This formation of our Youth with a Mission Central Europe Core Circle met in person for the first time since we came together over a year ago. It was so much fun to spend time together in person! We decided on Budapest as our place to meet as it is kind of central. It also has good views!
Here we are: Steve, Rune, Robin, me and Ema.
We are the core team that leads the rest of our bigger Area Circle Team, and even though we meet monthly on zoom as an ACT and even more frequently as the core, it is just not the same as when you are in person!
We met sometime at the hotel, other time at the YWAM Budapest ministry centre, but also in cafes so take advantage of out beautiful locations. We were meeting to talk through many of the things happening in Central Europe. When Steve's wife asked us "do you have enough things to talk about for 3 days" our reply was "maybe too much!". But in the end we moved forward on many things on our agenda and at least started talking about other things.
We did some team building activities, including going to the Széchenyi Thermal Baths where in between bathing we even carried on some discussions!
Here is our Album Cover shot:
We did enjoy good food and also some fun icecream along the way!
All in all, our core team enjoyed our meetings, and look forward to meeting in person with the rest of the wider Area Circle Team of around 20 in October in Poland.
I started mid-January in Budapest, where I was part of the week-long intensive FOCOS Foundational Coaching Skills Training. It is part of a year-long program that I am taking part in this year. There were 21 of us from all over the world learning how to be life coaches. It was a lovely group of people, and we had a great week learning together!
It was a very intensive workshop - but we did have one afternoon of seeing the beautiful city of Budapest:
Some of us went up to palace and the Castle district where I got some lovely photos:
We also had time in the evenings to wonder around... and take in some sights:
Or make album cover photos... (did I say this was a fun group?!)
After that, I had a week before I needed to be in Prague for a conference, so I decided to stay in Budapest for a couple of days and meet up with people there... it happened to be Edyta's birthday so I got to hang with her and Marie which was especially fun...and also got to see other fun friends there too!
Then it was time to go a bit early to Prague to spend time with David and Irena and their four girls. It was a great time to catch up with them (they used to live and work in Banja Luka), especially as it was a couple of days before David was diagnosed with Leukemia! He is busy getting treatment in hospital in Prague and the prognosis is good, but it was still a bit of a shock...for them and for me. (if you pray, please remember them in your prayers!)
Then it was time for the European Leadership Gathering - about 350 leaders from all over Europe met in Prague. Our first night we even had Loren Cunningham (below right) who is YWAM's founder. It was a privilege to hear him speak to all of us:
We also heard from all sorts of YWAM greats: here are Jeff and Romkje Fountian being interviewed on the sofa by Tove:
We also got creative: Here is Carl Tinnion (the outgoing European leader) doing a monologue as Jan Hus: a Czech theologian who was an early reformer whose thinking influenced Luther!
He was burned at the stake for his "heretical thinking": and Carl's monologue made us truly think about his premise that "Truth Prevails":
I was involved in a LOT of the behind the scenes organising but did get to be a part of the program on the last night along with Dick Brouwer, our new European Leader:
Probably my favourite moment of the whole week was when Al Akimoff (one of our long time YWAM leaders) prayed for our outgoing YWAM leader, Carl Tinnion... you can see me wiping the tears off during it, I was laughing so hard...
During the week, I decided that we needed to get our lovely Central European area together one afternoon. It was a great time of sharing and we so enjoyed being "just us":
But my favourite part of the whole week was definitely hanging out with my buddy, Rebecca: She and I were the communication team for Central Europe for 5 years before she moved from Czech to Thailand. I recruited her to come and help at the conference and we had a great time. We also got to spend one afternoon after the conference seeing the sights of Prague:
Then it was time to head to the UK: I promised Rebecca that if she came to Prague to help we would finally make good on our promise to go visit our ex-leader (whom we worked for for those 5 years). So we went to spend a couple of days with Carmelita - we were near to Shakespeare's place of birth (Stratford-upon-Avon) so we went for the day - here we are in front of his birthplace: (not sure why I have the scrunchy face haha)
And then we met a local who told us where to go to see his place of burial:
It was also good to meet Carmelita's husband, Derek... God told her to leave YWAM, then she met him, and got married after 50 - so there's hope for everyone! Here we are in front of the church across the street from their house:
It was a fun couple of days of catching up and hanging out:
Then it was time to go and visit my sister in Oxford - I did get to spend time with my niece and brother and law as well - but the only pic I got was with A in front of the Radcliffe Camera:
Then after 4 weeks, 7 different beds, a load of buses, a train, two planes, one workshop, one conference, and visiting good friends and family, it was time to head home to Banja Luka again... I love travelling, but I love my own bed just as much!!
As my good friend, Janice, is now living in Vienna, I decided it would be a good place to go to spend New Year's, before heading out to see some YWAM people around the Central European region. My first adventure was being kicked off the bus from Zagreb to Vienna as it was overbooked and put on the bus 3 hours later. I did get vouchers for my trouble, but as it was my first journey with Flixbus, I was not impressed to say the least!
But I eventually made it to Vienna, and seeing Janice again made the trip all worthwhile. Janice used to live in Sarajevo, and Ljilja and I last saw her 4 years ago in Israel, so it was time for a nice catch up! After celebrating New Year's I spent a week with her and we also managed to fit in some sightseeing in between the catching up! The highlights were Schönbrunn Palace:the summer palace of the Hapsburgs, so much history!
And a #bucketlist item: the Spanish Riding School and the lipizzaners. We went to the practice session, and I managed to sneak a couple of photos (which aren't allowed...so hopefully I won't get into trouble putting them on this blog). It was just so amazing to sit there and watch them do their dressage steps, but also realise that this place has been in existence for almost 300 years.
I managed to have my camera focused on the right spot at the right time to get this shot of an "airs above the ground" move. This is not done every day at the practices, and it was the ONLY one of the day, so it was a lucky shot indeed!!
I also managed to meet up with fellow Capetonian and friend, Richard at a traditional Viennese coffee house: He is living in Vienna now, so it was nice to have a good catch up!
Then it was time to do some "work". I travelled by bus and train to YWAM Hurlach near Munich in Germany. It was my first time at the castle bought for the 1972 Olympics and one of YWAM's heritage sites. It was great to spend time here at the base and see old friends. I spent time in YWAM Hurlach staff meetings, but mostly spent time with our Member Care people for Central Europe, Hannes and Doris, but unfortunately I didn't a get a pic of them, so you will have to do with a pic of the castle instead:
Then Hannes and I drove together to the Czech Republic to meet with our YWAM team in Cheb. We had a great time with them and I think they enjoyed our visit as well:
I then travelled by train to the lovely city of Budapest, but unfortunately all the other travel caught up with me, and I got sick. So I didn't actually spend time with almost anyone (after setting up many appointments, which had to get cancelled :( ). My last day I went to the doctor and got some antibiotics for my throat and asked her if I should cancel the next leg of my trip to Bucharest (by plane) and she said that with the antibiotics I would get better and there was no reason not to go... so onwards I went:
It was a whistle-stop visit to Romania for some meetings and of course I didn't get any photos of that either, but on the way back I got to enjoy the stunning sunrise in Bucharest airport:
After 3 weeks of travelling, by car, bus, train and plane it was really great to get back home to Banja Luka!!
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