new staff members to join and work in the field to mentor, disciple, and train up high schoolers to be solid in their walk with the Lord.

As I think and pray more and more about it, it’s almost as if God was leading and preparing me for this possible new job ever since I was a teenager: I was the quintessential example of why it is of utmost importance to have something like Student Venture around in high schools to disciple and ground young people in their knowledge of and relationship with Christ. As a teen in high school, I called myself Christian but I didn’t really live like I was in love with Jesus – I was just coasting by. I was lukewarm and under the radar both in school and when I went to church. I didn’t want to make any waves and so I didn’t “wear Christ” on my face and sleeve like I do now. But, like most young people, I thought that going to college would solve my problems and I’d finally “find myself.” Instead, because I wasn’t grounded in Christ, I sank into pit of all the things the world uses to tempt you to fall away from God. I firmly believe that, if I’d had someone mentoring me in high school and helping me to find my identity in Christ before I went to college, it would have been less likely for me to fail so miserably at everything as I tried to find happiness, purpose and acceptance apart from God. As I pray, search God’s Word and consult with trusted Christian friends about this opportunity with Student Venture, I hear and believe more and more that this is God’s leading: in His grace and mercy, He is showing me that he can use what was my greatest shame and regret to bring Him glory by helping others avoid the same mistakes. So, in that sense, I identify very strongly with the mission, purpose, vision and values of Student Venture/Campus Crusade for Christ and see how this could be the way God combines my recruitment experiences with my past personal experiences.
Love,
Gahlai
*Next time…an update about my visit to Student Venture headquarters in Orlando, FL to meet with staff and have an interview!